Your favorite book series

[googleit6]

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein is a nifty series. I just started the fourth book today.

Series of Unfortunate Events was really different in a good way. Really intersting world and narrative.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

In my first post I'm pretty much on topic. I wanted to know what he could have possibly seen as good in the Ranger's Apprentice series--with as much sugar-coated and candy-laced words as I could manage so I don't get banned from another forum for being argumentative.

But yes, I still agree with you. I do tend to spout off my beliefs rather loudly and take pleasure in locking horns with people who think differently. It's all part of the joust.

You do not like it, so I cannot change your mind, but I shall answer your original question in their stead if they have not already. Now this is my opinion and there is no point in debating it because it's what I personally like.

The stories are easy reads, easy to follow, the characters are likable, the action is fun. When I read these types of books I don't look at them as if I'm transported back in time but rather in to a different universe. One in which the things that you seem implausible, or unlikely happen because it's part of that universe. It's writing style is also to my liking.

A lot of the books that are seen as kind of out of the box non generic fantasy are generic in my mind because they have an essay writing style where you add more words then necessary to describe something just so that you can make it longer.

In a book I could say, "It was a black boat with black sails and a tortured maiden on the front." or I could say, "The pirates devious black boat rolled across the rough seas, although the pirates were accustomed to this. The jerry roger flapped in the wind on it's black sail the loudest part of this otherwise stealthy craft. The statue attached to the front of the boat seemed to me writhing in agony her face twisted with pain."

You have the same picture in your head for both, one is unnecessarily long. I am not a writer so forgive my analogy. Those are the reasons I like, while you on the other hand could see those reasons as why you don't like it, or that they don't even exist in your mind.

 

[piratejames]

Definitely the Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz. Bizarre but awesome series!

 

[Bruin]

I fucking love A Song of Ice and Fire. GRRM has created such a vivd world that even though it isn't nearly as detailed as Tolken (who I hate) I still find myself wishing I could go sit on the banks of the Trident and search for Rheagar's rubies, or go and Marvle at the masive wall of ice that keeps the wildlings and something much more sinister at bay. Or to watch the Tourny of the Hand and see that shit go down (if you read the book you know what I'm talking about they just filmed it for the HBO series). I might even want to go to the Twins and meet the Frey's of pnly to punch Lord Walder in the face.

I've never been good at just accepting things though. Even in a Song of Ice and Fire, I always asked "Why?".

And George always gave me an answer.

I don't know about that I've always found Arya a little unbeleivable with all the shit she gets up to.

Also I just curious who you think Jon Snow's mother is.

It's physically possible to do what Arya does, as far as getting across oceans and whatnot. But she's extremely brave for a child and seems curious and naive. My sister was a lot like her growing up. Not even serious things really threatened her--I was always the sibling to say "This isn't reasonable", whereas she normally just went headlong into things. I suppose that's why I find her character more believable--because I've got my own Arya. I enjoyed the parts with her and the Hound though. You could almost sense that he had a soft spot for her.

Lyanna Stark.

I don't think it's Eddard's bastard, and I think that's why Ned was always so quiet about Jon. Ned's personality is very cold and I don't see him fathering a bastard. To protect Lyanna's honor I can't see him telling everybody it was hers, though, and he'd rather keep the fact that he's got an illegitimate heir under raps.

Same here R+L=J makes a lot of sense to me not to mention it explains why Ned never talks Jon's mother considering Robert's extreme hatred for all Targaryens. Did you figure it out for your self or did you read it on one of the fan sites?

That too.

I figured it out for myself when I read "A Game of Thrones" the second time. I sort of pieced it together and it made too much sense not to be highly likely if not the actuality.

I figured it out midway through A Storm of Swords. Have you been on Westeros? They have a thread about it that has been going since like 2006. If you've never been on there and you want to talk about ASoIaF you should give the site a look.

Never been.

I will check it out immediately. I really do love that series. I'm a writer, of sorts. And I've been toying with ideas for years--throwing pots at the walls and whatnot and I'd create short stories and small novellas, but nothing really stuck to the wall.

Then I read the Song.

Then everything fell into place and started to stick. All those things I was wondering about doing or was toying with--the ideas that seemed cool but I couldn't apply them correctly and whatnot. They all seemed to click into motion after I read ASoIaF.

Just thought I'd mention the HBO series they are making of A Game of Thrones if you hadn't heard about it yet. The site I go for all the news about that is Winter-is-coming I would say it is the best for news on the HBO series. That and Westeros are the only two other sites I participate on besides the Escapist.

I have. I've seen the cast as well and I think it's going to be an amazing series.

In my first post I'm pretty much on topic. I wanted to know what he could have possibly seen as good in the Ranger's Apprentice series--with as much sugar-coated and candy-laced words as I could manage so I don't get banned from another forum for being argumentative.

But yes, I still agree with you. I do tend to spout off my beliefs rather loudly and take pleasure in locking horns with people who think differently. It's all part of the joust.

You do not like it, so I cannot change your mind, but I shall answer your original question in their stead if they have not already. Now this is my opinion and there is no point in debating it because it's what I personally like.

The stories are easy reads, easy to follow, the characters are likable, the action is fun. When I read these types of books I don't look at them as if I'm transported back in time but rather in to a different universe. One in which the things that you seem implausible, or unlikely happen because it's part of that universe. It's writing style is also to my liking.

A lot of the books that are seen as kind of out of the box non generic fantasy are generic in my mind because they have an essay writing style where you add more words then necessary to describe something just so that you can make it longer.

In a book I could say, "It was a black boat with black sails and a tortured maiden on the front." or I could say, "The pirates devious black boat rolled across the rough seas, although the pirates were accustomed to this. The jerry roger flapped in the wind on it's black sail the loudest part of this otherwise stealthy craft. The statue attached to the front of the boat seemed to me writhing in agony her face twisted with pain."

You have the same picture in your head for both, one is unnecessarily long. I am not a writer so forgive my analogy. Those are the reasons I like, while you on the other hand could see those reasons as why you don't like it, or that they don't even exist in your mind.

Description is important in any novel for me. Being able to clearly illustrate what you envision is something that is extremely important. If you can illustrate a scene with as few words as possible exactly as you want the reader to see it, that's fine. It's preferable, actually. But if you need to use more detail to describe a room or a place or a thing, it's easily warranted. I have no problem reading that type of literature--I'm fairly used to it by now.

But describing a boat as "A ship with black sails and a maiden on the prow" just seems lazy to me. And childish writing.

 

[Luhrsen]

The Discworld series. Absolutely hilarious.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

Description is important in any novel for me. Being able to clearly illustrate what you envision is something that is extremely important. If you can illustrate a scene with as few words as possible exactly as you want the reader to see it, that's fine. It's preferable, actually. But if you need to use more detail to describe a room or a place or a thing, it's easily warranted. I have no problem reading that type of literature--I'm fairly used to it by now.

But describing a boat as "A ship with black sails and a maiden on the prow" just seems lazy to me. And childish writing.

As I said I am not a writer, but I prefer the shortest descriptions as possible. If the description can be fun, then go for it. There was this one book where the main character was in a plane and the writer took 2 pages to describe what he saw out of the plane but that info was then never used in the rest of the book. That is boring and pointless. Maybe my analogy wasn't the best, but I was trying to point out that the second one gave us extra information that we already knew or has absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

 

[DustyDrB]

Star Wars. But since that's so broad, I'll narrow it down to my favorite series within the series, which would be the Legacy of the Force series.

That reminds me, I did read The Thrawn Trilogy...back when I was like 10.

I was trying to find a kindle version of it today, to no avail.