Top 10 Worst Fantasy Books
This list contains the books you should, in my opinion, avoid. Some of the authors who published this crap should never have been published, while the others should be ashamed for writing such drivel. The point is that if you see one of these books in the wild, don’t touch it with a 10 foot pole!
To make this list, the book must REALLY be a steaming pile of donkey defecation. Think of this book list as those books you shouldn't read, not even if someone holds a gun to your head.
I fully expect a number of people to be outraged to see their favorite author/book slandered by this list. I have not just randomly tossed a bunch of books onto this list -- there are some very compelling reasons why books end up here. However, feel free to express all your outrage (or agreement) in the comment section. And if you have any of your own particular stinker reads, please share them -- they may be fodder for the next worst fantasy book update.
For you angry folks out there, keep in mind this is MY opinion. It's subjective and I'm sure not everyone will agree. If you love a book on the list, fair's fair -- different strokes for different folks. However, I want to establish a "baseline" for what's good and what's not in the fantasy genre. And this, folks, is my baseline whether you agree or not. But the books on this list are open for discourse in the comment section.
#1: Robert Stanek (ANY OF HIS BOOKS)
One word: avoid!
There's a saying "don't judge a book by the cover, but in the case of a Robert Stanek novel, you should judge by the cover." My blind niece could do a better job making book covers than that.
There is a suspicious amount of positive reviews posted at Amazon.com concerning this author’s Rune Mist saga. They either range from five to one star. Rumor has it that Rob has been padding Amazon.com with fake reviews in an effort to hawk his own books. After reading book one, it was immediately apparent (after the first page) the rumor is true. Stanek is, quite simply, the worst author I have had the misfortune of reading. He possesses not a single atom of writing ability. I’ll put it like this: Keeper Martin’s Tale evinces all the skill of an adolescent girl, writing her first creative piece on a prancing pony. Keep away from his books if you value your sanity. His prose is so bad your eyes will bleed. I even dedicated some time a few years ago to write a post about how Robert Stanek is gaming Amazon with hordes of fake reviews.
Not ONLY is Stanek a bad author, he's also a nasty character. Fake reviews, aggressive behavior towards people who call out his practices, and his penchant for outright lying (a photoshopped picture of him at a panel with legitimate authors like Brian Jacques? Puhleeezzz!).
Because of all this, Stanek wins The Best Fantasy Books award for being the worst fantasy author and writing the worst fantasy novels. In fact, I'll go one further. Stanek is not just a bad fantasy writer, he's the nemesis of the fantasy world, the Dark Lord of fantasy authors. Please, if you see a Robert Stanek novel, run like hell because you're risking you're literary soul.
#2: The Fifth Sorceress (Robert Newcomb) -- and any other piece of paper cursed by his pen
Oh man, what can I say about this what's probably one of the worst written novels in the history of publishing, let alone fantasy.
What happens when you blatantly copy a bad fantasy writer? Simply, you write a really bad fantasy book. The only books Newcomb ever read was Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth and a few badly written bondage novels. At least Goodkind can write ONE novel half decently—which is more than Newcomb can claim by a few miles. The blurb on The Fifth Sorceress claims it is the “epic fantasy of the year”. Uh...
While Newcomb certainly has a fertile imagination, it's fertile in the way of a sexually frustrated, disturbed teenage boy. We get sultry sorceress after sorceress who's only role in the story is to satisfy the author's fantasies about bad bad bad women in leather tights.
With page after page of painful exposition, Newcomb attempts to translate his pornographic fantasies into credible plot devices. I'm not going to even describe the insult to both women and the English language THAT attempt has birthed into the world.
His books are so riddled with cliches it’s no surprise Newcomb sinks to the bottom of the quality barrel. I can't tell you how offensive to your eyes it is to just look at a page written by this man. This is one man I'd gladly help support by PAYING HIM to stop writing.
#3: Sword of Truth Novels (Terry Goodkind)
Some people might be wondering why bestselling author Terry Goodkind is missing from the top 25 best fantasy books. This is one of the most "asked" questions emailed to me and left in the comments.
Well, I have been saving a special spot in the ‘Worst Fantasy’ section for him. Wait, you tell me. “He is a best seller.” Yea, so is Snooky from Jersey Shore.
Seriously people, if you think Goodkind is the Second Coming of Christ to the fantasy genre, you haven't read any real fantasy books yet. Don't ask me to add his name to any of the Best Book Lists because I'm not going to.
Goodkind.Does.Not.Deserve.To.Be.Added.Because.He's.Not.Good.Enough.
I admit, Goodkind’s first few novel was kind of entertaining, but the entertainment was lost behind the sheer awfulness of the man's writing. The idea was good, but the problem is that Goodkind lacked the actual writing skills to translate ideas to paper. He broke just about every 'don't do this when you're writing a novel' rule in that book. Heck, he probably even broke a few writing rules that haven't been invented yet!
NoGoodKind's books are a "College English 101: Fiction Class" case study for what not to do when writing a novel.
Let's sum it up a bit (avoid this paragraph is you don't want to read spoilers):
Farm boy finds a super sword and becomes the Seeker of Truth, basically a badass with the sword. Actually, he's also a Prince too. No but wait, he's also a Wizard. No, actually, he's really a War Wizard. Wait a minute, he's really the ruler of an entire continent.
Did I miss anything? Oh yes, I forgot: Richard also has a harem of attractive women who want to rip his clothes off. Forgetting anything else? Opps one more: one of the SOT villains is an evil chicken. Yeaaaaa.....
Richard Rahl is pretty much the fantasy version of Goku from Dragon Ball Z -- always just one step away from powering up to some new super ability to save the day.
Goodkind also has a disturbing fascination with the domination and rape of women. I mean you have to wonder about the guy when pretty much every page involves some sadistic torture and rape of yet another innocent and lovely woman. Man we get it guy: lovely women need to be humiliated over and over in as many different ways as possible. Now stop writing about the same damn thing for 10,000 pages! I'm beginning to suspect that John Norman from the Gor series help co-write the SOT novels or maybe Goodkind drew inspirations from Gor. Either way, enough please!
Now, I wouldn't toss Goodkind on this list only because of A Wizard's First Rule. No, it took a string of absolute trash to land him on the worst fantasy book list. His recent book titles can be used as a euphemism for crap, puke or other less than wholesome words.
Goodkind's book quality go like this:
first book -- readable
books 2 - 3 -- less readable
books 4 - 6 -- even less readable
books 7 - 9 -- oh my god, my eyes are bleeding
books 10 - 12 -- thank god the series is done. Oh but wait, he's signed up for MORE novels
I fully expect putting Goodkind on this section will rile up some of his fans (and feel free to express yourself in the comment section), but before posting anything nasty or libeling my character and tastes, please read the top 5 books on my Top 25 Best Fantasy Book list THEN come tell me why NoGoodkind should be taken off this list.
#4: Iron Tower trilogy (Dennis McKiernan)
A shameless rip from Tolkien. And I mean a really really really shameless rip. If Terry Brooks 'borrows' ideas from Tolkien, McKiernan straight out copies them word for word, changing a couple syllables here and there. Shame on the man for lacking even the creativity to change the characters to something NOT directly copied from Tolkien. Frankly, if Tolkien was still alive, McKiernan would have been sued.
For starters:
Tuck = Frodo Baggins in ALL but name.
Galen = Aragorn
Fildor = Legolas
Rael = Galadriel
And it gets worse as you read. I almost hope a copyright theft lawsuit from the Tolkien estate stops this crime of a series from doing any more damage to tender young fantasy minds.
#5: Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, et. all
There was a witty line I put in here that fans of D&D and Manga found insulting, so gone it is. But the fact that I've removed that line still doesn't save the atrocity that is D&D/Dragonlance.
This is the kinda stuff that gives the fantasy genre a bad name. Avoid these novels! It’s that cheap type of bread you pick up for fifty-cents in the discounted section at Safeway. You might think you got a good deal—till you find it crumbles to pieces on the way home. Pick up a real author like George Martin and enjoy a real feast.
#6: Sword of Shannara (Terry Brooks)
I'm not a big fan of the Shannara series at all. I've been getting email after email wondering Brooks is not on the Top 25 Fantasy list. Let me state it right here: he's not on the list because he hasn't written any books that are good enough to be there.
Shannara was Brook's attempt to milk the whole Tolkien craze during the 80's. He "generously borrowed" Tolkien's mythology (which isn't a bad thing, as quite a few other people did as well), but committed the cardinal sin of not doing anything new at all over his 20+ years writing fantasy books. Brooks is the literary version of the band Nickleback: both have sold out all creativity and churn the same sort of crap out over and over.
One Shannara book is the same as the rest of them. I beg you Terry Brooks, stop writing new Shanara books. If someone points a gun to your head and forces you to read a Shannara novel,
I'm not insulting Terry Brooks as an author. Ok, well I kinda am. But the man's not a bad writer -- Brooks did write a few NON-Shannara books that I found entertaining: Magic Kingdom For Sale was a light entertaining series and his Void series is pretty good, even though he ends up tying it to the whole Shanara universe (big mistake).
So yes, Brooks writes some decent books (And God knows he's had enough practice over the years with the dozens of books he's churned out), but just avoid anything with the word Shanara in the title and you'll be OK.
#7: The Icewind Dale Trilogy (R.A. Salvatore)
Every time I think about this series, a horrible taste comes to my mouth. What is that taste? I think it's puke. The series is the poster boy for fantasy banality -- there is not a single speck of creativity to this series. The same can be said to pretty much the rest of R.A. Salvatore's works. This author has the (dubious) distinction of getting TWO of his series tossed onto this list.
One of the more popular comments people leave on this blog (especially on the Top 25 list) is "WHERE IS R.A. Salvatore." And my response is the same one given when people ask why I've left Terry Goodkind of the best lists: "Because R.A. Salvatore has not yet written any fantasy book worth being on the top lists people." If he ever writes something worthy of being read, I'll consider adding him. Until then, NO.
R.A. Salvatore is one of those authors that does a disservice to the rest of the real writers out there. He writes popcorn fantasy over and over. If you want to read shallow fantasy that offers about as much nutrition as a McDonald's cheeseburger, then R.A. Salvatore's works are exactly what you need. For the rest of you who value your time, read something else.
#8: The Wayfarer Redemption (et. all) by Sara Douglass
An awful waste of time this book is. The number of stupid characters present in the novel is ridiculous. There is suppose to be a plot and all, but frankly, it gets lost in the sappy ham-fisted romance. This book really belongs on the Harlequin romance shelves and NOT the fantasy shelf.
#9: Lord of the Isles (David Drake)
Oh boy, where do I start with this one. The main character is an utter dolt, the supporting cast cookie cut out, and the plot...what plot? There were holes in the plot the size of Australia and characters appear from nowhere only to wander out of the plot just as fast as they were introduced. This series competes with Ice Wind Dale for the "most unoriginality award". David Drake should stick to writing Science Fiction -- he had a better knack for that, sorta.
#10: The Redemption of Althalus (David Eddings)
I was thinking of tossing in The Belgariad for good measure, but then I remembered that book was written for kids, so I guess it's not fair to skewer it (unless it was actually written for adults, then we CAN skewer it). But if I get enough comments on this page, we may put The Belgariad on the chopping block.
We'll save the Bel gar aid for another time.
The Redemption of Althalus had nothing redeemable about it. The characters were cookie cutouts of bad stereotypes and the plot was boring. The only thing I wanted redeemed after reading it was my wasted time. God forgive the author for the slaughter of trees involved in producing that crap. I would say that Eddings has his own vanilla style of prose, but then again, vanilla actually has some flavor.
Eddings does write some entertaining fantasy for kids, but he's pretty much rewritten his original series four or five times over. The fantasy world has long since evolved. Eddings has not.
Well that's the top 10 worst fantasy books ever written. But there's always room for much more...Here are some other books/series to avoid:
SOME of Mercedes Lackey’s books
Ok, I might take a lot of flak for this, but I think she is, in general, a horrific author. Her plots tend to muddle around in never-never-land and characters are flat as a cookie. The only time she manages to crawl her way out of the bowels of mediocrity is on the contrails of more talented coauthors. Not all her books are bad; several books she coauthors (with more talented co-authors I might add) are actually quite good (The Shadow of a Lion). I wish I could say the same about the rest of her books.
A Shadow on the Glass (Ian Irvine)
A terribly written book series. I bought this, only to give it away a few days later. I think I even paid the guy to take the books, fancy that! Really, the actual prose was offensive to any who reads English. The potential might have been there with the plot, but the execution killed it.
Battlefield Earth (L Ron Hubbard)
Supposedly the novel that started Scientology right there. Too bad Scientology got off to a bad start -- there couldn't be a worse novel to found your faith on. Unless it's a Goodkind novel...
Xanth (Peirs Anthony)
One word: porn for adolescents. I mean, when one of the Xanth books is called "The Color of Her Panties" what more do I need to say about it.
Goodspeaker Trilogy (Karin Miller)
Here's the bestfantasybooks.com blurb for the publisher of this fiction.: Fantasy taken to new hights...of banality.
Betrayal of Krondor (Raymond E. Feist)
My God, terrible, terrible books. I do like some of Feist's other work, namely his Magician series and his Empire trilogy. When reading this, I had the feeling Feist just gave up halfway through writing the novel, opting to finish it in a couple nights just to get er' done. I'm not quite sure about the reason for such an insult to the written word to have been produced by a man who should know better; maybe he suffered a crisis. Regardless of the reason, the Betrayal of Krondor was a betrayal to the fantasy genre. One can argue that Krondor was the low point Feist never quite recovered from. All his novels since then have been pretty bad and they are getting worse and worse. Yes, I know he still has oodles of fans, but that doesn't excuse the man for giving up. He actually had some talent. Pity.
Eragon (Christopher Paolini)
What do you get when you combine Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and a 15 year old's writing skills? A heap of trash called Eragon and its sequels. I admire the kid for writing something, but Eragon was a work best left in the hands of a smiling Grade 7 teacher who would have patted the little Paolini on the head, taken the manuscript home, then quietly burned it. How the heck this unholy mess was picked up by publishers, sold to millions of readers, and made into a terrible movie, is surely one of the great questions of the universe. I guess that goes to tell you the power of the marketing industry -- if they can sell Eragon to the masses, they can sell anything.
Yes, I know these books are for a younger audience. Yes I know I recommended them in the best fantasy books for kids. But enough "adults" have read these books to land them on this list. While they may be a good read for kids, they are NOT a good read for adults, not like the Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials, Sabriel, or The Spook's Apprentice.
Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)
Let me tell you a story. Once upon there was this vampire with bad hair. There was this awkward girl that didn't fit in. For some absurd reason, this vampire fell in love with the girl. But because of some artificial plot device, they couldn't be together. Both vampire and girl are unhappy. The end.
Yea, that about describes the level of complexity present in Twilight. I'll acknowledge that Twilight fills a romantic need in young adolescents, but how anyone over the age of 14 can think this series is actually "the best books ever" is perhaps the most indicative of just how illiterate our society has become. For some this is a good book, yes, but for the discerning readers, it's an atrocity to the written word. Please, please, read a real vampire book such as George Martin's Fevre Dream.
More Books to be Added To The Worst Fantasy Books List Soon!
Do you have a hated fantasy book/author? Do you disagree with the Top 10 Worst Fantasy Books list? Share your opinion below!
Ahahaa, I love that Twilight is on here! One of my friends once described the main vampire in the story as a "Sparkly Paedophile" after being dragged to the cinema by his girlfriend. Brilliant.
I began to read these series with much interest. But for some reason I lost interest in them and never finished the series. I'm glad I read your review because now I believe I recognized bad writing subconsciously.
i agree with all of them but one. The spooks apprentice. i have read it and its not the best book, but it is better then eregon.
It's surprising no one else has commented on this so I think I'll have to. Let me start off by saying I agree wholeheartedly that Goodkind is a terrible writer and his series became unreadable at about the 4th book for me. However I find it incredibly odd that you are so heavily critical of him for his depiction of women being brutalized and raped. Considering you laud R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series as "Epic fantasy for the thinking man" when that series is nothing but the most exploitative schlock I've ever read in my life. I mean just about every chapter depicted some of the most grotesque mistreatment and sexual peversion of men, women, and children. I recall the second book ending on the high note of a man and his wife and preteen son literally being sodomized to death. I've never gotten how such disturbing garbage written by a clearly disturbed man is considered deep and thoughtful and the future of fantasy. Goodkind looked kid friendly by comparison to Bakker and yet one gets criticized for it and the other ends up on your top fantasy stories of all time. Stop drinking the kool aid man!
I agree 100%. I thought the humanoid creatures constantly sporting boners whilst thinking about human suffering was odd, but...after I read what can only be described as a family getting raped to death by monsters, I had no desire to buy any more books by Bakker.
I really do disagree with some of the books you have chosen to put in this list... Such as the redemption of althalus. I actually quite enjoyed the book and the way it went, and recommended it to many friends... Also you bagged raymond e feists book "betrayal of krondor" are you crazy? all of his books are equally important in the whole series to miss one would be like closing your eyes half way though a movie... and about "eragon" i have enjoyed the series it is rare to find a good set if books that make you want to read the next one... as for all the other books on the list i am very much in agreement with you.....
I really do disagree with some of the books you have chosen to put in this list... Such as the redemption of althalus. I actually quite enjoyed the book and the way it went, and recommended it to many friends... Also you bagged raymond e feists book "betrayal of krondor" are you crazy? all of his books are equally important in the whole series to miss one would be like closing your eyes half way though a movie... and about "eragon" i have enjoyed the series it is rare to find a good set if books that make you want to read the next one... as for all the other books on the list i am very much in agreement with you.....
I really do disagree with some of the books you have chosen to put in this list... Such as the redemption of althalus. I actually quite enjoyed the book and the way it went, and recommended it to many friends... Also you bagged raymond e feists book "betrayal of krondor" are you crazy? all of his books are equally important in the whole series to miss one would be like closing your eyes half way though a movie... and about "eragon" i have enjoyed the series it is rare to find a good set if books that make you want to read the next one... as for all the other books on the list i am very much in agreement with you.....
I really do disagree with some of the books you have chosen to put in this list... Such as the redemption of althalus. I actually quite enjoyed the book and the way it went, and recommended it to many friends... Also you bagged raymond e feists book "betrayal of krondor" are you crazy? all of his books are equally important in the whole series to miss one would be like closing your eyes half way though a movie... and about "eragon" i have enjoyed the series it is rare to find a good set if books that make you want to read the next one... as for all the other books on the list i am very much in agreement with you.....
You seem to be mixing up the words "horrible" and "overrated." While some of these books are atrocious, others are not so bad, but get more credit than they're worth. You might consider making two lists. One for bad books, and one for books with undeserved statuses.
I think too many people take Paolini's age into too much consideration to the point of using it as an excuse for his plagiarism. Age should not matter, good writing is good writing and if you have to use age to excuse a few criticisms you are just warping the definition of this.
Bret Eastern Ellis was only 19 when he released Less than Zero, THAT was good writing no matter what his age was at the time. Eragon just is not.
Hear, hear, Aaron. I teach creative writing to teens and I've seen more originality in a one hour workshop than I saw in the entire novel. Let's give the kid kudos for finishing a long novel - that's really a major accomplishment. And I know a lot of kids who love the book simply because they're in awe someone their age got published. It seems fresh to some of the younger ones. So there are some attractive things about it for younger people but I just don't get how older readers can even get through more than a few chapters. The only other book I've had a similar response to in the last few years was Twilight. Just as badly written.
I feel sorry for Paolini. He's riding high now and making a fortune, but this is a kid with some talent and a lot of chops who would likely become a good writer some day. But with all the early publicity, he might think he's already good enough. I hope not. I hope that ten years from now, he'll be wincing at his own words and wondering about the saps who read it while writing the great American novel.
I would just like to say that the Eragon series is not only for kids, as it contains many complex themes and language skills. The technical side of this piece of literature is not only above the standard for kid's books, but also phenomenal for someone Paolini's age. Alos, the story of these books requires a huge amount of planning and forward thinking on the part of the author. he background on the different races is incredibly deep, and the character development is very realistic. In summary, your statement that this book is great for kids, but not for adults is, I feel, untrue and the acheivement of writing this series is huge.
Are you joking because I can't tell whether you are being ironic or not? Firstly I don't think I have to tell you that he copied the plot of the first book straight from Star Wars: A New Hope. He took the Lord of Rings map and tipped it on its side to get his setting and races, and these complex themes you are talking about are nothing that hasn't already been done in fantasy before. Paolini adds 'nothing' to the epic fantasy genre, his language skills are something anyone who knows Basic English can't 'conjure' up (the ‘only’ reason I can think that it would be suitable for children). I don't think I need to tell anyone here that age doesn't determine whether writing is good or not, if it's good writing it's just good writing and frankly this just isn't. At worst it's plagiarism; at best it's fan writing not even good enough for kids.
His writing is an affront to the genre as a whole to anyone with a learned view on such matters as writing and creativity. To a child perhaps his drivel is complex and filled with webs of intrigue and complicated thoughts but that is because a child is undeveloped in the mind academically and also just generally in life. To say that his writing of the races on the continent shows complexity and skill in his writing does nothing but make you look like an ignorant fool due to his representation of humans elves and dwarves being the standard cookie cutter fantasy tropes first formulated by Ttolkien in his works. Furthermore his mediocre prose is offensives to anyone who has passed high school English class with him commonly using words that while I do advocate that reading should be accessible to all was far too much focused on pandering to the unread. In short if you truly wish to read something with complexity moral ambiguity multidimensional characters and emotive and realistic themes I would suggest you read The Black Company which is my favorite book series of all time especially the original three books.
Gail Z. Martin's: Chronicles of the Necromancer, deserves to be on this list. This is the series that taught me to never buy an entire trilogy before reading the first book.
Almost any book from the Wheel of Time, well apart from the first two or three, they gradually begin to lose pace but once the writing deteriorates it accelerates exponentially downhill. When I think of Robert Jordan then Mills and Boon of the fantasy world springs to mind.
Spanking, Thrashing, stripped and turned upside down naked. I’m sure S&M fans love it but as sensible believable female interaction it’s just plain daft. And it’s not like there just little of this sadomasochism; it’s rampant. Jordan has all his female characters in all his various cultures in his books interact in this fashion, this kind of humiliation and domination are the legal tender of women. The guy was obviously a pervert; old men with young girls, young boy with older women, teenage bare breasts, bare bottoms, a lesbo fantasy world, this guy was a serious freak to write so copiously about such a dodgy subject all through the whole series. One of the main characters Egwene al'Vere in ‘The Gathering Storm’ gets her backside tanned perpetually page after page, chapter after chapter it is so utterly relentless though it that it destroys the integrity and viability of this imaginary world. It’s laughable to read and it makes you wonder about the saddos that revere Jordan with almost blind religious euphoria.
However the main reason the series deteriorates so drastically is Jordan devotes so much text into his ever increasing female character list. Just pick up any of the later books of the library shelf and have a squint at the pages that involve the female characters; it is honestly the most cringeable writing imaginable and like I stated at the beginning the mills and boon of the fantasy world. I sometimes suspect that his wife took over these sections because they are completely and utterly clueless, lacking any true content or pace, the writing is reduced to idle chit chat.
I don't think you are aware of the point of The Wheel of Time so let me educate you. It's to create a world different to our own, everything you mentioned just went justify that including the idle chit chat. This is because, as much as it may blow your mind, this 'world' has a female dominated culture with the men rebelling against it. Only the female Aes Sedai can control the one power for most of the series making them dominant, that's why many of the countries abuse their woman in the heat of this power struggle. Now even I admit I have my qualms with TWOT but even I picked up on this. It's huge sure but it has it's place and there are many people around the world, even in New Zealand, that are waiting impatiently for conclusion to come out, even those have read and hated it for 'valid' reasons.
I don't think you are aware of the point of The Wheel of Time so let me educate you. It's to create a world different to our own, everything you mentioned just went justify that including the idle chit chat. This is because, as much as it may blow your mind, this 'world' has a female dominated culture with the men rebelling against it. Only the female Aes Sedai can control the one power for most of the series making them dominant, that's why many of the countries abuse their woman in the heat of this power struggle. Now even I admit I have my qualms with TWOT but even I picked up on this. It's huge sure but it has it's place and there are many people around the world, even in New Zealand, that are waiting impatiently for conclusion to come out, even those have read and hated it for 'valid' reasons.
Eragon, in my opinion, should be at the top of the list right after Robert Stanek. Honesty, it's just so terrible that it's disgusting that I bought a copy of it, and that my sister actually liked the series. Paolini's writing style makes me feel as if he had just finished reading Lord of the Rings and immediately started working on Eragon, stealing half the words, but merely changing the name Frodo to Eragon, and instead of Sam, it's Sapphira. Not to mention the plot is just so... Well, I feel the same about his plot, actually. Oh, a farmer boy, a bastard at that, in the middle of nowhere suddenly finds himself a dragon egg and in the throes of a war that has been going on for ages. A struggling rebellion, a traitorous dark one, and a wise old man that somehow manages to survive all those years... Really? Are you kidding me? I whole fully agree with this man's review of Eragon.
Sounds like Star Wars...
Seems a lot of people liked that, too.
Also sounds like bitterness. Your sister liked the series meaning she gained enjoyment from reading them but your own literary snobbery seems to want to deprive her of that enjoyment if there was a way to do so but you can't.
People like what they like.
Hence why labelling things such as these as "the best" and "the worst" is so futile - it is all subjective.
Not everyone wants to wait 30 years to see how a story ends (witness GRRM) - some people just want a story - to be whisked off into another world and be entertained for a few evenings.
How dare anyone attempt to belittle those people on the basis of their literary choices.
What I think anyone who is interested in this type of fiction wants to know is what else is out there and how it would fit into what they already enjoy but perhaps expand their reading horizons a little.
No need to be labelling anything "the worst"... just review it and let readers know what it entails and decide for themselves.
Okay, you talk alot of trash about Eragon, but I applaud Paolini he creates an amazing series, have you read all 3 of his books? Oh wait... it sounds like you have'nt even finished the 1st book! If you were reading he clearly explains the egg in the middle of no where by Arya transporting it there with magic! I'm so dam sorry if theres aloud only 1 kingdom with a rebellion having war for years! Have you ever seen Star Wars? Theres a kingdom of the Empire with rebels, and old guy named Obi Wan whos wise. Sounds the dam same as Lord of the Rings eh..? Don't see you complaining bout any of them! If you think it's soo bad, I like to see do a better job then him.
Hi,
while I do agree with most of your opinions, especially those concerning your favorite books, I think you are giving a bit too much hatred to the D&D setting. I started reading fantasy as a teenager, and my first series were the first Drizzt trilogy by Salvatore and the Dragonlance series (The Chronicles Trilogy). While I do agree with you that all the other books with the same settings were trash (I grew tired of Salvatore really really fast, and the other Dragonlance books were just flat), those two series could simply be considered "starters" for those young fantasy readers approaching the genre.
The depth of those series I mentioned above is far away from the ones from Martin's, Abercrombie's, etc., but I've read far worse fantasy books in my life. They probably fit a teenage audience.
I don't think you should change the name of your list. Any list is somebody's opinion and yours is very helpful (maybe because I agree with you on most!). But I think you need to add Jordan if you're putting Eddings on this list. I read the Belgariad when it was first written and it was fresh and funny then. It's not Eddings' fault so much more in the same vein was written later and so now it does indeed seem cliche and hackneyed. But I too could never read hi subsequent novels - he never moved on. But how you can put Jordan on best when he does exactly the same thing only with no excuses? I waited for the third book with bated breath but after that I was done. All those whiny constantly irritated women - implicit chauvinism of its own kind. Give me Aunt Pol any day!
Yes, I suppose he can call his list whatever he likes but I suppose the reader can draw his/her own conclusions when someone gives the number one slot of "Best Fantasy Series" to a series which hasn't even finished yet.
I just see an imaginary "What I thought was..." prefix before each section.
Personally, I just see no reason for a "Worst" category and I do believe that he has put it there in order to be controversial.
Besides, anyone that can slate the Forgotten Realms (and, in particular, the Drizzt) books but somehow claim Elric to be amongst "The Best" has got to be having a laugh and it just smacks of bitter jealousy at the success of someone the author of this site doesn't feel is worthy (the same thing is found in his assessment of the Harry Potter books to a certain degree... which is a kind of grudging "acknowledgement" more than an assessment).