[Grief]

The presence of Abercrombie in this thread makes me happy. I will never understand his popularity.

Also Gene Wolfe's Wizard Knight books, which I found tedious.

[Morgoth]

Traveller, on 16 December 2015 - 10:18 AM, said:

Blood Song.

Found it boring, predictable and gave it up about three quarters of the way through. And I hardly ever do that.

I agree, It was a book I felt I had read many times before.

[Slow Ben]

Bakker. Prince of Nothing.

Forced my way through the first book in the trilogy Got 2/3 of the way through the 2nd and have no desire to pick it up again. Only a desire to stay as far from that awful series as possible.

This post has been edited by Slow Ben: 16 December 2015 - 03:47 PM

[Esa1996]

I don't hate either of these, and will continue reading them as new books come out but they are IMO overrated:

Kingkiller Chronicles. Good characterization, decent worldbuilding and a somewhat lame plot don't equal the hype this series gets IMO. Kvothe is great, but the plot is pretty pointless. It's just things happening one after the other. Also, there's no epic endings here. The world building is okay, but not great.

The Second Apocalypse: Good worldbuilding, decent characterization and a somewhat lame plot don't equal the... The world and the history are really interesting but the characters are somewhat boring and the plot is simple as ****. I knew where the third book would end by the time I was halfway through book 1. I knew where the 6th book was going to end probably at some point in book 2. I've got to say though that while the ending of book 4 was a total LotR rip-off, it was on of the best endings I've ever read. One of the few non-Malazan endings that can compare with Malazan (Wow. What a sentence )

[Salt-Man Z]

Esa1996, on 16 December 2015 - 03:59 PM, said:

I don't hate either of these, and will continue reading them as new books come out but they are IMO overrated:

Kingkiller Chronicles

Agreed. I actually love The Name of the Wind: I think it's beautifully written and a solid opener for the trilogy. And if the second book drops the ball a little, it's still pretty good. But to constantly see the series making it to (or near) the top of all of these "best fantasy series of all time" lists when only 2/3 of it has been released, and very little has actually happened (plot-wise) so far, just boggles my mind.

[Abyss]

Esa1996, on 16 December 2015 - 03:59 PM, said:

I don't hate either of these, and will continue reading them as new books come out but they are IMO overrated:

Kingkiller Chronicles. Good characterization, decent worldbuilding and a somewhat lame plot don't equal the hype this series gets IMO. Kvothe is great, but the plot is pretty pointless. It's just things happening one after the other. Also, there's no epic endings here. The world building is okay, but not great.

...

Salt-Man Z, on 16 December 2015 - 04:25 PM, said:

Esa1996, on 16 December 2015 - 03:59 PM, said:

I don't hate either of these, and will continue reading them as new books come out but they are IMO overrated:

Kingkiller Chronicles

Agreed. I actually love The Name of the Wind: I think it's beautifully written and a solid opener for the trilogy. And if the second book drops the ball a little, it's still pretty good. But to constantly see the series making it to (or near) the top of all of these "best fantasy series of all time" lists when only 2/3 of it has been released, and very little has actually happened (plot-wise) so far, just boggles my mind.

Dragoncow.

'nuff said.

[Salt-Man Z]

Abyss, on 16 December 2015 - 05:22 PM, said:

Dragoncow.

Heh. I recently found out they made a promo character of it for the boardgame King of Tokyo:

[QuickTidal]

People seem to love THE WINDUP GIRL by Paolo Bacigalupi...and it made me want to punch him in his face repeatedly. I've rarely been that annoyed by an authors on-display pretension. What a bag of goddamned wind. I have no idea why people enjoy that book, let alone find it award-worthy. Fuck that guy.

PANDORAS STAR by Peter F. Hamilton....Noooooooope. Tried his stuff and found he suffers from the "I talk too friggin much" gene. He uses 5 sentences when one will do, making his books 3 times the size they should be.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

The Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, and War of Souls as well.

Read them when I was younger and enjoyed them as switch-brain-off fair, but they really haven't stood the test of me being older than about 14. They're diabolical.

Oh, an R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms stuff. Painful is the only word I have for it.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 16 December 2015 - 07:51 PM

[Itwæs Nom]

joining Prince of Nothing club

I would enjoy watching them burn, but they have quite nice covers imho...

[Una]

Count me as one who doesn't like Joe Abercrombie either. I mean, I should. He shows up in every "if you like that, then you'll like this.." list, but I've ever read THE BLADE ITSELF and didn't like it enough the read the second book. I picked up BEST SERVED COLD because it was on sale and I thought I'd give him another try. The stories seem like they would be interesting enough, but something about them just left me feeling cold and empty at the end and that's not what I read for. It's weird. It's like all the elements of a good read are there except the heart.

[montyswingwell]

Anybody read Michael Moorcocks Elric saga? And if so, what did you think?

[Mentalist]

montyswingwell, on 17 December 2015 - 12:17 AM, said:

Anybody read Michael Moorcocks Elric saga? And if so, what did you think?

I'm in the process of reading the entire Eternal Champion sequence.
there's a tread in the Featured reviews subforum.

so far only read the very early Elric stuff. Very mixed. Good as a deconstruction of the fantasy archetypes, but not all of it holds up by modern standards.

[Baco Xtath]

Gotta say, Abercrombie is one of my favorite fantasy authors with the Heroes being one of my top five fantasy books. Ya bunch of heathens. Just goes to show how different tastes can run.

[Nicodimas]

Charlie Nom, on 16 December 2015 - 10:25 PM, said:

joining Prince of Nothing club

It's weird I really want to like them they have such great reviews, but never can finish even the first. Just soooo boring..where is the hook?.

[Nicodimas]

Salt-Man Z, on 16 December 2015 - 04:25 PM, said:

Esa1996, on 16 December 2015 - 03:59 PM, said:

I don't hate either of these, and will continue reading them as new books come out but they are IMO overrated:

Kingkiller Chronicles

Agreed. I actually love The Name of the Wind: I think it's beautifully written and a solid opener for the trilogy. And if the second book drops the ball a little, it's still pretty good. But to constantly see the series making it to (or near) the top of all of these "best fantasy series of all time" lists when only 2/3 of it has been released, and very little has actually happened (plot-wise) so far, just boggles my mind.

If you think there is no plot to Kingkiller you didn't read it right. The series is awesome..so far..

There is a ton of stuff going on in the background that you don't pick up until you read it and study it say 4-5 times. Ok I am fanboy of that particular series..can't wait until 3.

[Salt-Man Z]

"There's lots of stuff in the background!" isn't much of an argument against "There's not a lot of plot."

Look, I get a lot of what Rothfuss is doing (I've read all the Tor.com read-alongs and dissections, and much of what he's hidden away in there is amazing) but the point remains that we're supposedly 60% of the way through the series, and Kvothe's still at the Academy doing what he was doing early in the first book. Yes, Book 3 could tie it all together amazingly (and as a big fan of the series so far, I hope it does!) but until the trilogy's complete, I don't feel that it's actually accomplished anything; it's all setup (wonderful setup) and we're still waiting for the payoff.

[Abyss]

Mentalist, on 17 December 2015 - 12:23 AM, said:

montyswingwell, on 17 December 2015 - 12:17 AM, said:

Anybody read Michael Moorcocks Elric saga? And if so, what did you think?

I'm in the process of reading the entire Eternal Champion sequence.
there's a tread in the Featured reviews subforum.

so far only read the very early Elric stuff. Very mixed. Good as a deconstruction of the fantasy archetypes, but not all of it holds up by modern standards.

Agreed. There's brilliance in there but also some fairly clunky writing. Overall I enjoy Moorcock and especially Elric, but I've never considered it flawless.

Nicodimas, on 17 December 2015 - 01:26 AM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 16 December 2015 - 04:25 PM, said:

Esa1996, on 16 December 2015 - 03:59 PM, said:

I don't hate either of these, and will continue reading them as new books come out but they are IMO overrated:

Kingkiller Chronicles

Agreed. I actually love The Name of the Wind: I think it's beautifully written and a solid opener for the trilogy. And if the second book drops the ball a little, it's still pretty good. But to constantly see the series making it to (or near) the top of all of these "best fantasy series of all time" lists when only 2/3 of it has been released, and very little has actually happened (plot-wise) so far, just boggles my mind.

If you think there is no plot to Kingkiller you didn't read it right. The series is awesome..so far..

There is a ton of stuff going on in the background that you don't pick up until you read it and study it say 4-5 times. Ok I am fanboy of that particular series..can't wait until 3.

Salt-Man Z, on 17 December 2015 - 03:58 AM, said:

"There's lots of stuff in the background!" isn't much of an argument against "There's not a lot of plot."

Look, I get a lot of what Rothfuss is doing (I've read all the Tor.com read-alongs and dissections, and much of what he's hidden away in there is amazing) but the point remains that we're supposedly 60% of the way through the series, and Kvothe's still at the Academy doing what he was doing early in the first book. Yes, Book 3 could tie it all together amazingly (and as a big fan of the series so far, I hope it does!) but until the trilogy's complete, I don't feel that it's actually accomplished anything; it's all setup (wonderful setup) and we're still waiting for the payoff.

Part of my problem with the series, other than the dragon cow, is the lack of events. The major action, the clashes, the epic parts in epic fantasy, seem to be offscreen or just hinted at. Rothfuss doesn't even build to a big finish so much as just end each book more or less where he started it. I recognize there is a rich background and even world there, but that just doesn't carry a book for me, esp when the parts I actually enjoy are just framing narrative around Harry Potter redux. Aldo, dragon cow. Actually, mostly dragon cow.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Abyss, on 17 December 2015 - 05:23 AM, said:

Part of my problem with the series, other than the dragon cow, is the lack of events. The major action, the clashes, the epic parts in epic fantasy, seem to be offscreen or just hinted at. Rothfuss doesn't even build to a big finish so much as just end each book more or less where he started it. I recognize there is a rich background and even world there, but that just doesn't carry a book for me, esp when the parts I actually enjoy are just framing narrative around Harry Potter redux. Aldo, dragon cow. Actually, mostly dragon cow.

I re-read them recently and have to agree. I really enjoyed them the first time, the setting is fascinating, but the actual story on a second read didn't hold up for me. As you say, no "epic" to speak of and the majority of it reads like "Kvothe has no money - Kvothe has money - Kvothe looks like having the opportunity to have more money - Kvothe has no money" ad nauseum.

There's enough there that I will read Doors of Stone if and when it ever emerges, because I do love the setting and certain aspects (the Chandrian, Lanre etc) are pretty interesting and I want to know more. Denna, the other mystery, I don't care about in the slightest though.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 17 December 2015 - 07:03 AM

[acesn8s]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 16 December 2015 - 07:17 AM, said:

Andorion, on 16 December 2015 - 01:51 AM, said:

I disliked Abercrombie because to me it was a pretty generic fantasy story which the author was using to try to subvert tropes, but he tried this subversion too hard and too blatantly, until I felt that there was hardly any story and just subversion. It wasn't even funny.

Only tried The Blade Itself, and I didn't get more than two thirds of the way through for mostly the same reasons.

I thought The Blade Itself was simply an OK book. It ended nicely enough that got me to want to read book 2 to see what happens next. Book 2 hooked me.