This was a comment made in the 'up-and-coming' thread, and I thought I'd toss these authors' names out and ask what everyone thinks these writers do well, or even not so well. Feel free to add the names of some of your favorites and mention some pros and cons of their writing as you see them.
Your Reviews of Some Authors
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This was a comment made in the 'up-and-coming' thread, and I thought I'd toss these authors' names out and ask what everyone thinks these writers do well, or even not so well. Feel free to add the names of some of your favorites and mention some pros and cons of their writing as you see them.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
Jordan occasionally has interesting bits in his stories. That's about it as far as I am concerned.
Erikson is an awesome world-builder, with good plots, and mostly interesting characters.
Never read Cook, although as a person he's a bit of an ass. That's an objective comment, not a criticism.
Martin has awesome conflicts and decent world-building. I usually enjoy his characters, and his plotting is okay. He's got this problem with actually finishing a damn book though.
Mieville has some cool and original shit in his work. His atmosphere is impeccable. His characters are usually okay. His plots are generally good as well. His internal conflict is not incredible, though.
Erikson is an awesome world-builder, with good plots, and mostly interesting characters.
Never read Cook, although as a person he's a bit of an ass. That's an objective comment, not a criticism.
Martin has awesome conflicts and decent world-building. I usually enjoy his characters, and his plotting is okay. He's got this problem with actually finishing a damn book though.
Mieville has some cool and original shit in his work. His atmosphere is impeccable. His characters are usually okay. His plots are generally good as well. His internal conflict is not incredible, though.
Actually, I'd say Erikson's biggest weakness is characterization. Nearly all his characters seem to be defined by one or two attributes with little depth beyond that. That said, he writes good description, and his plotting is solid.
Jordan was passably coherent. I'll give him that. What he did with that coherence appealed to me as a young teen, but I suppose I grew out of it, and now I can't understand what I liked about his work.
Of all the given writers, Martin has the strongest characterization. His prose visibly improves over the course of his ASoIaF series. Compare with his older science fiction work.
Jordan was passably coherent. I'll give him that. What he did with that coherence appealed to me as a young teen, but I suppose I grew out of it, and now I can't understand what I liked about his work.
Of all the given writers, Martin has the strongest characterization. His prose visibly improves over the course of his ASoIaF series. Compare with his older science fiction work.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
If his intention was to make me hate Kruppe, he succeeded admirably. A few of his characters are all right, but he mostly relies on humor to compensate for undeveloped personalities.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
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I have never even heard of Cook or Erikson. I think I started a Meiville book once but never finished it. And I've never read Jordan, nor did I even know Michael wrote. Never read Martin, either. I thought Steve was just an actor.
What do you read? Obscure slipstream novels?
His manner of speech tipped me over the edge into hatedom.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
Maybe you do live at the North Pole...
Okay, I got that the post was a joke, ut I''m wondering what the point was.
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Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
Cook - Glen Cook? Not a massive fan. I read half a Black Company novel and I never really got into it. I read a space opera he wrote (Dragon Never Sleeps? or something), and I didn't enjoy it. It was a medium sized book that had been cut down from a longish sized book, and the cutting had made it lousy and confusing.
Erikson- On my list but never read him.
Mieville - Freaking brilliantly imaginative writer. He comes from an RPG-loving background but his creatures and characters are incredibly inventive. Good characterization, killer worldbuilding, interesting and original plots. And the man can write a damn fine sentence.
Jordan - Don't like his writing at all. I can barely plow through one chapter of it, let alone 15 doorstop novels.
Martin - Amazing ability to create intricate plots with zillions of threads. Writes great bleak and brutal fantasy. Good characterization. One thing I love about him is that he's not afraid to kill people off. One thing I don't love is: in Book 2 of ASOIAF he kills off most of the people in most of the major houses. There's no one left in the damn country. Then in Book 3, he realized he'd over-killed, and suddenly a bunch of smaller houses turn up out of nowhere. By all rights nobody should be able to mount an army any bigger than three stableboys wielding two mops, and yet suddenly there are armed dudes riding all over the place.
Erikson- On my list but never read him.
Mieville - Freaking brilliantly imaginative writer. He comes from an RPG-loving background but his creatures and characters are incredibly inventive. Good characterization, killer worldbuilding, interesting and original plots. And the man can write a damn fine sentence.
Jordan - Don't like his writing at all. I can barely plow through one chapter of it, let alone 15 doorstop novels.
Martin - Amazing ability to create intricate plots with zillions of threads. Writes great bleak and brutal fantasy. Good characterization. One thing I love about him is that he's not afraid to kill people off. One thing I don't love is: in Book 2 of ASOIAF he kills off most of the people in most of the major houses. There's no one left in the damn country. Then in Book 3, he realized he'd over-killed, and suddenly a bunch of smaller houses turn up out of nowhere. By all rights nobody should be able to mount an army any bigger than three stableboys wielding two mops, and yet suddenly there are armed dudes riding all over the place.
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And that's why I tried so hard to read it. Loads of people like it. I got a strong recommendation to read it by someone who seemed to have read every SF/F book ever. But for me the world and the characters felt so flat and blah. But I think I am quite picky about what I like to read.
I started with "The Scar" and I loved it. His short story collection is good too, lots of different styles and moods there, so you'll surely find something you like. The most readable is Un-Lun-Dun--it's a kid's book.
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Mieville - never read. Does he only write urban fantasy?
Cook - read Black Company (original trilogy). Liked part 2, 3 was OK, 1st waaay too messy for a new reader, as in "wait, didn't this guy just die?" or "ok, who is this Goblin guy?" (all characters have nicknames and are always called by nicknames) and "hmm isn't Limper on their side??".
Erickson - never read except reviews and wasn't impressed. This is one of those cases I refuse to take up a series from an unknown author. The critical reviews mainly talk about deus ex machina gods, characters coming back to life and a lot of magic, none of which I like, so that one is a pass for me.
Jordan - read up to Part 6 I think. It was good for its time I guess, which is like 1992? Now it feels like one giant parody work.
Martin - read ASOAIF 1-4 and most of Dreamsongs I/II. Definitely my favourite author out there. Most/a lot of fantasy enthusiasts would say Tolkien was the main impact on them and the genre... To me, it's Martin.
I also hate him for making me spoiled to the point of not appreciating anything at least somewhat close to his level of writing, plotting, characterization, worldbuilding, etc. Which makes me hate pretty much entire genre at this point.
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That's what I figured based on quote from Erickson on my Black Company edition. Why is that funny though?
You might enjoy David Anthony Durham. I'm a very, very picky reader, so I'm not totally in love with his works, but I think he compares somewhat to Martin. Durham's prose is at least top notch IMO, though.
Mieville - haven't read yet.
Cook - plowed through all "Black Company" books with mixed impressions. For me, he was quite adept at creating sympathetic characters, whereas the major plots were lacking complexity and were too predictable.
Erickson - I failed to feel sympathy for any of the characters, thus I haven't finished any of his books I came across.
Jordan - if WOT were the first fantasy series I came along, I would probably like it. However, having read lots of more sophisticated works before, I found it really really dull and bland. Finished only 2 books.
Martin - I'm reading "A Song..." right now. So far it seems great, he makes my mind work full-time while reading and I can sympathize with the characters.
Cook - plowed through all "Black Company" books with mixed impressions. For me, he was quite adept at creating sympathetic characters, whereas the major plots were lacking complexity and were too predictable.
Erickson - I failed to feel sympathy for any of the characters, thus I haven't finished any of his books I came across.
Jordan - if WOT were the first fantasy series I came along, I would probably like it. However, having read lots of more sophisticated works before, I found it really really dull and bland. Finished only 2 books.
Martin - I'm reading "A Song..." right now. So far it seems great, he makes my mind work full-time while reading and I can sympathize with the characters.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
Durham's a bit skecthy... He's not terrible, mind you, but his characterisation is not even close to Martin's level.
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What's slipstream?
And are we talking fantasy? I read Moorcock, Leiber, Weis & Hickman, REH, ERB, Raymond Feist, Piers Anthony, Robert Silverberg, Philip Jose Farmer, to name a few.
Actually, no joke. I'm not actually sure who any of those writers are except Meiville. I don't recognize them immediately from their last names.
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