[Arkmam]

Danyah said:

http://1.myfreebulle...wn-forum-6.html

It's a joke by Goodkind haters

Illuyankas: http://www.dcs.gla.a...c/eyeargon.html
:D

[Illuyankas]

Every time read that, I always start crying... It's just so, so.... so.

[Astra]

Thomas Covenant Chronicles by S. Donaldson

Redemption of Althalus by Mr and Missis Eddings.

[Werthead]

My friend started reading The Tamuli, despite my attempts to stop him. He's now halfway through the book and reports that he has to motivate himself just to turn the page. He is adamant that he will finish a book that even defeated me though, since I usually persevere way past he puts a book down (the damn fool even gave up on Gardens of the Moon before it got to Darujhistan!).

Recently rediscovered my copy of Wizard's First Rule which I forgot I actually owned. Flipping through it, I noted it is far, far, far worse than what I had previously remembered. Thinking of hanging on to it as the perfect example of how an author can write absolute garbage and make stacks of money out of it.

[Astra]

Actually, Tamuli is 10 folds better than Redemption of Althalus. Can you imagine what sort of crap is RoA? After RoA I have told myself I won't read anything written by Mr Eddings AND Missis Eddings.
I have read Belgariad, Elenium and right now I am 1/3 through a third book of Tamuli. Tamuli, imho, is the best of all of them. Cannot say it is a brilliant work, but it has its positive sides for me at least . It has a few unexpected twists, unlike Belgariad and Elenium. On the other hand it is very "easy going". You don't have to think too much. I am very busy nowdays, studying a lot and so on, it helps to relax. Also, when you want to fall asleep it is easy to close the book and put it down, you don't have an urge to keep on reading through all the night, which would terribly upset my wife

I am interested what your friend is going to say when he finishes to read it

[Morgoth]

the tamuli though, is frightfully.. simple. Or so I thought anyways. One knew the heroes would win early in the first book (or so I seem to remember. Been a while since I read them). The whole thing was just victories upon victories with no great challenge anywhere in sight. Even the kidnapping thingy never created a spark of suspense. At least not for me.

What truly anoyed med about those books though, was the; my wife will go insane if she finds out her daughter is a godess concept. It was just so dumbt it made me gritt my teeth..

[Abyss]

When i read the Belgariad i was young enough and unread enough to be impressed. When I read the Mallorean, ok, i got the fact that he was recycling much of Belgariad, but hell, he even acknowledged he was doing this, so it worked for what it was. The Elenium had some fun characters, but the Tamuli was the point at which i realized Eddings had staledated for me. Reading Althalus (years later) was a horrid mistake brought on by nostalgia and an airport bookstore seconds away from closing with a long wait still ahead.

- Abyss, wants those braincells back, dammit.

[Astra]

Morgoth said:

the tamuli though, is frightfully.. simple.

Yep, totally agree with you. I have had Tamuli for 3 years on my bookshelves. I have been waiting for a moment in my life when I need something as simple as Tamuli, reading it now
Sure it is not a serious fantasy.
Although, after Redemption of Althalus, Tamuli feelks like a very serious one!
In Tamuli, Eddings at least has defined some limitation of the godess. In RoA, she has unlimited powers. Here you literally have a victory after the victory, while in Tamuli there is a small pretence, that maybe some nice char is going to die. You know he won't but sometimes you don't know how the char is going to be saved

I do not defend it, it is very simple.

Btw., I have read some reviews on SE., that he has got similar problems. His soldiers are always seasoned vetarans who never pee in their trousers and all over confident of themselves and always win. It was said as an oposite to G.C Black Company where his main chars would loose the battle quite often and even die.

Your thoughts about it?
(I have just received Book 1 of SE a few hours ago, but I am not going to read it in a near future.)

[Brys]

Strange that some reviews say SE's characters always live, because they're clearly ignoring some of the most important facts of the books (like the end of every book other than Gardens of the Moon). "It was said as an oposite to G.C Black Company " - opposite? Erikson's basically the epic-scale, more complex, longer, better-written version of Cook's Black Company. The entire military aspect of Erikson's series is very similar to Glen Cook's, and whatever reviews were suggesting that clearly can't have read past Gardens of the Moon, or got very confused.

[Astra]

Maybe it is my fault, I phrazed it badly.
They said it is similar to G.C., but the difference is that G.C.'s soldiers are more realistic and not super heroes like S.E.'s.

[Astra]

Btw., first book in Black Company was quite difficult to follow as well. However, the series are excellent. I just had to manage through first half of the fitst book

[opiate taylor]

I disagree that Erikson's books are written better than Cook's. While I agree that both authors write with completely different voices and styles, I do not find Cook's writing inferior in any way to Erikson's. Hell, in ways, I like Cook's style better. Erikson can get a bit wordy at times. Cook writes with more economy, which for me means more impact. Of course, I had never even considered reading Cook until Erikson mentioned him and the BC in an interview I read. I think Erikson is the most successful advertisement for Cook's work yet.
And while I'm on the subject, those of you who haven't read the Dread Empire series by Cook will have the chance to do so this year when Night Shade publishes the Dread Empire omnibus entitled A Cruel Wind. The DE books are on more of an epic scale than are the BC books, with lots of characters, locations, and sub-plots. Great stuff.


http://www.nightshad...spx?authorid=64

[Brys]

astra_lestat said:

Maybe it is my fault, I phrazed it badly.
They said it is similar to G.C., but the difference is that G.C.'s soldiers are more realistic and not super heroes like S.E.'s.

I don't think you phrased it badly, I think it's just the review. Where was it from BTW? The main ones I can think of haven't mentioned this at all.

The thing is most soldiers have no special ability in SE - no more than most of Glen Cook's characters, any way. There are some very powerful characters, yes, but there were in Glen Cook as well - the Ten who were Taken for example, and those reviewers are ignoring some key points there.

Quote

Hell, in ways, I like Cook's style better. Erikson can get a bit wordy at times. Cook writes with more economy, which for me means more impact.

I prefer "wordy" styles though, so it's natural SE's style appeals to me more. Erikson's writing improves with every book as well, while Cook's just stays mediocre throughout - very simple and completely lacking in evocative description, but fast paced. For an author who does economy well, I think of Gene Wolfe rather than Glen Cook.

Quote

Of course, I had never even considered reading Cook until Erikson mentioned him and the BC in an interview I read. I think Erikson is the most successful advertisement for Cook's work yet.

Same here, I'd never even heard of Glen Cook until Erikson mentioned him.

[Werthead]

Brys said:

I prefer "wordy" styles though, so it's natural SE's style appeals to me more. Erikson's writing improves with every book as well, while Cook's just stays mediocre throughout - very simple and completely lacking in evocative description, but fast paced. For an author who does economy well, I think of Gene Wolfe rather than Glen Cook.

I think of Paul Kearney, Arthur C. Clarke or Jack Vance when someone mentions an economically-written book. With Wolfe he is capable of writing very short books and very large ones (such as BotNS, although it was published in shorter instalments).

Brys said:

Same here, I'd never even heard of Glen Cook until Erikson mentioned him.

I'd heard of him but never read him. His books are not widely available in the UK from the look of things.

[Astra]

Werthead said:

I'd heard of him but never read him. His books are not widely available in the UK from the look of things.

Yeah, for some obscure reason you cannot buy them in big book shops like Waterstone. However, you can order them from Amazon.co.uk. Sometimes they don't have all 10 in stock at the same time but the stock changes, so with a bit of patience you can buy all of them.
I really liked him. The only thing that I disliked about BC was that he has drawn in too much of religion from our world. Even the names of characters suggest it. Not that I have a problem with the religion, but when it resembles too closely a real religion it makes it harder to stay within Fantasy boundaries. The whole point of Fantasy for me - completely forget about our world and let yourself to be immersed in a world of fantasy. Otherwise Black Company was a page turner for me, although it is definetely not an Epic Fantasy like Tolkien’s.

[Whelp]

IMHO the main difference between Cook and Erikson is that Cook's writing tends more towards dark fantasy, whereas Erikson has more "epic" tendencies. But, both are worth reading, as they have created worlds that are alive, and characters that have personalities.

[Astra]

opiate taylor said:

And while I'm on the subject, those of you who haven't read the Dread Empire series by Cook will have the chance to do so this year when Night Shade publishes the Dread Empire omnibus entitled A Cruel Wind. The DE books are on more of an epic scale than are the BC books, with lots of characters, locations, and sub-plots. Great stuff.


http://www.nightshad...spx?authorid=64

Thanks for the tip.
Pre ordered it on a.co.uk.
I wonder whether they are going to publish the rest of the series later.
http://www.isfdb.org...a.cgi?Glen_Cook
Is it a correct list? The only review that I have found was on amazon.com and it was very negative http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/042506320...glance&n=283155, although the guy has liked BC.

[Shryval]

Redemption of Althalus is suitable only for loo-paper, and even then I'd feel sorry for the arse that it rubbed upon. I read and enjoyed Eddings when I was younger, but even then I quickly understood Eddings "formula" and, because I was young and didn't know any better, was able to forgive it. But RoA.... there's something wrong in a world where RoA appears in so many fantasy sections of bookshops, and Steven Erikson is nowhere to be seen.

Orcs by Stan Nicholls is bad. What might of been an original(ish) idea fades quickly into a series of battles in which the band of Orcs on which it centres win and win and win again, usually against ridiculous odds and almost certainly without loss of any life. Their motivation? Collecting bits of a puzzle that'll unleash some super sercret at the end. It's like a computer game, but nowhere near as much fun.

Most recently, Ian Irvine's Shadow on the Glass. I was bored and trying to kill time before Bonehunters came out. This book, quickly abandoned, did at least have one thing in common with Erikson's masterpieces - it made me laugh out loud in places. Places where the book was just so bad, I actually enjoyed them. A peculiar perversion this, and it afflicts me with movies too. Alexander, for example: Colin Farell can't shift his irish accent so the director decides that everyone else must adopt it and pretend that's how ancient greeks spoke.

"Bijesus, would ya be lookin at the soize of dat Wooden Horse over der Shemus."

[Urko Crust]

QuickTidal said:

Oh man, I forgot about McCaffrey.....TRIED really hard to read Dragonflight....got so very annoyed...gave up like 40 pages in.

Anne Mcaffery is the Sci Fi equivalent of Eddings, But the latest book Dragonsblood is written by her son, Todd Mcaffery and is definately worth reading.

worst book ever: the ill made mute by some crap author. only book i have never finished

[Astra]

Oh my, I completely forgot about this one. It is so utterly horrible that my mind has blocked away any memories about it. It is the only book I have not finished to read in the last 15 years.
Guess what?


The Soddit
Adam Roberts

Avoid at any cost.