Longest Books I’ve Read | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

Do I like long books?

I like long books that are that way to be able to hold a lot of information and world-building, especially in fantasy. My main problem with long books is if they don’t have a strong enough plot to justify it, like the author needs time, info-dumps or a series of essential but boring things to happen between one major moment and another. I also feel like it’s difficult with series that have long books, but books are still being released, because you have to remember the previous action and it’s not easy to just reread quickly. I’ve also seen series that could’ve been fewer, bigger books, especially in young adult, and it’s weird because you shouldn’t have to read book one and two to get the complete story like there being something essential explained in the second book that cast an entirely different light one the first book.

A third thing is that I often find myself waiting if I know the last book are going to come out soon. It’s difficult with series that have long books, and books are still being released, because you have to remember the previous action and it’s not easy to just reread quickly. Brandon Sanderson’s series is so memorable to me though that it hasn’t been a problem there.

 

 

All these books are part of one fantasy series “The Stormlight Archive” and I absolutely love it and would recommend it, Brandon Sanderson is a brilliant writer and world-builder – I want to make an entire post about why – and this is definitely one of my favourite fantasy series.

Word of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) by Brandon Sanderson

1328 pages.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #3) by Brandon Sanderson

1243 pages.

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson

1000 pages.

 

The Wise Man’s Fear (Kingkiller #2) by Patrick Rothfuss

1000 pages. My favourite series of all time, it’s fantasy and I love it so so much. The writing is very “flowery” at parts and people seem to love or hate it, but it’s just what I’d been missing.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling

870 pages. This might be the most boring Harry Potter book is what I thought the first time I read it, and the size doesn’t help. Love Harry Potter in general though, don’t get me wrong.

Inheritance (Eragon #4) by Christopher Paolini

850 pages. Aaah, Eragon. I’m always really curious about people’s reaction and opinions on Eragon. You see, like a lot of others I read the first two books as a kid and adored them because farmer boy finds dragon egg and goes on an adventure and there’s a fairy princess badass and it was all great. Then the forth book was released and I recognized how normal the action and plotlines were and that I shouldn’t reread the entire Eragon series if I want to keep the image of it’s awesomeness. Paolini wrote the book around fourteen years old, published it at nineteen and I wouln’t discredit it’s sucess, but I also believe it has a lot more cliches and plotholes than I picked up on as a kid.

 

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R R Martin

848 pages. I don’t often tell parents to keep their children away from certain books, but I read this book before the tv series aired – which meant I was like ten or eleven years old. It’s epic fantasy with lots of intrigues, but the whole series is so freaking long and I couldn’t take the rape scenes being an eleven year old. Now I might just watch the tv series because for once the length of the books are keeping me away.

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer

827 pages. Too long! Too slow! I really didn’t like this book, building up to a grand finale and not being able to deliver because it hasn’t the weight of other fantasy series on this list. Why would Meyer do that to herself?

 

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R R Martin

784 pages. I’m going to copy-paste what I wrote above for the first book: I don’t often tell parents to keep their children away from certain books, but I read this book before the tv series aired – which meant I was like ten or eleven years old. It’s epic fantasy with lots of intrigues, but the whole series is so freaking long and I couldn’t take the rape scenes being an eleven year old. Now I might just watch the tv series because for once the length of the books are keeping me away.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

771 pages. The secret history by Tartt is definitely a better pick if you haven’t read any of her books, but the godfinch is so particular, special and fantastic. It’s a lot of different types of plotline put into one, with heist and suburban life with neglect and a lot of other crazy shit.