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I'm with you here. King lost his own premise towards the end. Writing himself into the story. Jake biting it...again! And no show down with Flagg! Really fell apart at the end. Though I did like Wizard and Glass and a Wolves of the Calla quite a bit.
+1,000,000. The first book (especially before he rewrote it) and the two you mentioned (Wizard and Wolves) are like the core of what could have been the greatest fantasy-horror series ever written. Even the basic IDEA for the last book was cool -- Thunderclap, Algul Siento, and the Breakers? How can you not love that? But then he got to be in such a hurry to finish the series (to avoid "pulling a Jordan," as the unfortunate expression now goes) that he threw QA/QC out the window and churned out 2,000 pages of crap just to finish the series.
Rose of the Prophet by Weis & Hickman.
I read the end 3 times, just to make sure I didn't miss a chapter.
LOL! These books are disappointing because you've all picked maybe the worst fantasy to read...LOL - just kidding - well somewhat.
Just read the last book of the Darth Bane trilogy. The first one was killer, but there was a precipitous drop after that. 2 & 3 were not nearly as good. Quite disappointed.
I'm going to go with The Sharing Knife series by Lois McMaster Bujold. The Curse of Chalion is possibly my favorite book, but the new series is just atrocious.
Also, I'm a big Dave Duncan fan, but his recent efforts (Children of Chaos, etc.) just haven't grabbed me. It's annoying to wait on the edge of your proverbial seat for the next book by your favorite author to come out, and then to be hugely let down.
That said, I'm eagerly awaiting Patrick Rothfuss' next book. Name of the Wind was excellent.
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A not very memorable book save for the WTF ending was Engines of God by Jack MacDevitt. So civilizations throughout the galaxy are mysteriously wiped out every million years or so by a cloud of energy that at the end they discover is...
attracted to right angles... End of book. What?...
To be fair to the author I haven't read any of his later books which might explain this further but I think my time is better spent elsewhere.
Also, I can't really read anything else by Eddings. Paper characters, rehashing the same old jokes...ugh. Painful. I liked him when I was in jr. high though.
Forever Free, the follow up to Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.
What the heck? Serious plodding for the first half of the book (I guess to get us in the mindset of the 'trapped' protagonists) then a rapid series of "What the f*** just happened?" events.
Forever Free, the follow up to Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.
What the heck? Serious plodding for the first half of the book (I guess to get us in the mindset of the 'trapped' protagonists) then a rapid series of "What the f*** just happened?" events. ** spoiler omitted ** THAT IS THE ACTUAL PLOT.
Sad. I liked The Forever War.
Tales from the Nightside by Simon R Green.
His writing sucks, in the nightside. And Christ in a Jello cube how did I get two copies of this book, in the nightside.
I know it's popular, what gives... in the nightside?
If you check B&N or Amazon, there are all sorts of books for sale by "Robert LudlumTM."
~shiver~
Just finished The Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust, it collects Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla.
The first two I did not care for at all.
Weirdly enough,Teckla made me want to read more Brust. Has anyone read the next three novels (Taltos, Phoenix, Athyra)? Are they worth it to buy the next volume (The Book of Taltos)?
Off Armageddon Reef- Davis Weber
Bad pacing, too long winded in his descriptions of the world, not enough action to keep me interested. I really wanted to like this series but....
Off Armageddon Reef- Davis Weber
Bad pacing, too long winded in his descriptions of the world, not enough action to keep me interested. I really wanted to like this series but....
Agreed..I've read all three and all I keep thinking is "Please Dave stop writing this long winded crap and get back to the Honorverse"
Never mind the Salamander will be back in July
I'm with you here. King lost his own premise towards the end. Writing himself into the story. Jake biting it...again! And no show down with Flagg! Really fell apart at the end. Though I did like Wizard and Glass and a Wolves of the Calla quite a bit.+1,000,000. The first book (especially before he rewrote it) and the two you mentioned (Wizard and Wolves) are like the core of what could have been the greatest fantasy-horror series ever written. Even the basic IDEA for the last book was cool -- Thunderclap, Algul Siento, and the Breakers? How can you not love that? But then he got to be in such a hurry to finish the series (to avoid "pulling a Jordan," as the unfortunate expression now goes) that he threw QA/QC out the window and churned out 2,000 pages of crap just to finish the series. ** spoiler omitted **
I guess I should be glad I stopped with Wolves of the Calla, then?
Steven Kings Cell(?). Started out as a very good take on the whole zombie mythos(i love zombies what can I say) and then in what has become typical King, he goes into left field and gives them earth shattering psycic powers starts killing the main characters in side scenes and just screws the whole thing to death. I wish some writers would look the definition of a plot TWIST rather than assuming changing the story halfway thru fits the bill.
I agree completely. I was very disappointed in Cell. The beginning offered such potential, and then it just became formulaic aside from deciding to make the "zombies" a hive-mind, which only made slightly more sense than their ability to network CD players and play music out of their mouths. The psychic ability thing was also ill-conceived since the "zombies" were barely functioning mentally. Luckily, someone gave this book to me and I didn't waste any money on it.
One thing that I've never liked about Stephen King is his inability to foreshadow properly. For instance, in The Stand it basically tells you that someone is going to die before you even get to the chapter where they actually do get killed, which makes it pretty much pointless to read that chapter.
For me, it was another Stephen King book - It. Over a thousand pages of good, scary stuff, with one of the worst endings I've ever read. It was as if he took a spin on the "Wheel o' Random Tripped-out Story Endings" because he couldn't decide how else to do it ...
Par for the course. You've read the Stand? Talk about not a great book with an unsatisfying end.
Last year I read Sword of Shannara for the first time and thought it was hackneyed tripe. I must be missing something since it's apparently considered sword & sorcery canon. Even if it weren't written under the long shadow Tolkien cast, it's cliche, poorly written pulp. Comparable (unfavorably) to any of the Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms novels, IMO. Maybe I'm not looking at it in the right context.
Zo
What book disappointed you the most?1862 by Robert Conroy is the only book in the past 20 years that I've actually been so disgusted with when I finished it, that I threw it away. Didn't give it away, didn't sell it off -- threw it away so that no one would ever read that copy again.
The book is supposed to be an alternate histroy of what would happen if Great Britain sided with the Confederacy during the War of Damnyankee Agression. Only, with the addition of the world's most powerful empire to its foes, apparently the Union whips 'em both -- and faster!
Blech.
Did you read the book? The English Empire was spread throughout the world. It couldn't bring its total army. On top of that, when they the British, attacked Boston and New York Harbor(the places of deepest dissension) they galvanized the North. This opened up a third front and a need for more aggresive leadership(Grant).
The South fired first. Please read your history books.
Eragon was a bad novel, but I had some hope that the series would get better as the author matured. It didn't. I got through Eldest (which was horrible), but couldn't make it through more than sixty pages of the third book. Kind of a let down that the author didn't get better at all in like four years.
Lost Symbol (Dan Brown) was horrible. The villain was so absurd and predictable I actually had to laugh. The ending was likewise laughable. I didn't expect a whole lot after Da Vinci, but talk about a let down.
Last year I read Sword of Shannara for the first time and thought it was hackneyed tripe. I must be missing something since it's apparently considered sword & sorcery canon. Even if it weren't written under the long shadow Tolkien cast, it's cliche, poorly written pulp. Comparable (unfavorably) to any of the Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms novels, IMO. Maybe I'm not looking at it in the right context.
THE SWORD OF SHANNARA was originally published in 1977 within weeks of Stephen Donaldson's LORD FOUL'S BANE (the first THOMAS COVENANT novel). The two novels are jointly held to mark the beginning of the post-Tolkien, secondary world, epic fantasy boom. They were followed up by Raymond E. Feist's MAGICIAN, David Eddings' PAWN OF PROPHECY and David Gemmell's LEGEND, with the Weis & Hickman DRAGONLANCE books hot on their heels.
So SHANNARA is generally heralded as marking the beginning of the movement that has now led to Abercrombie, Martin, Erikson, Rothfuss, Bakker, Lynch and so forth. As such it has some historical value. The lack of epic fantasy (LORD OF THE RINGS was twenty-three years in the past at that point and, although well-known, wasn't quite as unavoidable as it is now) at the time meant it's blatant rip-offs of Tolkien passed mostly unchallenged, and certainly there were no legal issues (which I suspect would have happened if it was published now). It is, certainly if you read it now in 2010, a poor novel.
Brooks is interesting in that he actually got better as he went along, and some of the more recent SHANNARA books have ventured into far more original territory (with even some very mild steampunk leanings, such as airships, and then a move back into Stephen King-style horror and character-based melodrama with the SHANNARA prequels linking the books to his previously unrelated and quite decent WORD AND THE VOID trilogy).
But yeah, SWORD OF SHANNARA is terrible. For an early-period epic fantasy of some historical importance which is actually somewhat more original and subversive, Feist's MAGICIAN is actually a stronger book (although again unremarkable compared to some modern books).
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For me the most disappointing books I've read in a while were the dreamer series by david eddings. I'm a big fan of his belgariad and mallorian series. But the dreamers was lame. After the first book it just didn't seem very engaging and I wound up not even bothering to finish the forth book when I only had like 50 pages to go.
For me, it was another Stephen King book - It. Over a thousand pages of good, scary stuff, with one of the worst endings I've ever read. It was as if he took a spin on the "Wheel o' Random Tripped-out Story Endings" because he couldn't decide how else to do it ...
you said it-
I enjoyed that book so much, up until that cheesy-horrible end!GRU
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I've gotten the impression that King is still searching for the elusive ending to a story he's been writing all his life. Some guys who were friends as kids get reunited, and remember something bad that happened that they'd pretty much blotted out over the years since then, but now they remember it and it's repercussions / return affect them in the present, and... uh, story ends.
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i'll put all king's novels on this list. i think he uses a page counter and when he gets to the magic number it dings and he whips up some lousy ending right then and there with no forethought whatsoever.
Nothing like surfing Paizo at 5 AM.
Most of King's short fiction have very satisfying endings, but not so with his novels. There are exceptions, however.
'salem's Lot
Duma Key
Gerald's Game
The Talisman
The Mist (OK, technically a novella)
I think all four novellas from Different Seasons have pretty good endings, as well.
Sadly, I can't think of any others. But none of us Constant Readers read his work for the endings; we read it for the juicy, gooey centers. That's the best part of any candy, anyways...
King has said that he makes up his books as they go along, hence the lack of a decent ending (he didn't say the last part, obviously) to much of his work as they're not pre-planned.
The only exceptions I believe are THE DEAD ZONE, which he deliberately planned and outlined ahead of time to challenge his writing methodology (he hated doing it though, so has never done it again) and THE DARK TOWER (where he was thinking about the story continuously for something like 35 years before getting to the end), although the latter's ending is somewhat controversial [/understatement]
What book disappointed you the most?
Not a book, but a series: George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I liked the first book a lot, but they've gotten increasingly disappointing (for me) with every successive volume, and now I'm just annoyed with the whole series.
There are few enough decent, smart, strong, likable characters-- especially female characters-- in the series to begin with, and at this point, he's killed off every character I actually cared about, except for one. I'm deeply ambivalent about whether I want to finish reading the series, should he finish it. I'm a little compulsive about finishing series once I start them, but the last book was such an unpleasant slog for me that I don't know if I'll bother with any more of them.
What book disappointed you the most?Not a book, but a series: George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I liked the first book a lot, but they've gotten increasingly disappointing (for me) with every successive volume, and now I'm just annoyed with the whole series.
There are few enough decent, smart, strong, likable characters-- especially female characters-- in the series to begin with, and at this point, he's killed off every character I actually cared about, except for one. I'm deeply ambivalent about whether I want to finish reading the series, should he finish it. I'm a little compulsive about finishing series once I start them, but the last book was such an unpleasant slog for me that I don't know if I'll bother with any more of them.
That's because he took all the cool interesting character and put them in a different book he's yet to release > _ >
I must say I was hugely disappointed with David Eddings Elder Gods series. Just terrible...
Last year I read Sword of Shannara for the first time and thought it was hackneyed tripe. I must be missing something since it's apparently considered sword & sorcery canon. Even if it weren't written under the long shadow Tolkien cast, it's cliche, poorly written pulp. Comparable (unfavorably) to any of the Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms novels, IMO. Maybe I'm not looking at it in the right context.
Zo
I read Sword of Shananana (whatever) back in 1982. It was crap to 12 year old me and is still crap to 40 year old me.
What book disappointed you the most?Not a book, but a series: George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I liked the first book a lot, but they've gotten increasingly disappointing (for me) with every successive volume, and now I'm just annoyed with the whole series.
There are few enough decent, smart, strong, likable characters-- especially female characters-- in the series to begin with, and at this point, he's killed off every character I actually cared about, except for one. I'm deeply ambivalent about whether I want to finish reading the series, should he finish it. I'm a little compulsive about finishing series once I start them, but the last book was such an unpleasant slog for me that I don't know if I'll bother with any more of them.
I couldn't agree more. Also given Martin's pathetic output of actual, y'know, books of late and I have lost all interest in the series. By the end of the 2nd book my interest was near zero anyways but that 3rd one just finished it off.
At least Jordan's Wheel of Time made a great triolgy!
That's because he took all the cool interesting character and put them in a different book he's yet to release > _ >Not a book, but a series: George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I liked the first book a lot, but they've gotten increasingly disappointing (for me) with every successive volume, and now I'm just annoyed with the whole series.
There are few enough decent, smart, strong, likable characters-- especially female characters-- in the series to begin with, and at this point, he's killed off every character I actually cared about, except for one. I'm deeply ambivalent about whether I want to finish reading the series, should he finish it. I'm a little compulsive about finishing series once I start them, but the last book was such an unpleasant slog for me that I don't know if I'll bother with any more of them.
Eh, I don't know...
I must say I was hugely disappointed with David Eddings Elder Gods series. Just terrible...
I haven't read those, but while I've read much of Eddings's other work, I don't feel all that compelled to pick up anything else of his. I liked the characters in the Belgariad and the Mallorean, but he seems to tell the same story over and over again, and I got bored of it after a while.
I haven't read those, but while I've read much of Eddings's other work, I don't feel all that compelled to pick up anything else of his. I liked the characters in the Belgariad and the Mallorean, but he seems to tell the same story over and over again, and I got bored of it after a while.
This one actually starts to repeat itself - _ -
I could hardly point any book that I loathed or hated so I stay with a few books that didn't lived to their fame for me and comment on a few comments above.
Middle ninties: JRR Tolkien - After Hobbit which I enjoyed and Silmarilion whose first half was great and second half was meh I read Lord Of The Rings... And the Fellowship Of the Rings was first book which I didn't read in single night. Not because of lack of time but due to its borrrringnes. Following books are a bit better. Bit. When I later read that Tolkien didn't wanted to write LotR but was pressed by fans or publisher it made a lot of sense to me.
Wheel Of Time: in a bit of twist - I heard terribl stories how awful it is and I read through few first books (two or three, I am not sure) and it was likeable, however, however I must admit that I saw Wheel Of Time RPG earlier and found it best early implementation of d20 (and possibly best d20 game until Pathfinder). As a side effect trolloc's graphic made good impression on me instead of vague descriptions from the first book.
Most things writen by game designers. First name I can think of here would be Troy Denning. He made wonderful work co-authoring original Dark Sun but his books are bad. I just learned that he wrote Waterdeep under pseudonym. Books he published under his own name are not better. Yes, I am looking at you Star Wars Expanded Universe...
Any Dune works by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. I loved the original series, and unlike many others I loved Heretics so I think that they should let them die together with Frank Herbert instead of rising as mockeries. And for God-Emperor's mercy... WHY TAKE ANDERSON TO DO IT?! WHY HIM?!
The Stand is an absolutely amazing book that he obviously enjoyed writing, but then reached a point (about page 900) where is also obviously had no idea what would happen next--so he pulled a Chandler and killed several main characters, sidelined Mother Abigail, and nuked Vegas; closing with a 75-page walk across two states, with no bad guys left to harass, and everything right in the world.The extra-long "director's cut" version didn't help anything; I seem to remember that the extra 400 pages added nothing but an extra 4 hours of reading time.
Your read it twice?
I loved it. I can even swallow the ending. But I'll never crack it again. Why when there's so much good stuff to read out there?
...christian fantasy books...
Yee.
I have a degree in English Literature. Mostly pre-1900 British lit. Most everyone was Christian and the lit was great.
But in the modern era when people set out to sanitize their imagination so that their book can get the imprimatur of an evangelical pastor... something... very... very... bad... happens.
Your read it twice?
Yeah -- but at 100 pages an hour, that's no great investment of time, even for King's weighty tomes.
Any Dune works by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. I loved the original series, and unlike many others I loved Heretics so I think that they should let them die together with Frank Herbert instead of rising as mockeries.
Yes. And Heretics was by far my favorite of the series.
Of course, none of the Dune books are as cool as the Jorj X McKee stories...
I have read lots of bad books. But to paraphrase another poster, disappointing to me is an author I like producing something I do not like. I adore Jack Vance. I have read almost everything he has produced (not Bad Ronald, though still looking). And I usually smile throughout every series or short story.
The Lyoness series, I wanted to like it. I tried. I feel like I am betraying a good friend. But the only reason they stay on my shelf, is because of the other two shelves of JV books. Maybe his son wrote them. *shrugs* I just read them going through the motions.
Greg
Someone mentioned Thomas Covenant, to this day the rape scene still does not make sense too me.
See I'd go on about the problems with this series except I just never got past this scene. After that I just decided that the real problem with this series was that I might come to like the character and that would be a real shame, 'cause who wants to like a rapist? I mean whats the upside?
I blame that more on the idea of 'iconic' characters or intellectual properties or 'franchises' making it easier to sell a pre-established character for the eleventy-billionth time...
You have a career in book reviews in you. Every time you post something on one of the books I find myself wiping away the tears I'm laughing so hard.
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See I'd go on about the problems with this series except I just never got past this scene. After that I just decided that the real problem with this series was that I might come to like the character and that would be a real shame, 'cause who wants to like a rapist? I mean whats the upside?
Someone mentioned Thomas Covenant, to this day the rape scene still does not make sense too me.
That series is strange. I never liked the main character, in fact, I hated him. Really strong hate. And not just for the rape scene. I won't say it was disappointing though. I read the books because of the strong emotions it evoked. I wanted to see Thomas die. I appreciate the series because it did bring forth strong emotions about the characters. There were so many times I cried in rage or just loss during that book. Everything he touched was destroyed. I think that was the point. I don't reccomend the series to anyone, it was reccomended to me. It is a rollercoaster of hate, frustration, and loss. I am glad to have read it through. But as someone who reads books over and over again, I will NEVER reread it.
Interestingly, Thomas Covenant is probably the antithesis of everyone that plays DnD. Here is a guy that goes to another world filled with fantasy, cured of his sickness, told how he is special, and then proceeds to deny its existance and destroy everything within. So many sad things in those books. The rape, the race of giants, the oath of the blood guard, the remaking of the Land. Gah. I really hated that effer. And even when he dies, it isn't a sense of joy...it is more a sense of "finally, I can move on." No other series or book has brought about such strong emotions within me.
I guess the quick and short is, I did not "like" the series. I am glad I read it. I will never read it nor read a series like it again.
Greg
What book disappointed you the most?Not a book, but a series: George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. I liked the first book a lot, but they've gotten increasingly disappointing (for me) with every successive volume, and now I'm just annoyed with the whole series.
There are few enough decent, smart, strong, likable characters-- especially female characters-- in the series to begin with, and at this point, he's killed off every character I actually cared about, except for one. I'm deeply ambivalent about whether I want to finish reading the series, should he finish it. I'm a little compulsive about finishing series once I start them, but the last book was such an unpleasant slog for me that I don't know if I'll bother with any more of them.
Hear hear.
Such a good start to what became a bunch of crap. The real problem is he has no plot. He's just making up s+!$ as he goes along and the only way to try and keep the pace up if you don't otherwise have a story to tell is basically through lame plot twists and sudden character deaths.
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Hear hear.Such a good start to what became a bunch of crap. The real problem is he has no plot. He's just making up s%## as he goes along and the only way to try and keep the pace up if you don't otherwise have a story to tell is basically through lame plot twists and sudden character deaths.
+1
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I agree with the sentiment that the 2nd and 3rd Darth Bane books werent as good as the first one. I wasnt disapointed, per se, but I wasnt thrilled with them.
Harry Potter 7 was...eh
I, too, cannot seem to get into LotR, despite having enjoyed the Hobbit.
Salvatore:
I enjoyed the War of the Spider Queen series, though some books more than others, but I wish he had actually written some of them. They definitely werent up to par with some of his other stuff.
The Drizzt books are some of my favorites overall, but a couple of them (whichever one is about Wulfar being in Auckney made me want to kill myself it was so boring), and this newest one that just came out "Gauntlgrym" is really hard for me to even want to finish, cause f how he keeps jumping forward in time. As much as I have enjoyed the books about the character, I think it would be good for him to either die, or be retired.
The Fire, by Katherine Neville, had me excited when it came out, as Id been waiting on it for years, since reading its predecessor, The Eight. Unfortunately, its not near as good. A decent read, sure, but nowhere near as good as the first one.
The most disapointing book I've read has to be The Magicians by Lev Grossman (I believe). It started out great and hooked me right away. The characters were relatable the plot had a basis of things done many times before, but spun it its own unique way. It was a fairly serious book that gradually grew darker as it progessed, albeit with a fair share of wit and sadistic irony. There were some parts that stood out as poor in the overall makeup of the book, but mostly I enjoyed it. But the end ruined the entire novel for me. Suddenly one chapter picks up and it was a very childish high-fantasy, cartoony fairy-tale that wasn't very apealing to most adults that I know, and still contianed too much intelligent humor and adult material to appropriately or effectively engage a child. But eventually over the course of the next couple of chapters it balanced out back to a dark, brooding book on how a character gets everything he could ever want and it isn't enough. Then as it is coming to an end on a down note, on the final two pages, it suddenly takes a drastic swing back towards being a happy, cheerful book where the main character's outlook spins a full 180 for no reason. It was an incredibly unsatisfying ending.
The basic plot, simplified and focusing on the bad points:
He stops in for an college interview with some important man from the school of his choice to find the man dead on the floor. He died of a heart attack, I think, it isn't important. Anyways, amongst his possessions the paramedics / emergency response team or whatever find an envelope addressed to him. Inside is a tattered old fiction book apearently belonging to a fantasy series he loved as a kid, but a book that he had never heard of.
While wandering home a bit confused he wanders through some apartment community garden and winds up on the campus of a school he had never heard with weather very out of sync with where he had been. He is ushered inside and seated to take an entrance exam to this college. He passes.
There is a long conversation explaining that it is a school of magic (the book turns to be a more sophisticated, adult-oriented Harry Potter style, stand alone novel, at least for the first half while he is at school). The main character decides to attend.
He builds relationships with a few students, making a couple of friends and a couple of frienemies. He developes a love intrest with girl A. He seeks to be the center of attention by surpassing other students and embarassing them. He gets jealous if he isn't the most important person in everyone's lives (for instance he gets upset that one of his homosexual friends didn't try to sleep with him even though he would've denied him). His friend girl B dislikes girl A, but they at least get along in public. Student dies due to his carelessness, he covers it up. The school is sad. During one summer he meets up with his two friends who he had left at the beginning. One is doing well, the other, she drinks and does drugs...a lot. She learned a little magic, finds out about the school and thinks she should've been allowed to attend. He returns to school. She becomes unimportant for the rest of the book. Why was she there? He nears graduation. He rapes girl A. She is for some reason cool with it and it doesn't get mentioned ever again.
They graduate and spend money stolen from the school funds on drugs and parties for a few years while pretending to be rich. He moves in with girl A. He cheats on girl A with girl B. She gets angry, he can't figure out why. She cheats on him in revenge with one of his frienemies. He gets angry at her. They fight every other page for the rest of the book.
They discover alternate reality which is just like in the tattered book from the begining, decide to explore it after emotional finding themselves scene. They don't like who they've turned out to be (spoiled junkies with a grand sense of entitlement). They don't attempt to change their behavior. Things get wierd with talking animals and generic fantasy backdrop. Friends start to be slaughtered by fantasy world. He and girl A and girl B survive along with a couple of others (girl B broke the rules by bringing a gun; the rules for exploring the alternate reality are arbritary).
He abandons his friends after recovering from his wounds. Spends a couple of years studying magic in earnest with some centaurs who treat him like a pet, appearently. Finds a mythical creature which can grant wishes. Attempts to rectify the damage he's caused.
Finds out everything was orchstrated by a fantasy character who can time travel. Numerous paradoxes are ignored.
Decides that he wants no part of magic or fantasy. Spends a couple of years becoming part of normal society. Is at last content. End of the book, friends who survived slaughter show up at his work with friend from begining who wanted to learn magic, she is a super badass mage now somehow and dresses like the gothic stripper from Zombie Stripers. They announce they are returning to the alternate reality to rule over it as overlords. He goes happy to use magic and wreck up the place again. Book over.
There were a few that I was honestly disappointed with. Others have said the Wheel of Time series, which I agree with. The reason I would say I was "disappointed" rather than simply not liking them is that I enjoyed the first 3-4 books quite a bit. I mean, I didn't keep reading out of obligation, I genuinely liked the books. But after that point they became more and more weighed down with secondary and tertiary plots- I'm pretty sure that by book 7 you knew what every person on the planet was doing or thinking. While the focus was trained on the core characters in the first books, it was a good time; prophecies, ruins, Forsaken, Trollocs, those eyeless guys. All good stuff that I think was pushed aside for the sake of what amounted to a lot of bloat.
Despite my misgivings on King Rat, I also picked up Kraken by China Mieville shortly after it came out. Then I quickly put it down. Willfully weird for the sake of weird without (for me) enough of a center to serve as an anchor and make me care about what actually happened. If the protagonist was more than a plot device/macguffin to be shuffled around I might care more about what was going on. For what it's worth, I enjoyed The City and The City quite a lot when that came out. I guess the tone just rubbed me the wrong way.
I also hated Dune. I understand it was a book from the 50s and it's more important that it layed groundwork for other things, but as a novel in itself, I thought it was as dry and flat as the planet at its center.
Such a good start to what became a bunch of crap. The real problem is he has no plot. He's just making up s##* as he goes along and the only way to try and keep the pace up if you don't otherwise have a story to tell is basically through lame plot twists and sudden character deaths.
I think it's pretty obvious that there is a very large and complicated plot (though still boiled down to three fairly straightforward narratives) going on in the books, but intercut with chaotic elements meant to give the feeling of history rather than fiction. How successful that is varies by reader, of course.
What I'm bemused by is why "Making up s##* as he goes along," is such a crime. It's called fiction and it's what all writers do, whether in the moment of writing (like GRRM, King or Jordan) or in fastidious outlining (which is often massively changed in the writing process anyway).
I guess the quick and short is, I did not "like" the series. I am glad I read it. I will never read it nor read a series like it again.
So I'm guessing you're not reading the new ones then? The third book (out of four supposed to end the COVENANT story forever) just came out.