Best Fantasy Books Subgenre Reading Challenge discussion

Our very first read in this group is one of the defining fantasy classics, the first book in the epic Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The prologue is pretty intense and I think it submerges us into both the atmosphere and the fantasy "feel" well. It also introduces us to some terminology, like "Light" as a godly recognition, without overwhelming us.

I think it really becomes "epic" towards the end of the prologue, where we see magic used more heavily. I also think the scale of the conflict (one of the defining things about epic fantasy) starts to become clear from how the weather and earth are affected by the magic used. We also have some description from the man clad in black of how large the conflict is right now, presumably good vs. evil but I'm sure we'll see more of that later.

Last but not least, we have our introduction to the concept of the Wheel of Time! I'm glad it was introduced so quickly in dialogue so that we can see it's a concept the characters of this world are familiar with.

*This thread is dedicated to all Eye of the World discussions, and spoilers are allowed. Discussions won't be broken down by chapter, so comment as you go.*

My husband (not a Good Reads member) has finished this book and moved on to The Way of Kings since I had them here. He read the Eye of the World in just a few days so I know he liked it. He's nice about not discussing books when I'm going to read them too. I've just finished chapter 1. I can get going better when everyone goes back to school/work.

I want to join in the group read for this, but I just started two 500+ page books. As soon as I finish reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I will play catch-up.

I wish I had seen this sooner, when I was at the library I almost got Eye of the World but decided on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell at the last minute.

Bonita wrote: "My husband (not a Good Reads member) has finished this book and moved on to The Way of Kings since I had them here. He read the Eye of the World in just a few days so I know he liked..."

It's so nice that your husband is reading the same books too, even though he's not on Goodreads! I'm glad he liked Eye of the World, and I hope you do too. I can understand it being too crazy to get solid reading time before things go back to normal from the holidays.

I'm into chapter 14, and I've been enjoying it. I'm going to post a video soon about the incorrect expectations I'd had at one time when I first tried to read this book, but once I got past those expectations, I'm finding the book to be a great example of epic fantasy that doesn't leap too far too fast. I like that a lot.

Holly wrote: "I want to join in the group read for this, but I just started two 500+ page books. As soon as I finish reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I will play catch-up.

I wish I had seen this sooner,..."

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is set for summer as our gaslamp fantasy read, so hold on to your thoughts when you finish it! Looking forward to hearing what you think of Eye of the World when you do get the chance to read it. In the meantime, hope you enjoy Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell!

I love how about 1/4 through the book we see the prologue come into play. I've read a number of books in which the prologue or introduction have very little to do with the rest of the book and it drives me crazy. Glad to see it woven into the story.

Prologues worry me a lot. And I have this about any genre of book. It's like I researched and researched what I want to read, finally set aside the time to read a book, then you have some massive prologue, which I find always delays the story. Most times long long prologues don't seem worth it. Whenever I started a Game of Thrones book, the prologue , although usually pretty awesome, got on my nerves. Just get on with it. I've already built myself up and set aside my patience quota for your 600 page novel, but please do hurry up and begin the the story...

I loved your recent video by the way. Hi Christie!

You say about expectations. I reckon any novel should work without knowing anything about the story. Maybe I'm wrong. I could well be. Sounds like adjusting your expectations regarding Eye of the World has helped you, and that's great. I dunno. I just need to be told a book is good, no matter what the genre, and I'm happy to give it a shot, let the writing do the work in drawing me into the world. I dunno. It's weird. It could well be true that having more realistic expectations about a certain book can help you... Like with House of Leaves. It does help knowing before hand that the author is gonna seriously jerk you around for the entire book. I just don't like when aspects of a genre are used as an excuse for lame writing. 'Oh, it's ok that the plot is contrived and the dialogue is corny, it's a romantic comedy!' Or, 'It's ok to have a 20 page prologue that has nothing to do with the main story, it's fantasy!' Or - well I've run out of examples.

Maybe personal preference comes into it as well. I can't read pages of pages of action, for example, unless the characters are so amazing it doesn't feel like a big long action scene at all, but something the characters, who you care about, are working through. But then, personal preference. I'm sure there's plenty of readers who CRAVE loads of action.

Sorry for the rambling, contradictory and probably incoherent comment!

Hi, Jason!

I agree with your views on prologues. I try to get through them as quickly as possible but skip them more times than not. I need to have a character to relate to in a situation to get a handle on how their world works. Sometimes, I find it more helpful to go back to the prologue after I've read a few chapters--it tends to actually make sense at that point. That's only if the story is dragging, and I'm wondering if I'm missing something. If the story is good, I may never get around to reading the prologue. Now you know my lackadaisical ways!

Hi Bonita. I've done some crazy things in my time, but actually skipping a prologue isn't one of them . Wow. Amazing. It never occurred to me to be that daring! Awesome! :)

Hi Jason! Hi Bonita!

I used to always skip intros/prologues when I was in and before high school, and then when I reached college there was a book that had a shorter prologue I took a chance on reading, and it happened to make a HUGE difference to understanding the beginning of the book. That made me wonder what percentage of readers skip prologues vs. reading them.

I do think, though, that whether or not the prologue is worth something, it should be short! Like you both said, get on with it so we can get to the main story already!

I've even experienced epilogues that are (1) pointless (2) boring (3) ruin the story and/or (4) LONG. I don't appreciate that either.

Jason, I do agree with you completely that a book should either be well written or not, and that's what should determine whether it's good, not expectations. I tend to come up with really specific expectations, so to be fair, sometimes I'll set the book up to be something particular in terms of ambiance, setting, and characters before I've opened it. On the odd occasion that I realize I made those things up all by myself and they have nothing to do with excerpts or blurbs, I need to clear my mind of those expectations and restart. Otherwise, yeah you're totally right, the book should do the work on its own. In the case of Eye of the World, I expected to jump into the middle of everything (after the prologue, of course :P) and for prophet-related realizations and other ultimately main story stuff to happen ASAP. Of the little bit of epic fantasy I've read, it doesn't seem to work that way. We have to be worked up to all that important stuff, and it also seems that it can take a whole book (or a large part of it) to get there. Pacing is epic fantasy's ten commandments.

I am going to start reading this one very soon and will participate in discussion. Hoping I like it

Erin (Paperbackstash) wrote: "I am going to start reading this one very soon and will participate in discussion. Hoping I like it"

Great, Erin! I hope you like it too! :)

I'm on page 260 and chapter 17 definitely portrayed this point from BFB's definition of epic fantasy: "magic a key part of plot/story/character abilities". We knew Moiraine had powers, but we hadn't really gotten to see them used to any large extent yet, and now we know she's capable of quite a lot. Without those powers, no one would fear her the way the guards did. And of course we have Nynaeve and Min, and I'm wondering if Lan has something magic up his sleeve.

WELL! Magic is a HUGE part of this book! And it sounds like Moiraine's powers aren't drawn from something wand-like. She calls it the One Power and it sounds to me like she knows how to draw on it either from within herself or by channeling it through herself. It sounds like the former, in my opinion, like anyone can do it if they know how, but very few have the ability. The dark forces and other random unhappy types also have some original kinds of magic that I hadn't read before.

I like the idea of having troops carrying "weapons" that would loop around a person's neck and drag them off their horse. This is new to me, but maybe it's not new to others.

Much like in strategy games, Rand's/Moiraine's group is carefully balanced - one magic-leader character, one warrior-leader character, and several apprentice/journeyman-types. We also have two people capable of healing the group, and two who can't defend themselves.

I can't wait to find out the literal connection between Moiraine and Lan since we now know there is one. Moiraine says at one point that if something happened to Lan, she'd know it within the same instant.

Sorry to say I haven't had a chance to start this yet. As usual in life, I'm behind :) Soon though!

Erin (Paperbackstash) *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Sorry to say I haven't had a chance to start this yet. As usual in life, I'm behind :) Soon though!"

Being behind in books is pretty much a given for me most of the time. ;) The discussion will be here and ready for you when you have time!

Did you know there are some songs dedicated to and inspired by The Wheel of Time series? Here's the rundown:

- Blind Guardian's The Wheel of Time: orchestral metal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNnhh...
I really like this very original musical rendition of the series - it sounds as epic as the series is.
- Katana's The Wisdom of Edmond's Field: heavy metal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPH8z...
This one has a more standard metal feel and chord progressions heard in loads of metal songs.
- Robert Berry's Soundtrack for The Wheel of Time: varied: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3AaD...
Some tracks are acoustic, some are synthesized orchestral. These don't add up to my personal vision for the book, but your opinion may be different.

Do you know of any other songs that were made to suit Robert Jordan's series? I think I'm going to look up fantasy book titles on YouTube from now on to see if I can find any related music. Even if I don't like the rendition, I think it's interesting to hear someone else's vision.

(As a side note, I do buy the music I like. I only use YouTube to find and sample the music. I definitely support artists when I like their music!)

I wrote an article about Tolkien inspired music over at Geekdad which you might be interested in. My list only scratched the surface!

http://geekdad.com/2015/03/theres-vul...

Russ wrote: "I wrote an article about Tolkien inspired music over at Geekdad which you might be interested in. My list only scratched the surface!

http://geekdad.com/2015/03/theres-vul..."

That's awesome! Thanks for posting it here. So much I never would have known about!

I finally finished this a couple of days ago. It's a good book, and I plan to continue the series. I did a good bit of slogging through and setting it aside for a few days and coming back to it. I will just continue on with the rest of the series like that so I don't forget what's going on.

Hi I have already finished all the books of this series.... so I guess I'll stay out of this one :)

Bonita wrote: "I finally finished this a couple of days ago. It's a good book, and I plan to continue the series. I did a good bit of slogging through and setting it aside for a few days and coming back to it. I ..."

Yeah, I agree with the slogging and taking breaks. I end up doing that too. I feel like I'll be reading it for a long time because I don't want to speed read but I don't want to fall too behind on all the other books. This book is such a classic that I really want to put the effort in to finish it. Hope you like the rest of the series! Everyone seems to have different opinions about which books are the best and which are hardest to get through. Should be an interesting journey.

Eldritch wrote: "Hi I have already finished all the books of this series.... so I guess I'll stay out of this one :)"

What did you think of the series as a whole? Would you say any books were your favorites or least favorites?

The series as a whole definitely fits in the epic category. Its simply huge, with tons of characters all connected in some manner so keeping track of it all may be difficult. It was for me! I preferred the first few books before the plot got all tangled up because it was interesting without having to memorize whos who.

That's one tough thing about sprawling fantasy books - the crazy amount of characters. And if you take a break from the series you have to get reacquainted with them.