D. Eddings, Brent Weeks

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by darkunkle, Jul 3, 2009.

  1. Bigmikey

    Bigmikey Internet Pacifist.

    You know what, I misspoke, I meant Soul of fire. My bad. It was a while ago so the names aren't very fresh in my head.

    It wasnt that there was anything hugely wrong other than, for me, the story just got stale. Too much of the same thing. I forget which book it was but one of them has Richard the unwelcome guest of the female assassin-y chicks that dress in red? THAT was awesome stuff.

    To my taste I would have like the story to end at book 5. Had I known that was the last one I could forced myself to finish it.... maybe... lol :D I absolutely agree with the statement about Goodkind running out of ideas and that runs parallel to why I lost my interest.
     
  2. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    Soul of the fire takes a completely different direction, it's very political about racism, second class citizens, and I think the soverign was Goodkinds anti catholic dig, he does like to get his philosophy and political cview across, you missed out dude, cos you missed the best book of the series, 6 Faith of the Fallen :)
     
  3. Bigmikey

    Bigmikey Internet Pacifist.

    Seriously? It was that good? I HAVE been eyeballin the wizards first rule lately thinking maybe I'd read that one again.... maybe I can give the series one more shot? I'll let you know if I do :)
     
  4. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    Yup I thought so :) So did friends who read the book also think so, 6 was the best probably, after 6 they get stupid, but I just wanted to finish what I started. :) 7 is probably the worst mainly because it's based around Jensen Rahl, and Richard and Kahlan are hardly in it. SoT to me is Richard and Kahlans story not silly Jensen.
     
  5. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    He did, yes. I bought it last week but haven't managed to read it yet. Will post my thoughts once I'm done.
     
  6. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    For the audio book fans!

    Graphic Audio have released the Night Angel trillogy you just can't get it on their international site yet :bang:

    http://www.graphicaudio.net/
     
  7. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    Wizard's first rule and faith of the fallen are good books, the others are of varying quality from OK to poor. I didn't even make it a third of the way through pillars of creation. Even then, wizard's first rule is pretty generic on many fronts, borrowing heavily from Eddings and Brooks. The biggest problem I have is the fact that Richard is such an unsympathetic character. He is neither hero nor antihero, he is self absorbed and somewhat psychopathic. He is superhuman in his abilities, convinced of his own rightness, yet monstrous in his choices. How am I supposed to root for a man who allowed a whole nation to be massacred because they rejected his seemingly unreasonable demands?
    WoT is much better, perhaps salvaged by the fact it has numerous significant viewpoint characters, so even during the stretch when Rand becomes fairly unlikeable, the others keep you going (indeed, you start with Rand as your favourite character, then Perrin, then Mat, maybe now that Rand has come to terms with himself again he'll be back in the driving seat). The world of WoT is very well realised and internally consistent (in glaring contrast to SoT), and the supporting cast are rich and complex. However, it's not without it's problems, notably book ten where the story basically stopped so that loose ends from subplots could be resolved. However, once over that hump it becomes awesome again, and I loved the first of the Brandon Sanderson installments.
     
  8. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    I love Richard, and I can understand what he's doing, I guess that's Terry Goodkinds hardcore conservative thinking coming out into play (which I don't like). But in regards to the whole massacre thing one it was a city I believe, Renwold or something? Third, there was really nothing he could do about it, his forces where weak and outnumbered like over 20-1 or something crazy like that, also he didn't have the knowledge/tools he had later in which he took the battle to the enemy. The whole idea of "us or them" was because he knew if they weren't unified they would fall, even if they were all unified they are still hugely outnumbered, and seemingly fighting a losing battle. In the later books, he tells his army, he finally realises there is no way they can defend thier homeworld, and he asks them he realises he can't order them to do this, they starts a guerilla style warfare in the enemys homeland wreaking havoc. His demands, were somewhat unreasonable, but the thing is, if he asked nicely or ended up in negotiations, it would drag out and not get results. He wanted to make sure that everyone gets equal treatment, and that they understad the seriousness of the situation etc. I haven't read WoT. But I might look into it in the future, I'm currently rereading the first law trilogy, probably my favourite trilogy ever? Joe Abercrombie is one to watch.
     
  9. Castiel

    Castiel New Member

    Fantasy must reads are the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, a little hard going in book 7 and 8 but gets back on track and is probably the most epic of the current crop in the genre.

    Another excellent and overlooked read is Songs of Earth and Power by Greg Bear. Many people overlook this one because Bear is predominantly a Sci-Fi author, but it is on a par with Magician by Raymond Feist.
     
  10. slickoneuk

    slickoneuk Member Supporter

    Magician Trilogy by Trudy Cavanah?

    Love Gemmel and Feist
     
  11. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    Joe Abercrombie!

    My new favourite.

    His characters are really well done and his humour is dark and gritty.

    A good addition to the genre.

    Oh and the fight scenes are some of the best I've read.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2011
  12. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    What did you read? First Law Trilogy? Best Served Cold or the Heroes? Absolutely love the guy! I did reccomend him on my last post :) Brandon Sanderson?
     
  13. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    Well I got Heroes at half price and that spurred me to get the First Law Trilogy, thought I should read them first.

    I've just started Before They Are Hanged, loved The Blade Itself.
     
  14. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    Ah! So you just started. Enjoy :) I love the Blade itself, and last arguement of kings, before they are hanged is good first time around, but when you read it again you may notice how slow it is compared to the others, I love Logen! I would reccomend reading best served cold before you read the heroes. To follow it in chronological order. :)
     
  15. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    Cheers.

    Yes Logen is very good I chuckled at Glokta a fair bit.
     
  16. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    Yeah love Glokta too! Logen gets better and better!
     
  17. righty

    righty Valued Member

    Ohh caught onto this thread late.

    My opinion

    Wheel of Time > Sword of Truth

    This is if you can get past the dry spell of a few boring books from Robert Jordan. Brendan Sanderson has really picked this up extremely well. Sword of Truth just dragged on and on. (Oh so you just defeated, conquered and now rule what used to be huge, powerful and not to mention evil nation. But look there's an even huger, more powerful and more evil nation just over there, and now it's attacking us.)

    A Song of Ice and Fire has the potential to be better than both of the above, but only if new books of the quality of the first couple are released. Requires George R.R. Martin to get off his fat lazy **** and do some real writing though.

    One that hasn't been mentioned is I would recommend Robin Hobb's books to anyone interested in this thread. Starting with the Farseeker Trilogy if you are interested. Fantastic books.

    I'm currently making my way through The Dark Tower series which I finally got my hands on and getting into it a bit more and into the third book. Not enough to decide whether it's fantasy or science fiction at this point.

    Other Notes:
    Was disappointed The Belgariad and others weren't listed under David Eddings in the initial post.
     
  18. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    You know, I liked #10. Perhaps it was because I didn't start reading WoT until after RJ passed away and so I didn't have to wait years for #10, but I didn't think for a second that it was inferior to 8 or 9. Those threads RJ tied up needed tying up before the story could move on. It might also be because Perrin is my favourite character (and IIRC 10 was Perrin heavy).
     
  19. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    I've just finished (like 2 hours ago) the Night Angel trilogy and, quite frankly, I'm ****ed.

    Weeks wrote 2 and a half great books and then just cruised through the series climax. It's like he realised that he needed a forth book to tell his story but didn't want to write another book so he just cut out everything. The last half of Beyond the Shadows was little more than a synopsis.
     
  20. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    You could argue though that if you have to effectively stop the story midway through to resolve loose ends which aren't really going anywhere and which if they can be resolved in book 10 probably weren't that crucial, then you've tried to be too clever and lost control of the work.
    Book 10 is by no means a disaster, but it is one of the weakest, and it does have a damaging effect on the series. What's even more puzzling is that book 11 was so strong and had such a sense of momentum.
    I know what you mean about the end of the night angel trilogy. Did seem rushed and unsatisfying.
     

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