Agree. Robin Hobb's prose is great.The Elderlings series, The First Law trilogy. Very depressing stuff, but the prose is great.
Agree. Robin Hobb's prose is great.The Elderlings series, The First Law trilogy. Very depressing stuff, but the prose is great.
I second this, and can say that the other books in the series are equally as engaging and dynamic.I can not recommend the book "The Fifth Season" enough. It is the best book I've read in years. I need to read the other books in the series, but please do yourself a favor and dive into this one. If you're not sold right away, give it a little room to breathe. It's a gem and that author now is in my list of favs.
Not only is the prose interesting and well written, the setting and world building is unlike anything else I've read. An awesome story to actually lose yourself in. I read it last summer and now I'm getting nostalgic just remembering the times I spent lost to everything around me but that book.
If anyone has any recommendations for authors who write like Hobb, I'd love to read them. She's probably my favorite writer.
Megan Lindholm. 😉If anyone has any recommendations for authors who write like Hobb, I'd love to read them. She's probably my favorite writer.
You're funny. But you're also right, because I probably should check out her other pseudonym!
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Claw-First-Half-Book/dp/0312890176/
Anything by Gene Wolfe. Start here.
I really enjoyed this one, definitely recommend.
I will recommend three authors.
The first is Patrick Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. His prose is excellent, as is his world-building. Some people have issues with his characters, but I find them quite compelling. But continuing on with the prose, you can tell that this guy labors over every word and cadence right from the get go, in the prologue:
The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.
She did not look anything like a horned horse, as unicorns are often pictured, being smaller and cloven-hoofed, and possessing that oldest, wildest grace that horses have never had, that deer have only in a shy, thin imitation and goats in dancing mockery. Her neck was long and slender, making her head seem smaller than it was, and the mane that fell almost to the middle of her back was as soft as dandelion fluff and as fine as cirrus. She had pointed ears and thin legs, with feathers of white hair at the ankles; and the long horn above her eyes shone and shivered with its own seashell light even in the deepest midnight. She had killed dragons with it, and healed a king whose poisoned wound would not close, and knocked down ripe chestnuts for bear cubs.
Unicorns are immortal. It is their nature to live alone in one place: usually a forest where there is a pool clear enough for them to see themselves -- for they are a little vain, knowing themselves to be the most beautiful creatures in all the world, and magic besides. They mate very rarely, and no place is most enchanted than one where a unicorn has been born. The last time she had seen another unicorn the young virgins who still came seeking her now and then had called to her in a different tongue; but then, she had no idea of months and years and centuries, or even of seasons. It was always spring in her forest, because she lived there, and she wandered all day among the great beech trees, keeping watch over the animals that lived in the ground and under bushes, in nests and caves, earths and treetops. Generation after generation, wolves and rabbits alike, they hunted and loved and had children and died, and as the unicorn did none of these things, she never grew tired of watching them.
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Claw-First-Half-Book/dp/0312890176/
Anything by Gene Wolfe. Start here.
Anything by Guy Gavriel Kay. I'd start with Tigana.
If you want absolutely the best lyrical style of prose, read Patricia McKillip as well. How about Alphabet of Thorns, or Od Magic? The Riddlemaster trilogy is amazing as well.
I will second this, with the pedantic caveat that BOTNS is more sci-fi than fantasy. Either way, you can't go wrong with Wolfe.Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun has not only the best prose in fantasy, but some of the best prose in fiction in general. They are astonishingly good books.
I agree, though I will respond with the caveat that many people do not realize it is Sci Fi until much later on. I generally tell people it is fantasy for this reason.I will second this, with the pedantic caveat that BOTNS is more sci-fi than fantasy. Either way, you can't go wrong with Wolfe.
china mievelle's bas laag series, though it's not ya traditional fantasy (kinda steam punk, 'new weird' trappings)
great prose though
S. A. Chakraborty's Daevabad trilogy is another good one (well, the first two were good. The third is soon to be released.)
And the Acts of Caine tetralogy from Matthew Stover (first book is "Heroes Die").
My man. These books are some of my favorite of all time, I think they are criminally underappreciated. My First experience with Matt Stover was the Blade of Tyshalle, and I think i've read the entire set 3 times now? Wait a year or 2 and they're golden again. Could not recommend them more, and I'm stoked to see them pop up here. the Acts of Caine seem to fly under most people's radar.
Maybe you can tell us what you found faulty with their writing styles?Can y'all please define what you think "good prose" means? Especially those of you posting Sanderson and Hobb. Legit confused about that.
Now read Nora's Inheritance trilogy and the Dreamblood dualogy. You won't regret it.Bumping this to thank the people that mentioned the broken earth trilogy. I just consumed it all over the past week and was enthralled by it.
Just absolutely amazing world building that sucked me in from the start. It reminded me of horizon ZD in so many ways, both in my addiction to finding out what happened and in themes.
Now read Nora's Inheritance trilogy and the Dreamblood dualogy. You won't regret it.
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Claw-First-Half-Book/dp/0312890176/
Anything by Gene Wolfe. Start here.
Hard disagree on malazan. Terrible chore to read through and the payoff just isnt worth it. Series could have easily dropped several books and been better off for itMalazan book of the fallen is incredible if you want well written fantasy. The world can just be really dense to get into.
Some people here hate on Sanderson, but Stormlight Archives is really well written. So are the second era mistborn books.
Hard disagree on malazan. Terrible chore to read through and the payoff just isnt worth it. Series could have easily dropped several books and been better off for it
The Name of the Wind has some of the best prose I've ever read.
The 3rd book has not come out, it's been 9 years, and who knows how much longer it will take. Despite that, I'd STILL recommend reading The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear because of how well written they are. They have incredible depth.
It's so good.
Hah, first reply gets it. First author that came to my mind too. Robin Hobb has some nice prose sometimes too.china mievelle's bas laag series, though it's not ya traditional fantasy (kinda steam punk, 'new weird' trappings)
great prose though
ha, are you me? the vorrh is fantastic, recommend it also.Hah, first reply gets it. First author that came to my mind too. Robin Hobb has some nice prose sometimes too.
I'd also recommend The Vorrh, a sort of weird colonial African fantasy that has a really interesting and unique tone.
I am already grabbing The Fifth Season due to all of the recommendations here. Thanks folks! Discworld has long been one of my favorite series—even going so far as to influence my worldview.
I'll also pick up Jonathan Strange. Been meaning to but I kept forgetting the name.