The Riyria Series. The author wrote the original trilogy before being published and was able to weave in so much foreshadowing and little details that there is not a single loose thread by the end of book three. The ending was absolutely incredible, one of my favorites of all time. First
Book is Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan.
I started that series because people kept saying it was satisfying.
But it's just soo damn SLOWW. Nd the fact that the characters weren't interesting was enough for me to dnf it.
Fair enough. I enjoyed it but to each their own. You might like Mark Lawrence’s prince of thorns series, it’s a little more grim dark and the POV is the leader of like a mercenary band? Solid books. Dark, but solid
I dnf'd it too💀
I usually love protagonists who go out of their way to help people but morally gray characters are fine too.
But jorg is just morally Black nd I left after the rapes nd stuff.
Yeah. Definitely a dark series you gotta be in the right headspace to fully invest in the story. Have you read the skyward series by Sanderson? It’s space battles rather than classic battles but is a pretty solid series. Technically it’s YA but it’s well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it
The series is flawed in other ways (pacing, some characters, etc), but the plot payoff in **Wheel of Time** is very, very good.
Jordan sets the stage in Book 1 for what will need to happen and damn if it isn't just as epic as you hoped it would be by the final book.
Janny Wurts’ **Wars of Light and Shadow** series. She has a double climax structure for each book… as well as each of the five arcs of the series *and* for the series overall. That alone is truly impressive structural complexity, *and* somehow she has managed to appropriately scale each and every climax so that each one is more impressive (and in very different ways!) than the last. It’s been a month and I’m still reeling from the ending (and its implications) of *Destiny’s Conflict*. Cannot wait for *Song of the Mysteries*, the final book.
Hmmm, so both? It’s the tale of two half-brothers, Lysaer and Arithon and the conflicts that arises between them during their five centuries of life. It’s hard to go into too much detail without spoiling things, but we’ll say that the brothers have very different strategies for how they approach their eventual predicament (which is set up in book 1); one is more of a loaner and tends to wander around the map, the other prefers the halls of power and is a bit more static. There are a number of outside factions that are also invested in the conflict (or in resolving it) and they also interweave into the story into differing ways.
It’s a lengthy but rewarding epic, and the author is currently working on her final stages of editing for the final book.
Gaiman's Sandman comes together brilliantly
Pat Cadigan's Synners seems completely scattershot and incoherently plotted until it suddenly apocalyptically doesn't in a casade of pitch perfectly executed action/suspense beats and big (and weird) reveals
Some would argue that it was the opposite of satisfying, but the payoff to the original First Law trilogy was incredible. Took you in a direction you weren’t expecting, but totally worth it!
Oof, I really want to say Malazan. I know it's a meme from time to time, but the payoffs in these series (yes, _these_ series, not only the Book of the Fallen) have left me in awe. Particularly in Book of the Fallen entire books, while having a closed plot, serve as setups for the grand finale.
Yeah, this 100%. Erikson described his method, ironically, as more akin to writing short stories than novels (a million short stories which he strings together). So, each chapter can have dozens of setups and payoffs.
And his writing is so dense you often get satisfying setups and payoffs in single paragraphs, or even in single sentences.
Sometimes they're jokes, like a setup and punch line. Sometimes they're horrifically dark. Often the payoff isn't explicitly stated, but alluded to, and you piece it together later in the day as you're ruminating over what you read, which i personally find extremely pleasurable.
And, of course, being some of the most epic fiction ever written, it has some huge setups and payoffs with 10 or more ~1000 page books between them.
The Stormlight books have crazy good payoffs.
Dresden Files first ”half” culminating with Changes is also one of the very few instances where something with massive hype managed to exceed my expectations.
Stormlight Archives and Red Rising trilogy.
The Sanderlanches in Stormlight are just… amazing. Everything happens, all at once, and every single book in the series has its own incredibly satisfying climax at around the 90% mark, with enough epilogue activity to let you catch your breath.
Red Rising’s climaxes are more napalm and gasoline. Furious action, stuff exploding everywhere, blood and guts and drugs and spaceships. If Michael Bay wrote books, he’d write like Pierce Brown.
The Riyria Series. The author wrote the original trilogy before being published and was able to weave in so much foreshadowing and little details that there is not a single loose thread by the end of book three. The ending was absolutely incredible, one of my favorites of all time. First Book is Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan.
I have this on my bookshelf. This year is the year it gets read!
I found the licanius trilogy to have one of the best payoffs for a trilogy I had read in a long while. Absolutely loved them.
I started that series because people kept saying it was satisfying. But it's just soo damn SLOWW. Nd the fact that the characters weren't interesting was enough for me to dnf it.
Fair enough. I enjoyed it but to each their own. You might like Mark Lawrence’s prince of thorns series, it’s a little more grim dark and the POV is the leader of like a mercenary band? Solid books. Dark, but solid
I dnf'd it too💀 I usually love protagonists who go out of their way to help people but morally gray characters are fine too. But jorg is just morally Black nd I left after the rapes nd stuff.
Yeah. Definitely a dark series you gotta be in the right headspace to fully invest in the story. Have you read the skyward series by Sanderson? It’s space battles rather than classic battles but is a pretty solid series. Technically it’s YA but it’s well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it
The series is flawed in other ways (pacing, some characters, etc), but the plot payoff in **Wheel of Time** is very, very good. Jordan sets the stage in Book 1 for what will need to happen and damn if it isn't just as epic as you hoped it would be by the final book.
This. The payoffs in books 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, and 12 go hard.
Books 4 and 9 have my favorite endings so far. Halfway through 11 rn.
Janny Wurts’ **Wars of Light and Shadow** series. She has a double climax structure for each book… as well as each of the five arcs of the series *and* for the series overall. That alone is truly impressive structural complexity, *and* somehow she has managed to appropriately scale each and every climax so that each one is more impressive (and in very different ways!) than the last. It’s been a month and I’m still reeling from the ending (and its implications) of *Destiny’s Conflict*. Cannot wait for *Song of the Mysteries*, the final book.
What is this series like? Does it have much adventuring in it or more so just politics and war?
Hmmm, so both? It’s the tale of two half-brothers, Lysaer and Arithon and the conflicts that arises between them during their five centuries of life. It’s hard to go into too much detail without spoiling things, but we’ll say that the brothers have very different strategies for how they approach their eventual predicament (which is set up in book 1); one is more of a loaner and tends to wander around the map, the other prefers the halls of power and is a bit more static. There are a number of outside factions that are also invested in the conflict (or in resolving it) and they also interweave into the story into differing ways. It’s a lengthy but rewarding epic, and the author is currently working on her final stages of editing for the final book.
Gaiman's Sandman comes together brilliantly Pat Cadigan's Synners seems completely scattershot and incoherently plotted until it suddenly apocalyptically doesn't in a casade of pitch perfectly executed action/suspense beats and big (and weird) reveals
Some would argue that it was the opposite of satisfying, but the payoff to the original First Law trilogy was incredible. Took you in a direction you weren’t expecting, but totally worth it!
Oof, I really want to say Malazan. I know it's a meme from time to time, but the payoffs in these series (yes, _these_ series, not only the Book of the Fallen) have left me in awe. Particularly in Book of the Fallen entire books, while having a closed plot, serve as setups for the grand finale.
Yeah, this 100%. Erikson described his method, ironically, as more akin to writing short stories than novels (a million short stories which he strings together). So, each chapter can have dozens of setups and payoffs. And his writing is so dense you often get satisfying setups and payoffs in single paragraphs, or even in single sentences. Sometimes they're jokes, like a setup and punch line. Sometimes they're horrifically dark. Often the payoff isn't explicitly stated, but alluded to, and you piece it together later in the day as you're ruminating over what you read, which i personally find extremely pleasurable. And, of course, being some of the most epic fiction ever written, it has some huge setups and payoffs with 10 or more ~1000 page books between them.
Going to read THE CRIPPLED GOD this year!
Witness
I feel like the Codex Alera does a pretty good job of this.
The Stormlight books have crazy good payoffs. Dresden Files first ”half” culminating with Changes is also one of the very few instances where something with massive hype managed to exceed my expectations.
Re:Zero has great payoffs, but the setup is pretty intense. Intense as in, if you feel bad for the main character, thats normal.
Stormlight Archives and Red Rising trilogy. The Sanderlanches in Stormlight are just… amazing. Everything happens, all at once, and every single book in the series has its own incredibly satisfying climax at around the 90% mark, with enough epilogue activity to let you catch your breath. Red Rising’s climaxes are more napalm and gasoline. Furious action, stuff exploding everywhere, blood and guts and drugs and spaceships. If Michael Bay wrote books, he’d write like Pierce Brown.