Fantasy Aficionados discussion
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Which Fantasy Author Did You Find Most Disappointing?
Laura wrote: "Wow, good few there to discuss :)I have to agree with Charlaine Harris' Grave Sight. Not some of her best work, I must admit."
Oh jeez, yeah... I wanted those days of my life back when I finished.
R. Scott wrote: "Oh..also there is a great epistolary novel by Steven Brust and Emma Bull that takes place in 1800s England. It is called Freedom and Necessity."Ooh! Historical fiction too, sweet! Thanks!
Becky:I had a typo there. I meant to say Romances in the older sense of the WORD. Think Alexandre Dumas. Brust referred to them as romances in that sense.
R. Scott wrote: "Becky:I had a typo there. I meant to say Romances in the older sense of the WORD. Think Alexandre Dumas. Brust referred to them as romances in that sense."
Oh, I understood what you meant! :) No worries.
Chris wrote: "LIB. MR Lurkers."SAR. ;)
And yes, Becky. On the Brust subject. I loved the first six Vlad Taltos books. That's as far as I've gotten.
Becky wrote: "Laura wrote: "Wow, good few there to discuss :)I have to agree with Charlaine Harris' Grave Sight. Not some of her best work, I must admit."
Oh jeez, yeah... I wanted those days of my life back ..."
I didn't hate it, just not that impressed with it. Let's just say I won't be rushing to read the Southern Vampire Series any time soon. It didn't leave an overly big impression on me.
Laura wrote: "I didn't hate it, just not that impressed with it. Let's just say I won't be rushing to read the Southern Vampire Series any time soon. It didn't leave an overly big impression on me. "I read the Southern Vampire series first, and I really liked them, although the writing is inconsistent (I think her editor may have been M.I.A. at the time... I hope that no editor would have let through some of the mistakes in that one!), but the story was still fun, I liked the characters and it was an easy read.
Grave Sight wasn't any of those things except inconsistent. And creepy. Gross, too, actually.
Becky wrote: "R. Scott wrote: "Oh..also there is a great epistolary novel by Steven Brust and Emma Bull that takes place in 1800s England. It is called Freedom and Necessity."Ooh! Historical fiction too, sweet..."
No problem.
Apparently, Brust and Bull wrote the novels by writing the letters that make up the story to one another, and then the other would respond. I'm sure there was more to it than that, but that was part of the process apparently.
You can find a review here: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/f...
Dawn wrote: "Becky wrote: "Finally, Jacqueline Carey. I read Kushiel's Dart at the highest recommendation of a friend, and I thought it was extremely disappointing. There are sledgehammers out there with a ligh..."I love that entire series (well, I haven't read the lastest three). :)
I can't place Donaldson in the worst camp, because while he did write the execrable Covenant series, which I was fool enough to stick with 'til the end, he did write the exquisite Mordant's Need duology. The heroine in those shares a few of the tropes of Covenant, at first (NOT the rapeiness, but rather the passivity, the not quite believing things are real, and the complete and utter bewilderment at being expected to save the world and not having a clue how), but she gets better. Wonderfully better. For those, and some wonderful short stories of his, I forgive him Covenent.
Someone mentioned earlier that they didn't like the "stranger brought from a different place" trope. Most of the time I do - but I realize that I only like the way some authors do it.
Things like that (I'd say most "tropes" [I do hate the word "trope" however]) I decide about on a case by case basis. It often depends on how it's handled...Mathew, I do hate the Covenant books and when I picked up The Mirror of Her Dreams and it started with her basically moaning "woe is me, oh woe is me" I nearly threw it out the front door...so your saying I might not end up regretting the time invested if I "try another Donaldson book"? I haven't read anything by the man since I got through the first Covenant trilogy (and the first book of the second and saw it was going to be much the same).
I'll bend my rule, the one that says, I should run screaming from the book store should I ever see anything else by the man and that I should dash the volumes from any young reader's hands while crying "NO! don't do it! save yourself!" and I'll read a few reviews of Mordant's Need, if you think I might not hate myself...
I'll put it this way: I struggled through the Covenant books in the hope it would get better. It did not. The Mordant's Need ones have character development, and the heroine does not remain passive, though she remains MOSTLY so throughout the first of the two volumes. I found myself very happy to have read them.I think the key is that instead of Covenant's disbelief in his experiences, what Teresa doesn't believe in is herself or her ability to do anything, to matter, that she can make a difference. That's a much more common issue for a fantasy protagonist to have, a much more sympathetic one, and is an easier one to grow out of. She does.
I'd advise you to read some reviews and see if they raise any red flags for you, but for me it was a highly satisfying read with a worthy conclusion that did NOT involve everything I liked in the world getting destroyed.
He's also written some fine short stories; in fact, I think, he works better in the shorter form than the giant series in which he made his name.
I've read Mordant's Need and really enjoyed them. I tried to pick up the Covenant books and was really disappointed. I couldn't even get through the first book. I enjoyed Goodkind's first 4 books, then Faith of the Fallen, and then his final 3 books. The series does have a bit of a weird finally though.
I enjoyed Jordan's first 5 or 6 books but agree that he's wandered since then. I've also picked up the recent ones with Sanderson because I, too, have also heard better things about them.
Feist started out strong but he's written so many trilogies with Midkemia that I believe he's starting to run out of original ideas. I believe the same is true with Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. Like Feist the orginals are the best.
Other authors that I couldn't complete, mostly because I kept falling asleep, are Sara Douglass' Axis Trilogy (starting with Wayfarer's Redemption), Terry Brooks' Shanarra books (starting with the Sword of Shanarra), Sharon Greene's The Blending, Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials, L Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth (Starting with The Invader's Plan), and L. Modesitt Jr.'s Saga of Recluse (starting with The Magic of Recluse).
I've tried to get into Martin's Ice and Fire Series and have read the first two. I just keep finding better series to read rather than Storm of Swords.
I have to admit I abhorred The Wayfarer Redemption, I haven't read The Magic of Recluse but I did start The Soprano Sorceress. I only read 2/3 books but they were pretty decent. I can see me reading the entire trilogy again.
I read The Magic of Recluce, and I liked it. It took some getting into.
I like most Modesitt books, but I started The Wayfarer Redemption and put it down to.
The Wayfarer Redemption was just...ugh. It left a bad feeling in my mouth for some reason. I read that book back before I taught myself to stop reading if upset.
Never tried it, but the reviews make me glad of that :)
I got maybe halfway through Wayfarer Redemption. You know, looking for a "new" epic fantasy and the covers and so on looked so promising. Goes to show...the whole "book and cover" thing probably got started for a reason.
I was just thinking about the effects of bookcovers the other day...for some reason I just cannot make myself buy a copy of Kushiel's dart...and I know its because of the cover, to me it looks like a romance and I just cant buy it
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I got maybe halfway through Wayfarer Redemption. You know, looking for a "new" epic fantasy and the covers and so on looked so promising. Goes to show...the whole "book and cover" thing probably go..."I was just thinking that! That's the reason I bought it, too. And the reason why my husband bought me
Maggie wrote: "I was just thinking about the effects of bookcovers the other day...for some reason I just cannot make myself buy a copy of Kushiel's dart...and I know its because of the cover, to me it looks like..."LOL! It's a really good book, Maggie. Really, really good - but I can see how you would feel that way. The cover bothers me too, but for a different reason. The reason the cover looks like that is so the back of the main character's back can be shown - that tattoo is important. My issue is the drawing of the tattoo looks nothing like the written description of the tattoo - nor is it big enough.
I've tried to read Terry Goodkind. He quickly became Terry Good-Lord-I-can-barely-stand-this.Covers, esp fantasy covers, are great at sucking you in. Some of the art can be really fantastic and the book inside, well, not so much.
I do really like the new covers on the Robert Jordan books. The original covers were just painful and it doesn't help that at that time that artist seemed to be the go-to person for fantasy covers. The new covers are actually good matches for what is inside the covers, I epcially liked this one:
That's a pretty great cover! That would suck me in.
I have to admit that I like the old Jordan covers. They have a contemporary feel to them lacking in some other, more crazily fantastical covers with dark wizards holding their arms up to the sky and magic flowing from their fingers. But I love those crazily fantastical ones too!
MrsJoseph, I've looked at those books several times...The Kirkpatrick ones. Are they any good?
@ Jason. Your description of the fantastical covers is spot-on! LOL!
IMHO? NO! Not at all. But if you're game I have all three and they can be packaged and out the door on tomorrow... :-) Just say the word.Ok, here's the issue I had with book 1 (never picked up 2 &3) - the story plot is one we've all seen before (boy must go on a journey to find out his true destiny and save the world) but what the author does to make it different from everyone else is to give exhaustive description of their journey. Have you ever read The Belgariad? You know how they spend the majority of the book traveling from here to there? Now imagine that Eddings gave a more detailed description of each day.
The book has something like 3-5 pages of maps at the beginning! Regular maps, topical maps, and if I'm not mistaken there are even rainfall maps (whatever they are called). Normally I'm a huge fan of maps but COME ON! The author used to be (or still is) a mapographer (is that a real word?) and he does his map thing to the fullest.
On top of that there is a slightly silly romance on the side and lots of heavy handed foreshadowing. This is what I can remember from a very annoyed read several years ago. Not sure how what I would focus on today.
Mike, I agree with MrsJoseph on the Kirkpatrick novels. Lol...she pretty much nailed the major flaws with the books. They're exhausting to read
Urk! That's why I never read any more David Eddings after my first one. I felt as if I'd worn out 3 pairs of boots sitting reading the book!
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Urk! That's why I never read any more David Eddings after my first one. I felt as if I'd worn out 3 pairs of boots sitting reading the book!"LOL! I can understand that. But if you couldn't do Eddings then Kirkpatrick would leave you in a coma.
Shoot! I need an editor.
Nicki wrote: "Ugh... I don't have a lot of patience for "they travelled, and then they travelled, and then they travelled some more", and I have more or less all of the works written by both authors on my shelve..."Eddings' is much better than Kirkpatrick in the fact that there are interesting things going on in the travel vs. just travelling. If you have limited patience with travel, I would try the Eddings books first. Kirkpatrick's book was just dull.
Seconding MrsJoseph on that one. Eddings generally keeps it interesting because stuff goes on — even if it's just character banter.
Speaking of banter, I really love Silk but my favorite @sshat in the group is Beldin. I think I'm going to have to start on The Mallorean just for him. :)
about halfway through Gardens of the Moon, i was confident i'd be writing about steve erikson in this very thread. i did not like the first half of the novel, it truly annoyed me.i picked it up again and it was less annoying.
after i picked it up early this evening, i have been reading it non-stop (well, took some breaks for dinner, Goodreads, and for some reason i felt inclined to re-read my favorite parts of Davy). now i'm finished with it and am looking forward to the sequel.
i don't usually have such a change of heart with a book! it still has its very deep flaws, but in the end i found it to be fascinating.
mark wrote: "about halfway through Gardens of the Moon, i was confident i'd be writing about steve erikson in this very thread. i did not like the first half of the novel, it truly annoyed me.i picked it up..."
Mark-I am so glad you stuck with it...I didn't like it the first 100 pages or so, but once I got into it, it has been my favorite ever since
I was beginning to despair of anyone in that discussion deciding they liked it!
also, i love long series...so i'm stoked that i now 9+ more books set in this world!
Grant wrote: "I found Anne Bishop's works unbearable in practically every way imaginable. "She's the Poppy Z. Brite of fantasy! I read the first Black Jewels novel and hated it. A bunch of decadent characters with contrived names (Daemon, Saetan, Lucivar) being decadent with no plot progression until the very end, where it finally got interesting, but even so I could not put myself through another one of those books.
Speaking of Brite, I've heard much better things of the work she's produced after getting over her decadent gay vampire thing. Off-topic for here, though.
Poppy Z. Brite?
If you were into horror at all, MrsJoseph, you'd know who Poppy Z. Bright is! *cocks an arrogant eyebrow up at MrsJoseph* LOLShe wrote some horror stories in the 90s. She had a strong cult following, but switched genres about 5 or 10 years ago. She now writes a series of books about a gay couple who run a restaurant.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Tantalize (other topics)Tantalize (other topics)
Sword and Sorceress (other topics)
Temple of the Winds (other topics)
Memories of Ice (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Mercedes Lackey (other topics)Terry Goodkind (other topics)
Steven Erikson (other topics)
David Eddings (other topics)
Robert Jordan (other topics)
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I agree, it was pretty disappointing to me too. I didn't hate it... But I expected it to be much much better than it was. I'm still considering maybe reading another in the series, to see if it gets better.. But I'm not in any rush to do so.