Elric by Moorcock, seriously overrated, especially considering how its credited with kickstarting the fantasy genre...
Books and Series to Avoid
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Wow, lots of hate on Terry Goodkind for some reason on here. The Sword of Truth is by far one of the best series I have read. The characters feel more real and believable in the realm of the world he creates, rather than the cookie cutter feel most books have. (He still has the stereotypically characters, but they don't FEEL like it) To each his own though.
Oops, I forgot to include the Old Testament. A couple of health doses of genocide, with large helpings of rape, torture, destruction on an epic scale, and lots and lots of murder (mostly for no apparent reason). The plot is generally pretty garbled too, and the author(s) made no attempt to maintain historical accuracy in this one or the sequel (in the bits which attempt to talk about real goings-on).
Really 0_o I thought Elric was supposed to be a dig at traditional fantasy? He not especially strong, and in fact gets most of his powers from his blade, which incidently must feed on the living thus forcing Elric to kill. Otherwise he's a weak man with ablinism. He's not really all that tragic either, it being quite established that he and his people are quite evil, if not without their own sense of honor. He never really does anything heroic either.BigKingBob post=18.70358.691548 said:
Definately not something I'd consider kick starting the fantasy genre, so I agree, as I understood it was a reaction by Moorcock to the works of the likes of Tolkein and Howard. Maybe an early anti-hero, although Conan himself showed traces of this.
I didn't have much of a problem with Goodkind's characters, it's more of his method of generating plots became repetitive. Throw in a few 'no one would do that, except to advance the plot' bits here and there, and I just got tired of the series.PxDn Ninja post=18.70358.691601 said:
For some really good characters (and amazing stories), give the Jhereg series by Steven Brust a try.
Really? I just thought it was his take on the fantasy hero. Hmm... Maybe the "kickstart" was a bit of an overstatement but I did read alot about it online and about how influential it was. The book just didnt get me involved, the whole evil anti-hero thing just came across as a kind of depressive apathy.GothmogII post=18.70358.691620 said:
I liked his "epic pooh" essay and "the dancers at the end of time" but really didnt like Elric.
Ah well, probably just me.
Fair enough. I didn't notice anything out of character in their behavior, but everyone reads things differently. I'll see about checking out that Jhereg series you mention once my crunch time at work passes.paulgruberman post=18.70358.691637 said:
I have to agree with the Sword of Truth series, it's a badly scripted action movie in book form, along with the least endearing protagonist ever, who Terry quickly establishes as messiah. Frankly, the best moments are when Richard is about to die and then the reader is disappointed when Richard survives yet again.
The characters in general are terrible with little portrayal of real human emotion or nature except the shallowest kind, and the characters all have the same purpose of making Richard look good by being either his servant, his lover or his soon to be dead enemy.
I wouldn't read any of the books a second time.
The characters in general are terrible with little portrayal of real human emotion or nature except the shallowest kind, and the characters all have the same purpose of making Richard look good by being either his servant, his lover or his soon to be dead enemy.
I wouldn't read any of the books a second time.
She was probably serious. I know quite a lot of other English majors who are completely infatuated with that book series and they literally turn into foaming fangirls whenever I say anything bad about Edward Cullen (I sometimes get a "I'm the future Mrs. Edward Cullen! Don't talk about him that way"...I'm not kidding). It's really, really sad.Cahlee post=18.70358.691526 said:
Wow, several responses said 1984. Jaded because your high school teacher made you read at all?
That's one of the best books ever written. Hands down.
That's one of the best books ever written. Hands down.
Oh yeah another one, "Catcher in the sodding Rye."
I can sum it up in one line:
"Wah wah awah, I'm depressed, I'm a dropout, I punch windows, wah, wah, wah."
I can sum it up in one line:
"Wah wah awah, I'm depressed, I'm a dropout, I punch windows, wah, wah, wah."
Also check out his Phoenix Guard series, it's set in the same Universe as the Jhereg books, only it's based off of the Three Musketeers and hence rocks the fuckin' show.PxDn Ninja post=18.70358.691671 said:
