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From the Reading Lounge of Ogawa Yuto.

Introduction

Hello everyone! Today's book review comes largely as a response to the following comment:



Specifically, I'm going to be talking a lot about the epic fantasy genre today! I first cracked open Eye of the World by Robert Jordan back in high school, some many eons ago. Back during that point in my life, I was really big into epic fantasies and sunk my teeth into series like the Belgaraiad by David Eddings, anything Valdemar (but especially the Magic's Promise trilogy) by Mercedes Lackey, and of course a lot of the classics by Tolkein, Lewis, etc.

Of course, Tolkein is exemplary, but Jordan's work was my first taste of a contemporary author writing massive tomes with rich world building, complex characters, and interesting politics, battles, and magic system. I ended up continuing to read through much of the Wheel of Time series through high school. Admittedly, some of the later books were a bit of a slog to get through, but overall, the quality was fantastic!

Also special shout out to the new Wheel of Time show, which reignited my love for the series.



Definitely worth checking out for anyone interested.

With the topic of fantasy in mind, I have a few ideas for you to check out!

Recommendations

For old school fantasy, there are a ton of very obvious options, but I've decided to go with one that is I really enjoyed growing up, that being A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. This book is part of the Xanth series, and though the novels aren't huge tomes like you'd expect from someone like Robert Jordan - there are literally something like 46 books currently in the series. Not all of them are going to be amazing, but a lot of the early work especially is fantastic. The primary genre is fantasy, set in a historically inspired world filled with magic, monsters, and mayhem, but it has a secondary genre of comedy, and is absolutely filled with puns. The closest comparison I can make is to the Discworld series by the late Terry Pratchett. While these authors may not have written traditional epic fantasy novels, their contributions are absolutely entertaining and worth a read if you are itching for some light hearted fantasy fare.

Note: Not all of the humour in either Pratchett or Anthony's work has aged super well. Bear this in mind before investing heavily!



Next up, we have my graphic novel pick! There are some good options, but really for me, it's a toss up between Rat Queens by Wiebe and Upchruch and DIE by Gillen and Hans.

In the end, I decided on DIE because it takes a lot of classic tropes and turns them on their head, often adding a gritty or dark element. If you're into isekai gone very wrong, this is probably up your alley. The world it's set in is rich and thought out, but the details in writing are fairly sparse intentionally, because it gives the reader the feeling that they're really experiencing a whole new place for the first time without a lot of extra context to make things easier or more palatable. The magic systems are really cool and somewhat innovative. Also, if you're into any TTRPGs (tabletop roleplaying games), the series deals with those themes. There's actually a DIE ttrpg in existence based on the one in the graphic novels. The visuals and art style are striking and just really beautiful.



Finally there's my modern pick! If you've read the title of the article, you already know what it is, so I'm going to probably jump right into the...

Review

So I know there are some pretty good contemporary options for epic fantasy, the one that chiefly comes to mind is A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. It's because of Game of Thrones that there's been such a huge mainstream interest in the fantasy genre. And with that new Game of Thrones spin-off having just aired, now would be the perfect time to talk about it.

So naturally that's not what I'm doing.

Brandon Sanderson, the author of The Way of Kings, has been a fantasy staple for ages now. Not only did he finish the Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan unfortunately passed, he also has a number of loosely interconnected series all set in the same universe called the Cosmere. The man is a BEAST when it comes to writing. He churns out these massive novels consistently, and during the pandemic, the guy literally wrote an extra four novels basically during his free time. Then he made the ultimate boss move and turned to crowd funding to self-publish these works. He asked for a million. He raised 41.7 million. Just to give you an idea of how beloved this guy is.

And for good reason. I've not read any of the Cosmere except for the Way of Kings, though I have Words of Radiance on my list to read very soon. These books are part of the Stormlight Archive.

The Way of Kings is set in a truly unique fantasy world. I don't want to go too deeply into the mechanics of how everything works, for sake of spoilers, but there are tons of details sprinkled into the text which makes it clear that every aspect of the world was mapped out in advance. I've actually considered going back and re-reading the first novel already just because there are several really cool things happening that you don't fully realize until you get more information as the story progresses. The world is intensely distinctive in that Sanderson didn't just set his story in a bland or vague 'fantasy' world, but instead created something totally new. The best part is that the internal consistency is very strong. Everything makes sense in relation to everything else happening. All parts of the world impact each other in some way.

To be a little specific, just to give you a taste, there is a naturally occurring phenomena called High Storms, which come at consistent intervals and always from the same direction. These storms have badly damaged parts of the land, and have cause interesting evolutionary changes in flora and fauna, and have led human civilizations and cultures to adapt in nifty ways.

This isn't too much of a spoiler, so don't worry!

There are a number of very well thought out characters, because the story is told from different points of view. The ones we get the most time with are Kaladin and Shallan. Without saying too much, Kaladin starts out as a member of the military, and Shallan is a minor noble and scholar. You end up finding out a ton about their histories throughout the span of the first book, and really end up getting attached to them as they navigate various conflicts.

There are plenty of other characters as well with distinctive perspectives and unique voices.

The world building is rich and detailed, but doesn't get in the way of telling a good story. There are epic battles, well-developed cultures, and little mysteries sprinkled throughout. There is, of course, a lot of magic, it's both pervasive and yet terribly understated all at the same time, carefully woven in so as not to be a crutch.

Really, I can't praise the novel highly enough, and I really look forward to continuing the series. I definitely suggest reading for anyone who is just really looking for an immersive fantasy world to enjoy.

My final rating is a really solid 5 out of 5.

Also would love for them to make a show out of it.

In fact, feel free to comment with other books you'd love to see turned into shows, or with books or genres you'd like me to cover!