Ever read a book that just $$$$$$$$ed you off?

[Nathan Caroland]

I 'was' a big fan of Laurell K. Hammilton up until her last book in the Anita Blake series, 'Incubus Dreams'.

All the books before this latest one were damn interesting, full of action, and had me wondering what was going on next. There was a bit of sex in them but considering it was only a few pages here and there, or a chapter at most, I got over it. It helped the story along as her life got a bit more complicated.

Apparently she had a mid-life crisis right in the middle of my damn book. Incubus Dreams starts off with sex. Ok, no biggie. Then I get a 'hint' of something else, like a clue, a mystery that she is going to get ahold of and the book is off to a decent start right?

Wrong.

I feel like I just read a pornographic book and I'm not happy about it in the least. In the first 24 hours of the book she has sex thirteen or fourteen times (I lost track) and with ten different men/creatures. Sometimes one at a time, but usually two or three, vampires, werecreatures, whatever. Bestiality, blood letting during sex and about every other word was 'F**K ME'. I swear she used it over a 100 times in the span of 40 pages. Honestly, I'm not exagerating in the least bit.

I bought the book to read about Vampire hunting, werecreature killing, mystery solving. Not how WIDE some guy is, how wet she gets, how she needs every hole filled over and over and the slight pain and S&M that she gets into. Its like the woman hit a spot in her life where all she is interested in is sex and it went over to her writing rather severely. I hope she got her jollies, because believe me, her character Anita Blake was shaggin' everything that she could lay a hand on.

I read it because I figured, it HAD to get better - you're kidding me right, all I'm going to read is 'F**K ME'?? After about 250 'screaming in heat and liquid sex' 'F**K ME's it finally got good.

Yup. 35 pages left to the book, and it ACTUALLY focused on what the series was about and to be honest, was damn good for those few pages.

I feel jipped. This is possibly the only book that has ever actually made me angry. I was ranting to my co-workes about it every few minutes and it got to be a joke around here 'how many has she screwed in this last chapter'? I'm sure I'm thought of as some pornographic scum now.

How the editor let this one get off the cutting table I never will know. If there ever is another Anita Blake book, I'm going to get some reviews before I just blithly snatch it up.

Excuse me, I think I need to go have a mental enima now to get rid of this crap.

Bleah.

[praetorian0_1]

That sounded nauseating. Lovin' reduced to gruntin with abhumans- nasty at best. i do wonder how she did her research- pictures nasty old lady hanging out in Vampire/bloodletters club, blahh. If a book has ever ticked me off- I usually don't have the intestinal fortitude (esp if I'm on the can- sorry) to finish it. I have felt embarrassed for some writters in fact, more often for childishness or predictability- my mother in law dared me to read one of her crap dime novels once, made it to the end of chapter one then- fling, the book went on the floor lol.

[green stuff]

This will probably not be as funny as your story Nathan, but the book did seriously $$$$$$$$ me off. So here goes. Back in 1995 (man time flies by fast, *** shivers ***) I had to read one of Michel Buttor's books "L'Emploi du Temps" for my studies during my summer holidays; the title roughly translates to "The Time Table", or "The Agenda", or "How I Spent my Time", something along those lines. Mr Buttor is a contempoary french author supposed to be part of the "Nouveau Roman" trend. I start reading the book and basically find out that after needing 15 pages to describe how the hero waits for a train, that he's leaving France to England for an office job. Here on, the author just keeps rambling on about everyday boring issues ... but at about half of the book it starts to become a detective story because there is a murder ... only to be abandoned 30 pages later :(. The author keeps going on adding more and more boring details every now and then poping the fact that the hero fantasises on this english lady. To make things shorter (because I'm affraid I'm being just as boring as Mr Buttor), I skipped a few pages and finished the book feeling I had been robbed of my time.

Summer ends, school starts. French class comes and we start discussing the book. Our teacher asks us what we thought of the book. Those who had finished it said it was great! Inside of me, I was going WHAT??? And then they were saying how the part where the hero is tricked by the english lady and his friend was the best part. So here I go furiously flipping through the pages to try and find the one interesting part that I had skipped ... I never found it. Damn book :blowup:.

A bit OoT : Since, I've fallen in love with David Gemmel's writings which I highly recommend. He's this 2m10 (6 feet 11 and 3/4th of an inch for our american friends ;)) english fellow who paid his studies by being a bouncer at night. After graduating, he became a journalist. And now he writes high adventure fantasy novels. Imagine a mix of Conan and LotR with less magic but with some second degree humor. Plus when he describes a hand to hand combat, you can feel that the breaking nose sound is something he's lived.

[Spacemunkie]

If I'm not into a book after a chapter, it gets dumped I'm afraid. Haven't got the time or the inclination to persevere with something that is a hassle.

As for disgusting books, try Irvine Welsh's 'Filth'. Absolutely revolting main character :D

[Ritual]

Not a particular book, but...

A long time ago I started to read the first book in the 'Wheel of time' series by Robert Jordan. I didn't know much about fantasy litterature at the time and was happy to find something that looked exciting in my local library. I discovered that there was a second part so I borrowed that one when I had finished the first. Then, I found a Sci-Fi/Fantasy bookstore in Stockholm and discovered that there were 6 or 7 books in the series and that apparently, it wasn't finished yet. That $$$$$$$$ed me off so I stopped reading! I can't stand these never-ending fantasy soap operas. :vb_mad2:

[Nathan Caroland]

Yeah, I've read a couple of books that just make you roll your eyes or fight to just keep the damn things open. Usually I carry one with me for long trips in the car, breaks and lunches at work, etc. Sometimes its enough that I read just to be able to stay awake.

As for the WoT series, completely agree with you Anders, that man is an idiot. Well, maybe not, he's got a large following and everyone keeps buying his books, but I for one have gotten quite sick of it.

Gemmel - read a bit from him, can't remember anything being that 'great' though. Might have to give him another shot.

[green stuff]

Gemmel - read a bit from him, can't remember anything being that 'great' though. Might have to give him another shot.
The Druss books are good (especially Legend; the description of the siege is really great : the fear of the defenders, their efforts to get ready, and then the siege itself). Waylander is just plain cool. Some cross between Han Solo, Aragorn, and William Tell; all of this mixed in a potion of death wish ;).

[Drake Farstrider]

I am with Spacemunkie. If it does not grab my attention after the 1st few chapters then I stop reading.

I found the the writing style of C.S. Friedman really annoyed the hell out of me. And I could never get into Heinlien. :sleeping:

[gi6ers]

And I could never get into Heinlien. :sleeping:

What book have you tried? Stranger in a strange land was very good IMO, even Starship Troopers was ok.

A few books have $$$$$$$$ed me off - Tolkien bores my ass off, The last in the Deathstalker Series was pretty crappy. Arthur C Clarke has done some really bad collaborations.

I find I enjoy pretty much everything by Ian M Banks, Kevin J Anderson, Brian Lumley & China Mieville.

[supervike]

I wanted to respond to this thread in a more timely manner, but for the life of me I couldn't remember the name of the book that $$$$$$$$ed me off so.


I was in a book store and stumbled across the book again...


http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0451451651.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I read (or started to read) this book a few years back. The foreword told how this fellow was laid up by some accident and not able to move around, so decided to write a book inspired by Tolkein's middle earth.

The book is not so much a inspiration than a blatent RIP OFF. First off, he has a charming group of halfling sized furry footed characters called WARROWS....The main character is called Peregrin and dreams of adventure. Some mysterious dwarves appear and want to take him on an adventure, so he sets out with handyman halfling Cotton...BLAH!!

I'm getting annoyed just typing about it!!

[Nathan Caroland]

Heh, I love this book. Or I should say, I really enjoyed the Iron Tower Trilogy. Some of the first books that I read way back when and they have a special spot for me.

Personal opinion, they are better than Tolkien as I really don't care for his writing, though to be 100% honest, it takes a large bite of his ideas and premise.

[supervike]

Had I not have ready Tolkien, I may have liked it too. Just too blatent for me.

[RedDawn]

Well, Anders (I think) beat me to knocking the Wheel of Time. I LOVED it - for the first three books...after that I felt like I needed to keep a list of ALL the characters - not the main characters, but all the characters. They kept popping up later in the story and I seemed to spend a lot of time flipping back through the books trying to figure out who the heck they were.

I finally got sick and tired of trying to keep up with them and stopped reading them. I'm glad I did - Scott/Grumb threw the last one across the room he was so $$$$$$$$ed off that the guy didn't wrap things up!

[Nathan Caroland]

I kept up with the books until .... I think book six, or was it seven. Hell I don't know. I really enjoyed them up to five or so, but I think there are about 20 MAIN characters, 30 or so SUPPORT characters and so many damn plots and sidelines that its not even funny. That and for some flippin' arsed reason, he has several of the characters named very simuliar which just drives me crazy trying to figure out which is which.

I was actually keeping up with them until I read an interview they did with him and he said that he was taking the series out to 13, possibly 15 books. I stopped having any interest at the very moment.

[RedDawn]

[QUOTE=I was actually keeping up with them until I read an interview they did with him and he said that he was taking the series out to 13, possibly 15 books. I stopped having any interest at the very moment.[/QUOTE]


UGGGHHHHH!!! I thought I just had to wait until book 12!!! When he was finished with them ALL, I was going to have a Robert Jordan marathon - just start back at the beginning and read them one after another.

My Dad is ready to kill me - I got him hooked on Jordan and then the guy goes and pulls this crap. Not sure if my Dad is ever going to forgive me! :)

[Nathan Caroland]

Have him read David Eddings, you'll win the mans love back quite quickly. GREAT author and I've reread many of his series.

[almathea toes]

I have to admit That I took one look at the abstracts (I forgotten the regular word for it) of the Anita Blake books, and went, this is going to turn into hre having random and explicit sex with monsters, especially as soon as the word incubbus was used in a title. So, I'm rather glad my unfounded cynicism came true.

Sorry you had to read it though, sex is fine, but really unless something plot important happens during said activity, coome on, let us know it happened then move on.

[maze 1]

You're definitely right about the Anita Blake books. I just recently picked up
what looked to be a good novel about vampires from an author I'd never
heard of : Jennifer Armintrout. It turned out to be a pretty good read as
books on vampires go. But, like the books featuring Anita Blake, the sex
was just filler that could have been left out. But unfortunately, somewhere
along the way someone decided that vampires were sexy. Sex sells.
So what ya gonna do?

[Nathan Caroland]

She has a new one out, Mika, but I'll be damned if I'll pick it up. I thought about it, really did, and want to read it, but I read the jacket of it and already she was having hot liquid flashes on the airplane in the two paragraphs and I decided against it.

She's also go a fairy one that I read two books into a series of .. five? Anyhow, she's writing about a fairy who has ubber sex drive and blah, blah, airtight, blah ... Please, lets just put in a bit of murder in the story to act like we have a plot other than a written porno.

[sebrushworth]

I've read the first ten Wheel of time books, and will probably read the eleventh one when it comes out in paperback. I'm somewhat miffed at the glacial pace at which his series is progressing, but at the same time I think the characters are interesting, and I've invested so much time in them that I can't stop now. Besides, I like the way he's turned it from pretty traditional sword and sorcery in to a series about politics and court intrigue.

[vincegamer]

I can't stand these never-ending fantasy soap operas. :vb_mad2:Me either. These days if I find out a book is part of a series I make sure the author is dead before reading any of it.

[vincegamer]

What book have you tried? Stranger in a strange land was very good IMO, even Starship Troopers was ok.
It helps to get into him when young. First one I read was Have Spacesuit Will Travel, when I was about 9 or 10.

One book that $$$$$$$$ed me off was a text book for a science fiction literature class.
Lots of great stories followed by a series of commentary and essay questions by Isaac Asimov. Bastard.
I'd read some really fascinating Robert Bloch or Ray Bradburry story delving into the human psyche when subjected to extremes and then Isaac would proceed to tell me what crap it is because the actual speed of Deimos, the first moon of Mars, is xxxmph, not yyymph which means none of the story could actually take place....

What really $$$$$$$$es me off though is crappy movie adaptations of great works of literature.

[vincegamer]

Sorry about the multiple posts but I only just found this thread.

Well, Anders (I think) beat me to knocking the Wheel of Time. I LOVED it - for the first three books...after that I felt like I needed to keep a list of ALL the characters - not the main characters, but all the characters. They kept popping up later in the story and I seemed to spend a lot of time flipping back through the books trying to figure out who the heck they were.
Reminds me of when I slogged through the Silmarilian. See, Tolkein's elves are immortal. I remember reading a passage and some elf pops along and everyone treats him special like I'm supposed to know who he is. I have to go sifting through the beginning of the book to find last time he'd showed up was over 500 years (and over 100 pages) earlier!

[Xmortis]

I'm a big King fan. The series I enjoy the most is The Dark Tower Saga. For those who have not read it I advise it, if you have read it you may know where this is going. This series consists of one small book and 6 bricks. Through 7 books you learn to care about these characters and hope for a happy ending for them...but this is King after all. So last book things get bad, which is fine it's a fine ending. The part that kills me is the very end of the last book. Just before the book ends you, the reader, get a message from king telling you that you have done enough, that you don't have to read more that the story is at it's end. As I had read everything else I decided to read the last bit. 5 minutes later I threw the book across my bed room ripping it from the spine. 5 minutes after that I was in my car driving to get a new copy because it really was the perfect ending. So there, somewhere in my ramblings, you have one of my most $$$$$$$$ed off/ happy moments of reading.

[Dolomyte]

I hate Jim butcher. The dresden files books are annoying and redundant. I feel like I can point out him spending 2 or 3 pages describing the same character multiple times. I don't need to know the length and color of dresden's trenchcoat and how it flows 6000 times.

[edonil]

Eh. I tend not to finish books that $$$$$$$$ me off as much as you guys have been describing...hence why I tore through the first three Game of Thrones books and don't even care to finish book four. Feast of Crows was just awful, not a single character I cared about, but we'll introduce 30 more! (shakes head) I've definitely had times where I wanted to strangle particular authors for killing off characters* (coughWebercoughAbnettcough), but then I've also wanted to strangle authors for just writing a bad story. Worst possible example has been almost anything Black Library has put out recently. There's a few authors I'll keep up with, but even those series that I greatly enjoyed started to $$$$$$$$ me off as they brought in writers who didn't fit it. Example: The Horus Heresy series. Started off so incredibly strong, I loved it. The first four or five books were amazing, the best stuff I'd seen BL put out. And then, they published Descent of Angels, and it was absolutely garbage. A few more books that were good, and then they all started becoming like Descent of Angels. At that point, I stopped reading. Plot, and realistic characters, are important. When will publishers realize that? Books that are nothing but sex and/or violence aren't good books. They're just poor fiction.

*As a side note, I don't have a problem with killing off characters. Even when Abnett seems to do it almost at random, it is a mark of how good of a writer he is that I want to throw the book against the wall and hunt him down for killing people. Same with Weber.

[GamerGaeth]

Anything Gor.

Dear god, the frothing hatred I have for that series cannot be summed up in words. Even worse are the people who think that this is how society should be.

[Doctor Amos]

Medusa's Coil by Zealia Bishop. It was one of those, "Wait, what? Really? Really?" endings.

[Turelio]

Have him read David Eddings, you'll win the mans love back quite quickly. GREAT author and I've reread many of his series.

I'm using the audio books of The Belgariad books at the moment while I get stuff painted. I'm about halfway through book 4 at the moment. I haven't read them since high school, when I re-read them several times. There are a few interesting points I have picked up of foreshadowing and things like that which I didn't realise sooner. Having said that, I still find the main group of characters frustrating in that a lot of them ignore what is going on right in front of them then act surprised when something happens which was obvious a few books ago. Still, I keep coming back to them, so it must say something about them.

$$$$$$$$ed me off though? Once, before it was common knowledge that the book was full of sparkly vampires, I tried to read 'Twilight'. I remember as far as the main town being called 'Forks' and that stuck with me, because I wanted to find some and drive them into my eyes.

Another one was in high school, where we had to read 'The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender'. Most books that I had to read in school were at the worst partially enjoyable until we had to dissect them, and discuss stuff like the symbolism of the main character waking up and making breakfast was. That waste of paper though nearly drove me insane. The part I remember clearly was that the main character was being mugged or something like that, and she reached to her bag. She then explained that she didn't like guns or mace/pepper spray, listed the contents of her bag over two pages, then carefully sat it down and beat off the mugger. In class I checked, at not one point did the contents of the bag ever come into play again. Essentially, the middle of the book was a useless grocery list. I also remember losing a lot of marks on assignments based on the book, where we were asked our opinion about parts of the book. Turns out the Australian school system English course involves subtle translation skills. The phrase 'In your opinion' should be translated as 'Assuming you liked what you just read'...

[Euclid]

I'm trying to read the Wheel of Time series as I have some friends who highly recommended it. It isn't pis*ing me off but its boring as hell so far.

The only books in recent years that I have given up on have been:

- The Elder Gods by David Eddings.
I loved his other series and this was a pile of s**t.

- The Helconia Trillogy by Brian Aldis.
The writing was brilliant, the story was massive in scape but at the end of the first book it builds up to a massive battle for ages and then..... a few thousand years later at a different part of the world...... BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHARACTERS I LOVED? Someday I will go back and finish this series.

[Edwinn]

I am an avid reader and read anything which I find interesting. I will surely try this book.

[Soundwave]

Why necro a thread with the last reply in 2006?...

[edonil]

(shrug) why not? I didn't really even notice it actually...lol. Just answered when I saw it.

[G. Footman]

never really understood the whole 'thread necromancy' thing myself, if you got something to post, who care's if it's a few years old.


personally, I can't stand Ann Rice, I tried reading Queen of the Damned once, and couldn't get past the first chapter.

[Hoyled]

There was one book that comes to mind. It was for a college prep class everyone took that was tweaked for your major, so biology based for me. We had to read and do a paper on a book called Galapagos. The papers were supposed to be more about the biology aspects in the book. Mine were about my absolute hate of the narrator character, a ghost who had no relevance to the story. Only book I ever threw away.

[tattyted]

Why necro a thread with the last reply in 2006?...

because it is a decent question?

Agree with GamerGaeth - read one of the Gor books as a kid (it was in the wrong section -should have been in adult -and the librarian didn't notice when she stamped it out) Really wish she had.................

[Absolution Black]

I have to jump in to defend the Robert Jordan books....I actually loved them up until about book 10. Then I will admit the next couple were a bit rambling and drawn out.

But since his passing, and the mantle has been picked up by B Sanderson....Whilst still sticking to Jordan's vision, I have found his writing and style to be a breath of fresh air to the series.

I really enjoyed his first book (12 i think) and have the next sitting on my shelf in line to be read. It re-ignited my love of the series.

But yes, he does have too many similar sounding characters!

And as for books that P*** me off? To be honest..none that i recall. Generally if i can't get into a book after about two or three chapters, I ditch it.

[Shae-Konnit]

I picked up CS Goto's "Eldar Prophecy" on recommendation by one of my pals. Could barely get past the first couple of chapters it was so bad...
Use of language, attempts at imagery, dialogue, everything about it just $$$$$$$$ed me off: utterly awful on every single level.

Also "Twisted Metal" by Tony Ballantyne. Supposed to be a sci-fi story about a planet full of robots but it was just so incredibly boring. For a world populated entirely by robots the level of technology was surprisingly low. Like, the main method of data storage was a slab of metal with characters scratched onto it. And maybe this is personal preference, but I just find it a bit odd reading about an alien world full of robots and they all have names like Frank, Bob and Dave and stuff like that...
Again, barely penetrated a few chapters into that book, none of it made sense to me.

[DavidKerrSmith]

The Kathy Reichs book series for Temperance Brennan got on my nerves after the 3 book i read. I got really annoyed how in all 3 books the main character seems to find it a good idea to go snooping around on her own, without backup in any way shape or form for people who just killed someone.

WTF woman... did you learn nothing from all of those crime reports you wrote.

Yeah, stopped reading them after that.

Also, talking about books making you feel sick, I ended up going off American Gods by Neil Gaiman after the motel scene... (just go read it) Took me about a week to pick it up again.

[Stonedog-7]

I'm with Absolution Black on this, Wheel of time i really enjoyed until it hit a really dull patch about book 10, but Sanderson has really breathed new life into the series... just not enough for me to EVER read it from the begining again, but enough to finish it off

And Eddings, that's a love/hate one for me, really enjoyed the Sparhawk trilogy, but the second one was pretty much copy/paste... found the same with the Belgariad, first set of five (iirc) books, fine not too bad not great, second set was almost identical... refuse to even try more as everything i've heard from the friends who have tried it is it's the same stuff being recycled AGAIN

As for books truly annoying me, i'll echo the comments about the Gor books and pretty much everything that goes over the top like the book Nathan started this thread on, but otherwise there's not much i won't give a shot and persevere through

[Jonas Albrecht]

Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand takes her hatred of communism and goes sh*tbricks crazy in the opposite direction.

[Ciaran]

Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand takes her hatred of communism and goes sh*tbricks crazy in the opposite direction.

Same as Sword of Truth Series. Well, except at least what little bit of Atlas Shrugged I've read comes off as though it was written by someone that actually knows the craft a bit...

[MTox]

Great Topic....

During the height of Dan Brown, circa 2004 I believe or at least that's when I heard the most about it, I was unable to get my hands on the highly recommended Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons, so I picked up Deception Point. This book single-handedly made me lose faith in modern authors and I didn't read anything from anyone current for about a year, reverted back to Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Orwell and the like. Though Brown's ideas are pretty good, at least enough to make a story about even if they are lifted from other sources, his writing is god awful. Foreshadowing is supposed to lead the reader towards an "Ooh!!!" or "Ah ha!!" moment later in the book by droping "sublte" hints, not cause them to slap their forehead out of shear frustration because the author has ruined their own pacing. I think I might've thrown the book across the room multiple times, but I had to finish it. Then proceeded to burn it. That book definitely $$$$$$$$ed me off :wallbash:

[nilus]

Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand takes her hatred of communism and goes sh*tbricks crazy in the opposite direction.

I'd give you my opinion of Ayn Rand but I like to keep my politics off this board as much as I can. Lets just say I'm not a fan.

[Keltheos]

This book:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YhrLAYLQ8So/SsQemJdG-jI/AAAAAAAAIyc/zyA2JrsFuKE/s400/The+Sad+Tale+of+the+Brothers+Grossbart.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Sad-Tale-Brothers-Grossbart/dp/0316049344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315331923&sr=8-1

I don't think I've ever disliked the main character(s) of a book so completely as these two. My dislike was set within the first couple chapters of the book and carried through until the end - when I nearly threw it across the airplane cabin.

I kept waiting for either (and was disappointed neither occurred)
a) the Brothers to finally come to some sort of awakening realization.
b) be on the receiving end of a brutal comeuppance.

[Buhallin]

Cryptonomicon. It's supposed to be some panacea for geeks, with a respect to the technical that is rarely seen. Instead, you get about 3900 pages (wasn't it that many? it felt like it) where the crypto discussions are the only thing that's even remotely realistic as seven different unrelated story threads full of characters so overdone they would make Superman go "Really, guys, don't you think he's just a little TOO good?" meander their way along with nothing but "Okay, REALLY?" coincidences to tie them together, constantly teasing you with a Grand Revelation that simply never happens.

I've heard that some of Stephenson's other work is better/good, but after that train wreck of a book I'll never read another word he wrote.

Also, kudos to those saying that made it to Book 10 of Wheel of Time. I lost it about book 6. To this day, I think Robert Jordan was an impressive author with an unparalleled ability to take a trilogy and compress it into 10 books.

[Keltheos]

100% agree, Buh. I'd read another book by him ages ago, can't recall which, and I quite liked it. I can only get about 1/3 of the way through the Cryptobrick before I give up and put it back at the bottom of the 'to read pile'...again.

[nilus]

Also, kudos to those saying that made it to Book 10 of Wheel of Time. I lost it about book 6. To this day, I think Robert Jordan was an impressive author with an unparalleled ability to take a trilogy and compress it into 10 books.

I'm impressed you guys got past the first book. Something about Robert Jordan's style just killed me. I also disliked his Conan works.

I stayed away from the Song of Ice and Fire for years and years because people always said how it was like the Wheel of Time. Now that I am finally reading them I am happy that they are not. Honestly I should have known, I enjoy George R.R. Martins other works.

[edonil]

I'm impressed you guys got past the first book. Something about Robert Jordan's style just killed me. I also disliked his Conan works.

I stayed away from the Song of Ice and Fire for years and years because people always said how it was like the Wheel of Time. Now that I am finally reading them I am happy that they are not. Honestly I should have known, I enjoy George R.R. Martins other works.

See, it's interesting because I was able to get through all of the Wheel of Time books, (looking forward to the end of the series this November) and yet I hit Feast of Crows and never finished it. Never even had an inclination to finish it since then. I just don't care. Best long series I've ever read has been the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.

[nilus]

See, it's interesting because I was able to get through all of the Wheel of Time books, (looking forward to the end of the series this November) and yet I hit Feast of Crows and never finished it. Never even had an inclination to finish it since then. I just don't care. Best long series I've ever read has been the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.

Honestly I have not gotten to Feast of Crows yet. So I might end up eating my words.

I here good things about the Honor Harrington series. I might reserve the first book at my local library and check it out

[Ciaran]

Honestly I have not gotten to Feast of Crows yet. So I might end up eating my words.

I here good things about the Honor Harrington series. I might reserve the first book at my local library and check it out

There's nothing that you mentioned that I'm all that interested in :-/
Martin lost me as a fan a long while ago. A lot of my friends have found his latest to be one of the biggest disapointments they've ever read. We're from a WoT fan site, so that's saying a LOT...

The Harrington books seem like cheap, pulp sci fi. Could be okay I think.

[edonil]

I've only got one or two criticisms of the series that I feel are serious, and then one that's less serious. He does repeat his descriptions of space travel and space combat in every book, not copy paste, but it does reach an eye rolling point because of how common it is. It's a reasonable thing for him to do, honestly, because if someone just jumps into the middle of it, they'll be horribly lost. The other complaint, and it's the same one that applies to any long series, is the cast size. Now, it's not as bad as Wheel of Time. Minor characters stay minor characters unless there's a very good reason in the story. But, a couple of the characters have similar names that they go by (most of the military characters are referred to by last name) and it can get confusing in the middle of a fight who's where. He does do a good job with it, I will give him that much. And often, if a minor character shows up, he'll at least explain where they came from beforehand.

My less serious complaint, is the characters that he kills. On both sides, people are so real, that when he kills someone who's been a major character, you either cheer about it because they're that big a psychopath, (and honestly, only a handful of those) or you want to throw the book across the room because you love the character he just killed.

[edonil]

The Harrington books seem like cheap, pulp sci fi. Could be okay I think.

I'd give it a recommendation, at least check out On Basilisk Station. He's done a good job with keeping it interesting.

[Buhallin]

Feast for Crows is rough. I literally finished Dance with Dragons like 5 minutes ago, and it gets things moving back in the right direction, if not a complete redemption from Feast.

I like Martin because, as he himself puts it, you can never be comfortable. His willingness to kill off characters is unparalleled in anything I've read (although edonil's description of Weber's work sounds close). Nothing is sacred, and it lends every page a level of tense anticipation that is seriously lacking in most other books, especially fantasy.

But this thread isn't supposed to be about what we LIKE ;)

[edonil]

What, Buhallin, never had a love/hate relationship with books? ;)

I've considered skipping Feast and reading Dance with Dragons. Just not sure that I care. However, I will say that even Weber's and Abnett's willingness to kill characters pales besides Martin's. Weber is willing to kill off minor characters in droves, but there are some characters who seem to be somewhat invulnerable. Oddly enough, [SPOILER]
from reading the author's notes in Storm of Shadows, Honor herself isn't one of those...or at least wasn't supposed to be. Because of a joint venture project with another author, the plot sped up so fast that he ran out of time to kill her and let the next planned generation of characters take over in order to follow his plans. Not that I'm complaining, Honor's bar none my favorite heroine.

[Ciaran]

I like Martin because, as he himself puts it, you can never be comfortable. His willingness to kill off characters is unparalleled in anything I've read (although edonil's description of Weber's work sounds close). Nothing is sacred, and it lends every page a level of tense anticipation that is seriously lacking in most other books, especially fantasy.

I dunno, I just feel as though someone else does it MUCH better. There's really nothing to his books that I feel I can only get from him, and with time a premium for reading, he gets axed. It quickly hit me that I didn't give a damn about his characters, so there was never any real tension for me. He's somewhere near Salvatore for me now... Neat premise though. Political fantasy is such a great concept.

[edonil]

Ah, Salvatore...I think I only got as far through those books as I did (I read up to The Orc King) because I started with The Lone Drow in 8th grade and thought it was awesome. Now? I'm quite comfortable whenever I reread those books with staying very early on...

[CRC]

The Harrington books seem like cheap, pulp sci fi. Could be okay I think.

Harrington starts of strong and goes steadily downhill, book-after-book.

It's a perfect example of how power-creep can ruin a setting.

[goldwine119]

That sounded nauseating. Lovin' reduced to gruntin with abhumans- nasty at best. i do wonder how she did her research- pictures nasty old lady hanging out in Vampire/bloodletters club, blahh. If a book has ever ticked me off- I usually don't have the intestinal fortitude (esp if I'm on the can- sorry) to finish it. I have felt embarrassed for some writters in fact, more often for childishness or predictability- my mother in law dared me to read one of her crap dime novels once, made it to the end of chapter one then- fling, the book went on the floor lol.
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[SpiralngCadavr]

I'd say, all of the last few books in an Orson Scott Card series (of the ones I've read, haven't read one in 7+ years at this point). There's always one that I just can't finish, a couple books from the end.

Also, not that I'd necessarily call them books, but lately the Warmachine fiction has really ticked me off-- part of why I made the leap to Malifaux.

[Smokey616]

Try catching up on Asher! Being introduced to his stuff by someone who has read it all was like having teeth pulled! "Yeah, The Skinner is a great place to start Asher!" I was told, so like a lost 8 yr old I delved into his amazingly rich world of descriptive landscapes and amazing sci fi originality, only to be met with a huge range of unexplained parties and quick mentions of things that have taken books to explain previously. It was like listening to an "in joke" and really not having a clue when to laugh. " Stick with it" and " here borrow a few more books, you'll see, he's absolute genius" I was told. So I did. I painstakingly dragged myself through about nine books still thinking I understand nothing of this guys mindset and what though process he was trying to instill in his readers. Until I read the one about cormack as a kid. And it was like a penny dropping. Why oh why didnt I read this one first!!! The moral of the story is this... Even though you might not enjoy what this author is righting about presently, they do have on and off days and ensuring the mass populace enjoys every word you write is impossible, but the next you read in the series may wake up :) sorry for the running :)

Talking about annoying books... Anyone read vert by Jeff noon? Joyfully annoying stuff :)

[Smokey616]

That said, I believe I'm one of those readers who exiles a book just because it doesn't cater to my every literary whim :)

[fishtank]

Pretty old trhead....but SOMEONE necro'd it...so....
Katherine Kerr's Deverry series.
I LOVED the first four or so books. The next four were fine, and I think it was about there everything got tied up neatly.
Or...so we thought. She. Kept. Going. The whole series is about souls connecting through different incarnations...and she focussed on a couple of incarnations that were just...well...dull...and kinda connected to the story from the first books in a way that made you think she might be doing something very clever. So I put up with the dry, uninteresting characters for three more books, slogged my way through the fourth of the third set...which was supposed to be the last...and find out she has decided to stretch out the story EVEN MORE...I have the next one in the series. I've had it a couple of years now. I just can't motivate myself to pick it up.

[Cambrius]

The Wheel of Time series kinda cheesed me off. It just felt like the story was too big, the subplots and side stories weighed the whole thing down, and it became difficult to pick up on a character you haven't read about in two books. It was admirable how huge the story was, all told, it just didn't fit into a novel format. I got the impression that the Wheel of Time might have been a satisfying read if we were able to absorb it in the same way Neo learned Kung Fu in The Matrix.