Donaldson 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever' (probably the most unlikeable protagonist I have encountered in fantasy - and I still wanted him to succeed!) Martin 'Song of Ice and Fire' (only read first three books when they came out, now I'm waiting for him to finish the series before I read any more), Stephen R. Other series I enjoyed: Glen Cook 'Dread Empire' (same reasons), George R.R. You're not my only hope, but I'd appreciate your suggestions nonetheless. I want to root for the hero, not the poor evil overlord who is destined to fail from the very beginning. I don't want to know how a book will end after reading the first few chapters. I don't want to read another 'epic' tale of a simple farmhand, child of prophecy, who becomes a great hero and saves the realm from a great evil - but not until going through no less than three books of wilderness descriptions, bad dialogue and meaningless adventures that put him in no real danger. other things, and for a variety of reasons. Many characters throughout the series turn out not to be as clichéd and one-dimensional as they appeared at first glance. The first book shows the usual conflict between good and evil from a different perspective. That's good storytelling in my eyes.įinally, some major fantasy tropes are subverted. To the very end, there were many possible conclusions - not all of them happy, all equally viable. It leaves a very real possibility that the heroes may fail, which brings me to the next major point - I did not know how the story will end until the very last pages of the last book. Once you realize that anyone can die, the danger suddenly becomes more real, the story more captivating, the small victories more meaningful.

One of the things I enjoyed the most is that Cook puts his characters in real danger and is not afraid to kill off major characters - sometimes even without a proper death scene, just another corpse found after a battle.

Please help me find a suitable replacement, keeping the following points in mind: So I've just finished reading Glen Cook's Black Company series and need something to fill the hole in my heart.

Book the black company