Personally I’m really obsessed with the lore in Fire Emblem: Three Houses
MALAZAN
I’m only on the 5th book but the world building is Tolkien level of detailed. Writer Stephen Erickson is an anthropologist who brought he and his achaelogist friend Ian esselmont dnd world to written reality. Esselmont has books in the series too but not that far along yet.
It makes it difficult to pick up other books afterwards. Major caveat I didn’t know what the fuck was happening until the second book. Then it clicked.
Wonderful writer and world building.
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. Though, I guess what really hooked me was the idea that the future could be predicted, and guided toward an outcome that would benefit people. That, uh, doesn’t seem to fit with reality. But it sounds real nice ☹️
Vampire The Masquerade.
Hands down best depiction of vampires, and what unlife is like for a vampire.
I consider lore and worldbuilding to be related but different concepts. Lore is the details of your world, worldbuilding is the way you deliver those details.
My favorite example of worldbuilding is The Dark Crystal, both the film and series. The lore is standard fantasy stuff, but the intricacies of the world are so rich and they unfold so naturally. It felt like a real world, and I felt like very little of what I learned about that world was simply narrated to me. The world was built through tiny details, interactions and observations, throwaway lines of dialogue, and effectively so.
On Cinema at the Cinema.
Where my Gregg heads at?
Kipo and the World of Wonderbeasts is entirely underrated in so many ways. Worldbuilding is one. Music is another.
The Expanse.
I love the idea of sovereign nations Earth and Mars, and the political conflicts of not just diferent people, but different people living in different atmospheres, unlike different nations on earth, the difference between a Earther’s and Martian’s live is so different: Gravity, Breathable Atmosphere, the Ocean.
Also there are people that live outside of the planets in space stations that have never experienced a planet’s gravity and their bodies and unable to survive on planets. The story expands to other star systems.
Its originally a book series but it has been adapted into TV, although they canceled the TV series before it was finished :(
But still worth a watch tho, the politics is more fun than irl politics.
I only realized after I finished the series and reflected on it, that one of the reasons I enjoyed The Expanse so much because I was enjoying the complex and intricate politics between sensible actors with different motivations. It helped me cope with the real world’s politics being full of sadistic fools.
I haven’t seen the TV show so I don’t know where it leaves off, but if you haven’t read the books, the last 2 books into the ending was a hell of a crazy ride. And it wraps up with a conclusion that I didn’t foresee as possible. I highly recommend the books.
It was a short story, but I really like Faun by Joe Hill. The way the two worlds interact was really fun, and I’d love to hear more about it.
serious answer: Discworld. every storyline starts out completely separate but through the years they wove together into a world rushing headlong into a new age.
shitpost answer: ace attorney. eat your hamburgers, Apollo.
Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi by Ryouko Kui.
It has wonderful world building introducing it slowly over time without info dumping, or better said, there is a nerd in the world info dumping on his friends, who don’t always appreciate it =D
You know, I’ve always liked the Avatar:TLA’s worldbuilding
Dune is incredibly unique. Scifi without computers and genetic magic. All politics. The books are outstanding.
Caves of Qud was my first contact with post post-apocalypse. Can’t even begin to convey how strange and magical everything feels in that universe.
The latter books are just weird with all the sexual imprinting and other weirdness which sounds more like written by a horny teenager than an adult.
The Expanse or First Law
I’ve never heard of First Law, but it being mentioned alongside the Expanse is reason enough for me to check it out
10/10 recommend. I’m 6/9 through the expanse and on 7/10 with Joe Abercrombie. (these are number of books, not ratings)
Joe’s books are great. After the first trilogy, it’s 3 stand-alone and a compilation of short stories. So if you don’t love his stuff (if you liked the expanse you will) you can be done after the First Law Trilogy
My lemmy username is directly related to the First Law Trilogy
He’s possibly my favorite character of any series. I’ve gone through all of the books 3 times.
Is probably say coal shivers. I kind feel like he’s ambercrombies favorite as well since he’s actually in all of them
I’d say the same. And he’s got so many good quotes, most (killin’ aside) relatable.
Logan Ninefingers (First Law) Amos Burton (Expanse) Wayne & Steris (Mistborn, Era 2)
I don’t think there’s another character I like more than these folks. Logan probably sits at the top though.
Most recently, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, had great world building and character development.
LotR - it’s really fucking hard to top especially when Tolkien was pioneering the field.
