u/Shervin_Ab

I started rereading "The Darkness that comes before" by R. scott Bakker cause last time life forced me to put it down midway.

And I read the openings and remembered again. That dark and horrifying prologue + The introduction of Anasurimbor Kellhus and the dialogue and the manner Bakker introduces his world's elements, it just hit me that the author has a different level of intelligence and I knew that I'm going to enjoy reading every line of dialogue and rest.

The concepts seem the the same. Schools of magic, holy wars, and grimdark, but the way Bakker writes it just feels different and satisfying.

What about you? How did you feel when you read the book? And what book did you read and have the feeling that this author is operating on a different level?

Hear me out.

Movies can be bad. They are allowed to be bad. And a bad movie can be forgotten, slandered, stomped, and if lucky, memed. Or become a cult classic.

But some movies, harm a legacy; retroactively harm a masterpiece of a movie. In this case, a masterpiece of the movie Gladiator.

I to a fault, am among those who have watched Gladiator at least 30 times, so my opinion is of course biased.

Some movies are better left untouched, some should have been.

Gladiator 2 harmed and intentionally damaged the legacy that was Gladiator. (I refuse to call it Gladiator 1). And every minute of it was insulting. And I wish it was just that.

The man who brought Gladiator to life, Ridley Scott himself, brought this catastrophe to the screens. And it was just a poorly knit Frankenstein's monster of repeated ideas and poor story telling and ruining character arcs and horrendous acting.

Enough rambling by me.

Comment below for me: If you had one chance to remove a movie from existence, what would it be? And why would it be it?

I have The Ember Blade on my Android Kindle app, and boy have I run into a frustrating issue: Lo and behold, the epic fantasy maps are split right down the middle across two separate pages, with so much empty space around them you could fit a continent in it.

I tried the usual trick of double-tapping the image to open the viewer where Gemini AI suggested, but it turns out the publishers encoded the maps as two completely separate image files, so I can still only see one half at a time.

I actually went as far as downloading the ebook file, opening it in Calibre, replacing the first half with a full portrait map, and deleting the second half. It works perfectly, but I really don't want to have to manually edit the source files of every single epic fantasy book I own just to look at a map.

I also know I can just download the high-res versions and keep them open in my phone's background, but having to constantly swap apps breaks my reading flow.

Does anyone have any actual in-app workarounds, formatting tricks, or alternative Android e-reader apps that naturally stitch these spread pages back together?

Edit: What's this deal tag.

So I had read Gardens of the Moon in paperback. But neither I had space for the rest of the series , nor i could afford a kindle. So I got the whole 10 in one version of the complete series and just opened the file and holy God this is a big chunk of a book/file. On Kindle App Though I can easily get back and forth between the map and glossary and text, is there a way I could get a fictionary up there? You know, the ones that provide explanation when you highlight a name and it's fanmade? I have it on Android Tablet .

Or is it a lost cause?

And also tell me of your experience on reading Malazan on Ebook. Please don't tell me I made a huge mistake lol.

So I just downloaded kindle app on my old tablet and my phone, and also have a set of Malazan full series.

I can't afford neither the physical books nor a kindle, and I heard fictionaries are only for kindles or kindle ios or other epub readers.

I personally prefer not to switch to another epub reader because I love the kindle interface and the fact that i can cloudsync .

So is there a way to add a fictionary manually? Like usb port or send to kindle feature? Or any other methods? Or am I doomed?

So a few days ago I made a post titled "How do you find the books you like outside of Bookstores and Booktube and Booktok",

One of the comments suggested that I check out Storygraph. I imported my goodreads library and then started browsing, and dear God, the filtering and the advanced search feature that it has, has helped me find interesting books that I would never have found through booktube. Because until now I only found the books that the reviewers praised and downloaded the ebooks hoping they were good (I live in Iran and fantasy literature is nearly non existent in bookstores only the top 0.01 percent are found here.)

So now using Storygraph I find the books, check Goodreads for the reviews, and decide to add them to my TBR. The latest being 'The Eve of Snows' by L. James Rice, which I intend to read after finishing Malazan and Second Apocalypse .

I also found TORITALKS YouTube channel to be very close to my taste.

So I just hit a gold mine these past two days and I finally feel I have been dropped in the world I didn't find the access to.

Tell me of your experiences.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for fantasy book recommendations featuring dragons that capture the specific vibe of bosses like Alduin or Parthaunaax (Skyrim) or Dragonlord Placidusax or Bayle the Dread (Elden Ring), or Death Wing and the dragons (Warcraft).

I’m really tired of the standard fantasy dragon tropes. They are either the wild, gold-hoarding beast acting on instinct, or the loyal, glorified pet/mount ridden by a chosen hero. Or worse, horny dragons or whatever abomination I heard there was in Fourth Wing.

Instead, I want dragons that feel like Ancient, primordial forces: Entities that have lived for thousands of years, carrying the weight of history, decay, or forgotten eras. Also highly intelligent and articulate. Master tacticians, sorcerers, or cosmic rulers who look down on mortals as brief, insignificant blips.

Mythic/Cosmic scale: They shouldn't just burn down a random village; their existence should feel tied to the fabric of reality, ancient magic systems, or apocalyptic threats. Think sitting in a crumbling storm beyond time, or acting as a literal herald of the end-times. When one appears, one cannot simply defeat them with an army or power of friendship, and the reader would finally realize that the end has come to.

What books or series feature dragons that feel like a terrifying, god-like FromSoftware boss encounter or a mythic world-shaper?

Thanks in advance!

I know this is extremely controversial opinion. And yet for me it's something fundamental.

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But think about it. What is fantasy like? For me, it's like being a kid again, when you know nothing about how the world works and you are curious to find it out, and the process of discovering the facts and the knowledge and the experience is what makes it beautiful. And then you grow up and become an adult and everything becomes known and boring.

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It's also like installing a new game, (and preferably when you're a kid) where everything is beautiful and wonderful to you. You don't see the codes and the graphics and the bugs and the development. You get lost in it.

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Fantasy, for me, is that. It's throwing you to a new world, and trusting you to find and discover the world, and be amazed and exited by every creature and plant and person and race.

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Nowadays, many preferences has turned into info dumping and hand holding. For me it happened when I started reading Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. And seeing his lectures. His novels and his works and his influence, i think has become machinery and engineering. Don't be mistaken. I deeply respect his work. But he often explains how his magic and his world works before bringing in the story. I don't care what a thunderclast is or what it looks like. I don't care how that assassin uses gravity. I know it's cool. But it's just that. It's cool, not "oh my god I am awestruck".

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But on the other side, the side i adore, stands Malazan. Steven Erikson uses a simple yet elegant beautiful prose and throws you in a world and tells you nothing, and trusts you with it, and knows you'll eventually figure it out, yet he makes sure that you are mesmerized by it.

You might say but Malazan has rhe most complicated magic system. But the thing is, Erikson presents it so mysteriously that you don't fully understand it and you love the fact that you're intimidated and confused by it. When i read Gardens of The Moon, every sentence, every descriptive was an adventure. How the characters react when Anamandor Rake enters the picture, or how his floating realm casts shadow over frightened wizards. And even though many said GoTM is a hard book to get though, I found every page of it beautiful.

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Or even Joe Abercrombie in First Law. He doesn't tell you that "Logan Ninefingers is dangerous." . You learn it when you see hardended northmen like Black Dow cowers, or how inquisitors wriggle in fear when the Bloody Nine emerges.

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Or in the games, when you walk into a town, they don't tell you for example that Riften is corrupt. You see it by the environment.

You see the world is ancient when you stumble upon bleak falls barrow and suddenly a draugr attacks you.

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Or in the Lord of The Rings. Tolkien doesn't tell you that Balrog is a giant winged fiery beast and that you should he afraid of it. It shows the most powerful character in the party (Gandalf) is shaken to the core when he hears the roar.

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If I want to compress it, I would say Fantasy must be measured by the feeling it invokes in you, not to impress you by "oh look how cool my magic system and worldbuilding is". It must be measured with how beautiful or ugly yet intriguing you could find the world, and that you could imagine yourself getting lost in it.

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Today's reviews, especially on booktok is this: "cool magic systems, cool characters, " and that's it.

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Explanation should follow wonder, not the other way around.

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I want your opinions on this. Where do you stand? Tell me whether you agree or disagree. And what is your opnion.

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Yesterday I made a post asking for fantasy books that inspire a sense of wonder and discovery: "https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1u9iqkc/which\_fantasy\_books\_made\_you\_realize\_you\_were/"

And it got a lot of responses and I was introduced to a lot of new books which I thank the commenters. But I realized I'm looking for something much more specific.

The thing I'm asking for is a very narrow slice of fantasy.

I want a dark fantasy book where the world is bleak and broken, but not cynical or nihilistic.

You know that feeling in Dragon Age: Origins when you're tasked with the impossible, maybe even saving the world, but in no shape or form are you the Chosen One? You're just someone trying to do what has to be done.

And then you stumble upon companions who you know will stick with you until the end.

Like the first time you meet Morrigan. Or Leliana. Or Alistair.

You're suddenly hit with this strange feeling that you're going to love these characters. That you're going to fight for them. That they're going to become more important to you than the actual quest.

Somewhere along the way, saving the world becomes secondary. Caring about your companions and them caring about you becomes primary. Though the quests are dark and beautiful and still important, it matters more how your companions react to them.

And throughout it all there's this sense of melancholy, beauty, and wonder. A broken world that's still worth saving. A dark world that still has warmth in it, and is worth wandering and discovering.

I want that book.

This is going to sound weird, but I'm chasing a very specific feeling.

Imagine you install a game like Skyrim, Dragon Age: Origins, Dark Souls, The Witcher 3, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Cyberpunk 20177, or Mass Effect, without really knowing much about it.

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You start playing, and after an hour or two it hits you that you are uplifted by a sense of ethereal ecstacy and that you are about to experience a joy of a lifetime. Not the plot. That falls down in the category. But everything else. Every new location is exciting. Every character seems interesting. Every piece of lore hints at something bigger. Every companion is like a close friend that you know you'll miss after the story is over. You don't know what's around the next corner, but you desperately want to find out. The world feels huge and mysterious and you always feel like you're about to be hit by a beautiful feeling and discovery.

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Gardens of the moon and Second Apocalypse are examples of these books that I had this feeling with, and I plan to continue that series. I have read Farseer and First law and while i love those, it doesn't fall in the category for me.

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But i want more books. Recommend me books. The more the better. I don't care if they're flawed, famous, not famous, clunky, or simple. Throw them at me, and introduce me to the books that invoked the same feeling in you. And only Fantasy please , not sci FI. Though if you think a specific sci FI book hits that, I won't stop you. I'm in love with Mass Effect.

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Hi everyone. I recently started writing a W.I.T.C.H. fanfic and thought some people here might enjoy the vibe of it.

I originally watched W.I.T.C.H. almost 20 years ago, and this story comes much more from the emotional memory of the series than from perfectly remembering every lore detail or plot point. What stayed with me all these years wasn’t really the mechanics of the world, but the feeling of it: friendship, and the warmth

So this fic is very focused on atmosphere, emotional continuity, and post-canon adulthood.

It takes place years after canon, with the Guardians older and living quieter lives after everything they went through. The story focuses a lot on emotional recovery, adulthood, friendship, bookstores, ordinary life after extraordinary things, and the strange feeling of carrying old magic into a normal world.

The main OC is Kambiz, an Iranian cardiology resident with unexplained storm-related powers (partly inspired by Thor, honestly) who went to the same school. He reconnects with Will years after high school. The story is more slow-burn comfort/drama and emotional mystery than action-heavy crossover spectacle.

A lot of the tone is centered around: bookstores, rain, found family, awkward intimacy, exhaustion and healing, hidden supernatural tension beneath ordinary life, and more. And don't worry, it will still have some adventures.

The Guardians are still very important to the story, especially Will. The core dynamic gradually becomes less “outsider enters the group” and more “someone lonely slowly being accepted by people who understand what it means to carry impossible things.”

There’s also Persian poetry, quiet conversations, post-Guardian adulthood themes, and eventually a larger supernatural storyline involving dimensional tears/entities, but the emotional core stays character-focused.

I’ve posted the first chapters here:

[https://archiveofourown.org/works/84827036/chapters/223878531]

If this sounds like your kind of thing, I’d genuinely love to hear thoughts from you all.