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I for one single out Brooks because he's the hack I've read. The Shannara books were some of my favorites as a tween (before "tween" was a thing), but they did not stand up to an audiobook re-read as an adult. I frequently found myself laughing or groaning at the language, and the parallels to LotR in the first book were shockingly blatant. That said, he does have his strengths--he makes battles and epic acts of magic memorable, conveying factors like terrain and tactics very well. I'm currently listening through The Belgariad for the first time, and while Eddings' has a better overall grasp of the English language, his battles are pretty vague--as relatively few battles or conflicts as there are in the books, I have a knack for falling asleep right in the middle of them.
The truth is I have a limited appetite for fantasy, especially of the Tolkien cover band variety. I find it comfortable for a brainless, non-compelling bedtime story.
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