Wow, this is super similar to my adult reading journey! ASoIaF completely consumed my life as well, I started reading them toward the end of my third year of college and had to choose between studying for finals or reading ASoIaF…obviously I picked reading and dropped a full letter grade in biochem as a result but it was definitely worth it 😆 A google search of series like ASoIaF also brought me to WoT and then on to Sanderson’s work from there. I started with Elantris though but Mistborn was what really hooked me on the Cosmere. Sounds like I really need to check out Malazan and all of your other favs since we seem to have similar taste. Glad I found your channel!
@@BookishChas I would really like to read ASOIAF again someday! It seems like another one of those that would be super fun on a reread to catch little things you missed the first time
Awesome video. I can easily say Mistborn was the series that brought me back into reading again. I read A Game of Thrones last year, kinda knowing I was going to love the series. Very excited to continue it this year. Malazan is high up on my TBR. And The Wheel of Time… is kind of on my, “maybe someday TBR”. Talks of several of the books being a slog in a really long series kind of puts me off a bit, unfortunately.
@ I think I’ve heard you and then like, maybe one other person say that… was it Tom? Maybe lol. Maybe if I hear from one more person I’ll be convinced. Maybe. lol 😂
As someone who has to read books/series in a timely manner for optimal enjoyment, it's so wild to me that you read WoT so slowly and still loved it so much. Hope it holds up on re-read whenever you get around to that! For me, it was admittedly ACOTAR which got me fully back into reading, but I think Nevernight, Red Rising and FatF were some of the first series that really got me into the epic adult SFF sphere 🤩
@@esmayrosalyne I surprised too tbh 😅 I'm looking forward to a better pace on a reread! And I really want to try nevernight! And honestly, I'll probably ably grab acotar at some point just to see what all the fuss is about lol
I saw game of thrones and loved it so much that I wanted more so I read the series (books that were out), and loved it so much that I started to search for more. That’s how I got started into adult fantasy
When I was a young kid, I was really into the Hardy Boys and mystery novels. When I was preteen in the early '80s, I started gravitating more towards Stephen King because of his movies and the Lord of the Rings. At 52, I'm trying to broaden my reading by including books like "Rise of the Ranger," since I finally have more time to read and I want to expand into other genres. Thank you for your insights and the absolute passion that you have for books. Take care! --Marc
Hi Jake, for me it was Mistborn. I read that first book and it activated this reading itch that hasn't left since. Somehow it led me into wanting to find out more similar reads, which led to booktube, which led to tons of great recommendations :). I heard you mention you read Dune. Did you read more than the 6 main novels? Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the rest. Also, thanks for the video - I love your content. Cheers!
I loved Jack London growing up and I didn't reach for my own joy outside of a few of his books. Reading for fun wasn't really a topic of conversation in my house. I read a few things in my late teens in the fantasy and sci-fi genre, but my favorites weren't in those genres. Three Musketeers (one of my all time favorites) were books that I generally leaned towards. I did love sci-fi and fantasy in other mediums though. I started reading again in 2019, mainly to better understand what's out there as I wanted to get serious about writing. As I was looking for suggestions, I came across Daniel Greene's channel and he was talking about Sanderson. I looked into him and he was also very open about his process and everything, so he seemed like a good dude to check out. I picked up Elantris and loved it, then moved on to Mistborn and other authors. That's really when a love for those genres started.
They'll all be on my list now. I read Atlas Shrugged as my first adult fiction. My grandfather left behind his copy, one so worn out the cover actually fell off during my first read, with all his highlights of his favorite lines. The philosophy in it gives so much to think about, and the story itself is also great. Once i put that 1200 plus page chunker down, i was changed forever.
@@eronlittle1276 wow, what a beautiful experience! And I'm sure you learned something about your grandfather from that too, by being able to see what lines stood out to him the most
I'm currently reading Kings of the Wyld, and the fantasy series I'm madly in love with is The Dresden Files. I'm on Book 7 and will definitely be continuing the series. And it was definitely awesome of you for providing an insight into your reading journey!
Good video! I'd like to see you dig into prose in more detail as it's always a topic I find very interesting. What you were describing, to me, seemed to be that the level of poetry or richness is what you're searching for in what you read. Currently, I'm reading Sanderson for the directness of the writing. I'm super tired from work, and something more poetic takes me longer to immerse myself in. Saying that, I find Sandersons prose deeper because of how woven in plot is. There are plots of plot details that are easily missed but the imagery is simple. Have a good one.
@@DanRodger22 that would be super fun to do, I'll add it to my list! I totally understand what you're saying about the simpler prose being preferable when your mind is fatigued
My first books were The Narnia Chronicles, then I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings which really got me hooked on fantasy..many books since then. The Dune series,(have you read The Butlerian Jihad? Soooo good!) Books from Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, ..but, my all time favorite was The Wheel of Time.. I’ve reread these countless times..ive read most of Sandersons works except for his novellas and secret projects.. am currently reading Wind and Truth so am staying away from the spoiler videos! Nice channel, keep up the good work!
@@stevecanada4830 thank you Steve! I've read the 6 Frank Herbert Dune books but haven't tried any of the others yet - I tend to hear such negative things about them but I really want to give them a try! And the Wheel of Time is truly something special 😁
Thanks for the great video. Hyperion is a great sci-fi book in my opinion. I've read it a couple of times and listened to the audio book at least 3 or 4 times (the first book is narrated by a cast and it is superb) It's been a few years and I think that I just might revisit Dan Simmons' entire Hyperion Cantos (4 books). I'm more of a fantasy reader too, but books like Hyperion make science fiction as much fun as any fantasy book I've ever read.
For me its the Mistborn Trilogy. I was never a big reader growing up and for whatever reason last September I started The Final Empire and was instantly hooked. I've read every day since and have finished The Mistborn Trilogy, Licanius Trilogy (my fav so far), First Law Trilogy, a couple Murderbot Diaries books, and Project Hail Mary. I'm currently reading Leviathan Wakes with a book club and we plan to read 1 book a month until we finish The Expanse
Terry Pratchett books were basically my smooth transition from YA to Adult. Me and my mum both love his books so it was a fun way to bond over something. After that I broadened my tastes, read loads of thrillers, some horror and similar, then came back to Fantasy with ASOIAF. THEN the First Law once I met my wife, and now fantasy stories are a cornerstone of my life 😅
I have to admit that I never thought about my reading in terms of evolution, because it became such a natural part of me from the very beginning. Basically I have always been a reader, because some of my first memories involve my mother sitting at my bed reading me some of Grimm's Fairy Tales and other stories. And as soon as I was able to read for myself, my head was pretty much constantly stuck in a book. As far as fantasy goes, I read the Narnia Books at around age 6, had read everything Michael Ende by the end of age 9, and stumbled about Tolkien when I was I believe 12. Those are the three fantasy-related things I remember most strongly, but I also read tons of other stuff (Shannarah, all the Eddings books, also all kind of Space Opera scifi books). Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon books were also pretty formative for me, because that was probably when I was exposed to the importance of feminism for the first time, especially coming from a pretty conservative background where women still were very much relegated to the traditional mother and housekeeper role. Lord of the Rings kinda filled the role Harry Potter did to you, by the way. I don't know how often I have read those books, but it has been certainly between 20 to 30 times. And interestingly enough, like with you, it was the Wheel of Time series that were the next big thing on my radar, only that most of it had still to be released when I got to it. Harry Potter came way later, and I actually had to get tricked into it via the German audiobooks (in my opinion the best audiobooks ever made, Rufus Beck is a genius), because at that time, I was snobbish enough to think that the hype around that series could only mean that it's trash. Love them dearly in the meantime. But to be honest, in terms of evolution as a reader, I think fantasy plays a pretty smart role in my life, because I also always read other stuff to. I was going to a humanistic Gymnasium (high school) where I learned latin and (ancient) greek, so we were reading all kinds of classics (Julius Cesar, Cicero, Herodotus, of course Homer, Virgil and Ovid) as well as the German giants of literature (Goethe, Schiller, Storm, Mann). Then I went on to study english literature, where I got exposed to the canon of British and American literature. And while I've always loved Fantasy and Sci-Fi, I think all those reads were way more influential on my personal development than most genre writers. So it's only in recent years, that I really started to read more Fantasy and Sci-Fi again,and in terms of evolving on that front, I think the most important thing is that I started to read things outside of the mainstream middle-europe-inspired white-guy fantasy. I love reading asia- or africa-inspired stuff. I read environmental fantasy, put my nose into books that tackle more modern themes of inclusivity and diversity, and also try to find authors that cannot only write great stories, but can actually also write on a high-level artistic style. Which I find there's way more of 'em these days than I used to find at my local library back then. Little aside, my youngest son pressured me into reading the Redwall books I had gifted to him. Threw my plans into disarray, and while enjoyable, they aren't quite that high-level stuff I was just talking about. Just finished the first one, and I also think I'll be able to finish Empire of Silence this weekend, and then I'll pick up where I left Ursula K.LeGuin's Earthsea cycle. So I hope I can at least start with Way of Kings before the end of the month.
This is so awesome! Love how this really paints a picture of story in your life :) I also really want to branch out into more non-medieval Europe stories, it's so interesting to see other cultures protrayed. Hope you love the Way of Kings!
I only really got into reading in 2024 when I read Gardens of the Moon. I wanted to get back into it after not touching a book for years, so I went on reddit to look for beginner friendly fantasy series. I saw the name Malazan a few times and decided to give it a try. Looking back, it might have been a joke, though I'm glad I didn't get it. From the first few chapters I was in love with it, and the difficulty label that gets thrown around would have definitely deterred me. +1 Sub 🙂
What made me an adult reader was also game of thrones. But what really did it was The Martian. Except for a few months after my daughter was born, I haven’t stopped reading since Try The Expanse. It’s another great space opera. It was my #1 until Sun Eater came along
I think the books that really defined me as an adult have got to be Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis (it’s a Greek mythic novel that’s much darker than Narnia and is really hard to get a good grasp on and I read it right as I was leaving my teens and it still haunts me.) Dune has got to be up there since it’s the book that really jump started my reading as an adult. But also Book of the New Sun has got to be on there. And I’d also say the Another Kingdom trilogy by Andrew Klavan (it’s a portal fantasy thriller that’s much darker really spoke to me deeply.)
@ check out Matt’s fantasy book reviews I suppose. I haven’t heard Brian’s. Too much for me to say in a comment. Have you done lit rpg?(I wrote mikes first and edited)
@@kaelin5778 the only litrpg I've tried is DCC and I fell off about a third of the way through 😅 but it was also me trying audio for the first time in forever as well, so I'm not sure if it was the genre or the audio that was a no-go for me
@ I mean Wandering inn is a 100% different vibe. But yea maybe you aren’t a lot RPG guy? What turned you off DCC? The audio for DCC is particularly well done. Wandering inn is probably my fav of all time, just saying. Easily top 5 fantasy of all time. I’m like 15 books in
Your love for books is so infectious. As for my personal series that changed me as a reader - Malazan, Malazan Malazan! Erikson low key ruined fantasy for me because now nothing can compare to the Malazan book of the fallen.
I think my proper devoted reading started with Fionavar Tapestry books by Guy Gavriel Kay. I would highly recommend! I still cry every time I read these books. And Game of Thrones cemented my reading fate, just like for quite a few people here it seems.
Game of Thrones started my fantasy reading. I can relate to a lot of what you said brother. Now I look for interesting books in any genre because you never know….
I blame Stephen King not just for getting me back into reading as an adult, but also making reading my main hobby 😂. The Dark Tower (even though I have not read book 7) is my cornerstone all time series for me.
Still need to read Games of Thrones books… sorry I was disappointed ☹️ Brandon Sanderson book wind and truth… I’m going to start book 9 wheel of time series. Happy reading to you!!! 🎥
funny enough when I got back into reading it wasnt fantasy. I actually went and pulled my top ten from 2019 (when I started reading again) and there's no fantasy in the top ten: Death's End Tom Sawyer Call of the Wild 1984 The Old Man and The Sea To Kill a Mockingbird The Dark Forest A Farewell to Arms Robinson Crusoe The Three Body Problem
I gave up on George martin after a feast for crows. I read all his books on release from 6th grade till i graduated from high school. I was willing to forgive the 5 year gap from book 3->4 but then a 6 year gap from 4->5 was goodbye for me. Still havent read wheel of time and im not sure I will... There are so many good books out there that can be read rather then grinding through that slog ive heard about. Life is too short to read something you dont enjoy just cuz the payoff "might" be worth it. Same reason I will never read Dresden because people always say "give it till book 9" lol
Wow, this is super similar to my adult reading journey! ASoIaF completely consumed my life as well, I started reading them toward the end of my third year of college and had to choose between studying for finals or reading ASoIaF…obviously I picked reading and dropped a full letter grade in biochem as a result but it was definitely worth it 😆
A google search of series like ASoIaF also brought me to WoT and then on to Sanderson’s work from there. I started with Elantris though but Mistborn was what really hooked me on the Cosmere.
Sounds like I really need to check out Malazan and all of your other favs since we seem to have similar taste. Glad I found your channel!
Oh yeah I bet you'd like Malazan then! And the lower biochem grade is 100 % worth it lol. Thanks for being here!!
I love this video Jake! ASOIAF is my favorite series of all time. LOTR was what started my evolution lol.
@@BookishChas I would really like to read ASOIAF again someday! It seems like another one of those that would be super fun on a reread to catch little things you missed the first time
@ yes indeed! I want to as well.
Hey Jake, this was a really cool video! Loved hearing about your reading journey
@@NevsBookChannel thanks! It's fun to reflect on :)
Awesome video. I can easily say Mistborn was the series that brought me back into reading again. I read A Game of Thrones last year, kinda knowing I was going to love the series. Very excited to continue it this year. Malazan is high up on my TBR. And The Wheel of Time… is kind of on my, “maybe someday TBR”. Talks of several of the books being a slog in a really long series kind of puts me off a bit, unfortunately.
I will die on the THERE IS NO SLOG hill lol
@ I think I’ve heard you and then like, maybe one other person say that… was it Tom? Maybe lol. Maybe if I hear from one more person I’ll be convinced. Maybe. lol 😂
@@N.A.Summur brb gonna find someone else 😂
@@NerdLevelRising 😂
You are coming up with some very good topics for videos, Jake.
Thank you sir!
As someone who has to read books/series in a timely manner for optimal enjoyment, it's so wild to me that you read WoT so slowly and still loved it so much. Hope it holds up on re-read whenever you get around to that!
For me, it was admittedly ACOTAR which got me fully back into reading, but I think Nevernight, Red Rising and FatF were some of the first series that really got me into the epic adult SFF sphere 🤩
@@esmayrosalyne I surprised too tbh 😅 I'm looking forward to a better pace on a reread! And I really want to try nevernight! And honestly, I'll probably ably grab acotar at some point just to see what all the fuss is about lol
@@NerdLevelRising I seriously hope you have a silly fun time with acotar hahahha, it still holds up for me
@esmayrosalyne if nothing else I'm sure it'll be a fun ride 😂
Great video, subbed!
@@Dwa2211 thanks so much! 😊
Dune is a deep pothole, red rising is a shallow ocean
@@General_reader I can't argue with that!
I saw game of thrones and loved it so much that I wanted more so I read the series (books that were out), and loved it so much that I started to search for more. That’s how I got started into adult fantasy
Great minds think alike it seems :)
When I was a young kid, I was really into the Hardy Boys and mystery novels. When I was preteen in the early '80s, I started gravitating more towards Stephen King because of his movies and the Lord of the Rings. At 52, I'm trying to broaden my reading by including books like "Rise of the Ranger," since I finally have more time to read and I want to expand into other genres. Thank you for your insights and the absolute passion that you have for books. Take care! --Marc
Thanks so much Marc! And thanks for sharing your journey here, I love that you're branching out into new things! Those Quaintrell books sound awesome
Hi Jake, for me it was Mistborn. I read that first book and it activated this reading itch that hasn't left since. Somehow it led me into wanting to find out more similar reads, which led to booktube, which led to tons of great recommendations :).
I heard you mention you read Dune. Did you read more than the 6 main novels? Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the rest.
Also, thanks for the video - I love your content. Cheers!
I loved Jack London growing up and I didn't reach for my own joy outside of a few of his books. Reading for fun wasn't really a topic of conversation in my house. I read a few things in my late teens in the fantasy and sci-fi genre, but my favorites weren't in those genres. Three Musketeers (one of my all time favorites) were books that I generally leaned towards. I did love sci-fi and fantasy in other mediums though.
I started reading again in 2019, mainly to better understand what's out there as I wanted to get serious about writing. As I was looking for suggestions, I came across Daniel Greene's channel and he was talking about Sanderson. I looked into him and he was also very open about his process and everything, so he seemed like a good dude to check out. I picked up Elantris and loved it, then moved on to Mistborn and other authors. That's really when a love for those genres started.
Shout out Daniel Greene for spreading the word about so many great authors!!
They'll all be on my list now.
I read Atlas Shrugged as my first adult fiction. My grandfather left behind his copy, one so worn out the cover actually fell off during my first read, with all his highlights of his favorite lines. The philosophy in it gives so much to think about, and the story itself is also great. Once i put that 1200 plus page chunker down, i was changed forever.
@@eronlittle1276 wow, what a beautiful experience! And I'm sure you learned something about your grandfather from that too, by being able to see what lines stood out to him the most
@NerdLevelRising yeah, man. The book is pure philosophy, it showed me a lot about his way of thinking. I'm glad you liked that little anecdote, haha.
I'm currently reading Kings of the Wyld, and the fantasy series I'm madly in love with is The Dresden Files. I'm on Book 7 and will definitely be continuing the series. And it was definitely awesome of you for providing an insight into your reading journey!
Loved kings of the wild and bloody rose.
Dresden is one of my favs, 12 months is 94% done, according to Jim
Ah man I gotta get to Dresden at some point!!
Good video! I'd like to see you dig into prose in more detail as it's always a topic I find very interesting. What you were describing, to me, seemed to be that the level of poetry or richness is what you're searching for in what you read.
Currently, I'm reading Sanderson for the directness of the writing. I'm super tired from work, and something more poetic takes me longer to immerse myself in. Saying that, I find Sandersons prose deeper because of how woven in plot is. There are plots of plot details that are easily missed but the imagery is simple.
Have a good one.
@@DanRodger22 that would be super fun to do, I'll add it to my list! I totally understand what you're saying about the simpler prose being preferable when your mind is fatigued
My first books were The Narnia Chronicles, then I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings which really got me hooked on fantasy..many books since then. The Dune series,(have you read The Butlerian Jihad? Soooo good!) Books from Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, ..but, my all time favorite was The Wheel of Time.. I’ve reread these countless times..ive read most of Sandersons works except for his novellas and secret projects.. am currently reading Wind and Truth so am staying away from the spoiler videos!
Nice channel, keep up the good work!
@@stevecanada4830 thank you Steve! I've read the 6 Frank Herbert Dune books but haven't tried any of the others yet - I tend to hear such negative things about them but I really want to give them a try! And the Wheel of Time is truly something special 😁
Thanks for the great video.
Hyperion is a great sci-fi book in my opinion. I've read it a couple of times and listened to the audio book at least 3 or 4 times (the first book is narrated by a cast and it is superb) It's been a few years and I think that I just might revisit Dan Simmons' entire Hyperion Cantos (4 books). I'm more of a fantasy reader too, but books like Hyperion make science fiction as much fun as any fantasy book I've ever read.
I reallyyyyyyy want to make time for Hyperion, its a huge gap in my reading!
It sounds like you're happily busy but whenever you have the opportunity to read it I hope you enjoy it.
@vincentwilliamcarmichael4257 I have no doubt that I will!
For me its the Mistborn Trilogy. I was never a big reader growing up and for whatever reason last September I started The Final Empire and was instantly hooked. I've read every day since and have finished The Mistborn Trilogy, Licanius Trilogy (my fav so far), First Law Trilogy, a couple Murderbot Diaries books, and Project Hail Mary. I'm currently reading Leviathan Wakes with a book club and we plan to read 1 book a month until we finish The Expanse
Mistborn is such an awesome gateway for so many!
Terry Pratchett books were basically my smooth transition from YA to Adult. Me and my mum both love his books so it was a fun way to bond over something.
After that I broadened my tastes, read loads of thrillers, some horror and similar, then came back to Fantasy with ASOIAF.
THEN the First Law once I met my wife, and now fantasy stories are a cornerstone of my life 😅
@@WillMcc_WriterGoblin love that about you and your mom bonding over Pratchett, how cool is that!
Wheel of Time is my adult entry. Bought the juniper covers for my hardbacks too
Rand is probably my fav MC of all time. Matt probably my fav character
THANK YOU for the Rand love. He's actually always been my favorite WoT character with Mat as a close second
I have to admit that I never thought about my reading in terms of evolution, because it became such a natural part of me from the very beginning. Basically I have always been a reader, because some of my first memories involve my mother sitting at my bed reading me some of Grimm's Fairy Tales and other stories. And as soon as I was able to read for myself, my head was pretty much constantly stuck in a book.
As far as fantasy goes, I read the Narnia Books at around age 6, had read everything Michael Ende by the end of age 9, and stumbled about Tolkien when I was I believe 12. Those are the three fantasy-related things I remember most strongly, but I also read tons of other stuff (Shannarah, all the Eddings books, also all kind of Space Opera scifi books). Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon books were also pretty formative for me, because that was probably when I was exposed to the importance of feminism for the first time, especially coming from a pretty conservative background where women still were very much relegated to the traditional mother and housekeeper role.
Lord of the Rings kinda filled the role Harry Potter did to you, by the way. I don't know how often I have read those books, but it has been certainly between 20 to 30 times. And interestingly enough, like with you, it was the Wheel of Time series that were the next big thing on my radar, only that most of it had still to be released when I got to it. Harry Potter came way later, and I actually had to get tricked into it via the German audiobooks (in my opinion the best audiobooks ever made, Rufus Beck is a genius), because at that time, I was snobbish enough to think that the hype around that series could only mean that it's trash. Love them dearly in the meantime.
But to be honest, in terms of evolution as a reader, I think fantasy plays a pretty smart role in my life, because I also always read other stuff to. I was going to a humanistic Gymnasium (high school) where I learned latin and (ancient) greek, so we were reading all kinds of classics (Julius Cesar, Cicero, Herodotus, of course Homer, Virgil and Ovid) as well as the German giants of literature (Goethe, Schiller, Storm, Mann). Then I went on to study english literature, where I got exposed to the canon of British and American literature. And while I've always loved Fantasy and Sci-Fi, I think all those reads were way more influential on my personal development than most genre writers.
So it's only in recent years, that I really started to read more Fantasy and Sci-Fi again,and in terms of evolving on that front, I think the most important thing is that I started to read things outside of the mainstream middle-europe-inspired white-guy fantasy. I love reading asia- or africa-inspired stuff. I read environmental fantasy, put my nose into books that tackle more modern themes of inclusivity and diversity, and also try to find authors that cannot only write great stories, but can actually also write on a high-level artistic style. Which I find there's way more of 'em these days than I used to find at my local library back then.
Little aside, my youngest son pressured me into reading the Redwall books I had gifted to him. Threw my plans into disarray, and while enjoyable, they aren't quite that high-level stuff I was just talking about. Just finished the first one, and I also think I'll be able to finish Empire of Silence this weekend, and then I'll pick up where I left Ursula K.LeGuin's Earthsea cycle. So I hope I can at least start with Way of Kings before the end of the month.
This is so awesome! Love how this really paints a picture of story in your life :) I also really want to branch out into more non-medieval Europe stories, it's so interesting to see other cultures protrayed.
Hope you love the Way of Kings!
I only really got into reading in 2024 when I read Gardens of the Moon. I wanted to get back into it after not touching a book for years, so I went on reddit to look for beginner friendly fantasy series. I saw the name Malazan a few times and decided to give it a try. Looking back, it might have been a joke, though I'm glad I didn't get it. From the first few chapters I was in love with it, and the difficulty label that gets thrown around would have definitely deterred me. +1 Sub 🙂
@@dtPolar talk about jumping into the deep end! But what a marvelous way to get into fantasy 😁 thanks for watching!
What made me an adult reader was also game of thrones.
But what really did it was The Martian. Except for a few months after my daughter was born, I haven’t stopped reading since
Try The Expanse. It’s another great space opera. It was my #1 until Sun Eater came along
I desperately need to read the Expanse, I keep kicking it down the road for some reason!
Gene Wolfe is a favorite author of Pierce Brown. And the character of Sevro is named after Severian from Book of the New Sun.
ok I didn't know that... even more stoked to get to BOTNS now!
@@NerdLevelRising yesssss
With as much as you like The Wheel of Time I would love to hear a spoiler-free ranking of all the books.
Oooo that sounds fun! I may need to re-read them first though to give a "good" rating but maybe a somewhat blind/hindsight ranking could be funny lol
@ For sure. I think your take would be extra interesting because you don’t hate “The Slog” like most people.
I think the books that really defined me as an adult have got to be Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis (it’s a Greek mythic novel that’s much darker than Narnia and is really hard to get a good grasp on and I read it right as I was leaving my teens and it still haunts me.) Dune has got to be up there since it’s the book that really jump started my reading as an adult. But also Book of the New Sun has got to be on there. And I’d also say the Another Kingdom trilogy by Andrew Klavan (it’s a portal fantasy thriller that’s much darker really spoke to me deeply.)
I wish I'd picked up Dune sooner!!
WoT audiobooks are peak
I need to convince you to read the wandering inn.
@@kaelin5778 hmm I'm hesitant after hearing Brian Bell not be super hot on it but I'm open to hearing your pitch for it!
@ check out Matt’s fantasy book reviews I suppose. I haven’t heard Brian’s. Too much for me to say in a comment. Have you done lit rpg?(I wrote mikes first and edited)
Forgot if you have done Dungeon crawler Carl or not. If you haven’t, put that shit to the top of the TBR.
@@kaelin5778 the only litrpg I've tried is DCC and I fell off about a third of the way through 😅 but it was also me trying audio for the first time in forever as well, so I'm not sure if it was the genre or the audio that was a no-go for me
@ I mean Wandering inn is a 100% different vibe. But yea maybe you aren’t a lot RPG guy? What turned you off DCC? The audio for DCC is particularly well done.
Wandering inn is probably my fav of all time, just saying. Easily top 5 fantasy of all time. I’m like 15 books in
Right now it would be Stormlight and the whole of the First Law series but it's definitely gonna evolve over the next few years.
those are great choices!!
Your love for books is so infectious. As for my personal series that changed me as a reader - Malazan, Malazan Malazan! Erikson low key ruined fantasy for me because now nothing can compare to the Malazan book of the fallen.
@@DimitrovStefanLachkov hahaha I totally get that! It's hard for other things to stack up
I think my proper devoted reading started with Fionavar Tapestry books by Guy Gavriel Kay. I would highly recommend! I still cry every time I read these books. And Game of Thrones cemented my reading fate, just like for quite a few people here it seems.
Oh my goodness, GGK is another one I really need to make time for!
Game of Thrones started my fantasy reading. I can relate to a lot of what you said brother. Now I look for interesting books in any genre because you never know….
it's a special series for so many of us! Love that you've branched out
Jake these ages and memories you’re throwing out don’t match with the age I thought you were. How old are you exactly? I gotsta know!
I had the same thought! His reading timeline is so similar to mine and I was born in 93 so my guess is somewhere around there.
@alexsedai @iSamwise hahaha I'm 31! I'm a 93 baby as well :)
@ Wow. I was predicting 25.
@@NerdLevelRising Haha nice!
@iSamwise I get that a lot actually 😂
I blame Stephen King not just for getting me back into reading as an adult, but also making reading my main hobby 😂. The Dark Tower (even though I have not read book 7) is my cornerstone all time series for me.
Still need to read Games of Thrones books… sorry I was disappointed ☹️ Brandon Sanderson book wind and truth… I’m going to start book 9 wheel of time series.
Happy reading to you!!! 🎥
Hope you're loving the Wheel of Time! You're getting closer to that awesome conclusion :D
funny enough when I got back into reading it wasnt fantasy. I actually went and pulled my top ten from 2019 (when I started reading again) and there's no fantasy in the top ten:
Death's End
Tom Sawyer
Call of the Wild
1984
The Old Man and The Sea
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Dark Forest
A Farewell to Arms
Robinson Crusoe
The Three Body Problem
You are so much more cultured than me lol. That's really interesting!
I gave up on George martin after a feast for crows. I read all his books on release from 6th grade till i graduated from high school. I was willing to forgive the 5 year gap from book 3->4 but then a 6 year gap from 4->5 was goodbye for me. Still havent read wheel of time and im not sure I will... There are so many good books out there that can be read rather then grinding through that slog ive heard about. Life is too short to read something you dont enjoy just cuz the payoff "might" be worth it. Same reason I will never read Dresden because people always say "give it till book 9" lol
That's totally fair lol I 100% agree on not reading things you're not loving!
Try reading The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold, it's a great series. 👍
I keep hearing that name thrown out there, I really need to check it out! Sounds like I'd really dig it