I never thought I’d dnf a book or a series. But I came to realize after forcing myself to finish some books that it made me miserable. I vocalize while reading so I read slowly and time is too short. I’ve learned to prioritize my reading list and focus on enjoyment rather than accomplishment. I’ve even reread 7 books this year and loved them just as much as the first time.
I used to be that way, and sometimes I still am. But now, with more than 400 books in my TBR pile, yeahhh nope. If a series doesn't have enough merit to make me want to continue, I'll drop them. And reread is something amazing. I love rereading, I wish I have more time to do it more often! 😄
@@PetrikLeo Rise Buddy I'm 43 years old Rise Buddy. I've read a tremendous amount of books, as of last count close to 3000. In my late teens, twenties and early thirties, I read 2-5 books a week, even working full-time. Now, that is impossible. My mind isn't as sharp, I have too many other responsibilities, too many other hobbies, and even skimming/speed-reading can't compensate for all that. So I had to make peace with the fact that if a book doesn't grab me, and grab me HARD, in the first 3 chapters, I'm not going to finish it. 10 years ago, I felt really guilty about that. Now, I don't feel guilty at all. Even authors I've read for 3+ decades will come out with a book that just isn't for me, and I don't feel bad about not finishing it. Time is just too precious to spend on something that you aren't passionate about. Take that for what it's worth ;-)~
@Akeelzzz Read the first 5 book in the shade of vampire series and first 2 in the broken empire trilogy. reading up to book 8 and finishing the trilogy before I read new books 👍
Another great topic. And some easy choices from me: Lightbringer - Brent Weeks (seriously, Brent...what happened?) Demon Cycle - Peter V. Brett (why make your most interesting character a tertiary character after book 1? Literally no one cares about Inevera) Poppy War - RF Kuang (I do know that you loved it, so I am sorry, but it just didn't work for me through book 2. Rin is the worst) Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini (not hating, I just think I waited too long to read it and I'm just not the target demo) Kingkiller - Patrick Rothfuss (because he won't finish it so I don't have a choice...I'll be here all week!)
Thanks, Mike! I think this is a great idea for a video, you should create one, too! For Lightbringer, I completely agree that it's not worth it reading through the end; I still enjoyed the last book but I had a lot of issues with it, too. The same goes fro Demon Cycle (honestly I doubt I'll be reading any more Brett's books). As for The Poppy War, no worries, I totally understand how INFURIATING Rin was in the second book. Even though I know it's intentional for her to be that annoying and infuriating, it was still torturous to read her story in The Dragon Republic. I think this is a series I couldn't reread just because I don't know whether I can tolerate Rin again over there. 😂
Even you can’t read everything, Petrik! 😁 I personally love Esslemont’s Novels of the Malazan Empire, and I’ll say that books three and four were some of my favorite Malazan books. Path to Ascendancy is fantastic, in my opinion, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it if you try it. Cheers, my friend!
Thank you, my friend! hahaha, if only I'm immortal, I would've been able to read all the books i want to! 😁 It's good to hear everyone's voicing that the third and fourth book of Malazan Empire improved a lot, I really dislike the first two books. But I think I'll try Path to Ascendancy first when i get back to the Malazan world! :)
@@PetrikLeo I second Philip's comment. I'm rereading the entire Malazan universe books, and yes the third book Stonewielder is just markedly better than the first two books.
Love your new angle! I completely agree that if you aren't going back to something no one should feel they have to. Reading should be for fun and enjoyment. I don't dnf much but trying to more if I don't enjoy like I did with codex alera and absolutely understand not reading Harrow the ninth!❤️
Thank you so much, Ellyn! Yeah, definitely don't push yourself into reading something that you have no interest in anymore. I used to persist, but only a few of them ended up working in my favor, and now there are so many books on my TBR, too.
I am going with The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Even though I know I want to read the last book in this series, yet I will not be able to read it because it will never come out. 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Petrik, I may not always agree with you... however I have been following your Goodreads reviews for years. Hope you receive much with your Booktube channel. Love you, man!
Thanks, Brian! I don't mind disagreement. It will be impossible to agree on everything, and I think we can disagree on things politely anyway. I don't receive much from my channel, but I receive enough from it to buy books. 😆
Great video! You took a bludgeon to a bunch of books I already have on the shelf in my physical tbr, so I hope I like those more than you did! Return of the Crimson Guard is by far the worst Malazan book I've read, and Stonewielder and particularly Orb Sceptre Throne I still think would be very worth reading--OST gets much more into the Seguleh and Moranth cultures and history, and that is really not to be missed for any big Malazan fan
I hope you'll like them more than I did! And seriously, I thought I was hallucinating when I read RotCG, it felt like Esslemont tried to emulate Erikson's style but failing hard at it. So cool to hear that OST is about Seguleh and Moranth, though! Damnnn whattt. I love Seguleh!!
@@PetrikLeo yah I felt the exact same way about RotCG -- which was weird since Night of Knives felt like Esslemont established his own style, but then he tried out Erikson's and it was a total fail. OST is a return to ICE's own fast-paced style I think with fewer POVs, and one of those POVs is a Seguleh one!
Great list and I actually agree with a lot of picks! Only one I would hardly disagree with is the inheritance cycle/eragon! The first book is definetly the worst one in the saga and you can clearly see the influences (if you can still call it that way, it's more of a mashup of a lot of stories lol). But in my opinion, this improves a lot in the second book and even more in the third (which is my personal favorite)! Paolini finds his voice as an author and knows his world and characters much better. I encourage you to give the series another try in the future!!! It's not that Eragon is a BAD book per se, but it's obvious how young and inexperienced paolini was when he wrote it.
Thank you so much! I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to continue reading Inheritance Cycle. Despite my feelings on Eragon, I am still impressed that he was able to get a book published at such a young age, though! :)
@@PetrikLeo i feel the same! It's so great and inspired me a lot when I was younger to write stories myself :) The improvement from book 1 to book 2 is huge in my opinion and the second book is definetly more unique, has fun storylines and multiple POVs. Eragon's cousin is probably one of my favorite characters in the series and it's great to follow him in the second book
I with you up to Bad Company I've read that not completed it but I love it. Still love your video keep the coming can I make a request I'm a urban fantasy nutcase could you let us what urban fantasy books you like ty in advance
Urban fantasy taking place in our world? I haven't read too many of them. The one that stood out to me the most are Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Ethereal Earth by Josh Erikson, and Heartstrikers by Rachel Aaron.
You and I seem to have opposite opinions on erikson and cameron lol I’ve tried so many times to get into erikson (I have a friend who never shuts up about it) but just can’t get past the first novel. I currently am on the 4th book of the traitor son cycle
There are certainly series I've DNF'd too - there are so many books and series to read and so many always coming out, can't get to them all! Totally understandable!! A couple of these are on my radar to try out - ill be intrigued to see if I feel similarly to you.
Aww so sad about the "Codex Alera"! But I get your point. It's a series that's good when you start with fantasy and for me personally, it got better and better with each and every book. By the end of book 6 I was so sad that the series was over. XD I still need to finish the last book of "The Demon Cycle"! *lol* Thanks for reminding me! Great video, as always!
Thank you! And yeah! I think I should've started that series much earlier. It was one of the series that intrigued me since the first time I started reading fantasy novels seriously hahaha. Unfortunately, it didn't click with me after I've read more adult fantasy books. xD
Great video! My completionist gene stops me from DNFing books/series most of the time lol, I get annoyed with myself if I don't complete stuff. I do plan to read Codex soon though, after I finished Butcher's Dresden Files, so I'll reserve judgement on that one. One series I had to DNF after book 1 was the Witcher, maybe it was just the translation but I didn't click with it at all. Oh also, ICE's writing improves a lot even across the Malazan Empire novels and Path to Ascendancy, of course. Compared to Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard (which was actually originally written even before Gardens of the Moon), the difference in writing and story in books like Orb Sceptre Throne and Assail is _a lot_. I have those latter ones up with the MBotF books. Hope you return to the Malazan world eventually!
I feel the same. I also DNF'ed the Craft Sequence for two years but then picked it back up again this year. I have to push myself to keep going even though I'm not really into it.
The Witcher, it's the translation. Definitely. I spoke to some of my Polish friends and they are abhorred by it. Some even went so far as to say that the first two books (potentially three) are rather iffy.
Thank you, Pranav! Yeah, believe me, I have that completionist gene, too, and it has stopped me from DNFing a lot of series. Sometimes that worked in my favor, but honestly from my experience, they tend to not work in my favor. If the first two books weren't good already, the rest of the series very rarely gets better. The Witcher is still on my priority series to read, and many Polish readers have voiced how poor the translation is, so maybe that's the case. I'll make sure to enter with that in my mind. I think I will return to Malazan world eventually, just not from Malazan Empire first. It's quite reassuring to hear so many said that the series gets better after the second book, though. Return of the Crimson Guard was ridiculously bad, imo.
While I'm crushed on some of these (especially Caine!) I totally get it and that's why I admire you, you are not afraid to say it like it is and give up on books. Too many people keep reading stuff they don't love and I don't get it. I'm with you, stop reading, move on to something you will enjoy. I don't think there will ever be a dearth of good books. Great video, thanks! (Also, I pretty much only read the last Codex Alera book to complete the series, but I was done with it by book 4 if I'm really being honest)
Thank you so much, Bryce! Yeah, I saw your review on Blade of Tyshalle, and I'm pleased to hear that you loved it! I think if you followed my reviews since the beginning, you'll see that I used to always force myself to completing a series, even if I already dislike the first two books. I can't do that anymore, there are way too many great books, and I would rather spend my time reading through them.
Petrik, it's good to recognize when you've either lost interest or don't feel a book series is for you. I can't tell you the amount of series I've quit in the past after just reading the first book or two. Mostly because I made the mistake of reading the first book and then having to wait for the next book, which made me lose interest. As others have mentioned, there are sooooo many other books out there and more being published every month. We can't read them all, so we have to pick and choose.
I totally agree, Amy! And I know what you mean about being caught up in an ongoing series. I'm in the middle of so many ongoing series with the next book not published yet, and sometimes when the next book comes out, I've forgotten so many details. This is why I think it's incredibly important for authors/publishers to include detailed summaries of their previous books somewhere. We can't reread all books just for the sake of refreshing our memories and interest.
Great video! Gideon and Harrow are the only books I've read from this list. I loved Gideon and ended up liking Harrow; I totally get what you mean with Harrow. The rest of the series you mentioned aren't really on my radar so it seems like that's a good thing :D
Thank you! I really wanted to love Harrow the Ninth (that cover art is badass, too) but felt so sad that it disappointed me that much. I'm glad you liked both of them, though! :)
I am totally with you on Chorus of Dragons and Locked Tomb, both were too complex for the sake of being complex imo hahah I it was not a fun time for me. For some reason I rarely, if ever, DNF individual books, yet I drop series left and right. Sometimes it is simply because I did not like the first book, but very often it is because I lost interest over time or remember too little and don't care to refresh my memory with a reread. I really liked this video Petrik :)
Thank you, Esmay! I never liked books that's complex just for the sake of being complex. They felt pointless, and they decrease the quality of the book; that's what I think about A Chorus of Dragons and Harrow the Ninth. I totally agree with you, though. I've lost interest in plenty of series because I can't be bothered to reread the previous book to remember all the details again.
Off topic. You mentioned often about your favourite fantasy book cover artists. Maybe do one video about these artists, their styles, showcasing some of their covers across different books or series, share their websites, etc. Thanks!
I was just looking around at books and people's channels and ran across this. As far as fantasy goes, some of my absolute favorites are the rift war books (also referred to the Magician series) and the follow up Daughter series which imho is even better than the first and shows the same time frame as the original 3 books but from a different location and perspective. There is also a follow up with the original characters after the culmination of those 2 series which is great. A solo book I rarely ever see anyone mention is The Deed of Paksenarion (which may be an omnibus of 3 smaller books).
I absolutely love Riftwar Empire trilogy, Paul! I've heard about Deed of Paksenarion, but definitely not often. I'll have to acquire that book someday! :)
I believe you so I'm def not going to start any of these 😅🤣 Unfortunately, I don't think I will finish the Wheel of Time. I really disliked the 1st book and my expectation was just so high that I really can't deal with being disappointed again 😒
😂😂 Thank you, Crystal! If any of these do interest you someday, i hope you'll enjoy them more than I did! I think the 2nd book of WoT is still worth the try to see how you feel about it. That's where the series start to take its shape, but yeah, don't force yourself if you don't feel like it! 😄
I've only read those first two Malazan Empire books too. I still intend to finish the series (I'm not giving up yet!) but I do keep finding reasons to put off reading book 3!
Two series I recommend to you to try when you get around to your 400+ TBR pile, are Tyrants and Kings trilogy by John Marco and Winds of the Forelands by David B. Coe Tyrants and Kings - gritty military fantasy mixed with grey characters in a unique setting with a lot of political intrigue Winds of the Forelands - political intrigue, double crossing, even triple crossing at times with a good dose of drama. Similar to the Long Price Quartet in some ways but a little more complex.
Most of these I never heard of. Three I have, of which I've read only one: Raymond Feist's Magician series. I love Feist and have read maybe a dozen of his books by now. I will be finishing his series on Midkemia.
I mean, Jim Butcher wrote Codex Alera on a bet :D. He said you can write about anything so someone said: Pokemon meets the missing roman legion. And that's where Codex Alera comes from. I definitely agree that it's not his best work, not by a long shot.
Fair play to all of these! I will say, Esslemont gets drastically better AFTER return of the crimson guard. It’s still not Erikson but it gets very enjoyable. I enjoyed night of knives but didn’t love rotcg. You just have to know Esslemont is definitely a different experience to Erikson.
Thank you, Jake! Yeahh, it's just difficult sometimes; from reading the first two books, there's this lingering feeling that I want ALL the books in Malazan to be written by Erikson instead. Hopefully IF I do continue with Malazan Empire one day, I'll like book 3 and 4 much more. Who knows, I thought I'm done with Wheel of Time, too, now after 3 years I want to continue again. xD
Awesome thoughts on these books Petrik. I’m giving Malazan a second try next year. I really liked Three Parts Dead, so I’m going to try and finish the craft sequence. We’ll see though. LitRPG in general is difficult for me to get into. I was going to try Andrew Rowe, so I still will. I DNFd Riftwar after book one. Just had no interest. I’m also not going to read the Black Company.
Thank you so much, Chas! I actually liked Three Parts Dead, but yeah the 2nd book disappointed me so much! 😅 hopefully you'll enjoy the series more! And good luck with Malazan again!
Damn, some heavy-hitters on this list. Especially the Craft Sequence is a sad loss, but the books do vary in quality. Still, I always found it to be a quite unique series, well worth the read. I totally understand Codex Alera though. I read it after the Dresden Files and am still fighting through it (4/6 books done). It's not bad, but it's just not something special.
Regardless of what I think of Craft Sequence, I think it certainly has some of the most refreshing ideas in SFF. It's a huge part of why I'm drawn to it in the first place. But yeah, I couldn't seem to connect with the characters and storyline. And yeah, Dresden Files is a better series than Codex Alera. Which is odd coming from me because I tend to prefer epic fantasy than UF. 😂
I’ve been going back and forth on whether to read chorus of dragons and now I don’t think I will. Who knows, I may change my mind in the future but for now, I’m going to focus on other things. Great video, Petrik🥰
This was a very useful video, Petrik! I haven’t read any books you mentioned because I tend to choose Petrik approved fantasy reads 🙈 I’m wary otherwise. I actually DNFed for the first time last week, and it was actually a book that has SUPER HIGH ratings and good reviews, and on your TBR as well…… I felt a bit bad after but I really couldn’t continue 🥲 Also, I’ve been staring at your kaonashi sculpture for the past few videos. It’s super cute 🥰
Thank you so much, Estela! I'm glad you put that much trust in my reading taste! 🥲 No worries about DNFing, though. It was painful for me to do the first time, too, but after a while... I just don't care anymore. No one is giving back the time I spent on reading books I don't like, I better make use of my time carefully to actually read books I'm interested enough to read. And yeah, I got that Kaonashi in Korea. So adorable, and the lamp can be turned on!
Wheel of Time is the big one for me. I haven't heard any good things or anything interesting about Traitor's Son Cycle, though I have heard good things about his Historical-Fiction.
I haven't read The Wheel of Time for 3 years now, I think, and I plan to change that next year. Let's see whether it will go to the DNF pile or not. That being said, I definitely can't recommend Traitor's Son Cycle. His historical fiction books sounds amazing, though!
Same for me. I just can't motivate myself to pick up WoT. I usually tend to prefer Grimdark-ish fantasy anyway and the fact that most people, even the ones who love WoT, keep talking about 'the slump' which takes for about a quarter of the whole series isn't particularly endearing to me. Another thing is that the series is finished by Sanderson, and, so far, I could not connect with any of his fantasy books. In fact, Mistborn was probably my biggest let-down while reading fantasy - now that I think about it, me not having finished (and probably never will) the first Mistborn trilogy is probably a second big one on my list.
I even tried listening to the audiobooks of WoT, but I ditched them way after the slump, when they are supposed to be good. I really don't find anything special or worthwhile in this series (apart from the first book).
@@Grimscribe732 I stand in awe of fandom for Mistborn as well but respect it. I am about to jump into WoT as well but mostly to see how it compares to the Amazon series.
Thank you, Petrik. I hated Eragon. I was ready to love Christopher Paolini because publishing a bestselling novel as a teenager was indeed impressive. But then I read the book and it was awful, and I knew that it was the hype that propelled the book to bestseller status. For so many years I have been mystified by all the passionate adoration for The Inheritance series. I am so happy to have watched your video to the end!
Hahah, you're welcome, James. I think the series is just a series that's better to be read when you're young and haven't read many adult fantasy series yet. I know a lot of readers found their love for reading fantasy through reading Eragon when they were young. :)
@@PetrikLeo I was among that group Petrik! I enjoy the series because of the nostalgia. Back then I’d only read The Hobbit and Harry Potter, so the very generic world was totally fresh and magical to me. I still recommend the series to people who are wanting to get into fantasy, but I entirely agree that it’s not a good pick for people who are familiar with fantasy already.
I DNFed Feist's Magician at the halfway point (or the end of the first book as they were originally published). The writing does shows its age, and, whilst some parts I really enjoyed, when it jumps forward in time I found it hard to care about what was happening. You aren't missing much by not finishing Eragon either - I read the first two books as a kid when they came out, but never finished. I decided earlier this year to give them a go just to find out what happens, and about 100 hours of audiobook later, I can say you aren't missing much. Lots of redundant sidequests with no payoff, OTT descriptions of details that aren't important, only for the climactic showdown with the main antagonist to feel quite rushed and underwhelming. Thankfully the audiobook narration is outstanding!
Thank you for your comment, Simon! Yeah, I totally agree with you regarding Magician. I managed to finish the entirety of it, but it was full of struggle. After the timeskip, I also don't like Pug's character development. He became someone completely different that he doesn't even feel like the same character anymore. And I definitely won't continue with Eragon! xD
Totally relate with you.. there are so many awesome fantasy books out there ... and so little time 😃. So no point of continuing if you are not enjoying it . For me it's Wheel of Time ! I will watch the TV series instead 😉
Exactly, Charles! The Wheel of time TV series is different in a LOT of ways to the books, but I think if we can separate the books and the adaptation, it's enjoyable! :)
You read the Empire series before reading Riftwar? That's crazy talk. Riftwar is fantastic. After that, Krondor's Sons and Serpentwar are also great. Things drop off a bit after those , but the first 8-ish of the Midkemia books are so good.
No i didnt. I read only the first book in Riftwar Saga and DNFed the series. I didn't like it, the writing felt outdated and I couldn't care about the characters. I'm glad you loved it, though, I know it's a well loved series by many people! 😁
I have a feeling I too won't be continuing with Locked Tomb any time soon. I read Gideon and thought it was OK but a bit flat then I heard Harrow was quite divisive because it's overly confusing and I didn't feel the urge to run out and buy a copy. Gideon is very memorable and because of that I might try Harrow one day but maybe once the series is all released.
A Chorus Of Dragons is on my TBR so... we'll see if I can muddle through the confusion!🤯And I agree with you about G.G.K.'s Tigana being good but the rest being quite questionable😓(And again, thank you for shouting out the Empire Trilogy, it needs all the love every time!💖) Now each time I hear about Paolini I just think back to the cover nonsense of To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars you covered in your other video🤣
Maybe you'll enjoy A Chorus of Dragons more than I did. It's so unfortunate regarding GGK, I really like reading his prose but yeah, not much else... As for Paolini, the spine of his book still haunt me to this day. 🤣
Enjoyed this, Petrik! My intro to fantasy was the Riftwar Saga and I enjoyed it fine but suspect I'd be more negative after reading some of the modern day heavy hitters. Agree that Riftwar Empire was much better. The Krondor's Sons duopoly is next up; recently read the first book Prince of the Blood and it was okay but does feel dated. Think the completionist in me will eventually finish book 2 but in no rush. Think I'm also with you on the Locked Tomb, book 1 was a struggle but a good pay off but not convinced I'll continue. Interested to hear your thoughts on Malazan Empire, I'll try it for myself after finishing the big ten.
Thank you so much, Andy! I think Riftwar Saga would work nicely as an introduction to the fantasy genre. It's one of those books that would work better if you haven't read much of the genre, imo. Riftwar Empire is timeless, though! I hope your journey through Midkemia will be great, and I'm glad you agree with me regarding Locked Tomb! :)
You’re very generous with the amount of series you cover, maybe try splitting the video or making it a series with parts. That way you can spend a bit more time lightly discussing the aspects of the books that didn’t sit well with you as a reader It would be cool to then have things you would recommend for the book reader who is looking for a Malazan replacement for example. Just subbed
thanks for the subs! Yeah, that's what I wanted to do, but at the same time I think they'll be too lengthy. There were more series I wanted to include on this video, but I think I'll leave them for future videos. I also have written a full spoiler-free review for ALL of these series that I DNFed on my Goodreads page. I'll take your advice into account, though, for my next video on this topic!
@@PetrikLeo i will definitely be checking out your other videos, so apologise if your previous videos cover my thought. I just thought you covered so much that you could have done it in two videos and the quality would still be there but I am not complaining 😌
Controversial, but I would have to say the Farseer trilogy for me 😬. I read the first book a few months ago, but I don’t know yet if I want to continue reading it. Fitz is an OK character, I’m not really attached to him. Not really attached to anyone. Which sucks because I can do character driven books over plot anytime. I don’t care for animal companions, and I feel like this series might have that. The magic isn’t really cool to me. But the only reason I would want to continue is for the mystery of the Fool. And I liked the way everything wrapped up at the end of the first book. Saved it to 3 stars.
Ouch, controversial indeed! 😆 But no worries, it is your opinion after all and you have the right to it! At least there are some parts of it that you still like! 😁
I actually started Eragon as a teen but he took so long to get the fourth book out that I had lost interest. I bought it when it came out but I still haven't read it. One day maybe...
These types of videos always fill me with dread in case one of my favorites are on it :P but crazily enough I haven't read a single book on this list!! There are a couple I'm still interested in, like Black Company and Locked Tomb, but overall I'm probably going to trust you on the majority of these :P
Whew, i thought you're going to complain on one of these series again. 😅 Well, if you do give any of them an attempt, Black Company and Locked Tomb included, I hope they'll work out better for you.
We both have similar dnf list 😀 I only completed Codex of Alera series out of this list and I liked it very much but I was a teenager when I read that series.
Interesting that you say you liked GGKs prose but not the story so much. I personally love the Sarantine Mosaic. It's my favourite of all his writing, even more so than Tigana or Al Rassan. I only didn't like his early work with the fionavar tapestry.
Hi Petrik, I literally finished Heroes Die on Tuesday - I enjoyed it, pity about the other parts of the series. I do agree the first one ended neatly. I am surprised Terry Goodkind is not on this list or is he to bad to even consider 8-). I DNF'd The Lays of Anuskaya series, the Wizards of Earthsea series and while not even a full novel I dnf'd This Is How You Lose the Time War
Who knows, you might love the sequels to Heroes Die more than I did, Stephen. As for Goodkind, I couldnt even finish Sword of Truth that I couldn't even say that I've started the series. 🤣🤣
Hey Petrik, there is a fantasy series that I think you will love - but it's not like a real book: Attack on Titan. I think the TV show adaptation is better but, I genuinely think you'll enjoy the manga.
Oh, that's one of my favorite anime. I've read the manga 2 times now. I'm in the middle of watching Attack on Titan for the 3rd time now in preparation for the final season next month. From the beginning again! 😉
Completely understand DNFing The Acts of Caine though I would recommend at least finishing book 2 as it has one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read. The last 2 books on the other hand went way too far on the metaphysical themes trend that started in book 2. The final one in particular had parts that were borderline incomprehensible and there were some "revelations" about Caine that did not sit well with me.
@@PetrikLeo I liked it but for me personally it has too much war-focus and the writing style could be more unique/personal to each character, but I think the author shows a ton of promise A shame that series isn't very talked about
One series I read 3 of 6, but just didn't feel invested in going on to finish the series. I've come to realize, I read for fun and for good story telling adventure😊
Patrik what do u think about dune? I finished the first book and I liked the story and the world but the writing style was too bad that it would make the book boring and became a disappointment for me
I liked Dune! Some of the execution felt a bit outdated but overall i liked it. No need to force yourself if it doesn't work for you, though. I doubt I'll be continuing with the series anytime soon, too. 😅
Even before I clicked on your video I knew that ‘The Locked Tomb’ is going to be on this list. 😂 ‘Gideon the ninth’ was really unique and interesting. The second book ‘Harrow the ninth’ was like reading someone’s fever dream.
Same feelings about Guy Gavriel Kay, i read Tigana and The Lion and was bored to the bones. Understood absolutely nothing because I connected with no one and didn't care about the story (it actually felt like they had no story, haha).
Hahaha! Glad I'm not the only one. If even Tigana doesn't click with you, I doubt the rest of his works will. I've tried 4 of his books, and all of them have the same issues. Maybe not so much on Tigana, but yeah the problem is there.
I agree Codex is rather entry level. I’m really glad I read the entire series about 5 years ago. If I tried to read the series now I would probably DNF it.
I actually agree with you for the arcane ascension series. The third book fell throughly flat. It felt like he was mostly trying to promote the standoff series within that book. Which was disappointing
I couldn't even finish the third book. It felt like the story was going absolutely nowhere. I'm not even sure what was the point of the book, from what I've read anyway.
I feel the same about Acts of Caine. Loved the first, second was okay and DNF'd the third. Life is too short and our TBR piles too big to spend time completing series just to complete them 😁.
Regarding Eragon, the first book is DEFINITELY childish, but there is significant jump in the second book and it gets progressively better as Christopher grows both in age and his writing ability.
Oh interesting. I think this is the first time I heard someone said that. I have his newest book, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. So maybe I'll check out his writing there first! :)
Oh no, quite a bit of series that are on my TBR 😂 I will still give them a try myself, but this does decreases my hype a little bit (which isn't a bad thing, it's good knowing the faults of a series before going in in my opinion). A Chorus of Dragons is on my audiobook TBR but after hearing you say that it's quite difficult with different timelines etc I don't know if that's the best way to read this series. Might have to switch to physical books! I have the Traitor Baru Cormorant on my shelves as well, I heard that it has a lot of amazing political intrigue but if the ending is predictable I don't know how that can be... I also decided to quite the Riftwar Saga... After reading 80 pages of Magician haha. I really didn't like the book so I don't see myself reading 20ish? books in that series.
Definitely still give them a try, Jolien. You might feel different about them. I do think A Chorus of Dragons will be better experienced through non-audiobook method, though. As for Traitor Baru, it seems like many readers were shocked by the ending, so I could be the only one feeling this way... And agree so much on Riftwar Saga hahaha.
A Chorus of Dragons; I stop reading after book 2, i postpone it to let the last book be published first, but then, after i drop it..... i am somewhat forgot some of the story line; and too lazy to reread the first book again, so yes, i drop the series too lol. Tigana the only book i read from guy, i dnf, and yes its so beautifully written, he just need an assistant to give him a more likeable character for his book; then its all will be golden
I won’t continue with Sufficiently books after the first one. I thought it was ok but too much like a video game. Wasn’t for me. I’m considering reading Gideon, but unsure. I read Magician/Apprentice and thought it was good but not enough to continue. Too dated I think. I’ll give Riftwar Empire a shot. Although I’ve read other older fantasies which I enjoyed like Memory, Sword, and Thorn. I recommend a new fantasy writer Zach Argyle and Voice of War is his first in Threadlight trilogy. I think you’ll really really like it!
On that front of it being similar to video game, Arcane Ascension got even worse in the second and third book. By the third book, I don't even know what the author is trying to achieve anymore. And yeah, Riftwar definitely felt outdated to me. As you said, there are other older epic fantasy series that stand the test of time, but imo Riftwar doesn't. I know about Argyle's series! I might get to that trilogy next year! :)
Unfortunately, I won't finish Malazan. Book two just wasn't for me. Maybe I will go with a "lighter" fantasy series, but I only have Peter V. Bretts I think it's called demon circle series first book here at the moment.
No need to push yourself through Malazan if you don't like it. The series gets more complex with each book, I doubt you'll like it if you don't like the first few books already. Ah Demon Cycle, the first book is at least really good, I think you'll love that! 😄
Yeahhh, I'm sad about it too. I loved the first book, but I feel the series has lost its way in its own worldbuilding. Especially the third book which entirely felt like filler from what I can tell. 🥲
Eragon and Eldest were a very strong and solid foundation, but brisingr ended up being a massive filler book and inheritance was better, but ultimately a very predictable and unexciting conclusion. Starting that series at 24 was not one of my better ideas 😂
@@edsheeran1243 ?? I can definitely understand your other drawbacks but in terms of ending you're definitely in the minority opinion there. It's regarded as one of the stronger aspects of the series in general.
I don't know why people hate Brisingr so much, I actually liked the final two books way more than the first ones, in the beginning there were many similarities with other sagas, but with Brisingr it started to take its own path. One of the things I love the most about the Inheritance Cycle is the magic system, I think it's explained properly and it kinda makes sense to me.
@@tatianasalazar4066 brisingr does have a couple of really good moments, but it really feels like an 800 page book that should have been a 200 page one instead. Inheritance was good, but just a very generic and predictable ending for a very generic and predictable series. Like I said earlier, I probably would have liked that series a lot more if I had started it as a kid instead of at age 24
100% on Gideon and Harrow! Also as soon as I started reading Harrow and saw it was in 2nd person, I knew the “twist”. Convoluted and murky, the story and characters were just a slog in that second book.
Agreed. Honestly, it all just felt unnecessary to be that complicated, too. I didn't get a lot of impact from the revelation, and in the end it all just felt like a waste of time to go through all of that nonsense. That's my issue with it.
I do not know that the author was inspired by Black Company. Yeah, I have agreed with you on Jim Butcher's YA book. I DNF'ed Furies of Calderon,because I found the book very sexist and the plot was confusing.
@@PetrikLeo Well, Codex Alera was felt like I wasn't reading a YA fantasy,because some parts had felt like reading a Thriller and other parts felt like reading a Paranormal romance. I thought the book was totally mess. I wish Jim Butcher should leave those parts out.
it took me a month to read tigana. the prose is beautiful but the characters and the story were so boring i'm surprise it only took me a month to wade through it. i don't think i'm ever going to try a book buy ggk again unfortunately
I think if you dislike Tigana, none of his books will click with you. Tigana is often recommended as the best starting point for his work, and I enjoyed it very much. But yeah, as I said, I dislike all of his other works that i tried.
@@PetrikLeo I'd heard so many great things about it. Honestly after finally finishing it I was just sad; I really thought I was going to find a new favorite author. Oh well hahaha
@@PetrikLeo The Fionavar Tapestry is the GGK series that I've always heard recommended as the starting point to his work. I read it back in high school and really liked it. Later on I read Last Light of the Sun and wasn't as happy. I didn't DNF it, but it also landed pretty flat with me. I'll be reading Tigana sometime in 2022 and we'll see if it goes any better.
It's so unfortunate! I truly wanted to love this series, too, and I really love the second book! But generally, Glen Cook's writing style just doesn't gel with me. :/ I'm glad it's one of your favorite series, though!
@@PetrikLeo The Chronicles is the original trilogy than the authors wrote the Legends Trilogy, but many years later they wrote the Lost Chronicles Trilogy which fills in missing story lines from the Chronicles, so there is 9 books right there. As far as another series called The Legend of Drizzt, read the first book called "Homeland" but maybe that is all. They have that Spider Kingdom Trilogy though too but I forget what those books are called and I never read them yet. Yeah Dragonlance is actually very well written by good authors.
I have no interest in any of these series personally sooooo... We're all good Petrik 😂😂 as we know, this channel is purely designed for me so that's all that matters 😂
Ian C. Esslemont is not the same writer as Steven Erikson, but he does get better. It takes him 2-3 or books to hit his stride. In fact, I would say RotCG is my least favorite in the NotME. It's a bit of a mess with a lot of locations and characters. The later books in NotME are shorter in length (600 pages or so) and have a more manageable number of characters and locations. Books 4-5 were excellent in my opinion. Dancer's Lament is definitely a viable entry point to ICE's books, too. It's definitely a better "first book" than NoK although not as good as GotM. The Path to Ascendancy books are shorter still (400 pages), which helps. But really the key to enjoying ICE is to manage your expectations. He's not SE, he tends to pull back from those absolutely gut-wrenching moments that rip your heart out. But I would say he is SE's equal in world-building, following up on the continents, heroes/ascendants, realms, etc. that were set-up or foreshadowed in MBotF. And of course it is canon.
"But really the key to enjoying ICE is to manage your expectations. He's not SE, he tends to pull back from those absolutely gut-wrenching moments that rip your heart out. " THIS. This so much, Richard. You're absolutely right on this. It might be because I was too amazed by Book of the Fallen back then, moving to Night of Knives gave me that expectation that it would be another Erikson experience, but after trying that and Return of the Crimson Guard (agree with all your reasons) I just couldn't push myself anymore. I think i will try Path to Ascendancy and see how I feel about it. I'm still in the middle of rereading Malazan Book of the Fallen very slowly. I'm up to House of Chains right now! :)
I definitely agree here. There’s a jarring change from Erikson to ICE. And the problem with the ROTCG is that ICE tries to emulate Erikson. Once he stopped doing that, I think ICE really finds his footing. From Stonewielder on, the series finds its flow. I do think that readers who give up on ICE because he’s not Erikson misses out on so much unexplored parts of the Malazan world. They’re two very different authors, but ICE’s books brings so much worldbuilding into the universe too. He’ll never be waxing poetic like Erikson, but that’s okay. I still like how he writes characters and action scenes. In fact, I think ICE writes some of the characters better (like Dancer and Kelleved).
@@kirihara120 noted! Believe me, I really wanted to love his books, too. But I don't think I can bring myself to read Malazan Empire again at the moment. I definitely will try from Path to Ascendancy instead and see whether I can like that or not. Getting the background of Dancer and Kellanved are too good to miss!
@@PetrikLeo oh yeah it’s fun seeing young Dancer and Kellanved in Path. It seems Erikson will keep developing the future stories like Karsa’s trilogy and super old lore like Kharkanas (whenever the third book comes out). ICE looks like he will continue writing about the Old Guard’s full history and how they built such an empire.
Unlike many, I enjoyed Codex Alera. Not a big fan of urban fantasy, so Dresden Files is a waste on me. I am glad that everyonr reads what they personely like.
I'm usually the same. I love urban epic fantasy but not a huge fan of urban fantasy, but I personally think that Butcher is much better at writing UF than epic fantasy. Just my opinion of course! :D
Very interesting list here...and I agree with your reasoning on most of these series and as to why you may not/will not, continue them. The only two I would like to weigh in on are: 1) I know Blade of Tyshalle is vastly different than Heroes Die; much more philosophical, drastic change of pace, many other differentiators. However, I think if you stick it out until about 2/3 of the way through, you'll get back to the AWE THAT'S SO COOL feeling you had with much of Heroes Die...a feeling that I believe continues through Caine Black Knife and Caine's Law. 2) The difference between Erikson and Esslemont when it comes to the Malazan books, is, unfortunately, truly recognizable. That being said, while I'm not a fan in the least of Esslemont's Malazan Empire works, his Path to Ascendancy trilogy (which focuses on Kellanved and Dancer before Shadowthrone/Cotillion') may be worth your time. Keep the reviews coming! D
Thank you for weighing in, Derek! Like you and a few other commenters said, it seems like it will be worth it to at least finish Blade of Tyshalle. So think I'll do that eventually. As for book 3 and book 4, that remains to be seen! 😆 I will definitely try Path to Ascendancy one day! No idea when yet but someday. I'll keep my reviews coming! 😄
@@PetrikLeo If you manage to finish of Blade of Tyshalle, I guarantee that Black Knife and Caine's Law will just slip into place. The middle 1/2 -2/3 of Tyshalle are the only impediment in the series ;-)~ Anyway, good stuff from you, and by the way, have you read The Library at Mt. Char, by Scott Hawkins? Maybe I missed it, but man, that seems so right up your alley...
Out of those books I can't say alot of most of those series since I didn't read them yet but for the few I did I will give my 2 cents. As for the GGK books I can understand ppl not enjoying him as much since he's a little different then regular Fantasy books not just by the construction but also with the characters development and I can see ppl not enjoying it as much as I did when reading it. As for the ICE books it's known that the first 2 books by him are his weakest and he's improving with every book PtA is his most current work so it's aline with that that they are his best work but some of the plot that missing in SE books is only completed in the Malazan Empire books... As for Codex Alera I just finished the first 2 books and with all the predictability I still realy enjoyed it but I still can't say anything about the series as a whole.
Yeahh, for Guy Gavriel Kay, I have a more detailed thoughts on my Goodreads review, but generally I have issue with his pacing and characterizations. As for ICE, it seems like I stopped at his weakest book. I don't know when I'll ever attempt his books again, but if I do, it will be from Path to Ascendancy because if Path to Ascendancy doesn't even click with me, I doubt I'll enjoy Malazan Empire. xD
@@PetrikLeo PtA is good and introduces the characters that ICE is following in his books so then when you know those characters it's easier to follow them in Malazan Empire's books (and yes RotCG was his first book so in a way it's the weakest one) and that before you get all the shared characters between that and MBotF
Almost every book reviewer on UA-cam seems to not be able to finish Eragon. I honestly don’t understand why. It’s a very familiar type of story but with a Dragon instead of one of the other types of companions like a wizard. It get better with each book it’s like the story grows up with the author and it has so many epic moments in the last 2 books. Maybe I just love coming of age story’s and Dragons. Even though I’ve now read hundreds of fantasy books since my first time reading Eragon, It had everything i look for in a story and is still one of my all time favorites, and most books don’t live up to it to me. . Would I have had a hard time getting through it if I read it for the first time now? Maybe, but it’s such an easy read I’d still finish it. I just don’t understand the hate. Is it too similar to other story’s? Is it to simple? The first one was always my least favorite but I still can read through it and enjoy it.
I think when it comes to Eragon, the nostalgia and the moment you first read it is hugely important. As you said, if you've read this for the first time now after reading adult fantasy books, you might have a hard time getting through it. It is still an easy read, but I think you will realize there's more issues to it. And this brings the second problem that I (and I think other readers) have with it: the writing. It is, to put it kindly, a book written by a teenager (WHICH is actually pretty impressive to be able to finish and publish a high fantasy book at that age) but again, the quality really shows. That's my opinion. :)
@@PetrikLeo It does seem to be the more popular opinion in well read circles so I’m sure you are right. Though I’ve re read it 3 times and loved it each time. I really enjoy the last 2 books and those are the ones no one ever gets too though. He grew so much as a writer from the first to the second book then a huge amount to the third. Maybe it just that I love that type of story so much and haven’t found any like it. Specifically a young man and his Dragon (who have a beautiful relationship) fighting in huge battles and becoming more and more powerful until the pair of them are second to no one except the villain. If you know anything like that I have missed that is way better please let me know. Because I consider myself very well read and the only other fairly good Dragon series I’ve read was the Temeraire series (and while technically written better, I didn’t enjoy the story as much) and a bunch of others were the dragons are part of the story but not main characters. I tried to read Ann McCaffrey’s series but couldn’t get into it. Also before anyone judges me to hard I’m not just obsessed with Dragons I just love them and wish I had more quality Dragon fantasy to dig into. Most of the stuff i read has nothing to do with dragons. My favorite series is Wheel of Time.
Holy cow, the Traitor Baru Cormorant is probably my favorite fantasy novel of the 2010s and IMO a perfect 10/10 novel. Just goes to show how tastes can differ! To answer your question about its popularity, I think it is fairly popular but a long wait between the 1st and 2nd books and an undeniable sequel slog (redeemed with the 3rd book which completes the 2nd book's arc; they were originally one but split in two for publishing reasons).
Yeahhh! I really WANT to love Traitor Baru Cormorant, but the writing style just doesn't fit my reading taste. As we all always say, reading taste differs! And thanks for the explanation. I didn't know Monster Baru took a long time to be released!
Yep, too much to read and not enough years in this lifetime to consume it all. I just hope your viewers don't give you too much hassle... or I'll find them and hack their accounts, lol So, you still haven't scared me off of Esselmont or Guy Gavriel Kay. I haven't read their work yet, but plan to. I feel like Esselmont will be a more digestible Malazan read, which will be a welcome break from Erikson (nothing bad towards Erikson, I enjoy book of the fallen). And I heard Nicholas Eames praise GGK, which got me interested, and I purchased Tigana and The Last Light of the Sun. The latter sounds like something I will enjoy because I love Viking and Norse culture. But... we'll see, right?
Hahahaha! Most of my viewers are really nice, tbh, I'm really glad that I seem to gather mostly the great kind of readers. One commenter here said I probably just hate fantasy because I decided to DNF 15 series, but other than that everyone has been super nice and understanding. Do let me know your thoughts on both Esslemont and Guy Gavriel Kay. I definitely think you should give both of them a try, especially GGK's books which are loved by a lot of readers. :)
I must say I forced myself to read more than half of Night of Knives and DNF'd ... And it's extremely unsusual for me to not finish a book. In the unlikely case you change your mind, I must say I read Orb, Scepter, Throne and it was decent. So if you are really interested in some specific characters/arcs/stuff from the series, I'd even suggest skipping the first few books.
That's not a bad idea. I've read the first book already anyway, and people have said the series improved so much on the third book and beyond. Not sure when yet, but I'll keep this in mind if I do attempt Malazan Empire again someday. Right now, my reading mood doesn't have any interest for it. xD
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I never thought I’d dnf a book or a series. But I came to realize after forcing myself to finish some books that it made me miserable. I vocalize while reading so I read slowly and time is too short. I’ve learned to prioritize my reading list and focus on enjoyment rather than accomplishment. I’ve even reread 7 books this year and loved them just as much as the first time.
I used to be that way, and sometimes I still am. But now, with more than 400 books in my TBR pile, yeahhh nope. If a series doesn't have enough merit to make me want to continue, I'll drop them. And reread is something amazing. I love rereading, I wish I have more time to do it more often! 😄
@@PetrikLeo
Rise Buddy
I'm 43 years old Rise Buddy. I've read a tremendous amount of books, as of last count close to 3000. In my late teens, twenties and early thirties, I read 2-5 books a week, even working full-time. Now, that is impossible. My mind isn't as sharp, I have too many other responsibilities, too many other hobbies, and even skimming/speed-reading can't compensate for all that. So I had to make peace with the fact that if a book doesn't grab me, and grab me HARD, in the first 3 chapters, I'm not going to finish it. 10 years ago, I felt really guilty about that. Now, I don't feel guilty at all. Even authors I've read for 3+ decades will come out with a book that just isn't for me, and I don't feel bad about not finishing it. Time is just too precious to spend on something that you aren't passionate about. Take that for what it's worth ;-)~
@Akeelzzz Read the first 5 book in the shade of vampire series and first 2 in the broken empire trilogy. reading up to book 8 and finishing the trilogy before I read new books 👍
Another great topic. And some easy choices from me:
Lightbringer - Brent Weeks (seriously, Brent...what happened?)
Demon Cycle - Peter V. Brett (why make your most interesting character a tertiary character after book 1? Literally no one cares about Inevera)
Poppy War - RF Kuang (I do know that you loved it, so I am sorry, but it just didn't work for me through book 2. Rin is the worst)
Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini (not hating, I just think I waited too long to read it and I'm just not the target demo)
Kingkiller - Patrick Rothfuss (because he won't finish it so I don't have a choice...I'll be here all week!)
Thanks, Mike! I think this is a great idea for a video, you should create one, too!
For Lightbringer, I completely agree that it's not worth it reading through the end; I still enjoyed the last book but I had a lot of issues with it, too. The same goes fro Demon Cycle (honestly I doubt I'll be reading any more Brett's books).
As for The Poppy War, no worries, I totally understand how INFURIATING Rin was in the second book. Even though I know it's intentional for her to be that annoying and infuriating, it was still torturous to read her story in The Dragon Republic. I think this is a series I couldn't reread just because I don't know whether I can tolerate Rin again over there. 😂
Even you can’t read everything, Petrik! 😁 I personally love Esslemont’s Novels of the Malazan Empire, and I’ll say that books three and four were some of my favorite Malazan books. Path to Ascendancy is fantastic, in my opinion, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it if you try it. Cheers, my friend!
Thank you, my friend! hahaha, if only I'm immortal, I would've been able to read all the books i want to! 😁 It's good to hear everyone's voicing that the third and fourth book of Malazan Empire improved a lot, I really dislike the first two books. But I think I'll try Path to Ascendancy first when i get back to the Malazan world! :)
@@PetrikLeo I second Philip's comment. I'm rereading the entire Malazan universe books, and yes the third book Stonewielder is just markedly better than the first two books.
There is so much to read out there. Knowing that series don’t work for you just let’s you move onto reads you LOVE!
Totally agree👍
Hear hear!! 😄
@@PetrikLeo everything you dropped and I also read I also dropped lol
My completionism disagreed with me too many times on this but I am trying to learn.
@@Morfeusm it's a learning process. I used to be so fixed on that, too. 😅
Love your new angle! I completely agree that if you aren't going back to something no one should feel they have to. Reading should be for fun and enjoyment. I don't dnf much but trying to more if I don't enjoy like I did with codex alera and absolutely understand not reading Harrow the ninth!❤️
Thank you so much, Ellyn! Yeah, definitely don't push yourself into reading something that you have no interest in anymore. I used to persist, but only a few of them ended up working in my favor, and now there are so many books on my TBR, too.
I am going with The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Even though I know I want to read the last book in this series, yet I will not be able to read it because it will never come out.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hahaha, fair enough!
Petrik, I may not always agree with you... however I have been following your Goodreads reviews for years. Hope you receive much with your Booktube channel. Love you, man!
Thanks, Brian! I don't mind disagreement. It will be impossible to agree on everything, and I think we can disagree on things politely anyway. I don't receive much from my channel, but I receive enough from it to buy books. 😆
Omg I’m soooo with you on The Ruin of Kings! So unnecessarily convoluted! 🤦♀️
I would've loved it if it wasn't that convoluted. The thing is, there's no impact on the convergence. Just felt unnecessary overall. 😅
Same. I DNFd at like 40 pages.
Great video! You took a bludgeon to a bunch of books I already have on the shelf in my physical tbr, so I hope I like those more than you did! Return of the Crimson Guard is by far the worst Malazan book I've read, and Stonewielder and particularly Orb Sceptre Throne I still think would be very worth reading--OST gets much more into the Seguleh and Moranth cultures and history, and that is really not to be missed for any big Malazan fan
I hope you'll like them more than I did! And seriously, I thought I was hallucinating when I read RotCG, it felt like Esslemont tried to emulate Erikson's style but failing hard at it. So cool to hear that OST is about Seguleh and Moranth, though! Damnnn whattt. I love Seguleh!!
@@PetrikLeo yah I felt the exact same way about RotCG -- which was weird since Night of Knives felt like Esslemont established his own style, but then he tried out Erikson's and it was a total fail. OST is a return to ICE's own fast-paced style I think with fewer POVs, and one of those POVs is a Seguleh one!
Great list and I actually agree with a lot of picks! Only one I would hardly disagree with is the inheritance cycle/eragon! The first book is definetly the worst one in the saga and you can clearly see the influences (if you can still call it that way, it's more of a mashup of a lot of stories lol).
But in my opinion, this improves a lot in the second book and even more in the third (which is my personal favorite)! Paolini finds his voice as an author and knows his world and characters much better. I encourage you to give the series another try in the future!!! It's not that Eragon is a BAD book per se, but it's obvious how young and inexperienced paolini was when he wrote it.
Thank you so much! I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to continue reading Inheritance Cycle. Despite my feelings on Eragon, I am still impressed that he was able to get a book published at such a young age, though! :)
@@PetrikLeo i feel the same! It's so great and inspired me a lot when I was younger to write stories myself :)
The improvement from book 1 to book 2 is huge in my opinion and the second book is definetly more unique, has fun storylines and multiple POVs. Eragon's cousin is probably one of my favorite characters in the series and it's great to follow him in the second book
I with you up to Bad Company I've read that not completed it but I love it. Still love your video keep the coming can I make a request I'm a urban fantasy nutcase could you let us what urban fantasy books you like ty in advance
Urban fantasy taking place in our world? I haven't read too many of them. The one that stood out to me the most are Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Ethereal Earth by Josh Erikson, and Heartstrikers by Rachel Aaron.
You and I seem to have opposite opinions on erikson and cameron lol I’ve tried so many times to get into erikson (I have a friend who never shuts up about it) but just can’t get past the first novel. I currently am on the 4th book of the traitor son cycle
Hahaha that's interesting! It's good that you enjoyed Traitor's Son Cycle, though. I really wish I did! :)
There are certainly series I've DNF'd too - there are so many books and series to read and so many always coming out, can't get to them all! Totally understandable!!
A couple of these are on my radar to try out - ill be intrigued to see if I feel similarly to you.
Hear hear, Kisti! I hope you'll love the series I decided to stop reading! 😁
Aww so sad about the "Codex Alera"! But I get your point. It's a series that's good when you start with fantasy and for me personally, it got better and better with each and every book. By the end of book 6 I was so sad that the series was over. XD I still need to finish the last book of "The Demon Cycle"! *lol* Thanks for reminding me! Great video, as always!
Thank you! And yeah! I think I should've started that series much earlier. It was one of the series that intrigued me since the first time I started reading fantasy novels seriously hahaha. Unfortunately, it didn't click with me after I've read more adult fantasy books. xD
Great video! My completionist gene stops me from DNFing books/series most of the time lol, I get annoyed with myself if I don't complete stuff. I do plan to read Codex soon though, after I finished Butcher's Dresden Files, so I'll reserve judgement on that one. One series I had to DNF after book 1 was the Witcher, maybe it was just the translation but I didn't click with it at all.
Oh also, ICE's writing improves a lot even across the Malazan Empire novels and Path to Ascendancy, of course. Compared to Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard (which was actually originally written even before Gardens of the Moon), the difference in writing and story in books like Orb Sceptre Throne and Assail is _a lot_. I have those latter ones up with the MBotF books. Hope you return to the Malazan world eventually!
I feel the same. I also DNF'ed the Craft Sequence for two years but then picked it back up again this year. I have to push myself to keep going even though I'm not really into it.
The Witcher, it's the translation. Definitely. I spoke to some of my Polish friends and they are abhorred by it. Some even went so far as to say that the first two books (potentially three) are rather iffy.
Thank you, Pranav! Yeah, believe me, I have that completionist gene, too, and it has stopped me from DNFing a lot of series. Sometimes that worked in my favor, but honestly from my experience, they tend to not work in my favor. If the first two books weren't good already, the rest of the series very rarely gets better. The Witcher is still on my priority series to read, and many Polish readers have voiced how poor the translation is, so maybe that's the case. I'll make sure to enter with that in my mind.
I think I will return to Malazan world eventually, just not from Malazan Empire first. It's quite reassuring to hear so many said that the series gets better after the second book, though. Return of the Crimson Guard was ridiculously bad, imo.
You're so polite and comprehensive with your reasons - great job there
Thank you so much! :)
While I'm crushed on some of these (especially Caine!) I totally get it and that's why I admire you, you are not afraid to say it like it is and give up on books. Too many people keep reading stuff they don't love and I don't get it. I'm with you, stop reading, move on to something you will enjoy. I don't think there will ever be a dearth of good books. Great video, thanks! (Also, I pretty much only read the last Codex Alera book to complete the series, but I was done with it by book 4 if I'm really being honest)
Thank you so much, Bryce! Yeah, I saw your review on Blade of Tyshalle, and I'm pleased to hear that you loved it! I think if you followed my reviews since the beginning, you'll see that I used to always force myself to completing a series, even if I already dislike the first two books. I can't do that anymore, there are way too many great books, and I would rather spend my time reading through them.
Petrik, it's good to recognize when you've either lost interest or don't feel a book series is for you. I can't tell you the amount of series I've quit in the past after just reading the first book or two. Mostly because I made the mistake of reading the first book and then having to wait for the next book, which made me lose interest. As others have mentioned, there are sooooo many other books out there and more being published every month. We can't read them all, so we have to pick and choose.
I totally agree, Amy! And I know what you mean about being caught up in an ongoing series. I'm in the middle of so many ongoing series with the next book not published yet, and sometimes when the next book comes out, I've forgotten so many details. This is why I think it's incredibly important for authors/publishers to include detailed summaries of their previous books somewhere. We can't reread all books just for the sake of refreshing our memories and interest.
Great video! Gideon and Harrow are the only books I've read from this list. I loved Gideon and ended up liking Harrow; I totally get what you mean with Harrow. The rest of the series you mentioned aren't really on my radar so it seems like that's a good thing :D
Thank you! I really wanted to love Harrow the Ninth (that cover art is badass, too) but felt so sad that it disappointed me that much. I'm glad you liked both of them, though! :)
I am totally with you on Chorus of Dragons and Locked Tomb, both were too complex for the sake of being complex imo hahah I it was not a fun time for me. For some reason I rarely, if ever, DNF individual books, yet I drop series left and right. Sometimes it is simply because I did not like the first book, but very often it is because I lost interest over time or remember too little and don't care to refresh my memory with a reread. I really liked this video Petrik :)
Thank you, Esmay! I never liked books that's complex just for the sake of being complex. They felt pointless, and they decrease the quality of the book; that's what I think about A Chorus of Dragons and Harrow the Ninth. I totally agree with you, though. I've lost interest in plenty of series because I can't be bothered to reread the previous book to remember all the details again.
Off topic. You mentioned often about your favourite fantasy book cover artists. Maybe do one video about these artists, their styles, showcasing some of their covers across different books or series, share their websites, etc. Thanks!
Oh, that's actually a good idea! I need to make some time for it! 😊 Thanks for the suggestion!
You’re the man Perik! Even when talking about the books you don’t like you’re still so kind haha
Hahaha, thank you! Honestly, I think I'm much harsher in my written reviews when it comes to the matter of books I dislike. 😅
I was just looking around at books and people's channels and ran across this. As far as fantasy goes, some of my absolute favorites are the rift war books (also referred to the Magician series) and the follow up Daughter series which imho is even better than the first and shows the same time frame as the original 3 books but from a different location and perspective. There is also a follow up with the original characters after the culmination of those 2 series which is great. A solo book I rarely ever see anyone mention is The Deed of Paksenarion (which may be an omnibus of 3 smaller books).
I absolutely love Riftwar Empire trilogy, Paul! I've heard about Deed of Paksenarion, but definitely not often. I'll have to acquire that book someday! :)
I believe you so I'm def not going to start any of these 😅🤣 Unfortunately, I don't think I will finish the Wheel of Time. I really disliked the 1st book and my expectation was just so high that I really can't deal with being disappointed again 😒
😂😂 Thank you, Crystal! If any of these do interest you someday, i hope you'll enjoy them more than I did! I think the 2nd book of WoT is still worth the try to see how you feel about it. That's where the series start to take its shape, but yeah, don't force yourself if you don't feel like it! 😄
I've only read those first two Malazan Empire books too. I still intend to finish the series (I'm not giving up yet!) but I do keep finding reasons to put off reading book 3!
Good luck!! Right now, I don't have any interest in continuing with Malazan Empire, but who knows maybe in the future I will!
Two series I recommend to you to try when you get around to your 400+ TBR pile, are Tyrants and Kings trilogy by John Marco and Winds of the Forelands by David B. Coe
Tyrants and Kings - gritty military fantasy mixed with grey characters in a unique setting with a lot of political intrigue
Winds of the Forelands - political intrigue, double crossing, even triple crossing at times with a good dose of drama. Similar to the Long Price Quartet in some ways but a little more complex.
Thanks for the recommendations! No idea when I'll get to any of these, but Winds of the Forelands sounds like something I'll love! :)
Most of these I never heard of. Three I have, of which I've read only one: Raymond Feist's Magician series. I love Feist and have read maybe a dozen of his books by now. I will be finishing his series on Midkemia.
Goodluck with finishing the series on Midkemia, and I'm pleased to hear you love it! I know a lot of people love Riftwar Cycle, too! 😁
I mean, Jim Butcher wrote Codex Alera on a bet :D. He said you can write about anything so someone said: Pokemon meets the missing roman legion. And that's where Codex Alera comes from. I definitely agree that it's not his best work, not by a long shot.
Yeahhh, that bet is super famous now! 😂 I'm glad I gave Dresden a read and I loved it!
@@PetrikLeo Dresden is some of the best urban fantasy out there for sure!
Fair play to all of these! I will say, Esslemont gets drastically better AFTER return of the crimson guard. It’s still not Erikson but it gets very enjoyable. I enjoyed night of knives but didn’t love rotcg. You just have to know Esslemont is definitely a different experience to Erikson.
Thank you, Jake! Yeahh, it's just difficult sometimes; from reading the first two books, there's this lingering feeling that I want ALL the books in Malazan to be written by Erikson instead. Hopefully IF I do continue with Malazan Empire one day, I'll like book 3 and 4 much more. Who knows, I thought I'm done with Wheel of Time, too, now after 3 years I want to continue again. xD
Awesome thoughts on these books Petrik. I’m giving Malazan a second try next year. I really liked Three Parts Dead, so I’m going to try and finish the craft sequence. We’ll see though. LitRPG in general is difficult for me to get into. I was going to try Andrew Rowe, so I still will. I DNFd Riftwar after book one. Just had no interest. I’m also not going to read the Black Company.
Thank you so much, Chas! I actually liked Three Parts Dead, but yeah the 2nd book disappointed me so much! 😅 hopefully you'll enjoy the series more! And good luck with Malazan again!
Damn, some heavy-hitters on this list. Especially the Craft Sequence is a sad loss, but the books do vary in quality. Still, I always found it to be a quite unique series, well worth the read.
I totally understand Codex Alera though. I read it after the Dresden Files and am still fighting through it (4/6 books done). It's not bad, but it's just not something special.
Regardless of what I think of Craft Sequence, I think it certainly has some of the most refreshing ideas in SFF. It's a huge part of why I'm drawn to it in the first place. But yeah, I couldn't seem to connect with the characters and storyline. And yeah, Dresden Files is a better series than Codex Alera. Which is odd coming from me because I tend to prefer epic fantasy than UF. 😂
I’ve been going back and forth on whether to read chorus of dragons and now I don’t think I will. Who knows, I may change my mind in the future but for now, I’m going to focus on other things.
Great video, Petrik🥰
Thank you, Holly! If you change your mind and you end up reading it, I hope you'll love it more than I did! 😄
This was a very useful video, Petrik! I haven’t read any books you mentioned because I tend to choose Petrik approved fantasy reads 🙈 I’m wary otherwise.
I actually DNFed for the first time last week, and it was actually a book that has SUPER HIGH ratings and good reviews, and on your TBR as well…… I felt a bit bad after but I really couldn’t continue 🥲
Also, I’ve been staring at your kaonashi sculpture for the past few videos. It’s super cute 🥰
Thank you so much, Estela! I'm glad you put that much trust in my reading taste! 🥲
No worries about DNFing, though. It was painful for me to do the first time, too, but after a while... I just don't care anymore. No one is giving back the time I spent on reading books I don't like, I better make use of my time carefully to actually read books I'm interested enough to read.
And yeah, I got that Kaonashi in Korea. So adorable, and the lamp can be turned on!
I didn't realize Heroes Die was a series. Have a copy of it which I'll definitely still try.
I think a lot of readers doesn't know about it, especially after the first book worked so well as a one-off standalone already.
I dnf codex alera to. It wasn't bad but it was not want I wanted to read anymore.
I want to read The Traitir Baru Cormorant. See if I lIke it.
Glad I'm not the only one, friend! hahaha. I hope you'll love Traitor Baru Cormorant, it's frequently well-loved by readers!
Wheel of Time is the big one for me.
I haven't heard any good things or anything interesting about Traitor's Son Cycle, though I have heard good things about his Historical-Fiction.
I haven't read The Wheel of Time for 3 years now, I think, and I plan to change that next year. Let's see whether it will go to the DNF pile or not. That being said, I definitely can't recommend Traitor's Son Cycle. His historical fiction books sounds amazing, though!
Same for me. I just can't motivate myself to pick up WoT. I usually tend to prefer Grimdark-ish fantasy anyway and the fact that most people, even the ones who love WoT, keep talking about 'the slump' which takes for about a quarter of the whole series isn't particularly endearing to me. Another thing is that the series is finished by Sanderson, and, so far, I could not connect with any of his fantasy books. In fact, Mistborn was probably my biggest let-down while reading fantasy - now that I think about it, me not having finished (and probably never will) the first Mistborn trilogy is probably a second big one on my list.
I even tried listening to the audiobooks of WoT, but I ditched them way after the slump, when they are supposed to be good. I really don't find anything special or worthwhile in this series (apart from the first book).
@@Grimscribe732 I stand in awe of fandom for Mistborn as well but respect it. I am about to jump into WoT as well but mostly to see how it compares to the Amazon series.
Thank you, Petrik. I hated Eragon. I was ready to love Christopher Paolini because publishing a bestselling novel as a teenager was indeed impressive. But then I read the book and it was awful, and I knew that it was the hype that propelled the book to bestseller status. For so many years I have been mystified by all the passionate adoration for The Inheritance series. I am so happy to have watched your video to the end!
Hahah, you're welcome, James. I think the series is just a series that's better to be read when you're young and haven't read many adult fantasy series yet. I know a lot of readers found their love for reading fantasy through reading Eragon when they were young. :)
@@PetrikLeo I was among that group Petrik! I enjoy the series because of the nostalgia. Back then I’d only read The Hobbit and Harry Potter, so the very generic world was totally fresh and magical to me. I still recommend the series to people who are wanting to get into fantasy, but I entirely agree that it’s not a good pick for people who are familiar with fantasy already.
I DNFed Feist's Magician at the halfway point (or the end of the first book as they were originally published). The writing does shows its age, and, whilst some parts I really enjoyed, when it jumps forward in time I found it hard to care about what was happening.
You aren't missing much by not finishing Eragon either - I read the first two books as a kid when they came out, but never finished. I decided earlier this year to give them a go just to find out what happens, and about 100 hours of audiobook later, I can say you aren't missing much. Lots of redundant sidequests with no payoff, OTT descriptions of details that aren't important, only for the climactic showdown with the main antagonist to feel quite rushed and underwhelming. Thankfully the audiobook narration is outstanding!
Thank you for your comment, Simon! Yeah, I totally agree with you regarding Magician. I managed to finish the entirety of it, but it was full of struggle. After the timeskip, I also don't like Pug's character development. He became someone completely different that he doesn't even feel like the same character anymore. And I definitely won't continue with Eragon! xD
Totally relate with you.. there are so many awesome fantasy books out there ... and so little time 😃. So no point of continuing if you are not enjoying it . For me it's Wheel of Time ! I will watch the TV series instead 😉
Exactly, Charles! The Wheel of time TV series is different in a LOT of ways to the books, but I think if we can separate the books and the adaptation, it's enjoyable! :)
Hi 👋 sometimes it happens you can’t love every series u read, I totally understand! Happy weekend reading to you!! ❄️☃️🎥🍁🎬
Exactly! Happy reading to you, too! 😄
You read the Empire series before reading Riftwar? That's crazy talk. Riftwar is fantastic. After that, Krondor's Sons and Serpentwar are also great. Things drop off a bit after those , but the first 8-ish of the Midkemia books are so good.
No i didnt. I read only the first book in Riftwar Saga and DNFed the series. I didn't like it, the writing felt outdated and I couldn't care about the characters. I'm glad you loved it, though, I know it's a well loved series by many people! 😁
understandable that its just not your thing, but I enjoined the traitor sun exactly for that historical part and the magic system, it felt very fresh
Yup! I can definitely see why it appeal to other readers!
I have a feeling I too won't be continuing with Locked Tomb any time soon. I read Gideon and thought it was OK but a bit flat then I heard Harrow was quite divisive because it's overly confusing and I didn't feel the urge to run out and buy a copy. Gideon is very memorable and because of that I might try Harrow one day but maybe once the series is all released.
I still enjoy Gideon the Ninth but yeah, Harrow the Ninth was confusing for the sake of being confusing! xD
A Chorus Of Dragons is on my TBR so... we'll see if I can muddle through the confusion!🤯And I agree with you about G.G.K.'s Tigana being good but the rest being quite questionable😓(And again, thank you for shouting out the Empire Trilogy, it needs all the love every time!💖) Now each time I hear about Paolini I just think back to the cover nonsense of To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars you covered in your other video🤣
Maybe you'll enjoy A Chorus of Dragons more than I did. It's so unfortunate regarding GGK, I really like reading his prose but yeah, not much else... As for Paolini, the spine of his book still haunt me to this day. 🤣
Enjoyed this, Petrik! My intro to fantasy was the Riftwar Saga and I enjoyed it fine but suspect I'd be more negative after reading some of the modern day heavy hitters. Agree that Riftwar Empire was much better. The Krondor's Sons duopoly is next up; recently read the first book Prince of the Blood and it was okay but does feel dated. Think the completionist in me will eventually finish book 2 but in no rush. Think I'm also with you on the Locked Tomb, book 1 was a struggle but a good pay off but not convinced I'll continue. Interested to hear your thoughts on Malazan Empire, I'll try it for myself after finishing the big ten.
Thank you so much, Andy! I think Riftwar Saga would work nicely as an introduction to the fantasy genre. It's one of those books that would work better if you haven't read much of the genre, imo. Riftwar Empire is timeless, though! I hope your journey through Midkemia will be great, and I'm glad you agree with me regarding Locked Tomb! :)
You’re very generous with the amount of series you cover, maybe try splitting the video or making it a series with parts. That way you can spend a bit more time lightly discussing the aspects of the books that didn’t sit well with you as a reader
It would be cool to then have things you would recommend for the book reader who is looking for a Malazan replacement for example.
Just subbed
thanks for the subs! Yeah, that's what I wanted to do, but at the same time I think they'll be too lengthy. There were more series I wanted to include on this video, but I think I'll leave them for future videos. I also have written a full spoiler-free review for ALL of these series that I DNFed on my Goodreads page. I'll take your advice into account, though, for my next video on this topic!
@@PetrikLeo i will definitely be checking out your other videos, so apologise if your previous videos cover my thought.
I just thought you covered so much that you could have done it in two videos and the quality would still be there but I am not complaining 😌
Glad to see both Codex Alera and Riftwar Cycle on here cause I had the same issues
Glad you agreed with me, Levi! :)
Controversial, but I would have to say the Farseer trilogy for me 😬. I read the first book a few months ago, but I don’t know yet if I want to continue reading it. Fitz is an OK character, I’m not really attached to him. Not really attached to anyone. Which sucks because I can do character driven books over plot anytime. I don’t care for animal companions, and I feel like this series might have that. The magic isn’t really cool to me. But the only reason I would want to continue is for the mystery of the Fool. And I liked the way everything wrapped up at the end of the first book. Saved it to 3 stars.
Ouch, controversial indeed! 😆 But no worries, it is your opinion after all and you have the right to it! At least there are some parts of it that you still like! 😁
I actually started Eragon as a teen but he took so long to get the fourth book out that I had lost interest. I bought it when it came out but I still haven't read it. One day maybe...
That happens sometimes! xD
These types of videos always fill me with dread in case one of my favorites are on it :P but crazily enough I haven't read a single book on this list!! There are a couple I'm still interested in, like Black Company and Locked Tomb, but overall I'm probably going to trust you on the majority of these :P
Whew, i thought you're going to complain on one of these series again. 😅 Well, if you do give any of them an attempt, Black Company and Locked Tomb included, I hope they'll work out better for you.
We both have similar dnf list 😀
I only completed Codex of Alera series out of this list and I liked it very much but I was a teenager when I read that series.
Yay for having a similar list! 😀 Yeah, I doubt I'll continue Codex Alera!
Will you ever give The God is Not Willing
a try? It's a direct sequel to Malazan written by Steven Erikson himself and follows Karsa Orlong.
OF COURSE! Anything by Erikson is still on my TBR. I've read Forge of Darkness, too! 😄
Interesting that you say you liked GGKs prose but not the story so much. I personally love the Sarantine Mosaic. It's my favourite of all his writing, even more so than Tigana or Al Rassan. I only didn't like his early work with the fionavar tapestry.
Yeah, I wish his books worked better for me. But other than Tigana, I just couldn't find myself impressed or enjoying the rest of his books. :/
Totally agree with you about Harrow the Ninth.
Glad you agreed! 😄
Hi Petrik, I literally finished Heroes Die on Tuesday - I enjoyed it, pity about the other parts of the series. I do agree the first one ended neatly. I am surprised Terry Goodkind is not on this list or is he to bad to even consider 8-). I DNF'd The Lays of Anuskaya series, the Wizards of Earthsea series and while not even a full novel I dnf'd This Is How You Lose the Time War
Who knows, you might love the sequels to Heroes Die more than I did, Stephen. As for Goodkind, I couldnt even finish Sword of Truth that I couldn't even say that I've started the series. 🤣🤣
Hey Petrik, there is a fantasy series that I think you will love - but it's not like a real book: Attack on Titan. I think the TV show adaptation is better but, I genuinely think you'll enjoy the manga.
Oh, that's one of my favorite anime. I've read the manga 2 times now. I'm in the middle of watching Attack on Titan for the 3rd time now in preparation for the final season next month. From the beginning again! 😉
Completely understand DNFing The Acts of Caine though I would recommend at least finishing book 2 as it has one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read.
The last 2 books on the other hand went way too far on the metaphysical themes trend that started in book 2. The final one in particular had parts that were borderline incomprehensible and there were some "revelations" about Caine that did not sit well with me.
It seems like I made the right decision in DNFing the series, but you raise an interesting point. I might try to finish at least Blade of Tyshalle! :)
I've noticed Legacy of Ash behind you. Will you be continuing with that series? It's finished now and there's a pretty good recap on the author's site
Yup! It's still on my TBR pile. Not sure when yet, but I haven't lost interest in the series yet. 😄
@@PetrikLeo I liked it but for me personally it has too much war-focus and the writing style could be more unique/personal to each character, but I think the author shows a ton of promise
A shame that series isn't very talked about
One series I read 3 of 6, but just didn't feel invested in going on to finish the series. I've come to realize, I read for fun and for good story telling adventure😊
Definitely a good choice, Maria! No need to push yourself; free yourself from the burden of series that doesn't work for you! 😀
I love the Traitor Son Cycle!!😢
That's good! I wish I did, too. :(
Patrik what do u think about dune? I finished the first book and I liked the story and the world but the writing style was too bad that it would make the book boring and became a disappointment for me
I liked Dune! Some of the execution felt a bit outdated but overall i liked it. No need to force yourself if it doesn't work for you, though. I doubt I'll be continuing with the series anytime soon, too. 😅
Even before I clicked on your video I knew that ‘The Locked Tomb’ is going to be on this list. 😂 ‘Gideon the ninth’ was really unique and interesting. The second book ‘Harrow the ninth’ was like reading someone’s fever dream.
Hahaha! Great prediction, and exactly. It really felt like the author had a fever dream and it's all put on the book! 😂
Also, I'm with you on the Demon Cycle and Eragon. Not my flavor... I enjoyed The Warded Man, but the books afterwards just doesn't seem to grab me.
Yeahh, both of them aren't worth it imo. xD
Same feelings about Guy Gavriel Kay, i read Tigana and The Lion and was bored to the bones. Understood absolutely nothing because I connected with no one and didn't care about the story (it actually felt like they had no story, haha).
Hahaha! Glad I'm not the only one. If even Tigana doesn't click with you, I doubt the rest of his works will. I've tried 4 of his books, and all of them have the same issues. Maybe not so much on Tigana, but yeah the problem is there.
I agree Codex is rather entry level. I’m really glad I read the entire series about 5 years ago. If I tried to read the series now I would probably DNF it.
Exactly this! I think if I had read it before I read all the superior adult fantasy series, I would've loved it more. 😂
I actually agree with you for the arcane ascension series. The third book fell throughly flat. It felt like he was mostly trying to promote the standoff series within that book. Which was disappointing
I couldn't even finish the third book. It felt like the story was going absolutely nowhere. I'm not even sure what was the point of the book, from what I've read anyway.
I feel the same about Acts of Caine. Loved the first, second was okay and DNF'd the third. Life is too short and our TBR piles too big to spend time completing series just to complete them 😁.
Completely agree, Miriam! I think I'll end up finishing Blade of Tyshalle someday, but beyond that is doubtful. 😅
Regarding Eragon, the first book is DEFINITELY childish, but there is significant jump in the second book and it gets progressively better as Christopher grows both in age and his writing ability.
I agree, I think that the last two books are better than the first ones, and that's why people don't give the series a chance
Oh interesting. I think this is the first time I heard someone said that. I have his newest book, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. So maybe I'll check out his writing there first! :)
Oh no, quite a bit of series that are on my TBR 😂 I will still give them a try myself, but this does decreases my hype a little bit (which isn't a bad thing, it's good knowing the faults of a series before going in in my opinion). A Chorus of Dragons is on my audiobook TBR but after hearing you say that it's quite difficult with different timelines etc I don't know if that's the best way to read this series. Might have to switch to physical books!
I have the Traitor Baru Cormorant on my shelves as well, I heard that it has a lot of amazing political intrigue but if the ending is predictable I don't know how that can be...
I also decided to quite the Riftwar Saga... After reading 80 pages of Magician haha. I really didn't like the book so I don't see myself reading 20ish? books in that series.
Definitely still give them a try, Jolien. You might feel different about them. I do think A Chorus of Dragons will be better experienced through non-audiobook method, though.
As for Traitor Baru, it seems like many readers were shocked by the ending, so I could be the only one feeling this way... And agree so much on Riftwar Saga hahaha.
ahaha so Wheel of Time is still in the cards. Happy to hear that!
I will try book 5 and 6 next year and then we'll see where I stand! 😂
He mentioned in his WoT show review that he will read book 5 and 6 the next year.
Edit- He beat me to saying that😅
@@ToweringPsychic The wheel weaves as the wheel wills!
@@ToweringPsychic another desi Indian who enjoys fantasy and follows Petrik! There are a billion of us so I don’t know why I’m pleasantly surprised.
@@PetrikLeo perfect. Book 5 and 6, especially 6 is one of my favourites. Might even be the best ending to a WoT book. Cheers Petrik.
I've read nearly 5000 books in my life and I still have a TBR
The TBR pile is infinite. Impossible to be satisfied. 😂 And wow, almost 5000 books is amazing! 🤯
@@PetrikLeo ive been on this planet a loooooong time
@@B.LEE.DbrianleedurfeeREVIEWS 🤣🤣
A Chorus of Dragons; I stop reading after book 2, i postpone it to let the last book be published first, but then, after i drop it..... i am somewhat forgot some of the story line; and too lazy to reread the first book again, so yes, i drop the series too lol. Tigana the only book i read from guy, i dnf, and yes its so beautifully written, he just need an assistant to give him a more likeable character for his book; then its all will be golden
Totally agree! :D
I won’t continue with Sufficiently books after the first one. I thought it was ok but too much like a video game. Wasn’t for me. I’m considering reading Gideon, but unsure. I read Magician/Apprentice and thought it was good but not enough to continue. Too dated I think. I’ll give Riftwar Empire a shot. Although I’ve read other older fantasies which I enjoyed like Memory, Sword, and Thorn. I recommend a new fantasy writer Zach Argyle and Voice of War is his first in Threadlight trilogy. I think you’ll really really like it!
On that front of it being similar to video game, Arcane Ascension got even worse in the second and third book. By the third book, I don't even know what the author is trying to achieve anymore. And yeah, Riftwar definitely felt outdated to me. As you said, there are other older epic fantasy series that stand the test of time, but imo Riftwar doesn't. I know about Argyle's series! I might get to that trilogy next year! :)
Unfortunately, I won't finish Malazan. Book two just wasn't for me. Maybe I will go with a "lighter" fantasy series, but I only have Peter V. Bretts I think it's called demon circle series first book here at the moment.
No need to push yourself through Malazan if you don't like it. The series gets more complex with each book, I doubt you'll like it if you don't like the first few books already. Ah Demon Cycle, the first book is at least really good, I think you'll love that! 😄
@@PetrikLeo Great, thanks, I'm looking forward to that :)
I actually gasped out loud at Arcane Ascension because the reason I started reading it was because of your positive reviews.
Yeahhh, I'm sad about it too. I loved the first book, but I feel the series has lost its way in its own worldbuilding. Especially the third book which entirely felt like filler from what I can tell. 🥲
Eragon and Eldest were a very strong and solid foundation, but brisingr ended up being a massive filler book and inheritance was better, but ultimately a very predictable and unexciting conclusion. Starting that series at 24 was not one of my better ideas 😂
I started Eragon for the first time at 28 or 29, so your idea is still better than me, Ed. 🤣
@@PetrikLeo it's the lack of quality editing that really kills it for me
@@edsheeran1243 ?? I can definitely understand your other drawbacks but in terms of ending you're definitely in the minority opinion there. It's regarded as one of the stronger aspects of the series in general.
I don't know why people hate Brisingr so much, I actually liked the final two books way more than the first ones, in the beginning there were many similarities with other sagas, but with Brisingr it started to take its own path. One of the things I love the most about the Inheritance Cycle is the magic system, I think it's explained properly and it kinda makes sense to me.
@@tatianasalazar4066 brisingr does have a couple of really good moments, but it really feels like an 800 page book that should have been a 200 page one instead.
Inheritance was good, but just a very generic and predictable ending for a very generic and predictable series. Like I said earlier, I probably would have liked that series a lot more if I had started it as a kid instead of at age 24
Petrik. What's your hype level for Elden Ring?
OOOOHHHHHHH out of controlll!
100% on Gideon and Harrow! Also as soon as I started reading Harrow and saw it was in 2nd person, I knew the “twist”. Convoluted and murky, the story and characters were just a slog in that second book.
Agreed. Honestly, it all just felt unnecessary to be that complicated, too. I didn't get a lot of impact from the revelation, and in the end it all just felt like a waste of time to go through all of that nonsense. That's my issue with it.
Suddenly I'm really glad I couldn't find Harrow the Ninth at the bookstore yesterday. I think I'll try it from the library first
That other Miles Cameron series was great (starts with Cold Iron), I didn't read Traitor Son Cycle because of all the POV's.
Yeah, that's still on my radar. I think he learned his lesson that it's not a good idea to have that many POV within the first book of a series!
AHH YES! Space in your TBR to read The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez :D
Oh of course! I'll try to get to that within next year, Lia! :)
I do not know that the author was inspired by Black Company. Yeah, I have agreed with you on Jim Butcher's YA book. I DNF'ed Furies of Calderon,because I found the book very sexist and the plot was confusing.
I think Malazan Book of the Fallen is by far better than Black Company. I'm glad you agree on Codex Alera! 😄
@@PetrikLeo Well, Codex Alera was felt like I wasn't reading a YA fantasy,because some parts had felt like reading a Thriller and other parts felt like reading a Paranormal romance. I thought the book was totally mess. I wish Jim Butcher should leave those parts out.
it took me a month to read tigana. the prose is beautiful but the characters and the story were so boring i'm surprise it only took me a month to wade through it. i don't think i'm ever going to try a book buy ggk again unfortunately
I think if you dislike Tigana, none of his books will click with you. Tigana is often recommended as the best starting point for his work, and I enjoyed it very much. But yeah, as I said, I dislike all of his other works that i tried.
@@PetrikLeo I'd heard so many great things about it. Honestly after finally finishing it I was just sad; I really thought I was going to find a new favorite author. Oh well hahaha
@@eduardoo31 Some things are just not meant to be! xD Well, thankfully, we still have a LOT of other books to explore!
@@PetrikLeo The Fionavar Tapestry is the GGK series that I've always heard recommended as the starting point to his work. I read it back in high school and really liked it. Later on I read Last Light of the Sun and wasn't as happy. I didn't DNF it, but it also landed pretty flat with me. I'll be reading Tigana sometime in 2022 and we'll see if it goes any better.
@@Matt-sl1wg let me know your thoughts on Tigana! I've heard about Fionavar, too, but other books by GGK have really disappointed me.
Was totally surprised that Chronicles of the Black Company was on the list, bummer that you didn't like it. This is one of my favorite series.
It's so unfortunate! I truly wanted to love this series, too, and I really love the second book! But generally, Glen Cook's writing style just doesn't gel with me. :/ I'm glad it's one of your favorite series, though!
Why not try the Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy?
I haven't tried them at all, and the possibility is still there in the future! :)
@@PetrikLeo The Chronicles is the original trilogy than the authors wrote the Legends Trilogy, but many years later they wrote the Lost Chronicles Trilogy which fills in missing story lines from the Chronicles, so there is 9 books right there. As far as another series called The Legend of Drizzt, read the first book called "Homeland" but maybe that is all. They have that Spider Kingdom Trilogy though too but I forget what those books are called and I never read them yet. Yeah Dragonlance is actually very well written by good authors.
i noticed the wheel of time isn’t on here… does that mean you might continue 😏
Yes I am! Next year, Fires of Heaven and Lords of Chaos. Then we'll see where I stand after those two.
@@PetrikLeo yayyyy!!!
Greatest fantasy epic.
I have bought a bunch of those books at good prices. May have to do with their quality.
That's good! At least you got them cheap! 😊
I have no interest in any of these series personally sooooo... We're all good Petrik 😂😂 as we know, this channel is purely designed for me so that's all that matters 😂
Crisis avoided then! 😂
Ian C. Esslemont is not the same writer as Steven Erikson, but he does get better. It takes him 2-3 or books to hit his stride. In fact, I would say RotCG is my least favorite in the NotME. It's a bit of a mess with a lot of locations and characters. The later books in NotME are shorter in length (600 pages or so) and have a more manageable number of characters and locations. Books 4-5 were excellent in my opinion.
Dancer's Lament is definitely a viable entry point to ICE's books, too. It's definitely a better "first book" than NoK although not as good as GotM. The Path to Ascendancy books are shorter still (400 pages), which helps.
But really the key to enjoying ICE is to manage your expectations. He's not SE, he tends to pull back from those absolutely gut-wrenching moments that rip your heart out. But I would say he is SE's equal in world-building, following up on the continents, heroes/ascendants, realms, etc. that were set-up or foreshadowed in MBotF. And of course it is canon.
"But really the key to enjoying ICE is to manage your expectations. He's not SE, he tends to pull back from those absolutely gut-wrenching moments that rip your heart out. "
THIS. This so much, Richard. You're absolutely right on this. It might be because I was too amazed by Book of the Fallen back then, moving to Night of Knives gave me that expectation that it would be another Erikson experience, but after trying that and Return of the Crimson Guard (agree with all your reasons) I just couldn't push myself anymore.
I think i will try Path to Ascendancy and see how I feel about it. I'm still in the middle of rereading Malazan Book of the Fallen very slowly. I'm up to House of Chains right now! :)
I definitely agree here. There’s a jarring change from Erikson to ICE. And the problem with the ROTCG is that ICE tries to emulate Erikson. Once he stopped doing that, I think ICE really finds his footing. From Stonewielder on, the series finds its flow. I do think that readers who give up on ICE because he’s not Erikson misses out on so much unexplored parts of the Malazan world.
They’re two very different authors, but ICE’s books brings so much worldbuilding into the universe too. He’ll never be waxing poetic like Erikson, but that’s okay. I still like how he writes characters and action scenes. In fact, I think ICE writes some of the characters better (like Dancer and Kelleved).
@@kirihara120 noted! Believe me, I really wanted to love his books, too. But I don't think I can bring myself to read Malazan Empire again at the moment. I definitely will try from Path to Ascendancy instead and see whether I can like that or not. Getting the background of Dancer and Kellanved are too good to miss!
@@PetrikLeo oh yeah it’s fun seeing young Dancer and Kellanved in Path. It seems Erikson will keep developing the future stories like Karsa’s trilogy and super old lore like Kharkanas (whenever the third book comes out). ICE looks like he will continue writing about the Old Guard’s full history and how they built such an empire.
Did I somehow miss it or there's really no Wheel of Time here?
You're not imagining it, I've mentioned in my some of my previous videos I plan to read book 5 and book 6 next year! 😁
Who the heck is saying Academ’s Fury is the best in the series? Jim Butcher himself admits that he doesn’t hit his stride in Alera before book 3.
Open Goodreads page for it, I'm pretty sure more than hundreds of people have mentioned it's at least one of the best in the series. xD
Oh yeah, Shadows Linger is an amazing book. Truly awesome. If only the rest were like that :-)
Exactly, Ilia! At that book, I was like "okay this is awesome" then the next book turned back... xD
Unlike many, I enjoyed Codex Alera. Not a big fan of urban fantasy, so Dresden Files is a waste on me. I am glad that everyonr reads what they personely like.
I'm usually the same. I love urban epic fantasy but not a huge fan of urban fantasy, but I personally think that Butcher is much better at writing UF than epic fantasy. Just my opinion of course! :D
Very interesting list here...and I agree with your reasoning on most of these series and as to why you may not/will not, continue them. The only two I would like to weigh in on are:
1) I know Blade of Tyshalle is vastly different than Heroes Die; much more philosophical, drastic change of pace, many other differentiators. However, I think if you stick it out until about 2/3 of the way through, you'll get back to the AWE THAT'S SO COOL feeling you had with much of Heroes Die...a feeling that I believe continues through Caine Black Knife and Caine's Law.
2) The difference between Erikson and Esslemont when it comes to the Malazan books, is, unfortunately, truly recognizable. That being said, while I'm not a fan in the least of Esslemont's Malazan Empire works, his Path to Ascendancy trilogy (which focuses on Kellanved and Dancer before Shadowthrone/Cotillion') may be worth your time.
Keep the reviews coming!
D
Thank you for weighing in, Derek! Like you and a few other commenters said, it seems like it will be worth it to at least finish Blade of Tyshalle. So think I'll do that eventually. As for book 3 and book 4, that remains to be seen! 😆
I will definitely try Path to Ascendancy one day! No idea when yet but someday. I'll keep my reviews coming! 😄
@@PetrikLeo If you manage to finish of Blade of Tyshalle, I guarantee that Black Knife and Caine's Law will just slip into place. The middle 1/2 -2/3 of Tyshalle are the only impediment in the series ;-)~ Anyway, good stuff from you, and by the way, have you read The Library at Mt. Char, by Scott Hawkins? Maybe I missed it, but man, that seems so right up your alley...
Out of those books I can't say alot of most of those series since I didn't read them yet but for the few I did I will give my 2 cents.
As for the GGK books I can understand ppl not enjoying him as much since he's a little different then regular Fantasy books not just by the construction but also with the characters development and I can see ppl not enjoying it as much as I did when reading it.
As for the ICE books it's known that the first 2 books by him are his weakest and he's improving with every book PtA is his most current work so it's aline with that that they are his best work but some of the plot that missing in SE books is only completed in the Malazan Empire books...
As for Codex Alera I just finished the first 2 books and with all the predictability I still realy enjoyed it but I still can't say anything about the series as a whole.
Yeahh, for Guy Gavriel Kay, I have a more detailed thoughts on my Goodreads review, but generally I have issue with his pacing and characterizations. As for ICE, it seems like I stopped at his weakest book. I don't know when I'll ever attempt his books again, but if I do, it will be from Path to Ascendancy because if Path to Ascendancy doesn't even click with me, I doubt I'll enjoy Malazan Empire. xD
@@PetrikLeo
PtA is good and introduces the characters that ICE is following in his books so then when you know those characters it's easier to follow them in Malazan Empire's books (and yes RotCG was his first book so in a way it's the weakest one) and that before you get all the shared characters between that and MBotF
Oh no... I was planning to read A Chorus of Dragons next year... 😂
You should still give it a try, Neeru! There's always a chance you'll like it more than me! 😄
The series is really good I have already read the first three books in the series 🙂
Almost every book reviewer on UA-cam seems to not be able to finish Eragon. I honestly don’t understand why. It’s a very familiar type of story but with a Dragon instead of one of the other types of companions like a wizard. It get better with each book it’s like the story grows up with the author and it has so many epic moments in the last 2 books. Maybe I just love coming of age story’s and Dragons. Even though I’ve now read hundreds of fantasy books since my first time reading Eragon, It had everything i look for in a story and is still one of my all time favorites, and most books don’t live up to it to me. . Would I have had a hard time getting through it if I read it for the first time now? Maybe, but it’s such an easy read I’d still finish it. I just don’t understand the hate. Is it too similar to other story’s? Is it to simple? The first one was always my least favorite but I still can read through it and enjoy it.
I think when it comes to Eragon, the nostalgia and the moment you first read it is hugely important. As you said, if you've read this for the first time now after reading adult fantasy books, you might have a hard time getting through it. It is still an easy read, but I think you will realize there's more issues to it. And this brings the second problem that I (and I think other readers) have with it: the writing. It is, to put it kindly, a book written by a teenager (WHICH is actually pretty impressive to be able to finish and publish a high fantasy book at that age) but again, the quality really shows. That's my opinion. :)
@@PetrikLeo It does seem to be the more popular opinion in well read circles so I’m sure you are right. Though I’ve re read it 3 times and loved it each time. I really enjoy the last 2 books and those are the ones no one ever gets too though. He grew so much as a writer from the first to the second book then a huge amount to the third. Maybe it just that I love that type of story so much and haven’t found any like it. Specifically a young man and his Dragon (who have a beautiful relationship) fighting in huge battles and becoming more and more powerful until the pair of them are second to no one except the villain. If you know anything like that I have missed that is way better please let me know. Because I consider myself very well read and the only other fairly good Dragon series I’ve read was the Temeraire series (and while technically written better, I didn’t enjoy the story as much) and a bunch of others were the dragons are part of the story but not main characters. I tried to read Ann McCaffrey’s series but couldn’t get into it.
Also before anyone judges me to hard I’m not just obsessed with Dragons I just love them and wish I had more quality Dragon fantasy to dig into. Most of the stuff i read has nothing to do with dragons. My favorite series is Wheel of Time.
Holy cow, the Traitor Baru Cormorant is probably my favorite fantasy novel of the 2010s and IMO a perfect 10/10 novel. Just goes to show how tastes can differ! To answer your question about its popularity, I think it is fairly popular but a long wait between the 1st and 2nd books and an undeniable sequel slog (redeemed with the 3rd book which completes the 2nd book's arc; they were originally one but split in two for publishing reasons).
Yeahhh! I really WANT to love Traitor Baru Cormorant, but the writing style just doesn't fit my reading taste. As we all always say, reading taste differs! And thanks for the explanation. I didn't know Monster Baru took a long time to be released!
Yep, too much to read and not enough years in this lifetime to consume it all. I just hope your viewers don't give you too much hassle... or I'll find them and hack their accounts, lol
So, you still haven't scared me off of Esselmont or Guy Gavriel Kay. I haven't read their work yet, but plan to. I feel like Esselmont will be a more digestible Malazan read, which will be a welcome break from Erikson (nothing bad towards Erikson, I enjoy book of the fallen). And I heard Nicholas Eames praise GGK, which got me interested, and I purchased Tigana and The Last Light of the Sun. The latter sounds like something I will enjoy because I love Viking and Norse culture. But... we'll see, right?
Hahahaha! Most of my viewers are really nice, tbh, I'm really glad that I seem to gather mostly the great kind of readers. One commenter here said I probably just hate fantasy because I decided to DNF 15 series, but other than that everyone has been super nice and understanding.
Do let me know your thoughts on both Esslemont and Guy Gavriel Kay. I definitely think you should give both of them a try, especially GGK's books which are loved by a lot of readers. :)
@@PetrikLeo how can anyone in the right right frame of mind accuse you of hating fantasy? Lol!!
Yea, I sure will let you know what I think
@@alynam82 I know right? If anything, i love the genre too much that I never shut up about it! 🤣🤣
I read Eragon early this year, I’m 29, was 28 when I read Eragon, I 100% will not be finishing that series
I think I read Eragon when i was 29, and well... as you can see, I won't be continuing with it, too! xD
The last two books are the best ones in my opinion
@@tatianasalazar4066 def wouldn’t doubt it his writing skill probably increased so much by the end.
@@wjamimah7772 also he found his own way, the first books have too many similarities with other works, but the last two were more original
I must say I forced myself to read more than half of Night of Knives and DNF'd ... And it's extremely unsusual for me to not finish a book. In the unlikely case you change your mind, I must say I read Orb, Scepter, Throne and it was decent. So if you are really interested in some specific characters/arcs/stuff from the series, I'd even suggest skipping the first few books.
That's not a bad idea. I've read the first book already anyway, and people have said the series improved so much on the third book and beyond. Not sure when yet, but I'll keep this in mind if I do attempt Malazan Empire again someday. Right now, my reading mood doesn't have any interest for it. xD