Worst Ever Fantasy Novel

I wouldn't touch Eddings with a ten foot bargepole, even if he was endowed with the Midas touch and by touching him said bargepole would become solid gold.

Piers Anthony's bloody awful too.

I gotta say I really liked the Thomas Covenant books, though it is donkeys years since I read them. Why are they being so roundly criticized? David Eddings on the other hand was just bad dungeons-and- dragons-by-numbers.

I never got into any of that Terry Brooks "Singing Ringing Tree" shit either.

But I did like Julian May. Though she sometimes stretched the "blend fantasy with existing folklore" gig a little too thin.

The 'Gor' bks by John Norman.

The one thing you can say about Gor is that here is a fantasy novel series not shy of sexual themes.

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. Scarred (sic) me. With boredom. As a callow 9-year-old, so maybe I'd like it now (snort).

Tom - go forth and multiply yourself! Thomas Covenant books rule this world with a fist of iron (covered with rabbit's fur to give an additional use as some sort of Wilhelm Reich-ian orgone accumulator).

I liked Julian May too - it suffered badly in books 3 and 4 (yes it was a TETRALOGY!! apparently, see forthcoming threads on 'words you cant be arsed to look up') from the standard fantasy author problem of pampering the characters the author really likes, thus killing dramatic tension. See also Farmer's 'Riverworld' (also suffered from being gibberish), and The Invisibles.

I hereby renounce my wuv for Mr Casarotto.

I hereby realise that my wuv for RickyT could never have been as wonderful as both hoped. How on earth can you like That Book (said in the same tone as you use when referring to B*******e)?

I want explanations. Fast.

Oh you guys have no taste!

Piers Anthony, David Eddings, Stephen Donaldson & Julian May are all fantastic and Alan Garner outdoes them all! How could you not like The Weirdstone of Brisingaman? It, The Moon of Gomrath and Elidor are three of the best fantasy books ever written!

I must add that Red Shift, which is totally bizarre to an eight year old, is (on subsequent readings) also great, as well as being one of the most ambitious books of it's genre.

The worst fantasy book ever is "The Flying Sorcerers" by David Gerrold & Larry Niven - and even it is interesting from an academic point of view (it explores a possible origin of monetary systems).

haha red shift = book w.which i impressed pants off english teacher (ie i had read it ands he had not and he thort it v.marvy and clevah and thus me too)

(if he cd see me now *sigh*)

Anthony is by far the worst. I always enjoyed farmer quite a bit from a "he's weird by ANYONE's standpoint" type view.

Piers smells. Has anyone read Fractal Mode? Oh. My. Mandelbrot.

I hereby declare that I am in love with Toraneko, though she rightly will have nothing to do with me and my evil male ways.

I'm actually not that much of an Anthony fan, and Donaldson in the end is a series of good ideas and scenes that can often collapse under the metaphoric weight of the characters' psyches. However, Julian May is a freaking trip, and David Eddings is a very, very clever man who isn't interested in deep themes as much as he is in telling a story and intentionally employing cliches to make them work. A very utilitarian approach (and he's a fan of Lord Dunsany and thinks Tolkien was boring, which I appreciate from the grounds of iconoclasm).

As for Alan G., I only just found some of his books last year used, and have read _Elidor_ and found it pretty good. Right now I'm actually making my way through _The Owl Service_, and that other book with the long title y'all keep mentioning is on my bookshelf.

If you *really* want pain, Dennis McKiernan. The *ULTIMATE* Tolkien knockoff, you'll grasp your sides in agony and laughter both.

I couldn't get through Robert Jordan's first Wheel of Time book, on account of it being crap. In fact, I'm not sure that I've read a genuine fantasy novel since.

Eddings was soapy and fun when I was 11 - it may have been by the numbers, but I didn't know what they added up to then.

Later, he was reported as being very ill, then near to death, and at one point, in White Dwarf I beleive (never read it - much), dead. When he returned to health/life, the quality of his stuff (I was 13 by then) had plummetted.

We have now learned that his wife has been co-writing his books for some years. Hmm.

Piers Anthony - what is up with all those puns? Different though I suppose.

Terry Brooks - I remember reading that one trilogy of his and enjoying it well enough, but then getting interrupted for a few days during the last one and just never picking it up again. The fact that not knowing the ending did not (and still doesn't) drive me totally up the wall speaks volumes.

Oh, Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is just dire. The first one I managed to just about plough through on the strength that he was a leper and I could imagine bits of him falling off.

Wheel Of Tior that's just evil-sub-Tokien and its going on forever (and no-one ever dies). Its on book nine now. GAH!

oh god thomas covenant was awful. i dont think I have been able to take fantasy sriously since

There was a story circulating about 10-15 years ago called "The Eye of Argon," I think, author unknown, that was the most laughably bad fantasy story you could imagine. It was said to be written by a fan, though some said it was a known author goofing around. It may be online somewhere.