Yeah, I never read any HP fics back in the day, but I heard...stories....
Third Perpetual Book Thread
- Thread starter MonaLisaOverdrive
- Start date
There was one that I read (and can't remember the name of or be bothered to look) where Henry went through the shroud that Sirrus falls through after the books (he had kids but felt things could have been better) and ended up going back in time to the start of the books but with all of his memories.
Now that we have an excellent SF&F bookstore within walking distance, plus some available bookshelf space after moving and divesting some, I'm thinking I'll buy dead tree books when publishers don't make the ePub DRM-free, for simpler sharing with household / friends.
Finished Blade of Dream, the second Kithamar book from Daniel Abraham. If you were into what he was doing in the first book, then book 2 is pretty good. It illuminates a lot, and it's cool to see the "same" events from other perspectives, but with the benefit of hindsight (as opposed to reading all of the perspectives in more or less chronological order).
I'm pretty curious to see what book 3 will bring. I feel like book 2 answered basically all of my questions, and there are really only 2-3 other perspectives I could imagine recapping these events for - but I don't expect those to be the ones. I wonder if this will progress forward in time with the main perspectives from books 1+2? I guess I'll find out this summer!
Finished Blade of Dream, the second Kithamar book from Daniel Abraham. If you were into what he was doing in the first book, then book 2 is pretty good. It illuminates a lot, and it's cool to see the "same" events from other perspectives, but with the benefit of hindsight (as opposed to reading all of the perspectives in more or less chronological order).
I'm pretty curious to see what book 3 will bring. I feel like book 2 answered basically all of my questions, and there are really only 2-3 other perspectives I could imagine recapping these events for - but I don't expect those to be the ones. I wonder if this will progress forward in time with the main perspectives from books 1+2? I guess I'll find out this summer!
I have given up on Womb City, by Tlotlo Tsamaase. For a couple of reasons.
1) Inconsistencies in the narrative. In the opening chapters, the main character makes more money than their husband. 50 pages (and about 5 weeks in-universe) later, they are struggling to keep their business afloat and are entirely dependent on their husband's charity and prestige and friends. Which is it? There are a LOT of instances like this.
2) This world the author created? Sucks. It sucks. It's an awful place of body swapping and mind prisons and misogyny. It makes me feel... ick.
3) The prose is inconsistent as well. We'll go from haphazard conversation with little context to a lore dump several pages later that explains what happened three scenes ago to an action sequence that is disconnected from anything else.
There are bones of a really interesting and intriguing tale here, but I'm done trying to struggle through all the things that bug me to reach it.
I'm switching over to Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea, after recommendations from the thread many pages ago.
1) Inconsistencies in the narrative. In the opening chapters, the main character makes more money than their husband. 50 pages (and about 5 weeks in-universe) later, they are struggling to keep their business afloat and are entirely dependent on their husband's charity and prestige and friends. Which is it? There are a LOT of instances like this.
2) This world the author created? Sucks. It sucks. It's an awful place of body swapping and mind prisons and misogyny. It makes me feel... ick.
3) The prose is inconsistent as well. We'll go from haphazard conversation with little context to a lore dump several pages later that explains what happened three scenes ago to an action sequence that is disconnected from anything else.
There are bones of a really interesting and intriguing tale here, but I'm done trying to struggle through all the things that bug me to reach it.
I'm switching over to Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea, after recommendations from the thread many pages ago.
Finished "Red Country" by Joe Abercrombie.
It's a reread of, I think, the final book in the world started in "The Blade Itself". A world of low magic in medieval to Renaissance cultures depending on which nation you are in.
The book is in an analog of the American Wild West with natives called Ghosts taking the place of Plains Indians. It take a lot of the tropes of a Cowboy Western and twists it where everyone is armed with blades, bows, or crossbows. A good chunk of the book deals with the travails of ill-prepared people on a wagon train heading to a gold strike.
You have characters from previous books in the series popping up as a main character or a significant NPC. You don't need to have read (or remember them from) previous books for the story to flow.
It's a reread of, I think, the final book in the world started in "The Blade Itself". A world of low magic in medieval to Renaissance cultures depending on which nation you are in.
The book is in an analog of the American Wild West with natives called Ghosts taking the place of Plains Indians. It take a lot of the tropes of a Cowboy Western and twists it where everyone is armed with blades, bows, or crossbows. A good chunk of the book deals with the travails of ill-prepared people on a wagon train heading to a gold strike.
You have characters from previous books in the series popping up as a main character or a significant NPC. You don't need to have read (or remember them from) previous books for the story to flow.
I just picked up The Eye of the World myself!
Boy the quality of popular fantasy prose has really come a long way these days…
Had a work trip and wound up picking up a copy of The Devils by Joe Abercrombie at the airport.
So far so good, but only about 25% through it.
So far so good, but only about 25% through it.
Finished Gardens of the Moon, and it made a lot more sense this time than however long ago I read the first one. Easily ten years ago at least, I was on the fifth or sixth book when Dad had his episode in early 2016.
Went to re-read The Scarab Path, the 5th of the Shadows of the Apt, and I really do think it's my favorite, between the frak-off big nearly hopeless siege in the second half and the Masters and backstory you get.
Next will be Deadhouse Gates, which is really what got me into the Malazan books.
Went to re-read The Scarab Path, the 5th of the Shadows of the Apt, and I really do think it's my favorite, between the frak-off big nearly hopeless siege in the second half and the Masters and backstory you get.
Next will be Deadhouse Gates, which is really what got me into the Malazan books.
I was going to say something snarky, like "enjoy reading about Felisin the Younger", but the desire to do so went away almost as soon as the thought formed. In its stead, this quote sprang to mind:
Gilbert Murray said:
So yeah, enjoy the book. Even the unpleasant bits.
I am most of the way through book 3 and I am enjoying it so far.
This book is so, so damned good. I really recommend the audiobook version.
I've been pushing it on my friends and family because I want to chat with them about it. It's already been optioned by James Cameron.
I would totally read a spinoff series:
The Twat Monologues
Recent finishes:
Books 4 through 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl - I thought I would get burned out on the concept but it does enough to expand the world and scope in the later books that I remain hooked.
Human Resources - 34-page mini novella from Adrian Tchaikovsky in the Service Model world. Funny enough for the time commitment.
Livesuit - 130-page novella from James S.A. Corey in the Captive's War world. If you liked Captive's War, definitely check it out.
Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke - had never read this one but really enjoyed it. Has a few jarring "oh, right, this is the 50s" moments but overall holds up really well.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi - well, I gave up at 25%. I heard it described as a beach read, and tried to read it on the beach...but just didn't happen. I can appreciate light and breezy but just too all over the place and couldn't connect with any of the characters. I might be done with Scalzi for awhile.
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky - only 50% in currently but it basically has all of my favorite AT elements so far. TBD on final ranking compared to his other novels but it's trending up there right now.
Books 4 through 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl - I thought I would get burned out on the concept but it does enough to expand the world and scope in the later books that I remain hooked.
Human Resources - 34-page mini novella from Adrian Tchaikovsky in the Service Model world. Funny enough for the time commitment.
Livesuit - 130-page novella from James S.A. Corey in the Captive's War world. If you liked Captive's War, definitely check it out.
Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke - had never read this one but really enjoyed it. Has a few jarring "oh, right, this is the 50s" moments but overall holds up really well.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi - well, I gave up at 25%. I heard it described as a beach read, and tried to read it on the beach...but just didn't happen. I can appreciate light and breezy but just too all over the place and couldn't connect with any of the characters. I might be done with Scalzi for awhile.
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky - only 50% in currently but it basically has all of my favorite AT elements so far. TBD on final ranking compared to his other novels but it's trending up there right now.
This one is on Reactormag.com as well (which is where I ran into it).
Books 4-7 is where DCC really took off. It goes from "this is interesting" to "holy goddamn" really quickly. The audiobooks are especially good.
When the moon hits your eye - agreed, I finished it, but I can't say it was good. It was like he came up with the premise and powered through it because he couldn't find a cohesive plot or set of characters in it. Some sections were really good, others were just kinda crap.
I'm doing a re-listen of the series, and it's amazing how much little stuff I missed along the way and how much I forgot. I was reading them as the originally released, so it's been a long time since Book 1 & 2. I had completely forgotten the initial interactions with some of the "long term" characters.
I'm only on Book 3 right now and there have been so many "Oh, that's who that person is." moments it's unreal. Ellie is a prime example.
I was not a fan, to be honest. I was at first, but by the end? Not so much.
The latest Mossa and Pleiti mystery by Malka Older released this week: The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses.
Started on it, the setup is interesting.
Started on it, the setup is interesting.
Over the past two months, basically since @Mhorydyn announced that The Wheel of Time was on Humble Bundle, I bought the full set and completed a re-read of the series. I'd stalled out after #6, Lord of Chaos, so that meant I was starting with The Slog in Crown of Swords.
Honestly? It was fine! I ripped through all eight chihuahua-killer sized books in two months (a volume of reading that I haven't done in years) and with the usual caveat for Crossroads of Twilight, the overall pacing was smooth and I never felt like things were bogged down or Jordan was spending too much time with any one group.
Now, I Was ThereTM in the beginning when we had to wait for each release, which were coming at longer and longer intervals. I do remember feeling like #7, Crown of Swords, and #8, Path of Daggers, were wandering a bit but I will always stand by my opinion that #9, Winter's Heart, was a stand-out because of its monumental conclusion. That, of course, is why #10, Crossroads of Twilight, felt like such a let down when it finally came out. On this re-read I didn't disdain it to the extent that I bad-mouthed it back in the day but it still is a book primarily about everyone reacting to that monumental conclusion in #9. The best I can say about it is that it did at least set up a number of ongoing plot threads to be wrapped up in #11, Knife of Dreams.
Oh my god. Knife of Dreams. 1) That book is just good. I said so out loud at least a couple of times as I was reading it last month. And 2) It really did tie up several plot lines that had been running in parallel through The Slog and got all the major characters and associated institutions firmly on the path to come back together for the big conclusion. When it came out this felt AMAZING.
And then Robert Jordan died.
That was, well . . . NOT amazing.
So Brandon Sanderson was tapped to take over and bring this thing home. I think we all knew that doing so in one book was a little ambitious, shall we say, but when he announced it would take three at least we knew it would be done.
I really like the three Sanderson books. They're obviously written a bit different than Jordan would have but overall he maintained the characterizations pretty consistently which is quite the achievement. I mean, not always: Mat's character felt significantly off in #12, The Gathering Storm, and I thought and still think that the chapter Legends in particular is the worst bit. Fortunately Sanderson was able to modulate a bit for the last two books and while Mat was never again Jordan's Mat, I was happy with the result. Also, I swear I noticed Cadsuane saying "Phaw!" more often in the Sanderson books than I did braids getting tugged or skirts smoothed. Androl is a very Sanderson character doing very Sanderson things with the magic. Also fortunately, I'm here for that as I own almost all of his other books (need to get the COVID surprise novels. . .).
So thanks for posting the Humble Bundle link! I honestly can't say when I'll next feel the pull to read the series again. It may perhaps even be on another turning of the Wheel.
Honestly? It was fine! I ripped through all eight chihuahua-killer sized books in two months (a volume of reading that I haven't done in years) and with the usual caveat for Crossroads of Twilight, the overall pacing was smooth and I never felt like things were bogged down or Jordan was spending too much time with any one group.
Now, I Was ThereTM in the beginning when we had to wait for each release, which were coming at longer and longer intervals. I do remember feeling like #7, Crown of Swords, and #8, Path of Daggers, were wandering a bit but I will always stand by my opinion that #9, Winter's Heart, was a stand-out because of its monumental conclusion. That, of course, is why #10, Crossroads of Twilight, felt like such a let down when it finally came out. On this re-read I didn't disdain it to the extent that I bad-mouthed it back in the day but it still is a book primarily about everyone reacting to that monumental conclusion in #9. The best I can say about it is that it did at least set up a number of ongoing plot threads to be wrapped up in #11, Knife of Dreams.
Oh my god. Knife of Dreams. 1) That book is just good. I said so out loud at least a couple of times as I was reading it last month. And 2) It really did tie up several plot lines that had been running in parallel through The Slog and got all the major characters and associated institutions firmly on the path to come back together for the big conclusion. When it came out this felt AMAZING.
And then Robert Jordan died.
That was, well . . . NOT amazing.
So Brandon Sanderson was tapped to take over and bring this thing home. I think we all knew that doing so in one book was a little ambitious, shall we say, but when he announced it would take three at least we knew it would be done.
I really like the three Sanderson books. They're obviously written a bit different than Jordan would have but overall he maintained the characterizations pretty consistently which is quite the achievement. I mean, not always: Mat's character felt significantly off in #12, The Gathering Storm, and I thought and still think that the chapter Legends in particular is the worst bit. Fortunately Sanderson was able to modulate a bit for the last two books and while Mat was never again Jordan's Mat, I was happy with the result. Also, I swear I noticed Cadsuane saying "Phaw!" more often in the Sanderson books than I did braids getting tugged or skirts smoothed. Androl is a very Sanderson character doing very Sanderson things with the magic. Also fortunately, I'm here for that as I own almost all of his other books (need to get the COVID surprise novels. . .).
So thanks for posting the Humble Bundle link! I honestly can't say when I'll next feel the pull to read the series again. It may perhaps even be on another turning of the Wheel.
I read Dungeon Crawler Carl (the series so far) and liked it so I decided to try another GameLit/LitRPG series. Based on various forums, I picked up the series The Good Guys by Eric Ugland (first book: One More Last Time) and have been enjoying them quite a bit... maybe even more so than Dungeon Crawler Carl. Dungeon Crawler Carl tries to have a lot more humor in it through various means but The Good Guys is more like playing a campaign in D&D. DCC always seemed to me to be trying to find ways to be funny because comedy is a major factor in the story. TGG does have funny bits but it seems less like it's trying to be funny.
I like The Good Guys enough that I just bought the 11 books in The Bad Guys, the two books in Master of Puppets, and the book in Grim Guys. The Good Guys is 15 books, itself (currently on book 10).
I like The Good Guys enough that I just bought the 11 books in The Bad Guys, the two books in Master of Puppets, and the book in Grim Guys. The Good Guys is 15 books, itself (currently on book 10).
Last edited:
Nice! If the bundle was still active I would have just picked it up again- you're making me want to re-read the series but first I'd want to search my house and find my copies of the books. (also my book backlog is threatening to enter triple digits, if it's not already there, so I really should prioritize new material, but...)
I recognize seven and eight as some of the worst offenders for pacing and digressions but damn are there some fascinating plot developments in them. I suspect if I were to rank WoT books one or both would be able to make it out of the bottom three. Really, the only book I dislike is Crossroads of Twilight. That was a hard pill to swallow, and it embodied and justified all the complaints about slog. A step in the wrong direction for the series as a whole.
Personally, I found Knife kind of depressing just because it felt like a speedrun to tie up plots because he knew he was dying. That series needed a conclusion, but several plotline conclusions in Knife really felt unsatisfyingly abrupt. On the whole, I think the book was pretty much in the middle of the pack for me- I dislike it, but respect that what it was trying to do was a necessary course correction, it does deliver some payoffs, and it's a much smoother read than a bunch of its immediate predecessors.
If only we could smoosh the digressive water-treading of Crossroads and the machete of Knife into two new books that split the difference, those would be excellent reads...
Big WoT fan regardless- I must have read those first eight books like six times each over the course of my life, Winter's Heart 3-4 times, and Crossroads at least twice- once at launch and once before the Sanderson books came out.
Yeah, Sanderson did a fine job bringing it home. That was the first Sanderson I ever ready, although far from the last.
Still hard not to wish, every time I think of the series, we had the world where Jordan had exercised a bit more editorial restraint early on to scope things, Crossroads never happened, and- above all else- where he remained healthy and got to live to see his project to conclusion. As a writer, Sanderson tells amazingly entertaining tales with cool mechanics and lots of crossover potential as nerd fodder, but I can't think of any fantasy authors who surpass Jordan at building a rich, fascinating world that strikes a perfect balance between what it shows, what it hints at, and what it doesn't show you for you to go down the rabbit hole into.
It's funny, I was just telling my wife the other day how I'm stalled out in The Eye of the World because teh writing is just so mixed and often bad. You'll get some awesome characterful descriptions of the world, tantalizing bits of layers of ancient cycles, and then right back to some incredibly tiresome Gender Wars.
By and large, the fantasy epics of my child/teenhood have just been flat out surpassed by the writers of the 2000s.
By and large, the fantasy epics of my child/teenhood have just been flat out surpassed by the writers of the 2000s.
Understandable. I do not recall hearing even any rumors of his health problems prior to Knife getting published, I just thought he had finally decided to start the march to the end.
I'm also not a particularly jaded or hard to please reader. To my memory, there's been only one book in this century that I've deliberately chosen not to finish after starting. It was a debut novel called The Grim Company by Luke Scull (yes, I gave that name some serious side-eye) and one of his main character's inner monologue was so obnoxiously self-aggrandizing that I just noped out thinking nobody ever thinks about themselves like that. Note: This was also back in the pre-Trump days. . .
Now I'm reading Joe Abercrombie's The Devils and he's got one that is almost as bad: Balthazar Sham Ivam Draxi, "learned adept of the nine circles, suzerain of the secret keys, conjurer of unearthly powers, the man they dubbed the Terror of Damietta -- or at least had dubbed himself the Terror of Damietta in the hope that it would stick -- one of the top three necromancers in Europe, mark you -- possibly four, depending on your opinion of Sukastra of Bivort, who he personally considered an absolute hack. . ." But this is Abercrombie so what am I gonna do?
Is this Pat Rothfuss' influence, do you think? The Name of the Wind was a good book and I quite liked the way Kvothe spoke about himself, but it was bound to engender imitations.
I wouldn't attribute it to any kind of direct influence, despite the fact that contemporary SFF authors all engage in a kind of meta-conversation with each other through their works (consciously or not).
After a little thought, Abercrombie's Balthazar is working for me because Abercrombie is a known and even favorite author. I know what I'm getting when I buy one. In this book Balthazar is introduced and is only ever seen (so far) as part of an ensemble of other quirky characters and how he thinks about the others adds flavor to how he thinks about himself. I'm just enjoying the book so far (and stan Sunny, a whole other character).
The Scull book I abandoned was exactly opposite to those two factors. It was a debut novel from someone who I only heard about from the Big Idea series of posts on Scalzi's website. I was actively looking for new authors to read and got several good ones through the years from the Big Idea but each one does have to earn my trust. His character, to my memory (I'm not going to go re-read it!
) was introduced in a long solo scene trying to do something and the inner monologue was just . . . ugh. I'm sure other people liked it just fine but I bounced.The Name of the Wind though. I don't have enough time to type up how much I love that book. I hand sold so many copies the year I worked at my local Barnes & Noble by turning to a page in one of the Lanre and Lyra stories, pointing at one set of paragraphs and telling the customer that if that doesn't move you, nothing will.
Finished up Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I really enjoyed it and would hold it up on the higher end of his books.
It's a classic AT "humans encounter alien planet, hijinx ensue" story. My only qualms were:
1. While the book doesn't spend a ton of time on this, it's clear this is a pretty bleak version of humanity expanding out into the cosmos. It's all practical and grounded in a possible/likely future, but I personally could have appreciated a more optimistic outlook on humanity, however implausible, given all that is currently ongoing.
2. The magic of the book is in the build-up and problem-solving, not in the ending. Like many of his stories, I got to the end and wanted another 25 pages of conclusion.
It's a classic AT "humans encounter alien planet, hijinx ensue" story. My only qualms were:
1. While the book doesn't spend a ton of time on this, it's clear this is a pretty bleak version of humanity expanding out into the cosmos. It's all practical and grounded in a possible/likely future, but I personally could have appreciated a more optimistic outlook on humanity, however implausible, given all that is currently ongoing.
2. The magic of the book is in the build-up and problem-solving, not in the ending. Like many of his stories, I got to the end and wanted another 25 pages of conclusion.
A lot of Tchaikovsky's recent "near-ish future" stuff is pretty bleak in outlook from our present day to then.
Following some discussion of Dumas' work in a Discord I'm in, I Had good cause to re-read Brust's The Phoenix Guards. What a delightful adaptation, even if occasionally I had to skim a few pages of the intentionally overly digressive and flowery narrator. And without the casual historical misogyny of the original 19th C work.
I'm also working my way through Salt: A World History which is a fantastic little popular history book. He includes quite a few recipes to illustrate just how salty preserved foods were prior to refrigeration, and as a big fan of Max Miller & Tasting History I think I've recognized at least one cookbook used there as well.
After zipping through Joe Abercrombie's The Devils (Love it. Very Abercrombie.), this week's project has been to catalogue the home library for the first time since 2014 or so. Snagged an iPhone app called BookBuddy+ for $6 and it made the process pretty slick so far. I still need to re-jigger the .csv files the way I want them but the final total was about 880 physical books between my wife and I and about 460 in the Calibre ebook catalog. Not too shabby! (If a bit of a pain to lug around from place to place. . .)
Hidden away in an almost forgotten box were these beauties:
Vintage '90s BattleTech novels!!! Two trilogies there on the bottom row and a bunch of one-offs aside from Wolf Pack which is apparently #4 in some series.
Who dares me to try these again?
Who says to avoid them like the plague lest I die of cringe?
Hidden away in an almost forgotten box were these beauties:
Vintage '90s BattleTech novels!!! Two trilogies there on the bottom row and a bunch of one-offs aside from Wolf Pack which is apparently #4 in some series.
Who dares me to try these again?
Who says to avoid them like the plague lest I die of cringe?Oh man some of those covers bring me right back to summer vacation holed up in the only air conditioned room in the house staying up way too late reading ‘bout mechs.
I think the #4 on Wolf Pack is just the fourth book published by that particular publisher. If you look, Natural Selection and Blood Of Heroes have the same art, just no number. If I'm remembering correctly, Wolf Pack was published directly after Falcon Guard, and I guess the publisher's art dept was trying to figure out what to do once "Legend of the JADE PHOENIX" was done.After zipping through Joe Abercrombie's The Devils (Love it. Very Abercrombie.), this week's project has been to catalogue the home library for the first time since 2014 or so. Snagged an iPhone app called BookBuddy+ for $6 and it made the process pretty slick so far. I still need to re-jigger the .csv files the way I want them but the final total was about 880 physical books between my wife and I and about 460 in the Calibre ebook catalog. Not too shabby! (If a bit of a pain to lug around from place to place. . .)
Hidden away in an almost forgotten box were these beauties:
View attachment 112450
Vintage '90s BattleTech novels!!! Two trilogies there on the bottom row and a bunch of one-offs aside from Wolf Pack which is apparently #4 in some series.
Who dares me to try these again?
To be fair, the Felisin bits are such a pain in the ass it's not funny. I had mostly forgotten how obtuse she was as an observer, but not about how "damaged" she was.
I had the same reaction when I did a full New Spring to Memory of Light read through a few years ago. I recall the wait for new books feeling like an eternity when I was reading them as a kid, but with them all released, I found the pacing and everything was totally fine.
I read The Last Vigilant this week. It was pretty ok uh, lower? fantasy. Alas, can't muster much more then that.
I am otherwise just struggling with a lot of books rn. Picked up the 3rd of Gareth Hanrahan's "Lands of the Firstborn" and it's just not grabbing me; I've already said that The Eye of the World did me in quickly; bounced off a couple swords&sorcery series I was recommended after a little bit.
Might be time to go back and re-read some tried and true things.
I am otherwise just struggling with a lot of books rn. Picked up the 3rd of Gareth Hanrahan's "Lands of the Firstborn" and it's just not grabbing me; I've already said that The Eye of the World did me in quickly; bounced off a couple swords&sorcery series I was recommended after a little bit.
Might be time to go back and re-read some tried and true things.
(Hmm. I apparently have some unacknowledged biases to reckon with. My expectation was that those were older books that I'd never heard of and was going to suggest some "more modern" choices to consider. Instead, those are basically brand spankin' new books that I've never heard of! Welp.)
Having now looked those up, I think I'd like them. The hook and cover art for the Hanrahan trilogy is almost perfectly tuned to my wavelength. Perhaps later!
Anyway, making perhaps another terrible set of assumptions that you may be bouncing off of medieval/sword & sorcery fantasy in particular, have you tried Brian McClellan's Powder Mage trilogy (starting with Promise of Blood) or Brent Week's Black Prism series (starting with The Black Prism)?
The powder mage books are almost military fantasy in an industrial revolution level civilization where more traditional elemental sorcery is foiled by mages who utilize gunpowder as a resource. If one doesn't try to think TOO hard about "why gunpowder?" which is a mixture of different substances/chemicals, it's an incredibly well done story that I've loved since it came out. These and other books (Django Wexler's early stuff, which I haven't read) were dubbed Flintlock Fantasy.
The Black Prism series is at heart a long political intrigue with lots of action that follows a "loser-nobody" teen as he's forced to deal with family and international politics and development from loser to leader. The magic system in these books is essentially powered by light and how its different colors can be manipulated as physical substances and the cost thereof. One of the reasons I contrast this with other high fantasy is because the writing is not as showy as some others (e.g. Jordan or especially Jacqueline Carey (who I also love)). It's not as "workmanlike" as Sanderson admits to being and I tend to fall right into the story. He does use all the modern cuss words but without also using modern idioms that would make no sense in the world.
Anyway, if those don't work I've just counted and have a couple hundred more on the shelves that I might be able to wring more suggestions from!
Book 1&2 were great. Book 3 has extended some building themes and ideas that make for scenes I’m just not super into. Book 1 in particular is Very Good.
Read (most?) of the first. I think I tapped out on the 3rd follow-on series. I just checked my kindle and apparently I got 25% in to Black Prism at some point.