Kevin's Watch

There have been 12 reviews posted on Amazon now, and some aren't so good. I would suggest that we visit that site in droves and disagree with the obvious fools that don't get SRD's vision, and agree with the reviews that support it. Personally, I want to see his sales soar.

Positive reviews, and especially agreements with positive reviews (if you don't feel like writing one) do help.

(Mine is under T. Burger)

burgs66 wrote:There have been 12 reviews posted on Amazon now, and some aren't so good. I would suggest that we visit that site in droves and disagree with the obvious fools that don't get SRD's vision, and agree with the reviews that support it. Personally, I want to see his sales soar.

Positive reviews, and especially agreements with positive reviews (if you don't feel like writing one) do help.

(Mine is under T. Burger)

link?

Just go to www.amazon.com and search for The Runes of the Earth. All of the reviews are listed there.

eeep!

Will do.

Well, I just checked things at amazon. Right now, there are 13 reviews posted and 10 of these either give four or five stars to the book. I´d say that is a pretty good average.

What I find very good is that most reviews of the book are really reviews. They are long and thoughtful and no two-liners saying "this book is good,go buy copies for all your neighbours"

Not everyone will like it of course, but I have noticed only one spiteful review from "Old Librarian",which sounds very arrogant and tells us nothing much about the book. Even the other negative reviews always detail what they disliked about the book.

Review of OLD LIBRARIAN
"I have been a reader of fantasy for a very long time. I was reading Tolkien before most of you people knew what the J.R.R stood for. I have tried to read this guy many times since he came on the scene and, quite frankly, he stinks. His books are by turns depressing, poorly written, and not very well thought out. I fail to see what all the fuss is about. If I want to read poorly written, drawn-out fantasy, I'll read Robert Jordan. At least with Jordan, you know that he will never end his series because then there goes the cash cow."

No one will bother with such a crappy review, because it was meant be hurtful. I doubt he even read the book. Nothing in this pseudo-review makes me believe that he bothered to read it.

I agree - I'm jus saying that the more clicks on "agree" for positive reviews, the better it looks to prospective buyers.

No harm in supporting (one of our) favorite writer(s).

There are always going to be negative reviews of any book listed at Amazon. It seems to me a given that if you didnt like the First and Second Chronicles, and you find Donaldson to be a terrible author, you arent going to like the third series, so I really have to question why such a person would even bother with "Runes". Certainly his review is useless to the people that might be expected to enjoy the book. Im waiting for the girl to pop up who "reviews" each book in the series by noting that she only read LFB up to the point where Covenant raped Lena, and then quit in disgust, having decided that the entire series was worthless.

regis wrote: Review of OLD LIBRARIAN
"I have been a reader of fantasy for a very long time. I was reading Tolkien before most of you people knew what the J.R.R stood for. I have tried to read this guy many times since he came on the scene and, quite frankly, he stinks. His books are by turns depressing, poorly written, and not very well thought out. I fail to see what all the fuss is about. If I want to read poorly written, drawn-out fantasy, I'll read Robert Jordan. At least with Jordan, you know that he will never end his series because then there goes the cash cow.".

As for the review in question, it strikes me as being a bit curious. "Depressing" is a given, but I fail to see how that is a flaw - all fantasy should be cheery and bright?. "Poorly written" is pretty subjective, and not much fantasy is all that great in terms of its literary style anyway, Tolkien included. "Not very well thought out" is absurd, as being well thought out seems to me to be one of the Chronicles strengths. Its incredibly well thought out in terms of the themes it wants to present, and the Land manages to be surprizingly believable, considering that it only has about 1/100 of the depth of Middle Earth, historically and otherwise. A few glitches aside, the plot is also rather carefully and cunningly handled.

And I totally fail to understand the last remark - Jordans books are superior because he only writes them for money, and for that reason they will never stop being churned out? Uh, ok.

My impression on reading "Old Librarian"'s review on Amazon was: you're a flippin' idiot, dude.

Hey, Foul, are you Holden Caufield?

There's one that honestly reads like a troll. Here are a few highlights:

…[W]hen I read the last book in the Thomas Covenant series, THE WHITE-GOLD WIELDER

Not a promising start.

as long as I never read that book, then Thomas would still be "alive."

What’s with the “Thomas”? Joan calls him Tom, some in the Land call him Thomas Covenant as if it’s one word, or ur-Lord, or ur-Lord Covenant; others (Linden, and most importantly, the narrative voice) call him Covenant; a few anti-lepers call him “that bastard Covenant.” No one calls him Thomas.

Lord Foul wanted --- and still wants --- to destroy the Time Arch

Although it’s never called that.

he kidnaps his mother and takes Jeremy from Avery's home.

I hear that Jeremy spoke in class today.

The reviewer does not explain that “Jeremy” is a boy whom she had referred to earlier without naming.

The Land has changed greatly. Once a place of incredible beauty, it is now becoming barren.

Becoming? Now? Something kind of happened in between those two times. The Sunbane?

The Haruchai, who Avery once counted as friends and allies against Lord Foul, now consider themselves masters of the Land and are dedicated to destroying all those who have Earth Power,

Wow. She got that out of the book? Destroying?

Avery's decisions, just as Thomas's earlier ones,

This makes a certain amount of backwards sense. Just as Covenant has never been referred to as “Thomas” before, neither has Linden been called simply “Avery” by anyone prior to this reviewer.

Therefore, you don't need to have read the previous books to enjoy this, though it might add to your pleasure.

Why do people keep urging others to jump into Runes without reading the other books first? Granted, you could navigate Runes without reading the first two trilogies, but what if you actually like it? What if you want to go back and read the first two series? Well, you’ve already found out what happens, thanks to the WHGB and various explanations within the text.

Some of this is nitpicking, but not all of it.

Thaale wrote:Why do people keep urging others to jump into Runes without reading the other books first? Granted, you could navigate Runes without reading the first two trilogies, but what if you actually like it? What if you want to go back and read the first two series? Well, you’ve already found out what happens, thanks to the WHGB and various explanations within the text.

Some of this is nitpicking, but not all of it.

In the review that I wrote, I spoke specifically to "new" fantasy readers. I didn't exactly encourage them to jump into Runes without reading the first two (I would encourage the opposite - there's so much beauty, grace, terror, love, tears, etc., that no amount of What Has Gone Before could possibly convey), but I assured them that they wouldn't feel completely lost.

Why did I do this? If I were a 14 year old, just starting to read adult fantasy, and I see this interesting book that is a return to a classic series, I might be daunted and *not* buy Runes because reading six books just to get to Runes might seem too much. In other words, I was shamelessly trying to get people who had never read Covenant to read it. I very much want to see SRD get the respect he has so sorely deserved and never really received, and part of that respect comes in the form of selling books (although that doesn't hold true for the likes of R.A. Salvatore - he's selling books, and God knows why).

I hope this makes sense.

Fair enough. I agree that saying, read these six books so you'll be able to follow a seventh book, wouldn't be much of a recommendation.

But maybe the best encouragement to give potential new readers is to urge them to read LFB.

As of tonight, there are 20 reviews and the average ratine is still 4 our of 5 stars, so the book is doing rather well...