Looking for a tiebreaker for my next Book Series

[AcidicSyn]

Title.

I just finished reading through Grishaverse and I was just about to pick up Wheel of Time to finally start that, when I remembered Discworld exists.

So, readers who also happen to be on mmo-champ- which journey should I commit to next?

Wheel of Time vs Discworld - go.

(NOTE: I have every intention of going through both, but given there are freakin 41 Discworld books, I felt like which one I go after first matters.)

[Ripster42]

You don't need to read the discworld series all at once (and, really, I suggest you don't as you'll get tired of them). I'd go back and forth. Start with the first two of discworld, as they're sorta a continuation of the same story, and then read the first 3 of wheel, then alternate.

[Attackrabbit]

I'd go with Discworld but only because I haven't read Wheel of Time.

but given there are freakin 41 Discworld books, I felt like which one I go after first matters.)

Never realised there were that many I just picked them up over the years.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Title.

I just finished reading through Grishaverse and I was just about to pick up Wheel of Time to finally start that, when I remembered Discworld exists.

So, readers who also happen to be on mmo-champ- which journey should I commit to next?

Wheel of Time vs Discworld - go.

(NOTE: I have every intention of going through both, but given there are freakin 41 Discworld books, I felt like which one I go after first matters.)

For me, Wheel of Time started to go downhill really fast after the 6th book. I hear Brandon Sanderson did a pretty decent job finishing off the series after Robert Jordan's death...but I've never read those books. Book 10 was as far as I could go before I completely lost interest.

Whereas every Discworld book I have ever read has been a very enjoyable experience. I haven't read them all though. And yeah, there are 41 Discworld books...but they're usually between 200-300 pages. Wheel of Time books average over 800 pages each. By Word Count...WoT is longer than Discworld.

[Attackrabbit]

The Black Company are a (mostly) great series, looking forward to the conclusion

[AcidicSyn]

good notes folks, thanks. Will take it all under advisement!

[Attackrabbit]

If you end up going discworld you don't have to read a lot of them in order, there are links between books but until the 2nd half of the entire lot they are mostly loosely linked and then become more of a series

[Rozz]

This thread was moved to the appropriate section.

[eschatological]

Gonna piggyback on this for just a second.

I have an idea for a fantasy book (for me to write, that is), but I don't know the fantasy genre well enough to know if/how it's been done before. What I'm looking for is where the rules of the "magic system" are so hard and onerous that magic is super rare and done only for ridiculously important things, but when they're done, they're literally spells which change the course of history. One of the main branches of magical research is finding out how to bypass or break these barriers. The ones who can do so (very limited in scope and very few in numbers at the onset of the series) are more powerful than kings.

Any book series with that as their themes?

[Gumble]

I am re-reading Wheel of Time right now, on book 5.

Books 1-6 are amazing, 7-9 are good, but drag in places (mostly with just 1 storyline for a character that it feels like the author didn't know what to do with but liked him too much to shelve him during it), 10 and 11 are where it really slows down (I think of them as the cooldown time after a giant event at the end of book 9), and 12-14 are great and end of the series very well.

I'd vote for Wheel of Time because it is hands down one of the very few series I have ever read where I cared about the characters enough to really care what happened to them. My favorite character is Egwene and she is definitely a love her or hate her character for the fan base.

Ignore the crud Amazon made of this series and read one of the best fantasy series ever written, you won't regret it. I don't know anyone that has finished it that doesn't consider it one of their favorites. Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I've spent the alst couple of months going through all the discworld books for a second time and almost every single one is amazing start to finish, out of all 41 books there's only 2 id say aren't great though I also wouldn't call them bad.

Wheel of time on the other hand isn't bad by any stretch but has long long sections that are a pure slog and Id never reread the series because of them.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

90s epic fantasy doorstoppers are really bad. They suck you in with the first book but then they quickly become bloated slogs and the payoff is never worth it. Read old stuff like Narnia or LotR or Dragonlance or Dragonriders of Pern, where you get a fast paced but satisfying story.

[jackofwind]

Ignore the crud Amazon made of this series and read one of the best fantasy series ever written, you won't regret it. I don't know anyone that has finished it that doesn't consider it one of their favorites. Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Man, I really disagree with this to the marrow of my bones.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Gonna piggyback on this for just a second.

I have an idea for a fantasy book (for me to write, that is), but I don't know the fantasy genre well enough to know if/how it's been done before. What I'm looking for is where the rules of the "magic system" are so hard and onerous that magic is super rare and done only for ridiculously important things, but when they're done, they're literally spells which change the course of history. One of the main branches of magical research is finding out how to bypass or break these barriers. The ones who can do so (very limited in scope and very few in numbers at the onset of the series) are more powerful than kings.

Any book series with that as their themes?

People spend too much time overthinking their elaborate magic systems or their huge, storied settings. Ultimately they're not important. What keeps people reading a book is having likeable characters, and there being enough tension/plot developments happening every few page turns to keep the reader going. A book can have an elaborate magic system but no one will care to think about it and maybe poke holes in it if they don't care about the characters and/or become bored by the lack of tension or the slow pacing.

[eschatological]

People spend too much time overthinking their elaborate magic systems or their huge, storied settings. Ultimately they're not important. What keeps people reading a book is having likeable characters, and there being enough tension/plot developments happening every few page turns to keep the reader going. A book can have an elaborate magic system but no one will care to think about it and maybe poke holes in it if they don't care about the characters and/or become bored by the lack of tension or the slow pacing.

No worries, the characters always come first for me. But when you want to write in a particular genre like fantasy, magic systems are something you have to pay some mind to.

Like, I once wrote a science fiction book with a lot of space travel, and it involved figuring out what an intergalactic federation would look like. The story came to me about a young girl struggling with high school issues first.

[jackofwind]

No worries, the characters always come first for me. But when you want to write in a particular genre like fantasy, magic systems are something you have to pay some mind to.

Like, I once wrote a science fiction book with a lot of space travel, and it involved figuring out what an intergalactic federation would look like. The story came to me about a young girl struggling with high school issues first.

The magic system of the First Law trilogy is somewhat like what you've described, in that powerful magic is now only practiced by a select few and they are largely in hiding (having mysteriously died off/been killed off). Though honestly I wouldn't really describe it as a "system" as such, as the general understanding is just that there were only ever a few magic users and no one really knows anything about how they worked.

But essentially the remaining powerful mages, (some of whom also "inexplicably" have access to technology more advanced than that of the setting), use their knowledge, magic, and influence to directly act as puppet masters over their chosen human empires and shape their trajectories. Some do it directly, others do it from the shadows, but all are more powerful than the human kings.

Obvious magic doesn't really happen all that much in the series though, which actually may also be interesting to you. Spells/rituals are super involved and monumental in scale, and more mundane magic is mostly just used to subtly control people and adjust key events.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Man, I really disagree with this to the marrow of my bones.

I’d say wheel of time is above average but ya there are so many better fantasy series that keep it far away from best pile.

[Frogguh]

Title.

I just finished reading through Grishaverse and I was just about to pick up Wheel of Time to finally start that, when I remembered Discworld exists.

So, readers who also happen to be on mmo-champ- which journey should I commit to next?

Wheel of Time vs Discworld - go.

(NOTE: I have every intention of going through both, but given there are freakin 41 Discworld books, I felt like which one I go after first matters.)

I enjoyed Wheel of Time a lot. If you've seen the show, know that the only resemblance to the books is some of the characters have the same names as book characters. Otherwise the show is pure trash.

I know nothing of Discworld but a couple other series I would highly recommend are Malazan Book of the Fallen and the Dresden Files. The latter is pure fun, a wizard detective with an awesome cast of friends and enemies. The former is insanely complex in its magic and politics, so that you have no idea what's going on sometimes until the second time through, but it is arguably my favorite book series of all time. There are ten books in the main series, but all told I believe there are over thirty books and novellas if you wanted to hit them all.

[Kantoro]

David Eddings - The Belgariad, follow up The Mallorean. Instant classics if they ever make a series out of these books. Characters are amazing, story is well written. Dave Duncan, A Man of His Word - again, great characters, well written story, magic system is neato. Ilona Andrews - Kate Daniels saga. None of these will disappoint.

As far as tie breaker, I didn't read Discworld and I would not read WoT again, tbh. The story is just WAY too verbose. Plus Jordan jumps all over the place with his novels, I found mysself just skipping entire sections, cuz I didn't care about the characters in that part of the story. I mean, the guy DIED before he could finish the 15th (I think?) 1500 page book.

[BloodyAngel12]

A lot of people missing out on the magic of Discworld.