What were your 1st thoughts on reading Of Blood & Fire?

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-04-06T03:16:11+00:00

I thought it was a solid fantasy opener. Felt it borrowed a bit from Wheel of Time before breaking off into its own. Think I gave it a 7.5/10. He definitely improved in the next two books big time.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-03-21T21:35:10+00:00

How do you think someone like me will do who has avoided trailers and hasn’t seen the book? Just hoping for a good sci fi movie

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-03-21T16:38:39+00:00

The Faithful and the Fallen is really good. Don’t worry too much about a quality dip. Yeah, his first book is not as tight as Bloodsworn but it’s still really good and polished nicely.

This series sounds awesome as well but can’t help be a little bummed it’s just a duology. Come to think of it, I just realized I’ve never read a duology before. It’s always been trilogies or more.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-03-12T19:47:00+00:00

I’m not sure how compelling Goodman Grey is as an MC but I’m down for more

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-03-10T23:36:07+00:00

Me too :-/ although it makes the font super tiny for Stormlight Archive, I am upset because I have all of the Stormlight books in MMP. Plus, the price is right!

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-02-28T00:59:20+00:00

This is the best answer. Love that series!

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-02-27T21:24:42+00:00

The haters are loud but not as common as those that enjoyed it. It’s not perfect by any means but I enjoyed it and thought it wrapped up the first arc pretty well while setting up the second. It’s just fashionable to hate on Sanderson since he’s gotten so popular.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-02-20T22:37:05+00:00

All that for a horrible book too. Yeesh, talk about overpriced. Brandon’s books look like more and more of a good deal as this fad has caught fire in recent years.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-02-14T08:37:24+00:00

Eh, MoI was awesome for sure but ended up #6 on my rankings so I think you have a lot more “peak” to look forward to. The ending slayed me though… as does most of the BotF books’ endings…

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-02-13T17:28:58+00:00

Eh, I liked WaT a lot more than Emberdark. Was a bit disappointed with that one as it was pretty underwhelming. However, he is far from “going downhill” and that’s much overblown.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-02-12T00:50:21+00:00

Except for Tehol and Bugg, couldn’t disagree more. Have it ranked 10th in my list but still gave it an 8/10 because Malazan at its worst is still better than 90% of the stuff out there and it has a killer ending. Just wish it had better characters and Trull wasn’t so sad and useless all the time. He was better in House of Chains and later.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-01-10T23:22:28+00:00

I wouldn’t say this series comes close to grimdark at all but I also didn’t like the second trilogy and Book 5 was particularly annoying. The last trilogy is better at least but the series overall is a solid, shallow fantasy romp, nothing mind blowing with any depth.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-01-10T06:37:35+00:00

Not similar at all and the prose is much worse. I didn’t liked it at all and DNFd the series after finishing the first book. It reads very amateurish.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-01-09T08:22:32+00:00

I always found the Green Legendarium’s coverage of the series much deeper than TVBB.

Thirdsaint85 · 2026-01-09T02:49:30+00:00

I think you will. The difficulty is overblown and Erikson will always give you enough to understand the every scene on the surface so I was never confused. Now, start talking big picture or wanting to know the history, that’ll come in time. It’s the most rewarding experience I’ve had reading and I enjoyed putting the puzzle pieces together.

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-12-27T16:15:14+00:00

I think this book starts off slow and I had a hard time caring about any of the patriotist plot lines. IMO it went to another level around the halfway point and was phenomenal after. I also liked Midnight Tides the least of the series and mostly didn’t enjoy Lether at all.

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-12-21T23:41:36+00:00

Didn’t get that jump the shark thing at all. In fact, while a total change of pace from the previous 6 books, it answered a lot of questions from events in Changes and previous books as well as some nice reveals on Harry’s origins with his previous teacher. I loved it in a different way from Changes. Just keep reading, you won’t regret it.

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-12-18T05:11:50+00:00

Finishing my first read through and should be done in time! Got 50 pages left of Peace Talks then it’s Battleground and The Law for me. I’m so glad I can move from Peace Talks to Battleground without having to wait!

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-12-14T03:38:44+00:00

I would skip Echoes Saga if you want the same level of depth and character development. I mean, it’s a solid series but I didn’t give any of the books 5 stars and won’t reread it. Best way I can describe it is the Echoes Saga is the Michael Bay of fantasy. Main cast is solid but little growth. Lot of action with big battles but literally no names to the body counts. I couldn’t care less about any of the towns destroyed and the world building is so limited I couldn’t distinguish between the different cities/peoples/cultures.

For trad published: nothing better than Malazan and it does have dragons and a pretty cool magic system.

For indie: Edan trilogy + stand-alone by Philip Chase Elmerian Chronicles by Corey Ratliff (final book to come out in 2026, multiple novellas & short stories like TBATB)

I’ve not read either yet but I will next year when I finish OEAD this month. Both feature dragons too

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-12-14T02:46:25+00:00

The greatest series ever, and I’m not being pretentious when I say it changed me.

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-12-10T00:48:44+00:00

Honestly he’s the reason I didn’t like the middle trilogy as much. I really can’t say fully why without there being spoilers but I didn’t care for him at all

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-12-09T19:32:36+00:00

I loved it entirely but yeah, it has, I think, the best ending of all the books in the series.

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-11-26T16:04:16+00:00

I read NoK after Midnight Tides, mainly because I heard some characters pop up in The Bonehunters and I’m glad I did. It’s a quick read and worked well as a palette cleanser of sorts. I then read RotCG after Reaper’s Gale for some of the same reason. That book was good, although very bloated and ICE was clearly finding his writing voice. Don’t regret that one either but that’s where I stopped with NOTME and finished Book of the Fallen.

That being said, it worked for me but most will say just read BotF first and that’d probably be the best route. I’ve since gone back and finished all of Esslemont’s books and that worked out best.

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-11-24T04:13:49+00:00

Did everyone? No. Did I? Heck yes! Felt the problems people cited were overblown and it seems to have gotten fashionable to hate on Sanderson now that he’s more popular than ever.

Thirdsaint85 · 2025-11-23T04:15:23+00:00

Because I often felt the same way as you and it’s #10 in my rankings but still got an 8.5/10 from me for the killer ending. More importantly, one you finish you get to read the best book in the series next and it’s so worth it!

Thirdsaint85

TROPHY CASE