I just finished "The Way of Kings" by Brendon Sanderson. The writing didn't impress me and the overall quality isn't near George R.R. Martin, but by the end it really won me over. The story held up well over the 1,000 pages and now I'm reading the sequel (1,400 pages..)
It's definitely "epic fantasy" with a lot of cool world building stuff and battles. I'd recommend it if you're looking for something to read after Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings.
I enjoyed The Way of Kings but felt it was difficult to get through at times.
The thing I liked the most was the 'esprit de corps' elements with the bridge crew and the politics and intrigues of how battles are plotted and how forces are aligned.
I was also interested by the rules that dictated the assassin's path and obedience.
I wasn't interested very much in the one girl's family troubles and her attempt to steal whatsherface's magic wand, but I understand that this is just a smaller part of a bigger narrative and may become more relevant later.
I felt the world building elements were pretty strong, and Sanderson created a unique environment for his characters to populate.
I have the second book but haven't started reading it yet.
As for myself, I just finished reading both
Harlequin and
1356, both by the always excellent Bernard Cornwell. They are the first and last books in a series that takes place during the early parts of the Hundred years War, and deal with one particular group of mercenaries serving under Edward III.
The reason I ended up reading books 1 and 4 is because originally, my wife and I were doing the audiobook of 1356 without knowing that it was the fourth in that series. So then I went back and read the first book to see how it all started.
Cornwell is the best historical fiction author I've ever read. His viking stuff (The Saxon Tales) is awesome too. I want to read his King Arthur stuff soon.
I also tried reading
The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory, but I can't stand first person present tense narratives. Also, she has this tendency to have her characters repeat themselves in different chapters far too often. The same old arguments keep coming up and the same old rationalizations and arguments keep getting used. There is this perpetual sense of deja vu, derived from that same book, as I read it. I decided to give it a read because I watched Starz' The White Queen TV series and it was based on the first three books of Gregory's 'The Cousins War' and I'm a sucker for historical costuem dramas. I'll probably finish this but it's not really my thing.
Gonna try picking up with
Fellowship of the Ring again. Only the second time I've ever read it (first time was nearly 30 years ago in high school), but it's a total chore. I petered out just after Tom Bombadil TROLOLOLOLOLED his way into the barrow downs and saved the hobbits. Such a stupid character. I'm so glad Jackson omitted him from the movies.
