Oaf wrote:I quite liked the first series of David Eddings (the Belgariad, yeah?), but I got partway through the first book of the second series and realised he was telling the same story all over again!
That was actually part of the story believe it or not.
Yeah, but ten books, with two climaxes, to tell the story that could be summarised as a "fantasy version of the bible"? And if you don't believe that, then re-read them and compare to any New Testament book written by one of the Apostles (allegedly).
No other fantasy series has yet earned the accolade of "Closest to the Bible" from me. And I've read a whole load...
"I say we take off and nuke the drive from orbit..."
I really enjoyed all 10 books. I've re-read them lots too. Same with the other series he wrote (Sparhawk stuff). I tried the first book in his current series and couldn't finish it. Total load of absolute toss drivel. It took a lot of the things that I enjoyed from his other books and turned them into crap, badly written cliches.
I don´t do bad books, but one I really wanted to like and came away thoroughly disappointed with, was Chris Bachelder´s Bear V. Shark: The Novel.
Innovative, yes. Interesting, no.
Most people I talk to seem to like it, but for me that was just a waste of time.
Nick Walker´s BlackBox falls into the same category with me BTW.
Actually, I don't think I've managed to read LOTR through to the end, I sort of get partway through ROTK and get bored...
Oh, and Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings - sucked big time. Standard Eddings characters + the fact that none of the characters were ever in any danger at all 'cos they were so clever and always at least 2 steps ahead of the bad guys...
A lot of the Star Wars novels out there suck. Especially anything by Kevin J Anderson.
There's probably worse I've read though (mostly old 50's/60's sci-fi novels) I'll try and remember to have a dig through my shelves.
pyroxian wrote:
A lot of the Star Wars novels out there suck. Especially anything by Kevin J Anderson.
There's probably worse I've read though (mostly old 50's/60's sci-fi novels) I'll try and remember to have a dig through my shelves.
Steve
Well duh. The only truly outstanding SW novels have been by Timothy Zahn. He asctually had a crack at making the SW properly Gun again, and succeeded to no small degree.
"Shouting lager, lager, lager, lager. Shouting lager, lager, lager, lager. Is just one of the reasons you're not welcome at Claridges any more". -Psychic Bob
tufty wrote:I can't believe that the wondrous Jeffrey Archer hasn't been mentioned. Utter cack.
Oh yes, I remember reading one of "his" "books". At about 1/3 of the way through the novel I saw the Sledgehammer Of Plot hanging above my head like the sword of Damocles. I was hoping that there'd be an extra twist or I was wrong, but unfortunately the thing that was telegraphed five hundred pages ago was the big twist the book had been building up to.
Probably the 'Biography of a Space Tyrant' series, by Piers Anthony. I got into him after reading the fabby Omnivore, Orn, Ox trilogy, but Space Tyrant sucks balls.
I read the whole of the first novel, despite the fact that it was agonisingly drawn out and almost laughably repetative...'Our ship was attacked by space pirates...a month passed...our ship was suddenly sieged by space pirates again, and my father was killed...a few weeks passed...'. I only kept reading because I kept expecting that the most recent attack would be the last. Then I read few hundred pages of the second book, and it was just as bloody boring. Avoid.
Actually, I don't think I've managed to read LOTR through to the end, I sort of get partway through ROTK and get bored...
Oh, and Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings - sucked big time. Standard Eddings characters + the fact that none of the characters were ever in any danger at all 'cos they were so clever and always at least 2 steps ahead of the bad guys...
A lot of the Star Wars novels out there suck. Especially anything by Kevin J Anderson.
There's probably worse I've read though (mostly old 50's/60's sci-fi novels) I'll try and remember to have a dig through my shelves.
Steve
yeah , reading the Silmarillion was a bit of a waste of time wasn't it eh?
Tales of Tom Bombadill much better
"And then I realized... like I was shot... like I was shot with a diamond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought: My God... the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure."
betamax wrote:Well duh. The only truly outstanding SW novels have been by Timothy Zahn. He asctually had a crack at making the SW properly Gun again, and succeeded to no small degree.
I do quite like the first 4 X-Wing novels, they're pretty good, although a bit popcorny. It's required reading if you're planning on playing a fighter pilot in a Star Wars RPG though.
