Quote:
Originally Posted by llreader
Well, I will have to check out 'Dancers at the End of Time'. He certainly didn't do a bad job with "Veterans of the Psychic Wars". ;-)
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Didn't know Psychic Wars was an actual book title. I only knew to be a Blue Oyster Cult song. Any more information on this? =)
I also have to chime in with a defense of Terry Brooks. Everyone is upset over the Tolkien similarities. It's really quite funny, he is on record (Check out "Sometimes the Magic Works) as saying he knew he was writing a Tolkien clone. It was mostly written when he was bored with practicing law and used as an out (I know how boring legalese can get)
I'll admit that he lost focus and then gained it back...then lost it again. He's largely been rather hit/miss as of late, but I still diligently pick up his works every time they are released. Actually, I'm a big fan of his Running with the Demon/Armageddon's Children stuff that became the real prologue to his world.
I'll also have to add Weiss/Hickmann to the stinker pile. I loved them when I was younger. I mean really loved them. I went back to reread Dragons of Autumn Twilight about two months ago and couldn't get past the first three chapters. It's amazing how our tastes have changed. They've improved and then went back to crud several times over the past twenty years. I thought they picked up steam again with their "War of Souls" trilogy.
They just recently finished the "Lost Chronicles" trilogy and wrote stories that took place between the pages of their original trilogy. And I have to say, I'm not a fan of the omniscient narrator that they use. There's also a bunch of "Show, don't tell" moments that I've had.
Needless to say, I trudged through Dragons of Dwarven Depths and was able to understand the POV character as the fly on the wall god, Gilean. I think the whole series is based from his perspective, actually.
But, I got to the point halfway through "Dragons of the Highlord Skies" were I was just like enough is enough already.
They're perfect for young adult audiences, and my brother loves them (And resident evil tie-ins)
But he's 16. Ten years later, they just don't have the same charm they held for me at his age. Which is sad, really - I would love to have the same wonder that I had on first read.
But, since this is about books we don't like...I have to throw my hat into the ring and say that I couldn't get into Glen Cook to save my life. I trudged though about 50 pages and gave up.
I also lost my mind somewhere through Brent Weeks' "Way of Shadows"
And contrary to popular opinion, David Anthony Durham did it to me with "Acacia."
Since he's primarily a historic/fiction writer, I can understand his love of the info dump. But really, sometimes it's just too much. Too soon. The whole first few chapters were like one giant info dump. The Princess is in school, learning from the headmaster (who just happens to be teaching world history on this day)
Go figure.