Why have all the fanesy books i've read on recommendation from enworld sucked?

[Olive]

Not eactly a troll...

but i read lieber's lankhmar stuff... and thought it was boring as all hell (except for the story where Fafhrd turns into a god, that was really good).

Ir ead the first two Black Company books, and found them almost totally uninteresting.

i reafd vance, and found the characters to be cardboard cutouts (the spell names were cool. that was about it).

so what do these all suck when you lot rave about them so much?

oh yeah, read the first 5 Wheel of time... first one is good, second ok by the third i was wondering if every woman in the world does fold her arms under her breasts when she's angry... only read till five because i kinda wnated to see if it got interesting again...

i do like some fantasy (Ursela LeGuin, mostly robin hobb... tolkein), but these ones are crap.

 

[EricNoah]

Not eactly a troll...

*snip*

so what do these all suck when you lot rave about them so much?

Wild guess, but maybe it's because different people like different things?

I have an idea ... why don't you tell us what you have read and DID like. That might help bring out some recommendations from people who liked similar things.

 

[Olive]

Re: Re: Why have all the fanesy books i've read on recommendation from enworld sucked?

Wild guess, but maybe it's because different people like different things?

I have an idea ... why don't you tell us what you have read and DID like. That might help bring out some recommendations from people who liked similar things.

well, yes of course. sorry, I really don't want to come across as 'you're a moron if you like these books', just to see if people with similar tastes are out there.

ok:
i like the original dragonlance books, but this could just be that i liked them when i was 11.

i like LotR

I like the first three Sparrowhawk/Earthsea books

I like Robin Hobb's world, but find her characters petulant and irritating.

magician by fiest was good too.

in sci-fi, i like Iain M. Banks a whole lot. I like most of Ursala LeGuin's stuff. I recently read Ian McCloed's The Star Fraction and enjoyed that tho it wasn't super well writen.

I mostly read non-genre fiction, but i like reading fantastic stuff too.My favourite non-genre writers would probably be
George Orwell
Iain Banks
and Paul Beaty, but thats all that comes to mind right now...

does that help?

 

[EricNoah]

Maybe what you need is Amazon.com or something similar. You know, how they say "people who liked this book liked books x, y, and z." Though that rarely works for me. I never know what dreck might tickly my fancy, or what great book just turns me off or doesn't hook me right away.

Did you read George Martin? A lot of people 'round here swear by his current series. Though evidently that's no guarantee.

 

[Crothian]

Okay, you liked Magician by Fiest, how about any of his other books? There might be like a dozen or so more all set in that world. Magician is the first pair of books (Magican Apprentance and Magcian Master).

Mercedes Lackey has the Valdemar series. It's more character driven then anything, but you should be able to find them at any library and they area fast read.

Thieves World is great for some dark fanstasy short stories. But some of them make the BoVD look like Disney.

I'm now reading the Rose of the Prophit series by Hickman and Wies (the Dragonlance people). It's more arabic fantasy, but is quite good.

 

[Femerus the Gnecro]

Boy, that fourth Earthsea book really did suck didn't it?

As always, check out George R.R. Martin... he's three books into one of the best modern fantasy series, IMO (though the stuff with Daenerys (sp) really bores me to tears for some reason).

Lessee... Octavia Butler writes some great stuff with fantastical themes, though I guess she strictly falls under 'sci-fi.'

Dune has its roots in fantasy in much the same way star wars does, if you're not hung up on the 'swords, no guns' version of fantasy literature.

I'm a huge Wheel of Time fan myself, though I realize that it's very much an acquired taste. I couldn't stand Jordan's Conan books though.

Speaking of Conan, the original Conan books by Robert E. Howard are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, and extremely enjoyable to boot.

Oh yes... Mary Stewart! Her Merlin trilogy (I guess it's not a trilogy with the release of 'Wicked Day' a few years ago, but whatever) is FANTASTIC. Definitely one of the series that got me into fantasy lit in the first place.

How's that for a list of suggestions?

-F

 

[Dr Midnight]

I know what you mean, I went through Elizabeth Haydon and Steven Brust on recommendation from these bastards until they pointed me to the aforementioned George R.R. Martin... a man I'd just like to run up and give a great big sloppy kiss to. Outstanding stuff. I've been buying his books for people who don't even read fantasy, as presents.

A warning, though- it's not pretty. It's a gritty and intense plotline in a gritty and intense world played by gritty and intense characters. Ugly things happen. Good guys die, there is injustice, rape, and little to no sympathy for innocents or children.

If you can get past that, though, let me tell you that it's been the richest reading of my life.

Femerus- bored to tears by Dany?? She's my favorite in the whole series. Bran's my bored-by character.

-Doc Midnight: the "Nightfall" of George Martin books

 

[John Crichton]

I've just started "A Game of Thrones" and it's quite good. I'd recommend it so far.

 

[jdavis]

I didn't care for many of the same books you didn't but I would never blame somebody for suggesting them, (I really like Jordan, but he is slipping). Trust me there is some pure crap out there, but every book is probably somebodies favorite no matter how bad somebody else thinks it is.

Try George Martin, he's real good.

I like L.E. Modesitt jr's Recluse series (I might be in a small crowd there.)

Melanie Rawn's Exiles books are ok

Dave Eddings books are ok

Dennis L. McKiernan's books are very (very) derivative of Tolkein but they aren't bad reads.

You could try this search engine for clips and reviews before you decide. I haven't used it alot but sometimes just reading a discription of what the book is about can help to decide.
http://books.ratatosk.org/

 

[Capellan]

I'm going to break from tradition and on this thread and not recommend George R R Martin, because I suspect that if you dislike Robert Jordan (a sentiment I can wholly agree with) then you might not be Martin's biggest fan, either.

I'd suggest Tamora Pierce. She writes fantasy novels for young adults. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good they are (far, far better than the Harry Potter novels, IMO).

Do you read Terry Pratchett? He's not to everyone's taste, but those who like him (as I do) tend to really like him.

You already read Iain Banks, so you've ticked off my third recommendation

Samuel R Delaney is also very good. And never underestimate the value of digging up a classic or three: H G Wells wrote quiteb a number of books that are well worth a read, for instance.