For those truly interested this will be old news. But, to follow up on a post I did right at the start, author Brandon Sandersen has been chosen to finish Robert Jordan's last, and incomplete novel A Memory of Light. I don't know much about Brandon, he has written a few other novels. Interestingly enough, he was in the graduate program at BYU with Breanne, though, unfortunately for the rabid fan in me, she didn't really know him, too bad.
Anyway, I am, with millions of others, waiting with baited breath. Its supposed to be published fall of '09, and I have a good hope that it will be good. According to all reports and interviews, there were some extensive notes written laying out the story, the ending, all the secrets etc. Sorensen has said some of the parts of the book were already pretty much written, while others only had skeleton paragraphs.
I love this series, and everyone who I have ever suggested read it does as well. I suggest it to all of my readers here at this blog (all 3 1/2 of you who have not). To my knowledge, I have been either directly, or indirectly responsible for at least 13 people having read this series. I'll continue to spread the word.
This is the best fantasy series out there (Tolkein does not count). I will not argue that it doesn't have a couple week books, but you have to take the series as a whole.
-Other fantasy authors you should read: I've read all of these authors multiple times. Own them all, if you ever want to borrow.
Raymond Feist
Terry Goodkind
R.A. Salvatore <------currently reading for like the 4th time
Robin Hobb
Margaret Weis & Tracey Hickman
7 comments:
I remember you suggesting that I read those books clear back the Summer of 01. I didn't think anything could be as good as Tolkein though. So i never did. Maybe I'll give it a try though. I'll wait and see if the last one's well written first.
I personally don't like reading fantasy anymore because it pretty much the industry has turned it into soft core porn. Much like vampire and zombie movies/books. I give a read if a respected source gives me positive feed back about it and it can be substantiated by another source.
The WoT is a good read. There are about three books in the series where I think man Jordan is just milking us for money. Otherwise I think he has done a good job at writing some interesting stories.
Some of it, you couldn't even put the adendum 'soft core' to it. Its true, there is a bunch of trash, and by that I don't even mean poorly written drivel. You do have to be careful. Case in point. George R.R. Martin. Many, many adore him. And he writes an incredibly good story, but I actually threw away the books of his I had because I really felt like I shouldn't read them.
Jordan stays far from that, I believe. Salvatore never even comes close to it. Hobb either. Weis & Hickman are more young adult, and theirs is clean.
Feist is good, as long as you completely skip Prince of the Blood, which you can anyway, since for some reason its right in the middle, its poorly written, and it doesn't advance any real story line.
Goodkind is my favorite after Jordan, there is one part in one book, however, which would definitely make it unsuitable for younger readers.
And Taylor, I didn't put Tolkien on that list, because I assume anyone who reads (especially anyone who reads fantasy), like yourself, has already read it. He is the king, the master of the genre. Delose won't read fantasy because he says nothing can be as good as Tolkien. I have always disagreed with him, in that just because you can't always have prime rib, doesn't mean you can't enjoy a good steak, or even a great ham & cheese sandwich.
What do you think of Terry Brooks's Shannara series?
I love fantasy but I generally don't get as involved as all of you.
I do not read any fantasy unless Will or Dan gives it a thumbs up first, or unless I have already read and enjoyed something by that author. That way, I stay away from most of the worst of it.
Although I have to say that Goodkind's books are the same story rewritten numerous times with a few new twists.
Don't be a hater Mark.
Cameron: I think they are good for the first fantasy someone reads, but upon rereading them, he truly began his career as an atrocious writer. I can't even talk people I know into reading his most recent stuff (which I think is much, much, much better).
The Sword of Shannara is one of the worst famous fantasy novels. I enjoyed it when I read it first, but I can't even force my way through it now. I do like Elfstones, and his 4-7 books are mediocre to good. But his newest stuff is much better, The First King of Shannara, and anything written after that.
If I had a younger person thinking about reading fantasy, I would slap that out of their hand, and point them to Weis & Hickman.
I have to modify my last post. I think they are not horrible for a first time fantasy reader, that is quite young.
They aren't 'good' for a first time fantasy reader.
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