As far as Brooks goes, I read the trilogy when it was first published but didn't go any further. I re-read them several years ago and was surprised at how awkward the writing was in the first book, but each of the following books seemed to be getting better, as far as the writing was concerned.
I haven't read anything else by him, except maybe for the Star Wars prequel novelization.
And I wasn't outraged at the Tolkien ripoff. I
wanted more Tolkien.
