Warts and all...

cignus_pfaccari · Aug 21, 2011

Mouseferatu said:
So far, my exposure to David Gemmell is limited, so I can't draw any certain conclusions. But of the books I've read, he seems to have the same issue as Eddings--that is, retelling the same basic stories with more or less the same basic character traits.

As much as I hate to say it, yes. They're not *all* the same, but his character type repertoire isn't exactly overflowing with options.

OTOH, he's still my favorite author anyway. So he's a good example for the thread.

Brad

Plane Sailing · Aug 21, 2011

I really enjoy the vision of Ian M Banks (his Minds, and the scenes of space combat are astonishing) but I hate his use of foul language and the depravity that he likes to spell out.

I enjoyed the first few Wheel of Time novels except for the incessant folding of arms from the women and the INABILITY OF ANYBODY TO SHARE VITAL INFORMATION WITH ANYBODY ELSE. Oops, did you notice me shouting there? I just got thoroughly fed up with the problems introduced by petty failures amongst the principle characters. Plus, of course, his 'endless gravy train' approach to his books.

GSHamster · Aug 21, 2011

My biggest beef about a lot of SF/Fantasy authors I like is the inability to write endings.

I'm getting a little tired of a minimum 3,6,10, or even higher, books in series. It's kind of nice to pick up a book, read it, and not need to read another book to finish the story.

Starman · Aug 22, 2011

I feel similarly in regards to Eddings. Another author that does the same thing is Terry Brooks. I'll always have a soft spot for him because he was my introduction to the fantasy genre in books, but, man, each of his Shannara stories is mostly interchangeable with any other (disregarding the LotR ripoff Sword of Shannara).

TwoSix · Aug 22, 2011

Plane Sailing said:
I enjoyed the first few Wheel of Time novels except for the incessant folding of arms from the women and the INABILITY OF ANYBODY TO SHARE VITAL INFORMATION WITH ANYBODY ELSE. Oops, did you notice me shouting there? I just got thoroughly fed up with the problems introduced by petty failures amongst the principle characters. Plus, of course, his 'endless gravy train' approach to his books.

Oh god, yes. It's why I've enjoyed the two Sanderson volumes so much, the characters actually engage in conversation. You'd think things like the ongoing apocalypse would make people less reticent, but what do I know?

Starman · Aug 22, 2011

TwoSix said:
Oh god, yes. It's why I've enjoyed the two Sanderson volumes so much, the characters actually engage in conversation. You'd think things like the ongoing apocalypse would make people less reticent, but what do I know?

I could see it at first when the main characters were still basically ignorant farm kids, but by the time they are major players on the world stage, you'd think they would have grown up a bit more.

Janx · Aug 30, 2011

I hate heavy books.

They're heavy. They make it harder to hold them up to read so I don't get a crick in my neck.

Around the time the LotR movies were out, I got LotR as a big book and Neil Stephensen's Cryptonomicon for x-mas.

Both were thick and heavy, both had about the same page count (1K).

Normally, I read about 60 pages an hour (I timed myself while finishing book5 of Harry Potter in a car going 1500 milees to Minnesota).

LotR took 6 months. It was that ponderous to read. And I'd read it before. And seen the movies recently.

Once finished, I finally got to crack Cryptonomicon. 2 weeks later I was done. A world of difference.

I'd just seen HBO's Game of Thrones. I liked it. Then my wife got me the book. It's very heavy. The reading is slow going, with my workload letting me only read in small chunks.

Overall, I like the book. Personally, I like most of the Starks better than the other characters. So I guess they're not all bad. But I suppose it is a grim tale.

One series I like reading is Dresden Files (Ghost Story is on the stack, right after GoT). One thing that bugs me about the series is how Butcher's big climax is solved by the before fight sentence "Harry took care of a couple errands to prepare for the big fight" Which in the middle of the fight, when things look gloomiest, gets revealed as "Before the fight Harry had called a bunch of friends to meet him at the fight and brought his RPG which he hid in his back pocket."

It seems that information hiding is how Jim keeps suspense up. Where despite the fact that we are in first person real time reader mode including trips to the bathroom, the moment it will ruin the big surprise solution, details get left out so he can surprise us later.