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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 4458501" data-attributes="member: 2205">Couple more comments on the OP: I too thought that Terry Brooks' first book wasn't bad when I read it 25 years ago (or however long ago it was--mid to late 80s sometime), but I never could go on from there without losing interest, and I also remember being completely unable to re-read that book without getting very quickly bored.  I'm going to have to relegate him to another one of the rather poorer fantasy writers.David Eddings is another one that mystifies me.  I actually find the first series decent (if not good) in a breezy, almost satirical way, but anything beyond that is just plain embarrassing.  Unfortunately, he's not embarrassed at all; he pretty much admitted in an essay he put in The Rivan Codex that he feels little but contempt for fantasy readers and he is purposefully shovelling out formulaic drivel because it's his belief that that's exactly what the market wants.Sadly, given his sales figures, he may well be right.  I can't stomach him, though.  Terrible stuff once you get past the Belgariad itself.  And even that's only OK at best, if you don't have anything better to do.Given time, I could knock down a lot more popular writers: Steven Erikson is, sadly, lacking in the craft of writing, at least in his early work.  I'm hoping (and I've been told) that he improves, so I'm holding my nose and taking the plunge.  Robert Jordan's flaws are fairly obvious and well-hashed out, but he's definately more of a soap opera writer than a fantasy novelist.  It's certainly possible--maybe even likely, that the conclusion by Sanderson will be significantly better than the last several Jordan novels.  Terry Goodkind I also can't stand.  George R. R. Martin I kinda like, but I think he's a bit overwritten, to say the least.  Glen Cook I like quite a bit, but his voice actually turned me off for a time.Who do I like?  I recently quite enjoyed Scar Night by Alan Campbell.  I've also been reading a lot of "vintage" fantasy; Howard, Leiber, Burroughs, even Lin Carter, and while it's faults are fairly obvious, so are their strengths.I haven't read all of Feist's material by any means, but I really like the first half dozen books or so.  Pretty good stuff.  I've also really been enjoying the Dresden Files novels, but that's not "traditional" fantasy.  Still fantasy, but non-traditional.I can think of some more a little later.</blockquote>

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