recommended authors or series?

[Niamh Sedai]

YOU JUST COMPARED GEORGE R.R MARTIN TO ROBERT NEWCOMB??????????????

 

*is in shock* Oh how could you?

 

George R.R Martin is like... Buckingham Palace. Robert Newcomb is a rubbish old council house wasting away with little or no hope of ever being fit to let somebody live there.

 

I read "The Fifth Sorceress" last summer and it is the worst book I have ever read in my entire life! It was atrocious! I threw it away happily!! Its complete churned out crap!!

 

Actually please check out this... alternative Robert Newcomb Fan Page ;) They also have a feature called "How will Robert Jordan Die" which is fairly funny.

 

http://fifthsorceress.tripod.com/front.htm

[Guest Egwene]

thanks for the link, Niamh! Glad I am not the only one to have had murderus thougts about that book...lol

[Corki]

I knew I would cause some sort of contravesy with Nia! 8)

[Guest Egwene]

well, you certainly went to great length if you read that book for that purpose...lol

 

I have read Sarah Zettel's Isavalta trilogy as well. It's a bit confusing because it's not written in chronological order. Certainly miles above that book

[Niamh Sedai]

The story I wrote when I was 5 about a Mermaid is MILES above that thing they called a book!! *sniffs*

It should be BANNED!!! :evil:

[Guest Egwene]

Let me know where I can sign the petition, Niamh. :evil:

[Taei]

Some day people will learn that how good a book is doesn't depend on it's length, but the story behind it. They must have never read even The Eye of the World.

 

Oh, yeah, and there is another author that I just realized wasn't mentioned here. Anne McCaffey. I love her Pern series and her Acorna series. I'm not as much a fan of her sci-fi, though.

[Guest Winespring Brother]

You're right Taei in that a long book about nothing is not a good book, but for me the good books tend to be the long ones. Sad as this may sound, what often makes a book enjoyable for me is not what happens exactly, but the affinity you build up with the characters as you read the book. I could read about anything, good or bad, and if i didn't know the character I really wouldn't be that bothered about it.(Thats why I didn't gasp at the "gasp. how horrible!" moment) This understanding of the character is something that takes time and detail, hence my liking for long books, irrespective of genre. That is probably why WoT is my favourite ever series, because so much happens in such detail that you can move through every single event with the characters, until you feel like you know them and understand how they feel every time something happens to them.

 

This is also why I think that Robin Hobb's books are so great. When you go through 6 books entirely through the perspective of 1 person, you feel what they feel. It makes for a real roller-coaster journey!

[Alys Kinch]

you know, i was waiting for some one to add pratchet to the list... and discussing long and short books, i thought i might add that he is one of the best short writers i have read. i can plow through his books in an afternoon or two and still enjoy all the humor of them. and i like that all of his characters are average joes with nothing extra ordinary...

[Guest Egwene]

Pratchett - I did have a bumper edition and just could not get into it. (There is a difference between not being able to get into something and recognising something as bad!!).. so it eventually went to the car boot sale. .... anyway, picked up 'the monstrous regiment' a couple of years later in a bookshop and started reading whilst waiting for someone. After only a few pages, I decided that this was fantastic, hilarious writing.

 

Read my way through all the ones with 'Granny' in it and than all the ones were DEATH makes an appearance. Now I am onto what's left... If you want something that you can pick up whilst waiting for an appointement or during lunchtime...it's ideal. He has a brilliant way with words and you read it as much for the humour as for the story. He comes up with phrases that people memorize as useful quotes for all occassions.

[Alys Kinch]

and you just can't beat death and the other three horsemen or rincewind and the luggage.

[Jhaenara]

They've been mentioned, but George R. R. Martin and Sara Douglass.

[Sirayn]

Quick opinions on others mentioned in this thread:

 

Negative

- Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb? Possibly the worst book ever written. Summarised, women are evil, because they use evil magic, which makes them do evil things, like have evil sex, which is evil, because women are evil.

- The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass had so little original material it was actually remarkable. Every sentence contained a cliche, every plot point was a cliche, the races were ripped off of equally uninspired cliches. All in all I found it dire.

- Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind was possibly not as awful as I was anticipating, but nevertheless the writing never got above mediocre, the plotting had evidently been taken straight from Star Wars with only the names changed, and he should actually be arrested for what he did to all the ideas he ripped off the Wheel of Time.

 

Neutral

- Belgariad etc by David Eddings. Popcorn fantasy, good clean fun with nothing original or controversial. Think every cliche that exists in epic medieval fantasy, condensed into one series, made tastier by a dash of good humour and some likeable characters. Beware all his other fantasy series which are essentially ripoffs of the Belgariad.

- Baker's Boy etc by JV Jones. Also rather cliched and unoriginal. The writing is serviceable enough and this will keep you entertained for a while. I should add that this series is totally ruled by her later work, particularly the Sword of Shadows arc, which is good stuff.

 

Positive

- A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. Epic, vivid and exciting with a genuine sense of tension and danger so missing from series in which everyone lives (except where they die only to be resurrected again, and Jordan, I'm looking at you). Also packed with some of the greatest lines in fantasy.

- Charion Series by Lois McMaster Bujold. The writing style is fresh and interesting, the characters fully drawn, and thank Christ for one book in which the hero is over thirty years old! The plot itself is not spectacular but what's there is done in a stylish manner. Her sci-fi starring Miles Vorkosigan goes above good and into fantastic I think.

- Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. This is hilarity. His Commander of the City Watch, Sam Vimes, is sheer fabulousness condensed into one sarcastic form.

- Farseer Trilogy, Ship of Magic, Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Intricate, detailed political fantasy with a sympathetic hero. Ducks most of the fantasy cliches. The relationship between the hero and his best friend, the ambiguously gendered one, is fascinating, fragile and beautiful; the relationship between the hero and his other best friend, the wolf, is purely brilliant.

 

Much love!

[_Kynwric_]

I'm with Kadere... you mut read Zelazney's Amber books...

 

Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Series is also good.

[Guest Winespring Brother]

Quick opinions on others mentioned in this thread:

 

- The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass had so little original material it was actually remarkable. Every sentence contained a cliche' date=' every plot point was a cliche, the races were ripped off of equally uninspired cliches. All in all I found it dire.

 

Much love![/quote']

 

Sirayn, I'd say you had pretty good taste in books!

Still, I don't think your description of the Wayfarer Redemption covers how truly dismal the books are The whole trilogy is mindless drivel without a single ounce of inspiration or interest. How I managed to read them I never know, but i would rather have my fingernails pulled off one by one than go through the experience again.

[Guest Egwene]

Sirayn... good review.. though for me Terry Goodkind is upper end of Neutral.

 

I tend to judge by what I get out of books and I though the first books in Goodkind's 'Sword of Truth' series were quite thought provoking. The whole graphic description of torture etc. is not something I would normally appreciate in a book. But I could see how it moulded the main character and had consequences for his future behaviour (though I am not sure what it says about the writer).

[Guest Winespring Brother]

The first few books of Goodkind's are quite enjoyable in many ways, and it could be a really good story. BUT, there is something about his work that annoys me incredibly, and that is how he is constantly on some moralistic spiel about how the world should be and how everyone should behave and if they don't conform to his world view then they are just wrong. There is no grey in between in his work, just this harsh definition that people are either good, evil or just not worth bothering with.The lead charcters are simply paragons of virtue that make them a bit tough to relate to.

The way he describes the customs of different societies makes it seem that they are just foolish if they are not how he likes them, and a very harsh critique of communism or state socialism runs constantly throughout all his books.

 

Like I said, the books can be enjoyable and the story not bad, but I wish he would leave the politics out, as it ruins a good tale.

[Kadere]

Winespring Brother-

 

I don't know if you missed the point of The Sword of Truth series, but Terry Goodkind is a straight up Objectivist! His whole series is based around the Objectivist theories and principals, all of which are basically the "Wizard's Rules." He's a graduate of the "Ayn Rand Institute" and his purpose for writing is the series is a) to tell a good love story between Kahlan and Richard, and b) to preach his objectivist philosophy. The Objectivists believe in straight up capitalism and the honoring of "The Ego." Thus, Terry's books discount communists and some other cultures and ways of life.

 

If you don't agree with the theory, that's one thing, I don't agree with some parts of it, but to expect him not to go on a "moralistic spiel" when that's his intent from the start, just means you're reading the book without knowing his purpose. The books are written FOR the spiel, if you're going to read the books you just have to except it.

[Guest Winespring Brother]

Winespring Brother-

 

I don't know if you missed the point of The Sword of Truth series' date=' but Terry Goodkind is a straight up Objectivist! His whole series is based around the Objectivist theories and principals, all of which are basically the "Wizard's Rules." He's a graduate of the "Ayn Rand Institute" and his purpose for writing is the series is a) to tell a good love story between Kahlan and Richard, and b) to preach his objectivist philosophy. The Objectivists believe in straight up capitalism and the honoring of "The Ego." Thus, Terry's books discount communists and some other cultures and ways of life.

 

If you don't agree with the theory, that's one thing, I don't agree with some parts of it, but to expect him not to go on a "moralistic spiel" when that's his intent from the start, just means you're reading the book without knowing his purpose. The books are written FOR the spiel, if you're going to read the books you just have to except it.[/quote']

 

My apologies Kadere. I have no idea what the Ayn Rand institute is, nor did I realise that Gookind's sole purpose was to write charged polemics. Well, thats not entirely true, as it was obvious he was intending to preach. However, when i walk into a book store I see his books in the fantasy fiction section, and thus tend to expect fantasy fiction. If I wanted a political critique of society I would have gone to the politics section.

[Taei]

Well, speaking of critiques, and this isn't really off topic since I'm talking about books here.

 

The most interesting critiques that I've seen, and for their time they were scandelous are:

 

Farenheit 451 (No I haven't seen the movie)

A Brave New World

1984

 

Now, some of you may have read one of them, or maybe two, but I would suggest if you liked the ones you've read to read the otherones. (I know, I'm wierd, I read these for fun.)

[Kadere]

I read them all for fun! :D And I even saw the absolutely god-awful Farenheit 451 movie! And yes, all of those books are wonderful.

[Taei]

I read them all for fun! :D And I even saw the absolutely god-awful Farenheit 451 movie! And yes' date=' all of those books are wonderful.[/quote']

 

*hugs her fellow unusual reader*

 

I'm glad I'm not alone. :D

[Kadere]

Yeah! I love getting hugs from strangers! Now I feel special. :oops:

[TaeaDawn]

OK.. just read all the posts on this one and had to put my 2 cents in :P

 

I did read Farenheit 451 and though I wasn't impressed with the writing style, the theme stayed with me for the longest time.

 

The books I've read and re-read are:

 

Terry Brooks - yes Sword of Shannara, but I liked his Knight of the Word series much better.

 

Anne McCaffery - though I've had it with Pern because I can't read more than about 16 books in any series and not get bored. I liked her Talent books and the Freedom series as well (minus the last Freedom book which I was disappointed in)

 

Stephen R. Donaldson - I loved the Thomas Covenant books, no matter what he did he made a great anti-hero and I picked up the new book as soon as it was out. I coudlnt' get into his Gap series. I read 2 1/2 books in it before I finally gave up and hoped the main characters all died horrendous deaths :P

 

Anne Rice - love the Vampires, but I couldn't take all the extras she kept throwing out. It just seemed like she was milking the series to me. I also loved Servant of the Bones which is a solo book she wrote.

 

Tolkien - of course...

 

Harry Potter - I don't care who it was written for.. I lap it up every time.

 

Narnia - see Harry Potter :P

 

Dragonlance - my hubby was into them so I read 2 series out of them and actually enjoyed them.

 

Star Wars - I read about 20 books in the series (everything up until the point I stopped working at a bookstore :P) and enjoyed most of them, though in the end I just wanted them to all live happily, or unhappily ever after.

 

Laurell K. Hamilotn - I love her Anita Blake and Merry Gentry books.. but really.. same plot, different book. It really just that I love the characters soooo much and I want to see what happens next. They are pretty formulaic anymore: big bad thing happens, go in and kill/threaten something that's badder than you, piss people off, have power stimulating sex, find out you can now kill the big bad thing that used to be badder than you :P But i'm hooked and I have to see how bad she gets before she becomes one of the 'bad' things she kills. :P And I just want to see how wierd Merry sex life is gonna get.

 

And speaking of wierd sex life... the Kushiel series by Jacqueline Carey. Don't read if you find S&M offensive. It's not the whole plot, but when they main character experiences pain as pleasure.. you're bound to see it a lot.

 

 

And since I worked in a bookstore for like 5 years (very detrimental to my checking account no matter how good the discount was) I read just a couple books that were suggested that stood out to me:

 

Enchantment by Orson Scott Card.

Dead Zone & Salems Lot by Stephen King

The Jester by James Patteron

Mina by Maria Kiraly

Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Foundation Series by Issac Assimov

 

And of course, all this is led by my own philosophy which is... Escapism. I have too much real life in my real life. I enjoy my books for escapism purposed alone. If it takes me to another place and keeps me there, I don't care about plot holes, bad writing, or impossibilities. Except perfect characters. Those just annoy me to no end :P

 

So anyway.. there is my have read list. Though i'm certainly going to be hitting amazon soon with this page open so I can take up some of the recommendations. Seeing way toooo much George Martin not to try it :P

[Alys Kinch]

Anne Rice: i read her lasher series... kept reading to try to find out exactly what was going on. it was intriguing and interesting enough when i was 14, but i haven't read anything of hers since. definately different from anything else i had read.