I'm looking for more of a custom recommendation, so I'll share a bit of what I'm looking for! Even though fantasy (epic/high fantasy specifically) is my favorite genre, I honestly haven't read much of it. I spent most of my teenage years reading YA and then I moved onto lots of classics and contemporary, now I'm 29 and feeling old and wanting to back to my fantasy roots.
My favorite fantasy book so far:
- The Name of The Wind: my absolute favorite. I love it I love it I love it. It holds a special place in my heart, I'm very into the "hero's journey" trope, but the prose was definitely what drew me in. I'm a writer myself so I tend to be very critical of a book's writing.
Of course I've also read ASOIAF, lotr—I mention them in case someone wants to rec those.
What I'm looking for:
- An epic, emotive adventure/journey.
- Preferably with a male protagonist.
- Some romance/love story on the side is always appreciated, I long for deep human connections between characters.
- Angst.
- No YA, please, unless is so good you can't help yourself. YA tends to have a very fanfic kind of prose, I'm trying to avoid that.
- Not really looking for a dark series as ASOIAF, I'm leaning towards something more fantasy-like rather than "fantasy based off a real world" this time.
- Something very emotive. I'm a very emotional driven person, which I think is the reason I enjoyed The Name of the Wind so much; I want a story that makes me feel things, care about them very deeply. If you've ever played Final Fantasy, you know how emotional and beautiful those games are, I guess that's the kind of experience I'm searching for.
- Happy or sad ending, I don't mind.
- I like some ambiguity. I like when I have to think things through, and come up with theories that perhaps are not at all accurate. Don't really enjoy when writers spoon-feed things to you.
Now, something I think I need to mention (please don't kill me!!! lol)
I tried Sanderson twice, with Mistborn, and I just couldn't get past it. It makes me so mad because I want to enjoy his books so badly, they look and sound amazing, but the writing was really throwing me off, it felt very redundant for my taste. I don't wanna give up, I wanna try again in the future.
I mention this because, like I said above, I am a writer myself, and there are certain things that no matter how much I try, I can't move past it—in this case, the prose. So, if you can recommend something that isn't overly dense as LOTR but neither overly simplistic as Sanderson, I'd appreciate it!
I'm currently reading Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, but can't say much of it yet since I'm only 4 chapters in.
Thank you!!
by ladywongs