Read Between the Wines #7: Swords, Sorcery and Epic Fantasy
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Hello lovely Steemians
Its time for another episode of Read Between The Wines - Anything and everything book related and maybe a little bit of wine as well!
Epic fantasy - the sword and sorcery type - not the 50 shades type - has always been my thing. In fact at one stage I'd written about 26 chapters of a fantasy novel and who knows I might get back to it one day.
I wouldn't be the first to start an epic tale and not finish (though in fairness to me I don't have legions of fans hanging on for decades waiting for the next book) Yes Mr G. R. R. Martin I AM looking at you and I'm kinda past your story now anyway because Benioff and Weiss are actually doing a pretty good job finishing it up for us!
But in seriousness, I can't imagine the majority of your career being taken up with the creation of a single world and the characters that inhabit it.
They give the word epic a whole new meaning!
Just to be clear - I use the word Epic to denote a sub-genre of fantasy as opposed to epic meaning great - though obviously a lot of it is. A lot of it is also needlessly wordy and full of itself - but why waste time reading that.
Chloe Smith of Fantasy-Faction.com describes Epic Fantasy perfectly
For most people, even most well-read, card-carrying members of the fantastic-fiction-reading community, these words conjure an image of a very specific type of fantasy story. It does not take place in a recognisable version of the world we all (I hope) wake up to every day. It has warfare. It has magic. It has heroes. The heroes carry swords. Most importantly—-at least to the knee-jerk definition of epic fantasy—-the story is long. Long as in “use-the-piled-series-as-a-bedside-table” long.
Here are some of my old school favourites - they take commitment to write and commitment to read.
- The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
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Originally planned as a six-book series, The Wheel of Time spanned fourteen volumes, in addition to a prequel novel and a companion book. Jordan began writing the first volume, The Eye of the World, in 1984, and it was published in January, 1990.
This series has been my nemesis! It was so long between efforts to read this book I've started it about 6 times. I started again last year and have managed to get to book 10. This year is the year.. I am never starting it again.. and it's not really a re-read sort of story! I started the series in 2003 - 15 years and still going!
Jordan died in 2007 while working on what was planned to be the twelfth and final book. (the fear all Game of Thrones Fans have) He prepared extensive notes so another author - longtime fan Brandon Sanderson could complete the book according to his wishes. During the writing process it was decided that the book would be far too large to be published in one volume and would instead be published as three volumes.
That really is commitment - being told you have less than a year to live and spending that time ensuring your story got finished! RESPECT!
Amazon announced om March 1st they are developing this for TV which if they do in the manner of Game of Thrones - then it will absolutely wipe the floor with GoT! This will be amazingly epic.. I'm more concerned it will come out like Xena though.. and credibility as a serious show will go out the window! I'd be much more confident with HBO behind the wheel. Hope they give it the treatment it deserves. And at least the story is finished!
- The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond Feist.
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The majority of Feist's works are part of The Riftwar Universe, and feature the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan.[1] Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts through dimensionless space that can connect planets in different solar systems. The novels and short stories of The Riftwar Universe record the adventures of various people on these worlds.
I had the good fortune to meet Raymond Feist at the Sydney Writers festival many years back and listen to him talking about world-building - so critical in fantasy and science fiction where - yes entire worlds can be created from scratch - but they have to be believable and work. The world of Midkemia actually began as an alternative universe when he and his friends were playing RPG.
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There are over 30 stories set in these universes, either written or co-written by Feist. Luckily he does break them into mini series so while helpful it's not essential to have read all of them.
I started these in 1994 - I'm still going.
- Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind
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The Sword of Truth is a series of twenty novels .The books follow the protagonists Richard Rahl, Kahlan Amnell, Nicci and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat oppressors who seek to control the world and those who wish to unleash evil upon the world of the living. While each novel was written to stand alone, except for the final three that were intended to be a trilogy, they follow a common timeline and are linked by ongoing events that occur throughout the series.
Don't judge a book by it's movie - or in this case it's New Zealand made campish TV series! - Though if you were a fan of Hercules and Xena you'd probably be okay with it.
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Of course since the these fantasy classics have been written there are an absolute slew of (thankfully) shorter but still epic fantasy series, but I'll leave them for another day. After all that thinking about sword, sorcery and battles it feels like I should go have a mug of ale!
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Oh I never liked the TV series of the Sword of Truth. The actors don't fit my idea of the characters. Haha.
Still haven't finished the book series yet. Whew. Wonder if I ever will.
As for Robert Jordan, I've read some books too. Ah those were the days...
Each book is loooong. I mean, they just make long stories and thick books and I love them! Lol.
Yep took a while to grow on me... but I didn't take the show to seriously.
The Jordan books do get lost a bit in the middle but get better again when Sanderson takes them over - so I've heard. I've still got 5 to go!
Whuuut? There's more after he's gone? Well now... I heard it was just one after. Thanks for the info!
I'm ashamed to say its been some time since reading a book, let alone my favorite genre of fantasy. The last I read was some Martin and Feist though (but I did not complete the journeys past the one or 2 books.... sacrilege).
Actually, its been decades since playing some D&D!
Its criminal that the older you get the less free time you seem to have for the things you used to love.
Still, at least I watched Legend of the Seeker recently when someone described it as 'like Hercules and Xena' too. It was a little woeful, but fun.
Nice to be reminded of when I could indulge - thanks :-)
hahah yes.. for all my Hercules and Xena comparisons I watched the whole 2 seasons and complained audibly when it was canned!
My problem is if they do Wheel of Time that way.. it wont last through the whole story.. where as GoT style will have everyone in!
Yes but try convincing a network to invest.... actually, scratch that. If GoT is anything to go by, I hope they actually appreciate the worlds already created by the likes of Feist et al, and realise what a treasure trove they could enjoy.
As an aside, I don't know if you enjoy the guilty pleasure of watching Stargate, but if you come across the latest incarnation released in 10 minute episodes for the love of Arioch, avert your eyes! (and ears).
Well Amazon did okay I think with American Gods (But Gaiman is out there!) and Emerald City so there is some hope :)
Anything after Atlantis was criminal :) And even that took me a season to forgive!
Nice. I was heavily into Fantasy Fiction back when I was a teenager (before I discovered girls and alcohol) but I either didn't find these series or they were too daunting. I think that with a favourites list of Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance (6 books) and Shannara Chronicles (3 books?)....yeh, I was a pretty much a lightweight. Or maybe just a typical short attention span teen :)
I actually found LoTR pretty hard going as I do with most of Tolkien's work .
But you missed a lot of the Dragonlance books.. there's a total of 153 set in the Dragonlance universe! lol! Actually the only Weis & Hickman books I read were the Twins Trilogy and the Death Gate Cycle.. hey some chicks love fantasy :) Yes I have been known to play a bit of D & D in my uni days as well :) I have drawn the line at Cosplay though lol.
Aha, of course. Yes, when I was young it was just the Dragonlance Chronicles and then the Twins Trilogy. 6 books in total....then the glut of them came out when I was older I think. I was big on D&D there for a while too. It was all very influential in my youth. But I didn't even know what Cosplay or LARP was back then (I've never done either). I remember going to one medieval type bash-up but probably was done by 1988. That was well before the Fantasy genre really took hold, back when fantasy was only for nerds. It's practically mainstream these days! :)
This is like my hall of shame. All these series that I had started and never saw through to the end because I couldn't be bothered waiting for the next book to come out. I guess now that they are complete I should go and finish them (from the beginning again..).
Oh they are tough going.. and I can think of the ones I haven't even started but want to - one day. Adrian Tchaikovsky - Shadows of the Apt; Stephen Erickson - Malazan Book of the Fallen; Brandon Sanderson Stormlight Archives.... I tend to finish the girls off first.. surprisingly female authors seem less wordy then then their male counterparts lol! Though I am still slowly working through Robin Hobb
Have you tried this one? Recluse. I used to really like it, not sure what I would think of it now though.
No I haven't I didn't mind The Spellsong Cycle by the same author though - Bu that was a loooong time ago!
Nice write-up. :) I've never read any of these books, but I've been enjoying Terry Pratchett's Discworld series lately. Not exactly the same genre, but also its own world. :)
I haven't read any of Pratchett... its never really jumped out at me.. but I know lots of people who love him
The moment when you realize that you've been subconsciously thinking Discworld and Wheel of Time were the same series :P Always heard about Discworld and somehow thought that was the name of the world and the series name was Wheel of Time. I feel like an idiot :D Thanks for being the person who turned the light on!
All I can say in my defense is I never read either series and a wheel is awful like a disc...
lol.. two very vastly different styles of writing there though lol.
Lol! A wheel is indeed like a disc. XD I'd really recommend checking out Pratchett though. I wouldn't really consider them "my thing" either, but I'm glad I gave it a try and I've had some very enjoyable hours in them.
I'm definitely going to read Pratchett. It's what I intended to read when I started Wheel of Time XD.
Ahh, another one where the upvote thingy just spins and spins.
I was hoping HBO would do The Wheel of Time too, but Amazon certainly has the budget for it as well.
Oh it spins for me a lot! Could you imagine WOT being given The Game of Thrones Treatment... oh I might have to come up with my dream cast... NOT the pathetic pilot that was done years ago when they were pitching for the show.. that was sooooo bad! And please no Billy Zane!
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I'll be looking forward to your post in the shorter epic fantasy series! Kudos for you making it through ten on the "Wheel of Time." Are there any authors you would suggest that are more recent? Im book blogging on books released in the last year and epic fantasy is a genre I haven't touched on.