I barely read fiction anymore, so I guess I've missed out on a lot of the worst of it. And even mediocre stuff; I tend to drop lately. Here's some truly atrocious stuff I've read in my day, though.
Lord Foul's Bane -- I actually read the next book in the series too, The Illearth War but like many have said here, I couldn't get past the absolutely tedious main character, or the plain boringness that is The Land. Blah.
Rose Estes Greyhawk books -- quite possibly the worst fiction ever written by an actual adult.
Wizard's First Rule -- dropped this one halfway through. Horrible characters, horrible plot, horrible dialogue, horrible premise.
Robert Jordan -- I actually liked the first few books of the Wheel of Time series, but I have completely given up on them lately. I was also turned off by the way he wrote his books; the climaxes came too soon and were over in a confusion of just a few paragraphs. Every time, I kinda wondered what exactly had just happened.
R. A. Salvatore -- OK, I guess he's not really that bad, but talk about over-rated. The first three Icewind Dale books by him were OK, everything else I've tried to read of his I've put down in disgust. I actually perservered and finished the first book of the Cleric Quintet, or whatever it was called, but it certainly didn't inspire me to pick up the second book.
Terry Brooks -- when I was a kid, I read the Sword of Shannara and I remember thinking it was OK. Somehow, though, I haven't been able to either reread that, or read any of his other books without my attention wandering in the first few pages. They absolutely do not hook me.
David Eddings -- I still think the original Belgariad series isn't bad. The problem is, that's the only plot he has, so he keeps recycling it over and over. The "witty banter" gets old too, and really breaks the mood more often than not. And the racial stereotypes are just plain annoying.
I actually only ever read the first Gor book Tarnsman of Gor, but I didn't think it was that bad. I was pretty young at the time, and it just felt like another Edgar Rice Burroughs type of thing though; maybe he gets worse as the series progresses. In fact, I've heard that specifically. I'd actually like someone to write some more of that exotic, barbaric and swashbuckling "planetary romance" variety of sword and sorcery, but without the domination and submission nonsense. I could get into that.
