What's the worst fantasy novel ever IYO?

[Drathen]

I've started reading the LotR trilogy for the second time (first time was a few years before the movies came out). Perhaps I'll try the second Covenant book after I finish.

 

[Daddy Darth]

Hi Drathen,
Are you saying LOTR is one of the worst fantasy novels you have ever read? Just trying to clarify your message.
Cheers

 

[Andols]

I would say the 3rd Recluse book was pretty brutal, although I enjoyed the first 2. The pace was really slow and I couldn't care about a single character in the first 200 pages. That was it for me.

There must be some pretty weird ideas of what constitutes a bad fantasy novel. It would be nice to see some ideas about what makes somethign so bad, or what a good example would be. This just seems like 20 pages of "I don't like X".

 

[xarcostus]

I would say the 3rd Recluse book was pretty brutal, although I enjoyed the first 2. The pace was really slow and I couldn't care about a single character in the first 200 pages. That was it for me.

There must be some pretty weird ideas of what constitutes a bad fantasy novel. It would be nice to see some ideas about what makes somethign so bad, or what a good example would be. This just seems like 20 pages of "I don't like X".

For the most part, the things that make a fantasy novel bad are the same things that make any novel bad--poor character development, predictable plot, abundant cliches, bad editing, amateur writing style to name a few. There are also some genre-specific blunders like presenting a ludicrous magic system or focusing too heavily on battle scenes or demonstrating a total lack of familiarity with the historical context one's fantasy world is based upon. Of course there's always a subjective component as well. Some stories just don't appeal to us.

When I stated that Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule was the worst fantasy novel I had read, many of the above problems were on my mind. Goodkind's prose was tedious and trite, the result of a combination of mediocre writing talent and poor editing. He also wielded cliche like a warrior wields a sword. This usually happens when an author knows very little about what he is writing or doesn't take the time to research real-world analogs. The author is then forced to fall back upon common tropes and ideas that were presented in the works of other authors without having any clue as to where those ideas came from. The result is a predictable set of outcomes that result despite the illogical behavior of a hackneyed cast of characters. I could go on, but you get the idea. Ultimately, I believe that people who are turned off by sloppy prose, constant cliches, or amateur world-building will share my dislike of this novel. However, if you can see past these things and don't mind run-of-the-mill fantasy characters and plot-lines, then perhaps you will enjoy it. To each their own.

 

[Drathen]

Hi Drathen,
Are you saying LOTR is one of the worst fantasy novels you have ever read? Just trying to clarify your message.
Cheers

Certainly not... I was merely replying to post #300 made by FirePrincess. My apologies for the confusion.

 

[Daddy Darth]

No worries Drathen - I respect peoples tastes but was not sure I could stretch it that far.

Cheers

 

[Horsip]

Worst ever

I have to give this one a couple of entries:

Though I liked the overall flavor and world of the Thomas Covenant series, I loathed his hero. I would have pushed Lord Foul out of the way just so I could kill him myself.


Also I detested the "Wheel of Time" novels by Jordan. I admit I only read one, and I don't remember the title. What I do remember is it seemed to concern a barbarian army riding,riding,riding,riding,riding,riding,riding (beginning to get the picture?) across a continent, with a few flashes to characters in other areas. Then just as the army gets to the pass leading down to the civilized areas....the book ends. This one makes me want to grab my number 3 ball bat (the one with the large iron nails in it) and chase down the author.

Lastly "The Sword of Shannara" by terry brooks. Awful, worthless, slavish pastiche of Tolkien. Need to bronze a copy, including the pages (individually) and go show the author how much I was struck by his work. Or, more accurately, how much he's going to be struck by it.

Note, you should know that the expressions of violence listed above are intended merely to show how much I loathed the books. I would never actually hurt the authors of them.

 

[another rob]

Well, I hate to do this when he's no longer with us, but Edding's Redemption Of Althalus was pretty awful.

As were Roger Taylor's Hawklan books - I think the only series I've ever had the urge to rip into small pieces. The worry is I still read all four of them. Must develop the ability to put down books I'm not really enjoying...obsessive behavior bad...

 

[Obtuse]

Also I detested the "Wheel of Time" novels by Jordan. I admit I only read one, and I don't remember the title. What I do remember is it seemed to concern a barbarian army riding,riding,riding,riding,riding,riding,riding (beginning to get the picture?) across a continent, with a few flashes to characters in other areas. Then just as the army gets to the pass leading down to the civilized areas....the book ends. This one makes me want to grab my number 3 ball bat (the one with the large iron nails in it) and chase down the author.

Sounds to me like you read one of the books in the middle of the series. Since this is not a series in which you can really do that and still understand what is going on, I have no doubt you did not enjoy it. Incidentally, Jordan is already dead, so put your bat away.

 

[NickeeCoco]

Oh man. Horsip's post killed me. I actually agree with what he says.

 

[Zio]

Yay, I just joined to climb up on the band wagon!

For me, the very worst book I read was the novelization of the game Baldur's Gate by Philip Athens. Yea, I know, books based on games generally suck but there are exceptions. This is not one of them. I threw the book down in frustration halfway through because the author started talking about the main character having a voice in his head that was telling him to do things. This same voice had never once been mentioned previously. On top of that, the writing style was dry, the other characters included from the game were silly or killed off without a thought, and the main character was only ten years old but he was fully grown and thought nothing odd about it.

Other books I was dissapointed with were Terry Goodkind's Naked Empire and Chainfire. I liked the books earlier in the series up until then, but after Pillars of Creation everything started going downhill.

I was able to suffer through Naked Empire but the ending really felt tacked on. Goodkind leads the reader on to believe that there is no way for the main character to be saved from poisoning, but at the last second his 'magic gift' is able to spew out a recipe for the others to create an antidote with. It was a very lame way to tie up a loose end. I would have found it easier to swallow if they had discovered the recipe on a piece of paper left in someone's safebox.

Chainfire finally made me give up on the series. The same problems that were presented at the beginning of the novel were still there at the end of it. Nothing really changed throughout the book or was resolved. The only thing it felt like it accomplished was making Goodkind more money.

Oh, and one more series I severely dislike is The Recluse Saga by L.E. Modesitte. Simply because you can read one book and you've pretty much read half the books in series. Just switch out the name of the main character from one book in another and its the same story.

Well, that's the worst from me, although I have to admit I don't think anything can be worse than Baldur's Gate, except the Gor series and that has been mentioned.

 

[EsotericForest]

Generally I'm pretty careful in selecting a book to read, so I can't say I've out right hated any author in particular. The two books I have read of his, I didn't enjoy very much, and would put him at the bottom of my list...and that author would have to be Terry Brooks.

 

[FunkyDemon]

The worst I've read was Tad William's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. I forced myself through the first, and partway through the second, and the only thing good about it is it could be a cure for insomnia.

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels is a close second, but I actually liked it at first. I can't remember where I gave up, but I found it very formulaic.

While not the worst, Lord of the Rings is nowhere near the top of my list. I don't know how many years it took me to get through it, but The Two Towers kept making me put it down. I find it amusing when people talk about authors that rip off Tolkien. That may be, but they do it better.

 

[xarcostus]

Nobody who has ripped off Tolkien has done it better. There are those who have borrowed from him and been influenced by him that have written amazing stuff, but people like Terry Brooks who have just plain ripped him off are terrible writers and fantasists.

 

[Seegee]

It's a tie for me. Between Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule (I still can't believe that it even got published, let alone became a best seller), the words poorly written were invented specifically for Goodkind. The other book or rather book's to get this dubious honour was a duology by Dennis L McKiernan, they were his 1st books. I think it was pre MS Word, but if it hadn't been all the author had to do was cut and paste large sections of LotR and change a few names. It was that derivative. He had the gall at the end to say that the idea came to him when he was in hospital recovering from a bad accident. The only accident was that someone published it.

 

[Horsip]

The worst I've read was Tad William's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. I forced myself through the first, and partway through the second, and the only thing good about it is it could be a cure for insomnia.

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels is a close second, but I actually liked it at first. I can't remember where I gave up, but I found it very formulaic.

While not the worst, Lord of the Rings is nowhere near the top of my list. I don't know how many years it took me to get through it, but The Two Towers kept making me put it down. I find it amusing when people talk about authors that rip off Tolkien. That may be, but they do it better.

That's interesting. I liked memory, sorrow and thorn. I loved LOTR.

 

[FunkyDemon]

Brace yourself....

I prefer McKiernan over Tolkien anyday. I know that is blasphemy. Oh well. Maybe it is because I read the Iron Tower and Silvercall before I read LotR. Maybe because I didn't have to force my way through them. Ahh well.

Just so people don't think I'm totally mad, my favourite is Steven Erikson

 

[roscowgo]

I can't remember the name or the author of the first one. Probably my subconscious being defensive of my sanity. but the plot consisted of, there were a bunch of "guardian" types who would periodically die off, then be buried, then get resurrected as needed to resolve a conflict. Ok no biggie.

The hero would then be forced through some various actions to resolve whatever the big problem was. His reaction to EVERY problem was to describe how angry he got. In great detail. like 4-5 pages worth. Luckily the author only had to write it once, then literally copied and pasted the reaction liberally throughout.

Did I mention it was a series? book 2 did the same thing. they weren't even fresh copy/pastes. the same crap from book 1. I think I read a couple of entire chapters that were copied and pasted from book 1 as well.

That was the worst book. One of the very few my craving let me put down without finishing.

Some close runners: the covenant series. ugh. I'm scared. Im sad. Im scared, Im sad scarsadmad, sad sad sad scaredsad. I read up through finishing the second set where he comes back way in the future. At that point I was kinda hoping I had leprosy.

Fitz. good lord he was miserable. I kept hoping he would finally get killed all the way off and we could take up with the main assassin or burrich. They both had some spark.

Soldiers son. First book was.....readable. Then the dude got chunky. It kinda read to me like a 90lb cheerleader with a paris hilton complex wrote it. I mean it was one long running fat joke. How fat was he? so fat his horse broke! Ugh.

The novelization of Ghost Rider, from the movie. Yeah I know...I thought it would be good for some laughs. I gave up when whoever wrote it referred to the chopper as a "sport bike" I mean its cruel and all to laugh when someone Tries and fails miserably, but when they fail so bad because they don't give enough of a crap to look up 2 minutes worth of info... blech.

 

[Seegee]

Brace yourself....

I prefer McKiernan over Tolkien anyday. I know that is blasphemy. Oh well. Maybe it is because I read the Iron Tower and Silvercall before I read LotR. Maybe because I didn't have to force my way through them. Ahh well.

Just so people don't think I'm totally mad, my favourite is Steven Erikson

I actually enjoyed the Sword of Shannara more than LotR, but then I grew up and realised that one was just a pale imitation of the other. I think it was mostly because I just loved the Panamon Creel character so much.

 

[BlackVoid]

Worst fantasy: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker, esp. the 3rd book.

(Tehanu - the only book I could not read in the Earthsea series, it is torturously slow and boring).