John Marco

[Arith]

I started reading John Marco's The Jackal of Nar and got to around page 140, then i stopped, i just could not get into it.Just a note about me, my favorite series of books are Ericson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series and Martins A Song of Ice and Fire . Should i try to cvontinue? Is this series worth reading? Thanks guys.

[Macros]

What a coinky dink, I'm stuck on the second book and while events do pick up, the series is still no page turner for me. I've read Erikson and Martin too and Marco's characters just cannot compare to the ones in Malazan and ASOIAF. Richius is just a little bit too wimpy. Sort of like a bishounen. <----- I'd imagine those of you with an anime image in your avatars would get that.

[Shehzad]

Persist with him. Marco certainly starts slowly and the first book is his weakest. But the story does begin to develop and take very unexpected twists and turns, and as the perspective begins to shift, you begin to be drawn into the story.

[Lani]

I would suggest to continue with Marco as well. I found the beginning pretty hard to get into, but you get used to Richius and there are some really good other characters there. I really liked the way Marco wrote about Biagio. It is not quite MBotF, but it's still good.

[Cannon Fodder]

I've just started reading yon 'Jackal of Nar' myself. Uninspiring stuff so far, the writing seems pretty unpolished to say the least but I get the impression that there might be some worth lurking in there if Marco can get his writing up to scratch. I'll persist for a bit and get the next book if it does get better.

[ezchaos]

Arith, the same thing happened with me about a year ago. I haven't gotten around to it, but I do plan on picking The Jackal of Nar up again.

[Sammie]

I KNOW no-one ever agrees with me on this......but I got straight into Jackal of Nar, and loved it, and really couldn't stand the second one - less action, a change to a less likeable main protagonist etc etc. Didn't work for me at all....

[Rob B]

I am one of John Marco's biggest supporters around here, so I'll definitely say stick with him. I felt he progressed with each book in the trilogy.

I like him better than Erikson and maybe even Martin, too.

[Shehzad]

I was wondering when you'd show up, FF!

[Rhaegar]

I enjoyed John Marco's books, but I doubt many will find him better than Erikson or Martin (sorry FitzFlagg!).

[Eventine]

I don't think Marco has a patch on Martin or Erikson either.
I really struggled reading this guy. The worse thing was that I couldn't work out why. I have a feeling it had soemthing to do with the characterisation - I never really go into the characters at all. I'm not sure if it was his portrayal of them, or his use of language, or what. Maybe it was the series?

I've got Eyes of God on the to read stack at home, if this doesn't grab me I can't really see myself purchasing any more of his books.

[DarthV]

Wow... I definitely noticed the progression of his writing through the Tyrants and Kings series. I really like how most of the characters were shades of gray...not many clear cut black & white.

[Gilliam]

It is good to hear that the quality of writing improves. I am a couple of hundred pages into The Grand Design and finding it hard to maintain my interest. It is not a good sign when I keep flicking to the end of the book to see how things turn out.

[Celtic Warrior]

I didn't even got past page 50 of TJoN, mainly because of the way he's writing. It must have been one of his first books he wrote. They're so many books I still have to read so I don't think I will pick up this book soon again.

[James Barclay]

I'd definitely say persist. Personally, I very much enjoyed the fusion of fantasy and emerging technologies in this series and in Biagio, Marco has one of the best realised villains in fantasy.