[Hobbit]

Thanks, Ficus - I'm hoping that date you give for the US release is the 3rd December and not the 12th March! :D

So I guess the next question is....

Which of these are the ones you want to read first?

I think Gabaldon is the surprise inclusion for me - her Crossstitch book I found to be Mills and Boon tosh... :)

Other than that, for me probably:

George RR Martin (Song of ice and Fire)
Robin Hobb (Elderlings)
Robert Silverberg (Majipoor)
Tad Williams (Otherland)
Raymond Feist (Riftwar)
Orson Scott Card (Alvin Maker)
Anne McCaffrey (Pern)
Neil Gaiman (American Gods)
Elizabeth Haydon (Symphony of Ages)
Terry Brooks (Shannara)
Diana Gabaldon (Outlander)

Hobbit

[FicusFan]

Originally posted by Hobbit
Thanks, Ficus - I'm hoping that date you give for the US release is the 3rd December and not the 12th March! :D

So I guess the next question is....

Which of these are the ones you want to read first?

I think Gabaldon is the surprise inclusion for me - her Crossstitch book I found to be Mills and Boon tosh... :)

Other than that, for me probably:

George RR Martin (Song of ice and Fire)
Robin Hobb (Elderlings)
Robert Silverberg (Majipoor)
Tad Williams (Otherland)
Raymond Feist (Riftwar)
Orson Scott Card (Alvin Maker)
Anne McCaffrey (Pern)
Neil Gaiman (American Gods)
Elizabeth Haydon (Symphony of Ages)
Terry Brooks (Shannara)
Diana Gabaldon (Outlander)

Hobbit

Yes the date is backwards (for you) :) It is in December here.

I have sent a reply to her asking for date clarification of US/UK.

You say Crossstitch -- I know that is
Outlander here, but the rest of the words in the sentence don't compute. But since DB is at the bottom of your list, I guess it means you didn't like it. :(

You are in the North right (I mean are we talking rhyming slang or what) ?

I have read all the Outlander
books except Fiery Cross which I am waiting for in PB (Jan '04 I think).

I really only care about reading Gabaldon, and Martin. I may read the others (Tad Williams - I have heard people say good things about him here; Hobb, McCaffrey, Card), and I may not, depends on how the mood strikes and what else I am trying to read at the time.
I probably won't read Brooks, Silverberg, or Feist -- unless I am forced at gun point.:)

I would buy the book just for Gabaldon really :)

[Hobbit]

LOL..... I love the way these things can get so confused cross-continent. :D

Interested in your comments about Gabaldon. (And yes - I'd forgotten, Crossstitch here is Outlander with you. :))

I had high hopes for it but I'm afraid that i really didn't enjoy it when I read it. (Another crosscultural reference here: Mills and Boon are the publishers of rather lurid 'romance' novels here in the UK - they tend to be similar plots, similar characters and usually involve dastardly men bodice ripping, combined with heaving bosoms... not that there's anything necessarily wrong in that, of course... :))

I'm afraid I found too many cliches with the book to be honest, but I know that there are people out there who love it. Strangely enough it has sold much better in North America than here... though Fiery Cross came out here in PB this time last year!

...but it wasn't for me. I found the characters working in cliches. I guess it went against the grain of my macho-hobbitian charisma too much for me to appreciate it properly (found that with parts of Dart-Thornton's books too....and Haydon's Rhapsody!)

I'm sure others will alter my list. I know some people will put Gaiman at the top or close to the top of their list, for example...

At least we agree on Brooks :)

One of the good things about a book like this is that people sample bits and then go on and try other things by the same author. I remember a lot of people I talked to going off to read The Gunslinger and Terry Pratchett after Legends I for example - not that those two authors needed many more readers! :) but it's a good sign I guess. I'm sure this one will do the same.

Hobbit

[Miriamele]

I'm looking forward to the publication of Legends II. I really enjoyed the first one--not that I necessarily enjoyed all the novellas within, but I enjoyed the opportunity to sample popular fantasy authors without having to invest in all of their books. And it was quite a good price as well--less than the price of the Terry Goodkind novella on its own. (And for the record, I though Debt of Bones was a pretty good story.)

It was reading Legends that led me toward Tad Williams's MS&T and away from George R.R. Martin, whom I might have tried if I hadn't disliked "The Hedge Knight" so much.

I agree that Gabaldon seems like a strange inclusion. But, I suppose with the magical time-travel aspect of her writing she could loosely be categorized as fantasy.

It will be an interesting collection anyway.

[milamber_reborn]

You've got to read Martin's Game of Thrones. You'll be hooked by the halfway mark, or if you're not then you haven't wasted much time.

I'll have to read The Hedge Knight.

[Mithfânion]

Do read Game of Thrones Miriamele, it is quite different froim HK and a really touching story.

[ChrisW]

Touching? hehe never heard it described that way before.:D

[Eventine]

I picked up Legends 2 last night and I've read 2 of the stories already - the Brooks and Gaiman stories.
Terry Brooks had me thinking in the first few pages that he might actually write something OK, but he degenerated into his typical Shannare level drivel pretty quickly (why o why couldn't he have written a Word and void short story!!!!!!!!).
The Gaiman story was OK - all of the chracters were very Gaiman-esque. I was interested to note that he'll be doing a sequel to American Gods. I'm sort of excited and sort of dissapointed about this. One thing that I enjoyed about American Gods was that it was a stand alone, and now he's ruining that. On the other hand, he writes well with original concepts so hopefully he will continue this.

Now a question - I noticed that the GRRM story is a sequel to the previous story he wrote in Legends 1. Do I need to read this first?
And secondly - Should I read the second Tawny Man book before reading the Hobb story?

[Mithfânion]

Re:Martin

From what I understand, it once again features the same lead characters from The Hedge Knight, and this is simply a tale about them in a later stage of their life. I don't think it's necessary to have read THK before you read the Sworn sword, though I'm sure it couldn't hurt to be familiar with the characters already.

Re: Hobb

No, you definitely needn't have read Tawny Man before you read this short story.

[Evil Agent]

When did it come out? Is it out in US/Canada yet, and is it just one of several volumes?