[ta2345252666f]

Was a bit disappointed to see Malazan Book of the Fallen #1 - Gardens of the Moon so far down. It'd be interesting if they took the series as a whole. One example is The Lies of Locke Lamora, I think it's a good first book but almost everyone I've spoken to/read comments from agrees is bottoms out in book 2 and 3. Personally think the same of Rothfuss' work. Conversely a lot of people say MBotF improves past the first book (I think its excellent from the start), so it's a tough list to base the entire experience on.

[root_axis]

Malazan is goddamn amazing, it has world building like no other fantasy series since LOTR. It's a real sleeper, I believe it will become much more popular in the future, perhaps after a grotesque screen adaptation. To my friends who are hesitant to jump in I often liken it to Berserk meets ASOIAF; unrelenting horror with captivating enigmatic lore meets a rich political drama of war and conquest spanning many continents and cultures. The prose isn't as gracefully written as Rothfus stuff and the editing is periodically disappointing, but I can't think of any modern fantasy series that even comes close in terms of the depth and complexity of the world's fantasy lore. Recommendations welcome!

[Zenbit_UX]

> The Lies of Locke Lamora, I think it's a good first book but almost everyone I've spoken to/read comments from agrees is bottoms out in book 2 and 3. Personally think the same of Rothfuss' work.

Well to add to your data points, I disagree with both statements that the gentlemen bastards and the kingkiller chronicles get worse.

I think they both depart from their source material in the second books but do so necessarily in order to create a standalone story that isn't formulaic.

Especially with regards to Locke, the author made some incredibly bold kill-offs at the end of book one which left the question of how to follow up with a sequel. I'd say his strategy of consolidating the key characters while expanding our knowledge of them through flashbacks is very compelling. I can't get enough of their origin stories and allows me to experience the "dead characters" again, albeit in small quantities. I'm also a huge fan of how powerful wizards are in those books, it seems closer to how unbalanced a mage would be wandering around our world and the fact we follow non-mages really sets the tone for uphill battles.