Reddit reviews Theft of Swords, Vol. 1(Riyria Revelations) (The Riyria Revelations (1))
We found 19 Reddit comments about Theft of Swords, Vol. 1(Riyria Revelations) (The Riyria Revelations (1)). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Orbit
The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan (/u/MichaelJSullivan) would fit the bill pretty well. Six books total, combined to three volumes. The first is Theft of Swords. The series is fantastic, fast paced, interconnecting old school fantasy series.
True, but I prefer both to having a photo of some random dude who doesn't look like the main character.
/u/MichaelJSullivan and I agree that the artist who did the posters for Hollow World was a much better choice than those photo covers of Theft of Swords
thankfully the artist did the French covers
Some of my favs:
The King Killer Chronicles
Gentlemen Bastard Series
The Dark Tower
Riyria Revelations
The Ender Quartet
Ummmm I know I'm leaving some out, but those are some of my favorite series off the top of my head.
Edit: Stupid formatting on mobile.
http://www.amazon.com/Theft-Swords-Vol-Riyria-Revelations/dp/0316187747/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406078339&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Riyria+Chronicles
Theft of swords is probably it. Theres a few books in the series, first one is pretty much your plot.
I've really been enjoying The Riyria Revelations series by Michael J. Sullivan. It's nothing new in the realm of fantasy, but the world the author creates is so great and vast and watching the characters grow throughout the first 4 books has been a blast. There are more than 6 books out right now I think, but the author got a deal with Orbit, so they combined two books at a time into an omnibus for each installment in the series. Very good read.
http://www.michaelsullivan-author.com/MichaelSullivan_Series.html - more information
http://amzn.com/0316187747 - Link to the first book for reviews
I think simple yet complex describes Riyria Revelations pretty well.
The first book is Theft of Swords.
https://www.amazon.com/Theft-Swords-Vol-Riyria-Revelations/dp/0316187747
I'm sure there's a great abundance of books out there. Personally, I was really happy with the ending of the Riyria Revelations and would recommend it to anyone who likes to read about fabricated medieval-type worlds.
Edit: For anyone that wants to read them, Link is here.
You might find this helpful
For a specific recommendation, check out Michael Sullivan's "Riyria Revelations" series or Raymond E. Feist's "Riftwar Saga"
I also don't mind the physical or used version but it was more spendy so I put the kindle first
Sure here is a link Look for the little blue speaker and "Listen" directly under the cover.
It isn't text to speech - it's the same sample that you hear if you were over at the audible site.
Riyria Revelations trilogy, first book is Theft of Swords
Hm, here are some recommendations of my favorite Dark/Gritty Fantasies that immediately come to mind:
Joe Abercrombie is one of my favorite new authors, his books are incredibly gritty dark and original, but the characters are simply amazing. The best starting place is The Blade Itself, but you can read his two other books that aren't part of the trilogy and can be read without losing too much, though they are in the same world and there's more to like about it if you already read the First Law Trilogy. Out of his two stand alone books I'd recommend Best Served Cold which is a Fantasy revenge story in the vain of Kill Bill.
One really good book I read recently is Daniel Polansky's Low Town which is a really cool gritty noir fantasy novel. Where the main character is a former detective for a Fantasy city, but at the beginning of the book he's a drug dealer. Then when murders start to occur, he gets drawn back into the politics of the city, resulting in a great story and multiple plot twists and revelations.
One of my favorites books I've read recently has to be Brent Week's Black Prism. It has some really unique world building, where the magic powers are based on light/colors, and the different magic users have different really unique powers based on their color wavelength. His previous work, the Night Angel Trilogy is also great and it's a little more gritty, with the main character being an assassin.
Next I'll go a little indie here, with the author Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Sun. It features an assassin with slight magical powers and the conscience of a beautiful invisible woman (a real imaginary friend) that is always following him around. There's a lot of things to like in this book, even if they are a little shallow.
Two books from different authors (both of which I really loved) that have kind of similar settings featuring thieves running amok in the underbellies of fantasy cities with a decent amount of grit (without being too dark) are The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and Doug Hulick's Among Thieves.
There's also Ari Marmell's [The Conqueror's Shadow] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Conquerors-Shadow-Ari-Marmell/dp/0553593153/ref=la_B001JSDH98_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1340785404&sr=1-20), the main character is a former evil warlord who gave it all up to live a mundane life with a woman he kidnapped. He then has to put back on his fear inducing armor, when someone else is out in the world impersonating him. There is no evil force in this book, and there's a lot of interesting stuff here, the guy actually has a demonic amulet as a partner that provides him with magical abilities, and the demon is hilarious.
The next series isn't too gritty but it's awesome, so I'd still recommend the author Michael Sullivan, a DIY author that was so successful Orbit picked up his 6 book series to release as three larger books (he's also done some great AMA's on Reddit), the first of which is Theft of Swords. The characters in his book are absolutely superb. It's about these two master thieves that are brought into the conspiracy that they wanted no part of, but will see it to the end no matter what the cost.
Robin Hobb technically isn't real gritty, but she is one of my favorite authors, and in her books serious and horrible things can happen to the characters at times, but the endings of some of her trilogies are some of my favorite endings I've ever read. You could start with her first book about the bastard son of a king (that can bond with animals) being trained as an assassin, Assassin's Apprentice, or my favorite trilogy of her's set in the same universe but a different continent, Ship of Magic that has some awesome pirate settings, talking ships, and dragons. I also love one of her other trilogies set in a different universe than the rest of her books, Shaman's Crossing, the first book has kind of a Harry Potter-esque academy setting without the magic, and the rest of the trilogy gets into some really interesting stuff that's too weird to attempt to explain.
I think that's all I got, and you wouldn't go wrong reading any of these books, all of the pages I linked to are the book's Amazon page, so you can read further descriptions that I'm sure are better than mine. :)
It sounds like the Riyria Revelations would be exactly what you're looking for, if you haven't already read it! It's very fast-paced, fun reading and the two main characters enjoy a lot of great banter. It can get darker at times, but it generally maintains a lighter tone.
Daniel O'Malley's Rook is more urban fantasty/sci fi, but it seems to be pretty overlooked and it's often hilarious. Speaking of urban fantasy, if you've never read the Dresden Files, that may be a safe bet as well. Lots of humor and pop-culture references even as the story becomes more and more dire and epic.
I love Abercrombie, it's what got me into fantasy reading, but it is seriously grimdark. I would suggest you start with Micheal J Sullivan. This is classic fantasy, but over the top high fantasy. The characters are likable and the author really ties things together well. Really easy, fun, just great read!
The squirrel tree in Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. So touching I had to put the book down and savor the mental place he put me in.
Michael Sullivan's Riyaria Revelations series starts out pretty good, and just keeps getting better. This series was actually conceived as a whole from the beginning, because the author felt the same way about series that were more an after thought than a carefully thought out vision.
I would start with Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan.
Really?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theft-Swords-Revelations-Michael-Sullivan/dp/035650106X
http://www.amazon.com/Theft-Swords-Vol-Riyria-Revelations/dp/0316187747
Either way, your covers are photorealistic as opposed to a painting.