Which Fantasy Author Did You Find Most Disappointing? Showing 151-200 of 1,088

[Matthew]

Her recent books aren't fantasy.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Horror? Ha! You know I'm a wussy. I won't even stay on the phone with someone watching horror in a different house, lol.

[Matthew]

Not horror, either. Contemporary mainstream fiction set in the New Orleans restaurant industry. She's changed.

[Scott]

Jason wrote: "She now writes a series of books about a gay couple who run a restaurant.
."

Are you serious? How quaint!

[Jason]

Very! Check it out:

[Matthew]

I think that she's a happier, more contented person these days, and the genre shift reflects that.

"She" is also not quite correct anymore, either; Brite considers himself a non-operative female-to-male transsexual these days.

[Jason]

Matthew, hadn't she considered herself that for a long time now?

Do you know if she's still writing? I know that she stopped for some time because of her back problems.

[Scott]

I gave up on her after her third novel. Her first was the only one I liked.

She used to call herself "a gay man trapped in a woman's body."

[Matthew]

Yes, she has, but there's a difference between the way she first presented it, as an exaggeration, and the way he now does. Someone who only knows of the early goth-horror stuff might not know it at all.

I didn't think he'd published anything since Katrina, but that's not based on any up to date knowledge.

[Maggie]

Well, for Most Disappointing I have to admit that I just can't force myself to finish Nalo Hopkinson Midnight Rider. I can easily handle books that aren't fast moving or don't have romantic plot lines - enjoyed Soldier of Sidon and all Charles de Lint & Paticia McKillip. Had picked up Midnight Rider at the used store as was searching for her award winning The New Moon's Arms but just have to admit - she's not a match for me.

[Olivia]

To be perfectly honest, I was very disappointed in Brandon Sanderson. While he has very intriguing ideas, and puts them down to paper with great technical accuracy, his writing is lacking in passion and poetry. To me, it seems like he writes the way he talks. There is very little emotion to his writing, and after all the hype surrounding the Mistborn series, I was expecting something great, an almost-Martin. I suppose he and I just aren't compatible.

[Brett]

I was extremely disappointed with Raymond E Feist. I met him at a book signing and reception in Anchorage AK and he was the most egomaniacal person I had ever met. A complete ass, not to mention rude.

For a long time I gave him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he had a migraine, a bad flight to Alaska, whatever, but then I thought that was still no excuse to treat his fans like dirt.
It's truly a shame as I had liked his books tremendously, but haven't picked one up since. Every time I look at a book of his, it reminds me of how he treated us and I simply can't read it.

It's a great example of how public perception, right or wrong, can affect anyone. Feist may be the nicest man ever, but because of that one episode, I don't care.

[Mach]

Terry Goodkind is one author that went from being one of my favorites to the fantasy author i dislike most.
He started out really good with Wizard's First Rule, and from then on every book he writes is a little worse then the last one. Stupid me, i stuck with him all the way to the Naked Empire, which have to be one of the worst fantasy books ever. The same can be said about Raymond E Feist and Terry Brooks, they all started out good but have lost the magic, i never read any of their books anymore.

[Brett]

Sad really. They both wrote such good material. I wonder if the inspiration well dried up for them or maybe they just got so high with their success that they felt the fans would read anything they wrote.

Of course this is all from personal experiences and everyone has a different viewpoint.
It all comes down to the fact that we like what we like.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

I really get sad when I hear stuff like that. It's one of the reasons I never try to go to book signings - I'd hate to find out my fave author is a
jackass.

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

I remember when I met Peter Davidson who played the fifth doctor on Doctor Who. He was a jerk. I never felt the same about him after that. However, Colin Baker, the sixth doctor was so nice. And he spelled my name right without me even having to spell it.

People can be disappointing inherently. Which is why I do try not to put them on a pedestal, although I do at times and regret it.

[Brett]

I know what you mean. You find an author (or any person) that you like and over time your regard for them gets higher and higher. It's usually impossible for them or anyone to meet those standards. But then you meet that one person who exceeds your expectations by so far it makes everything right again!

I really like to talk with authors here online when I can too. If they make the effort to be active online, they are most always pretty cool. I've been able to chat with many writers here and it has always been fun. Sometimes more rewarding than the discussion when they send something along as a surprise! -grin-

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

I enjoy talking to writers as well. Some call it author worship, but I appreciate being able to discuss our mutual loves, writing and books.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

:)

[Jason]

All the authors I've met online and most I've met in real life were great people. There are some dicks, though!

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

I've had good experiences in my interaction with authors. Less good with actors I've met in real life.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

I've not interacted with a lot of authors but the ones I have interacted with have been (for the most part) rather nice and gracious. The ones who tend to behave badly are mostly in the romance industry.

[[deleted user]]

Lol I'm looking up the reference too. :D.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Grant wrote: "Lol I'm looking up the reference too. :D."

Which reference?

(it's early and I'm still working on cup 1 :)

[[deleted user]]

@ MrsJoseph. Lol....apparently I missed an entire page of conversation when I posted that reference comment :) I was referring to the Poppy person. I'd never heard of them either.

@ Machavelli. I couldn't agree more with your comments about well..all those authors but especially Goodkind. For shame.

@ Olivia. You're not the first person I've heard describe Sanderson's writing that way. He's a young author and while I don't think his writing is juvenile in the least I would agree that's it's fairly simply and realistic but whereas it doesn't appeal to you, I find it charming. I also thought there was significant emotion but that it was reigned in thus fitting the characters in Mistborn *shrugs* As you said, not all authors/readers are compatible

@ Brett. I'm not even remotely suprised about Feist. He's always seemed very money hungry, trying to suck every penny out of Midkemia just like he sucked all the life out of that world. Success doesn't always do the nicest things to folks.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Grant wrote: "@ MrsJoseph. Lol....apparently I missed an entire page of conversation when I posted that reference comment :) I was referring to the Poppy person. I'd never heard of them either.

@ Machavelli. ..."

Ooh, lol

[Jacob]

I was fairly disappointed in how Raymond E. Feist's books just went downhill after Magician and its sequels: he just seemed to escalate the conflict without really making it meaningful, and it got far more simplistic, I think. It was a shame, because when I wrote a post on my blog about fantasy 'must-reads', I had to put Magician on there - but then his latest books are just wasted on me.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

I've started but never finished Magician Apprentice. I was reading the Serpent War (or something like that) years ago. I left my book in a rental by mistake (pout) and never picked it up again.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I liked the Magician (duo) and some of the others, but got bogged down and let his books drop from my "queue". I've never met the man but ran into a woman who did and she was "less than enchanted with him also". I met her in a book store and she saw some of his books in my "To purchase" books and went off about not liking him. Oh well. As long as I enjoy his books I suppose. As I said, I haven't met him myself.

[[deleted user]]

I tend to do a fair bit of research before picking up a book, so it isn't generally a problem, but one author I was a bit saddened that I didn't like was Kevin J. Anderson, specifically his Terra Incognita books. They sounded great, but they fell pretty short of my expectations.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

My problem is that everything sounds good to me...and then when I get into the novel it's not what I expected. :-(

It's like grocery shopping while hungry...my eyes are bigger than my stomach, lol.

[Aditya]

@Alexandra

If you don't mind me asking, what did you not like about the Terra Incognita series? I was thinking of picking up the first book as the blurb seemed quite exciting!

Personally, I'm having a bit of trouble getting through Amanda Downum's second book The Bone Palace, just does not seem as exciting as the first.

[Kevin]

Jim Butcher is one of those authors that I like when he does Dresden, it has become one of my favorite series of all time, but his other series, Codex Alera did not work for me, I did not even finish the first book. The plot I have seen many of a time in fantasy, he just write the tropes of fantasy come alive. If I have not any fantasy at all I would have finished it.

[[deleted user]]

@Aditya, I guess it was just sort of... contrived. Characters who should have known better never did, the whole war that the plot details is basically spawned from an accident, and the two countries are a bit flat. One is very cultured and the other almost seems like a caricature of tribalism. The characters, if they aren't killed off brutally and often somewhat pointlessly, are interesting to read about, but they switch between them often enough that it is hard to get too attached to any one of them in particular.

And as a small nitpick, this is a book that heavily relies on the idea of maps and sea travel, but the maps that come with the book are remarkably lacking in terms of perspective, and overall readability.

[Matthew]

@Aditya: I'm surprised that you find The Bone Palace less exciting, since that wasn't my experience of it and it seems to be the general consensus of reviewers that it's better than The Drowning City.

Is it that the setting doesn't work so well for you? If someone liked the very Indonesian setting of TDC, I can see the semi-Greek setting of TBP to be different and perhaps worse.

I guess it also depends how much you like Savedra's viewpoint.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

A lot of any like and dislike is personal taste and that can be hard to express. Sometimes a book just leaves us cold. That's what a lot of the discussion here has been about. I love this book...you don't, I really dislike this one and you find it enthralling.

We're all different.

[Christine]

Sometimes its also about the place we are at in our lives or even the mood we are in when we read a book. I've said this many times that each person's relationship with a book/author is different and there are so many variables into how we receive an author's words. We have to respect that each reader's experience will be different. I think if you are an author, that's how you would want it to be.

[Aditya]

@Matthew

Haha, I think I mentioned this as a reply to you in another thread but yeah, for some reason I'm not too big of a fan of the Greek setting. I did like the East Asian setting in the first book but didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would have.

And to be honest, I don't think I treated The Bone Palace fairly because I stopped reading it halfway to start on The Wise Man's Fear. Also as you rightly mentioned it depends how much you enjoy Savedra's viewpoint --- and I don't enjoy it too much. I would have preferred the focus to be squarely on Isyllt.

[Matthew]

While I liked Savedra, and thus enjoyed the book a lot more because of that. Sometimes characters work for one person and not so much for others.

[[deleted user]]

Tracey you're quickly becoming one of my favs :)

[Laura]

I've been given mixed reviews with Terry Goodkind's books. I guess I'll just have to read them for myself.

I've been recommended several series written by Stephen R Lawhead. Anyone read any of his books?

[[deleted user]]

I really enjoyed his Celtic historical fiction novels but for the life of me I can't recall the name of the series. I'll see about looking it up for you :)

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Laura, Goodkind (and this is my take so...you know, not the end all be all of things LOL), I thought Wizard's First Rule was pretty good, enjoyed it and followed the series. it got progressively worse, for a couple of reasons. By the end it was terrible and I found it almost unreadable. Just me.

Hi Tracey I to enjoy your take on "stuff". I think we mostly agree "except" I kind of like the Codex Alera series. Maybe not great, but I get into the books once I start. But I truly love the Dresden books, already have Ghost Story preordered, so.... you know.

Agree on your other book opinions to, though I've never picked up Kushiel's Dart. I always figured even if it were good I'd not get into the subject.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Laura, Goodkind (and this is my take so...you know, not the end all be all of things LOL), I thought Wizard's First Rule was pretty good, enjoyed it and followed the series. it got progressively wo..."

I would say that I don't think Kushiel's Dart is for you. Its a good book but I don't see you reading it without blushing a whole lot :-)

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

I read Kushiel's Dart when it was first released years ago. It was fresh and new to me...I'd never had a female character who was as badass as Phedre but didn't carry a sword and fight. I loved the fact she was a girly girl and her major weapon was her mind. While everyone was focused on her body and face she was thinking them in circles. Loved it!

[Dawn]

MrsJoseph wrote: "...her major weapon was her mind...."

Her mind? I got the impression her major weapon was a tad bit lower than her mind... ;)

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Dawn wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "...her major weapon was her mind...."

Her mind? I got the impression her major weapon was a tad bit lower than her mind... ;)"

Hmmm, I can see why you would say that. But she was always thinking... remember the part where she was burned by the poker? Her mind was never turned off (except with Melisande) - I would have had a problem telling someone my own name...

Try and keep me in line, I might drop a spoiler here, lol.

[Dawn]

I was mostly kidding, I just couldn't resist opportunity for the joke :)

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Dawn wrote: "I was mostly kidding, I just couldn't resist opportunity for the joke :)"

It's only 11am here...my mind doesn't turn on till much later... :o)

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Tracey, I think my early main problem with Codex Alera was, that it wasn't Dresden. The characters are totally different. The main character isn't a WA (uhhh, that's "wiseacre" :)).

It's true by the way, I agree that a lot of "standard" fantasy characters are in the book (the young peasant type who grows into a hero, the older wise teacher, the love interest from a traditional enemy and others), but Butcher writes them well. I think at some point it gets hard not to touch on certain stereotypes, it just depends on how well you do them.

Oh and I think the Lawhead Pendragon books are some of the best books in a greatly overcrowded field.