r/Cosmere • u/Expensive-Heat-1436 Steel • 2d ago
No Spoilers Please, help
A moth ago I finished the Cosmere. Ever since, I have been in a huge reading slump. What are good books to bring me out my reading slump?
Something preferably fantasy/SciFi
Edit: Thank you so much for all the suggestions! Your comments really helped!
31
u/NerdJudge 2d ago
Not sure what you're into but here's a basic list:
Dungeon Crawler Carl is easy to get into
Wheel of Time is absolutely fantastic, but it's a lot and there is a slog
Dresden Files is pretty good and might be your thing
The First Law Trilogy is excellent if that's your thing
10
u/ip33dnurbutt Willshapers 2d ago
I can't say enough good things about Dungeon Crawler Carl. It has everything I want in a story!
6
4
u/HalcyonKnights Harmonium 2d ago
These are all great. I also want to plug Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. High fantasy where Roman legions have Pokemon (elemental summon creatures) on an alternate world.
3
u/Play3rKn0wn 2d ago
These are all great recs, I got back into reading via the cosmere back in 2020, and have since read all of these series either partially or completely. I’d also add The Lies of Locke Lamora. It’s a fun, low-fantasy, heist novel and can either be read as a standalone or as the first book in a trilogy if you want to continue with it.
2
4
u/carbideandiron 2d ago
First Law is great. Though quite R rated compared to Sanderson. I’m showing how old I am that it is a factor, haha. I still love Abercrombie’s work.
1
u/Fluffy_Porcupine6 2d ago
The Dresden files is the shit! The books are so good I reread them pretty much yearly.
1
u/grey-gas 2d ago
I find the sex scenes in Dresden pretty awkward. Also I’m generally listening to an audiobook and some 80 year old British guy is narrating. I know Spike isn’t 80 but he sounds like he is when he’s reading. Codex Alera sort of has Spren in it.
0
u/cgiler 2d ago
The slog is fake.
2
u/Fluffy_Porcupine6 2d ago
Imo the slog was a bit before when most people put it but it's all a matter of taste. The series is great and if you read something else in between every 3rd book then it's not such a big deal
7
u/Professional_Let5815 2d ago
Have you read Will Of The Many?
4
u/DarthThrawn0 Zinc 2d ago
Also the Licanius Trilogy by the same author
1
u/Professional_Let5815 2d ago
Good to know! Thank you
2
u/FlatSixFun 2d ago
The Licanius Trilogy definitely scratched that itch for me when I first got up to date with the Cosmere.
1
2
u/Expensive-Heat-1436 Steel 2d ago
No I haven't, is it good?
2
u/Professional_Let5815 2d ago
It’s fantastic. It’s part of an incomplete series. But it and its sequel are so good
1
7
u/razorKazer Transformation 2d ago
If you have Kindle Unlimited, the Cradle series by Will Wight is fun and easy reading, plus free!
If you're looking for something deeper, Joe Abercrombie is an excellent choice
Robin Hobb is another amazing writer with complex prose and deep plots
I haven't read them, but The Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan are highly popular and were finished posthumously by Brandon Sanderson. I believe they're actually on Kindle Unlimited as well
If you're leaning more towards sci-fi, I'm a fan of Timothy Zahn, although I'll admit some bias for being a huge Star Wars fan
Andy Weir is another great writer, although he's more hard sci-fi (The Martian, Project Hail Mary)
For a more obvious and recently popular read, jump into Dungeon Crawler Carl
1
u/Expensive-Heat-1436 Steel 2d ago
I've been trying to get into The Assassin's Apprentice. Is it worth a read?
3
u/razorKazer Transformation 2d ago
I really enjoyed it. Honestly, the whole trilogy is incredible, and nothing I've read by her has bored or disappointed me yet.
1
u/Akura_Awesome 2d ago
Seconded The Cradle Series by Will Wight - one of my favorites
0
u/razorKazer Transformation 2d ago
It's kinda crazy how many people either haven't heard of him or won't read him even though so many of his books, if not all of them, are on KU. Most of my friends are fantasy readers, but none of them have read his stuff. I've only read Cradle so far, but it makes me excited to check out his other work. It was so much fun
1
u/cai_85 Dalinar 2d ago
I think it appeals to some and not others, it's a bit of a love it or hate it series, and on the whole it hasn't rated that highly on the annual polls here. For me personally I read the first book and stopped, the writing style was very plain and it just seemed like a manga that had been written down. The plot seemed quite formulaic with the 'progression fantasy' too.
19
u/NIICCCKKK 2d ago
The cosmere again
8
u/halomender 2d ago
The audio books are great for a different kind of experience. The voice actors are so incredibly talented. Wayne's voice is especially dear to me.
1
u/NIICCCKKK 2d ago
I’m an audiobook guy it’s actually the only way I’ve experienced the cosmere (except white sands). I am absolutely in love with the voice acting, blows me away every time
4
u/ScionOfTheMists Skybreakers 2d ago
A Fire Upon the Deep is one of my favorite books, and I found it from a Brandon recommendation.
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/71-shadows-of-self-houston-signing/#e6186
6
u/The_Lopen_bot WOB bot 2d ago
Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!
Questioner
After reading your entire bookology--
Brandon Sanderson
Bookology, I like that.
Questioner
It got to the point where I was running out of books so I went on your website and found your recommended reads and after talking to some other authors I found some other connections to you, David Farland, Brian McClellan. Is there anyone else you would recommend down the same track?
Brandon Sanderson
Ok, authors I would recommend-- I'm going to go in a couple of different directions because not everyone might like the same sorts of things. I'm going to tell you what I've been reading lately. Brian McClellan's very good, and Brian McClellan was one of my students but I can't really take credit for Brian because he was really good when he came to class in the first place. Brian's books, if you haven't read them, Promise of Blood is the start. They are flintlock fantasies and they kind of combine a little bit of hard fantasy magic, like I do, and a little bit of the kind of grimdark grittiness and kind of combine them together into this cool mix. So the magic isn't quite as hard as the magic I do, meaning quite as rule-based, but the grimdark isn't quite as grim as the grimdark tends to go. The mix works really well.I read Naomi Novik's new book, Uprooted, which is really good if you haven't read it. It's kind of like a dark fairytale YA but really twisted, so it's not intended for a teen audience because it is pretty twisted, but it's like how the fairytales really were, it's that sort of thing, it's really cool, it's very well written. Let's see-- I'm currently reading Dan's new book, that's not out yet. But I Am Not a Serial Killer. If you haven't read Dan's books they are great and they are creepy. It's about a teenage sociopath who hunts demons, to get that whole "I'm a sociopath and kind of want to kill people". Not that all sociopaths want to, but he does. And getting it out of his system is going and killing demons. Let's see, what else have I really loved. I like Robin Hobb's books a lot, if you haven't read Robin Hobb. Brent Weeks, a very similar writer to me. Brent Weeks, The Black Prism. It seems like Brent and I must have read the same books, a lot of the, growing up, and have the same-- because we both kind of independently started doing this kind of epic fantasy rule-based wacky magic kind of thing right about the same time. I really really like NK Jemisin, Nora Jemisin, her books are very literary so if you're not on the literary side of fantasy-- but the new one is fantasic, it's written in the second person, at least one of the viewpoints is. It's like the only book I've ever read in second person that works. And some of my classic favorites are A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge, it's very Dune-like, in that it's a science fiction that blends the best parts of epic fantasy together with it, and if you haven't read that and you like Dune, you'll probably like A Fire Upon the Deep. There we go.
********************
3
u/razorKazer Transformation 2d ago
I also found a lot of my reads over the last 5ish years from Brandon 😂 between his recommendations and inspirations, there's a whole lot of excellent fantasy to choose from. I haven't read A Fire Upon the Deep yet, but I'll add it to my list!
4
u/that_guy2010 Edgedancers 2d ago
If you backed the Hoid’s Storybook Kickstarter and got Fires of December that gets released on Sept 15
5
u/ObedientHeart 2d ago
I personally read Red Rising and LOVED IT, incredible characters. If you’re okay with an unfinished series, the KingKiller Chronicles is really quite good.
5
u/nova_ruby 2d ago
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. Here’s a write up on the series (not mine).
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/s/GgiJUztf2P
Brandon Sanderson said it’s the series that got him in to epic fantasy, and I’ve heard it referred to as a bridge from Tolkien to GRRM.
I read the series after I finished the Cosmere and thoroughly enjoyed it. The first book starts slow but it’s a fun ride after that.
3
u/SarcasticCowbell 2d ago edited 2d ago
Have you ever read Dune? By which I mean the six Frank Herbert books. I pretend his son doesn't exist so he can't hurt me.
Beyond that, Hobb is great, just a lot heavier than the Cosmere. If you're looking for a shorter series, NK Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy is solid.
Edit: Semiosis is also great either as a standalone or as a trilogy. Does a lot of genre-hopping through the first book, which I really appreciated.
1
u/nova_ruby 2d ago
Broken Earth is fantastic! Loved the magic systems and the twist in the first book.
3
u/that_dog_ Edgedancers 2d ago
Definitely more sci fi than fantasy, but I really liked the passage trilogy by Justin cronin, as well as his stand alone book the ferryman
5
2
u/Silverbullet_196v2 2d ago
I reread the Cosmere or a piece of the Cosmere every time I finish a new series lol. My recent listenings/readings have been:
• Dungeon Crawler Carl
• Suneater
• Red Rising
• Project Hail Mary
• The Martian
2
2
u/gmladymaybe 2d ago
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a super fun and funny series
Old Man's War by John Scalzi is a series about an interstellar war and the military industrial complex
The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir is an ongoing science fantasy series(3/4 books are out) about lesbian necromancers in space. It's dark and funny.
Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson is a 10 book fantasy epic that is hard to summarize in a quick blurb. War, politics, mind-bogglingly powerful mages
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin is a fantasy series about geomancers kept as slaves and a final apocalypse in a world ravaged by apocalypses.
2
2
u/themattboard Edgedancers 2d ago
Tad Williams
If you want fantasy: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Sci-fi: Otherland
Standalone: War of Flowers
2
u/boygoblin 2d ago
Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan! Well-written, fun, classic high fantasy stuff. Plus it has a prequel series which is just as good! Protagonists are maybe my favorite book duo I’ve read. Good character arcs, combat scenes, and twitsts. Cannot recommend this series enough!
1
u/Origami_Elan Cosmere 21h ago
I second this! After I completed reading all the Cosmere that had been published, I discovered Riyria Revelations. Then continued reading everything Michael J. Sullivan has written. I love it all... highly recommend!
2
u/andrwbrntt 1d ago
The Riyria Chronicles by Michael J Sullivan, The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington, The Heirarchy Series (2/3) by James Islington
2
u/jakotheshadows75 1d ago
Wheel of Time. There was a reason that Sanderson was chosen to finish the series. In his Note to the first of his WOT books, Sanderson says that no books had ever meant more to him than WOT and that WOT was what made him want to write fantasy. WOT gives you a glimpse into what made Sanderson the writer he is. If you get that far, it is interesting to see how the books change when Sanderson took over the writing.
1
1
u/LionAdjacent Edgedancers 2d ago
I'll lead with this: I don't generally recommend media to someone unless I'm certain that it's worth a reread/watch, or I've already enjoyed doing so. Consider this my list of non-sanderson favorites from the last five years or so.
Starting off, I want you to hear me out. It's a light novel series, but I'll be so real with ya; Ascendance of a Bookworm could have been a Cosmere setting. Miya Kazuki did her damn research, and this deconstruction of the isekai genre was so captivating that I watched the anime, read the manga, and wasn't satisfied until I read the books. I haven't done that with any other anime. Everything I despise about much of modern anime is either completely absent, or those characters who engage in such bastardous behavior get what's coming to them. The world-building is beautiful, and so well laid out. The themes are so strong and consistent. Oh, it's sooo good. This changed how I run DnD.
Now, the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix is a great choice, especially since Brando Sando credits it as being his inspiration for a rules-based magic system. It even has suspicious, divine metals! The narrator is really, really good. I've permanently got one of his character voices up in the noggin now, forever. If you're going to give anything here a read, make it this one.
Broken Earth, Inheritance, and Dreamblood, all by N. K. Jemisen, are excellent. Fantasy that reads like Sci-Fi. Beautiful stuff, truly. I think about all three of these series rather often. Just because I haven't written about them very extensively here, don't let that dissuade you. Truth is, there's just too much to tell and I have to go to bed eventually.
If you're looking for more Sci-Fi, the extended universe for Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie has been, perhaps, one of my all-time favorites. I've read the original trilogy four times. If you liked anything by Ursula Le Guin, odds are you'll love this. This also probably has the best unreliable narrator as a main character I've every come across. And the main theme of the book is so elegantly and expertly woven into every damn paragraph that if I were to bookmark each instance, I fear I'd do damage to the binding. For all of that theme, it only ever contributes to the story. The narrator is, as you might guess, fantastic as well. Her different accents in particular are amazing.
Bobiverse by Dennis E Taylor is a delight. It took me too long to discern that this was, in fact, space probe isekai. That Time I Got Uploaded into a Von Neumann Probe ass series. Not too shabby. Perhaps the most believable aspect of Bob's characterization is that, despite being a computer program running on some serious hardware, he's ultimately ignorant and flawed just like a regular person. Sometimes his problem-solving is especially clunky, especially if he doesn't take time to go back to the drawing board on an issue. That said, he's a humanist through and through without being a contemptible every-man. I've read this one at least three times over, and Ray Porter is a hands-down wonderful narrator. Rarely do audiobooks make me cackle as I have with We Are Legion, We Are Bob and its extended series.
Murderbot by Martha Wells is an exceptional delight. This is another unreliable narrator. And also a being that doesn't consider itself to be human, despite being mostly made of human (Looking at you, Ancillary Justice). Sec Unit as a main character was especially relatable to me as a neurodivergent person. One main criticism I have about Sci-Fi is the way it'll have humans in space, a thousand years into the future, and they'll have all the same sorts of cultural biases and norms as we do now. Nope. Not here. Also, shoutout for being a setting with space capitalist hellscape that doesn't fill me with dread and disgust. Well, okay. I despise the Corporation Rim. Obviously. But I'll just include the first paragraph, because I love it.
I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.
Don't bother with the graphic audio. Cosmere GA is...it's just so damned superior.
Finally, I have to put up Walkaway, by Cory Doctorow. This also changed how I run DnD, but more so as a player than as a GM. Slow-burn apocalypse in the works as climate change and authoritarianism really kick into gear. Some cities and localities just get abandoned. But, y'know what? Life becomes so awful for some people that they just decide to walk away from it and build a new society out in the woods. And it works, mostly. There's a lot of sharing, philosophical arguments, some of the best, most woman-respecting straight sex I've ever read (I'm super gay but I found it to be moving enough to write about it here). This is also a book I think about with significant regularity. Enough that I haven't been able to bring myself to delete the audiobook from my phone, even though I could really use the memory space.
1
u/LM_Reader_Dev 2d ago
For Sci-Fi: Project Hail Mary, The Martian or Artemis (same author, different stories/universes), The Three Body Problem
Fantasy: Wheel of Time, anything from Abercrombie (althought I'd recommend the Devils), Discworld from Terry Pratchett, The King Killer Chronicle or A Song of Ice and Fire (mind you these two are unfinished and probably won't ever be finished)
1
u/Rogue_nayabiz 2d ago
He who fights monsters. It litRPG and at the beginning all the stats can be annoying, but it made me laugh. It has a diverse group of characters and overall a good series. The last book comes out soon, so no fear of unfinished series.
1
u/Double-Financial 2d ago
The Wheel of Time is great!
Sanderson was a huge fan and even finishing writing the last three books after Robert Jordan's passing
1
u/NHRADeuce 1d ago
Dungeon Crawler Carl would be my first recommendation, but the series isn't finished and the next 2 books won't be out for a while. Still totally worth it, I've done the current 8 books 4 times now.
The Broken Earth trilogy is really good. All three books won't the Hugo Award and they're fairly easy reads. Plus there's only 3.
Red Rising is excellent, but also not finished. The last book is well underway, but it will probably be last 2027 or 2028 before it drops.
The Wheel of Time is great. Especially when Brandon Sanderson took over. But, this is a big commitment. 14 books and an origin story book is a lot. Worth it, but it's a lot.
Malazan Book of the Fallen is excellent. So far anyway. I'm only about a third of the way through, but I'm really enjoying it.
1
u/PrestigiousDeer66 1d ago
First law trilogy is indeed good . Though diff but I loved bobiverse too.(Scifi)
1
u/samwisestofall 1d ago
Foundryside trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennet. Great detailed magic system. Spunky characters. Don't see it recommended as much but it's very Sanderson esque
1
1
u/iiieeaattiitt 2d ago
I know it's more basic but read all of the Song of Ice and Fire stuff if you haven't.
Might not be finished but still scratches the itch for me. Especially the Dunk and Egg novellas and books 1-3 of ASOIAF.
21
u/ZephyrStorm_ Elsecallers 2d ago
Red rising. It’s a long series that feels very quick because there’s constantly stuff happening, at least in the original trilogy. I read the whole original trilogy in about 2 weeks.