What comes next? Has WoT ruined every other series for me?

[Guest]

I am honestly stuck... I want to try a new series but how can i after what i just went through? The emotional roller coaster WoT took me on has left my stomach in knots of joy and fatigue. I invested too much! How can i put myself out there now when i know after 2 or 14 books the journey will end and i will be back to reality? I realize i just finished the series, i posted on the introduction page of the forms about it, but man i am still reeling from the mind blow! Any suggestions of what to start?

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Try some Jim butcher. Fun, light, a little dark.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Or of course terry pratchett or Neil Gaiman. Or Gregory maguire. Or go to amazon and see what they suggest.

[Ryrin]

I am honestly stuck... I want to try a new series but how can i after what i just went through? The emotional roller coaster WoT took me on has left my stomach in knots of joy and fatigue. I invested too much! How can i put myself out there now when i know after 2 or 14 books the journey will end and i will be back to reality? I realize i just finished the series, i posted on the introduction page of the forms about it, but man i am still reeling from the mind blow! Any suggestions of what to start?

 

The Dresden series is good as Cindy noted.

 

I also like the Dark Series by Christine Freehan.  It's not a "teen vampire" kind of thing.  It's adult with some graphic sex and a twist in that vampires are the enemy of the Carpathians who also need blood to survive.

 

You can listen to their chants here: http://www.christinefeehan.com/carpathian_chanting/great_healing_chant.html

 

I was just like you, not wanting to venture into any other world than the WoT.  

[Occams whiskey bottle]

One of the most obvious places to start would be Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. The first novel is my personal favorite of all his books. Also. you can read his novel Warbreaker off his website for free.

[dexterryu]

Another series that is very similar (and many fans call a bit of a knock off) is the Sword of Truth. Mistborn is good too, nice twist on the standard hero saves the world story.

 

I'm also finding the Witcher books to be very good. 

[mb]

there was a similar thread in the other general discussion section.  I do not remember the thread's title or original poster.

 

some other suggestions::

- re-read this series and/or other books you read (if any)

-read other books by same author/authors

 

 

I finished the series a number of days ago.  am currently reading a book I got for Christmas (Atlas Shrugged, my first time through).

after finishing that book, would be reading other books I got.

[szilard]

Has WoT ruined every other series for me?

 

You know, it's so funny: there are more than 14000 (epic) fantasy authors. Everyone (and their neighbours) writes epic fantasy nowadays. And the results?

 

We have LOTR, WOT (RJ only), ASOIAF (first books).

 

Not so funny.

[Guest]

Well i have read the sword of truth series and loved it; not sure how it is a knockoff though. I don't enjoy the vampire stuff so i will pass on that. i am on chapter 16 of The Way of the Kings and i love it. Very odd series so far but it is certainly interesting. Thx for the suggestions guys, i will keep them in mind! 

[bigdoug1971]

Friends don't let friends read Goodkind.......

 

Try out the Lord of the Rings.  ASOIAF.  Or for lighter reading,  try out Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books.  Those are all great, especially Without Remorse. 

[Spider Spence]

I really enjoy Joe Abercrombie's series (one trilogy, one trilogy of "outriggers" related to the first, and an unrelated trilogy), NK Jemisin's (one trilogy, one duology, one longer series in the works), Scott Lynch (three books of a proposed seven), Patrick Rothfuss (two books of a proposed three) and I really liked the first book of The Runelords by David Farland, though I haven't read on in that series.

 

Of all those, I'd say the Farland series scratches the most WOT-specific itch. The Abercrombie series is very much the gritty, soldier's view of fantasy, while Jemisin's books scratch the whole metaphysical/political itch. If you read them in alternating order, you'll feel WOT-full. :)

 

I am one of the only people who doesn't enjoy Sanderson's work, although I like what he did with the WoT. His individual books I find boring.

 

Here's some individual fantasy novels I love:

 

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler (her only fantasy, but her sf books are worth reading)

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

Sabriel by Garth Nix

 

Finally, they're not fantasy, but all of Bernard Cornwell's historical novels are pretty absorbing. 

[Nightstrike]

I enjoyed reading Jim Butcher, Anthony Ryan, John Gwynne, Brian Mcclellan, Robin Hobb, Kristen Britain, and Brent Weeks (besides the already known). But it's probably really difficult to recommend books to others, since you never know what they're looking for in a story.

 

As for how alike they are to Robert Jordan's WoT - probably not too much. Most are fantasy with more or less medieval stuff in them. Aside from Brian Mcclellan, since he has flintlocks in the story. Jim Butcher's written both urban fantasy and another that's not urban fantasy, plus a new one that I don't know much about. John Gwynne is similar to WoT in that it's "high fantasy" themed, with an evil godly entity and a good godly entity.

[BFG]

Second the Robin Hobb nomination.

 

She tends to write in trilogies set in the same world with overlapping characters.

 

 

Just read the Fool trilogy after the Assassins trilogy (if you like them enough to keep reading) and the dragons quartet(?) should be read after the Liveship Traders trilogy. Each set stands alone enough for it not to matter massively but things will make more sense in that order I think.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

you could try reading things RJ liked. I know he was a friend and fan of pratchett. he also loved dickens and Austen and you can see where some of his style developed there. you can search for his favorite authors and start there. .

[bigdoug1971]

I also enjoyed the Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.  His Shannara books were what got me into the fantasy scene.  The first trilogy and the Scions of Shannara were really good, and Allanon is one of my favorite characters of all time.  I personally think he wrote too many books in this world, but the first 7 will keep you busy for awhile. 

I'm not sure if what you want has to be Fantasy, so I mentioned Tom Clancy above.  Also W.E.B. Griffin is just like Tom Clancy and I really enjoyed The Talisman by Steven King too.  It was definitely Fantasy and so is the Gunslinger series. 

[Ryrin]

Well i have read the sword of truth series and loved it; not sure how it is a knockoff though. I don't enjoy the vampire stuff so i will pass on that. i am on chapter 16 of The Way of the Kings and i love it. Very odd series so far but it is certainly interesting. Thx for the suggestions guys, i will keep them in mind! 

 

I said I hated the "vampire stuff" too until someone suggested that series.  It's really different from what most people expect.

 

I finished EotW and I'm on my first re-read.

[JaSa]

I'm in pretty much same situation than you. For a while I have been trying to find fantasy series that would compare to wheel of time. Here are some I have tried:

 

Robin Hobb - Assassin's apprentice: while good book first person pov was big turn off for me.

 

Brandon Sandersson - Mistborn: I did love first book and even as trilogy it's pretty good story. In many ways it was refreshing, but there are few problems with world building and writing. After having to force myself through The Alloy of Law (stand alone) I realized I had lost all interest in that world.

 

Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn: Classic fantasy. This is great trilogy though had bit slow start, but it's more like lord of the rings than wheel of time. Also I wish I had read it when I was younger as it's a kind of coming of age story for the protagonist and would have suited me better back then. Still I do recommend this, if you haven't read them yet as it is good trilogy and there are some kind of sequels on the way.

 

Michael J. Sullivan - The Riyria revelations: This was pretty enjoyable story, but alot "lighter" to read than wheel of time. World building is a bit sketchy and writing not that great, but there were things I liked like magic "system" even though magic is as rare as magic in lord of the rings. Gonna reread them and other his books someday.

 

Scott Lynch - Lies of Locke Lamora: good story, but I was a bit dissapointed after all the hype I heard. I didn't enjoy it "that" much, but will probably give it another try when series is finished. It's alot harsher and darker world than wheel of time much more like game of thrones.

 

David Eddings - Belgarion/Mallorion series: Very classic fantasy that at the beginning reminded me alot about wheel of time, but suffers from poor world building, one dimensional characters and poor plot device. In my opinion story and writing is nothing special and probably more suitable for younger audience. There were bits and pieces I enjoyed enough that I might reread some parts someday, but probably not going through whole series again.

 

Margaret Weis/Tracy Hickman - Dragon wing: Don't remember much about it, but it was very different from wheel of time and I didn't enjoy story/world/characters enough to continue.

 

Ursula K. Le  Guin - A wizard of earthsea: don't really remember problem with this one, but again didn't enjoy it enough to continue with the series.

 

Stephen King - The gunslinger: strange world, post-apocalypse or something like that.. anyways not my thing and things I heard about it from friend just made me happy I didn't continue with the series.

 

Terry Pratchett - Discworld: I read couple of stand alone books that were recommended by a fan of series. They were ok books and I always appreciate good satire, but when looking for another "wheel of time" discworld just doesn't do it. There are couple of enjoyable movies and radio drama out there though.

 

Steven Erikson - Gardens of the moon: part of the problem may have been that I had to read it in english so there may be things I missed, but I didn't really like pacing of the story and didn't really understand the world that well either.

 

So so far I have come empty handed on my search and for now it seems like grim fantasy is in fashion. I have heard good things about Sanderson's Stormlight archieve series, but I will try to avoid it till he has finished atleast the first 5 books before trying it out. Years of wait for the next book suffered on wheel of time isn't something I really want to repeat. I think part of the problem is that I practically grew up on wheel of time books so now it's kind of hard to grow out of them and it doesn't help that there just doesn't seem to be another as epic series as it. At the moment my search for fantasy series is on hold and I try to read some classics instead, but good luck on your search and I hope you will let us know if you find something good.

[Ithillian Turambar]

I recommend the Fionavar Trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay and Mordant's Need by Stephen Donaldson.