100 Fantasy Books

[tinwë]

I finished reading the first two Kingkiller Chronicle books (The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear) earlier this year and liked them so much I promptly turned around and read them over again. I can’t wait for the final book to come out. The author, Patrick Rothfuss (who is a really neat guy) has stated that the book should be ready in 2012. He had originally submitted the entire series as a single book but his editor convinced him to split it into a trilogy. He took the opportunity to rewrite the story to fit that format and now insists that the delays in publishing are not a marketing plow but that he is really working on perfecting the story. Considering he spent seven years on the original manuscript ...

It’s a great story, fascinating characters and a fully conceived world. Look forward to the conclusion.

I’m reading the Song of Fire and Ice series now (Game of Thrones, etc...). Like it, but talk about long. I’m almost through the second book now. Needs to pick up the pace.

[CosmicBob]

I’m reading the Song of Fire and Ice series now (Game of Thrones, etc...). Like it, but talk about long. I’m almost through the second book now. Needs to pick up the pace.

Sorry to say, but the pace slows to a grinding glacier starting in book 4. Book 2 is like rocket compared to books 4 & 5. These are slower than the last few Auel books.

[Griffon64]

These are slower than the last few Auel books.

Goodness. I read the 5th Auel out of ... hmmm, well, I have this thing about finishing stuff I start, you see, and so I read the 5th book once, and argh. ( The 4th one was already a bit slow to say the least, but at least had some interesting parts. )

I have yet to read the last one. I'll pick it up in a second hand bookstore in a year or two. After paying full price for that brick of a 5th one ( what was it called? Shelters of Stone? ) I can wait.

So, I guess I'm saying I'll never survive Fire & Ice if it is even slower.

[axordil]

For me, a series ends when I can't bear to read it any more. Sometimes sooner--I retroactively forgot all of the Thomas Covenant books to make up for the trauma.

[Maria]

I read "Clan of the Cave Bear" in an anthropology class in college. I read the next one when it came out. I started the third.... and quit it part way. It was just getting silly.


I'm really loving the sequel to "Name of the Wind". It's going to be hard waiting for the third book. And the reader is awesome! Probably one of the best narrators I've ever heard.

[Inanna]

I just put myself on the waiting list for the Kingkiller chronicle books.

Prim, I just read White Dragon - which was nice. But I wasn't able to read any others of McCaffrey's - dolphins of Pern, renegades of Pern series. You are right, she really went downhill.

[Primula Baggins]

Yes. It's too bad; I loved those early books. I went on buying the paperbacks out of habit, but realized after only three or four occasions of being unable to finish the book that the part of the story I cared about had all been told. And that she wasn't writing as well, or wasn't being edited as well, as she had at first. She never was a brilliant writer, but she told good stories and I liked her characters.

I've read that Robinton the Masterharper was based on a real person, a dear friend of hers, and that after he died, she found herself unable to write stories set in Robinton's time any more; it was too hard.

[Griffon64]

I hope the planned movie adaption turns out well; I enjoyed the earlier books too. The first one I happened to read was Dragonsdawn.

[Inanna]

And that she wasn't writing as well, or wasn't being edited as well, as she had at first. She never was a brilliant writer, but she told good stories and I liked her characters.

yes, the characters were nice, and the writing was decent. But later....in one of the books I tried to read, I was mentally wincing and editing so often that I just gave up.

[Frelga]

Oi, I do that too! Mentally straightening convoluted sentences, substituting more precise (imo) words, crossing out whole paragraphs, and in extreme cases, chapters. Or even entire books.

[vison]

Someone should send Mr. S. King these posts.

I have read 2 S. King books: Misery, which was sorta semi-OK. And then I toiled miserably through Tommyknockers. I would NOT give up.

Horrible, but not in the way he meant.

[Griffon64]

Oi, I do that too! Mentally straightening convoluted sentences, substituting more precise (imo) words, crossing out whole paragraphs, and in extreme cases, chapters. Or even entire books.

Me too. Actually, before buying a book, fiction or non-fiction, I open it about a third of the way in, and then two thirds of the way in, etc, and I read a few sentences. If they slide down my brain like nails on a chalkboard, I put the book back, no matter how promising it looked. The mental editing distracts me from the story, and I want the book so I can disappear into the story, see.

[Primula Baggins]

Reading for fun when you copyedit for a living can have a similar effect.

And when you write fiction yourself, there's the opposite problem: the feeling when you read excellent writing that you want to climb into a hole and pray that nobody ever reads any of your own books again.

Good stuff is still worth reading. But it's hard to find a "beach read."

vison, I have enjoyed most of the King novels I've read—but I've never tried to read those two books. There were a number of years when he was drinking heavily and taking drugs; I wonder whether those were written then. There's at least one of his books that he says he has no memory of writing. (He's been sober for years.)

[vison]

Misery wasn't so miserable as it was short.

And, you need never blush for your writing, Ms. Primula Baggins. You are an EXCELLENT writer and that you may tie to.

[Holbytla]

I thought the Stand was a good read. I read the unabridged version, which made me wince some, because he needs someone to tell him when enough is too much already.

Without revealing any details of the book, suffice it to say I was a bit displeased with the culmination. It was like having great sex for 900 pages, then drifting off to sleep for the last hundred or so.

[Primula Baggins]

Thank you, vison. Coming from you that means a lot.

I've read The Stand, because postapocalyptic stories are a guilty pleasure of mine. I have the unabridged one I bought quite a while ago, but haven't managed to screw up the courage—the edited version was maybe a tad bit the other side of long enough. . . .

I wonder sometimes whether the huge size of a lot of fantasy novels can be attributed to Tolkien. I do wish the newer writers had Tolkien's gift for making the reader wish there was more. (I'd bet they do, too. )

[Voronwë the Faithful]

vison, I have enjoyed most of the King novels I've read—but I've never tried to read those two books. There were a number of years when he was drinking heavily and taking drugs; I wonder whether those were written then. There's at least one of his books that he says he has no memory of writing. (He's been sober for years.)

A quick google search confirms that Tommyknockers is in fact one of (or maybe the) book that he wrote while drinking heavily and taking drugs. (I've never read any Stephen King, so I have no opinion either way.)

[Frelga]

Me too. Actually, before buying a book, fiction or non-fiction, I open it about a third of the way in, and then two thirds of the way in, etc, and I read a few sentences. If they slide down my brain like nails on a chalkboard, I put the book back, no matter how promising it looked. The mental editing distracts me from the story, and I want the book so I can disappear into the story, see.

I do that too! The drawback to that is that sometimes I just keep going till the end. Actually, I find that many books are improved by this approach, especially those that I read just to keep up with my son's reading. I start half-way, scan through the rest, and if it looks good start over and read again.

[Primula Baggins]

vison, I have enjoyed most of the King novels I've read—but I've never tried to read those two books. There were a number of years when he was drinking heavily and taking drugs; I wonder whether those were written then. There's at least one of his books that he says he has no memory of writing. (He's been sober for years.)

A quick google search confirms that Tommyknockers is in fact one of (or maybe the) book that he wrote while drinking heavily and taking drugs. (I've never read any Stephen King, so I have no opinion either way.)

Thanks, Voronwë. I'm under the gun again, so did not take time to search. (I've got a very large book that turned out to be more complicated than anyone expected [not just me], and I have until Halloween to prove that they don't need to hire another copyeditor. If I can do it, that's a lot of money between now and the end of the year that I won't have to split with someone else. Like, a whole lot. As in, I have to do this.)

[Inanna]

Good luck, sweets. You can do it. You WILL do it.