[thrinidir]

I hope I do not presume too much if i suggest that we start to name this years ripping good yarns and the worst letdowns, even though it's technically still 2007 for a month a so. Let kudos reign free.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

I'm not sure that I've read many books that came out in 2007. The only one I can think of is The Thousandfold Thought by Bakker. Personally, I was disappointed, after what was set up in the first two books. I really thought the second one (Warrior Prophet) was amazing, but the third one was a let-down.

[shadow9d9]

I'm not sure that I've read many books that came out in 2007. The only one I can think of is The Thousandfold Thought by Bakker. Personally, I was disappointed, after what was set up in the first two books. I really thought the second one (Warrior Prophet) was amazing, but the third one was a let-down.

I agree that the first 200 pages were a letdown, mostly fluff... but the 2nd half and the ending were amazing.

Lies of Locke Lamora was a huge letdown after all the hype surrounding it... typical fantasy assassin storyline. BOOORING. People don't like to be challenged it seemed. Cliched fantasy written nicely is still typical fantasy!

[JamesL]

Lies of Locke Lamora was a huge letdown after all the hype surrounding it... typical fantasy assassin storyline. BOOORING.

I've read a lot of fantasy, but have to say no other 'fantasy assassin' storylines really spring to mind. What other ones are you thinking of? Given that I really enjoyed Lies, I might like to check them out.


People don't like to be challenged it seemed. Cliched fantasy written nicely is still typical fantasy!

Personally I disagree; I think Lies is refreshingly free of most of the usual cliches that clutter up many of the fantasy novels out there. I certainly wouldn't call Lies a 'typical' fantasy novel.

It's perhaps ironic therefore that I have to name Red Seas Under Red Skies as the biggest disappointment of the year. It was always going to be tough writing the follow-up to such a successful novel, and I don't feel the sequel comes close to matching the freshness and excitement of its predecessor. The plot was fairly pedestrian compared to Lies, and the characters were not as intriguing. The city of Tal-Verrar just doesn't come across nearly as well as Camorr, and seems a lot less interesting. Red Seas still has its moments, but for me they were sadly few and far between.

Honourable mention goes to Winterbirth. The reason being that the world and history are so well portrayed, but the plodding storyline and some of the characters let it down. Hopefully book 2 will put things right; I think there is a lot of potential there.

While I wouldn't call it a let-down, as I wasn't expacting much in the first place, I have to say Bitterwood was hands-down the worst book I read this year. The world just didn't work for me, the storyline failed to spark my interest and none of the characters endeared themselves to me at all.

As for the best 'ripping good yarn' I read this year...well, I've still got a couple of books to go before the end of the year, so I'll wait and see on that one. Before They Are Hanged was certainly good though.

[Arrgh]

Why does everyone want to start these things early?

[Sfinx]

To stimulate the discussion, some more interesting candidates who, taking into account their pedigree, stand a good chance of either becoming best yarn or worst letdown:

- Christopher Tolkien, The Children of Húrin

- Stephen Donaldson, Fatal Revenant (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)

- Terry Goodkind, Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 3 (Sword Of Truth, Book 11)

- George RR Martin, A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire)


And now i must admit :o I have only actually read Children of Húrin sofar. Which i'm afraid did not constitute a ripping yarn for me. Rather the opposite - this is not one to re-read. It has (some of) the elements, but not the grandiose story-telling quality of LotR. It's more reminiscent of the Silmarillion in fact. I have never been the big fan I am of Tolkien's work because of the meticulously created background, accompanying legends, elven script, songs and so - i love his books because the man knew how to spin a yarn. The Hobbit and LotR are beautifully put together, using pace, rhythm, atmosphere, repeating (but never exactly the same) elements, archetypes, contrasts and flowing sentences to grip you and hold you until the very end. The Children of Húrin doesn't get anywhere near that standard - and as a consequence gets my vote for worst letdown for 2007 (recognizing i used 2007 mainly to catch up with some of the classics - so not in a very good position to judge this year's output :)

[Werthead]

After meaning to read her for several years, I finally got around to reading Justina Robson via her novel Keeping It Real, and it was pretty poor. Not as poor as M. John Harrison's Viriconium stories, however, which were utterly appalling. He can write prose, he just cannot write character, setting or plot.

The best reads were Brasyl and Black Man. After several years in the doldrums it really was an excellent year for SF. Fantasy went in some interesting directions and Mieville's Un Lun Dun was great, but it seemed not to be on as good a form as SF, particularly as this year's 'must read' - The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - wasn't as good as the Lynch the year before. Red Seas was mildly disappointing but at its heart it was still readable and enjoyable.

Having read some 2008 ARCs already, I predict that next year will be much stronger for fantasy than this year.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

I agree that the first 200 pages were a letdown, mostly fluff... but the 2nd half and the ending were amazing.

Yeah, the beginning was really slow, but I remember it as only the first 100 pages. I was really disappointed that the book was only 400 pages (and 200 pages shorter than each of the previous two books). The 100 page glossary didn't do a whole lot for me, although I know that some fans loved it. What really bummed me out, especially at the beginning (highlight to read):

Was having to listen to Achamian whine the whole time that Kelhus stole Esmenet from him. I thought that Cnaiur whining about Kelhus stealing Serwe from him in book 2 was tiresome, and I just couldn't believe that book 3 was going to continue the theme. It annoyed me.

[Hobbit]

Might be worth pointing out here that there will be a review of the year at SFFWorld soon. In a break from the usual Rob/me tag team, we've asked a few others to join in.

However we realise that you can do these things too early. I'm not expecting to put something up for two or three weeks yet. Nearer the end of the year and all that.

To keep you going, though:

UK Amazon's list of best SF/Fantasy:

Making Money: Terry Pratchett
Into A Dark Realm: Raymond Feist
Elves of Cintra: Terry Brooks
Doctor Who Encyclopedia: Gary Russell
Star Wars Vault: Stephen Sansweet
Fall of Troy: David & Stella Gemmell
Children of Hurin: Tolkien
The Dreaming Void: Peter Hamilton
Voice of the Gods: Trudi Canavan
Renegade's Magic: Robin Hobb


Hobbit

[sic's mom]

Well with at least four more weeks of reading left I can say now that the best book I read this year was probably "The Name of the Wind" at least it was the one I enjoyed the most. For me the most dissapointing was probably "Red Seas Under Red Skies". Not that it wasn't a good book, it was. It just wasn't as good as Lies in my opinion. Of course I went into it with certain expectations. I will reread it later and probably like it a lot more. I did read "Confessor" and even though for the most part I did like it, just as I liked the whole series (ducking for cover) I am just glad he is finally done with the series. I get the feeling from the book he rushed the ending just to get it over with, and to me that sort of cheats his fans. You would think that with 11 books in the series he would have cut some things out and done a better job with the ending.