What are series that u LOVED early, that got progessively WORSE and Ended BADLY?

[The Fisher King]

My two main examples here would have to be Harry Porter and The Gunslinger Series (known by some as Dark Towers)

 

I think they are two AMAZING series that gradually became a MESS and Ended...About as Badly as I could possibly have imagined.

 

I do want to say that in all of Fantasy, maybe all of Fiction, there is - To Me - no more Beloved Bada$$ as Roland. But...book 7 still makes me want to regurgitate.

 

Contrastly (is that a Word lol???), Glen Cook ended Black Company about as Magnificently as you can end an amazing long-running series........Heartbreaking, but Magnificent.

 

What are Your picks, folks?

 

 

Fish

 

 

[wite wo1f]

I would have to say that the one series I liked at the beginning but ended badly was the Legacy of the Force. I really disliked what they did to my favorite character in the star wars universe Jacen.

 

That is about the only one I can think of though.

[Barmacral]

Sword of Truth.

[LedZepMan]

Terry Brooks............uggh.

 

First eight books rocked, next three were ok, and the last three sucked.

 

And im talking of the Shannara

[Alea iacta est]

Just curious, fish, but why didn't you like book 7 of the DT? I thought it ended the only way it really could have.

[The Fisher King]

Alea iact est

 

Thanks foR the question. ***SPOILERS FOR KING'S DARK TOWER SERIES AHEAD...***

 

 

You know, Alea, I probably should have been clearer: It wasn't so much the VERY end of Book 7 as the whole Ending BOOK (7)

 

 

Many of my criticisms for this book are the same as I have for Potter 7:

 

 

It seemed rushed, choppy and out-of-flow with the rest of the series...it seemed to be written by an author that was burned out on the series...

 

The VERY end, I actually quite liked and had ZERO problem with the re-commencement of The Loop at the end...I also LOVED the rooms on each level and The Gunslinger laying Aunt Talitha's cross down in front of the Tower and calling out all the names.

 

And, there were certainly PARTS of the book that had that OLD feel to it...but too much was just silly, rushed and bizzare. Also, was there even ONE single NEED for Callahan (who I actually kinda liked) or Patrick to be in the series???

 

The Crimson King, Mordred, Flagg's death, Snitches (for GOD'S SAKE!!!)...

 

 

As for the VERY end, two things King NEVER should have added were the insulting letter to the fans and the glimpse of 'Other' versions of Jake and Oy - it TOTALLY lessened their deaths!!!

 

 

 

Loved the series, Loved PARTS of Book 7, but, overall, 7 was glaring shoddy.

 

IMO!!!

 

 

 

Fish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alea iacta est]

I completely understand these things, fish.

 

I was so worried when i got to Wolves, because everything i had read of Kings that he wrote post van accident, i hated.

 

But to my surprise, it ended up being probably my favorite book in the series.

 

Have you read any of the comics?

[The Fisher King]

WHOA!!! I was almost going to say that about WOLVES lol!!!

 

I can't honestly say that I put it in with 1 - 4 which are CLASSIC imo...and just ''Feel'' soooo differently than the last 3...But, out of 5,6,7, Wolves is by far the best book and a great book on its own and I LOVED it - except for the snitches lol.

 

 

Also, while PARTS of 5, 6, and 7 were as good and Badasss as ever...they seemed a bit ''Silly'' to me...it really seemed like King was losing it there for a bit with his silly creatures and and obsession with Harry Potter and Snitches and the Spider and the travesty that the CK turned out to be...all the shouts of ''EEEEEEEEEEE!'' , ''EEEEEEEEEEE!'' and the talking maid android and such...

 

 

 

 

Fish

[Rufae]

*********DARK TOWER SPOILERS*********

 

 

 

Dark Tower series is definately one which I would put in here. The supposed bada$$ Crimson King gets relegated to throwing Hary Potter toys at Roland and screaming like a madman. Then don't even get me started about putting himself literally into the story.

 

But yeah, Wolves and the Susan Delgado bit was the best part.

[The Fisher King]

Sam Vines - EXAXCTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Fish

 

 

P.S. - I,d put Riftwar in there too...Original four were great...Prince Of Blood was a MESS...Then he rebounds with King's Buccaneer which was outstanding...then the Serpentwar which had GREAT Moments but was uneven overall...All the side novels and series since Serpentwas have been trash - IMO!!!

 

One thing I Liked about Feist's Rifwar, was that while it WAS basic Tolkenesque Fantasy in some respects (Elves, Drawrves etc) Fesit was never scared to kill main characters or have the 'good guys' not always get along.

[Werthead]

Greg Keyes' KINGDOMS OF THORN AND BONE series. Books 1 and 2 were great, 3 was dull and 4 was just plain terrible.

 

Steven Erikson's MALAZAN series got off to a great start, peaking around Book 3, and has been extremely variable in quality since then. 5 was great and 7 was okay, 4 was weak, 6 was awful and 8 astonishingly dull (very much the Crossroads of Twilight of the series). 9 was far too long, but at least pulled it together at the end for a great conclusion.

[The Fisher King]

Hey Werthead!!!

 

Ive never gotten a chance to tell you, but, I LOVE your Reviews!!!!!!

 

Can you BELIEVE that I have NEVER read Malazzan Books???

 

 

 

Fish

[sheikh chilli]

Has to be the dragonlance novels. my god never has a series descended to such a farce for such awesome openings. To go from dragonlance chronicles to MINA's story is just sad.

 

 

A classic csse of an author stuck for new ideas

[Kivam]

Sword of Truth.  The first book actually had promise - it was a bit generic but with some interesting spin, and the writing was actually a little better than you'd expect from a first time writer.

 

Unfortunately, I expect that as the series went on (and Goodkind's ego and pull increased) Goodkind got more editorial control and was able to reject changes that would have helped (when the books started getting preachy and monologuey).  By the end (and I stopped reading in the middle of the series) they were an unmitigated disaster.

 

(And yes, I know I've just lit the Asha'man Kovan signal ;D)

[Rinkai]

The Hitch hikers guide series. First one uproariously funny. I lol'd. Second and third where pretty funny. By the last book, I seriously think the author forgot to be funny.....erf, terrible.

[The Fisher King]

Sometimes i forget to be funny  :(

 

 

Fish

[Alea iacta est]

The Hitch hikers guide series. First one uproariously funny. I lol'd. Second and third where pretty funny. By the last book, I seriously think the author forgot to be funny.....erf, terrible.

 

totally! and another one just got released, i guess, but it's not by douglas adams.

[Rufae]

The thing with Hitchhiker's is the comedy turned darker a the series progressed. Then of course the depressing ending kind sucked.... ok really sucked. I don't know if Douglass was getting depressed or what, but the comedy turned very cynical by the last book.

 

P.S. - Douglass Adams Dirk Gentry's Holoestic Detective Agency book is pretty good if you want a somewhat diffeent kind of read.

 

[reyler]

Adams himself stated that the tone of Mostly Harmless was due to him having a really bad year, and that he felt he shouldn't have let the series go out on such a bitter note, and would probably clean it all up in a sixth book. And then he died.

 

I bought ... And Another Thing right after it came out. It's... well, it's a pretty decent book, but it isn't a Hitchhiker's Guide book. It's a very accomplished fanfic, but it still feels like fanfic.

[wite wo1f]

Completely agree with you there Reyler, I am actually in the middle of reading And Another thing but I dont think I will finish it. It was well written but it just is not the same as the other books in the series.

[Murphy3]

The Sword of Truth.  The first three to four books were very, very good in my opinion.  I must say that he had some brilliant moments from time to time from that point on as well.  However, book 5 to 7-8 or so were just pretty good.  It was an absolute mess as the series concluded.

 

I'd also have to say that David Drake's main series (heck, can't even think of the name of it).. I enjoyed the first 3-4 books well enough, but I'm having a hard time getting through book 5.  I've just about kicked the series to the curb.

[musiclover7]

Wow..  I thought the Harry Potter series got better over time personally.  The first two books were the weakest in the series in my opinion.  One book that sticks out in this category for me was Eragon.  It started out interesting, but soon lost it's luster.. 

[Hallow]

On the subject of The Dark Tower

 

*Dark Tower spoilers ahead*

 

While I loved the series, and the actual ending itself, the way Roland shouted the names of all his companions through the years, laying down the cross at the feet of the tower, and climbing it was awesome. However some of the things I didn't like was How the fight with the Crimson king turned out, I was waiting for an epic showdown god damnit! not Roland hiding behind a big rock whilst Patrick drew him out of existence and Crimson threw some sneetches his way.

 

Also, the death of Oy crushed me, like no other book has, I actually cried when that happened, and I've never cried while watching any sort of movie nor while reading any book.

[Crael123]

eragon.  first and second rocked like hell and third was absolute crap

[Anoxanmore]

Sword of Truth.  The first book actually had promise - it was a bit generic but with some interesting spin, and the writing was actually a little better than you'd expect from a first time writer.

 

QFT, two good books (1 and 5) and the rest were just... a mess.