I have no idea if it’s actually similar, but I googled it and there seems to be an overlap of fans between Farseer and Gentlemen Bastards.
So I’m suggesting The Lies of Locke Lamora! The narrator adds a whole extra layer to the disguises, if you’re into reading by ear
So I’m suggesting The Lies of Locke Lamora!
Is there some sort of twist that makes it more fun further in? Got halfway through the first Gentleman Bastard and had to give up because I just couldn’t care less.
I didn’t loathe it like I did with the Kingslayer Chronicle (also DNF), but it’s one of a select trio of books that I just couldn’t finish, out of some 200 books I’ve read the post 4 years (Jo Nesbø’s “The Bat” being the third).
If you don’t like it from the start it’s probably not for you, I loved every minute when I read it
It’s quite old: The Black Company by Glen Cook
He added a midquel, Port of Shadows, in 2018, and there are some really good shorts you can find in his Best of collections that are also recent. I’ve found a lot of folks who read them back when have missed these!
I feel like this is a great rec because The Witcher is pretty grimdark and Cook is a grimdark progenitor. Good pick!
old school: Forgotten Realms
More games of thrones-ey, but less so: Wheel of Time
Grand but well paced: Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson)
scifi one-shot: Sea of Rust
Have you read Discworld? It’s a bit more fun than The Witcher but has similar twists on traditional fantasy and magic ideas
If you liked Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb wrote a lot of other excellent books set in the same world.
Empire of the Vampire was great if you want something like The Witcher.
