Books/Series you never plan to read...and why?

[Mark]

Hadn't seen Elaine's post there and am wondering is it five or six?

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Mark wrote: "Really...we're going to have an entire conversation about overly derivative books and not mention Terry Brooks..."

Never read Terry Brooks and likely never will.
Ditto for Goodkind, Robert Jordan, and the general assortment of classic fantasy writers.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Mark wrote: "Hadn't seen Elaine's post there and am wondering is it five or six?"

Well, I just took your three and added Elaine and myself to get to five.

But then I just reread Chris' comment and he said only two, including himself, who had heard of Echoes of the Fourth whatever, so I think we started with an incorrect premise. :>

[Mark]

± Colleen (of the Crawling Chaos) ± wrote: "Mark wrote: "Hadn't seen Elaine's post there and am wondering is it five or six?"

Well, I just took your three and added Elaine and myself to get to five.

But then I just reread Chris' comment an..."

That actually makes your answer right and mine incorrect so...well done!

[Robert]

I know his fans love the hell out of them, but I tried to like Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, tried the first two, and just couldn't get into them.

Not sure why. I've loved tons of other humorous fantasy and this just didn't click. And like others said, sometimes just knowing there are so many books in a series is a disincentive.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Robert wrote: "I know his fans love the hell out of them, but I tried to like Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, tried the first two, and just couldn't get into them.

Not sure why. I've loved tons of other humo..."

I had the same problem. I CANNOT get into The Colour of Magic at all. So a friend suggested I start with The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30). I haven't started it yet but it's on the physical TBR [sooner] pile at home, lol.

[Chelsea]

Kit★ wrote: "Again, I don't mind the romance, and I like paranormal stuff, but it just seems like there's 300 million different series out there featuring tough girl heroines who are vampire/werewolf/ghost/psychic/witch/etc and spend time in danger/running from danger/having sex with vampires\werewolves\tree frogs\etc. "

This is actually why I'm ignoring the Sookie series entirely. I really enjoy a great urban fantasy, but you're right, they all tend to follow the same pattern and just change the scenery: werewolves for one, vampires for another, fae over there, mages over yonder, and witches too! You'd think someone would have switched it up by now. Maybe I'm not being fair by lumping so many series together, but how different can ten or eleven different series, all with leather-clad, gun-toting women on the cover be?

I can get behind the romance angles in the Dresden Files, but that might just be the lesbianism talking. ;-) It also doesn't take over the plot.

[Chelsea]

...Now that I've asked that, is there an urban fantasy with a female protag that deals with paganism or witchcraft or wicca in a serious way? Is this even the right thread to be asking?

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Patrick wrote: "I believe that this A Discovery of Witches does. Can't say for certain as I haven't actually read it, but I've heard good things. Apparently the author actually did their research, though it does c..."

NO! It's a horrible, horrible, book, and it doesn't deal with it in a serious way at all. It's a grown-up Twilight, or a Harlequin romance with supernatural leads. It isn't about their skills or talents at all, it's about forbidden love. The only way the author did her research is by endowing her protags with real jobs--a historian and a geneticist. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

And to me, that exactly illustrates the phenomenon--it's the trendy setting to use, but writers don't take new angles, they merely drape "supernatural" traits over standard tropes.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Chelsea wrote: "...Now that I've asked that, is there an urban fantasy with a female protag that deals with paganism or witchcraft or wicca in a serious way? Is this even the right thread to be asking?"

La Nora did a romance that features witches that seems to be pretty well researched.

[Jalilah]

Chelsea wrote: "...Now that I've asked that, is there an urban fantasy with a female protag that deals with paganism or witchcraft or wicca in a serious way? Is this even the right thread to be asking?"


I liked Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong, however I could not say if the witchcraft is serious enough for your taste or not.

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

I liked those two as well, Jalilah. I think Armstrong did well with those two books.

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Patrick wrote: "Carol wrote: NO! It's a horrible, horrible, book, and it doesn't deal with it in a serious way at all. It's a grown-up Twilight, or a Harlequin romance with supernatural leads.
Ah, thank you for t..."

Well, I was lured into it myself under somewhat similar circumstances. It really is more of a romance novel, which I tend to avoid.

[Sophie]

Carol wrote: "Well, I was lured into it myself under somewhat similar circumstances. It really is more of a romance novel, which I tend to avoid. "

Sadly, I have to agree. It was pure fluff decorated with a very detailed pretty setting but a hackneyed and atrociously silly story. I was about 76% or so through it, but I just could not bring myself to waste time on that last quarter.

@Chelsea

The only books I can think of are more PNR, Eileen Wilks has a series where secondary characters use Wicca. I'm not crazy about PNR, but Wilks is a great author that doesn't let her love stories get in the way of her plots. Her short stories focus alot more on her secondary characters and you get to see more of the Wicca elements. "Originally Human" is your best bet, you can find it in the Cravings anthology.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

wait a minute. There was a book written by MZB that dealt with witches...let me go do some searching.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Witch Hill - I believe this is the one.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Carol wrote: "Well, I was lured into it myself under somewhat similar circumstances. It really is more of a romance novel, which I tend to avoid. "

Out of curiosity, is it more romance or "romance"?

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

The plot is about two people from vastly different worlds coming together, reconciling their feelings internally and then defending their love against others. Eventually, they 'come out' to parents and continue to defend their love. That's about as romance-focused as it can get.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

lol!

[Traci]

Are we still talking about A Discovery of Witches? It's definitely Romance imo. Think an adult Twilight.

[Reading]

David wrote: "I refuse to read the Twilight series or the Sookie Stackhouse series. Vampires are supposed to scare the bejeebies out of you, not sparkle!!"

lol.

I'm never going to read any Doctor Who, Torchwood or Buffy books because those, in my mind, are SHOWS. Not books

[Reading]

Cheryl wrote: "Now that Anne McCaffrey's son Todd has taken over the writing of the Pern series, I don't think I'll be reading any more of those books. Which is a crying shame because I love Pern! But, I tried ..."

I agree about Sword of Truth. Which is a shame because it had the set up to be a really awesome series.
I have similar feelings about the Wheel of Time

[Traci]

@ Benji, if you like Doctor Who some of the books are actually well done. More like what could've been an episode than most tie in books.

But I respect your choice. Not trying to change your mind. =)

[Dave]

Benji wrote: "David wrote: "I refuse to read the Twilight series or the Sookie Stackhouse series. Vampires are supposed to scare the bejeebies out of you, not sparkle!!"

lol.

I'm never going to read any Docto..."

Hmm I tend to agree with you about most tie in fiction - Buffy and Torchwood being particularly bad. Star Wars doesn't work for me as I see this as a very visual thing. Star Trek on the other hand works well as books.

But the Doctor is a bit different. The New Adventures and the Eight Doctor Adventures were the show during the long hiatus, with ongoing plot developments and many stories that they couldn't do on TV (and some which they since have).

Although now that the series is back the quality of the books hasn't dropped but there does seem to be something missing so I've only read a few.

Not trying to change your mind but I became a serious Dr Who fan because of the EDA books and the 8th is my Doctor because of this.

[Rob]

Wow, I can't imagine not reading a book because of the author, their beliefs and so on. I have such an addiction to reading, that if I judged an author, I would go through withdrawal.

Saying that, I tried the Twilight novels, but not my cup of tea, vampires only sparkle right before they burst into flame.

LKH books, like the Anita Blake stories were alright until about book 9 or so, then they just sunk into total deprivity. A few months back i got bored an reread and caught up on Goodkind's books, they were a struggle, very simplistic, but I found Jordan to be the same way, but as Sanderson is finishing the series, I will finish it also.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Rob wrote: "Wow, I can't imagine not reading a book because of the author, their beliefs and so on. I have such an addiction to reading, that if I judged an author, I would go through withdrawal.

Saying that..."

Ha! So not possible, lol. You could judge authors all day long and still have enough books to read for the rest of your life. :-) You should see my horde. ;-)

[Tom]

Although this is cheating a bit, I never connected with C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. I read it once long ago, but never felt the energy that I experienced with, say, Tolkien. Much of the mythology seemed too contrived, to arbitrary.