The Book Plank

Best Epic Fantasy When you tell that you are a big fantasy reader people always ask me if I like Lord of the Rings, I say yes. But from this question you can see that a lot of people automatically associate the fantasy genre with Epic Fantasy. In essence Epic Fantasy has rules and regulations and is a genre that many authors have ventured into, with good and sadly sometimes also bad results. However the current books that are published in this genre all have something interesting working for them. They are and aren't comparable to Lord of the Ring, yes that have the same elements but the writing style is much more from our time. The authors below are helping to breath new air into this age old genre. Mark Lawrence's Prince of Fools , is the sort of continuation sort of not continuation of his The Broken Empire series which he finished last year, creating a new protagonist that is flawed and an cowered, but taking place in the Jorg era, his writing style is super. Forge of Da...

Best First in Series (no debut!) The first in series is a category I actually just came up with. I wanted to mention some books that aren't debuts but that do kick off a new series as most new series are often debuts. Why I wanted to name this category in particular is to show that many authors write second series that are just as or even better as there first. Writing books is difficult but coming up with a compeltely new series ust be even more difficult (I think). Authors oftentimes also write a new series in their earlier divided universe which in itself is also difficult as some storylines have been established in the earlier series so you have to thread carefully, ensuring all that has been written before. This brings me to the first book on the list. Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence. Taking place in The Broken Empire but following a completely new protagonist. In Prince of Fools Mark Lawrences' writing never falters and produces another winner, though the universe is...

Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson, The Kharkanas Trilogy #1 Now is the time to tell the story of an ancient realm, a tragic tale that sets the stage for all the tales yet to come and all those already told... It's a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, the realm of Darkness, where Mother Dark reigns. But this ancient land was once home to many a power. and even death is not quite eternal. The commoners' great hero, Vatha Urusander, is being promoted by his followers to take Mother Dark's hand in marriage, but her Consort, Lord Draconus, stands in the way of such ambitions. The impending clash sends fissures throughout the realm, and as the rumors of civil war burn through the masses, an ancient power emerges from the long dead seas. Caught in the middle of it all are the First Sons of Darkness, Anomander, Andarist, and Silchas Ruin of the Purake Hold... Steven Erikson is best know for his ten volume spanning Epic Sword and Sorcery Fantasy series: The Malazan ...