Article on Runes in The Bookseller (UK Book Trade journal)

[stuartfanning]

www.thebookseller.com/?pid=84&did=13285

[Myste]

Wow, that's awesome--but you might want to point out that there's a mega-spoiler in the review for people who haven't finished reading the Second Chrons yet!

[matrixman]

Thanks for the article, good sir. Let me quote this bit:

Donaldson is credited with inventing the modern fantasy genre, paving the way for giants such as Eddings, Feist and Goodkind.

"Giants" such as David "Del-Rey-formula-boy" Eddings? Please, someone get the barf bags out.

Reminds me of that scene in Star Trek IV: Voyage Home where Kirk and Spock are on a bus in 20th Century San Francisco, and Kirk mentions some names of authors of this period like Sheldon and Robbins. Spock replies: "Ah, the giants."

[stuartfanning]

Thanks for the article, good sir. Let me quote this bit:

Donaldson is credited with inventing the modern fantasy genre, paving the way for giants such as Eddings, Feist and Goodkind.

"Giants" such as David "Del-Rey-formula-boy" Eddings? Please, someone get the barf bags out.

Reminds me of that scene in Star Trek IV: Voyage Home where Kirk and Spock are on a bus in 20th Century San Francisco, and Kirk mentions some names of authors of this period like Sheldon and Robbins. Spock replies: "Ah, the giants."

Aren't you being a bit snobby about David Eddings? Many people would regards him as a 'giant' in the 'high fantasy' genre.

[Variol Farseer]

Aren't you being a bit snobby about David Eddings? Many people would regards him as a 'giant' in the 'high fantasy' genre.

No offence, but most of the people I've known who considered Eddings a giant of the genre were still in their teens at the time. The Belgariad is actually a good, entertaining story, and so is The Elenium, and so is the Althalus thingy, etc., etc. The problem is that they're all the same story, with some search-and-replace done on the character and place names. His lack of originality really becomes irksome after a few books.

(When I was still young, and even more foolish than I am today, I bought all five volumes of The Malloreon in hardcover, just for the sake of having the complete set. 'Never again,' I said when I finished reading The Seeress of Kell. And I have kept that vow, if no other. The only Eddings I've read or bought since then was a paperback of Belgarath the Sorcerer, because I was scoping out the competition, and wanted to see how he handled some of the technical difficulties intrinsic to the concept of that book. Alas, I didn't learn as much as I should have liked.)

[matrixman]

Aren't you being a bit snobby about David Eddings? Many people would regards him as a 'giant' in the 'high fantasy' genre.

Sorry if the tone of my post offended your sensibilities. SRD himself probably would not like people here going about dissing other authors, but I have a mind and I'm entitled to express my thoughts, unless the powers that be at the Watch feel that what I've said about Mr. Eddings is out of line and should be retracted.

As to the question of being a snob, if I'm a snob for preferring quality over quantity, then so be it. That I'm not going to apologize for.

Anyway, to avoid any more potential author-vs.-author bad feelings, I won't make any comments or offer any future opinions on other authors. I will only talk about SRD, which is the reason I joined the Watch in the first place. Thank you.

[Prince of Amber]

"You've probably noticed that time and boundaries are being blurred in The Runes of the Earth, and that my character Linden Avery is being moved around in time within the fantasy world. She visits different eras of the Land's past and opens up all sorts of possibilities for people who are long gone to play a part in the narrative."

I've said it before and I'll say it agian - I HATE TIME TRAVEL STORIES.
without exception they make my head hurt - now I'm not looking forward to the Last Chronicles, I've nearly finished Runes and already I'm confused.

[Myste]

As to the question of being a snob, if I'm a snob for preferring quality over quantity, then so be it. That I'm not going to apologize for.

Anyway, to avoid any more potential author-vs.-author bad feelings, I won't make any comments or offer any future opinions on other authors. I will only talk about SRD, which is the reason I joined the Watch in the first place. Thank you.

Amen to the first paragraph, MM, and boo to the second--you should voice your opinions about any author you want. The Watch is a forum for Donaldson fans to discuss what they think is important, and a good place to be honest about what they think. It's not just an SRD love-fest, which I'm sure would make the man shudder. Critique away!

[Prince of Amber]

Hey - I didn't realise I was getting in the middle of an important debate -so let me add my twopennyworth - Eddings is NOT a Giant - I have read and enjoyed the Belgariad and the Mallorian (sp) which are the same books (as VF pointed out earlier) they are easy reading trash (I mean that in a nice way ) Nobody with a reading age over 14 would consider Eddings a Giant. I would put Piers Anthony in the same catogory - I still have nearly all the Xanth books

[matrixman]

Thanks for the encouragement, Myste.

I've said it before and I'll say it agian - I HATE TIME TRAVEL STORIES.
without exception they make my head hurt - now I'm not looking forward to the Last Chronicles, I've nearly finished Runes and already I'm confused.

I'm not fond of time travel stories either, though I haven't read such stories, but have only seen movies and TV shows that used time travel as their plot device. It's become a cliche on Star Trek. The logical paradoxes of time travel can understandably make anyone's head hurt. Another example: I enjoy the Terminator movies as pure action vehicles, but I throw my hands up when it comes to the time travel aspect of the story. Maybe it's not that time travel itself is the problem, but the dubious way that scriptwriters go about explaining it.

In the case of the Last Chronicles, I'm thinking that SRD's writing skills would be able to handle the dimension of time better than the average Trek episode. So I'm quite sorry to hear that Runes didn't seem to do that good of a job explaining things to you, Prince. This, of course, won't stop me from reading Runes myself, once I get my hands on it.

Ah well, maybe those aforementioned "giants" of fantasy can do a better job. Let them try.

[Gadget nee Jemcheeta]

Yeah, boy when I was 13 I loved david eddings....he has that one good story and those five good characters.... and the best part is that he admits it. I can't remember which series it was, but it repeats in almost exactly the same way, including chance encounters with the same characters and the same experiences. He tries to give it this "events are repeating" spooky feel...but I didn't buy it. And then in Belgarath the sorc I think in the intro he actually admits his formula, doesn't he? I mean...piece by piece. Yeah, I'll put him with my old piers anthony. In the book bin at the local second hand place..... But I have to admit.... I really liked those books at the time. A lot

[Xar]

Yeah, boy when I was 13 I loved david eddings....he has that one good story and those five good characters.... and the best part is that he admits it. I can't remember which series it was, but it repeats in almost exactly the same way, including chance encounters with the same characters and the same experiences. He tries to give it this "events are repeating" spooky feel...but I didn't buy it.

That was the first or second book of "The Malloreon", in case you're still trying to remember