Ebook Fantasy Novels

crpgnut

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Since these aren't published books in all cases, I thought I'd start a thread and post in it occasionally when I've read an e-book or e-series that I'd like to comment on. Feel free to add your own finds if it suits your fancy.

Series: The Attic Door
Author: Jonathan Brett
Website where dowloaded/read: Smashwords
Direct Link: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jonathanbrett

This is a novel about a young teenage girl who learns her family are the guardians of a door into a fantasy realm. It is split into 3 novellas so far and I would consider it lite fair, good for a slow day at work or a weekend where you just want to kill some time. This book would be most interesting for younger readers, or at least the young at heart. The three novellas would comprise about one full length novel of moderate length, probably less than 100,000 words.
 
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The newest D&D-based DDO novel is eBook only.
Just in case you are interested in it. ;)
 
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Book: Warbreaker
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Where to download: author's homepage
Direct Links: Warbreaker [pdf] (final hardcover version)
Other versions (PRC recommended; convert to other formats like epub with Calibre)

Warbreaker is a stand alone fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn Trilogy, Elantris, final Wheel of Time books) that features a unique magic system. I haven't read it yet, but given that I have liked some of his other works so far, I don't believe you can go wrong with this novel.

It was released as hardcover by Tor Books and was also published on the author's website for free in electronic format (Creative Commons license). You can also compare various versions and previous iterations of the novel if you feel inclined to do so and want to see how it was developed.
 
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Thanks, Arhu! I love Sanderson, though I haven't read the final 3 or 4 books of the Jordan mess. I keep waiting for the Reader's Digest condensed version of the books, where they take out all the braid tugging and romantic moping and just tell the story. It should be about 3 books long instead of 12.

I've read about 500 pages of Warbreaker and it's a pretty good read. It doesn't have much action, it's more about what various factions are thinking and how they try to manipulate one another. Like the Mistborn series, there is a fascinating magic system that barely gets used in the book. He spends more time discussing its powers than having a character actively use the magic. If Sanderson has a consistent weakness it is that he loves his characters so much he forgets he's supposed to be telling a story that goes somewhere.
 
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Which is likely why Jordan chose him to finish his series!! :)
 
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I finished the ebook at about 8:30 tonight. I know that it's sad that I read an 800 page book in 12 hours, but it was a slow day at work. It's a pretty good read, though I was able to guess many of the plot twists this time. Mistborn did a better job of keeping me guessing. A solid book and absolutely wonderful, considering it was free. Thanks again, Arhu!
 
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I bought all the Song of Ice and Fire novels in ebook format, actually ended up reading them on my phone ;-)

Great series, highly recommend these books.
 
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Here's my min-review of my last ebook, I'll edit in the links and stuff later:

Running Girl is a pretty good debut novel. The book starts off at a nice pace with lots of action and many things happening. There is quite a bit of magic in the early going and some nice combat also.

Unfortunately, the author sometimes get so caught up in describing scenery that he forgets to tell a story. There are paragraph after paragraph of descriptive prose, wherein no action is taking place. This gets dull and sometimes drags his story to a halt. Once the protagonist, who has half a dozen names throughout the book, gets to dwarf land, the book basically stops so that the author can lovingly describe a typical steampunk setting.

However, the book is redeemed through cheerful banter between the various party members and some amusing word play in certain sections. My hope is that further novels limit the descritpive prose while the main character is basically inactive and gets on with telling the story. The book has made me interested enough to try one more book in the series. I have a concern though because the author wants to make 15 books in the same world. Unless he vastly, vastly upgrades the action, boredom will set in long before a satisfying conclusion is reached.

Let me point out that I've read thousands of fantasy novels. I'm a bit jaded. Those who read a handful of fantasy novels a year should enjoy this book even more.
 
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Personally, I've had very, very bad experiences with a too descriptive language with the fantasy books expanding George Lucas' "Willow" universe/story. Chris Claremont expanded story which could have fit into let's say 50 pages into a 500 pages book.
Horrible.

Since then I'm staying far away from this kinds of books.

(And desperately try not to write in the same style, either. Thank Go a good friend of mine who is also an author says that I have a knack for situations, rather than descriptive language.)
 
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Series: Nexus Wars Saga
Author: Robert Day
Website where downloaded: Amazon
Direct Link: http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Gates-N...F8&qid=1347072521&sr=1-1&keywords=Demon+Gates

Okay, this is the next novel that I really enjoyed, so I'll copy my Amazon review here:

Robert Day, the author, seems like your average D&D player or computer role-playing game enthusiast, who actually took time to write down bits and pieces of his favorite books and games and make a story out of them. There is absolutely nothing in his whole novel that is new or even noteworthy, but he tells the familiar in a very charming way and the pages just fly by at breakneck speed. I read the whole book in two evenings, after work. The main character is extremely likable and he meets many new characters along the way, keeping both companions and enemies fresh. He spends just enough time with each, to make you feel like you know who they are, and what motivates them. This is important in keeping up interest. I'll happily purchase the next book and be ready for another wild ride.
 
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http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/214600

Series: Tales of the Triad
Author: R J Murray
Website Smashwords
Link: See Above

The Event starts a series of books that has the current world destroyed by an Event in space. The event triggers catastrophic damage to earth killing everyone but a very small remnant. From 7 billion to perhaps a hundred thousand worldwide. The story revolves around a group of people from the States that survived and their slow learning of how technology has vastly changed and how magic has started to work. At first they have no clue and only learn bits and pieces as each book progresses. The primary main character has become a seer and he tries to navigate mankind through this new period. Very interesting book series because nobody knows the answers and the characters make lots of mistakes as they learn what works and what doesn't. I'm pretty picky but I'd give this a solid 4 of 5 stars and I generally hate "technology to magic" worlds.
 
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Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings" is on sale this month for just $2.99 (ebook). At least for the U.S. and Canada. Not sure about other countries …
 
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Two free books I found:

Series: In Her Name
Author: Michael R. Hicks
Website: authormichaelhicks.com
Link: http://authormichaelhicks.com/bookstag/free-books/

Note: Each free book is the first part of a trilogy.

Empire was written first (Redemption trilogy), but First Contact is the prequel story (The Last War trilogy) and the author recommends it to be read first. It's a bit like Star Wars and the prequels.

The series seems to be a scifi/fantasy hybrid and is well received on goodreads.
Haven't read it myself yet.

edit: Empire doesn't seem to be free anymore...
 
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Baen Books has a free library. Usually an author who's signed up with them offers the first book in a series for free, to try them out, then buying the rest of the series. I think more authors should do this:

Baen Books Free Library
 
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I'd love to hear from you guys on whether any of this is on-par with the likes of Steven Donaldson, Steven Erickson or Gene Wolfe
 
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