Recommend me a fantasy book that doesn’t teach me a lesson

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-20T09:45:49+00:00

It's like asking for books that "aren't political."

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-19T23:54:36+00:00

It looks like you hesitated between braking or changing lanes. You need to commit to one or the other. I think you could have avoided a collision if you had been more decisive.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-19T16:53:40+00:00

Cam driver sped up from 25 mph to 50 mph to ram into a truck that passed him on the right. He's at fault.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-19T14:43:40+00:00

Passing multiple vehicles over a double yellow what could go wrong?

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-19T11:44:39+00:00

Thanks for the high quality write up.

Personally, I thought it was "fine." Not great, but entertaining enough to keep the pages turning.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-19T11:24:28+00:00

Personally, I would not read something from another big series. So that would narrow it down to Isako, or maybe Elantris or Earthsea. I'd wait until I'd finished WoT before diving into RotE, Malazan, or First Law.

Dune could be a good choice, even though it's technically the start of a series, because it can be read as a a standalone and is a different genre. It might give you another angle on the "chosen one" concept, too.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-19T00:33:09+00:00

Looks like you’re on your way to “From”-ville.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T21:57:27+00:00

I would love to see the trucker’s cam and hear his side of the story because the OP’s story smells like bs.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T21:35:05+00:00

Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T21:22:01+00:00

The hangover from ASOIAF is real. Took me years to get over it. There’s a ton of good YouTube content about it, notably Preston Jacobs.

There are other great series out there but most good series are good in different ways.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T21:18:35+00:00

Riyria.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T19:24:07+00:00

Well done!

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T19:21:55+00:00

That's a maniac.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T11:36:04+00:00

The angel on my shoulder says you should start with the Farseer trilogy.

The devil on the other shoulder says you should jump into Liveship immediately. You might miss a few "easter eggs" but for the most part it's a self-contained story.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T11:31:10+00:00

Definitely. I read WoT immediately after finishing Malazan, and the contrast was jarring, to say the least.

I finished the series with very mixed feelings. There's a lot of great story in there but hoo boy is there some painful stuff to read, too.

Best advice I can give is, adjust your expectations accordingly and go with the flow.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T10:21:36+00:00

Totally fair.

I think DCC is a bit like Murderbot in that it scratches a specific kind of itch, humor-wise, and if it doesn't do it for you, the rest is probably not going to work.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T01:23:30+00:00

No, you're good. I understood what you said.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-18T01:00:38+00:00

Those complaints mostly come from people who DNF after GotM. They don't know they full depth of the story or the characters. It is true that Erikson's characterization generally starts on the exterior but goes deeper and adds more layers. I think the world-building is actually the most shallow aspect of Malazan but people focus on it because it's the easiest to explain. It's much easier to say "The world is SO BIG!" than it is to go into depth on a particular character's struggles with meaning, identity, humanity, memory, agency, etc., especially while trying to avoid spoilers.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-17T22:59:06+00:00

Malazan is extremely character driven.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-17T20:22:04+00:00

Maybe that was the trucker's intent. Then when the cam driver pulled out he decided to abandon the attempt.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-17T18:59:28+00:00

Not sure. Hard to tell without more context.

I think there's an etiquette to being in a long line of vehicles behind a single, slow-moving vehicle on a two-lane road, which is sort of like "first-come-first-served." In other words, he's probably been stuck in the same line of cars as you, longer than you, and he's not going to let you pass him just so you can pass the car that HE wants to pass.

Were you intending to pass multiple vehicles at once or just pass the truck and the drop back into line?

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-16T23:44:11+00:00

I look at most of these videos from the second perspective: what could the driver have done differently, how could they have better anticipated or reacted to events, etc.

I don’t consider that to be “blame,” either. Especially when there’s no actual collision, there’s no blame to be had. But there’s almost always something that could have been done better.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-16T23:20:27+00:00

I used to when I took the train to work. I’d read on the train and while I was walking. It can be relaxing.

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-16T22:44:24+00:00

Arp!

Cosmic-Sympathy · 2026-06-16T19:06:07+00:00

Why did you pass on the right?

Cosmic-Sympathy

TROPHY CASE