Though why there is no lover for Lovecraft, Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith or C. S. Lewis and T.H. White is beyond me.
Uhm... let them find their own lovers? Except the dead ones. Which might explain the lack of lovers. Necrophilia is sick. Wouldn't be caught dead with a necrophiliac!
Yeah, the whole Bomabdil thing in fellowship was a huge "big lipped alligator moment". I have no idea what was going on with that, srsly.
I went in thinking it'd be cool to see some dumb girls get beat up by a misogynist
What.
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I already made one post, but I forgot to mention one guy in it. I just can't seem to get myself to liking anything written by Stephen King...
Did you try The Stand? Dark Tower? Salem's Lot?
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The talisman, King wrote with Peter Straub, and was awesomesauce.
I found Jordan impossible to follow...the world is too big, there's too many blond women whose name begin with E, and it takes too long for stuff to develop. It's a great big world in fascinating detail, but I don't have the time to drown in it.
I guess your limit on blond "E" women is 1?
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The talisman, King wrote with Peter Straub, and was awesomesauce.
Peter Straub is pretty awesome. Whenever I think about statting a BBEG illusionist, I go back and re-read Shadowland.
I would venture to say that the average novelist is slightly more intelligent than the average non-writer-reader, because the non-writer-reader would obviously rather read this author's writing rather than write their own.
So what you have here is a vast expanse of reading material written within in a relatively narrow band of talent. Outliers exist of course, but the point is that things that are mainstream and popular are more likely to fall within the range of "average" because that's what most people comprehend.
Nerds/geeks like us are more inclined to be critical of our reading material because it's our escape, and the average geek has a higher than average reading comprehension level.
That said, I don't read as much as I would like to. I have a nasty habit of becoming obsessive and neglecting real life when I read books, so much so that while I was reading The Hunger Games trilogy recently, I let an entire chapter in my math class slip by me. <<;
I am throwing my lot in with the folks who couldn't finish LotR. I didn't make it out of the Shire. I didn't finish Eragon, either. All of my friends gush about it, but the thing I always point out is that in the first book, very early on, Eragon is out hunting; he describes what he's doing, the mountainous area, looking out over the sweeping valley from the mountain, whatever... and then all of a sudden he's talking to the butcher or something. I was like "WTF, when did he leave the woods?"
Harry Potter I enjoyed. Of course, I didn't read it for intellectual stimulation. I have wondered why in the hell they didn't use the time turner to fix a lot of the crappier events (like certain character deaths). Plot holes. [shrug]
I just finished Mockingjay (end of The Hunger Games trilogy). It's getting a lot of praise, but almost an equal amount of negative feedback, mostly criticizing the author's "simple writing." I didn't have a problem with it; I don't see a need to make the writing more complex for complexity's sake. "Don't use five words when one will do." My only gripe about the series is the use of words like "morphling" to hide "morphine" and other trivial things. I don't know if that's the author or the publisher, but it's dumb either way; just not enough to kill the appeal.
Anything by Richard Knaak. That man is drowning in fail. Uses the word "ever" in almost every sentence, at least in the War of the Ancients books. Such a painful read. The best character in the book was the orc Broxigar, and even he was a bit of Mary Stu.
The Twilight saga is crap. I read all four when my girlfriend picked them up, and I admit that I kinda liked the first book, but everything after that just went straight downhill. Then the movies came along and destroyed what little bit of credit I'd have given it. Honestly, I did not envision the book to be anything like the movie. It's so bizarre. But I didn't run with the emo kids in school, so I guess it was over my little nerd head.
Nerds/geeks like us are more inclined to be critical of our reading material because it's our escape, and the average geek has a higher than average reading comprehension level.
That's why Jack Vance is a favorite. I lent To Live Forever to my wife and she complained about spending as much time looking up words in the unabridged dictionary as she did actually reading the novel.
My hatred for jk rowling and ra Salvatore are considerable.
I guess your limit on blond "E" women is 1?
I found Jordan impossible to follow...the world is too big, there's too many blond women whose name begin with E, and it takes too long for stuff to develop. It's a great big world in fascinating detail, but I don't have the time to drown in it.
There's at least four main characters with names beginning with E. If they aren't all blond, that right there should tell you how hard a time I had keeping them straight.
==Aelryinth
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Rowling is something of a guilty pleasure. Her writing isn't that good, but I found her books to be fun in a popcorn sort of way. Jordan...the first couple of books, I was drawn in by the worldbuilding. Sure, the characters were pretty-much from Central Casting, and the women were distinguished largely by physical tics (braid-tugging, arm-crossing...feh), but I was genuinely curious what was going to be revealed about the world. Then it dragged, and dragged, and dragged, and long after I stopped caring about the characters I lost all curiosity about the world. Eventually I'll read the wikipedia summary of the plot, and that'll be enough. Martin, I never made it through the first book, and I haven't tried to read any gaming fiction except some of the short stories on Paizo's website. (I don't know why, but it bugs me when I can see the dice rolls and rule citations when I'm reading a story. Although rumor has it that David Weber used some space game or other to run out battle damage in the Honor Harrington books, and they didn't bother me as much.)
However, speaking of gaming fiction there's an unfinished science fantasy series from Weis and Hickman that to my mind takes some sort of award for most tone-deaf publicity campaign. The Starshield series takes place in a galaxy with regions of different physical laws; in some of the regions magic works, in others it's tech all the way. There's a galactic Internet, a mysterious plot, and like that. And it was hyped as this new and cool setting that no one had done before. Trouble was, the first book came out four years after Vernor Vinge won a Best Novel Hugo award for "A Fire Upon the Deep," a novel taking place in a galaxy with regions of different physical laws (of sorts); in some regions computational power is unbounded to a degree that allows a staggering tech level indistinguishable from magic, and in others computational power is bounded to greater or lesser degrees (all the way down to the Unthinking Depths, the center of the galaxy, where even human-level intelligence is impossible). There's a galactic Internet, a mysterious plot, and like that. And no one at Del Rey even mentioned Vinge's book. Now, I realize that the target audience may be a bit different, but even so.
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The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant books are a perfect candidate for this list. They were lavished with praise and awards by fans AND critics despite being a perfect storm of awfulness. I labored through the first and second trilogies back in High School after a friend had told me that they were the best fantasy books he had ever read. This guy had cleared out the local library's sci-fi/fantasy section so I thought these books must be something truly special. WRONG! I slogged through page after page of Thomas Covenant's (and later Lynden Avery's) histrionic whining and complaining waiting for a big payoff that never came. Both main characters managed to be completely unsympathetic and developed no redeeming qualities throughout the entire proceedings. About the only benefit I derived from suffering through 6 books of turgid navel-gazing was that I learned the meanings of the words 'gelid' and 'roynish' which has come in handy when solving crossword puzzles in later years. Coming across the first book of a THIRD TRILOGY in a Barnes and Noble recently shook my faith in a benevolent Providence to its very core.
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I'll agree with those who've mentioned the following:
Wheel of Time - I read the first book and thought it was fair, but certainly not enough to keep reading when even many fans of the series say that the middle volumes are terrible. Even the first book really failed to grab me; I didn't like any of the characters and the primary vilain seemed one note.
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever - Ugh. I appreciate that the author was trying to play with genre conventions, but this was too much. Absolutely hated Covenant and wasn't enthralled by the world building or supporting characters.
Dragonlance - I read the first trilogy last year and wasn't really impressed. The only main character that I thought had any real depth was Tanis.
Icewind Dale Trilogy - I remember being surprised at the quality of the writing. You could make a drinking game out of some of the phrases Salvatore reused over and over in this series - the one that stands out most is "the stamp of booted feet."
EDIT - One that I don't know that anyone else has mentioned: The Name of the Wind - I didn't actually hate this, but I liked it a lot less than most. Kvothe is a bit of a Marty Stu, and I found myself rooting for him to get slapped around. A lot.
I guess I'm a minority in this;
I loved the first Thomas Covenant Trilogy and felt that the wrap up to the first three books was fantastic.
The first two Sword of Truth books I really enjoyed. First one is one of my favorites.
Really like Name of the Wind.
Surprised there's been no hate for The Chronicles of Amber.
I liked Conan, and Elric, and Lin Carter's Amber Star series.
I really didn't care for Lord of the Rings to be honest, or Wheel of Timr for that matter. Wheel of Time just felt too long for me and while I really liked some of the characters they were too long with too little happening.
The early Gor books were fine, the later ones just went into some really strange themes.
Jonathon Norell and Mr. Strange I really didn't lik at all.
I guess I'm not too picky with literature. Even when I don't care for something I try not to be too negative about it - someone put some work into it and I'd hate to have someone running their mouth off about me being a "talentless hack!" on the internet.
Just wanted to say - as gently as possible - that even if you don't like something it doesn't mean it has no value.
I guess I'm not too picky with literature. Even when I don't care for something I try not to be too negative about it - someone put some work into it and I'd hate to have someone running their mouth off about me being a "talentless hack!" on the internet.
Just wanted to say - as gently as possible - that even if you don't like something it doesn't mean it has no value.
I am picky about my reading material,
EDIT: I take that back. I like to read crap for fun sometimes. I have no problem with crap. But I like to think that I can tell the difference between the two.
but I agree with what follows. I don't usually like to unleash the Burgomeister in the books threads because it's not nice, but I thought Kelsey's thread could use a gentle dollop of trolling.
But that's not what I'm all about, really. I'm really all about love. So, some Critically Acclaimed Novels That I Love:
I'll stick to relatively recent stuff that I've read:
Daniel Abraham--The Long Price Quartet was pretty amazing and his newish one The Dragon's Path kicks off what promises to be an exciting new series. Imho, some really imaginative stuff told by a cracking great writer.
Joe Abercrombie--I've loved all of his books so far, my favorite being Best Served Cold. Abercrombie is only a slightly above-average writer stylistically, but provides so many crazy plot twists and interesting, well-explored characters that you might never notice.
Patrick Rothfuss--I loved The Name of the Wind. Rothfuss writes well and can spin a story. As the series goes on, I found The Wise Man's Fear a little bit self-indulgent, but I suspect this might have something to do with the story's narrator. Great writing still, although the plot is a little disappointing.
What else? I still stand by my love for Gormenghast and I also love Ursula K. Le Guin. She's great!
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Also, I don;t remember who mentioned him, but the Brent Weeks Night Angel series was really...nice. It was reused stuff enough for comfort, and some new concepts enough to keep interest. I bought the first one on a whim, and read it in one setting, then immediately bought the rest of the series.
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Andre Norton's first 5 or so Witch World novels -- yes, the writing is wooden, horrendously dull, and impenetrable in places. But some of the ideas are so cool, and so awesomely D&D, that I have to give the sequence high marks overall.
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Thomas Covenant novels.
Anything Robert Jordan ever wrote. His Conan novels make De Camp look like a Howard scholar.
Song of Ice and Fire. *yawn*
Just about any D&D fiction. Generally god awful.
Just about any fiction attached to an RPG in general. Ditto.
Saberhagen. *yawn*
Pern. *yawn*
Terry Brooks. *derivative yawn*
Piers Anthony. *pedo yawn*
Ursula K. LeGuin. *yawn*
Non-fantasy
Just about anyone with a book on a grocery store book rack.
Funny hearing that, since I actually enjoyed LeGuin's writings. Then again, this IS a thread about the ones we don't like.
Non-fantasy
1. My first rule was given to me by TH White, author of The Sword in the Stone and other Arthurian fantasies and was: Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.
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Non-fantasy1. My first rule was given to me by TH White, author of The Sword in the Stone and other Arthurian fantasies and was: Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.
The "non-fantasy" was a category: the "everything on the grocery store book shelf" were the books.
I read a ton of non-fantasy, James Patterson, Dean Koontz and any other "you've read one, you've read them all" authors not being ones I bother with any more. Read a bunch of that crap over the eight and a half total years that I had nothing better to do (like, over 1000 books worth). That's enough for a lifetime, I think.
And, I'm not a writer ;-)
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I never read Tolkien, and see no reason to correct that now.
I liked the Sword of Truth series at first. Then it just dragged out. Now I think it's garbage.
I read the Wheel of Time. It certainly passes time, but really, by the second or third book it was just a mess.
I love David Eddings, but his books really are the equivalent of paperback romances. Formulaic fluff.
I haven't revisited Brian Jacques work since childhood, so I don't know if my jade glasses would see them the same way.
The Earthsea books were. At least the original ones. They seem to hold up well to me, but I don't mind young adult books, especially when I'm in the mood for quick, light reads.
The first three Earthsea books are for the kiddies, but not the later volumes.
Of the first three, I think Wizard is totally proto-D&D lit on par with Howard, Moorcock, Tolkien, whoever you want to name. I much prefer The Tombs of Atuan, though, and Mairkurion is the only person I've met who agrees with me. The Farthest Shore is my least favorite of the three, but I still love it--the society of the people who live on ocean-going rafts and follow the migratory routes of herds (? schools? flocks?) of dolphins blew me away!
She certainly lived up to her anthropologist father with that one!
The other books which she wrote after a decades-long hiatus, are much more adult dealing with such light-hearted topics as: impotence, sexual assault and child abuse. They're nowhere near as fun as the original three, but I found them to be very rewarding.
[Hears snores]
Somebody wake up HD!
the L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter stories are just as good as Robert E. Howard's (ooh! I'm such a troll!)Oh, I'll out-troll you on that point.
** spoiler omitted **...
For what it's worth I totally agree with you re Roy Thomas and for exactly the reasons you cite.
I also have a fondness for the Lin Carter & de Camp series.
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The Earthsea books were. At least the original ones. They seem to hold up well to me, but I don't mind young adult books, especially when I'm in the mood for quick, light reads.
The first three Earthsea books are for the kiddies, but not the later volumes.
Of the first three, I think Wizard is totally proto-D&D lit on par with Howard, Moorcock, Tolkien, whoever you want to name. I much prefer The Tombs of Atuan, though, and Mairkurion is the only person I've met who agrees with me. The Farthest Shore is my least favorite of the three, but I still love it--the society of the people who live on ocean-going rafts and follow the migratory routes of herds (? schools? flocks?) of dolphins blew me away!
She certainly lived up to her anthropologist father with that one!
The other books which she wrote after a decades-long hiatus, are much more adult dealing with such light-hearted topics as: impotence, sexual assault and child abuse. They're nowhere near as fun as the original three, but I found them to be very rewarding.
[Hears snores]
Somebody wake up HD!
The only books I read right now are books that someone tells me remind them of my D&D character, rules books, and "How to kick that interview's ass" books.
I've only picked up bits and pieces about Cadogan, but I'd recommend The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, which Moorcock famously cited as one of the main influences on his Elric stories.
You know, if you're hard up for work, UPS is probably hiring!
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I've only picked up bits and pieces about Cadogan, but I'd recommend The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, which Moorcock famously cited as one of the main influences on his Elric stories.
You know, if you're hard up for work, UPS is probably hiring!
Y'all hire felons? And, could you check through your people if there are any openings in Houston?
Y'all hire felons? And, could you check through your people if there are any openings in Houston?I've only picked up bits and pieces about Cadogan, but I'd recommend The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, which Moorcock famously cited as one of the main influences on his Elric stories.
You know, if you're hard up for work, UPS is probably hiring!
Since we're talking about books:
The novel Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane hinges upon one of the detectives realizing that
I don't know what their professed policy is, however. As for job opening, go to upsjobs.com to see if they are hiring near you. Filling out computerized applications sucks, but listen to this:
When I was filling out my application, I realized that I didn't have all the information about my job history at hand to complete it, so I cancelled. Later that day, I received an e-mail from a HR supe saying that they noticed that I had started an application and would I like to come in for an interview? I was hired later that week.
I'd promise to put in a good word for you if you promise to join the union, but it's an empty offer: a good word from me would get you blacklisted!
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And to get back to looking smart:
Christopher Marlowe is definitely a must-read who is as amazing as Shakespeare at his best. Doctor Faustus is mandatory proto-D&D lit and Tamburlaine could provide a DM with all kinds of bad behavior for their over-the-top megalomaniacal evil emperors. Edward II is fascinating for its Elizabethan treatment of the themes of royalty and homosexuality and, if you don't mind even more blatantly non-PC stuff The Jew of Malta is outrageously evil fun!
Imagine Shylock, Iago and the bad guys (and the good guys, too!) from Titus Andronicus all rolled up into one! Has a great D&D trap, too.
Thomas Covenant novels.
Anything Robert Jordan ever wrote. His Conan novels make De Camp look like a Howard scholar.
Song of Ice and Fire. *yawn*
Just about any D&D fiction. Generally god awful.
Just about any fiction attached to an RPG in general. Ditto.
Saberhagen. *yawn*
Pern. *yawn*
Terry Brooks. *derivative yawn*
Piers Anthony. *pedo yawn*
Ursula K. LeGuin. *yawn*Non-fantasy
Just about anyone with a book on a grocery store book rack.
Anthony? A pedo? Wha?
Do you like Richard Lee Byers or Paul S. Kemp at all? If not, then what do you like(although I know this isn't the topic of this thread)?
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Oh, and how could I forget. Gardens of the Moon. First book of the Mazlan series. It's actually one of only 2 books that I've ever returned after buying. Couldn't get through it.
I can't remember the writer, but Strands of Starlight hit all my vomit buttons. It made me bored, underwhelmed, tired. It had storylines that were just dropped, it had Mary Sue, it had cardboard characters... Since a friend had really liked it, I braced myself and slogged through it... Before realizing I should have done something more worthwhile. Say... Beating myself on the head with it.
I am not sure if it has had any positive reviews, so it may not fit here.
But you know what is worst? There are more books in the series..
Regarding the previous discussed tomes: Tolkien was not primarily a writer, he was a linguist. Still, I like the books well enough, and have gotten through the beginners' 3+1.
Thomas Covenant has the distinction of being the only book I threw down because of revulsion. For some reason, it happened pretty early on.
I have not read the Potter books, nor will I. Bad latin as spells strikes a terrible chord with me. It would be a painful experience.
The Amber books... I loved them. The weak point is the actual plot, the books do not really have a traditional plot. Things HAPPEN to the protagonists and you often wonder why they do what they do. Still, the characters are neat, and there are quite a bit of subversive things in the writing which I like.
I guess your limit on blond "E" women is 1?
I found Jordan impossible to follow...the world is too big, there's too many blond women whose name begin with E, and it takes too long for stuff to develop. It's a great big world in fascinating detail, but I don't have the time to drown in it.
There's at least four main characters with names beginning with E. If they aren't all blond, that right there should tell you how hard a time I had keeping them straight.
==Aelryinth
Only 2 characters that could possibly be called main start with E. One of them is blond. Seems like a really weird reason to dislike a series. Sorry to harp just struck me as very strange.
I guess I'm not too picky with literature. Even when I don't care for something I try not to be too negative about it - someone put some work into it and I'd hate to have someone running their mouth off about me being a "talentless hack!" on the internet.
Just wanted to say - as gently as possible - that even if you don't like something it doesn't mean it has no value.
I am picky about my reading material,
EDIT: I take that back. I like to read crap for fun sometimes. I have no problem with crap. But I like to think that I can tell the difference between the two.
but I agree with what follows. I don't usually like to unleash the Burgomeister in the books threads because it's not nice, but I thought Kelsey's thread could use a gentle dollop of trolling.
But that's not what I'm all about, really. I'm really all about love. So, some Critically Acclaimed Novels That I Love:
I'll stick to relatively recent stuff that I've read:
Daniel Abraham--The Long Price Quartet was pretty amazing and his newish one The Dragon's Path kicks off what promises to be an exciting new series. Imho, some really imaginative stuff told by a cracking great writer.
Joe Abercrombie--I've loved all of his books so far, my favorite being Best Served Cold. Abercrombie is only a slightly above-average writer stylistically, but provides so many crazy plot twists and interesting, well-explored characters that you might never notice.
Patrick Rothfuss--I loved The Name of the Wind. Rothfuss writes well and can spin a story. As the series goes on, I found The Wise Man's Fear a little bit self-indulgent, but I suspect this might have something to do with the story's narrator. Great writing still, although the plot is a little disappointing.
What else? I still stand by my love for Gormenghast and I also love Ursula K. Le Guin. She's great!
haha no I found the burgomeister to be pretty funny actually. I really enjoyed The Name of the Wind myself - I thought Gormenghast was an under appreciated series myself.
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Wheel of Time series... started off interesting enough (for me, at least), then steadily descends into what I can only describe as drudgery.I agree. Book 10 was probably the hardest to get through for me. It was probably just weariness trying to get anywhere near the end of series. I think Book 6 was the last one that really interested me.
A Song of Ice and Fire was a refreshing break from the norm for me, but I struggled through Book 4. I hope Book 5 is better!
Me too for Wheel of Time, also didn't really enjoy the writing style for the Thomas Covenent series....liked the story but didn't enjoy the writing. Same thing as Wheel of Time to me....
Only 2 characters that could possibly be called main start with E. One of them is blond. Seems like a really weird reason to dislike a series. Sorry to harp just struck me as very strange.I guess your limit on blond "E" women is 1?
I found Jordan impossible to follow...the world is too big, there's too many blond women whose name begin with E, and it takes too long for stuff to develop. It's a great big world in fascinating detail, but I don't have the time to drown in it.
There's at least four main characters with names beginning with E. If they aren't all blond, that right there should tell you how hard a time I had keeping them straight.
==Aelryinth
Well, to continue the theme, it was hard to decide if they were main or supporting, there were so many of them...and there were AT LEAST four women with names that began with E. I kept getting them all confused as to who was doing what to plan to pretend to this to whom...and really, a lot of the series was like that.
I still own three more of the books, and have had them for like ten years. I'm unable to force myself to pick them up and read them. It's sad, because it's considered the great fantasy epic of the 90's, and I just can't stand to read them.
Heck, I had a friend who owned the entire series, and every time a new one came out, he would go and RE-READ THE ENTIRE SERIES just so he could catch every easter egg from previous books. Crazy bastard, he was.
==Aelryinth
Kushiel's Dart.
Everyone talked about it and how it was such great erotic fantasy, with a fantastic heroine and the greatest plot since Dune. Picked it up, thought it was utterly unerotic. Couldn't stand the heroine. And I had huge problems with the "brutish 'Germans'/ sophisticated 'Frenchs'" scenario. Don't know, maybe I'm just a little picky with tht.
Another novel I couldn't read past the first 50 pages was The Lies of Locke Lamora.
Amazon constantly recommended it, it had 4 or 5 stars and everyone liked it. But I just couldn't get the hang of it.
Raise your hand if you can't read a story without trying to deconstruct it to fit into the Hero's Journey (ala Campbell) or something similar.
[raises hand]
I feel like this is a detrimental reflex. I generally read for recreation, not intellectual stimulation, so this kinda takes me out of stuff.
EDIT: Thought of another series I disliked.
His Dark Materials. The Golden Compass was interesting enough. Talking polar bears in armor? Sweet. Shapeshifting familiars? Awesome. Everything after that was just crap. I made it about 2/3 of the way through Amber Spyglass and I just couldn't take it anymore. The whole story was so convoluted and "out-there" that it couldn't hold my attention.
And the books were lauded as the 'modern day LotR trilogy' or some such garbage. I couldn't read LotR but I know what happens in those books and it sounds infinitely more heroic and interesting.
stuff I responded to
==Aelryinth
Hey, I'm a big WoT fan, but if your contention is that it's convoluted and tough to follow, THAT I definitely can't disagree with ;)
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Dragonlance - I read the first trilogy last year and wasn't really impressed. The only main character that I thought had any real depth was Tanis.
I think the Dragonlance Saga is something that grabs most readers when they were younger and remains a piece of nostalgia. I recently re-read the first two trilogies and found the writing to be inconsistent and annoying. When I read them in Year 6, they were fairly impressive and I really engaged with the characters (yes, even Tasslehoff Burrfoot).
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Problems occur when fantasy stops being fantasy and starts becoming a way of putting the author's own political/ethical viewpoint over in an ellegory, perhaps - atheism in P. Pullman's case and hard-right Catholicism in JRR Tolkien's, or maybe I'm reading far too much into it. Mind you, I like both (Paradise Lost is an epic epic (?!) and it's suprising nobody's used it for inspiration before) - on another note, the Deep Fix album's pretty good, too - prefer it to the stuff Michael Moorcock did with Hawkwind.
As you know Sturgeon's law states that 90% of everything is crap? Well, in my opinion, the problem with Fantasy fiction is that 90% of the other 10% is also crap as well..
My sister-in-law aquired a large number of fantasy books for me to read when I was sick last year and they were all dreadful (except for one by Guy Gavriel Kay)