[lord of tragedy]

okay it willl be easy to rubbish jordan, eddings, kevin anderson, david macfarland etc. what i'm after is the have nothing else to read, can't finish a book halfway through tory. who's for sean russel anyone?

[Grief]

You forgot to add Goodkind to the rubbishing list .

[mocker]

David Drake (Lord of the Isles guy) can chew my balls

[polishgenius]

The Book of Five (Irrelevant) Dragons by Erik Van Lustbader is shockingly bad. The only positive thing I can say about it is that when I forced myself to finish the first of the series (and it was force, back in the day when I still read everything that I started, before Eddings' Crystal Gorge broke my brain) I was so in need of purging the bad that I went straight out and picked up the first book at the library which caught my eye. Which happened to be Gardens of the Moon. Which helped.

[Astra]

The Redemption of Althalus - D&L Eddings
A Secret History of Moscow - Ekaterina Sedia
Thomas Covenant series - S. Donaldson
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Perdido Street Station - C. Mieville (for the worst ending ever)

[Use Of Weapons]

Astra, on Oct 2 2008, 11:21 AM, said:

Perdido Street Station - C. Mieville (for the worst ending ever)

Really, you didn't like the ending? Whyever not? I thought it was perfect.

As for Donaldson & Gaiman above, well, my opinion on these works of genius is a matter of record

[alt146]

Gaiman & donaldson came up in purgatory when someone put them under what not to read. I loved Gaiman, though is other stuff is weaker apparently. Couldnt get past the Second Chronicles book. I can see why they're good, but I HATE the main character.

Hmm, Dont have anything to put here, dont read a book unless I'm pretty sure it's gonna be good...

[Dancer+]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant were great, I loved the main character. He was unique, confused and never boring; it was painfully realistic to some extent.

Jitsukerr: you seem to be a person of taste.

This post has been edited by Dancer: 02 October 2008 - 02:24 PM

[alt146]

He was also whiny, selfish and never actually does anything cool. They're good books, I just didnt enjoy them. Kinda like Mozart is good music, but I dont listen to it

[frookenhauer]

so all in all a realistic character then, wouldn't you agree? If it wasn't for selfish whiny and people I'd be out of a job, so its a good thing the world is chock full of them IMO . As for uncool, I'd argue that he travelled the oceans in a stone ship with Giants! Killed off the banefire. almost met death at the hands of his daughter. rode a ranyhynn. fought lord foul. pissed in lake glimmermere, everyone pisses in the pool! The list is pretty long, I'm sure I don't need to continue.

[alt146]

Maybe I should try read them again sometime. Just remember being incredibly irritated with him all the time.

[lord of tragedy]

i think donaldson is second only to erikson. the latest covenant book is nigh on perfect. is foul an aspect of covenant?

richard rahl , zed, those women in red and the mother confessor are all cunts.
i read the first four because it was like lokking at a car crash. terrible.

G.K Wren sword of the lamb. what the fuck was that about?

camber the heretic?

and the award for spinning frank herbert in his grave goes to kevin anderson for the prequels. limp and stodgy pieces of turgid shite.

[polishgenius]

frookenhauer, on Oct 2 2008, 04:42 PM, said:

so all in all a realistic character then, wouldn't you agree? If it wasn't for selfish whiny and people I'd be out of a job, so its a good thing the world is chock full of them IMO

Yeah, but realism doesn't always make for good reading, no?

My main problem when trying to read it though was that I just didn't like the writing style. A lot of the ideas were class, but I just couldn't get into it.

[Imperial Historian]

I had real difficulty with the chronicles of thomas covenant too, I loved mordants need and the gap series, but the thomas covenant series while very well written failed to entertain me, which is the key qualification in my book, I forced myself through the first trilogy hoping it would improve before I gave up.

[lord of tragedy]

not well written? thats something i really disagree with. covenant is the truest of all heroes, greatly flawed but willing to face it. the relationship with foam follower was beautiful, simple and poignant. i'll never forget the grief fire ritual with the ghosts of sea reach. donaldson's world building was spare which made its desolation all the more palpable. he functions on a far more archetypal level than erikson. his work is not the symphony of a cast of thousands that erikson plays so beautifully, rather a more intense psycholgical parable about the duality within ourselves. the last book was a tour de force of high fantasy,the way we were forced to watch spellbound as lynden journeyed with roger and the croyel.

[End of Disc One]

Crossroads of Twilight is the most obvious choice to me.

[polishgenius]

lord of tragedy, on Oct 2 2008, 10:25 PM, said:

not well written? thats something i really disagree with. covenant is the truest of all heroes, greatly flawed but willing to face it. the relationship with foam follower was beautiful, simple and poignant. i'll never forget the grief fire ritual with the ghosts of sea reach. donaldson's world building was spare which made its desolation all the more palpable. he functions on a far more archetypal level than erikson. his work is not the symphony of a cast of thousands that erikson plays so beautifully, rather a more intense psycholgical parable about the duality within ourselves. the last book was a tour de force of high fantasy,the way we were forced to watch spellbound as lynden journeyed with roger and the croyel.

Good characters and setting aren't the only makings of a good book though. I found, in the first one, that his sense of pacing was a bit meh, and the prose was just really dull.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Donaldson is the man. I may have mentioned that i feel this way at some point in the past. I get why some people don't like him though, but the things he is slammed for don't bother me like they do some people.

[mocker]

terry brooks
i read a shannara novel years ago and it was fucking horrible!
well i say 'read' but it was the only book ive ever bailed on half way thru!

Donaldson doesnt deserve to be in this list at all

This post has been edited by mocker: 03 October 2008 - 04:01 AM

[lobo the wolfman]

Sara Dougless's Axis trilogy is pretty bad, also i couldn't finsh David Zindell's The Lightstone.