Horrim Carabal wrote:I will brook no criticism of Weis & Hickman Dragonlance books! They were my gateway drug.
Yeah, mine too. Although I'd already read The Hobbit and LOTR young, that was really my intro to mainstream fantasy. (I know LOTR etc is mainstream today, but it wasn't back then... )
Skyweir wrote:Dragonlance sounds intriguing .. will look out for these
Cheers
Uh...what? Never read? Madness. (Check out The Rose Of The Prophet series by the same authors...my favourites actually.)
Avatar wrote:
Uh...what? Never read? Madness. (Check out The Rose Of The Prophet series by the same authors...my favourites actually.)
Never read those. I'm in the mood for something new to read. Finished The Stone Sky. It was good. I will probably enjoy it more the second time, since it included a lot of backstory/history that got off to a bit of a slow start - though it was really good once it got going and will probably be more enjoyable the second time around.
On the subject of D&D and whatnot, I think I will probably go back and reread Paul Kidd's Greyhawk trilogy. (White Plume Mountain, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Queen of the Demonweb Pits)
Oh, a change is coming, feel these doors now closing
Is there no world for tomorrow, if we wait for today?
I really liked the first trilogy and Time/Test of the Twins (which inspired one of my favorite fantasy metal songs). It was around Dragons of Summer Flame and The Second Generation that I started losing interest, because it felt like they were trying to do the same thing over again, only with less-interesting characters. But it's probably been about 20 years since I last read those, so my opinion could change.
Oh, a change is coming, feel these doors now closing
Is there no world for tomorrow, if we wait for today?
Sorus wrote:I really liked the first trilogy and Time/Test of the Twins (which inspired one of my favorite fantasy metal songs). It was around Dragons of Summer Flame and The Second Generation that I started losing interest, because it felt like they were trying to do the same thing over again, only with less-interesting characters. But it's probably been about 20 years since I last read those, so my opinion could change.
Dragons of Summer Flame was good....but it was the beginning of the end. You are right.
Just got out a collection of short stories by Atwood the other day:
'"The Stone Mattress" and other stories.'
preliminary verdict is I think it kind of floats my boat.
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor
"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
Been awhile since I read that collection, but I recently went through a fairly comprehensive Atwood reread - some of my favorites; The Handmaid's Tale, The Blind Assassin, Cat's Eye - plus The Robber Bride, even though that one was never one of my favorites, and Surfacing, which I'd only read once before. I think I mentioned Surfacing on another thread, though perhaps not by name. It can be difficult to get into - difficult to connect with, because the protagonist is so disconnected that it's hard to empathize with her. But maybe I was in the right mood - or more prepared for it this time around, because the narrative seemed to flow. I have to wonder if the flow came naturally to her, or if it was difficult to write. Alias Grace was like that in some ways, but I don't remember the style being quite as extreme. There's no way I could write an entire novel in such a foreign style, and I respect the ability.
Oh, a change is coming, feel these doors now closing
Is there no world for tomorrow, if we wait for today?