LitAA Random Event Recorder
I took this photo in the Calgary Airport, to remind me to talk about series fatigue. Is there anyone out there other than me that gave up on Robert Jordan? I read the first 6 books in the “Wheel of Time” series eagerly. The next couple I struggled through. I didn’t even finish book 9, and haven’t bothered to buy volumes 10 or 11. Do you really need 10,000 pages to tell a good story? Fantasy is my favorite genre, so it’s pretty bad when you manage to lose my interest in a story.
My all time favorites, even more than Tolkein (heresy, I know) are the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.
Read the reviews - it’s a series of books you either love or hate, there’s no middle ground. For me, it was the first fantasy I ever read where the hero wasn’t, you know, heroic.
We really DO have the same tastes! I had exactly the same reaction to Jordan as you did; one through six were eagerly devoured, and I never did finish nine. I don’t particularly care whether an auther gives me 10,000 pages - after all, I still thoroughly enjoy GRR Martin - but something has to actually happen in those pages… After all, length does not a good author ensure.
I have not read Thomas Covenant; I offer you my sincerest thanks at the introduction to a new series.
Comment by Jayne Doodles — December 6, 2005 @ 6:17 pm
GRR Martin is who replaced Jordan for me. And I agree - I would read 10 or 20,000 pages if they were worth reading. Just don’t fill them with crap to keep the story going as long (and as profitably) as possible.
I hope you like the white gold wielder series. As I said - there’s no middle ground, but I dearly love those books. But Thomas Covenant is a very, very, very difficult hero to like.
Comment by Neal Mauldin — December 6, 2005 @ 7:26 pm
We’ll see what I think. I’m working on A Feast for Crows (Martin’s newest…there’s nothing quite so annoying as reading a living author) and I’ll find the TC books next. Moving really takes up a lot of my time, I have discovered, as I’m sure you understand!
Comment by Jayne Doodles — December 7, 2005 @ 3:31 pm