looking for book about epic travel through well-developed fantasy world
May 12, 2023 7:29 AM Subscribe
other stuff I like within, but what it says on the tin. needs to be something that has an audiobook, though if you know of something that doesn't I'm still open to hearing the rec :)
I just finished watching Mushoku Tensei and really enjoyed this aspect of the show...it really feels like a big, lived in world and the characters spend a lot of time in a lot of different places. That has put me in the mood for a story with that sort of vibe. A big, well developed fantasy world, and an epic tour through it.
I'd like something that on the whole has a positive vibe...that doesn't mean that it can't have down moments, conflict, etc, but I'd like something ultimately optimistic. I don't want anything too depressing or grimdark, but it doesn't have to be purely heroic or whatnot.
That's all of the "required" stuff, but here are things that I particularly enjoy and would certainly make me want to read something
- beyond just a big well developed world, a sense that the people and places that they meet matter...eg people they have met are connected to people they will meet, etc etc. I feel this makes a world feel all the more "lived in" and alive
- good ensembles
- "epic friendship" for lack of a better term. basically, groups of people (could be just two friends, could be more) who have endless trust for each other and sort of grow together on their travels
but I'm open to surprises. really, the most important thing is the sense of size, vibrancy, lived-in-ness, and epic travel
I just finished watching Mushoku Tensei and really enjoyed this aspect of the show...it really feels like a big, lived in world and the characters spend a lot of time in a lot of different places. That has put me in the mood for a story with that sort of vibe. A big, well developed fantasy world, and an epic tour through it.
I'd like something that on the whole has a positive vibe...that doesn't mean that it can't have down moments, conflict, etc, but I'd like something ultimately optimistic. I don't want anything too depressing or grimdark, but it doesn't have to be purely heroic or whatnot.
That's all of the "required" stuff, but here are things that I particularly enjoy and would certainly make me want to read something
- beyond just a big well developed world, a sense that the people and places that they meet matter...eg people they have met are connected to people they will meet, etc etc. I feel this makes a world feel all the more "lived in" and alive
- good ensembles
- "epic friendship" for lack of a better term. basically, groups of people (could be just two friends, could be more) who have endless trust for each other and sort of grow together on their travels
but I'm open to surprises. really, the most important thing is the sense of size, vibrancy, lived-in-ness, and epic travel
Jack Vance's Lyonesse trilogy is available from Audible.
posted by SPrintF at 8:07 AM on May 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 8:07 AM on May 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Clive Barker’s Weaveworld and Imajica are on Audible too. (They’re not related, they just both qualify.)
posted by ejs at 10:01 AM on May 12, 2023
posted by ejs at 10:01 AM on May 12, 2023
Quite a few of Victoria Goddard's books- mostly they seem to be the second or subsequent books in a series so you'll get spoilers, but think they stand alone well enough (you do lose some of the interconnectedness that comes from already having met a lot of the characters, of course). At The Feet of the Sun and The Return of Fitzroy Angursell are particularly heavy on epic travel.
Elizabeth Bear's Eternal Sky trilogy.
The third book in Rachel Neumeier's Tuyo series, Tarashana, has that for me (the first book is very good too and has some of this, the second book is a side-story). Oh, also maybe her The White Road of the Moon.
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold has a queen escaping her curtailed life by going on a pilgrimage- demons ensue. Some of the other books in the Five Gods world are also travel-centric. Books 3 and 4 of her Sharing Knife series are a journey on a riverboat down the fantasy-Mississippi and back up again.
A portal fantasy with travel around the world that the protagonist is sent to might hit the spot? An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows, or AM Dellamonica's Hidden Sea series.
posted by Shark Hat at 11:09 AM on May 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
Elizabeth Bear's Eternal Sky trilogy.
The third book in Rachel Neumeier's Tuyo series, Tarashana, has that for me (the first book is very good too and has some of this, the second book is a side-story). Oh, also maybe her The White Road of the Moon.
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold has a queen escaping her curtailed life by going on a pilgrimage- demons ensue. Some of the other books in the Five Gods world are also travel-centric. Books 3 and 4 of her Sharing Knife series are a journey on a riverboat down the fantasy-Mississippi and back up again.
A portal fantasy with travel around the world that the protagonist is sent to might hit the spot? An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows, or AM Dellamonica's Hidden Sea series.
posted by Shark Hat at 11:09 AM on May 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
Your question makes me think of the Raksura books by Martha Wells,
posted by alicat at 3:12 PM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by alicat at 3:12 PM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds
posted by Constance Mirabella at 9:50 PM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Constance Mirabella at 9:50 PM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Steerswoman books, by Rosemary Kirstein, fit a lot of this. The world isn't huge, but it's well fleshed out, the characters are significant, and the main friendship is a wonder to behold. They are also just excellent books. Try not to read spoilers if you can avoid it. Be forewarned that only four books are released out of an eventual 6 or 7, but they're really satisfying on their own and so I don't feel too much agita waiting for the next one.
Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is pretty epic, and does a lot what you're asking for as well, but whereas The Steerswoman has a clearer style of writing, Book of the New Sun is more lyrical and a bit harder to decipher. Still a pretty amazing set of books, though - what a world.
I don't know if either one is available on audiobook, though...
posted by taltalim at 9:34 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is pretty epic, and does a lot what you're asking for as well, but whereas The Steerswoman has a clearer style of writing, Book of the New Sun is more lyrical and a bit harder to decipher. Still a pretty amazing set of books, though - what a world.
I don't know if either one is available on audiobook, though...
posted by taltalim at 9:34 AM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]
Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is pretty epic, and does a lot what you're asking for as well
I thought about suggesting that (in fact I'll take any excuse to suggest that) but while it has an epic journey in an amazingly realized world the protagonist is ultimately alone. There are people who travel with him occasionally but he can take them or leave them.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 4:15 PM on May 16, 2023
I thought about suggesting that (in fact I'll take any excuse to suggest that) but while it has an epic journey in an amazingly realized world the protagonist is ultimately alone. There are people who travel with him occasionally but he can take them or leave them.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 4:15 PM on May 16, 2023
Response by poster: FWIW Book of the New Sun is something I've been meaning to read for a while, so I will bump it up in priority. I think there are some other books recommended I will get to first (thank you everyone!!), but you've both definitely put it back on my radar :)
posted by wooh at 7:30 AM on May 17, 2023
posted by wooh at 7:30 AM on May 17, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jeoc at 8:06 AM on May 12, 2023 [6 favorites]