Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Just getting started?
Thinking about it?

This topic is to welcome in new readers, and to allow discussion for folks to find out if they want to step into a massive series.

Particularly given the fact that this is not an 'easy' read/if you try to rush or skim, you will quickly get lost. The cool stuff is a careful build/not an instantaneous gratification.

On any book in the universe, reader reviews can be controversial - stories with impact do stir up opinions. Let this be the place to ask why, or look deeper, because series require a lot more investment.

If you want, perhaps start with your reading list of favorites - from that, the participants can let you know frankly what might mesh with your taste, and what may not work with your mindset.


These books are NOT meant for 'everybody' - let's have a straight dialogue on the subject, or put your direct questions to the author. I'd prefer, all around, to be honest up front.

Don't miss this read due to prejudice, or, don't start into it, sadly misled. It is NOT a YA, it is NOT a quest, it is NOT a war against a Dark Lord.

Well said, Janny. If you're not afraid to struggle a little bit, it's well worth the effort.

As someone who gave up the first time she tried to read the books and is now up to number 4, I echo Sandra's comment.

You need to be prepared to do a bit of work for these books, but the effort is so very well rewarded.

I'm so glad I tried again and having Janny around to help out and offer comments is absolutely fantastic.

Kerry wrote: "As someone who gave up the first time she tried to read the books and is now up to number 4, I echo Sandra's comment.

You need to be prepared to do a bit of work for these books, but the effort ..."

Kerry - for the benefit or informative assistance to others - what threw you off the first time?

I can say freely that there is more going on in the first half of this story than meets the eye. The book does not lack action - the finale will deliver that in spades - but the impact that is delivered there winds together many threads...it is not JUST about whether the characters survive - it has everything to do with why they are in crisis, what they are fighting for or against....the conflicts are as deeply internal as external, and the focus of the suspense, by that stage, runs on several levels of depth.

Some people find the style is 'dense' - which I take to mean - requires more focus and concentration. I've had one review who finished a title think the ending was written more concisely, or differently - that reviewer looked back at Chapter 1 of that book to see how the style had changed. She found it hadn't. Her perception had adjusted. Some readers say it takes 5 chapters to 'fall into' the swing of it. After that period of immersion, they shift into gear with it.

The purpose, from my standpoint, was to gradually incite a state of total immersion: which pays off at the impact point.

What was your experience, here? Both in the false start, and the reconnect?

Anybody else can jump in, too - and - can toss about the whole topic of 'style' or 'transparent prose' or 'story' - what your taste favors, with examples given.

The book Story by Robert McKee actually breaks down the mechanics of this: direct action/survival being the first level (and the most easily accessed by many) - emotional conflict, and internal tension, being the second layer, and one step harder to access - with the 'art film' story, or abstract pastiche the very hardest to access.

Tension may be built in all 3 areas, but at each stage, the audience that can readily follow it diminishes.

Light and Shadows carries threads on two layers - straight from the start. That asks far more of a reader's comprehension - and also asks them to feel things, directly, that are not necessarily part of their comfort zone.

Stories with more layers and levels of suspense pace differently at the start.

Where does reader expectation hit a wall - and how long did the story take to find you?

It was a long time ago, so I'm not sure I remember exactly, but I'll see what I can do.

I said 15 years above, but I don't know exactly. When did Mistwraith first come out? Goodreads says 1993, so yes, that's probably right. So I was a whole lot younger then than I am now.

I remember that I was immediately taken by Arithon, who is thrown into peril even earlier than Lysaer, so I was feeling kind of nervous about what might happen to him right from the beginning. And I'm one of those anxious people who would get up and leave the room if the tension in a TV episode got too high. I absolutely hate to see people/characters made fools of/humiliated and I get worried about the fates of characters both that I care for and in reverse, that I don't. I also struggle with the whole "other foot about to drop" aspect of prophecy.

So I think it may have been inevitable that the very set up of the book was designed to make me anxious. I worried most for Arithon (after all, the prologue, especially at a more cursory read, suggests it's not going to go well for him) but the whole overhanging threat of the curse just as things seem to be going okay, was hard for me.

I am pretty sure having reread the book, that the point where I stopped reading was in Etarra when the curse finally hit. It was that "I can't bear to look" thing reaching breaking point for me.

I've grown up a lot in the intervening years. I know now you have to work for a worthwhile reward. But I think the thing that really got me to keep going this time was knowing I had the support of the book group - and the author! - behind me and the praise for the series by readers I had learned to trust.

Janny may or may not remember, but the Beyond Reality group read To Ride Hell's Chasm earlier this year and the book didn't work for me. But the thing was that Janny was so honest about discussing the book and between us we worked out WHY the book hadn't worked for me and she understood and was quite happy that her hard work didn't gel with me. So I felt that she was totally someone I could trust and therefore I could also trust her to help me with the books if I needed it and be understanding if I decided I didn't like them. I could trust her enough to give the books another try and let things fall however they did.

The older, more mature me has found so much to love in this series. So many layers and depths. Yes, the worry about the characters is there, but I can understand them much better and I just love the way Janny writes and the way it is unfolding.

I didn't see that depth and beauty the first time because I was so caught up worrying about the caharcters and what was going to happen to them. Now I can see deeper and appreciate the whole experience.

So for me, I think it has been two things. My own personal maturity and my feeling that I can trust the author, the books and the people who have told me it was worth sticking it out. I'm now one of those latter people, and will encourage people to indeed stick it out and trust.

Kerry wrote: "It was a long time ago, so I'm not sure I remember exactly, but I'll see what I can do.

I said 15 years above, but I don't know exactly. When did Mistwraith first come out? Goodreads says 1993, ..."

Wow, Kerry, thank you, that is fascinating! You have definitely shed light on something, here - it never occurred to me (knowing what is coming) that a person would PUT DOWN the book right at that half point (where the convergency breaks forward and gains pace in a matter of pages) -- I had never perceived how PRESUMPTIONS would steer a reader's choices.

Why, say, when people read the prologue the always seem to assume that this story will end badly...when has the mass opinion NECESSARILY told the truth? The fact the sages are seeking the actual story hints that there is another story to be found...

This is a series that was written to BUST assumptions.

That being the case, yes, I can see your point - trust in the author would carry a lot of weight.

Also, somehow, perhaps, this work PUSHES BUTTONS. Because I see many series shove a hero through grisly hardships and the readers remark, but relish it - also, sometimes questions are not answered at the get go (long works at best are ONE LONG STORY, well resolved, solidly finished with panache) - some series seem to provoke a LOT of patience in readers - they angst but they have to see what happens, good or bad, sprawl or not.

I prefer a story to answer all those questions, unfold them as part of the story, not deliver lumps. Let the wonder heighten and heighten again, so each volume delivers another set of epiphanies/busts another set of assumptions, repaves the floor and ceiling, hits new heights and depths.

The question of which way one chooses ON ASSUMPTIONS, for any book, could make for continued persistence/patience and trust in the tale, or an instant deal-breaker.

Books that move through unpredictable plot lines would, definitely, not inspire automatic trust.