Whats the worst you've ever read? Scifi/Fanstasy

[drnuncheon]

Freedom & Necessity, by Steven Brust & Emma Bull. I liked the Jhereg books, and I heard good things about Emma Bull, so a collaboration should be okay, right? Wrong. Writing a book as a series of letters, postbills, and other such stuff is a poor choice.

Hmm. The Color Purple...Dangerous Liasons...The Screwtape Letters...

The epistolary novel is a product of the times Brust and Bull were writing about, so I'd find it hard to call it a 'poor choice'. Still, it's a lot more enjoyable if you recognize what they're doing - just like Brust's The Phoenix Guards is more enjoyable if you've read Dumas, or S. Morganstern's The Princess Bride (abridged by W. Goldman) is funnier if you've read the stuff it's satirizing.

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.

You heard right. It doesn't descend to the depths of the truly awful until about book 6, and I managed to fight through even that until the first book he wrote with a female viewpoint (Slave Girl of Gor, #11) which earned the dubious distinction of hitting the far wall.


Er, and for my addition: Robert Charles Wilson's Darwinia for the most egregreious bait-and-switch ever, that made me say "well, I don't care what happens to these people anymore."

 

[alepulp]

Some more worthless ones

Anne McCaffrey - dragon love books. Hmmm - just an excuse for Mills and Boon in a fantasy world.
Dune - books 3 and 4. Once past this is got good again. Worth the fight through? Nope....
Michal Moorcock - now that is a set of depressing books and they all seemed the same. I read these ages ago - so I might be wrong.
Jack Vance books - read 3 of them - that was enough. Story seemed to be "person gets displaced and is in trouble and returns by way of a long journey"

 

[drnuncheon]

Jack Vance books - read 3 of them - that was enough. Story seemed to be "person gets displaced and is in trouble and returns by way of a long journey"

The Odyssey: "A guy goes on a boat ride and gets lost."
Lord of the Rings: "Two short guys drop a ring into a volcano."
The Incredible Journey: "Some pets decide to go home."
Travels with Charlie: "A guy and a dog drive around for a while."
Around the World in 80 Days: "A guy goes around the world in 80 days."

Sometimes the journey is the story.

J

 

[The Other Librarian]

Sometimes the journey is the story.
J

Any good Buddhist would agree!

 

[barsoomcore]

Jeez, drnuncheon, that's some list. I don't know that The Incredible Journey counts as sci-fi/fantasy, but I guess if it's the worst you ever read, then it's the worst.

But I kind of liked The Odyssey. And The Lord of the Rings.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Interesting...I adored all the Dune books in the original series. I like Anne McCaffrey. Her mid series Dragonriders of Pern books were nice. She co-wrote her Plante Pirates series and I enjoyed those. Her Powers that Be series is nifty. And I liked her Killishandra trilogy.

I enjoy Mercedes Lackey. Her books on Valdemar I find interesting. I read her Gryphon series books set in early Valdemar history, and her Arrows of the Queen Trilogy. Someone mentioned not liking those, but those are the only ones I read and I enjoyed them.

Stephen Donaldson rocks. I read Terry Goodkind until Blood of the Fold but even before then I was wondering about that guy.

And there are many more that I love but to list them would take forever

I have never actually hated a book or series. There were moments of "I'll prolly never read that again" and "The quicker I put this story out of my head the better". So it was to my utter and complete surprise that I actually hated a book series.

What is the series you ask? It's a trilogy by a chic named Gael Baudino. I never read anything of hers after. I read the first book and thought "ok, interesting". I read half the second book, put it down, and seriously contemplated burning it. I got them at Half-Price bookstore so it only cost like 2 bucks, but still it was a painful read.

 

[Zaukrie]

I can't remember the names of them there are so many. So, I thought I'd give you all a scare. I was just in a bookstore and saw book one of a new 4 book series - the climax to the Thomas Covenant story. That's right, 4 more books are coming. Now, I read the first three a long time ago and actually enjoyed them, so I'm not one to judge, but 4 more?

The third Dune book had to be the most hated of the books I've read. I really, really liked Dune. It got me back into reading, but God Emporor of Dune made me question my sanity for actually finishing it. I'm not sure who is worse, the author that writes a bad book, or the reader who keeps reading, holding out hope...

I think I gave up on WoT after book 3. Unfortunately, I had already bought used copies up to book 5. Never cracked them open, probably never will.

 

[mojo1701]

have never actually hated a book or series. There were moments of "I'll prolly never read that again" and "The quicker I put this story out of my head the better". So it was to my utter and complete surprise that I actually hated a book series.

Same here.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Hmm. The Color Purple...Dangerous Liasons...The Screwtape Letters...

The epistolary novel is a product of the times Brust and Bull were writing about, so I'd find it hard to call it a 'poor choice'.

Were I a complete boor, I'd make some snide comment about how said novels are no longer being written.

Instead, I'll just say that I didn't care for it, at all.

Brad

 

[Squire James]

I think Dennis McKiernan got better over time. I agree that the Iron Tower trilogy and the Moria Ripoff duology were both wretched, and Dragondoom mediocre, but his stuff from "Eye of the Hunter" on seemed pretty good to me. "Eye" was one of the few books I've read where the odds were pretty even and the main villain was pretty scared of the heroes when he didn't have the upper hand.