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Post by J. Walter Weatherman on Jan 31, 2011 18:56:11 GMT -8
Galad had an awesome moment too, with the crazy seanchan assassins. I'm still wrapping my brain around what everything means. The Rand=Moridin thing especially. How's it going to end? Ahhhh I'm just glad I didn't start reading until 1-11 were out. It would be effing maddening to wait like this if I had read EoTW when it came out. Which book do you think is your favorite? Least favorite?
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Post by Lump on Jan 31, 2011 19:03:05 GMT -8
Pre-ordered Michael Showalter's book "Mr. Funny Pants" (funny story about that name), so I can have my research done when I see him on his book tour.
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Post by J. Walter Weatherman on Feb 1, 2011 12:45:25 GMT -8
Galad had an awesome moment too, with the crazy seanchan assassins. I'm still wrapping my brain around what everything means. The Rand=Moridin thing especially. How's it going to end? Ahhhh I'm just glad I didn't start reading until 1-11 were out. It would be effing maddening to wait like this if I had read EoTW when it came out. Which book do you think is your favorite? Least favorite? Drew! Drew! Answer my questions!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Drew on Feb 1, 2011 12:55:03 GMT -8
Shit sorry I didn't see them!
I started reading right before tPoD came out, and I've waited anxiously for every book since then, buying the prologues online, pre-ordering, etc. I've even participated in several message boards for WoT, but none recently as it's become too technical - there aren't any good crazy theories, it's mostly just ten guys that know everything answering a bunch of newbs' questions.
Anyway, at this point you can kind of break the books down into trilogies. 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. My favorite book is probably tSR, book 4. EotW would probably be second. That's close, though, because I love re-reading EotW again and again, just because the scope is so huge it's fun to see the characters before they knew anything.
I would say the first two trilogies are rock-solid, although by the end of LoC, book 6, you can start to see the problems that arise in books 7-10. Too many characters, too many subplots, and not enough movement in major story arcs. CoT, book 10, is probably the worst book in the series. CoS and tPoD are saved by some awesome moments, though they linger in the doldrums for the majority of their duration. But CoT has nothing redeeming about it, and I had such high hopes after how WH ended (cleansing the taint, which is what I do in the shower every morning).
KoD was solid, and these last two were awesome, but it's still too soon to rate them with respect to the rest of the series.
Phew, opened a can of worms. Okay, yours? Favorite/Least Favorite?
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Post by Drew on Feb 1, 2011 12:56:09 GMT -8
And have you read the WoTFAQ?
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Post by J. Walter Weatherman on Feb 1, 2011 13:17:10 GMT -8
Shit sorry I didn't see them! I started reading right before tPoD came out, and I've waited anxiously for every book since then, buying the prologues online, pre-ordering, etc. I've even participated in several message boards for WoT, but none recently as it's become too technical - there aren't any good crazy theories, it's mostly just ten guys that know everything answering a bunch of newbs' questions. Anyway, at this point you can kind of break the books down into trilogies. 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. My favorite book is probably tSR, book 4. EotW would probably be second. That's close, though, because I love re-reading EotW again and again, just because the scope is so huge it's fun to see the characters before they knew anything. I would say the first two trilogies are rock-solid, although by the end of LoC, book 6, you can start to see the problems that arise in books 7-10. Too many characters, too many subplots, and not enough movement in major story arcs. CoT, book 10, is probably the worst book in the series. CoS and tPoD are saved by some awesome moments, though they linger in the doldrums for the majority of their duration. But CoT has nothing redeeming about it, and I had such high hopes after how WH ended (cleansing the taint, which is what I do in the shower every morning). KoD was solid, and these last two were awesome, but it's still too soon to rate them with respect to the rest of the series. Phew, opened a can of worms. Okay, yours? Favorite/Least Favorite? I would have to say that LoC is maybe my favorite, because the Asha'man are so sweet its ridiculous, and the battle at Dumai's well is possibly the most savage beatdown anybody gets in the books. The way the asha'man systematically destroy the Shaido sends chills down my spine every time. Of course, Crossroads of Twilight is my least favorite. I was actually angry about having spent the amount of time reading it that I did. In fact, I told my friends not to bother reading it, and instead explained what had happened that actually pertained to the plot in about two sentences. I was really pissed to not see much, if anything, of the fallout from the cleansing, which, by the way, totally redeems Winters Heart. Eye of the World is probably my second favorite for the same reasons you gave, its interesting to see the scope shrunk down so much. You have to wonder what would have happened if all the books were paced as quickly. Really, to me, part of the charm of WoT is how fleshed out the characters are. It may be boring, you may think its stupid and tedious while you're reading it, but ultimately you know more about the way the characters work in this series than most other series to be sure. And anytime I read one WoT book, I have to read another, because it just puts me in the mood for that RJ style, you know? I've only ever read them in order once, but i've read each book at least 3 or 4 times. And I haven't checked out the WoTFAQ extensively, but I've spent a hell of a lot of time on Dragonmount, even to the point of spoiling pretty much everything for myself on the gathering storm. Whew! Everyone, this is only the beginning.
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Post by J. Walter Weatherman on Feb 1, 2011 16:57:49 GMT -8
Who is your favorite of the big 6? i.e. Rand perrin mat egwene nynaeve elayne.
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Post by interstateeight on Feb 1, 2011 22:19:05 GMT -8
Who is your favorite of the big 6? i.e. Rand perrin mat egwene nynaeve elayne. Okay, you clearly just started typing gibberish at the end there to fuck with me.
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Post by Friendly Destroyer on Feb 1, 2011 22:20:19 GMT -8
They're just sex books with dragons in them. See the Movie Thread.
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Post by J. Walter Weatherman on Feb 2, 2011 9:38:11 GMT -8
Who is your favorite of the big 6? i.e. Rand perrin mat egwene nynaeve elayne. Okay, you clearly just started typing gibberish at the end there to fuck with me. You wish, man... you wish. Although if you put a string of fantasy character's names together it probably always looks like gibberish.
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Post by Drew on Feb 2, 2011 10:01:05 GMT -8
Once upon a time I would have said Mat, of course, but to be honest I like reading Egwene more than anyone now. Although Rand has been entertaining in these last two books. But he's kind of out of the conversation because it's all sort of about him.
Have you read anything else by Sanderson?
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Post by J. Walter Weatherman on Feb 2, 2011 10:16:27 GMT -8
I have not. Actually, I was totally done with fantasy until a friend made me read EotW about 5 years ago, and its the only fantasy that I've dipped back into. Have you? I've heard Mistborn is alright. Were you the person who asked if they should pick up the other books in the Hyperion series?
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Post by Drew on Feb 2, 2011 11:38:42 GMT -8
Yeah that was me. I'm slowly working my way back into sf after having mostly given it up for poetry when I started my graduate program. I just finished Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl and loved it. But I've been keeping up on fantasy, relatively speaking. Mistborn is pretty good, Elantris is good, Warbreaker sucks and I'm torn on Way of Kings. (Those are all Sanderson books)
I'm more into Steven Erikson's Malazan series, and Patrick Rothfuss, and the Locke Lamora books. I read Joe Abercrombie but didn't really like it, and one or two others.
What other sf do you recommend?
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kaeso
Baby Eating Ice Cream
Posts: 11
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Post by kaeso on Feb 2, 2011 12:03:14 GMT -8
I thought I'd enter into discussion the Harry Potter vs. Harold Bloom controversy. Bloom, a well known literary critic at Yale, harshed on the popular series in the wall street journal. He doesn't really seem to engage with Harry Potter too seriously (i.e. give it the benefit of the doubt and really look for worth in it), but I have to admit (although I have read the entire series) that I think literature as art has more value for the reader. I'm more interested, though, in whether people think Harry Potter is crap or not. Is Harry Potter good in some way that make people like it or do people like it because it panders to the easy to satisfy desires of readers?
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Post by Horned Gramma on Feb 2, 2011 12:04:12 GMT -8
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you guys should try reading a book that isn't a part of a series.
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Post by Lump on Feb 2, 2011 12:05:10 GMT -8
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you guys should try reading a book that isn't a part of a series.
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Post by Drew on Feb 2, 2011 16:45:16 GMT -8
Like, stand-alone fantasy books?
And Harold Bloom also says that no music has any worth beyond classical music. Harold Bloom has defined what is art for a generation of closed-minded conservative fat overpaid fucks just like himself for the last forty years, and he won't be remembered for creating anything.
That being said, I like HP quite a bit, but no it's not much more than pleasure reading. Nor is any fantasy I read. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading it. But I read a hell of a lot more literature and poetry than fantasy because my mind needs more exercise than comfort food.
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Post by J. Walter Weatherman on Feb 2, 2011 17:19:57 GMT -8
I thought I'd enter into discussion the Harry Potter vs. Harold Bloom controversy. Bloom, a well known literary critic at Yale, harshed on the popular series in the wall street journal. He doesn't really seem to engage with Harry Potter too seriously (i.e. give it the benefit of the doubt and really look for worth in it), but I have to admit (although I have read the entire series) that I think literature as art has more value for the reader. I'm more interested, though, in whether people think Harry Potter is crap or not. Is Harry Potter good in some way that make people like it or do people like it because it panders to the easy to satisfy desires of readers? Man... good question. The thing is- and I hate to bring Twilight into this- If you look at Twilight, it is a horribly written piece of shit. I haven't read more than a page, but that page is some of the most juvenile writing I've ever read, and I read my mom's second graders papers from time to time. Then you look at Harry Potter, and that's something that's actually decently written. At least comparatively. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Twilight falls more into the latter category of pandering, whereas HP is more in the former category of actually having some merit.
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Post by interstateeight on Feb 3, 2011 8:52:13 GMT -8
I thought I'd enter into discussion the Harry Potter vs. Harold Bloom controversy. Bloom, a well known literary critic at Yale, harshed on the popular series in the wall street journal. He doesn't really seem to engage with Harry Potter too seriously (i.e. give it the benefit of the doubt and really look for worth in it), but I have to admit (although I have read the entire series) that I think literature as art has more value for the reader. I'm more interested, though, in whether people think Harry Potter is crap or not. Is Harry Potter good in some way that make people like it or do people like it because it panders to the easy to satisfy desires of readers? This is a pretty weak post, overall, but I just have to give you credit for excellent use of the color and link tags in one of your first five posts. C+ content, A+ execution. and I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you guys should try reading a book that isn't a part of a series. Anyway: I don't have time to read books while I'm in school, but I did have time to reread The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock last night, and I almost shit my fucking pants again just like the first time I read it. Do we need to start a poetry thread (please just say no) or can I encourage the rest of you to read that poem also and shit bricks accordingly in this thread? For those interested: Prufrock
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Post by Horned Gramma on Feb 3, 2011 11:24:35 GMT -8
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is the most beautiful use of the English language I have ever seen.
I should have been a pair of ragged claws/Scuttling across the floors of silent seas
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