Kevin's Watch

I would just like to repeat that everyone has different tastes...what some people might not like others might love...

As evidenced by the fact that not everyone likes SRD.

I don't even like all of SRD's stuff. In fact, the only thing I DO like of his is the Covenant series. The others are way too dark for me, I found them very hard to get through.

*ducks behind the Colossus*

You don't need to duck. I have the same problem with The Gap. I couldn't put it down when I was reading it, but on the other hand, I have never felt a strong urge to reread it, either...I probably will someday...but parts of that series were like reading psychological horror...it was very well written, but parts of it really bothered me...

I know what you mean. Way too dark for me. I read the Mordant books only once. But The Gap books... I just couldn't finish them.

It was hard to me to believe that the same person wrote the Covenant books..

I have seen on other boards that a lot of people can't get through the first book of the Gap. They get to the point where Morn is captured and that's it for them...the part that nearly made me give up on that series was those people who disembowel themselves. YUCK!
I haven't read Mordant since it was published, until the group read started. Reading it with others is very pleasant. I'm not feeling as claustrophobic and hemmed in that way...

the Duchess wrote:

the part that nearly made me give up on that series was those people who disembowel themselves. YUCK!

I didn't even get that far!! I am glad I didn't!

GROSS!!

Yeah, I've never had much of a desire to reread The Gap, and I still can't find it in me to read the rest of Mordant's Need, though I will probably do both these things eventually.

Murrin wrote:Hmm... just an interesting point about WoT, and that's the names - all the legends and enemies use names and words from the english language and some from mythology, but altered, for example, Shai'tan (Satan), Ba'alzemon (Beelzebub), Artur Peandrag (Arthur Pendragon - aka King Arthur). And there are also the names of Trolloc clans:

Ahf'frait - Ifrit
Bhan'sheen - Banshee
Dha'vol - Devil
Dhai'mon - Demon
Djin'nen - Djinn (genie)
Ghar'ghael - Gargoyle
Ghob'hlin - Goblin
Gho'hlem - Golem
Ghraem'lan - Gremlin
Kno'mon - Gnome

did anyone else notice this when they were reading?

I noticed this, and it bugged the hell out of me . . . one reason why I threw the first book against the wall and never went back. Some of these I can see as useful borrowings, but 'gremlin'? Come on! It's not even a mythological creature, for crying out loud -- it's a joke! World War II airmen and their ground crews relieving the tension by inventing a race of little people to blame their equipment failures on. In exactly the same spirit, computer scientists talk about 'quantum bogodynamics' -- the joke theory that computer errors are caused by mysterious particles called 'bogons', which of course carry the 'bogus' force. But nobody ever believed in bogons or gremlins. People really did believe in devils and afrits (and elves and giants), and the folklore arising from those beliefs is tremendously interesting -- fruitful stuff for a fantasy writer to borrow.

What I mean is that these things go together like chocolate-covered garlic. The creatures of myth and folklore are things to tell stories about; gremlins are only a thing to tell jokes about, and very 20th-century jokes at that. Jordan could just as well include the Jolly Green Giant and Mr. Clean in his world. They'd seem just as natural and authentic as Ghraem'lan.

Also, his habit of making up names by misspelling ordinary words and sticking apostrophes in random places . . . that just strikes me as lazy. The Gift of Names is one of the most important tools for a fantasy writer to have. Tolkien, SRD, Eddison, and Mervyn Peake all had that gift. Jordan hasn't, and the clunky names keep bouncing me out of the story.

Now, Jordan does have his strengths, and they are very strong indeed. It's just that his weaknesses bother me so much that I can't enjoy his work, so I don't read it.

How much skirtsmoothing and braidtugging can one person take? And the story just goes on and on and on. And yet - nothing really happens. Now I love long stories but this is ridiculous.

To make it worse each WoT-book is divided into two when translated into swedish. That way it becomes even longer. There are 18 or 19 books so far!

There are many things I like with WoT but I couldn't finish The Dragon Reborn or maybe it was The Shadow Rising? See I don't even remember how many books I've read!

I want to like it but can't. It's to annoying.

Others have told me exactly that, Cloudberry!
I've stayed away, having that knowledge.
(And good to hear from you! It's been awhile!)

Welcome back Cloudberry!

Thank you!

I've got broadband now... used to have a 33,4 kB modem. It's a BIG difference to say the least.

I'm a slow writer so now I can write without fear for a huge phone bill.

Broadband - a fantastic thing!

I acctually saw "Robert Jordan" (ehem - I have forgotten his real name now...) at the first (and only?) fantasy-congress in stockholm 1995 (West of the Sun, east of the Moon). He did make a rather strong impression (big, black hat, dark clothes and weighting about three times as much as he should, loud voice, and a walkingstick). I think Lord of Chaos was the last book I read in the Wheel-series, after that I felt too uninterested to continue. I now see that I have A crown of swords in my bookshelf, but I am fairly confident that I have not read it. Did anything of importance happen in that book or should I leave it where it is?

aCoS is one of the three worst books (aCoS, tPoD, CoT), but I still think the entire series is worth reading at least once.
aCoS is worth a look just because Rand finally 'comforts' Min... Oh, and Padan Fain returns at last, but only for a brief visit... It's only one of the worst because of the parts about Elayne - very boring journey to Caemlyn.

Oh - I just remembered this limeric I wrote back in the early 90-ies...

As Lan rode forth from Tear
He rode along with no fear
He met Moraine
Who was insane
He could not take it no mer

(Sorry - "mer" is the swedish word for more. It had to rhyme... )

And this one (written by a friend of mine, I can´t take the credit I am afraid...):

Lan is great
Lan is good
If Lan can´t do it
No one could

And this (its getting sillier now...)

Lan is great
Lan is good
If Lan can´t do it
Perrin could

And then some in swedish that I should not bore you with.

If you look closely on thefront cover of the first book (an edition with a small white arab horse and a dark shire horse in the foreground), you can see that all the kids are wearing strange hats (especially Perrin has a funny hat - a pilgrim hat, but I did not know it was called that way so I have named it Perrin-hat...). However , even though a searched the book, I could not find the Moraine-line "We will leave as fast as possible, and do not forget your silly hats" anywhere....

I guess the hats are a law of nature.

Cloudberry wrote:There are many things I like with WoT but I couldn't finish The Dragon Reborn or maybe it was The Shadow Rising? See I don't even remember how many books I've read!

I could remember it, if I could find that book with the bookmark in it.

What, Robert Jordan has to write a prequil for an unfinished series? Has he no shame?

Tor is encouraging this nonsense. I think a good idea would be to stay away from Tor's writers, since they have such a low opinion of the reading public.

Well, the Prequels are RJ's idea, not Tor's - and New Spring is actually supposed to be a very good book.