If you like fantasy, I'm sure you've heard of the series "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. The series has become bloated at 10 books without an end in site, but 1-6 and 9 are perhaps the best fantasy books written since Lord of the Rings. Anyway, I always eagerly await each installment ever since I read the first one in 1993. This one, I've been waiting on for about 2.5 years. So, I walked into Walden's on January 7th with a great deal of anticipation. I finished the book on the 9th... and for the first time, I wish I'd waited for the paperback. So, even if you think you love the series... you might not want to get this one immediately. Absolutely nothing happens. Two semi-major decisions are made. If the author actually had an editor, these would have occurred in mid-book and would have culminated in a climax. There is no climax here, unfortunately. At b est, the entire damned thing is nothing more than a prologue for book 11. I don't think the author is just stretching it out for a money. He's actually a good writer and I'm sure he could start a new series successfully... but I think that his greatest strength is now his greateset weakness. He created a rich, fabulous, realistic world with myriad subplots and incredible detail... but now that detail has swallowed the plot. He's simply too atteched to the details, and has left the whole to wilt. I'm incredibly dissappointed. Maybe I'll feel better about it in 2.5 more years...
That's too bad haven. I've been waiting for book 10 anxiously myself, but haven't been able to pick it up yet. Maybe I'll hold off for a while... Then again I don't know if I can wait all the way until the paperback.
So this series is that good. I've been looking for another series of books to start and I have not really found what I've been looking for. I was a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, and I have no idea which fantasy series would be the best to pick up after reading it. Would you recommend this one, or any others?
The other problem with the series, of course, is that you start hating every single one of the characters for being stupid (and it doesn't help that Jordan makes every woman character a vain, selfish beeyotch). I read the first eight books at a pretty fast clip (the ninth wasn't out yet) so I didn't have time to realize how much waste there was in the series. Lots of great ideas and subplots, terrible terrible characters.
Supermac: I'd recommend it because I've really enjoyed the series (as I said, I think it's the best since Tolkien wrote LoTR), but it'll be at least 3 years before it's finished (and very possibly longer), so you may or may not want to begin it right now. Fantasy's undergoing a bit of a rejuvenation, lately. George Martin's "Cycle of Fire and Ice" is more tightly woven than the Wheel of Time, but it probably doesn't have the imagination or sense of myth that the Wheel of Time has. It's not finished either, too... and the next book comes out in March (there are 3 out right now). The "Sword of Truth" saga by Goodkind used to be a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, the last few books have gone off the philosophical deep end. The author used to write good fantasy, now he writes bad philosophy. It's essentially a poor man's Ayn Rand, now, in a fantasy setting. I don't like Ayn Rand... but at least she actually seemed intelligent. Cheap imitation is even worse *shudder*. Kate Eliot has a good series out right now, though I forget the name of it (she has several, and I only like one. One of the books in the series I like is "Child of Flame."). It's not finished, either, though. Melanie Rawn has another decent series "The Wars of Light and Shadow" that also isn't finished. Some good stuff that is finished: 1. Tad Williams series that begins with "The Dragon Bone Chair." There are only 3 (although they're long) and it's quite good. 2. Feist's Riftwar Saga. There are about 15 of these altogether, though I've only read the first 4 and last 4. Some of them are supposedly mediocre. 3. Roger Zelazny's Amber series. Shorter stuff, and easy to read. More action oriented than most grand fantasy. That's the stuff I can rattle off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more, but that's most of the best of it. You can tell I've read way, way too much fantasy in my life .
The first three Shanarra novels are very good too. Terry Brooks, I believe. Sword of.... Elfstones of.... and Wishsong of....Shanarra I knew he wrote some books after that but never got around to reading them. Anyone read em? As far as a sci-fi fantasy aspect goes I cannot recommend the Hyperion series enough. Brilliant books.
mateo: I've read the second Shanara cycle he wrote... started with Scions. I only read Sword of... in the first series. I liked him ok when I was younger, but tried picking one up again and didn't much care for it. Sort of like David Eddings... character development is paper-thin and the plot isn't enough to make up for it. The Sword of Shannara did bring the fantasy genre back from the dead, though, or so I've heard (from people who were actually alive at the time!).
Haven, Gots to agree with you on Tad William's "Memory Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy. Excellent. Awesome. The "Shannara" books I appreciated more when I was younger. Terry Brooks does the best job among the Tolkien ripper-offers. (Read "The Sword of Shannara" and tell me it isn't a near-perfect ripoff of LOTR.) I gave up on Robert Jordan because the guy started out so well, I mean, his books kicked A; he started very LOTR-ish but went off in a very detailed and wondrous world...and now it seems that no one wants to tell him, "Look, it's been 7000 pages already; we appreciate a long story as much as the next person...but GET TO THE F*****G POINT!"
I have to admit I havent read the Shanarra books since the 80s, which I think is when they came out. And I was a lot younger at that time. Sword of Shanarra was very LOTR-like....in fact there is a scene where the progagonist falls of a cliff in a battle and is thought to be dead, just like the Aragorn scene in TTT that doesnt exist in the book. Strange. There's also a complete rip off of Moria in it. Elfstones was better. A darker novel with a rather shocking ending. Wishsong is different because it actually contains a large cast of developed characters....but I cant remember the story.
I used to really like the Wheel of Time series when I was in college, but now I find the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind much more to my liking. B
I just want to give a shout-out to Robert E. Howard's Conan stories. If you like fantasy writing, then you'll definitely enjoy these. Some of the Conan pastiches are pretty good too, especially those by Robert Jordan.
George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones is the first book) would be my second choice after Tolkien. Jordan ranks third. I also enjoy Eddings, Goodkind, and Kerr. I actually quit halfway through one of Kate Elliot's books... I was bored senseless. Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn was decent, but not spectacular. I refuse to read Brooks because Sword of Shannara was a carbon-copy of LOTR. Weis and Hickman are overrated. Anyway, pick up Martin... he's really, really good.
Terry Goodkind bored the hell out of me. About the only good thing I can say about his books is that they can kill some time because they're somewhat long. David Farlands Runelords series is extremely good. Wheel of Time for life yo.
