Dear Gentlefolk and Scoundrels,
I have been quite pre-occupied for some months now, but I am experiencing a change of winds as of late. It seems fitting that this correlates with a change of seasons.
In the midst of this I have begun thinking about what to read next. I've been trying to find something to inspire me. I just stumbled upon this article and I consider it well done and so I share it here: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/04/the-50-best-fantasy-novels-of-the-21st-century.html
I think I may work from this list for a little while. Of course, one of these books is one that our valiant compatriot Bear mentioned some time ago. It might be one of my starting points.
Not all the titles jump out at me, of course, but there are some that I'm interested in. Some may make their way to the blog, and some of the authors I've already covered.
I have to admit my own biases, though - I'm much more interested in the classics of yesteryear, though it's an added bonus if the authors in question are still publishing, and even then, the authors or works have to have made some significant contribution to the field. I'm not that inclined to pick up a recently released independent title unless it garners considerable praise and awards later in life, which, I know, isn't really that fair to struggling writers who fall beneath the cracks and are in danger of being sorely neglected.
That doesn't mean, though, that I am completely uninterested in 21st century fantasy. It's just that, to put it bluntly, I'm rather picky when it comes to my books, in many more ways than one. But it's also lists like these that I like to record for future reference, so for the terribly curious, I heartily recommend it.
Yeah, I know the book you're talking about. I hesitate to pick it up myself, though, because it's the first part in a trilogy that hasn't been completed yet, and the author has given no set indication on when he's going to finish it. It's sort of a similar situation with George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire - I'd feel a lot better if the entire series was finished, and my greatest fear is that it's going to be incomplete due to a sudden death. It's happened before!
I am interested in your opinion of it, and I'd love to hear about it when (and if) you get to it.
I don't mind reading something (relatively) new. Classic fantasy has a lot to recommend it, of course, but contemporary literature has a lot of different qualities, some of which I enjoy. For one, the characters tend to be more complex and conflicted than what you get in Tolkien, for example — not to knock Tolkien; his stuff is classic and groundbreakingg of course.
I'm not sure I'll start with the book in question. I too hesitate about an unfinished series and I have similar concerns about ASOIAF which I've mentioned elsewhere.