Recommended Reading
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Warrior
Member # 4238
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written Sunday, January 2 2005 15:49
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quote:Yes, but do they also write good stories? Name them. GRRM has succeeded in breaking conventions in favor of a kind of realism, and in being (deservedly) popular. No one's going to argue that a story featuring the undead, dragons, magic, etc. is purely realistic, mind. Posts: 70 | Registered: Monday, April 12 2004 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 3605
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written Sunday, January 2 2005 15:56
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I have read writers that have tried to be more realistic. They end up making a story more unreal than it would be if they wrote it in the classical style. They tend to give in to every pessimistic impulse they have. It is as bland and uninspired as the fantasy they are trying to improve. [ Monday, January 03, 2005 02:11: Message edited by: Angry Ogre ] -------------------- "Fair and unbiased" Posts: 358 | Registered: Monday, October 27 2003 08:00 |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Monday, January 3 2005 08:49
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I mentioned China Mieville earlier. He's possibly the best example, although some might argue he's not the best example. Vibrant world, believable characters with proper motives, scenes which have a wonderful cinematic quality and an ability to put a great deal of menace into his plotlines. Then of course there's MJ Harrison. There are a whole cadre of writers who are writing similar stuff, but as I say I read comparatively little fantasy. I'm not saying Martin is a bad author, but there are a number of authors around who destroy him. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
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By Committee
Member # 4233
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written Monday, January 3 2005 09:19
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quote:I read Allende first and was charmed, but having since read Marquez, I now find her works to be incredibly derivative. Granted, she has her own very interesting familial political edge, but otherwise, in every way Marquez has been superior. [ Monday, January 03, 2005 09:20: Message edited by: Andrew Miller ] Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00 |
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Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
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written Monday, January 3 2005 14:46
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Borges is the other magical realist everyone knows. He comes recommended, with the caveat that most people, upon first having read Borges, will instinctively try to imitate him. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00 |
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Post Navel Trauma ^_^
Member # 67
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written Tuesday, January 4 2005 13:02
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I'll put a vote against Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. He could be a good writer, but he needs a severe beating from his editor. The books go on and on without ever really getting anywhere. -------------------- Barcoorah: I even did it to a big dorset ram. desperance.net - Don't follow this link Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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By Committee
Member # 4233
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written Wednesday, January 5 2005 05:22
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quote:I'll second that. His series was good through about book 4, and then I lost track and, shortly after, interest. Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 3605
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written Wednesday, January 5 2005 10:58
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Terry Goodking and Jordan are twins. Thei books are idetical. Goodkind's first book is pretty damn good fantasy, but then he just rambles on and in the end goes political/philosophical. Sad really. -------------------- "Fair and unbiased" Posts: 358 | Registered: Monday, October 27 2003 08:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Wednesday, January 5 2005 11:59
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Yeah. Because while one of the primary tenets of fantasy is that you have to be based in reality, one of the primary tenets of art is that it has to be the antithesis to sociopolitical dialogues. -------------------- 人 た ち を 燃 え る た め に 俺 は か れ ら に 火 を 上 げ る か ら 死 ん だ Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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By Committee
Member # 4233
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written Wednesday, January 5 2005 12:05
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I just thought that Jordan's plot was going nowhere, and so lost interest. The wheels were spinning, but they weren't touching the ground. I think that Goodkind, on the other hand, has some serious issues. The spinoff into Objectivism aside, his writing incorporates what seems to me to be an obsessive amount of misogyny, which is a bit of a turn-off in my book. Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 1249
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written Wednesday, January 5 2005 12:58
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So far I've liked Clive Barker's Abarat. I've read some Isabel Allende. It goes more to the "non-fantasy" category in my head. But I recall it wasn't exactly light reading. [ Wednesday, January 05, 2005 12:58: Message edited by: Milu ] Posts: 259 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Wednesday, January 5 2005 14:00
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I am enjoying Homeward Bound by Harry Turtledove. But, then I like a lot of his material. Not the alternate south novels, however. I especially liked Fox and Empire by Harry Turtledove. Another series which I liked was Curt Benjamin -- The Prince of Shadows, The Prince of Dreams, The Gates of Heaven -- The Seven Brothers series. It is excellent. Also The Shadow of the Lion and This Rough Magic by Eric Flint and Mercedes Lackey are good. I could go on and on but then it would get boring. I like historical fantasy. Robert Jordan basically is a hack. He started by writing bad conan novels then moved to verbose generic fantasies. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
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One Thousand Slimy Things
Member # 66
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 00:24
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I put a vote for Wheel of Time! It's a very long story with plenty of goodness. Those with the attention span of a mollusk need not apply. -------------------- Bending, but not in the way you might imagine. Posts: 995 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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By Committee
Member # 4233
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 05:21
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Dude, nothing really all that substantive happened in his last four books or so, and that's after about 3600 pages, at over $100 total for the hardbacks - not worth it. There's too much better concise and cogent literature out there that doesn't rip off Frank Herbert and others. Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 06:02
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A few more recent reads. These are both good reads. It is like cyberpunk but it uses a lot of biological and ecological material as well. Mark Budz Clade, and Crache. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 11:24
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Anybody who tries to rip off Frank Herbert should be spayed. Everything after Dune Messiah was bad (and that itself was only passable) and the last two or three books were completely unreadable. Hell, Dune itself has some serious flaws. Like the soporific first 200 pages. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
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One Thousand Slimy Things
Member # 66
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 13:36
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Jordan rips off Herbert? Maybe it's because I read the Finnish translation of the books that I do not understand what you mean by this. Now, as for the lack of action, that is up the reader to decide how much he/she wants it. Take one trashy women's romance novel. 300 pages, and about 50 pages of it is about the man's pulsating, humongous organ. Now if you want to read a *really* good book, you must the the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson. -------------------- Bending, but not in the way you might imagine. Posts: 995 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 4238
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 14:47
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quote:You could say the same thing about Jordan. All the women (except perhaps for Min and Moirane) in WoT act in a ludicrous, bizarre, man-hating manner. That, more than anything else, is what turned me off of WoT. Rand should have just balefired Cadusane a couple books ago. It's so damn annoying. Posts: 70 | Registered: Monday, April 12 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 17:16
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I like the Wheel of Time too. Nope, not much happens, but it doesn't happen in a good way. I also happen to like the world Jordan created, which often counts for more than book content in my, well, book. Stephen R. Donaldson is wonderful as long as you have a strong constitution and no aversion to watch characters go through hell and not come out the other side. —Alorael, who will bring up C. S. Friedman again. The Coldfire Trilogy is somewhere between scif-fi and fantasy, closer to the latter, and it has my two favorite unexpected character deaths. In Conquest Born can only be described as different, and it is very different. Don't read if you like to easily empathize with characters. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5362
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 18:24
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I finished reading the WoT series (or atleast what has come out so far) a couple of months ago, and i must say it was awesome. Posts: 59 | Registered: Wednesday, January 5 2005 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 1558
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written Thursday, January 6 2005 19:29
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Foundation series, and Robot series by Isaac Asimov. There are 10+ books, but the series doesn't degrade like the Dune series. Very like the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, the quality never drops below standard, and often is above the mark. Also, anyone who hasn't read the Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams is missing out. This series is very much like the Monty Python series - hit and miss, but the best parts are well worth it. I'm out of it, I keep staring at series and I'm sure it's spelled wrong. I apologize for saying like and series 13 times now. -------------------- I'm tired of the strain and the pain ___ ___ ___ I feel the same, I feel nothing Nothing is important to me ___ ___ ___ ___ __ And nobody nowhere understands anything About me and all my dreams lost at sea ___ __ But we’re not the same, we’re different tonight We’ll make things right, we’ll feel it all tonight _ The indescribable moments of your life tonight The impossible is possible tonight ___ ____ ___ Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight Go All Blacks xtraMSN Rugby _ MuggleNet Posts: 1112 | Registered: Friday, July 19 2002 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Friday, January 7 2005 00:02
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Does the Foundation series get less implicitly sexist after the first book? I don't know if Asimov was consciously misogynistic, but my impression of Foundation was that of a 1950s culture transposed into a high-technology world. It's one of the main reasons I think he compares poorly to his contemporary John Wyndham. Don't get me wrong; Foundation's a brilliant book plotwise, but IA's speculations on culture are of a pretty white-picket-fence nature. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Friday, January 7 2005 00:33
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As far as cultural vision, I think the Robot series does better than the Foundation series (both by Asimov and in the same universe, for those who don't know). I rather liked the Foundation universe's series. Robert Jordan needs to be told that his publisher will only release two more WoT books and that he'd damn well better wrap it up by then or else he's not getting another chance. WoT was good up through Book 6, but after that, RJ's been milking the series for all the cash it's worth. Book 9 seemed to be rushing towards a conclusion, and then Book 10 hit, and absolutely nothing happened. I have to hand it to him, though. He can write four books, with a total of, well, I don't want to count it, but more than two thousand pages, and have virtually nothing happen in them. He can stretch the events of ten pages into three hundred pages. I got into the series when Book 7 was new, so I admit that I feel a bit betrayed. I probably would feel the same way if I had gotten into Spiderweb games around the time of Exile 3. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 3477
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written Friday, January 7 2005 03:21
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The Absolut Sagacious stranger, isnt that called ringworld? -------------------- Avernum is as addictive as skribbane!!! Withdrawal symptoms are harsh so I just keep playing. Free skribbane at Wal-mart Posts: 296 | Registered: Monday, September 22 2003 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 2210
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written Friday, January 7 2005 05:18
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Ringworld is by Larry Niven. There are two recent additions to the series Ringworld's Children and The Ringworld Throne. Discworld is different. It is by Terry Pratchett. Not my favorite but still a good write. He learned his trade by being a public relations person for the nuclear energy industry. He says it taught him how to make tremendous lies. -------------------- Wasting your time and mine looking for a good laugh. Star Bright, Star Light, Oh I Wish I May, I Wish Might, Wish For One Star Tonight. Posts: 1084 | Registered: Thursday, November 7 2002 08:00 |