What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Galadriel]

I recently gave a try at Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice. It was awful. Hobb can write well, but her plot is clichéd and her characters are cardboard cut-outs. There was, sorry to say, too much unnecessary description (rich, coming from a Tolkien fan!). But, where Tolkien's prose is lyrical and impressive in itself, Hobb's sounds forced, and lacks beauty.

I had high hopes for this book, but it was quite disappointing *Shields self from Hobb fans*

Right now I'm reading a fairly new fantasy novel by Fiona McIntosh, Royal Exile. The plot is good, and relatively original, but the prose could use a lot of work. There is little to no description, and most of the characters, houses, palaces, etc. are vague blobs. Still, it seems fairly promising, and I'll probably finish it.

I'm also in the middle of George R.R. Martin's Dreamsongs, Volume 1. It's very, very good. Managed to keep me entertained for a few nights, and I usually don't even like short stories! Two stories in particular, The Ice Dragon and The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr, are my personal favourites.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

I recently gave a try at Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice. It was awful. Hobb can write well, but her plot is clichéd and her characters are cardboard cut-outs. There was, sorry to say, too much unnecessary description (rich, coming from a Tolkien fan!). But, where Tolkien's prose is lyrical and impressive in itself, Hobb's sounds forced, and lacks beauty.

I had high hopes for this book, but it was quite disappointing *Shields self from Hobb fans*

Ah, well, here's a newly-discovered non-Hobb fan to back you up.

My local library doesn't have the first book, but I got out the second, "Royal Assassin", recently, then started to read the third but couldn't finish it. I wouldn't say the middle book's awful, though, exactly– it is mostly well-written, and there are hints of an underlying mythos that sounds intriguing– but I just don't think that makes it worth wading through chapter after pointless chapter of Fitz-Sadsack-Chivalry whining drearily on and on and on about his loneliness and his health problems and his illegitimacy and his stigmatised psychic powers and his semi-unrequited love for Molly– and, of course, the overpowering angst of an assassin's lot. I'm not kidding when I say that I kept finding myself muttering "Just. Shut. UP!" though gritted teeth. It doesn't help that nothing much happens for ages, and that when the "real" plot finally gets going it becomes apparent there is no reason whatever for Fitz to be the main character, since he plays very little part in the overall story. Hobb tries to gloss over this by throwing in some prophecies about how Fitz is "The Catalyst... destined not to actually do anything but to be very important anyway, because... um... er... hey, look over there!", but needless to say, this doesn't work. As for the rest of the cast... well, to Hobb's credit she does try to give them some character development– in fact, she spends quite a lot of time establishing what they're like– but the trouble is, there's just not that much to establish, if you see what I mean.


Also, why is it always wolves and dragons? Why is no fantasy protagonist ever mystically soul-bonded to a sheep? I ask you.

~Yes, that was a bitter rant, that was. Put it down to disappointment– I'd heard so much praise for this trilogy.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Also, why is it always wolves and dragons? Why is no fantasy protagonist ever mystically soul-bonded to a sheep? I ask you.

Sheep are food.

People want to be bound to the hunters, not the prey.

Sheep are stupid, wolves and dragons are smart (well, every hunter has to be smarter than the prey...).

People worship the fierce animals.

What's mystical about sheep?

Sheep have no kind of loyalty except to the greens they much on.

I could go on for a while with this, but I'll stop here. There are peoples from fantasy novels that live off sheep and thus appreciate them more than just meat and wool, but they would not worship them or have some mystical ties with them. Sheep are too domestic, too tame, and too predictable to be mystical.

Though Erendis and Ancalime might not agree with me.

[Nerwen]

That was a joke, G55.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

~Yes, that was a bitter rant, that was. Put it down to disappointment– I'd heard so much praise for this trilogy.

I did a worse one on Amazon Some parts of the book were intriguing and could have been worked on, but for the most part it was just...ugh.

Yes, I am very eloquent.