Fantasy Sucks

[Eusis]

I haven't gotten more than a few pages into a Discworld novel, but when I ask people for suggestions on where to start "Guards! Guards!" seems to be the most popular one.

[Tooker]

I've just read the first one - The Color of Magic (or is it Colour?  Don't have it with me now.)  It was good stuff.  I have a few others, but I haven't done the research to know if I can read them or if I need to read some other books before the ones I have.

[Daggerstrike]

Joe Abercrombie-The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings.

Good stuff.

[dangerousbob]

For the past two years almost, the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy has been in a serious drought.

I was just looking at Amazon as the fifth book in George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is now available for preorder....and i realized something that makes me quite violent.

Of the top 20 books in Sci-Fi and fantasy, about half of the top sellers are vampire-style novels, and most of them are by female authors. Now I hate stereotypes that are easily proven incorect, but seriously, there are three parts to a female authored vampire book: Sex and Homoeroticism with a dash of vampiric action. Deny it all you want, Twilight has ruined the vampire novel genre.

But.....back on point, Fantasy has sorely lacked great works over the last couple years, I've tried so many things: In the Name of the Wind was okay, Neal Stephenson's new book isnt quite what I was hoping, but it felt a lot like the Baroque series which I found personally difficult to enjoy.

As Dan and I both kind of pointed out in another thread, Terry Goodkind is painful to read now, Robert Jordan is dead and even while alive...was still written like Tolkien (dont get me started), albiet a great story. George Martin seems to be the only heavy hitter that currently has a series going that is worth a damn, and he's taking his SWEET TIME

Am I totally off base? Have I missed out on great titles that have been released recently? Or am I just better off rereading the good stuff from the last decade and delving back into the Top 100 Must Read books? (which btw, I finished some Hemingway last summer, good shit)

Frustration has settled in; it's not common for me to get this worked up about stuff, video games dont even piss me off when similar situations arise.

supply and demand.

[Eusis]

supply and demand.

You quoted the OP just to say those three words, something that is obvious and doesn't need to be pointed out? Seriously?

[Daggerstrike]

For the past two years almost, the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy has been in a serious drought.

I was just looking at Amazon as the fifth book in George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is now available for preorder....and i realized something that makes me quite violent.

Of the top 20 books in Sci-Fi and fantasy, about half of the top sellers are vampire-style novels, and most of them are by female authors. Now I hate stereotypes that are easily proven incorect, but seriously, there are three parts to a female authored vampire book: Sex and Homoeroticism with a dash of vampiric action. Deny it all you want, Twilight has ruined the vampire novel genre.

But.....back on point, Fantasy has sorely lacked great works over the last couple years, I've tried so many things: In the Name of the Wind was okay, Neal Stephenson's new book isnt quite what I was hoping, but it felt a lot like the Baroque series which I found personally difficult to enjoy.

As Dan and I both kind of pointed out in another thread, Terry Goodkind is painful to read now, Robert Jordan is dead and even while alive...was still written like Tolkien (dont get me started), albiet a great story. George Martin seems to be the only heavy hitter that currently has a series going that is worth a damn, and he's taking his SWEET TIME

Am I totally off base? Have I missed out on great titles that have been released recently? Or am I just better off rereading the good stuff from the last decade and delving back into the Top 100 Must Read books? (which btw, I finished some Hemingway last summer, good shit)

Frustration has settled in; it's not common for me to get this worked up about stuff, video games dont even piss me off when similar situations arise.

supply and demand.

Idiot.

[Sagacious-T]

[GrimReality]

speaking of dragons...
and fantasy sucking...
I am on the third Temeraire book and I have no idea why. They are not good at all. A great premise ruined by crappy writing, pacing, and all sorts of ridiculousness.
Plus, the dragons have been too humanized. Temeraire gets a cold. WTF?!
I recommend staying away from these. 

[Tooker]

That sucks.  I saw that book and thought about reading the series, but had a bad feeling.  Guess I was right to trust my feelings.

[Dincrest]

I am on the third Temeraire book and I have no idea why. They are not good at all. A great premise ruined by crappy writing, pacing, and all sorts of ridiculousness.

Let me guess.  You're not a quitter and you feel like having come this far, it seems a pity to waste the commitment you've already put into it.  I used to be like that with quite a bit of my gaming and reading, but sometimes it's better to cut your losses and not worry about feeling guilty for axing your "commitment" to books.  It's a poisonous relationship.  Break up with her already:P

[Tooker]

I have found that the internet can be your friend in these situations.  Want to know what happens, but don't want to read the book?  I'm sure you can find a site out there for that.

I wanted to make a site like that for movies for YEARS... but I never got around to it.  One day, I found a site called The Movie Spoiler, and was happy to see that someone else had done the work for me. :)

Turns out, they do books too:
http://www.thebookspoiler.com/

[Daggerstrike]

I have been reading the Kings Blades series by Dave Duncan. It isn't bad fantasy.

[GrimReality]

I'm telling myself that I will finish the third book and then call it quits on the series. I'm pretty sure there's 2 or 3 more of these out there, but it just refuses to get better.
I keep reading with the hope that they will suddenly turn into what they could have been in my head.
Yes, Neal, I DO feel like a quitter. Especially when so many other people seem to be enjoying them.
I know these have been optioned for movies. Hopefully the producers will be given a bit of leeway with the license, because I can see some really kick ass movies coming out of this dreck. We'll see.

[D-Rider]

Well fuck you guys, I'm reading enjoyable books. :P  Namely, I'm doing what I mentioned the last time I posted in this thread:  reading all the Discworld books.  Twelve books into it, and I've come across one abortion, two mehs, and nine greats.  I'd say those are pretty good scores considering the genre we're talking about. :P

[Starmongoose]

Well fuck you guys, I'm reading enjoyable books. :P  Namely, I'm doing what I mentioned the last time I posted in this thread:  reading all the Discworld books.  Twelve books into it, and I've come across one abortion, two mehs, and nine greats.  I'd say those are pretty good scores considering the genre we're talking about. :P

I've been meaning to read them. How bad of an abortion are we talking here?