novax6 wrote:Captain Kirk wrote:Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series is pretty decent too, as long as you can get past the slow beginning.
Personally I enjoyed the first book, more or less, wasn't impressive, but entertaining none the less. But anyway, somewhere in third book I put down the book in disgust and vowed never to read anything Tad Williams have touched, ever again.
I mean, how many subplots can the man introduce, and then instead of resolving them, letting them fade from existence? How many times does each character have to start evolving - then have it undone and start evolving (from scratch) in a new direction? How many times does he need to describe a prophetic dream that the character
then can't remember when he wakes up? Apparently a lot, since he spends two pages doing so, out of each 15 pages. And how come that the supposedly most intelligent people in the world can't figure out simple puzzles, such as inconsistencies in a short text?!
I usually try to finish a series if I've started it (sword of truth being another of the few rare series I've put away), but Tad Williams managed to make me break this rule.
My little angry rant aside, if you liked Name of the wind, you should most definitely pick up A Song of Ice and Fire, IMO the best book series I've ever read.
Joe Abercrombie's First Law series, starting with The Blade Itself is pretty cool too - Bloody Nine is a extremely cool character, though he gets slightly disturbing when you start learning how he earned that nickname. He later wrote "Best Served Cold" (guess what that one is about?) which are also really good, if slightly depressing, due to the whole "There is no such thing as a good man, only shitty ones that doesn't know themselves yet"
The two series I've read by Trudi Carnivan (Black Magician & Age of the Five) are quite good reads too, not as dark in style as Name of the Wind or aSoIaF, but well written, entertaining and throws some surprising twists in the plots for your enjoyment - if you're a little used to the genre clichés and styles you can probably see them from a mile away - but it's fun to watch it unfold
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it - Aristotle
A White Russian, shades and a bathrobe, what more can you want from life?