Kevin's Watch

Edge wrote:

duchess of malfi wrote:Someone recently gave me something like ten books by an author I am completely unfamiliar with named Dean Koontz.

Read them! Read them now!

Dean Koontz rocks! Not so much his earlier stuff, but his more recent books are fantastic.

Nothing else he's written is as good as The Watchers. And I thought Taking was kind of cheesy.

Myste, I don't see Earthsea on that list...

Gildenfire!

oh and mabye Earthsea...

I don't have time to wish for any more now (did some major book shopping this month), but I will be grabbing the new Harry Potter at first sight.

Fist and Faith wrote:Myste, I don't see Earthsea on that list...

That's cuz I've got Earthsea, Fist! I haven't reread it lately, though. I also found a copy of LeGuin's Orsinian Tales at a recent book sale (as much as you can carry for $5!), which is still in my to-read pile.

Sylvanus wrote:

Edge wrote:

duchess of malfi wrote:Someone recently gave me something like ten books by an author I am completely unfamiliar with named Dean Koontz.

Read them! Read them now!

Dean Koontz rocks! Not so much his earlier stuff, but his more recent books are fantastic.

Nothing else he's written is as good as The Watchers. And I thought Taking was kind of cheesy.

Heh....I gave up on Koontz years ago. His older stuff is pretty good but I lost interest after a while because it was getting too formulaic.

I would have to say that Watchers is probably his best one, although I also really liked Lightning and Phantoms.

Encryptic wrote:

Sylvanus wrote:

Edge wrote: Read them! Read them now!

Dean Koontz rocks! Not so much his earlier stuff, but his more recent books are fantastic.

Nothing else he's written is as good as The Watchers. And I thought Taking was kind of cheesy.

Heh....I gave up on Koontz years ago. His older stuff is pretty good but I lost interest after a while because it was getting too formulaic.

I would have to say that Watchers is probably his best one, although I also really liked Lightning and Phantoms.

Then you obviously haven't read 'False Memory', 'From the Corner of His Eye', 'One Door Away from Heaven', 'By the Light of the Moon', 'The Face' or 'Odd Thomas'.

Compared to them, 'Watchers', 'Lightning' and 'Phantoms' are rubbish.

Edge wrote:

Encryptic wrote:

Sylvanus wrote: Nothing else he's written is as good as The Watchers. And I thought Taking was kind of cheesy.

Heh....I gave up on Koontz years ago. His older stuff is pretty good but I lost interest after a while because it was getting too formulaic.

I would have to say that Watchers is probably his best one, although I also really liked Lightning and Phantoms.

Then you obviously haven't read 'False Memory', 'From the Corner of His Eye', 'One Door Away from Heaven', 'By the Light of the Moon', 'The Face' or 'Odd Thomas'.

Compared to them, 'Watchers', 'Lightning' and 'Phantoms' are rubbish.

Guess I struck a nerve.

Perhaps "formulaic" isn't the right choice of words, but rather that the last couple of books I read by him just didn't grab me the way his older stuff did. I wouldn't say he's a terrible writer, but not as good as he used to be, perhaps.

::shrug::

To each his own....

Encryptic wrote:
Guess I struck a nerve.

Perhaps "formulaic" isn't the right choice of words, but rather that the last couple of books I read by him just didn't grab me the way his older stuff did. I wouldn't say he's a terrible writer, but not as good as he used to be, perhaps.

::shrug::

To each his own....

I guess it does come down to personal taste - but I'm curious: what were 'the last couple of books' you read? Anything recent?

My not-so-humble opinion is that in the last few years he's broken out from both the shadow of Stephen King, and the limitations of the 'horror' genre - producing a unique blend of fantasy/sf/horror.

Edge wrote:

Encryptic wrote:
Guess I struck a nerve.

Perhaps "formulaic" isn't the right choice of words, but rather that the last couple of books I read by him just didn't grab me the way his older stuff did. I wouldn't say he's a terrible writer, but not as good as he used to be, perhaps.

::shrug::

To each his own....

I guess it does come down to personal taste - but I'm curious: what were 'the last couple of books' you read? Anything recent?

My not-so-humble opinion is that in the last few years he's broken out from both the shadow of Stephen King, and the limitations of the 'horror' genre - producing a unique blend of fantasy/sf/horror.

Wish I could remember what the last ones I read were, but it's been quite a while (several years at least) since I read anything "new" by him.

I read Koontz's "Twilight Eyes" the summer after my senior year of college, when I went on a complete "trash" bender in reaction to too much lit. theory. Even functioning at only about 2% capacity, I still thought it was rotten.

I am perfectly ready to be told that "Twilight Eyes" was the absolutely worst Koontz ever, and I should have read ___?___ instead.....

Well, here are some of the Koontz titles I was given. (I think I caught 'em all from the morass of my 'to be read" shelf...) Maybe someone can help me sort out which order they are supposed to be read in (if any?)?

The House of Thunder

Intensity

The Servants of Twilight

Winter Moon

Icebound

The Door into December

Shadowfires

Odd Thomas

The third Dark Tower book is on my wishlist.

Myste wrote:I read Koontz's "Twilight Eyes" the summer after my senior year of college, when I went on a complete "trash" bender in reaction to too much lit. theory. Even functioning at only about 2% capacity, I still thought it was rotten.

I am perfectly ready to be told that "Twilight Eyes" was the absolutely worst Koontz ever, and I should have read ___?___ instead.....

Twilight Eyes wasn't his best, IMHO. I'm sure Edge will be here to tell you that it wasn't worth the paper it was printed on....

duchess of malfi wrote:Well, here are some of the Koontz titles I was given. (I think I caught 'em all from the morass of my 'to be read" shelf...) Maybe someone can help me sort out which order they are supposed to be read in (if any?)?

The House of Thunder

Intensity

The Servants of Twilight

Winter Moon

Icebound

The Door into December

Shadowfires

Odd Thomas

Haven't read Intensity or Odd Thomas myself. Of the others, I'd have to say that Servants of Twilight was pretty good, as was Shadowfires. The others on that list that I read weren't that good from what I recall, though. Most of the books aren't related to one another so there's no need to read them in any particular order, as far as I know.

::shrug::

Of that list, 'Odd Thomas' is definitely the best of the bunch, though it's not his best ever. The only other ones worth reading are 'Servants of Twilight' and 'Shadowfires'. Oh, and possibly 'Door into December'. The others are pretty banal; comparable to Stephen King at his worst, and with similar themes.

Oh, and 'Twilight Eyes' definitely is worth the paper it was printed on.

Not a cent more, though.

Actually, I quite liked Twilight Eyes, as far as Koontz books go. There's no order BTW, Duchess, they're all stand-alone stories as far as I know.

Don't really like his work, although I've read a good few of them. Too formulaic for my tastes.

--Avatar

I've read a couple of DK and from that limited exposure liked Lightning best...

Spoiler

cool car chase

Lightning wasn't bad, and Watchers was pretty good too.

--A

A review of the book on the Three Seas forum has gotten me interested in Caitlin Sweet's The Telling of the Stars - unfortunately I'd have to either order it from the US/Canada or pay £20 for it, so I'll probably have to wait a while. Ordering does seem tempting, since the price is only £1.20 (shipping bumps it to around £7)....