Top 5 fantasy novels? (Either your personal "top five" ranking, or the five that have occupied the most hours of your life in keeping with the original theme; up to you!)
Ooh, I like the time-based spin for this top 5, too -- I'm going to try to do that!
Also, wow, thinking of fantasy individual novels rather than series is kinda though XD
1. Lord of the Rings -- kicked off my love of fantasy when I was 13, and basically never been particularly far from my thoughts in the three decades since. I spent so much time reading meta for it, and downloading fanart on ancient modems, and writing hundreds of pages of fanfic (that no-one ever saw because this was mercifully pre-internet), not to mention hours and hours discussing it with my friend and following message board.
2. A Storm of Swords (i.e. ASOIAF #3) -- which is part of a series, but this was definitely the book that turned me fannish about the series, and a lot of the discussion for ASOIAF I participated in and fanworks I created (icons and poems and such) were centered around this book. I'm not going to count the time spent modding a landcomm for ASOIAF, because that was not just for this one book, but I think even without it it's pretty up
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Oh my gosh, I had the exact same experience with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Like right down to the number of pages where I ran out of steam. I bet we've already discussed this though and I forgot. :)
Ha, that's hilarious! Maybe something particularly dull is happening around the 300 page mark? (And this isn't ringing a bell, so maybe we haven't discussed it before -- I guess I don't talk about JSMN that much day to day.)
I did end up really liking the book once I managed to get through it. But also, I'm just kind of amazed that the same person wrote the massive, meticulously foot-noted JSMN and the slim, dreamlike Piranesi. I don't think I ever would have guessed they were by the same author...
I recall it took a ridiculously long time for Jonathan to show up, and he was the first character you can really get attached to. Maybe 300 pages is just a universal threshold for reading about guys like Norrell with no relief in sight.
But yeah it's really worth it once you push through. Legit became one of my favorite books.
I think you're right! -- I think when I noped out after 300 pages, that was before Jonathan showed up -- it was all Mr Norrell and Stephen and the Poles -- and I actually do really like both Mr Norrell and Stephen, but Jonathan does insert some much needed... levity? energy? something into the proceedings, and the book felt much more balanced after that.
And, well, Jonathan with the military was my favorite part of the book, so once I got to that point, I was definitely going to stick around.
I should have remember Stephen, since he's my favorite character, but he was also kind of slipped sideways into the narrative so I didn't realize at the beginning that I should be focused on his arc.
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Also, wow, thinking of fantasy individual novels rather than series is kinda though XD
1. Lord of the Rings -- kicked off my love of fantasy when I was 13, and basically never been particularly far from my thoughts in the three decades since. I spent so much time reading meta for it, and downloading fanart on ancient modems, and writing hundreds of pages of fanfic (that no-one ever saw because this was mercifully pre-internet), not to mention hours and hours discussing it with my friend and following message board.
2. A Storm of Swords (i.e. ASOIAF #3) -- which is part of a series, but this was definitely the book that turned me fannish about the series, and a lot of the discussion for ASOIAF I participated in and fanworks I created (icons and poems and such) were centered around this book. I'm not going to count the time spent modding a landcomm for ASOIAF, because that was not just for this one book, but I think even without it it's pretty up ( ... )
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I did end up really liking the book once I managed to get through it. But also, I'm just kind of amazed that the same person wrote the massive, meticulously foot-noted JSMN and the slim, dreamlike Piranesi. I don't think I ever would have guessed they were by the same author...
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But yeah it's really worth it once you push through. Legit became one of my favorite books.
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And, well, Jonathan with the military was my favorite part of the book, so once I got to that point, I was definitely going to stick around.
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