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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Son_of_Thunder" data-source="post: 122676" data-attributes="member: 258">Greetings all,I was prompted to start this thread by the many "What Good Fantasy Book Should I Read Next" threads I've seen on these boards every few months or so. Recently it was "What You Hate About Dragonlance". Now, I don't mind you expressing your opinion on whether or not you liked a book, what bothers me is posters who don't give valid reasons. "Dragonlance was too immature and childish" is not a reason to me. Why was it immature and childish? Too many arguments are just that, meaningless arguments. The threads quickly turn into an author and book bashing. So I'm going to give specific reasons why I don't like George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Fire and Ice', Terry Goodkind's 'Sword of Truth' and Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time'.First, I have read the three books that have been published so far. I was taken in by 'A Game of Thrones' because of Mr. Martins storytelling skills. He is a good storyteller. I didn't get lost with his big cast of characters nor his style of writing from a different persons viewpoint with each chapter. However, by the end of 'A Storm of Swords' I was just wishing every character would die. Why? It's been said by proponents of the books that there is no clear good versus evil, that there were just shades of grey. This is one of the things I despised about the books. Every character with the exception of Bran, Rikon, Hodor and those two swamp kids (Only because they were still innocent) were morally bankrupt, degenerates all of them. In my opinion no character had faith in anything, just damn everyone and I'll take care of myself. Even the most "valiant", and I use the term loosely, Ser Barristan Selmy, served a degenerate king, allowed him to be killed and took off to find the daughter of mad kings. Take for example Catelyn Stark, we think she's a sweet lady until the red wedding when she slits the throat of a helpless handicapped man. I liked Theon Greyjoy, at first, until he showed no loyalty to anyone except himself by taking Winterfell and murdering the innocent millers children. Jon Snow is a contemptable bastard, literally, for killing a fellow brother (I don't care if it was to further the story), taking up with a wild woman when his order forbids it (again I don't care if it was to build the story further), and watching an innocent old man get murdered by that same wild woman. Heck, just about every major character was guilty of murder, including little horse faced Arya when she killed the sentry. Eddard Stark had it good by getting killed in the first book. Moral ambiguity is one thing I hate in modern fantasy. It's why I couldn't make it past 'The Black Company' by Mr. Cook.Next, I despised the use of descriptive scenes of gore and the use of offensive language. My favorite authors such as Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Jeff Grubb, R. A. Salvatore, Terry Brooks and David Eddings don't have to use such filth to get me to imagine the worst. In my opinion, the mark of a great author is the use of minimal descriptive text which causes the imagination of the reader to imagine far worse. By the end of the third book, I was physically, yes physically sick. Such things do not need to be in the written word. Terry Goodkind suffers from this same malady and from what I've heard of Steven Erikson's Malazan series, the same applies to him. I don't care how finely crafted the story is. If it has these elements I ain't going to read it. I don't care if you like the stuff, but I hate the way it makes me feel and refuse to read it no matter how well crafted the story. In 'Wizard's First Rule' I was offended by the scene of one of the bad guys getting his genitals cut off, fed to him then having his head bashed in by a mace. Did the character deserve it? Certainly, but the scene didn't need to be described thus. George R. R. Martin's use of profanity, sexual situations and bloody scenes don't add to the story in my opinion. For example, when Bran and Rikon escaped Winterfell, Martin described the sentries that were killed by the dire wolves. Didn't need to be so descriptive. Martin simply could have told us that the wolves got to them and they were no longer alive. It sickened me. Another example is the use of the for unlawful carnal knowledge word. I don't want to hear it in real life and I certainly don't need to read it when I'm reading for escape and entertainment. In short I didn't like the way the books made me feel. Sure, you can get emotionally into books, I cried when Flint died in 'Dragons of Spring Dawning' but when all I feel, throughout the whole series, is disgust, then it's time I stopped reading. So why did I finish the books you ask, if all I felt was disgust? Well I was hoping things would start getting better. Like I said, he's a good author and storyteller. I loved the concept of The Others but it wasn't enough to keep me interested.Alright you ask, what's wrong with 'Wheel of Time'? END IT.If you want to read excellent entertaining books, read Dragonlance Chronicles, read the Shanara series, read the Dark Elf books. Don't pass up David Eddings stuff or Tad Williams 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn'. Excellent reads all of them.Cheers,Son of Thunder</blockquote>

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