Pratchett, he's run out of steam now, a couple of his latest books have been brave attempts at recapturing his glory times, but his best time is long gone.
Good -
Stephen King's The Dark Tower - ignore Wizard and Glass, and this is one of the best Fantasy stories around... it should end before the year 2004.
Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman's The Death Gate Cycle - ok, the last couple of books are not the greatest, but the worlds are as imaginative as it gets, and the charactrs (Haplo especially) are quite involving.
G.R.R.MArtin's Song of Ice and Fire - I've just started, but WOW. It's real good.
bad - the balgriad stories.
endless - Robert Jordan. DUH.
Good - the Dark Tower. Will he ever end it, I wonder? It took him so long to release Wizard and Glass (and boy, wasn't that worth the wait? <g> ) that I wonder if he'll ever have the inspiration to finish the series.
Even gooder - The Belgariad by David Eddings. Best ever series.
Bad - The Mallorean by same author. Cashing in on previous success without allowing time to think the thing through first.
Endless - the Terry Brooks Shannara series. Like Dune, the first couple were great but after that they just got silly and/or tedious.
Anybody ever read the Cineverse books by Craig Shaw Gardner? those are pretty good..
Callie, Belgariad isn't bad, but it is also endless...
Scott - I wish it had been endless - that was one of only two novels I've read when I really didn't want it to end. Most novels I race to finish, but I got really sad as I got towards the end of The Belgariad. Shame that The Mallorean didn't live up to its predecessor.
The other book that I never wanted to end was The Talisman by Stephen King.
The "Valdemar" series by Mercedes Lackey. Endless? I hope so!! Seven trilogies, plus one stand-alone book, and still going strong, with so many questions unanswered and new countries/ideas to explore - this is one series that I can never get enough of!
Terry Pratchett's Discworld - is it 23 books now? Some are good, some great, some are brilliant, and some are sheer genius. But for how much longer can he keep it up?
Shannarra should have stopped after "Wishsong", The Elenium should have stopped at just the three (the second trilogy with Sparhawk and Co. was so disappointing), and I wish that Wheel of Time would just stop!
Speaking of Eddings, since they've done "Balgarath", "Polgara" and that weird "Mrin Codex" one, do you think there'll be another series? The adventures of Geran, perhaps?
OMER - I agree with you about the Death Gate Cycle. After the dissappointment of "The Seventh Gate" I can't bear to read another book by either of those authors ever again.
I still think GeathGate is a great fantasy peace...
Ok, you have Majipoor too, it rocks!
rachqd--I'd love to hear more about garion & co, but Eddings ended "Polgara" so beautifully and simply that I'd be really upset if he wrote any more about them.
as for the bad: Edding's "Elenium" series. It reeked.
LAUREN: What did you dislike about the "Elenium" most? I must say that I found the religion a bit oppressive, and I find most Eddings books filled with latent sexism, but I was really into "The Elenium" trilogy, and I got through it in about two days (no life, obviously). It was the second trilogy...what was it called?...that I disliked. To borrow a phrase, "it reeked!" Well, no, that's a little harsh. It was just...unnecessary.
It was called "The Tamuli". Rachgd, I like your evaluation... unnecessary sounds about right. It was also a blatant clone of the Malloreon....
Our heroes, having destroyed the evil god and saving their continent, now go off to the mysterious continent to the east to have the ultimate battle between good and evil. Gee, does that sound familiar?
testing
Perhaps I was thinking of "The Tamuli," rachqd (is your handle spelled with a 'q' or a 'g'? The line under it makes it hard to tell). It's been awhile since I read them, but I recall thinking at the time that both series were poor attempts to copy The Belgariad's success. The whole story--characters, plotline, situations--felt like a bad rehash of everything that happened to Garion&co.
It's a "g", Lauren. Thanks for asking.
The difference between the Garion stories and the Sparhawk stories are mostly a factor of maturity. In "The Belgariad" it's basically the story of a young boy realising the depths of his power and responsibility, while in "The Elenium" Sparhawk is a seasoned veteran warrior called upon, again, to save his kingdom.
But, yes, the same types of "side-kicks" and "mentors" appear, the problems are largely the same, and then there's the whole god thing.
Man, they're pests!
And even the gods seem to be formulaed (is that a word?). Eg. Errand = Danae (or whatever her god name was).
But, still, you're right, Lauren. It was SOSO.
Where will the Eddings' go from here?
Nowhere, according to the "Rivan Codex". At least there will be no more Garion books. I don't know if there will be any more Sparhwaks.
Rachgd, I had the same problem as Lauren, that's why I called you rachqd for quite a while. I finally looked at the email address and realized my mistake.
Ah, ScottN..."q" or "g"...what does it matter? Thanks for checking on it, though.
And I didn't necessarily mean in the "Garion" series, by the way (though I have wondered about that - "The Rivan Codex" was so unsatisfying!). I was just wondering what their next venture would be. How many more fantasy cliches are there that they can exploit?
That's a point. Can there be any fantasy, in these prolific times, that we, the discerning reader, will not consider cliche?
rachqd - Non clieche' Fantasy? check out George R R Martin's a Song of Ice and Fire. It's the best Fantasy thing I've ever read, accept for Good Omens
rachgd, while "Rivan Codex" is disappointing, Eddings did make a good point in it, that ALL fantasy is derivative. I'm not whether "derivative" is the same as "cliche", but...
Interesting that one finds sexism in Eddings. I suspected the involvement of a woman in the writing years before his wife Leigh got her double billing. There are some really guyish ideas expressed (like the one about the cravings of pregnant women) but the women express a lot of ideas about men that are equally suspect (like how the job of a wife is to remake her husband against his will) -- I always thought it read like a woman and a man engaging in banter about how members of each gender imagine the members of the other to be. And I was right too (fancy that).
Sorry, meant to type "Interesting that someone finds...."
Sexism in Eddings? Are you kidding? Surely not!
Like, for example, how the marriage of Polgara and Durnik would have been "unequal", because she was the Sorceress (before he got his second life), but in the case of Garion and Ce'Nedra - when he had the power - that was a consummation devoutly to be wished! Barak and his idiotic wife, that Marag woman and the priest guy (whose names escape me) - even Silk and Velvet were unequal. Oh, and don't even get me started on "The Elenium"! And definitely not on "The Tamuli"! Grrr.
A series that is both unending (I hope!) and good is the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. He recently came out with a new one "The Dastard," which I'm going to get as soon as it comes out in paper back. He even jokes about how a series isn't supposed to be three books, but 3^3 books.
I gave up after about 7 or 8 of those...
I simply LOVED the Belgariad and the Mallorean, but I hated the rivian Codex
A Song of Ice and Fire is good, but the body count is climbing....
Pratchett, he's run out of steam now, a couple of his latest books have been brave attempts at recapturing his glory times, but his best time is long gone.
I've just started read Wheel of Time having got the first book cheap. Once I'm finished I'll give an opinion. Anyone got any recommendations for good authors?
One series I did try that seemed endless, was the Melanie Rawn Sunrunners books. The first couple were ok, but afterwards it wasn't so hot.
I see Stephen Donaldson has written a new book, part 1 of a 4 book series continuing on from the Thomas Covenant books.