[PJS]

Ok so background first: I'm reading a bunch of series at once. Mostly alternating between them.

Books I have Read:
Magician: Apprentice and Master - Feist
Legend, King Beyd Gate - Gemmell
Assassin's Apprentice - Hobb
Gunslinger - King
Dragonbone Chair - Williams

Absolutely Love Hobb. Didn't expect much from Gemmell's second in the series, but thoroughly enjoyed it and found it fresh enough with the perfect amount of reference to the previous novel. Plus the novelty of being the same location rather than the same characters is great. Magician is good, and I will continue to read, but not with the fervor of Hobb and Gemmell.

Now to the point:
Gunslinger I found to be too abstract and existential for me. Of course I find this understandable as King was a very young writer then.
DB Chair was too riddled with detail and slow for me. I had to trudge through it, and feel like I didn't get much of a pay-off at the end.

So I want to know if there is any significant change of style/substance/anything in either of these series to entice me to pick them up again. I know Tad is a bit of a cult hero around here. So is there anything likely to change in the rest of the "trilogy" to convert me? Likewise with King. I know he's matured and made his series easier to read. But will the content become more to my liking?

Thanks for the help.

[Mexal]

You have to read Williams til the end. The four books aren't stand alone. It's like one big book. I found myself struggling at times but I'll tell you honestly that when I finished the entire series, I was incredibly happy I stuck with it. It was one of the most satisfying reads I've had.

[Self]

I got half way through Dragonbone Chair and couldn't bear anymore. I still have it, and may attempt it again one day but...

[Amaunette]

As regards King's Dark Tower series, the tone of the books changes immensely between the first and second novel, mostly because they were writte nabout 20[?] years apart. Starting with the second book onwards, modern day characters are drawn into the story, and a wider storyline develops. In my opinion, the rest of the Dark Tower series reads a lot more like some of King's more recent work. I'm not sure if that makes you want to read more or not. Personally, I enjoyed this series, except for events near the end of the series.

I also had a hard time getting into Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. I tried once and gave up, only to return to it a year later. I think the pace of MST is slow, at least in comparison to other epic fantasies. But I greatly enjoyed the series as a whole, so it's up to you whether you want to put the time into it or not. As I recall, the action in The Dragonbone Chair starts to pick up around 300 or 400 pages in, something like that. The second book is slower, and the third book is much more fast-paced (the 3rd and 4th volumes were originally published as one very long volume, so I'm including them as such).

[Beleg]

As Amaunette posted the second Dark Tower book is vastly different from the first in terms of writing style and overall tone. It's worth preserving with the second book IMO and if you like it, the rest of the story, because with the exception of parts of fourth book, the rest of the series is written in the same vein.

Unfortunately, I can't say the rest of the stuff is particularly similar to gemmell and hobb. King doesn't really write traditional epic fantasy and the closest he comes to it is with 'Wizard and Glass' which is a sort of epic fantasy wild wild west with romance and guns.


Williams, if anything, gets worse; parts of book three lag terribly. Overall he is still heads and shoulders above most epic fantasy writers though.