As an avid fan of both science fiction and fantasy, I am switching between three different authors: Isaac Asimov (the Foundation, Robot, and Galactic Empire series), Frank Herbert (the Dune series), and Terry Brooks (the Shannara series). I have read five books in each series so far. Asimov covers the science fiction, Brooks the fantasy, and Herbert mixes them together into science fantasy. The writing styles of the older generations is something I am not used to. Asimov’s first few novels were short stories later collected into novels, and it certainly has the feel of that as one reads the Foundation series. Hopefully the Robot series and the later Foundation books will be a smoother read. While Dune is without a doubt one of the great classics of speculative fiction, I find the sequels falling short. Here, Herbert has created a science fiction world unlike any other, where space travel and computations are done with human minds using Spice, rather than by robots. Book two skips over an entire war that occurred, which would have been a great chance to showcase these abilities in a Star Wars type of plot. Instead, we are left with books that are basically all intrigue based around overthrowing the Atredis line, which gets pretty old by God Emperor which, quite bluntly, was one of the most painfully boring books I have ever read. On the other hand, Brooks seems to be getting better. His first book was basically a plot point derivative of Lord of the Rings (I think next post I will have a discussion about derivative works). The later novels manage to become a world of their own, around the fascinating idea of a post apocalyptic earth, although the tv show does a much better job of portraying that than the books.
Every two or three cycles (three to six books) I get bored and switch gears for a bit. Lately, I have been into anthology books. I have read one on dieselpunk, mummies, post-apocalyptic civilizations, weird west, and gaslamp fantasy. All anthologies have a mixed quality of stories, but the good stories make up for the bad stories.
Finally, I am looking forward to two new books bein released in the next two months. If you have not yet checked out the Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett, I strongly recommend you do so. The first book is one of the best books I have ever read, and the second book was a close second. The next two books have a different feel, as the series shifts from dark horror fantasy to an epic fantasy, but they are by no means bad, just different. The Core is the fifth and final installment, due out in October. Secondly is Oathbringer, book three of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson is one of my favorite authors and his other series’ are not to be missed. This is book three in a planned ten book series of doorstoppers, so as far as the overall series goes, it is like only reading the first fifty pages of a novel. However, the individual books themselves are very good, and so thick that
Source: Tyler Leonhardt – What I’m Reading