Most over-rated book(s)

[Hybrid]

Thom and Moiraine are both Gandalf.

 

Fortunately, TEOTW is well-written and RJ incorporates plenty of his own elements and style (and later in the series really comes into his own). Otherwise, the pretty blatant Tolkien . . . "referencing" . . . would be hard to forgive.

[Joshua Hendrickson]

RJ also references DUNE a lot.

[Rufae]

I don't think people are saying that most of these books are BAD per se. They are just overrated and overhyped. Case in point, Earagon. Sure its great for a 14 year old writer. But it is not worthy of a lot of "squee" as some fans give it. Same goes for many of the other titles mentioned.

[mikael]

I don't think people are saying that most of these books are BAD per se. They are just overrated and overhyped. Case in point, Earagon. Sure its great for a 14 year old writer. But it is not worthy of a lot of "squee" as some fans give it. Same goes for many of the other titles mentioned.

 

You stop it! The world is either black or white and everything suck except for those things that's the opposite!

[Dewairah]

I've read a handful of books by Pratchett... i didnt see what the big deal was. *shrugs*

[Rufae]

I've read a handful of books by Pratchett... i didnt see what the big deal was. *shrugs*

 

Gasp! Kill the unbeliever!!!

 

 

 

You must have read the wrong ones.

[Dewairah]

I read mort.. which was kinda funny.... men at arms.... and one or two other ones that i cant remember.

 

I didnt read books in any order and I probably didnt read his best ones.

 

If you tell me what order I should be reading them in and what are the best books, I can revisit pratchett and reconsider my opinion :)

[Rufae]

People usually start with the original book first, "The Colour of Magic" and then follow it up with the sequel "The Light Fantastic". That storyline follows the hapless wizard Rincewind and Twoflower on an adventure.

 

Then yeah, "Mort" and "Reaper Man" are good Death books.

 

"Equal Rights" is good for getting to know the witches.

 

"Guards! Guards!" starts the City Watch (Sam Vimes) books followed by "Men at Arms"

 

People are also fond of his book that was co-wrote with Neil Gaiman called "Small Gods"

 

I am fond of his more recent book, "Thud!"

 

"Unseen Achedemicals" is one of his most recent and pokes fun at Sports Fans

 

 

[Dewairah]

People usually start with the original book first, "The Colour of Magic" and then follow it up with the sequel "The Light Fantastic". That storyline follows the hapless wizard Rincewind and Twoflower on an adventure.

 

Then yeah, "Mort" and "Reaper Man" are good Death books.

 

"Equal Rights" is good for getting to know the witches.

 

"Guards! Guards!" starts the City Watch (Sam Vimes) books followed by "Men at Arms"

 

People are also fond of his book that was co-wrote with Neil Gaiman called "Small Gods"

 

I am fond of his more recent book, "Thud!"

 

"Unseen Achedemicals" is one of his most recent and pokes fun at Sports Fans

 

I knew your nick was familiar sounding :)

 

Ok.. I'll read the books in that order and will let you know what I think.

 

Thanks for taking the time to list them etc. Much appreciated.

[Mr Ares]

People are also fond of his book that was co-wrote with Neil Gaiman called "Small Gods"

You mean Good Omens. Small Gods was Pratchett writing solo. Still, both good books.

[Rufae]

People are also fond of his book that was co-wrote with Neil Gaiman called "Small Gods"

You mean Good Omens. Small Gods was Pratchett writing solo. Still, both good books.

 

Indeed. I was in a hurry.

[AWOLfromtheARMY]

Potter. Its not even close.

[brujah]

I'm in agreement on the fact that almost all the books named in this thread are overrated. But I'd also like to say a few quick things about a couple of them:

 

Sword of Shannara: I read this book as a young teen, and only liked it as a young teen. In fact this book is a great starter book for teens that would like to get into the genre. I didnt like WoT when I first tried to read it at such a young age. Its more advanced. Shannara series, along with Tolkien, are just for a younger audience. It's a niche that will always be filled. I'd toss Weis/Hickman, and even Salvatore in the same league, even with the fact that Homeland, Sojourn, and Exile are 3 most excellent books.

 

Sword of Truth Series: Although overrated, its still a recommended read. Someone posted their thanks for being warned and how they were gonna skip this read. I'd reconsider. It's worth it, and still entertaining. I think tSoT is a big rip off of WoT as well, but Richards story is decent. And it would be akin to Wheel of Time if Wheel of Time focused more heavily on Rand. Or to clarify that statement, I find myself wishing Jordan would spend more time on Rands story, and TG does this with Richard. The similarities are just blatant as far as the two worlds. But Richards journey does have a few unique and interesting plots and scenes. Definately worth adding it to your collective mind.

[Rufae]

But Richards journey does have a few unique and interesting plots and scenes.

 

Does that include Khalin's run in with an evil chicken?

[Basel Gill]

Sword of Truth Series: Although overrated, its still a recommended read. Someone posted their thanks for being warned and how they were gonna skip this read. I'd reconsider. It's worth it, and still entertaining. I think tSoT is a big rip off of WoT as well, but Richards story is decent. And it would be akin to Wheel of Time if Wheel of Time focused more heavily on Rand. Or to clarify that statement, I find myself wishing Jordan would spend more time on Rands story, and TG does this with Richard. The similarities are just blatant as far as the two worlds. But Richards journey does have a few unique and interesting plots and scenes. Definately worth adding it to your collective mind.

 

I've read the first four books and liked them. However, I've seen posts, not just on DM, saying the series doesn't go downhill till after that. I'm still planning to continue it sometime, as I want to judge for myself. If I notice a huge dropoff in quality, I can always quit. One thing I keep wondering is, if the books are so bad, are they worth reading for unintentional comedy? Ed Wood movies are bad too, but they still have a prominent following for that very reason.

[Twiggy]

I have tried about 5 times now to read Sword of Shannara and I just can't get into it. I'm not sure what it is, but something about the book just doesn't draw me in.

 

I'll put on the defending the Dark Tower series cap here :) I'm not a fan of King's work on the whole, but I really enjoyed the DT series. However the first book is incrediblly dull and bland to be perfectly honest. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure it was the first book that he ever wrote, if it wasn't it's damn near it (He wrote it at 19). So he hadn't really learnt any great skills/styles in writing. The 2nd book (Drawing Of The Three) is so much better than Gunslinger it's not funny. I don't know why I decided to read onto the 2nd book, unimpressed as I was by the first, but I was really glad that I did. Got about 2 chapters into Drawing and was hooked. It's probably one of my favourite series of books now, and I loved the ending of it.

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents :)

[mikael]

I disagree, I've only read the revised version of the Gunslinger, but the ending alone made it a good book, espepcially considering who wrote it. I like King, but this is one of few of his books that doesn't feel like a Hollywood movie.

[Red2111]

Gunsslinger was a good book, i will give it that. but i think with DT, King was trying to hard to cover the "epic fantasy" niche and his style of writing just didn't mesh with it. by book 3, i couldn't really get into it, even though books 1 & 2 were decent reads.

 

Potter. Its not even close.

 

 

just a questions, what about HP makes it over rated for you??