OK, I seem to have missed the majority of this thread, so heres a load of quotes:
Guess I am to be grateful that I have never read a book by Kevin J. Anderson.
Actually, his 7 book Saga of Seven Suns is quite good. The premise is a bit cheesy (like Capt. Planet) but the pacing is excellent and the twists (even though most are expected) are well handled. I recommend it. It's a fun, easy read.
The Malazan series is very difficult reading for anyone but the hardcore fantasist. I've plodded through the first four and heard a lot of people stall by 5 or 6.
I like to think of myself as a hardcore sci-fi/fantasist, and I gave up on Deadhouse Gates (book2). I have more than 1100 books in this house, and that's the first time I gave up so quickly on a series.
I read Robin Hobb's 9-book Fitz/Liveship series about a year ago. Slow and a little depressing at times, but worth reading.
My main problem with Robin Hobb is that she cannot finish a story. All her books end with "...and then magical faeries made it all OK". The Farseer Trilogy builds up to this awesome ending, and then you realise there's only 5 pages left, and all of a sudden, *** is a *** and saves the day. WTF. Tawny Man Trilogy, 1 chapter left, and suddenly all the protagonists worries are over, and he shacks up with *** and lives happily ever after. WTF. Throughout the previous 6 books, every other sentence you read is "Im so alone", "Im so depressed", "I want to die". Then its all fun and light at the end.
Saying that, it's VERY well written, stylistically. It just doesn't have a very good flow of narrative.
One of my all-time sci-fantasy series that damn few people have even heard of is Julian May's Sage of Pliocene Exile published in the early 80s.
I first read this series when I was about 8, enjoyed it at the time, but have never felt the need to reread it. Given how its based on time travel, there could have been a LOT more to link "the book" to "now", and make it into a revisionist history. A missed opportunity. And yes, that was my feeling even at age 8.
I like Peter F Hamilton's work (sci fi). The Commonwealth saga is great, so is the Night's Dawn trilogy. I really liked the new book too, Into the Void.
Nights Dawn Trilogy suffers from having the WORST 100 opening pages, and the WORST 100 closing pages. The other 3400 pages are sci-fi quality, though could have done with a touch more editing to make the pace a bit better.
The first 100 pages are so lethargic it took me a week to get through them (bear in mind my average read speed is 2ppm). It took me only another week to read the next 3500 pages. And then you get to the end, and like Hobb, Hamilton seems to realise he's forgotten to make up an ending, and all of a sudden, one of the characters is a god, and messes with the actual universe. NO! Just, no no no.
Psionics were more heavily integrated into the Dark Sun campaign world too, something I liked.
Did you know that a level20 Psionic, who then dual classed to be a mage, and got to lvl20, could then start on the road to be a lvl30 Dragon King. We used to play it after school, and we got every single DS quest we could, and merged them into one long 2 year mission. While others just carried on towards lvl30 on a single character, I actually got to lvl25 as a Dragon King, but my character was so OP at that point that we stopped playing. Best and worst ADD experience of my life
Personal Note: I have now completed my initial drafts of my first three books.
One the 1st book in a 6 part (2 "trilogy") epic (that is already planned out, and my ending is awesome!) called "Futures Relic". This is a blend of Sci-fi / Fantasy.
One is the 1st book in a trilogy called "The Children of the Machine", its purely sci-fi.
The final one is called "Sun Set" and is a standalone novel.
They are all with publishers now, and I'm waiting to see what happens (based on preliminary good news
). Hopefully before long, I will be a part of this thread. I'll keep you updated.
