Books!

Michael Williams speaks highly of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, having just read the seventh, concluding volume.  He compared it to a couple other major series; Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Mitch jumped in, recommending Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series.

I know there are other fans of some of these series out there, and I commented so extensively I thought I would copy it here as well.  I said:

I’ve never read the Dark Tower Books. Between you and my nephew, I am now most intrigued. My nephew mentioned it when he opened the Michael Whelan calendar I got him at Noreascon for Christmas.

I couldn’t get into the first Martin book. Maybe someday if I try again… My sister loves those.

I’m a big Wheel of Time fan, but agree on the later books having bogged down. Hopefully he will crank it up as expected in the next one, and come to a grand conclusion in a total of not more than two books after that.

Sword of Truth I like but have mixed feelings about. As Deb observed when she couldn’t make herself finish the second one, it’s boring in places. I didn’t really notice the libertarian overtones, amazingly, until the one I described as Goodkind channeling Ayn Rand, but more entertainingly and concisely, into a fantasy novel. I forget the title, but it’s the one where he makes the statue.

SoT is one of those where I will read the cover blurb, say “eh, whatever” because it sounds uninteresting, then eventually will read it and find it anything from an acceptable read to excellent, but not so compelling that I scramble to get the next volume and read it no matter how bad the cover makes it sound.

I’m afraid that despite Jordan’s failings, I am a Wheel of Time addict who will buy Knife of Dreams within days of its release in hardcover, and read it relatively promptly.  I know, they have doctors for that.

1. I got through the first 4 (?) Goodkind books, I even bought the 5th (or maybe it was read 5, bought the 6th—I can’t remember anymore!), but I never read it.  I gave up on Jordan about 2 books ago, which is a real pity since rarely had I enjoyed a book (the early ones) as much.

   (this would be a really good thread on my book list—if only anyone ever posted anymore!)

   Posted by Ith  on  12/28  at  01:47 PM

2. Thanks for the link.  The GRRM books are fantastic, though I agree they take a bit of work to get into.

   Posted by Michael Williams  on  12/28  at  02:33 PM

3. Have you read George R.R. Martin’s “A Game of Thrones” series?  I actually like these books better than the “Wheel of Time” series, as, after you’ve read 300+ pages, time has actually moved along.

   Posted by Omnibus Driver  on  12/28  at  06:13 PM

4. I couldn’t get into Goodkind.

   Loved the Dark Tower Series.

   Great first couple of books in the Wheel of Time Series. Keep swearing I won’t get the next one after about book 4 or 5, but I have them all (and have read them). I’ll probably get the next one and hope he gets back on track.

   Game of Thrones is another good series.

   One of my personal favorite series it “The Coldfire Trilogy” by C.S. Friedman.

   Posted by Bogie  on  12/30  at  09:18 AM

5. Overall I liked Coldfire, but I had an oddly hard time really getting into it.  Part of the reason may be that it was disturbingly like a book idea that I’d once toyed with.  So as I read, I compared and thought about how it was and wasn’t like mine.

   Frankly, Goodkind has an unusual writing style or rhythm that shows up especially in the first book of the series, which was also his first.  I think that gets on the nerves of some people.  I never found the first book boring, but some of the subsequent ones have boring sequences or themes that make them harder to stick with.

   Posted by Jay  on  12/30  at  09:53 AM

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