Terry Brooks

[jtdolphins]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The fantasy author who really "wowed" me (other than Tolkien, who is "the master", IMHO) was Raymond Feist. I remember reading "Magician" and being absolutely bowled over by it. That was a little later than the early Brooks/Donaldson, of course. I really wish there was a legit eBook of "Magician" (the "expanded" version, of course!) available.

My Magician books are falling apart. They are in need of replacement soon. I didn't know there was an expanded version. Is it really better? Most expanded versions I have read have been a disappointment.

Fans of Feist should check out Faerie Tale, which is in ebook form.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by jtdolphins

Fans of Feist should check out Faerie Tale, which is in ebook form.

Yep - this book ended up being a reason why I gave up on Feist. This was a great book and proved to me that he could do more than just write about Midkemia/Kelewan, but he only did it once and seems to refuse to do it again.

There's just so much Midkemia I can handle before I take my leave.

[rdjack21]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Yep - this book ended up being a reason why I gave up on Feist. This was a great book and proved to me that he could do more than just write about Midkemia/Kelewan, but he only did it once and seems to refuse to do it again.

There's just so much Midkemia I can handle before I take my leave.

Yea I agree with you here I have to take a break from him as well. But over in the Fantasy Book Club group on Goodreads in this thread he states :

The final Midkemian novel? I'll probably do them here and there until I did, but the last of the ChaosWar cycle is the book after next. A thirty book series is plenty long enough.

But later on he says:

After the final Midkemia? I don't know if there is such a critter. When I'm done with the entire Riftwars Cycle, I'm going to take a bash at a couple of other things, but there's no rule that says I can't go back to Midkemia should the mood strike.

But hey if you like Feist go read the thread it's interesting. Janny Wurts shows up as well and they go back and forth about the Empire books.

[rdjack21]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Eddings may have been what you call "a one hit wonder", but it was a pretty damned good one hit . I have the "Belgariad" on my Kindle right now; it's "comfort reading" for me, and I re-read it often.

Yea I've probably read them at least 5 times each. I call him the one hit wonder because he just flat out blew me away with both the Belgariad and the Malloreon books that his other books were a disappointment to me. I generally enjoyed his other books but they were not in the same league as his first books.

[rdjack21]

Originally Posted by caleb72

As an aside, Janny Wurts is also pretty awesome herself.

Oh yea she is have you read her Cycle of Fire books?

[rschauer]

I will agree that Feist is awesome. Magician and Riftwar both. Have any of you read the Conclave of Shadows books? I picked up the first one some years ago, but never did get around to reading it. How does it compare?

As to Eddings being a one-hit wonder: yes, but I'd say that "one hit" encompasses both the Belgariad and Mallorean, which is a total of 10 books (13 if you count the spin-offs, which I haven't read). I was a big fan of those books, but I can't say I'd put him above Feist or Tolkein. And after careful consideration, I have to agree with caleb72 that Feist is at the top of that list by a nose.

Re: Piers Anthony - I loved the Xanth and Phaze/Proton books back in high school, but I can't read his stuff anymore. He just doesn't seem as good a writer to me at 30 as he did to me at 16. I tried Incarnations a while back, and couldn't get through the first book as the characters just felt too cardboard and indistinct. Bio of a Space Tyrant (whichever the first book was) didn't do it for me either; it wasn't compelling enough to make me want to read beyond the rape of the main character's sister in the very first chapter. I'm not particularly squeamish, but I don't approve of shock tactics not accompanied by substance. It's the same icky feeling I get when I try to watch Law & Order: SVU. I reluctantly gave up on him eventually.

[rschauer]

Originally Posted by jtdolphins

My Magician books are falling apart. They are in need of replacement soon. I didn't know there was an expanded version. Is it really better? Most expanded versions I have read have been a disappointment.

The version you're looking for is referred to as the "Author's Preferred Edition." It is outstanding. I haven't met another Feist reader who doesn't agree that it's better.

[jtdolphins]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Yep - this book ended up being a reason why I gave up on Feist. This was a great book and proved to me that he could do more than just write about Midkemia/Kelewan, but he only did it once and seems to refuse to do it again.

There's just so much Midkemia I can handle before I take my leave.

I also stopped reading him about this time. Not sure if I lost interest or I didn't like the following books. It was probably a bit of both. I was in high school at the time and this book got me to expand my reading. I started stepping out of reading only fantasy/sci-fi and stopped his books altogether.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rschauer

The version you're looking for is referred to as the "Author's Preferred Edition." It is outstanding. I haven't met another Feist reader who doesn't agree that it's better.

I agree entirely; it really is better in every way.

[captkjaneway]

Off topic - one of things I love about this place is the exposure to genre and authors I would not normally pick up. I have vowed to expand my reading from mindless violence, murder and autopsies..........

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by rdjack21

Oh yea she is have you read her Cycle of Fire books?

I have indeed. Lovely.

Also read To Ride Hell's Chasm, Scorecerer's Legacy and the first 3 of the Wars of Light and Shadow series.

[taosaur]

I'm conflicted about Brooks. I read the Shannara books up through Heritage when I was a kid, and I think I started Ilse Witch in college, but by that point I was reading a lot of good books, and Brooks' repetitive, melodramatic prose, arbitrary plots and two dimensional characters were intolerable. The same was true of Dean Koontz--I probably read a dozen of his books as a teenager, but trying to pick up his later works as an adult made me cringe.

However, I'm now listening to the whole Shannara audiobook series in order of events (not publication) as a bedtime story. I'm still not sure I could stomach actually reading Brooks' prose, but as an audiobook it's something easy to follow without devoting much attention, and I'm finding mediocre audiobooks work better than sleeping pills

Obviously there's some kind of appeal to the books. One thing he does quite well are big battles, as in armies clashing. Also, while he recycles the same kinds of characters from book to book (all borrowed, mostly from LotR), he does a decent job of following numerous characters and keeping them distinct within a given series.

Originally Posted by PKFFW

I did love the Word and the Void trilogy and so went on to read the Genesis of Sharanarra series but didn't think much of that.

I had the exact opposite opinion. I wouldn't recommend W&V to anyone, but found GoS the most original and most fun of the Shannara series. Granted, I'm more fan of sci-fi and post-apocalypse than fantasy in general.

I haven't read much fantasy as an adult, but Greg Bear's one foray into fantasy, Songs of Earth and Power, is a lot of fun, and his pulpy novella Hegira has fantasy elements along with being a bit mind-bendy.

As a teenager, I also enjoyed the Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman at least as much as the Shannara books.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by captkjaneway

Off topic - one of things I love about this place is the exposure to genre and authors I would not normally pick up. I have vowed to expand my reading from mindless violence, murder and autopsies..........

Last night I was thinking the exact same thing while I lurked this thread

[DiapDealer]

The problem with Eddings is that he was a one hit wonder in that the Belgariad and the Malloreon series were great but his other stuff was essentially the same story with different characters.

No "essentially" about it. They were the same story... I'm not even sure the characters were different.

Worst example of self-plagiarism I've ever seen. It got so bad in later series that he actually wrote excuses for it into the stories.

Still, the Belgariad is fantastic. I just recommend not reading any more Eddings after that first series.

[rdjack21]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

No "essentially" about it. They were the same story... I'm not even sure the characters were different.

Worst example of self-plagiarism I've ever seen. It got so bad in later series that he actually wrote excuses for it into the stories.

Still, the Belgariad is fantastic. I just recommend not reading any more Eddings after that first series.

I somewhat disagree in that I think that the Malloreon series (continuation of the Belgariad series) is just as good. But the other stuff is just as you said the "Worst example of self-plagiarism I've ever seen".