Book Series That Go Sour

[Hexxenhammer]

The Riverworld series was one of the greatest let-downs of all time. I don't think Farmer's career ever fully recovered. Although "God of Riverworld" was at least entertaining in a pot-boiler sort of way. I thought "The Dark Design" was fantastic although I, too, was let down by the lack of resolution at the end.

"The Magic Labyrinth"...well, I give him points for trying to come up with something different, but...

Farmer made a big recovery with Nothing Burns in Hell . This is a great pulp detective story that his sci-fi fans might have never seen.

 

[Mark]

Farmer made a big recovery with Nothing Burns in Hell . This is a great pulp detective story that his sci-fi fans might have never seen.

Thanks for the tip. I'll look for it.

 

[Stainless_Steel_Rat]

Here's another: The Thomas Convenant series.

I really enjoyed the first trilogy, but the second trilogy was unrelentingly depressing, to no good end.

Dear lord, I thought I was the only tourtured soul to read all 6 books. I found them in my collection (probably donated by my aunt) when I was desperate for reading material...

Were you as incredibly frustrated with the density of the lead char as I was? I wanted to smack him every page of all 6 books

Ender's series... I agree with most. Children just got out of hand, but the Shadow ones are much better.

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. Great series, but the last 2 books have gone from "Vampire Hunter" to "Lust crazed bimbo"
Such a great series ruined by 1 plot twist 3 books back.
(***Spoiler!!***)


The last book was absolutely horrid. She didn't kill one thing (shot 2 vamps, but not fatally) in the entire book.


I'll probably read the next one, but if that plot thread doesn't die it will probably be the last one I pick up.


SSR

 

[Hexxenhammer]

SSR you remind me that the Stainless Steel Rat books went downhill after Harrison went to writing them with Slippery Jim being a young man. They were more along the lines of "Bill the Galactic Hero" plots. Bad satire. "Birth of a Stainless Steel Rat" was the last good one.

 

[Mark]

SSR you remind me that the Stainless Steel Rat books went downhill after Harrison went to writing them with Slippery Jim being a young man. They were more along the lines of "Bill the Galactic Hero" plots. Bad satire. "Birth of a Stainless Steel Rat" was the last good one.

Oh, I don't know. While not classics the way the earlier episodes were, I still enjoyed "...Joins the Circus", and "...Burns in Hell."

Fluff, but entertaining fluff at least.

I had forgotten the Thomas Covenant series. A intruiging fictional world, completely populated by utter nitwits. I kept thinking things would improve by the end. They didn't.

 

[specious_reasons]

The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book series goes down hill after she moves to the farm.

...and why-god-oh-why did the Cat in the Hat Come Back? It was just another alphabet book.

VOOM! Deus Ex Machina if ever I saw one.

 

[Stainless_Steel_Rat]

SSR you remind me that the Stainless Steel Rat books went downhill after Harrison went to writing them with Slippery Jim being a young man. They were more along the lines of "Bill the Galactic Hero" plots. Bad satire. "Birth of a Stainless Steel Rat" was the last good one.

"Birth" was the first one I read, and probably the best. The others were good, just not AS good

Bill was ok for like 1-2 books, when I was young Now they're almost painful to look at.

As for the "Thomas Covenant" series, I too like the idea, but the charactures (espeicially Thomas) were annoying.

At the start of the second Trilogy, I was like, ok he was subject of a miracle (On that note, like ANYONE in the world wouldn't have wished his disease away) , next time he flips over he'll be a believer, well, we know how that went....

 

[jj]

I thought Chithon and Pithor were great books, and then someone decided to continue the series as torture porn.

Oh. Yeah. Any Jack Chalker series, now that you mention it.

"Irving, to me!"

 

[hgc]

Oh, I don't know. While not classics the way the earlier episodes were, I still enjoyed "...Joins the Circus", and "...Burns in Hell."

...

I had a curious experience reading this. As I got to "... Joins the Circus," I had the momentary sensation that I was reading about the Curious George series, and was then jolted awake by "... Burns in Hell." Hey, Curious George does not burn in Hell! Despite that incident with the washing mashine.

 

[Mark]

I had a curious experience reading this. As I got to "... Joins the Circus," I had the momentary sensation that I was reading about the Curious George series, and was then jolted awake by "... Burns in Hell." Hey, Curious George does not burn in Hell! Despite that incident with the washing mashine.

LOL!!!!

 

[RSLancastr]

Dear lord, I thought I was the only tourtured soul to read all 6 books. I found them in my collection (probably donated by my aunt) when I was desperate for reading material...

Not only did I read all six, but I read them in a tortuous way. I discovered (and bought) the original trilogy all in one shot, and read them straight through. Loved them, even though yes, you want to beat the crap out of Covenant every chapter.

Then, a few years later, the fourth book (first book in the second trilogy) came out. I reread the first three, then read the fourth. When the fifth came out, I reread the fourth, then read the fifth. And yes, when the sixth came out, I reread the fourth and fifth before I read it.

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. Great series, but the last 2 books have gone from "Vampire Hunter" to "Lust crazed bimbo"

Wow, I think I will look into reading the later ones!

Speaking of Curious George, I remember a David Letterman Top Ten List, "The Top Ten Least-Loved Children's Books". One of them was Curious George and the Electrified Fence.

 

[Mocker Wall]

Oh. Yeah. Any Jack Chalker series, now that you mention it./quote]

My first JC series that I read was the Soul Rider series which I loved up to the last book (Bleh!). I bought some more of his series and realised one thing. He's a one note writer. In all of his series, the main character will either a) change form, b) change sex, c) change form and sex or d) swap bodies with someone else. That's story telling the JC way.

There was one book that he wrote with 2 other authors that was somewhat enjoyable as you weren't really expected to take it seriously. Sadly, I can't remember the name of the book or the names of the other authors at the moment, but it involved a literary exercise where one author would write a chapter of a story, hand it to the next author where they have to write the next chapter and then they hand it to the next author.

It was interesting to watch each author try to write the next author in a corner with no escape. One funny sequence happened when Chalker did one of his "body switching" scenes at the end of his chapter. The next author at the beginning of the next chapter started cussing out Chalker.

 

[The Whether Man]

To be honest, I think Tom Clancy's 'Jack Ryan' series has lost it's way. I gave up after he became President because everyone else had been blown up, or whatever. Clancy was too unneccessarily wordy anyway, even for me.

 

[asthmatic camel]

I've just had to reconsider my view of reincarnation. Ender Wiggin appears to have returned to haunt us using the nom de plume Lord Kenneth.

Regards,

AC.

 

[Boo]

To be honest, I think Tom Clancy's 'Jack Ryan' series has lost it's way. I gave up after he became President because everyone else had been blown up, or whatever. Clancy was too unneccessarily wordy anyway, even for me.

I have to agree. Clancy lost me during "Rainbow Six". I have tried 3 times to read it and have never made it more than 1/3 way through.

Another series that lost me was The Sword of Truth. First 3 were very difficult to put down. Got bogged down after that. The newest one holds promise though.


Boo

 

[Soapy Sam]

Seems to me there are two common factors here;-
1.No author, no matter how original, can go on mining a worked out seam indefinitely.
2.Readers get older.

I suspect we don't like to admit point 2. Not only do the ideas get less original, but we are prepared for the variants, because we are familiar with the original. More of the same is nice for a while, but then we want something new. Especially in SF, where we are seeking new viewpoints and ideas to start with.

Still, even when they do get repetitive, you sometimes hope for more. Can there be a single C.J.Cherryh fan who does not want to know what happened to Conrad Mazian?

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Seems to me there are two common factors here;-
1.No author, no matter how original, can go on mining a worked out seam indefinitely.

Todd McCaffrey is a good example of this. Anne is a legend, Todd not so much. He uses time travel to get his characters out of the holes they've dug for themselves.

Heinlein did it better with The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. IMNSHO

 

[alfaniner]

Just musing...
It's always a bit off-putting to have an old thread resurrected that shows it was started by a long-gone member (not to mention, also having long-gone participants).
(23 years... is that a record? Man, that Search function is working really well!)

 

[ahhell]

I pretty much agree with all of the series mentioned in the thread(that I've read anyway)

Dune, I thought most that were written by Herbert Sr would good, not as good as the first and mostly overlong. But when Jr took over, oif.
Thomas Covenant, the lead was pretty dense and generally unlikeable. I can deal with an imperfect hero but given some good quality.
River World, nothing to add to what's been said.
Jack Ryan books, I gave up when he spent 2/3s of a book describing the building of a bomb.
Who was that objectivist Fantasy writer? First book was fine, second creepy and weird and heavy handed.
Foundation, I was never a huge fan but by the end, oif, just boring really.
The vampire series, I read way to many of those.

I've been listening to a lot of LitRpg*, with the exception of Dungeon Crawler Carl, not one of them has more than one book in them. even with Carl, the last book or two has been meh.

*Moderately embarrassing, it's all basicaly just teenage nerd wish fulfilment fantasy.

 

[alfaniner]

As long as it came up, I'll relate the story again... (I can't find the original posts in Search)
Early in my days in the Forum, I mentioned my not liking the later books in the Foundation series (after the original first three). Someone said "There were no books past the first three." I got in a huff and eventually took and posted a picture of one of them (now gone from my Media since the changeover purge). The person insisted.
By now I understand it's the same meme as claiming there was no Highlander 2. And I have learned to rarely argue now on the internet.