Your description of The Bone Doll's Twin completely sold me! The Mirror Empire also sounds quite interesting as well. I can do with a book of female rage every now and again. 😅
Bone Doll's Twin is so good. The Mirror Empire is definitely up your alley, I think it's one of those I mentioned to you under your video about matriarchal fantasies from a while back - it absolutely fits the bill of what you're looking for.
Wow you’ve truly read so deeply in the genre so far beyond the popular stuff! Some of these were totally new to me, and you definitely got me more hyped to try the ones I had already thought about starting like Rivers of London and Traitor Son
What can I say, I have too much free time and backlists are easiest to get from libraries 😂 Happy to help make the introduction to some of these! They're all among the best that's out there and just needs a little light shown on them.
It's good to hear about The Hammer and The Cross on a booktube channel! Importantly, the series was co-written by a certain John Holm, who in fact was Tom Shippey, the renowned scholar of Tolkien and medieval epics. It is a very very well researched series. I don't agree that it's a Christian series though, it's got a powerful message that all new religions come with blood and violence. It has a religious theme but doesn't put forward one true religion. It is actually a fantasy-tinged alt history, where the Saxons and the Norse make a stand against the church.
I have A Cruel Wind and The Mirror Empire on my shelves. I need to read them soon! I tried the first chapter of The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter and loved it but, never finished it. I need to pick it up again!
nice list! Unfortunately, the Rivers of London series didnt work for me, but ive had a second hand copy of Mirror Empire sitting on my shelf for years and might actually attempt to read it now. The military aspects of the sheepherders daughter intrigue me! might look into it once i finish my read-what-you-own challenge in 2025. Strange practice, as well, i think ill try a chapter to see if i vibe with it.
Traitor Son Cycle. Book 1 Red Knight = very good book. Books 2 and 3 are among the best books I've ever read. Book 4 is pretty good. Book 5 was so boring I did not care how it ended.
Vikings do tend to be the least interesting part of any Fantasy story they're thrown in (despite having an interesting mythology) but I'll be sure to check Hammer and the Cross out. Been meaning to check out Lynn Flewelling and Eluzabeth Moon's books for ages now though luckily Tamir Triad is the more readily available of Flewelling's works it seems.
All three are definitely worth your time. I had a great time with them all, so they were easy shoo-ins for this list when I started putting it together.
Funnily enough, you're now the 4th person I know who has read both, and everyone seems to either like Dread Empire or Instrumentalities, never both, ha. I have to get to it soon, hope I enjoy it!
@@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels First off. Great list. Quite a few I'll have to dig deeper on. Now to this comment in particular; I've also read both and I like them both at about a 4/5. If I had to pick which one I preferred I would say Instumentalities. Have either of you read Cook's Garrett P.I. series? To me, that's his best series, even better than Black Company, which rules of course. Also I love Miles Cameron's writing. All 4 of his series (2 finished, 2 ongoing) as Miles are Great. His Christian Cameron stuff is great too, though I still have a lot of that to read. I've read some of the Tom Snow books and I am currently in the Chivarly series, which is terrific writing and storytelling set in the 100 years war and Crusades.
@@aarononeill8644 I'm hoping when I get to Instrumentalities I can say the same, that I like them both. I haven't read Garrett PI as yet but it's on the very near horizon - I planned to do it next year before the announcement of the new BC novels and I decided I wanted to re-read that instead. For Cameron, I want to get to his Age of Bronze, Tyrant and Long War series most, not sure I'll try his other stuff. Those three are what I'm most excited for.
Yes!!! Finally!!! Books that don't constantly appear in other youtube videos! Thank you so much!
Great recommendation!! I’m looking up the hammer and the cross right now
Your description of The Bone Doll's Twin completely sold me! The Mirror Empire also sounds quite interesting as well. I can do with a book of female rage every now and again. 😅
Bone Doll's Twin is so good. The Mirror Empire is definitely up your alley, I think it's one of those I mentioned to you under your video about matriarchal fantasies from a while back - it absolutely fits the bill of what you're looking for.
Wow you’ve truly read so deeply in the genre so far beyond the popular stuff! Some of these were totally new to me, and you definitely got me more hyped to try the ones I had already thought about starting like Rivers of London and Traitor Son
What can I say, I have too much free time and backlists are easiest to get from libraries 😂 Happy to help make the introduction to some of these! They're all among the best that's out there and just needs a little light shown on them.
Great list! I will be keeping an eye out for some of these.
Great list, Rabin! I immediately put Elizabeth Moon and Miles Cameron on my TBR. Sounds like amazing series I would like. Thanks
It's good to hear about The Hammer and The Cross on a booktube channel!
Importantly, the series was co-written by a certain John Holm, who in fact was Tom Shippey, the renowned scholar of Tolkien and medieval epics. It is a very very well researched series.
I don't agree that it's a Christian series though, it's got a powerful message that all new religions come with blood and violence. It has a religious theme but doesn't put forward one true religion. It is actually a fantasy-tinged alt history, where the Saxons and the Norse make a stand against the church.
Another great episode!
I have A Cruel Wind and The Mirror Empire on my shelves. I need to read them soon!
I tried the first chapter of The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter and loved it but, never finished it. I need to pick it up again!
That's pretty awesome. Sheepfarmer's Daughter only gets better, so if you like how it opens that's very promising!
Man, I haven't read any of these except Rivers of London! I need to get to these
Man I only knew one of these series (Sheepfarmers daughter). Thanks for putting some of these on my radar!
«Hammer and the Cross» is on my TBR for 2025!
Nice, will be interested to hear your take on it!
You're right, I hadn't heard about a couple of these in my life.
Nice selection - I have heard of only 6 of these series only but read none of them. oops!!
nice list! Unfortunately, the Rivers of London series didnt work for me, but ive had a second hand copy of Mirror Empire sitting on my shelf for years and might actually attempt to read it now. The military aspects of the sheepherders daughter intrigue me! might look into it once i finish my read-what-you-own challenge in 2025. Strange practice, as well, i think ill try a chapter to see if i vibe with it.
Hopefully they work better for you than Rivers of London did!
Traitor Son Cycle. Book 1 Red Knight = very good book. Books 2 and 3 are among the best books I've ever read. Book 4 is pretty good. Book 5 was so boring I did not care how it ended.
Fair enough! Book 5 was an okay ending for me, I can see why you might find it boring though. Especially compared to the middle of the series.
Vikings do tend to be the least interesting part of any Fantasy story they're thrown in (despite having an interesting mythology) but I'll be sure to check Hammer and the Cross out.
Been meaning to check out Lynn Flewelling and Eluzabeth Moon's books for ages now though luckily Tamir Triad is the more readily available of Flewelling's works it seems.
All three are definitely worth your time. I had a great time with them all, so they were easy shoo-ins for this list when I started putting it together.
I really liked Cook's Instrumentalities of the Night (which no one talks about), so I picked up A Cruel Wind. I did not like it at all.
Funnily enough, you're now the 4th person I know who has read both, and everyone seems to either like Dread Empire or Instrumentalities, never both, ha. I have to get to it soon, hope I enjoy it!
@@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels First off. Great list. Quite a few I'll have to dig deeper on. Now to this comment in particular; I've also read both and I like them both at about a 4/5. If I had to pick which one I preferred I would say Instumentalities. Have either of you read Cook's Garrett P.I. series? To me, that's his best series, even better than Black Company, which rules of course. Also I love Miles Cameron's writing. All 4 of his series (2 finished, 2 ongoing) as Miles are Great. His Christian Cameron stuff is great too, though I still have a lot of that to read. I've read some of the Tom Snow books and I am currently in the Chivarly series, which is terrific writing and storytelling set in the 100 years war and Crusades.
@@aarononeill8644 I'm hoping when I get to Instrumentalities I can say the same, that I like them both. I haven't read Garrett PI as yet but it's on the very near horizon - I planned to do it next year before the announcement of the new BC novels and I decided I wanted to re-read that instead.
For Cameron, I want to get to his Age of Bronze, Tyrant and Long War series most, not sure I'll try his other stuff. Those three are what I'm most excited for.