Fans of George R. R. Martin...need some help please!

[Culhwch]

Whoops. I'll attribute it to prophetic dreams, then... Besides, influences don't end the moment the first word is written. Certainly more a similarity in style rather than actual content, though, a shared gritty realism and unflinching outlook. Worth a look.

[BridgerandObie]

It would really depend on what kind of attention span your husband has. Possessing a good one, then Robert Jordan will show your husband GRRM is but the second best fantasy writer.

[CryHavoc]

I'd definitely second The Lies of Locke Lamora; Scott Lynch rocks. The Tobin books by Lynn Flewelling, starting with The Bone Doll's Twin are also pretty good, and got a reccomendation from GRRM. Her other books are quite fun, but have a different feel. I also really enjoyed Perdido Street Station by China Mieville and The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan, containing Vellum and Ink. As for Wheel of Time, I haven't quit and I'm going to get the last one because I can't stand not knowing how things turn out, but I honestly lost interest around book six. It's good in places, but it sometimes feels like it's never going to end. If you've got a large attention span, go for it, otherwise, you may want to think twice.

[Laura Stamps]

Originally Posted by BridgerandObie

It would really depend on what kind of attention span your husband has. Possessing a good one, then Robert Jordan will show your husband GRRM is but the second best fantasy writer.

Which books or series would you recommend by Robert Jordan? Thanks!

[Werthead]

I'd be interested to see the results of someone reading Jordan after Martin. Usually in the escalating-ladder-of-quality-fantasy it's the other way round.

Robert Jordan has written three series. The Fallon Series is a series of Westerns with no SF&F in them. The Conan Chronicles are additions to Robert E. Howard's mythos and are apparently not particularly accomplished. His main contribution to fantasy is The Wheel of Time, a staggeringly massive series consisting of 11 published novels in the main series, a prequel novel and a companion book. The books in the series are:

1. The Eye of the World
2. The Great Hunt
3. The Dragon Reborn
4. The Shadow Rising
5. The Fires of Heaven
6. Lord of Chaos
7. A Crown of Swords
8. The Path of Daggers
9. Winter's Heart
10. Crossroads of Twilight
11. Knife of Dreams
12. A Memory of Light (forthcoming)

Prequel: New Spring (read after the others though, as it spoils the revelations in the novels)

Jordan is in many ways an embryonic Martin. He has fiendish and intriguing storylines, but these are often resolved in rather disappointing ways driven by a deus-ex-machina approach to magic. He uses Fate (a literal force in the WoT universe) to get his characters out of jams a lot. That said, some of his characters are extremely well-drawn. For some obscure reason these tend to be the only ones he kills. He has some funny ideas about women (lots of crossing arms under breasts and scowling angrily at the latest scrape their menfolk have gotten into, even if it's been saving the world).

However, he can write. The first 6-7 novels (the number varies depending on reader; a lot of people stumble on the fourth book, some cannot stand the first due to its 'homages' to Tolkien, some love all of them) are fiendishly readable and quite page-turning. Some storylines are really good, particularly the ones involving the Seanchan. His world is very heavily and minutely detailed. His magic system - the One Power - was regarded as the most impressive and logically-thought out there until Scott Bakker trumped it in his Prince of Nothing series. However, Books 8-10 are pretty poor; Crossroads of Twilight is rightly regarded as an abomination even by large numbers of WoT fans. Book 11, Knife of Dreams, is something of a return to form, closing off a lot of storylines and setting things up for a killer finale.

I would recommend this series, despite its shortcomings. The main reason I hesitated to include it in my earlier recommendation list is that Robert Jordan is seriously ill and there is some question over the final book being completed (though Jordan's recent blog posts indicate his health has improved and work on the novel is picking up), and the length of caveats regarding this series and its lengthy dip in quality in its second half are quite long (see the rest of this post . But overall I'd say it's worth checking out, at least. If nothing else, GRRM often says he has Robert Jordan's recommendation on the covers of his books to thank for a lot of the sales, and the two writers are friends (although I believe that GRRM has not read WoT as of yet).

[Laura Stamps]

Thanks, Werthead! I just wrote them all down on my TBR list. You're great! And I'm looking forward to those fantasy blogs too.

[Tabasco]

Originally Posted by BridgerandObie

It would really depend on what kind of attention span your husband has. Possessing a good one, then Robert Jordan will show your husband GRRM is but the second best fantasy writer.

LOL? Was that a joke? Kay and Williams and those other guys I can see. Tad Williams is actually my standing favorite (I'll save final judgement until ASOIAF is done).

But Robert Jordan? I can't consider myself a GRRM fan, since I've only ever read his current ongoing series, and all of them within the last year and a half. But from what I've seen so far, GRRM writes circles around Jordan. GRRM probably reads Jordan novels to see what NOT to do! It's rumored that Jose Canseco, on the utter failure of his baseball steroid book, said, "Well... at least it's not as bad as Jordan." ... and people agreed! I've heard that crisis centers around the country cringe whenever Jordan releases a novel, because three days later the rape hotlines are bombarded by pleas for help from sci-fi readers who paid 8 bucks for the book! Even worse... I hear Jordan has coffee with Terry Goodkind! Oh noes!!!

Jordan may be the ticket for some folks, but belonging to a book club (as I'm sure many of you are), most of the talk about Jordan seems to be about 'When did you stop reading?' or 'Are we there yet?' And I just can't see him being better than GRRM. Not even different better. I highly suggest going to the Jordan section of this site before starting his series, and try and get an inkling of if it's for you.

Kay, Whyte, Feist, the rest... should be great.

[Werthead]

Robert Jordan is not a fan of Terry Goodkind, and had a very cool response when asked if he was a friend of his (as Jordan is Tor's biggest selling author
and Goodkind is perhaps third, maybe even second now, and people thought they'd know each other):

"I have never discussed anything with Terry Goodkind."

This would seem to imply they don't have coffee on a regular basis

He does - or did, before his illness curtailed his travelling - have the occasional meal or beer with GRRM though. And, erm, they once did a comedy double-act thing at an SF convention.

[Revelation]

Originally Posted by Tabasco

But from what I've seen so far, GRRM writes circles around Jordan. GRRM probably reads Jordan novels to see what NOT to do! It's rumored that Jose Canseco, on the utter failure of his baseball steroid book, said, "Well... at least it's not as bad as Jordan." ... and people agreed! I've heard that crisis centers around the country cringe whenever Jordan releases a novel, because three days later the rape hotlines are bombarded by pleas for help from sci-fi readers who paid 8 bucks for the book! Even worse... I hear Jordan has coffee with Terry Goodkind! Oh noes!!!

OH NO HE DI' INT!!

Hah just kidding, but Rober Jordan as #1? No way.




I want to second the recommendations of Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy, and Erikson's Malazan series.

GRRM's main influence is The War of the Roses, and Bakker's is The First Crusade, so they are similar in the type of setting/world. Bakker, just like GRRM, does not write for kids, and as an added bonus his trilogy is complete.

And as for Erikson, well, the general consensus is that GRRM and Erikson are the two top dogs of fantasy at the moment, so enough said about that.

[Boaz]

Originally Posted by Revelation

Rober Jordan

Did you mean Robber Jordan?

Seriously, I felt the temper and scale of ASOIAF are comparable to Shogun by James Clavell.

[Meryt]

Originally Posted by Werthead

Scott Bakker is essentially the darkness and grittiness of Westeros on overdrive. His Prince of Nothing Trilogy is worth a look. The three books are The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior-Prophet and The Thousandfold Thought. There will be sequels as well.

For the longest time I thought that the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series couldn't be touched and that it was by far the best series out there. Then I came across Scott Bakker's "Prince of Nothing" trilogy. This trilogy was the first series after ASOIAF where I actually had to put the book down for a few minutes and let mind-blowing plotlines actually seep in. I would DEFINITELY recommend the Prince of Nothing trilogy.