Fantasy authors you (and I) should NEVER read

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by BenG

I read about a quarter of the first book and gave up.
Richard's brothers' speech near the beginning invoking memories of his murdered father to manipulate the crowd ruined the book for me after I realized that the speech would best be read by Jim Carrey in "Ace Ventura" mode.

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I just saw this thread....I disagree about Robert Jordan, he's a little slow yeah, but I do enjoy his books, and I loved the Raymond Feist Magician books.

But those covers are classic!! The Raymond Feist cover is PRICELESS!!!

[WillAdams]

McKiernan and Vardeman.

[drofgnal]

I went through about half the thread. It would seem that Brooks and Donaldson are right up top in terms of frequency of anti-recommendations!

The series I always tell people to avoid, is very well written. George RR Martin's A song of fire and ice. Its not the writing I find bad, the first three books were fantastic. Book 4 was a let down. Its the authors seemingly inability to actually finish the series that leads me to tell people to avoid it at all cost.

Well football season is almost over and his beloved Jets are out, maybe he'll start writing again and get book 5 out the door. Who knows when we'll see 6 or 7?

[Anke Wehner]

In addition to that, people who are looking for fluff and happiness, rather than dark themes and lots of death, might want to steer clear of the Song of Ice and Fire books, too.

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I went through about half the thread. It would seem that Brooks and Donaldson are right up top in terms of frequency of anti-recommendations!

The series I always tell people to avoid, is very well written. George RR Martin's A song of fire and ice. Its not the writing I find bad, the first three books were fantastic. Book 4 was a let down. Its the authors seemingly inability to actually finish the series that leads me to tell people to avoid it at all cost.

Well football season is almost over and his beloved Jets are out, maybe he'll start writing again and get book 5 out the door. Who knows when we'll see 6 or 7?

It's kind of the reason I ended up selling my books from him, even though they are autographed. Even Jordan didn't leave a freakin 5 year gap between novels. And Book 4 really was only the first half of the book, but the publishers didn't want a book that long to publish, so he split it into Feast for Cros and Dance with Dragons.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

Regarding hit-and-miss authors... I gave some Gaiman books a try after reading Good Omens. I liked American Gods OK, but most of what else I tried (including Sandman) had too much of a "this is DEEP and MYSTICAL" vibe that put me off.

I'm trying really hard to like Gaiman, but I think I'm done with him. I loved loved loved his Fragile Things short story collection, and Coraline was pretty interesting as well. But Neverwhere, Stardust and American Gods (which I'm finishing right now) are all so boring and anticlimactic. I don't remember specifics of why I disliked Neverwhere and Stardust, but American Gods has all these really weird product placements, overly-descriptive short sentences that don't really fit with the rest of the story, and random short stories and jokes that never seem to go anywhere. It's more disjointed than anything. I wish he would stick to short stories, as that seems to be his forte.

[BenG]

I liked Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series even if his hero was unlikeable sometimes, but his science fictional Gap series was too much for me. I read the first three books and gave up. There was not a single character I wanted to root for. They were all bastards

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I went through about half the thread. It would seem that Brooks and Donaldson are right up top in terms of frequency of anti-recommendations!

The series I always tell people to avoid, is very well written. George RR Martin's A song of fire and ice. Its not the writing I find bad, the first three books were fantastic. Book 4 was a let down. Its the authors seemingly inability to actually finish the series that leads me to tell people to avoid it at all cost.

Well football season is almost over and his beloved Jets are out, maybe he'll start writing again and get book 5 out the door. Who knows when we'll see 6 or 7?

I like Brooks Shannara books. Well, the ones I've read. And I do like Donaldson's Covenant books. I've read most of them. I am two books behind what's released.

[Kemp]

I liked the second book in Donaldson's Covenant (the first set) because it focused much less on Covenant himself as a character. I have an overall "meh" feeling about that series because Thomas Covenant was just way too unlikable. Sure, it was unique to have a real-world person transported to a fantasy realm and not be altered. A raccoon in a cowboy hat is also unique.

I agree with Gaiman's anticlimactic nature, especially in American Gods. *half-spoiler* Here we are in this gigantic battle, and we all stop because the guy over there said some stuff about things. Oh, I guess it's time to go home now.

Terry Goodkind... I enjoyed Wizard's First Rule, but you can read just that 14 times over to get the gist of the whole series. "I love you Kahlan." "I love you too Richard, but we can't be together because of some unspoken evil which conveniently escalates." And why does Goodkind always look so pissed in every picture taken of him?

[bert501]

Originally Posted by Kemp

...And why does Goodkind always look so pissed in every picture taken of him?

maybe he accidentally read one of his own books?

[Kurt]

OMG!!!
I loved the first set (much better than tolkien which i couldn't read)
just wish i could get them as ebooks

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Some of you will give me crap for this but I propose avoiding Stephen R. Donaldson's "Thomas Covenant" series. It wasn't badly written but I guess I just need SOMEONE to empathize with. I think all it did was give me a headache (as did some of Tolkien's meanderings but THAT at least had a payoff).

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by bert501

maybe he accidentally read one of his own books?

Thank you, coffee all over my desk....

Writers to avoid for me:
- Donaldson with his Covenant series. Could get through book 2...
- Terry Brooks. Tough to read and uses each cliche
- Later work of Pratchett
- Eddings, most work
- David Gemmel, Drenai cycle. The first few were mediocre, but the rest...

[TheLongshot]

Originally Posted by BenG

I liked Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series even if his hero was unlikeable sometimes, but his science fictional Gap series was too much for me. I read the first three books and gave up. There was not a single character I wanted to root for. They were all bastards

I thought the first Gap novel was a decent intellectual excercise in that everything isn't quite what it appears to me, but I didn't really have a desire to read more.

My problem with Donaldson is with his obsession with rape. Either his main character commits rape at some point, or is raped (depending on if the character is male or female). That really puts me off him. That being said, I did like reading the Mordant's Need books, if just because that for once I could actually relate to the main character.

To add to the list of authors that shouldn't be touched with a 10 foot pole: Sara Douglass. "The Wayfarer Redemption" is a mess of a book and really put me off of reading anything else she has written.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Agreed on Sara Douglass. I gave it a good try and read Sinner, Pilgrim and Crusader and it was less than not satisfying.

[EatingPie]

I liked Thomas Covenant, but I will not argue with anyone who hates the books because I get why. I never read any of his other work.

The thread is old, and I don't remember if I said this before...

Robert Holdstock is a level of awful that shocks me, but perplexes me all the same.

I read Where Time Winds Blow as a youth, and thought it was embarrassingly stupid, insulting to my intelligence as a reader, even.

Then came this absolute gem, Mythago Wood which I read in college not knowing it was the same author of Time Winds. THIS book was awesome and well-written and loaned out to many people who all loved it. Pure brilliance... and then... followed up by a sequel that was total sh... er... garbage! Ugh!!!

Mythago Wood was based on Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and well done. In the sequel, Holdstock used the same setting but shoe-horned in Campbell's follow-up Masks of God. It was awful, inappropriate, and totally sh... er... awful.

I think I'm most bothered by the fact that he had a great book, and then dropped the ball so badly it passed through the Earth's core and ended up in China.

At least Frank Herbert started good, and was consistently bad from then on. I never thought I'd appreciate that quality.

-Pie