Huge thanks to my amazing Patrons for helping me pay for the editing of this video and helping me stay consistent with my content! ❤ www.patreon.com/libraryofaviking
I can't describe the feeling I get when I'm reading the Harry Potter books. Every time I try to just peek at the first pages I end up finding myself a few chapters in half an hour later.
I enjoyed your predictions and reactions to the video - thanks again for taking part! And I look forward to seeing you make your way through Realm of the Elderlings.
I think part of why they picked a SoS is that the first three books of ASoIaF are almost universally loved and SoS was the only one of those released in the 2000s. I think it and GoT are pretty equally popular among fans
Under Heaven or Lions of al-Rassan are good places to start with Guy Gavriel Kay! Jake Bishop has a whole video dedicated to where to start on GGK if you want some more info (Where to start Guy Gavriel Kay || A Comprehensive Guide)
Honestly, if it was me answering I’d say The Shadow of the Gods: John Gwynne. It feels like a modern LOTR to me. If I’m being basic I’d say A Storm of Swords
Sanderson’s my favorite author but Spear Cuts Through Water is my favorite book of the century so far, so I'm really glad to see it slowly getting more love even though it wasn't popular when it came out.
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy I read GotM a couple years ago and liked it, but I don’t remember a ton of detail about it now. Would it be a mistake to jump straight into Deadhouse Gates, or am I kneecapping myself by not being super fluent with the story?
@@unpretentious_book_talk You could read a summary of Gardens of the Moon somewhere like the Malazan Wiki, but be careful of spoilers if you click on anything else there. Best wishes for the journey!
You should absolutely read Guy Gavriel Kay. The best thing is that most of his books are standalone, so you can start wherever you'd like. Since you are a Viking, I recommend starting with _The Last Light of the Sun_ since it has viking analogues.
Love the reactions to these choices, and thanks for the shout out man! I recently read The Lions of Al-Rassan based on a rec by Josh (my first GGK as well), and it’s a great place to start imo!
What an awesome reaction video! Great idea!! I’m glad you agreed with my pick of Lies of Locke Lamora!! I almost picked A Storm of Swords but I knew others would pick it and I also think it was written just before the 21st century, TECHNICALLY😂 although I’ve seen conflicting years of publishing. Great video, man!
I loved Harry Potter! It was something my kids and I did together-we were those nuts you saw on TV dressing up when we went to get the books at Chambers on release day. I miss that so much, and doubt we’ll ever see anything quite as impactful as HP. What a gift the legendary JK gave us, she’s as awesome as they come and with such a brilliant and clever mind!
very interesting video. Thanks. For Guy Gavriel Kay, my favorites are the two books from the Sarantine Mosaic (Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of the Emperors). Very original and well written.
If you do end up rereading A Song of Ice and Fire, I'll definitely do a reread of my own! Would be awesome to hear your thoughts years with a fresh revisit. It's been 10+ years since I read it all the way through (back when A Dance with Dragons had just come out). I could finally use that as an excuse to read the extra novellas and Fire & Blood too.
Go for Malazan! What I would recommend though, is to read big chunks at a time. It helps getting into the “flow” of the stories. Also, there is a big leap forward in quality from the second installment on, so just hang on reading GOtM.
Well, with you taking “Dandelion Dynasty” and Benghis Khan taking “A Brightness Long Ago”, I feel very confident with choosing “Under Heaven” by Guy Gavriel Kay as my pick! 😊I genuinely believe “Under Heaven” should be taught in Literature Classes next to “War & Peace” and “Les Miserables”! Jake Bishop has a whole video dedicated to where to start on GGK: There are very few bad answers, though with your love for Asian-inspired Fantasy, "Under Heaven" would perhaps not be a bad place for you, but "A Song For Arbonne" (a complete standalone) or "The Lions of Al-Rassan" (standalone, but set in shared universe with "The Sarantine Mosaic" and "A Brightness Long Ago") are good choices too. I personally started with "Tigana" (also a complete standalone, and prehaps the most High Fantasy of his standalones) and loved it, but it is more divisive than most of his stories, so prehaps a good book nr.2-3-4 on your GGK readthrough! Cheers Brother!😃
@@libraryofaviking For another option, I would definitely recommend Tigana instead. I adored Tigana but DNF'd Lions of Al-Rassan. No shade, just offering my two cents.
This was reaally cool. As I moved from authorTube platforms to BookTube, videos like this remind me why I prefer BookTube to authorTube. I am subbed to most of these friends of yours, and have hung out and laughed with most of them in live stream chat as well. I still think that hands down BookTube is one of the best loving and supportive communities of the RU-vid niche.
Ah, I would love to meet Scott Lynch and get my books signed. Definitely a strong bucket list of mine that’s realistically not achievable. But one can wish!
This really depends on where we set the boundary for 21st century. If we include 2000 and above: A Storm of Swords, but as Arthur C Clarke pointed out, 2000 was really still part of the last century/millenium. So it wouldn’t count in that formulation
Quite a fascinating range. Even a couple I never heard of. And for me, I'm just over here trying to figure out how you pick one thing even when you're able to exclude all you haven't read and without picking entire series, ha ha. Harry Potter would be an elegant choice for my age range just because of what it represents, author excluded.
Personally, I think Malazan is AWESOME! I too put it down after trying to read GotM for the first time, but then I came back to the universe starting with the Path to Ascendancy prequel series as a way to prepare myself better for the main MBotF series; I know this is perhaps a controversial choice, but it worked for me! I'm about to start Toll the Hounds (book 8 of the main series) and have already read various other Malazan novels, and what a wild ride it has been! The series is still confusing sometimes, and there is definitely at least one book (*cough* HOUSE OF CHAINS *cough*) that I just straight up did not enjoy very much, but overall it's such an epic series which I love.
The last trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings is my favorite of the sub-series, and Assassin’s Fate is my second favorite novel-behind The Spear Cuts Through Water-ever. So much so that I re-read the last trilogy within 12 months after finishing the Realm of the Elderlings, just so that I could experience Assassin’s Fate again.
Crippled God is why I will finish Malazan 😠 I love Spear Cuts Through Water. Working my way through Hobb and Liu now. Not sure I'll ever start GRRM but I love Abercrombie. Picking one is evil 😉 If urban fantasy has a place on this list then I'll say Changes - book 12 from the Dresden Files, The Golem and the Jinni, and Jade Legacy. More traditional fantasy: I'd have to agree with Evie and Bards and Books 😉 or Sword of Kaigen. Really fun breakdown and fun to see four books tied 🤪
I think no one says Sanderson is because it’s the easy answer. I’m not saying Sanderson is the best, but saying that he is influential at this point is like saying water is wet. There are other things to talk about
Oh no please start with GGK’s Lions of Al- Rassan, definitely not Brightness Long Ago that book is just a lesser copy of Lions. I am almost done with The Sarantine Mosaic and it does not come close to Lions.
Yea, god forbid someone watch a single video about books without mentioning how they think he's overrated. It's like the current most popular thing to say, meanwhile he continues to sell books people love over and over.
I think no one says Sanderson is because it’s the easy answer. I’m not saying Sanderson is the best, but saying that he is influential at this point is like saying water is wet. There are other things to talk about
