I was just curious if many had read this series (I think this is the right forum for this topic)? I actually consider it one of the better fantasy series written in my lifetime but people seldom have heard of them when I bring them up.

Well... the first trilogy is amazing anyway (the author has a follow up series to the originals he wrote later that kind of suck). But I seldom seem them talked about anywhere.

So I thought i'd make a thread... have many of you read this series? Would you agree with me?

And with that... what are some other lesser known series? I feel as relatively well versed folks in the fantasy genre, most of us know the obvious recommendations. We all are probably going to be familiar with Harry Potter, GRRM, Butcher, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, etc.

What though are some books that blew your mind but which aren't as well known among fantasy fans? Hidden gems so to speak?

 

It's not really a hidden gem, but also not really mainstream. I'm talking about Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe of course. It's technically not fantasy, but that is meaningles considering how it was written and what it contains. It's probably my favorite book(s).

Wolfe has a wonderful way of writing and it's one of those stories that gets better when reread. The Book of the New Sun is split into 4 parts, although I consider Urth of the New Sun, which is the fifth book, to be pretty mandatory, considering it comes to the conclusion of Severian's story, who is the main character and only narrator.

I'll borrow from some randoms goodreads review: "THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN is considered by many SFF readers as the greatest, most challenging, and most rewarding SF-fantasy epic ever written in the genre. At the same time, its baroque language, ambiguous plot, unreliable narrator, and depth of symbolism are likely to discourage most casual readers."

It's about a young torturer named Severian and the books are written as if by him. It's set millions of years in to the future, so far that the sun has lost much of its potency. The world is a wildly transformed one and religion is one of the bigger themes of the story. I'd recommend anyone to at least give it a try, if you haven't read it already.

About Prince of Nothing. I've read the first two books, if I remember correctly. This was years back though, but I remember stopping during the warrior monk. I can't remember exactly why, but I felt that it was trying too hard to be edgy in some ways and that the philosophy wasn't as deep as the author probably thought it to be. Still I thought they were quite good, certainly better than most books. I just stopped reading it and forgot to pick it back up. Probably should do that at some point.