I am Liam, AKA Hemvar, and I love to read and write and make videos on those topics from time-to-time.
Edward M. Kovel Award-winning booktuber.
“We hang out in smokey basement channels, listen to very loud audio books and console ourselves by feeling intellectually superior to the sell-outs of mainstream booktube, secure in the knowledge that people who have not read The Mirrors Of Tuzun Thune know nothing about literature.”
Liam congrats! I’m so happy for you! I’m going to pick up a copy! How does it feel to hold it in your hands (you know what I mean)? I have a huge iPad so it’s going to be like the imax experience reading 🥰
Jessica Amanda Salmonson is one of the best! Her best works are the Tomoe Gozen trilogy, The Swordswoman, and Ou Lu Khen and the Beautiful Madwoman are all Asian sword and sorcery and the best and she should be considered 1st tier.
Good recommendations! I'd also recommend Gene Wolfe's Knight & Wizard books, Fred Saberhagen (Books of Swords series), Andrew J. Offutt (War of the Gods on Earth series), Brian Daley (Coramonde books), L. Sprague deCamp & Lin Carter (edits and continuation of Conan). Robert Jordan also wrote some excellent Conan books. I would also recommend the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski.
I’d be interested in what metrics (if any) you used for the ratings. Not that I disagree. In fact your facts are spot on; just wondering about your rating system
Great list, many youtubers forget Fritz Lieber. Leigh Brackett, and Poul Anderson. But you may want to add some depth to the List. Anderson - Three Hearts and Three Lions, Vance - Lyoness, maybe add Lin Carter, L. Sprague de Camp, E. R Eddison, Andre Norton. C J Cherryh,
Hmmm... An analogy to an Hieronymus Bosch painting! 😮😎💜 Personally, I'm on a Robert Silverberg re-appreciation. I read over 40 of his books in my youth, and am listening to quite a few of my faves now. Have you read any of his work?
@@LiamsLyceum - I highly recommend the following: (1) Nightwings; (2) Th Book of Skulls; (3) Downward to the Earth; (4) Tower of Glass; (5) The Man in the Maze; and (6) Dying Inside - looked for the (used) 1980's Avon & Bantam paperbacks with the *GORGEOUSLY BRILLIANT* covers by Jim Burns!
Varsha is also currently reading Neom - is this for a planned roundtable discussion? For McDonald, maybe Empire Dreams is what you're looking for - it's a collection of stories, one of which got expanded into a novel later.
@@salty-horse there is no plans for a roundtable, I didn’t know she was reading it! Just great minds or something. I’m take a look at Empire of Dreams, thanks!
We had a good library in my hometown. In the mid eighties, i tore through the Fantasy/ Sci fi section. Surprised there were some Authors I've never read.... Thanks.
Nice video! There's lots of nitpicking in the comments, people hurt that their favorite wasnt mentioned. Engagement is good I guess, but I wish they were more thoughtful about it . For example, Im a fan of Norton and her Pern books, but they are set on another world, psychic powers replace sorcery and her work came much latter than most if the people on this list. CS Lewis has written plenty of books that feature swordplay and magic, but no one is trying call them S&S. Tim Powers wrote the excellent S&S novel On Stranger Tides, but he grew up a fan of the giants listed in this video, and the characters have acces to fires arms, so does it fit the bill?
You missed some of the members of saga the sword and sorcery Guild of America l.sprague decamp,john jakes, Gardiner fox ,Andre norton,and Katherine kurtz.
Man, I would really like to hear what you have to say, but I don't know if it's mic quality, speaking style or vocal fry, but this audio is just really hard to listen to. It's grating on the ears. It may be harder for you, too, because your voice is in such a low register. But some of that can be overcome by speaking with clear diction, and not swallowing your words (which I think you do). Please don't take these remarks as discouraging, when they are intended to be ENCOURAGING. I want you to be successful, and continue putting out thoughts on this stuff. You gotta upgrade your audio because it's the #1 deal-killer, even in a visual medium like RU-vid. Best of luck, man.
A name I would add to the "tertiary" list is Andrew J Offutt. He's probably best known for his pastiches of REH characters, but he had a fair amount of original S&S books, too. My favs are the Tianna Highrider/War of the Wizards trilogy (co-written with Richard K Lyon: The Demon in the Mirror [1978], The Eyes of Sarsis [1980], and Web of the Spider [1981]). They're not for the easily offended (Offutt, who paid the bills writing porn paperbacks under aliases, revels in sexism), but they are fun examples of the last gasp of "pre-modern" S&S that had no taboos.
I want to read mor VanderMeer as well. I’ve only read his Souther Reach trilogy so far, and of those 3, Annihilation is the best. But I really enjoyed each of them. That’s a good place to go next for you maybe. -T
My feedback was essential for your acceptance in the rapture. It was good though! Haha actually if anything, my suggestion was in many ways for the sake of suggestion, seeing that there was something that could possibly be improved upon but at the same time if we are constantly looking for things to improve in our stories it'll never get published I guess. I look forward to getting my physical copy when I can!
@@UniqueArtsCostcoPicasso there’s always room for improvement, tbh it’s probably a flaming pile of poo and you are kind. But since you were nice I suppose I can still talk to you
@@LiamsLyceum shucks And it actually was good. I didn't know what to expect but it was easily a story that could be used in a critical theory class which is something I would see as an accomplishment.
The Bloodsworn trilogy by John Gwynne , Shadow of the Gods, Hunger of the Gods and Wrath of the Gods. The Boneship trilogy by R J Barker , The Boneships, Call of the Boneships and The Boneship's Wake.
Congratulations on 100! I got sick back in March and decided I would try and read as much of the Forgotten Realms as I can get my hands on. I’m up to 64 so far, and there’s quite a few you recommended I haven’t gotten to yet. Good to know I’ve still got plenty of awesome stories to read. Just finished the Empires trilogy, and would definitely recommend. Edit: Just realized your “Where to start reading” video is where I got a lot of my earliest reads. Appreciate that, lol
SPOILER WARNING FOR THIS COMMENT. I’m quite late to comment, but I just found your channel and I enjoy hearing your thoughts. I enjoyed this book more than Deadhouse Gates. Funnily enough I found the Bridgeburners exponentially more interesting in this novel than Gardens. More characters are fleshed out, and the level of camaraderie is highlighted far more. Gruntle’s battle with alcoholism and depression throughout the first part of the novel attached me to him very early on so I can’t say that I share your feelings on him. I found Gruntle’s story quite gripping throughout the entirety of the story. One of my favorite characters in this book is the Mhybe, and her sections have been some of the most interesting for me to read in this series. Although I don’t share your complaints, I still enjoyed your review. Have a good day, friend
Great video and overview Liam. I've always struggled with Leiber's writing, I either love it or hate it or sometimes just don't get it. I think I got some good recommendations from you though, so thanks. One thing I can say is that Leiber has style.
Having read 95% of the Realms novels I agree 100 percent with everything you said. Didn't like how she glossed over Lark meeting his former group and that plan to sneak them back in to Waterdeep. Really? Not sure what was thinner. The characters or the paper they were printed on. Appears you enjoyed it more than I. Felt very watered down and bland. Great review.
@@cabmangray1423 I think it’s ok because it was written well enough and is something, not something I’d go out of my way to read if it was in the Realms
Glad to hear you’re still writing. I watched the movie, Predestination this past week. It’s based on Heinlein’s story, All You Zombies. I never read it, so I’m going to look it up. It’s a time travel paradox loop story. I re-read Howard’s The Black Stone and The Thing on the Roof. They’re both connected to the new Titan Conan comic storyline.
@@GholaMuadDib I believe Time Troopers edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio from Baen has “All You Zombies” in it. I still need to read that story. I don’t keep up with comics, but good to know!
Hey Liam, great video and fantastic list right off the bat. You pay homage to the Sword & Sorcery godfather. His character's synical look on civilization's excesses is still so relevant today. Ana bsolute master of short form.
Overjoyed to see sword and sorcery being rediscovered by a younger crowd! There is so much out there passed Tolkien and Martin. I would include the Chronicles of Amber and the Myth Adventures but they drift a bit into fantsy.
Forgotten realms was my favorite world to fall into when I was younger... I would wait forever for the next R.A. Salvatore book and just consume it in 1 day. I love that Drizzt is still around for people to enjoy 😊
