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Which Fantasy Author Did You Find Most Disappointing?
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mark
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Jun 15, 2012 12:15PM
well, i should be clear: i care about the reviews of reviewers that i appreciate. simple as that. i don't run a scan of all the reviews on teh interweb!
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mark wrote: "well, i should be clear: i care about the reviews of reviewers that i appreciate. simple as that. i don't run a scan of all the reviews on teh interweb!"I think (as always) personal preference. I couldn't get into book 1...so I didn't scoop up book 2...
But I also LOVE LOVE LOVE Andre Norton and most people have never heard of her. So... *shrug*
What, Mrs.J? You love Andre Norton? How come you've never mentioned this before? ;D
Carol wrote: "What, Mrs.J? You love Andre Norton? How come you've never mentioned this before? ;D"because it might have been an arcane mystery of doom? ^^
Nice you found Andre Norton MrsJ. I first got a book by her when I was in the 8th grade (that would be about '65). For a while she dominated the paperback shelves.
Carol wrote: "What, Mrs.J? You love Andre Norton? How come you've never mentioned this before? ;D":-D
Well, you know I'm so shy...
MrsJoseph wrote:"...But I also LOVE LOVE LOVE Andre Norton and most people have never heard of her. So... *shrug* "There are people who haven't heard of Andre Norton? Now I feel really old.
Your only a few years behind me J.D.
Mike (the Paladin) wrote:"Your only a few years behind me J.D. " Maybe this should be this thread's new theme song, then.
I'm tagging along a bit late on the Rothfuss debate (which has been very interesting, folks, lots of good thoughts there). I loved NOTW, gave it 5*, which is rare for me, and bought WMF as soon as the ebook was a realistic price. And started reading and... zzz. Just couldn't get enthusiastic.I will give it another go, when I have a long trip or some such, and I've got the time to really get into it, because I love Rothfuss's writing style and I don't mind the Gary Stu-ness of Kvothe :-) But I'm going off these doorstop books.
I know Norton mostly by her influence on writers I know and love; C.J. Cherryh's The Morgaine Saga books (Gate of Ivrel and its sequels) have a world very influenced by Norton (and a heroine who started off, I suspect, as female!Elric).
I realize this might be heresy, but I can't read J.R.R Tolkien. As good as the movies are, I think his books are dreadful.
Carl wrote: "I realize this might be heresy, but I can't read J.R.R Tolkien. As good as the movies are, I think his books are dreadful."I suffer from the same dilema :(
Carl wrote: "I realize this might be heresy, but I can't read J.R.R Tolkien. As good as the movies are, I think his books are dreadful."then I bet you would hate Erikson :D
Goodkind disappointed me after the third book, GRRM ticked me off when Danaerys did the stupidest thing in the world, given what she'd been after the whole time, and a certain new author astounded me with how badly his book was written... I won't name names, because I'd like to give him a chance to improve ;) The Harry Potter series was disappointing too.... Its incredible success and the lavish praise it garnished from every corner of the globe had me expecting something on the level of Tolkien, and I came away just feeling ripped off. I'll probably be roasted for saying that, and maybe it's a fun read for kids, but I was expecting more, so I got to do the sad face :P
The Covenant books were enjoyable, but Covenant's self pity and moral cowardice really irked me... and I HATED Linden Avery... she had me rooting for Lord Foul by her second appearance :P
Carl wrote: "I realize this might be heresy, but I can't read J.R.R Tolkien. As good as the movies are, I think his books are dreadful."OMG, me too, me too. (Standing in the corner, waving arm wildly.) So happy to know I am not the only one!
Sonja wrote: "Carl wrote: "I realize this might be heresy, but I can't read J.R.R Tolkien. As good as the movies are, I think his books are dreadful."OMG, me too, me too. (Standing in the corner, waving arm w..."
Not the only one. I give him props for his world-building and what he did to revive fantasy... but his writing is pretty damn boring, imo.
Colleen wrote: "Sonja wrote: "Carl wrote: "I realize this might be heresy, but I can't read J.R.R Tolkien. As good as the movies are, I think his books are dreadful."OMG, me too, me too. (Standing in the corner..."
I'm with you all loved the films as they got to the root of the tales - but my God Tolkien would happily spend three pages telling you the history of a blade of grass the books are just so dull. (runs to the corner to hide)
I agree with Samuel on GRRM' s, but just can't take anymore characters (deaths) and Thomas Covenant. Ugh..Linden Don't know if I will ever go back to finish the newest three.
The self pity of Covenant turned me offf and I never finished the first....
I blame my brother for this comment: "twilight was insipid".
I did not finish Mirror of her Dreams. Idid a small review
I somex wonder "what's wrong with me?" As I found the Anita Blake too violent and too much sex, I LOVED Orson Scott Cards Enders Game, but simply hated the sequels. I thought what's the big deal with the Dresden books....
I became very dissappointed with Laurell K. Hamilton about 5 book in to her Anita Blake series. I also was bored with David Eddings. I read the first 1and a half book of the Dreamer series and had to stop.
I'm arriving at the end of the debate (joined the group yesterday) but I was wondering if someone has already mentioned Paolini. He took a good part from McCaffrey, and the other part was so predictable...I consider Harry Potter YA, and a good marketing operation. IMO.
As a newbie author it seems a bit presumptuous for me to be talking down those who have made names for themselves, but, gulp(!), here goes. I'm kinda surprised that I seem unable to hook up with so many of the more popular authors. It took me a few tries to finally get into Tolkien's LOTR, and I never did finish The Hobbit. Forget about Silmarillion (three pages to say one thing, then three more to say the same thing a different way, and then 3 more...).
I really enjoyed the first of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, and was good with the 2nd book, but never made it through #3. Not sure what changed, but I do remember being irritated that the one female character (forget her name) kept twirling her hair.
Just finished the Sanderson Mistborn trilogy, and I'm lukewarm on that. Since I like action I thought I'd like RA Salvatore, but not much luck there. Couldn't stick with Terry Brooks or Anne McCaffrey. Started off OK with Orson Scott Card, then fizzled out. I didn't get very far into the Harry Potter series. Rowling and Tolkien are examples of instances where I prefer the movies to the books.
Sigh. FWIW, I quite like George RR Martin, and have recently been intrigued with Patrick Rothfuss and Joe Abercrombie. Just started with Tad Williams---interesting so far...
but I do remember being irritated that the one female character (forget her name) kept twirling her hair.Ha :) That's comes up a lot with WoT charcter critiques.
Oh yeah...tugging her braid. Ahh, the memories...the awful memories.
Smoothing her skirt... over and over and over.
LOL...you know I really liked that series, through book 6 or 7. I really wish Mr. Jordan hadn't turned it into a rambling, repetitive, soap opera.
Terry Goodkind, because the first books were good then they started to become boring..... *tears*
...only because his lectures overwhelmed the story...
☠The Dread Pirate Grant☠ wrote: "Eh. I never bothered to pick up Anita Blake for exactly the reason that you decided to put her down. Being your fairly typical fella, I could care less about smutty novellas. I am, however, a fan o..."I did not enjoy the Anita Blake books from the get go. I did not like the gore or gratuitous sex.
I am likely to receive lots of "WHAT!!!??" But I loved Ender's Game, and simply hated the rest of the series. I keep wanting to read more about Valentine and get some sort of emotion out of Ender and after reading or trying to read several in the series I have simply given up.
Am I in the minority that reading about vampires and werewolves and their society and sex: Sookie books, Twilight, Brigg's werewolf series just do not appeal to me, neither do the Hunger Games where teens run around murdering people appeal to me.
I pretty much agree with your take on the said books (I thought Hunger Games was pretty good, but thought the third book crashed and burned and took the trilogy with it). I like Urban Fantasy as a genre but don't care for friendly, romantic, helpful...sparkly vampires (shudder).
You might try Ender's Shadow. It tells much the same story as Ender's Game but from Bean's point of view. I agree that most of the Ender's series was very weak sfter the first book.
Wendy wrote: "Am I in the minority that reading about vampires and werewolves and their society and sex: Sookie books, Twilight, Brigg's werewolf series just do not appeal to me, neither do the Hunger Games wher..."Funny about Hunger Games. I loved the first book, thought the second was okay, hated the last one. Anyway, watched the movie last night and for some reason I wasn't expecting it to be so disturbing. Which is silly-I knew kids were killing kids, but in the book it seemed, shrug, not so gruesome. And people say Twilight is unhealthy for teenagers...
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I pretty much agree with your take on the said books (I thought Hunger Games was pretty good, but thought the third book crashed and burned and took the trilogy with it). I like Urban Fantasy as ..."
And I agree with Mike, again. Try the Bean books.
I love the rest of the Ender's Series at least the Ender's Quartet. If you loved the emotional and moral aspect plus you felt empathy for Ender as I did you would get/loved the rest of the three books. But I can see why its not for everyone.
Wendy, I'm with you about vampires. Which automatically eliminates a good third of Fantasy books on the market for me.
Roger Zelazny -
. I really want to enjoy this book but gave up halfway through the first story. I really enjoyed the opening to it but once corwyn started travelling between different worlds for page after page i put it down.
Neil Gaiman
This was another book i was looking forward to but ended up putting down before it was finished. I think the main character had 5 dream sequences within the first 100 pages. Boring.
Patrick Rothuss
I bought this book at the sametime as the excellent
. There was nothing redeeming about Kvothe, especially being wonderful at everything. The scene with the dragon was embarrassing.
Pickle wrote: "Roger Zelazny - . I really want to enjoy this book but gave up halfway through the first story. I really enjoyed the opening to it but once corwyn started trave..."
I agree with you on all of these! Wow...that's not normal, lol.
To each. I love these books. They are some of early fantasy work that sort of opened the door. Tastes differ however.
This is a tough question to answer. I'm going to have to do a runner-up and then a tie at the top. I really enjoyed the first few books of the Wheel of Time, but then they slowly started morphing into a trudging drudgery of long, drawn-out scenes that went nowhere except my pocketbook. I have to admire Jordan for his dogged determinedness to write (because he kept on writing), but he's the fantasy equivalent of super taffy to me. However, he doesn't get top Disappointment billing for me.
The two at the top for me are Rothfuss and George Martin. I know. I'm a heretic. I admire both of them greatly, but they also infuriate me greatly.
Rothfuss is crazily creative and I love the vibrant academic world he created. But Kvothe? As a main character I'm supposed to journey along with? I read the second book, hoping against hope that Kvothe would buy a clue, but he didn't, even with all the money he kept scrounging around after. When I'm reading a book and I have a perpetual urge to slap the main character upside the head, that's not good. I'm going to read the next book, whenever it comes out, because of my respect for Rothfuss' creativity, but....well, hope springs eternal.
The other tie for first place, Martin, wins it for his convoluted subplot madness that seems to be eternally going nowhere. And, by the way, Mr. Martin, can you please leave at least one decent character alive for me to root for?
Christopher wrote: "The two at the top for me are Rothfuss and George Martin. I know. I'm a heretic. I admire both of them greatly, but they also infuriate me greatly. "Yes, yes, yes! I actually own 'Wise Man's Fear' but I just can't get into it, and George Martin makes me so cross - those wonderful stories bogged down in endlessly sprawling minutiae. Ugh.
To add something more than a 'me too!' to this thread - I have to confess that my most disappointing author is Janny Wurts. I totally love her as a person, and she's a wonderful supporter of Goodreads and writes such lovely thoughtful posts, and I was so excited when my book group chose to read 'Daughter of the Empire'. Finally, they were reading my kind of book instead of endless chicklit! And it had a feisty female protagonist, and a non-medieval-European setting - bound to be great, right? And I hated it. Or rather, I hated the feisty female protagonist, who seemed to me to be indistinguishable from the villain. I was so sad. :-(
As a general note, it's very difficult to construct a fantasy world that works well past the first thre books. Authors simply run out of material. Yet, we keep seeing volume 6, 7, 8 and 9 from bestselling authors. If I enjoyed the first three, I might take a peek at number four, but the boat stops there. I've been burned too many times. And in my own writing, I stop my series at trilogy status. No point in complaining about someone else if I can't put my money where my mouth is.
I agree it is very tough to go beyond a trilogy without a series falling off. It seems to require particular talents, point of view, and perseverance. Otherwise highly talented writers rarely pull it off.It's sad when publishers (in pursuit of guaranteed sales) pressure authors to keep going back to the same well rather than do something new.
The ones who do seem to pull it off either skip around in a world's history (Katerine Kurtz), write shorter novels rather than 2000-page epics (Brust, who also does #1), or mix things and such a way that it's not exactly a traditional series (Moorcock's Elric/Eternal Champion/Multiverse saga).
Curious, as I'm not that familiar with Kurtz: which of her books are you referring to?
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