Have fantasy novels gotten "better" since D&D?

Melan · Feb 28, 2007

MerricB said:
Who reads Father Giles of Ham? Hardly anyone...

I actually like it a lot more than LotR. It has less pathos but more characterisation.

Whizbang Dustyboots · Feb 28, 2007

MerricB said:
Who reads Father Giles of Ham? Hardly anyone...

Their loss, as it's a lot of fun and it's really the antidote to fantasy taking itself SO DAMN SERIOUSLY.

Whizbang Dustyboots · Feb 28, 2007

Hussar said:
Color me confused. Not sure why that was funny.

He's being snide.

WayneLigon · Feb 28, 2007

Thunderfoot said:
As for the newer writers Hussar, I will wait to pass judgement on their works to see if they too fall into the 'established' pattern of not quitting while they are ahead. I'm really not trying to tick off people, I'm just old and jaded, that's all.

So you'll stop reading an author if he has 'too many books'? Jordan usually gets mentioned in that, with his seemingly never-ending series. But like it or not, millions of people buy them. They're one of the best selling book series ever, and he's stated in public that he won't stop writing them until people stop buying them. So, like that or not... other writers are to be judged by this criteria, because a few people might produce some books you feel are lower in quality?

That's the normal pattern; that's the way it's suppossed to work.

Writers write. I can't say I know of any writer that has ever 'quit while they were ahead'; virtually no-one that writes well enough to quit (presumably living off their royalties or wisely invested advances) does quit. Usually writers quit for three reasons: (1) they don't have anything more to say (2) they can't get a publishing deal (usually because of poor sales or making demands a publisher is unwilling to meet) (3) they have some injury or other life change that forces them to stop writing.

Look at R.E. Howard. He was the consumate pulp writer. He wrote reams of material, a lot of it very quickly, and for one reason: money for food and rent. When something didn't sell in one market, he'd re-write it for another one. Need a Conan story for next month? Use the basic plot and some characters from a rejected sea adventure/boxing/western story or file the serial numbers off a Soloman Kane story.

T. Foster · Feb 28, 2007

WayneLigon said:
Writers write. I can't say I know of any writer that has ever 'quit while they were ahead'; virtually no-one that writes well enough to quit (presumably living off their royalties or wisely invested advances) does quit. Usually writers quit for three reasons: (1) they don't have anything more to say (2) they can't get a publishing deal (usually because of poor sales or making demands a publisher is unwilling to meet) (3) they have some injury or other life change that forces them to stop writing.

Harper Lee?

J.D. Salinger?

JRRNeiklot · Feb 28, 2007

MerricB said:
Not quite.

I think fantasy novels have gotten better since "The Lord of the Rings", which made booksellers very aware that fantasy was a going concern, opened the eyes of the greater public, and showed writers what could be done as literature, an epic, and a world-building work.

Cheers!

As LoTR is the standard by which all others are judged, anything since is inferior.

Mallus · Feb 28, 2007

JRRNeiklot said:
As LoTR is the standard by which all others are judged, anything since is inferior.

As a 'feat of imagination', yes.

As novels, no.

RichGreen · Feb 28, 2007

MerricB said:
Heh. My list of current "Great Writers":

* Guy Gavriel Key - although Kay gives Brust a good run for his money on the literary stakes... best work is Tigana, but most of his novels are really worth reading

Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana is, IMHO, the best fantasy novel ever written. Lions of Al-Rassan is also excellent -- the ending actually makes me cry.

I'm not sure whether fantasy novels have got better since D&D but there are a lot more of them these days and authors like Kay, Trudi Canavan, Terry Pratchett (who just gets better and better), Naomi Novik, Robin Hobb and others write a lot better than David Eddings, Terry Brooks and others in the early post-Tolkien wave. I can't comment too much on the pre-Tolkien fantasists as I've read very little.

Cheers

Richard

MerricB · Feb 28, 2007

Raven Crowking said:
Goodkind? Goodkind!?!

Yuck!

Heh. Goodkind is very, very up and down. At his best, he's great. At his worst, he's very bad. Unfortuately, we get both in the Sword of Truth series.

But... he's got some of the best ideas in fantasy. His take on the role of prophecy is the best since Dune. While Jordan is a master at using prophecy as a tool of foreshadowing, Goodkind looks at the implications of prophecy.

Cheers!