I wanna read something that’s fucking brutal with fighting and sex and all the things, but also WELL WRITTEN (so NOT George R.R. Martin, I can’t stand his shit). I want Lord of the Rings on crack and steroids.

  • 𝕲𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍🔻𝕯𝖃 (he/him)@lemmy.worldEnglish
    43·
    2 years ago

    TIL there’s a sub here for books.

    Terry Goodkind wrote the Sword of Truth series beginning with The Wizard’s First rule in 1994, with 17 books in the main series and I believe still ongoing. Not much sex, but it has the brutality down, and is very well written.

    • Aermis@lemmy.world
      51·
      2 years ago

      Goes weird and hard to follow after the 4th book. Even the 4th was a bit of a drag

    • Lightor@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 years ago

      Love the series, read it multiple times. It seems to get a lot of hate but I don’t get why. I like the story, hate the villains, and can get invested in the characters. Plus it’s very adult. My favorites series hands down.

      • 𝕲𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍🔻𝕯𝖃 (he/him)@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        I absolutely understand why people hate it. on lemmy, probably because of themes that could be interpreted as being anti communist. In the real world, because of how it mocks religion quite viciously, and promotes critical thinking.

        Also multiple strong female characters who are well written, that really pisses people off.

    • musky_occultist@lemmy.worldEnglish
      42·
      2 years ago

      I regret that I have but one downvote to give. Wizard’s First Rule is literally the worst book I ever read. (A lot of people do seem to like it, though.)

      • rhadamanth_nemes@lemmy.world
        3·
        2 years ago

        Wizard’s First Rule is the only tolerable book, if barely. They’re all thinly veiled (not thinly veiled) fetish writing, or high school level political theory.

        At a certain point it’s clear that Terry fired enough editors that the remaining ones stopped trying.

        • musky_occultist@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          2 years ago

          Hah, I did mean it in the spirit of good discussion. (Though maybe I also feel like I have a sacred mission to keep the unwary from inadvertently Goodkinding themselves!)

          I’ve actually been having a hard time getting into anything new lately for some reason, but I recently reread C. S. Friedman’s Coldfire and Magister series (serieses? trilogies), which are kind of dark, but not so “gritty, gorey” that I thought they’d be a good recommendation for this thread. The former in particular is excellent, and they’re both fairly unusual takes on fantasy.