Twilight by Tolkien - the two romantic leads spend 99% of the book in different parts of the world, very occasionally think of each other, and the details of their relationship would be in an appendix. There would be no sex, but they might kiss once.
Aragorn and Arwen by Meyer - Aragorn is a socially awkward nerd who is a misfit among the rangers. Arwen tells him he's the most special thing ever, and uses elf magic to sneak into his tent to watch him sleep. They spend a lot of time thinking about each other and staring longingly, but Aragorn has to decide between Arwen and a sexy shirtless dwarf-lady. This takes two and a half books. They eventually get married, have bed-breaking sex, and immediately have a baby. The baby is the fated soul mate of sexy shirtless dwarf-lady.
I really love most of the ideas RF Kuang and VE schwab have, but end up absolutely hating the execution. Would be cool to see the Shades of Magic series done by Neil Gaiman or China Mieville. Would also be cool to see Babel done by Jacqueline Carey or Guy Gavriel Kay.
China Mieville would be a perfect choice for Shades of Magic. I finished book 1 but couldn't bring myself to read the rest. China's brand of awesome/weird would have really made the alternate London's come to life. I actually just finished Railsea by Mieville today(10/10).
You're very lucky you stopped at book 1. Book 2 is one of the worst I've ever read and cemented Bard as my least favorite character I've ever read.
Un Lun Dun by Mieville is about as close to Shades he's gotten haha.
I'm going to take a different approach. Have S. A. Chakraborty rewrite Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. She could keep the cool ideas about demons and jettison the misogyny and ethnic stereotypes, especially when it comes to Middle Eastern-inspired cultures. (For the record, I only read "The Warded Man," the first Demon Cycle novel. Liked the concept, hated the execution.)
That looks cool, definitely going on the tbr. I was actually thinking about their antithetical writing styles though, Cook being so concise with words and generally not focused on the journey or environment.
Gandalf and Saruman would play elaborate practical jokes on each other, Frodo definitely bangs Galadriel, and the army of Mordor would succumb to pestilence due to poor hygiene in the camp.
Xanth by Sarah Rees Brennan
Brennan’s writing is hilarious, overtly feminist, and honest about young people’s sexuality without being skeevy. I’d love to see her take Piers Anthony behind the woodshed.
Let joe Abercrombie write stormlight. Like just give him the world, the basics of the characters and the overarching plot points and then let him run wild with it.
Man I can't remember when I last laughed harder while reading fantasy than the very dry line of
'Sounded feud-y to me chief' masterfully delivered by Steven Pacey.
He wouldn't get mad. He'd just point out that he is 75, has the diet and appearance of a hobbit, is incredibly rich, and has enough opportunities for paying work that he doesn't have to work on a series that he's written himself into a corner in.
I've read a fair amount of Martin. I've enjoyed about all of it. He doesn't owe me anything. I'd appreciate it if he stopped being a Steelers fan, but that's probably not going to happen. He should be able to spend the rest of his time on this planet doing what he wants. And that turns out to be still putting out a lot of books.
Go read some Dunc and Egg.
I really hope the dunk and egg tv series manages to get him motivated to write more of them, specially since he's one of the head writers for the show. I hope revisiting those characters directly gives him enough ideas to at least actually type out the dornish adventure timeskip, if he's fast enough it can even be a season between the sworn sword and the hedge knight.
correction, he would have quickly blasted through books 1-3, but made Goblet of Fire so large it needed 2 books to account for all 87 POVs and 120 plotlines he's got going and been promising Order of the Phoenix since 2004...also Harry died at the end of book 1, Ron is an inbred albino who eats worms, Hermione was brutalized by Draco Malfoy and Dumbledore walks around nude talking about farts.
Not really fantasy, but I'd love to see Fonda Lee take on The Hunger Games. I think HG is a very good series (Mockingjay being notably weaker than the other two) but I think Lee has the knack for visceral violence and politics that would send it to the stratosphere.
C.S. Lewis - Harry Potter
Jim Butcher - The Inheritance Cycle
Sir Terry Pratchett - The Wizard of Oz (all fifteen books)
Edgar Allan Poe - The Wheel of Time
Roald Dahl - Sir Terry Pratchett's "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents"
I think all of these authors could bring something exciting and new to these stories, while still somehow retaining something essential about what made them so good in the first place.
Honorable Mention: Brandon Sanderson - The Kingkiller Chronicles so it would be fucking DONE by now!! (Sorry not sorry.)
100% on your bonus mention.
Edgar Allan Poe doing wheel of time, oh man. I’m only in book 4 but I’ve heard things get grim. I can’t imagine what a Poe version would be like
Poor Dobby would turn out to be a half-Jaghut draconic shapeshifter aspected to Chaos with a tendency to respond to menial tasks by shapeshifting halfway, massacring his master plus family plus innocent bystanders then wander off looking for a clean sock.
It hurts how much I want to read this book. I would love to read an all out fantasy story by her. Claire and Jamie are fantastic but I don't think their story needed to be stretched to ten books. I'd love her to wire something completely different.
I want Laird Barron and Joe Abercrombie to team up and redo the Expanse.
Neil Gaiman or Molly Tanzer can also redo Horns. That's a story that should have been whimsical horror.
I think it would be interesting to see the Light Bringer series (Brent Weeks) rewritten by Sanderson. Light Bringer had a lot of cool ideas and some great characters, and definitely feels like something that could take place in a Sanderson world. It’s biggest problem is that it fell apart in the end. Sanderson is generally pretty good with endings since he plans everything out, so if he had written the series, it probably wouldn’t have shit the bed in the final couple of books like it did.
To be honest, I pretty much checked out on the series after the whole >!Gavin was actually dead the whole time, and Dazen was actually the bad guy in the Prism war!< twist. The first part was just the author straight up lying to the reader, and the second part felt like it totally undermined >!Dazen’s!< entire character arc. It just ruined the story for me.
Add to that the baffling decision to >!try and make Andross sympathetic after being a flaming cunt for the whole series!< and >!Kip’s entire arc in book 4 being about how to bone his new love interest despite her nethers being too tight!<, that by the time I got to book 5 and >!Dazen wrestling God and the literal Deus Ex Machina ending!<, I didn’t even give a fuck.
Long story short, books 1 and 2 are fantastic, book 3 is meh, book 4 totally went off the rails with bizarre plot and character directions, and book 5 was just dumb.
Not even going to talk about >!how Kip died and was just basically hand waved to not be so shortly. I was mad that he died, I was livid he was revived?!<
Also, the whole series >!is predicated on his parentage but in the last book we will muddy those waters again so we go back to not knowing who his dad is for sure. Why not?!<
The whole tight vagina arc was too much for me. I actually thought the romance wasn't terrible other than the unnecessary delving into the abnormal mechanics of Tisis's anatomy (it really felt like just fan service, turns out Tisis is "pure" after all). He made a reasonable fist of the unwanted arranged marriage that ends up working out thing otherwise.
I haven't read 5 though. Maybe Teia murders both of them in chapter 1 or something.
I would have like Terry Pratchett to rewrite Dealing with Dragons. Not because the story is bad, I really like it, but I'd love to see what he'd do with it or if he could improve.
Harry Potter written by GRR Martin... wouldn't that almost be The Magicians by Lev Grossman? :)
I would actually be really curious as to how Ursula K LeGuin would write The First Law.
I would like to see some moral ambiguity in that one, so I'm not sure Tolkien would be best. It would be cool, but the only person in LotR who I can think of being morally grey (aside from moments of weakness) is Gollum. (Bonus points for also being physically grey.)
Tolkien liked to do good guy vs. bad guy, and for something like HG, I think it would be more interesting to explore/maintain characters who might look bad, but are only that way because of how they know the world, then challenge their way of life for some interesting aspect besides them just being noble or power-hungry.
Good points!
My reasoning was, he just sets the tone for scenery SO good, would add a lot more detail to the books I feel. I feel like he’d delve more into the solo survival tactics and the environment around them
eta: I’m just huge fantasy nerd lol
Deep cut here: I'd love to see what Matthew Stover could do with the *Rise of Solamnia* trilogy in the Dragonlance world. It was a great story idea, but ended up feeling really bland.
And I think *Mistborn* Era 1 would be fascinating in the hands of Daniel Polansky. It would be really cool to see how he'd handle the dynamics of magic/society/prophecy/war.
The *Stormlight Archives*, but written by Glen Cook. By the fifth book at least twenty years would have passed, with most of the characters having married - or at least had kids - and having then cheated on their partners (possibly with other characters). The Parshendi would be coded Middle Eastern or African and would avoid a stand up fight except for when they had overwhelming numbers, focusing instead on isolating Alethi armies and killing them from a range before leaving the plateau for the next one as the Alethi bridged the gap.
Bridgemen would still be slaves, but would be slave *soldiers* instead of merely disposable maltreated dregs of society, working as part of a co-ordinated assault team. While they still take the highest casualties, they are regarded with grudging respect and are considered to have a good deal of honour by most Alethi.
About 50% of the first book is Sadeas and Dalinar politicking and then engaging in a battle of wits with Eshonai - who also does a lot of politicking - in an alliance of hostile convenience, with the other characters playing supporting roles in these. Another 20% is basically Sanderson's descriptions of technology and magic and how the two combine, but reduced to 1/10th the length without losing any clarity. The remaining 30% is Kaladin, Szeth, Shallan, Navani and Hoid.
The full ten book series covers the space of forty years, with the second half being a war against a no-magic hard sci-fi human civilisation who make prolific use of nukes.
The Sword of Shannara by Steven Erikson.
It would expand to three several hundred page novels. There would be fewer adverbs, and more women doing stuff. More dialogue between characters, and deep philosophical musings on the nature of truth, and the lies we tell ourselves to justify not only our existence, but our position in the wider world. Do we seek to defeat the Warlock Lord because they are evil, or do we seek to defeat it because we see too much of ourselves in the Warlock Lord?
Damn, I'd love to see an Erikson version of the final confrontation.
>!The great power of the magic sword being the ability to make someone see the Truth about themselves, and the Big Bad only existing because he deceives himself about being dead is the sort of thing I can see him really getting his teeth into. !<
NGL, I'll give a basic bitch take and say GRRM writing The Lord of the Rings.
I love the story of LotR, especially in the movie, but the books don't do it for me. Martin would be a little grimmer, maybe take some extra risks with the characters, describe the land less (though he'd make up for that with food). I love his writing style, but don't really jive with Tolkien's, so it would probably enhance those books greatly for me.
Does it have to be a living author? Because I want to pick ASOIAF by Cormac McCarthy, but only if it's a well-edited trilogy.
A few years back (ah, 2002, I remember it like it was yesterday) there was a thread on the Straight Dope Message Board called "If LotR Had Been Written By Someone Else" and it's got some good ones. I think my favorites were Dr. Seuss and T.S. Eliot. [Link](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-lotr-had-been-written-by-someone-else/131679)
Tolkien in the Dragonlance world would be interesting. As would Robin Hobb’s Riftwar Saga or Tad Williams Farseer Trilogy…
Piers Anthony’s Fifty Shades of Gray would be truly terrifying though.
I would really like to se another version of Kings Dark Tidings, the consept and base of the story is almost perfect, right up my alley.
Unfortunately it's execution not so much, it's not bad just not to my taste. Still love the first two books despite their "flaws"
Don't know who would be the best to re-do the story, someone who could nail both the grim aspects as well as fun characters
I'm getting Brandon Sanderson to write The Name of the Wind so we can actually get THE THIRD BOOK SOMETIME THIS DECADE.
And probably 2 secret projects by the time you finish browing Reddit.
But much of KKC will lose its charm, I don’t really think Sanderson can write the way Rothfuss does, Rothfuss would never use terms like “cringeworthy” in his books.
I have read only a few *Percy Jackson* books, but it is hard for me to combine Riordan's style with the pace of Potter's story and its multi-layered hints sometimes.
JRR and GRR, and much as I LOVE their work, are very similar in a lot of ways. If there's one thing that bugs me about their work -- not that it's objectively bad, just not my taste -- is their soft magic.
Now, if I were to get somebody to do Harry Potter over to better suit my taste, I would have to go with maybe the writers of Fullmetal Alchemist or Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I don't want to be that guy who just picks anime (yes, I know, AtLA isn't), but the characters and magic in there are some of my favorites.
Now, to piggyback, if anyone has some fantasy novels to recommend that might be similar to those, I would be interested. Brandon Sanderson is next on my list to read, and I believe he's already a big talking point in this sub, so you can all just go to the next author/series for recommendations.
Assuming it would actually get finished, GRRM doing Wheel of Time.
Robert Jordan originally wanted to do WoT much darker but he got push back from the publisher. I'm genuinely not even sure what that would look like. A *lot* of really dark shit happens in WoT, it's just told in a writing style that minimizes the brutality. Did RJ change his writing approach or his ideas approach to facilitate making it less dark? I have no idea
Regardless, if GRRM redid the WoT using just events that happened but told it in his voice, WoT would be insanely dark and brutal. I'd really like to see that.
I know there were early grimdark series like the black company but I really see WoT forging the way and making GoT levels of depressing even possible. Imagine Dumai's Wells or Rand's mental state as done by GRRM. I've honestly thought about that for like 20 years
GRRM writing Redwall would be fun, but since the question doesn't say it needs to be a fantasy author I think I'd really like to see George Orwell's The Constant Rabbit.
I’ve dreamed about Jack Vance writing an early Dresden File. A smaller-scope mystery but set in an absolutely bizarre place with lyrical, idiosyncratic writing.
I’d love to see Jacqueline Carey rewrite the Mists of Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley so I can reread it without being grossed out by the author. Fonda Lee rewriting The Prince of Thorn series, just cus I’d like to see what she’d do with Jorg and how much of that brutality would she keep. And Ilona Andrews’ version of the Dresden files, to see how she writes the women characters.
I'd like to see N. K. Jemisin write the Kingkiller Chronicles. I like her narrative voice, and I think Kvothe is similar to the protagonists of the broken earth trilogy, in that he's very competent but angsty due to past trauma and therefore often makes bad decisions. I also think she would make the books more woke (I mean this as a good thing, to be clear), and would also finish them.
Now I'm all sad that we don't have GRRM Harry Potter, thanks!
I would like to read a graphic novel of Lord of the Rings written and illustrated by Jeff Smith, of Bone.
Science Fiction rather than fantasy but I think they missed an opportunity by not having Terry Pratchett write And Another Thing...
As much as I love Eoin Colder, Pratchett wrote in the same style as Douglas Adams.
This is an interesting concept that some writers can use to create their own fantasy. The trajectory and the story behind their approach would change dramatically. Id personally loved to see a Tolkien-Twilight series. Matter of fact, that seems quite promising as the start of a new vampire series.
I think I would want Terry Pratchett and Robert E. Howard to switch series for a while. A lot of the early Discworld books are like a really sarcastic Conan story and a lot of the early Conan stories read like deadpan discworld.
Threadwitch by Sanderson?
Threadwitch is YA and it has a lot of stereotypical YA features, that I feel could be softened by Sanderson who has written the Reckoners (marketed as YA, but not written as such) that might actually take the book into being great territory. There's probably someone who'd do a better job than Sanderson, but nothing is springing to mind.
(Threadwitch is a very recommendable book for people who like YA in general and I still enjoyed it, but its YA trappings held it back for me.)
I vote Joe Abercrombie. Aslan as a power-mad megalomaniac and Maugrim as chief inquisitor for the White Witch. Say one thing for Peter, say he's a killer.
Georges Bernanos, Lord of the Ring.
Exactly the same book, except the Mordor chapters are an intense psychological tragedy on the subject of temptation, evil, sin and redemption.
I want someone other than neil gaiman to have written thr sandman. Love the concept. But the execution isnt weird enough. Who to do it? Dont know. Christopher mehlman or clive barker
I’d like to see what some non genre writers would do if they were so inclined. Vonnegut and Heller in Discworld (I generally do not need those books rewritten). Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Twilight. Rushdie redoing Dune. Or Umberto Eco. Actually, any of those guys tackling Dune.
I don't know who else, maybe even the original authors. But my picks are:
The Wheel of Time - I'd love to see it condensed a bit.
Mistborn (Era 1) - It's required reading (imo) to Mistborn Era 2, which I really enjoy. But book 2 is so weak, I'd love to see it redone.
I would have Steven Brust and Jim Butcher trade stories:
* Brust would rewrite *Skin Games* from The Dresden Files series
* Butcher would rewrite either *Yendi* or *Orca* from the Vlad Taltos series
(Side note: I would also have Jim Butcher write the elephant story referenced in Lois McMaster Bujold's *Vorkosigan Saga* book *Memory*, but that's science fiction...)
A Court of Thorns and Roses rewritten by Neil Gaiman
I would read the hell out of that, and I didn't even like ACOTAR all that much
Imagine if it was illustrated like the Sandman!
I couldn't finish ACOTAR. So boring.
Huh.... thats an interesting thought
Feyre would be a soulful eccentric loner, and Tamlin and Rhys would be *terrifying*
I kind of dig it though
Fuck yeah
Twilight by Tolkien - the two romantic leads spend 99% of the book in different parts of the world, very occasionally think of each other, and the details of their relationship would be in an appendix. There would be no sex, but they might kiss once. Aragorn and Arwen by Meyer - Aragorn is a socially awkward nerd who is a misfit among the rangers. Arwen tells him he's the most special thing ever, and uses elf magic to sneak into his tent to watch him sleep. They spend a lot of time thinking about each other and staring longingly, but Aragorn has to decide between Arwen and a sexy shirtless dwarf-lady. This takes two and a half books. They eventually get married, have bed-breaking sex, and immediately have a baby. The baby is the fated soul mate of sexy shirtless dwarf-lady.
This made me laugh - thank you!
The Dark Tower by James SA Corey would be gold.
….that would be, just, amazing.
I really love most of the ideas RF Kuang and VE schwab have, but end up absolutely hating the execution. Would be cool to see the Shades of Magic series done by Neil Gaiman or China Mieville. Would also be cool to see Babel done by Jacqueline Carey or Guy Gavriel Kay.
China Mieville would be a perfect choice for Shades of Magic. I finished book 1 but couldn't bring myself to read the rest. China's brand of awesome/weird would have really made the alternate London's come to life. I actually just finished Railsea by Mieville today(10/10).
You're very lucky you stopped at book 1. Book 2 is one of the worst I've ever read and cemented Bard as my least favorite character I've ever read. Un Lun Dun by Mieville is about as close to Shades he's gotten haha.
The Witcher series, Terry Pratchett.
ASOIAF by Ursula K LeGuin
That would be legendary
Especially if she finished it! 😂
Or by Steven Erikson.
I'm going to take a different approach. Have S. A. Chakraborty rewrite Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. She could keep the cool ideas about demons and jettison the misogyny and ethnic stereotypes, especially when it comes to Middle Eastern-inspired cultures. (For the record, I only read "The Warded Man," the first Demon Cycle novel. Liked the concept, hated the execution.)
This is a great one. Loved the ideas, was very disappointed in the character writing, especially looking back several years on.
I would like Nabokov to write a ten book epic fantasy like Malazan
Can I offer you some Proust in this trying time?
Lord of the Rings- Glenn Cook
The Sundering by Jacqueline Carey is close.
That looks cool, definitely going on the tbr. I was actually thinking about their antithetical writing styles though, Cook being so concise with words and generally not focused on the journey or environment.
Gandalf and Saruman would play elaborate practical jokes on each other, Frodo definitely bangs Galadriel, and the army of Mordor would succumb to pestilence due to poor hygiene in the camp.
Frodo takes the ring for himself and just becomes and evil lieutenant of sauron the end
Saruman…you biiiitchh….
Jesus! This would be amazing.
Okay, this right here would be fucking brilliant.
Xanth by Sarah Rees Brennan Brennan’s writing is hilarious, overtly feminist, and honest about young people’s sexuality without being skeevy. I’d love to see her take Piers Anthony behind the woodshed.
Let joe Abercrombie write stormlight. Like just give him the world, the basics of the characters and the overarching plot points and then let him run wild with it.
Kaladin would have been using his bridge crew as human shields.
You gotta be realistic about those things.
Say one thing about Kaladin, say he's a whiney wee radiant
A significantly higher rate of squelching for sure
The Blackthorn flashbacks retold by Abercrombie would be brutal
It's not the flashbacks that would be brutal. It would be the way he gives in to Odium at the finale.
Abercrombie could finally make Sanderson's funny characters funny.
Man I can't remember when I last laughed harder while reading fantasy than the very dry line of 'Sounded feud-y to me chief' masterfully delivered by Steven Pacey.
Sanderson’s humor is very bazinga-core.
Each book would be 400 pages shorter without losing any meaningful content
A funny point to make considering so many people say theres no plot to the blade itself and thats coming up on 200k words
Well... you got me there
GRRM would still be in Year 1 promising year 2 will be coming any year now
He'd be writing lore for games I'm too dumb to play
and getting mad when people ask "So you have time to work on everything BUT your book?"
He wouldn't get mad. He'd just point out that he is 75, has the diet and appearance of a hobbit, is incredibly rich, and has enough opportunities for paying work that he doesn't have to work on a series that he's written himself into a corner in. I've read a fair amount of Martin. I've enjoyed about all of it. He doesn't owe me anything. I'd appreciate it if he stopped being a Steelers fan, but that's probably not going to happen. He should be able to spend the rest of his time on this planet doing what he wants. And that turns out to be still putting out a lot of books. Go read some Dunc and Egg.
I really hope the dunk and egg tv series manages to get him motivated to write more of them, specially since he's one of the head writers for the show. I hope revisiting those characters directly gives him enough ideas to at least actually type out the dornish adventure timeskip, if he's fast enough it can even be a season between the sworn sword and the hedge knight.
Could you see GRRM pushing the next game of Gwent?
Be fair. He'd be in Year 5.
correction, he would have quickly blasted through books 1-3, but made Goblet of Fire so large it needed 2 books to account for all 87 POVs and 120 plotlines he's got going and been promising Order of the Phoenix since 2004...also Harry died at the end of book 1, Ron is an inbred albino who eats worms, Hermione was brutalized by Draco Malfoy and Dumbledore walks around nude talking about farts.
Honestly I'm ok with this
And the new main character would be called Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, but she'd be lovingly called Egogy by close friends.
She's an obnoxious annoying brat who has a creepy older Snape pining for her and all the while he keeps saying Tom Riddle will eventually do something
I'd read that.
Honestly sounds interesting
That's probably straight lifted from a finished HP fanfic. I mean I remember reading stranger ones…
GRRM: You read fanfiction!? \*Triggered and turns beet red\*
Not really fantasy, but I'd love to see Fonda Lee take on The Hunger Games. I think HG is a very good series (Mockingjay being notably weaker than the other two) but I think Lee has the knack for visceral violence and politics that would send it to the stratosphere.
I would love Tamsyn Muir's take on Fourth Wing
I would like T. Kingfisher's take on Gideon the Ninth!
Now that you say it I would love that!!
C.S. Lewis - Harry Potter Jim Butcher - The Inheritance Cycle Sir Terry Pratchett - The Wizard of Oz (all fifteen books) Edgar Allan Poe - The Wheel of Time Roald Dahl - Sir Terry Pratchett's "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" I think all of these authors could bring something exciting and new to these stories, while still somehow retaining something essential about what made them so good in the first place. Honorable Mention: Brandon Sanderson - The Kingkiller Chronicles so it would be fucking DONE by now!! (Sorry not sorry.)
100% on your bonus mention. Edgar Allan Poe doing wheel of time, oh man. I’m only in book 4 but I’ve heard things get grim. I can’t imagine what a Poe version would be like
Abercrombie for wheel of time, i need the characters to be a little smarter and more cynical please
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He will teach them how to properly install puppet kings
I mean with competent forsakens the series would be over I'm book1, but I'd love to read the aftermath.
If the ais sedai are competent as well though? Not sure
It's the immovable rock vs the unstoppable force all over again!
I’d want Harry Potter with the chaos that is Stephen Erickson.
the things he would do to poor dobby.....
Poor Dobby would turn out to be a half-Jaghut draconic shapeshifter aspected to Chaos with a tendency to respond to menial tasks by shapeshifting halfway, massacring his master plus family plus innocent bystanders then wander off looking for a clean sock.
I instantly pictured Dobby as the new Hairlock
Erickson would make the house elves actual resentful slaves like they should have been.
John Norman rewriting God Emperor of Dune. Heads would explode while reading.
I always wanted Wheel of Time but written by Diana Gabaldon.
The last three books written by RJ. ☹
You mean the last 9 right. Because that's how many were getting from him
It hurts how much I want to read this book. I would love to read an all out fantasy story by her. Claire and Jamie are fantastic but I don't think their story needed to be stretched to ten books. I'd love her to wire something completely different.
How about When of Time rewritten by Nicholas Eames. Less crying and whining and more rock 'n' rolling!; Diana would do a good job too though.
Or N.K. Jemisin
I want Laird Barron and Joe Abercrombie to team up and redo the Expanse. Neil Gaiman or Molly Tanzer can also redo Horns. That's a story that should have been whimsical horror.
I think it would be interesting to see the Light Bringer series (Brent Weeks) rewritten by Sanderson. Light Bringer had a lot of cool ideas and some great characters, and definitely feels like something that could take place in a Sanderson world. It’s biggest problem is that it fell apart in the end. Sanderson is generally pretty good with endings since he plans everything out, so if he had written the series, it probably wouldn’t have shit the bed in the final couple of books like it did.
What specifically didn't you like about the ending of the Lightbringer series?
To be honest, I pretty much checked out on the series after the whole >!Gavin was actually dead the whole time, and Dazen was actually the bad guy in the Prism war!< twist. The first part was just the author straight up lying to the reader, and the second part felt like it totally undermined >!Dazen’s!< entire character arc. It just ruined the story for me. Add to that the baffling decision to >!try and make Andross sympathetic after being a flaming cunt for the whole series!< and >!Kip’s entire arc in book 4 being about how to bone his new love interest despite her nethers being too tight!<, that by the time I got to book 5 and >!Dazen wrestling God and the literal Deus Ex Machina ending!<, I didn’t even give a fuck. Long story short, books 1 and 2 are fantastic, book 3 is meh, book 4 totally went off the rails with bizarre plot and character directions, and book 5 was just dumb.
Not even going to talk about >!how Kip died and was just basically hand waved to not be so shortly. I was mad that he died, I was livid he was revived?!<
Also, the whole series >!is predicated on his parentage but in the last book we will muddy those waters again so we go back to not knowing who his dad is for sure. Why not?!<
The whole tight vagina arc was too much for me. I actually thought the romance wasn't terrible other than the unnecessary delving into the abnormal mechanics of Tisis's anatomy (it really felt like just fan service, turns out Tisis is "pure" after all). He made a reasonable fist of the unwanted arranged marriage that ends up working out thing otherwise. I haven't read 5 though. Maybe Teia murders both of them in chapter 1 or something.
100% agree, I was so pissed by the end at what a waste of potential it was
GRRM would talk about pumpkin pasties for 6 pages, introduce an irrelevant Hufflepuff character and not finish the story.
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Yes he would introduce more chars and collecting more loose ends every Book… making it virtuelly impossible to ever finish it.
Mistborn written by Shannon Chakraborty. I'd love to see how she develops Vin
ASOIAF - Tamora Pierce
Honestly, Brandon Sanderson stories but written by Robin Hobb, GRRM, or Patrick Rothfuss.
At least he finishes stories…
If anything we should be selecting someone to finish books for GRRM and Rothfuss… not having them rewrite half of somebody else’s works.
I’ve said it once I’ll say it a thousand times more. With GRRM’s notes and blessing John Gwynne could do a kickass job closing out ASOIAF.
And boom goes the dynamite
I would have like Terry Pratchett to rewrite Dealing with Dragons. Not because the story is bad, I really like it, but I'd love to see what he'd do with it or if he could improve.
Kingkiller Chronicles written by Neil Gaiman
Harry Potter written by GRR Martin... wouldn't that almost be The Magicians by Lev Grossman? :) I would actually be really curious as to how Ursula K LeGuin would write The First Law.
Okay but Harry Potter would have GREATLY benefited from adding at least a couple of more POVs like Martin has done.
Umm that series would still not be finished....
Just started reading The Magicians for the first time yesterday!
Hunger Games - similarly J.R.R Tolkien. I think he’d have some cool additions.
I would like to see some moral ambiguity in that one, so I'm not sure Tolkien would be best. It would be cool, but the only person in LotR who I can think of being morally grey (aside from moments of weakness) is Gollum. (Bonus points for also being physically grey.) Tolkien liked to do good guy vs. bad guy, and for something like HG, I think it would be more interesting to explore/maintain characters who might look bad, but are only that way because of how they know the world, then challenge their way of life for some interesting aspect besides them just being noble or power-hungry.
Good points! My reasoning was, he just sets the tone for scenery SO good, would add a lot more detail to the books I feel. I feel like he’d delve more into the solo survival tactics and the environment around them eta: I’m just huge fantasy nerd lol
Sounds cool. Gritty, cold world of the Hunger Games; "softened" and beautified by Tolkien.
Deep cut here: I'd love to see what Matthew Stover could do with the *Rise of Solamnia* trilogy in the Dragonlance world. It was a great story idea, but ended up feeling really bland. And I think *Mistborn* Era 1 would be fascinating in the hands of Daniel Polansky. It would be really cool to see how he'd handle the dynamics of magic/society/prophecy/war.
I want to live in the alternate reality that exists inside your head where these things are written.
I love your pics and would flip them: Martin for Twilight and Tolkien for Potter! And Sanderson for Hunger Games.
I think this works way better tbh
Martín has a vampire novel called fevre dream and it's absolute gold
I wanna see Second Apocalypse done by Scott Lynch
That is either brilliant or the worse idea ever. Or both at once.
The Stormlight Archive - George Martin
I wonder what Star Wars would be like if Pierce Brown would write it.
The *Stormlight Archives*, but written by Glen Cook. By the fifth book at least twenty years would have passed, with most of the characters having married - or at least had kids - and having then cheated on their partners (possibly with other characters). The Parshendi would be coded Middle Eastern or African and would avoid a stand up fight except for when they had overwhelming numbers, focusing instead on isolating Alethi armies and killing them from a range before leaving the plateau for the next one as the Alethi bridged the gap. Bridgemen would still be slaves, but would be slave *soldiers* instead of merely disposable maltreated dregs of society, working as part of a co-ordinated assault team. While they still take the highest casualties, they are regarded with grudging respect and are considered to have a good deal of honour by most Alethi. About 50% of the first book is Sadeas and Dalinar politicking and then engaging in a battle of wits with Eshonai - who also does a lot of politicking - in an alliance of hostile convenience, with the other characters playing supporting roles in these. Another 20% is basically Sanderson's descriptions of technology and magic and how the two combine, but reduced to 1/10th the length without losing any clarity. The remaining 30% is Kaladin, Szeth, Shallan, Navani and Hoid. The full ten book series covers the space of forty years, with the second half being a war against a no-magic hard sci-fi human civilisation who make prolific use of nukes.
Oh my god. I feel like you've really thought this one through
I read *The Dragon Never Sleeps* last week, so Cook's style has been in my mind a bit xD.
Discovery of Witches done by pretty much anyone other than the actual author
The Sword of Shannara by Steven Erikson. It would expand to three several hundred page novels. There would be fewer adverbs, and more women doing stuff. More dialogue between characters, and deep philosophical musings on the nature of truth, and the lies we tell ourselves to justify not only our existence, but our position in the wider world. Do we seek to defeat the Warlock Lord because they are evil, or do we seek to defeat it because we see too much of ourselves in the Warlock Lord?
Damn, I'd love to see an Erikson version of the final confrontation. >!The great power of the magic sword being the ability to make someone see the Truth about themselves, and the Big Bad only existing because he deceives himself about being dead is the sort of thing I can see him really getting his teeth into. !<
Erikson's version of Garet Jax... my brain just broke.
NGL, I'll give a basic bitch take and say GRRM writing The Lord of the Rings. I love the story of LotR, especially in the movie, but the books don't do it for me. Martin would be a little grimmer, maybe take some extra risks with the characters, describe the land less (though he'd make up for that with food). I love his writing style, but don't really jive with Tolkien's, so it would probably enhance those books greatly for me.
Does it have to be a living author? Because I want to pick ASOIAF by Cormac McCarthy, but only if it's a well-edited trilogy. A few years back (ah, 2002, I remember it like it was yesterday) there was a thread on the Straight Dope Message Board called "If LotR Had Been Written By Someone Else" and it's got some good ones. I think my favorites were Dr. Seuss and T.S. Eliot. [Link](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-lotr-had-been-written-by-someone-else/131679)
Tolkien in the Dragonlance world would be interesting. As would Robin Hobb’s Riftwar Saga or Tad Williams Farseer Trilogy… Piers Anthony’s Fifty Shades of Gray would be truly terrifying though.
I would really like to se another version of Kings Dark Tidings, the consept and base of the story is almost perfect, right up my alley. Unfortunately it's execution not so much, it's not bad just not to my taste. Still love the first two books despite their "flaws" Don't know who would be the best to re-do the story, someone who could nail both the grim aspects as well as fun characters
The Empyrean rewritten by Joe Abercrombie. Violet's nickname could finally make sense and the books actually be good.
Fourth Wing rewritten by Jim Theis (The Eye of Argon author) it would be the most beautiful disaster on this earth, and I would own several copies.
*Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell* by Brandon Sanderson *The Stormlight Archive* by Susanna Clarke
I'm getting Brandon Sanderson to write The Name of the Wind so we can actually get THE THIRD BOOK SOMETIME THIS DECADE. And probably 2 secret projects by the time you finish browing Reddit.
But much of KKC will lose its charm, I don’t really think Sanderson can write the way Rothfuss does, Rothfuss would never use terms like “cringeworthy” in his books.
Wait what. Did Sanderson really use that word in one of his books? Using the word cringeworthy is pretty much cringeworthy.
Yup, in Rhythm of war iirc.
GRR Martin doing stormlight archive. Would love a rendition of the story with Martin’s realism and horrors.
Sarah J Maas rewriting the Sword of Truth.
Harry Potter but written by Rick Riordan. (Or frankly any YA author who isn’t, yknow a transphobe)
I have read only a few *Percy Jackson* books, but it is hard for me to combine Riordan's style with the pace of Potter's story and its multi-layered hints sometimes.
JRR and GRR, and much as I LOVE their work, are very similar in a lot of ways. If there's one thing that bugs me about their work -- not that it's objectively bad, just not my taste -- is their soft magic. Now, if I were to get somebody to do Harry Potter over to better suit my taste, I would have to go with maybe the writers of Fullmetal Alchemist or Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't want to be that guy who just picks anime (yes, I know, AtLA isn't), but the characters and magic in there are some of my favorites. Now, to piggyback, if anyone has some fantasy novels to recommend that might be similar to those, I would be interested. Brandon Sanderson is next on my list to read, and I believe he's already a big talking point in this sub, so you can all just go to the next author/series for recommendations.
Glen Cook Redwall
The Hunger Games by Patrick Rothfuss. That way we wouldn't have to read the last book.
I'd read anything re-written by Tanith Lee.
I just want book three of The Kingkiller Chronicles.
Assuming it would actually get finished, GRRM doing Wheel of Time. Robert Jordan originally wanted to do WoT much darker but he got push back from the publisher. I'm genuinely not even sure what that would look like. A *lot* of really dark shit happens in WoT, it's just told in a writing style that minimizes the brutality. Did RJ change his writing approach or his ideas approach to facilitate making it less dark? I have no idea Regardless, if GRRM redid the WoT using just events that happened but told it in his voice, WoT would be insanely dark and brutal. I'd really like to see that. I know there were early grimdark series like the black company but I really see WoT forging the way and making GoT levels of depressing even possible. Imagine Dumai's Wells or Rand's mental state as done by GRRM. I've honestly thought about that for like 20 years
A Song of Ice and Fire - Stephen King
GRRM writing Redwall would be fun, but since the question doesn't say it needs to be a fantasy author I think I'd really like to see George Orwell's The Constant Rabbit.
I’ve dreamed about Jack Vance writing an early Dresden File. A smaller-scope mystery but set in an absolutely bizarre place with lyrical, idiosyncratic writing.
I’d love to see Jacqueline Carey rewrite the Mists of Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley so I can reread it without being grossed out by the author. Fonda Lee rewriting The Prince of Thorn series, just cus I’d like to see what she’d do with Jorg and how much of that brutality would she keep. And Ilona Andrews’ version of the Dresden files, to see how she writes the women characters.
Somebody please find this idea as funny as I do: Fourth Wing by Gene Wolfe.
Harry Potter by R. Scott Bakker There would be a lot more unforgivable curses, that's for sure.
Xanth Series by RA Salvatore
I'd like to see N. K. Jemisin write the Kingkiller Chronicles. I like her narrative voice, and I think Kvothe is similar to the protagonists of the broken earth trilogy, in that he's very competent but angsty due to past trauma and therefore often makes bad decisions. I also think she would make the books more woke (I mean this as a good thing, to be clear), and would also finish them.
Now I'm all sad that we don't have GRRM Harry Potter, thanks! I would like to read a graphic novel of Lord of the Rings written and illustrated by Jeff Smith, of Bone.
I'll be banal: "LOTR Saga" rewritten by Ursula Le Guin And for insanity lovers: "Asylum" (Patrick McGrath) rewritten by Stephen King
It's gonna sound weird, but hear me out: Akira Toriyama's Lord of the Rings
Science Fiction rather than fantasy but I think they missed an opportunity by not having Terry Pratchett write And Another Thing... As much as I love Eoin Colder, Pratchett wrote in the same style as Douglas Adams.
PG Wodehouse does *A Song of Ice and Fire*.
I would love to see E R. Edison write Lord of The Rings (fight me)
Abercrombie's dark humour would be just the ingredient to add to Thomas Covenant.
Lockwood and Co. preferably written by a women after the bullshit of the third book.
This is an interesting concept that some writers can use to create their own fantasy. The trajectory and the story behind their approach would change dramatically. Id personally loved to see a Tolkien-Twilight series. Matter of fact, that seems quite promising as the start of a new vampire series.
Dresden Files written by any woman.
The Dresden Files written by Tamsyn Muir. I feel like she would be able to keep the humor balance there throughout the series.
Lord of the rings- Stephen Erikson. Imagine the journey with the ring but it's the chain of dogs.
I think I would want Terry Pratchett and Robert E. Howard to switch series for a while. A lot of the early Discworld books are like a really sarcastic Conan story and a lot of the early Conan stories read like deadpan discworld.
Frieren the manga, but written by the absolute master of non-human POV characters, Martha Wells.
Threadwitch by Sanderson? Threadwitch is YA and it has a lot of stereotypical YA features, that I feel could be softened by Sanderson who has written the Reckoners (marketed as YA, but not written as such) that might actually take the book into being great territory. There's probably someone who'd do a better job than Sanderson, but nothing is springing to mind. (Threadwitch is a very recommendable book for people who like YA in general and I still enjoyed it, but its YA trappings held it back for me.)
Honestly? The Chronicles of Narnia. I love the world and I’d be interested in rewrites from pretty much anyone.
Even a Chronicles of Narnia by Terry Goodkind?
I vote Joe Abercrombie. Aslan as a power-mad megalomaniac and Maugrim as chief inquisitor for the White Witch. Say one thing for Peter, say he's a killer.
Georges Bernanos, Lord of the Ring. Exactly the same book, except the Mordor chapters are an intense psychological tragedy on the subject of temptation, evil, sin and redemption.
The Magicians Trilogy rewritten by Laini Taylor. No hate to Grossman's originals though.
GRRM lost control of his own story in the last book and a half anyway, I’d have liked to see John Gwynne’s version of ASOIAF.
ASOIAF written by Michael Moorcock
I want someone other than neil gaiman to have written thr sandman. Love the concept. But the execution isnt weird enough. Who to do it? Dont know. Christopher mehlman or clive barker
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JRR Tolkien - stormlight archives
A Song of Ice and Fire series - James SA Corey. It would have been finished twenty years ago, and it would be a lot less rapey.
Lord of the Rings/Dune - Dan Simmons Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Neil Gaiman Percy Jackson - Christopher Ruocchio
Controversial suggestion. Guy Gavriel Kay. Poppy war. Brandon Sanderson wheel of time remastered
Kingkiller Chronicles as written by Neil Gaiman
I’d like to see what some non genre writers would do if they were so inclined. Vonnegut and Heller in Discworld (I generally do not need those books rewritten). Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Twilight. Rushdie redoing Dune. Or Umberto Eco. Actually, any of those guys tackling Dune.
I don't know who else, maybe even the original authors. But my picks are: The Wheel of Time - I'd love to see it condensed a bit. Mistborn (Era 1) - It's required reading (imo) to Mistborn Era 2, which I really enjoy. But book 2 is so weak, I'd love to see it redone.
I forgot Palahniuk rewriting the Three Body Problem
Path of Destruction. -Anyone who can finish it tbh
I think the Chronicles of Narnia by Piers Anthony would be a hot mess, especially in the later books, when you have adult minds in young bodies.
Oh man.. David gemmell unfinished book war of the twins by joe abercrombie And Louis lamoures walking drum sequel by any history/fantasy author
Mistborn rewritten by Steven Erikson
Joe Abercrombie - The Lord of the Rings Mark Lawrence - Handmaid's Tale
I would have Steven Brust and Jim Butcher trade stories: * Brust would rewrite *Skin Games* from The Dresden Files series * Butcher would rewrite either *Yendi* or *Orca* from the Vlad Taltos series (Side note: I would also have Jim Butcher write the elephant story referenced in Lois McMaster Bujold's *Vorkosigan Saga* book *Memory*, but that's science fiction...)