Kevin's Watch

I wasn't sure where to put this....the "Reed Stephens and other works..." forum is rarely used.

I thought of this while reading the "Worst Book of the Chronicles" thread, which I found really informative. What do you all think is SRD's worst book? I guess you can add to that, what do you think is his worst short story?

I'll get back to you in a bit...just picked up Daughter of Regals today.

The Real Story is probably the weakest book of SRD's that I've read, but he's made no secret of the fact that he's not entirely happy with it. I've not read Reave the Just, but I seem to recall Daughter of Regals being a bit of a mixed bag, with some stories that I really enjoyed and some that were weaker.

As for why the Reed Stephens forum is so quiet, I'd say it's probably to do with the contemporary setting of the books not providing as much to talk about as fantasy or science fiction (not that the Gap board is exactly busy). I've read the first two books and thoroughly enjoyed them.

From people on other discussion boards, I have learned that many people dislike The Real Story to the point where they do not go on to read the rest of the books in the Gap. therefore, I would say that one...

I'd say the very uneven Daughter of Regals (and particularly the version without Gilden-Fire in it). Reave the Just was a much better collection. Some books of the Gap might compete with Daughters.

I'm not sure about the short story. The Woman who Loved Pigs is my least favorite in Reave the Just. I haven't reread Daughter of Regals, but there I liked least Animal Lover and The Conqueror Worm.

I don't much like Unworthy of Angel in Daughter of Regals. The simplistic Christian symbolism is just too strong for me, and so surprising coming from someone who developed the spiritual and moral complexities of TC.

I guess I'd buy The Real Story as his worst novel. I'll have to read all of them again to deal with my own thread though.

Yes, Unworthy of the Angel is yet another contender for the worst short story. The hard part making this choice is that I have never read any of the suggested stories again since they were too bad for me to want to and it's been some time from my original reading.

The Real Story without doubt. I have problems with some of the others, but Real Story is simply weak. It's amazing he went from there to the brilliance of Chaos and All Gods Die.

I find "Unworthy of the Angel" the only story in DOR that is written with passion. "Daughter of Regals" is great, an exercise before Modant's Need, intrigue within a castle and some odd magic. "Gilden-Fire" doesn't belong there it belongs to TIW...Worst then, "Conqueror worm" or "Animal Lover"

I found out one thing while re-reading "Unworthy..." which I take to the Other works Forum

The One Tree gets my vote for worst book in the chronicles. But I often compare it to Empire Strikes Back...it's the middle book, the one with character growth and plot development, but is doomed to be irrelevant by it's mere existence.

I started to read The Real Story just after completing the 2nd Chrons and I just couldn't get into it. I think I read the first couple of chapters and said "Blah".
Quite some time has passed since then and I may endeavour to make a second attempt - I've heard so much about This Day All Gods Must Die that I just want to see what all the fuss is about.

There is no worse book of the Chrons! Pooh on y'all!

THe One Tree?? Empire Strikes Back???? Irrelevant??????????????

I mean please!!!!!!!!!!

Empire is the best of the lot and TOT - fantastic, come on

MIddle of a trilogy therefore pointless - how good was the Two TOwers - book & film????

Infelice - persist with the Gap series, they're great books, but if you're not into sci fi, maybe you won't like it.


I'm not much a fan of SRDs short stories, perhaps I'm too used to the complexities of the chronicles and the Gap. I could never get into Mordant's Need either

I didn't mind animal lover actually, but Unworthy of the Angel was pretty weak. I found the pace of The One Tree pretty frustrating, and two or three times I broke off to read other books. That said, the visit to Brathairealm was one of the highlights of the chronicles for me.

As for the Gap, it takes a while to get going. The Real Story is far from perfect, but it's so short that it isn't worth not reading to be honest and it sets the tone quite well. The first half of Forbidden Knowledge is pretty slow too, but once Captain's Fancy gets to Enablement Station things really hot up and the pace only really drops a little during Chaos and Order before the thrill-ride that is This Day All Gods Die.