[joacqin]

Is there a single author without controversy? I have only lurked on these boards after following a link from Abercrombie's homepage and it doesn't seem to be any author everyone loves. We have the big ones the ones that most serious fantasy lovers adore at least most of; Martin, Bakker, Erikson, Hobb, Jordan heck I throw in Goodkind as well and well there are more but these seems to be the top of the crop among todays readers. Is there any series/author that do not have it's fair share of haters?

I for one absolutely adore Erikson whom I consider king of the hill of the contemporary fantasy scene but I have after only a brief browsing of these forums noticed that there are plenty of people who have read him and not liked him. I have in the past encountered people who felt too daunted by his writing to read more than a brief sample of his work but no one who actually read through several of his books and still didn't love it or even worse just found it so-so. What is often pointed out as his weakness, the characterization, is what I consider his almost strongest point. He can make feel for a character with only a few sentences something no other writer has managed to do.

When it comes to Martin I was completely blown away when I read him, when I first read him the pinnacle of literature for me was WoT and this was something completely different. I love it as much as Erikson but due to extreme delays and the fact that I found the latest installment to be quite a lot weaker than the first books Erikson dethroned him for me but Martin is still a writer I love unconditionally. This guy seems to have very few detractors but I have encountered intelligent people whom I otherwise share similar tastes with who can't stand him which of course completely baffles me.

The only lady who seems to have made a proper impact on us fantasy nerds is another author I absolutely adore but in a way she is too good. Reading her work is generally so painful that you do it once and then can't bear to do it again. I have yet to reread the Liveship traders despite wanting to and despite loving the first read simply because reading Hobb's work is so emotionally taxing. She is one of the writers where I have not encountered much "hate". Are there people out there who absolutely hate Hobb and finds her to be an overrated hack?

Now we come to Bakker, many many people seem to view his work as the "da shiznit". With depth and philosophical ponderings above anything else written in the fantasy genre. Well, I just can't see it. When I read Bakker I found it to be a reasonable entertaining fantasy series, a lot better than much of the tripe that is published nowadays but nothing really special. That "depth" and "grittiness" many laud so much I found contrived and forced. For me Bakker is an author who tries to be deep, gritty and philosophical he isn't an author who just *is* those things. For me Bakker is a writer who really really really with all his heart wants to be like the big boys but falls short simply because he tries too hard.

Sadly Jordan is dead but I am sad mostly for sentimental reasons. I was a total fanboy during my late teens and kept buying his books simply because I thought I owed my younger self to find out what would happen. Publishing several 600+ pages volumes of nothing changes Jordan from someone who might have been among the greatest to only a good fantasy writer.

As for Goodkind, I actually finished the entire series (thank god for libraries) mostly because I wanted to see just how bad it could get and I guess many here know that it could get fairly bad. For some reason he is incredibly succesful though so I thought I would mention him even though there is no chance he could be appointed as "Fantasy author everyone loves".

Then we have the new gang of whom I have only read Abercrombie and Lynch and then not all of their work. I have really enjoyed what I have seen though, could it be that among these there is a writer we can all agree to be really good?

To repeat the initial question: Is there a fantasy author we all can agree is really really good?

Sorry for the length of my first post but at times I have a lot of spare time and I have not had the oppurtunity in a few years to truly discuss fantasy which is a serious passion of mine.

[Hobbit]

Welcome joacqin: a nice lengthy post for your first!

I think it highly unlikely that any author will be loved by all. The nature of the genre is that the range of books is so broad that not every book will satisfy every reader.

But would it be reasonable to find that any book, of any genre, will satisfy everyone? The chances are pretty unlikely. For we are all different and thus our tastes are all different.

To some extent SFFWorld exists because of that difference. The nature of a discussion forum is that it will draw out opinions of all shades in a discussion, allowing us to share through discussion common likes or dislikes!

It's a thoughtful question though, which we like. Hope your other posts at SFFWorld are as thoughtful in the future!

Mark / Hobbit

[peadarog]

Best of luck with finding an author everybody loves. Even Hobb comes in for criticism, you'll find. Even Guy Gavriel Kay.

But discovery is no fun without risk of reading the odd bad book somewhere along the way.

[catsrule1]

I think the only question which might receive a true answer is, "Author loved by most". While I have found that most like GRRM and Feist, two authors I feel are great fantasy writers, there are some on this forum who just don't like them. And I assume you are implying the 'works' of the authors, and not the authors themselves.

If we talk about the authors themselves, we would have to talk about ones who never showed their political side, or revealed their likes and dsilikes, and are basically liked/loved 'by all'. Maybe Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Andre Norton, Tolkein? But their works get mixed reviews from different readers.

[nick1689]

Wait, are you trying to say there are people who hate George R R Martin?!? BLASPHEMY!!

[Andols]

Charles Shultz or Bill Waterson?

[catsrule1]

I think it isn't really that they 'hate' GRRM. How could anyone do that? It is more like they 'mini-hate' or 'non-like' his works. They must be smoking something to not like his work, IMHO.

"Charles Shultz or Bill Waterson" - still only loved by most, sorry!

[Sfinx]

Is there a single author without controversy?

Fritz Leiber would be my best guess. He is one of the great - and sofar i at least have not encountered any criticism on these boards.

[joacqin]

Fritz Leiber would be my best guess. He is one of the great - and sofar i at least have not encountered any criticism on these boards.

Well, then here it comes. I have tried to read Leiber, had one of his books on my nightstand for literally years trying to force my way through it but as soon as, well, basically anything showed up I threw myself over it promising I would finish Leiber later as he is supposedly one of the great. I didn't find it bad as such, just kinda dull and what I read was more a collection of what I found to be fairly uninspirational short stories than a proper novel. I am sucker for "epic" though, I want multi-volume storylines and plots that takes thousand of pages to resolve if ever. Simple hear rumour, investigate, fight evil wizard, booze stories have a hard time grabbing me even if I respect them for what they are.

[Dawnstorm]

I doubt there's a fantasy author loved by all, but if there is, it's probably Terry Pratchett. Considering his enormous success, you'd expect a lot more criticism (not just the occasional "meh!").