Author/Book recomendations?

[Dravin]

Originally Posted by Backroads

I read the first few Wheel of Time books in high school and never really continued. My husband is trying to make me finish the series...

My problem, and I think at one point I read four or five books in the series, is there were no conclusions in sight. Now fictive worlds an be quite persistent and done well, but the Wheel of Time series felt (note the subjective) like all he did was constantly open story arcs, it felt like precious few were ever being tied up.

[jerome1232]

Originally Posted by Dravin

My problem, and I think at one point I read four or five books in the series, is there was no conclusions in sight. Now fictive worlds an be quite persistent and done well, but the Wheel of Time series felt (note the subjective) like all he did was constantly open story arcs, it felt like precious few were ever being tied up.

Even I as a fan of the series, have to agree. When Brandon Sanderson took over the series, he did a good job of finally closing up 20 million lose ends in 2 books.

[anatess]

Originally Posted by jerome1232

I will definitely check out Orson Scott, I've heard a lot of good things about "Enders Game".

Wait, wait.. .what? You haven't read Ender's Game yet? Ah yeah. You definitely need to pick that one up first.

Do you like Tolkien? If so, you might want to pick up the Legend of Drizzt too starting from the Dark Elf Trilogy (Homeland, Exile, Sojourn).

These are old books that I would still sometimes pick up and re-read until today. I just re-read the entire Drizzt stories - there's like 20+ books - because a new series in the legend came out. The first Drizzt book came out back in the 80's!

[Dravin]

Originally Posted by anatess

Wait, wait.. .what? You haven't read Ender's Game yet? Ah yeah. You definitely need to pick that one up first.

Do you like Tolkien? If so, you might want to pick up the Legend of Drizzt series too.

Good old Drizzt. I have the Dark Elf Trilogy, Icewind Dale Trilogy, and read some of the following books. I'm gonna have to pick those up again. Maybe I can convince Beefche to give them a try. Other Salvatore books I've read are the Crimson Shadow trilogy and the Cleric's Quintet. My true fantasy series love when I was younger was David Edding's The Belgariad (a series), The Mallorean (a series), Belgarath the Sorcerer, and Polgara the Sorceress. They aren't Tolkien but they have a warm spot in my heart. Actually speaking of Tolkien I've not been able to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy since I was a teen, I just can't seem to get drawn back into it.

[anatess]

Originally Posted by Dravin

Good old Drizzt. I have the Dark Elf Trilogy, Icewind Dale Trilogy, and read some of the following books. I'm gonna have to pick those up again. Maybe I can convince Beefche to give them a try. My true fantasy series love when I was younger was David Edding's The Belgariad, The Mallorean, Belgarath the Sorcerer, and Polgara the Sorceress. They aren't Tolkien but they have a warm spot in my heart. Actually speaking of Tolkien I've not been able to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy since I was a teen, I just can't seem to get drawn back into it.

I was just having a discussion with Vort on the literary merit of Harry Potter (he seems to think Harry Potter was poorly written and I disagreed).

Tolkien is quite an excellent writer. A literary genius. He has a way of building an entire alternate reality in such a vivid, vibrant way that makes it a great example of literary prose in a literature classroom. But man... as entertainment material, it can be such a drag. I literally had to force myself to finish the first installment of the Lord of the Rings! If it wasn't required reading material in high school, it would probably have taken me months, if not years, to finish it. The 2nd and 3rd installments were not as difficult, but because of dreading to go through the first installment, I haven't read the thing ever again.

And that's where Harry Potter is more of a success in my opinion. The world-building is not as rich as Tolkien but it is just enough to give you a solid foundation in your imagination so that the story moves forward and doesn't get heavily laden with visual elements. It's a better balance between literary prose and entertainment value so that it is easier for me to go back and re-read the story.

Salvatore, in my opinion, is inferior to Tolkien and even Rowling... it irks me that he does things like using the word "principle" instead of "principal". But, his books are chock-full of entertainment value that pulls on your heart strings and questions your moral code. I guess, in a way, he's in the same caliber as Stephanie Meyers.

[jerome1232]

Originally Posted by Dravin

My true fantasy series love when I was younger was David Edding's The Belgariad (a series), The Mallorean (a series), Belgarath the Sorcerer, and Polgara the Sorceress.

I read The Belgariad! I felt it was to simple though, I enjoy being held in suspense (perhaps that's why I like WoT with it's endless side plots) and The Belgariad didn't do that for me. I think had I picked it up in High School I would have loved it though.

I have book one of The Hunters Blade trilogy by Salvatore, I couldn't really get into it. It was lent to me by a buddy who is on his mission, He said I would like the Dark Elf trilogy a lot better though.

[Dravin]

Originally Posted by jerome1232

I read The Belgariad! I felt it was to simple though, I enjoy being held in suspense (perhaps that's why I like WoT with it's endless side plots) and The Belgariad didn't do that for me. I think had I picked it up in High School I would have loved it though.

Isn't it interesting about how where we are (in various ways) when we first pick up a book really influences how much we like it and continue to like it? I have such good feelings about those books that even though now I recognize they aren't the best writing evar! there are so many good feelings associated with those books (I probably read the two series over a half dozen times each) that they are like wrapping myself up in a warm blanket on a cold day. I'm so familiar with them that when I last picked them up it was less reading and more remembering. Almost like sitting with friends around a campfire and remembering your adventures from earlier in the summer.

[Dravin]

Originally Posted by anatess

Salvatore, in my opinion, is inferior to Tolkien and even Rowling... it irks me that he does things like using the word "principle" instead of "principal". But, his books are chock-full of entertainment value that pulls on your heart strings and questions your moral code. I guess, in a way, he's in the same caliber as Stephanie Meyers.

I'm so used to the internet by now that things like that don't register anymore. It makes proof-reading my own papers a challenge.

[anatess]

Originally Posted by jerome1232

I have book one of The Hunters Blade trilogy by Salvatore, I couldn't really get into it. It was lent to me by a buddy who is on his mission, He said I would like the Dark Elf trilogy a lot better though.

Yeah, I would understand why you couldn't get into it. The Hunter's Blade is too deep into the series that you lose a lot of the background. Especially since it starts with The Thousand Orcs that has a lot of the main characters that were characterized in previous books only get a passing background mention, if not none at all, that the magic of the Forgotten Realms is hard to achieve at this point of the series. I would think that unless you play Dungeons and Dragons or have at least read a few of the older books in the series, The Hunter's Blade will not be able to hold much appeal.

I don't like many of the Drizzt books - I'm in a love-hate relationship with Salvatore - but, I read them all because of my attachment to Drizzt. I don't want to miss a single event of his life...

I'm a big Star Wars fan too (the books) and it got me raging mad when Salvatore killed off Chewbacca, so for a while there, I boycotted his Drizzt books too. But, yeah, I couldn't boycott for too long. I had to pick them up again.

[anatess]

Originally Posted by Dravin

Isn't it interesting about how where we are (in various ways) when we first pick up a book really influences how much we like it and continue to like it? I have such good feelings about those books that even though now I recognize they aren't the best writing evar! there are so many good feelings associated with those books (I probably read the two series over a half dozen times each) that they are like wrapping myself up in a warm blanket on a cold day. I'm so familiar with them that when I last picked them up it was less reading and more remembering. Almost like sitting with friends around a campfire and remembering your adventures from earlier in the summer.

Ohhh, Yessiree! I was 14 when I read Noli Me Tangere... it's a romantic book that Jose Rizal wrote to symbolize the ills of Filipino society and the effects of Philippine oppression under Spanish rule. It was quite genius that Rizal hid all the symbolism in a love story so that the Spanish rulers had a hard time charging him for subversive statements. He wrote a sequel to it - El Filibusterismo - that was more obvious in its derision of the ruling class that got him declared an enemy of the state and eventually earned him the firing squad.

As a 14-year-old, I was all caught up with the romance of it. I was rewriting parts of the story in my head to give Maria and Juan a happy ending (the book is a satire that ends in tragedy).

When I was 16/17, I had to re-read it for a college course. I had to do the literary analysis of the book, delving into its symbolism that went whoosh over my head at 14. The story became something else entirely.

But, years later until now, I can pick up Noli (I loaded it on my iPad last year and so I ended up reading it again) and forget about the symbolism and just enjoy the book again as a 14-year-old caught up in a love story...