Kevin's Watch

I read eight of his books as a teenager, and I was enjoying them at the time, pretty much. As I went through I only really noticed the internal continuity problems, and the fact that it seemed to heavily borrow from other writers in the first few books. But book 8 was so bad I couldn't really deny it any longer, and I stopped. Looking back later on, I realised the writing all the way from book 1 was godawful. I just hadn't been aware of it at the time. Reading more widely I started picking up on good vs bad writing.

It's really some of the worst writing I've seen in a published novel. And it's really awful on characters, plots. There's some really harmful ideas around rape. Goodkind's work is just all around bad.

Way back, Westeros.org had a long-running series of forum threads for "Terry Goodkind quote of the day" which were usually good for a laugh.

I'm Murrin wrote:I read eight of his books as a teenager, and I was enjoying them at the time, pretty much. As I went through I only really noticed the internal continuity problems, and the fact that it seemed to heavily borrow from other writers in the first few books. But book 8 was so bad I couldn't really deny it any longer, and I stopped. Looking back later on, I realised the writing all the way from book 1 was godawful. I just hadn't been aware of it at the time. Reading more widely I started picking up on good vs bad writing.

It's really some of the worst writing I've seen in a published novel. And it's really awful on characters, plots. There's some really harmful ideas around rape. Goodkind's work is just all around bad.

Way back, Westeros.org had a long-running series of forum threads for "Terry Goodkind quote of the day" which were usually good for a laugh.

I don't see anything wrong with "heavily borrowing" from other works. Tolkien did it, and I am probably guilty of it in the novel I am writing. As long as you don't make scenes almost exact replicas of what you read in other novels, there is nothing wrong with it. What matters is if the writing really is good, whether or not it is an example of master wordsmithing, and whether the author has a distinctive and unique voice in how he tells his story. That is what will make or break him.

I love Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolkein, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Dave Duncan. I just don't love their writing quite as much as I love Donaldson's.

Cord Hurn wrote:I love Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolkein, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Dave Duncan. I just don't love their writing quite as much as I love Donaldson's.

Anne McCaffrey is one of my favorites too, but she always considered herself a sci-fi writer. She would actually get mad when someone referred to her as a fantasy writer, God rest her soul. I think, though, that she was second to none in blending the two closely associated genres. She was so good at it that she blurred the lines. I recently noticed that "The Rowan" is the only novel of hers that I own. I would like to fix that sometime soon.
P.S. When it comes to pure sci-fi, Charles Sheffield(1935-2002) is my only favorite.

This won't apply to those who like "Dark and Adult", but if you like "young and Happy", you cannot beat Rick Riordan. His books are light, funny, and quick to read. He is also very accurate in his mythology. My kids got me into them and they are an absolute pleasure.

(Waiting for the rotten fruit to start flying)

I also like the "dark and adult" stuff (thoroughly enjoyed "The Gap" series), but I guess my tastes are eclectic- I also adored Harry Potter.