Book Series That Go Sour

[jimbob]

Reynolds is also terrible at writing people. And terrible at moderating the rule of cool in his longer works.

That's fair

 

[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.

(edit to add)
Mostly because, unless specifically noted, it's impossible to tell who's being sarcastic any more.

 

[theprestige]

Probably an unpopular opinion but Ghormenghast. As a proof of concept - stringing together fantastical vignettes in an "and then"-style narrative, it's great. The imagery and invention are iconic. Few could do what Peake did, even half as well as he did it.

But I read the first book at the same time I was realizing how many modern TV shows were just soap operas with artistic pretensions. The goal was never resolution, closure. The goal was always stringing along the audience along with yet another vignette that starts nowhere and goes nowhere and is only there to be a chapter in a story they want you to come back for more of. So naturally I got about halfway through Peake's book and thought, "this is that'? And then what's the point?

That said, I still use Ghormenghast as a worldbuilding reference, for when I need a suitably fantastical scenario or character for a TTRPG campaign. When the loremaster you seek is a melancholy giant, and his footman is a giant, and his whole family is giants, and they all live in a giant castle that comes and goes like Brigadoon... well, you know whose work I'm shamelessly stealing frrom.

 

[alfaniner]

The Ender series. Really liked the first one. (Before my reread, I thought they had spent a lot more time in the Battle Room. I thought they should have concentrated on that more in the movie.) Speaker for the Dead was OK. The rest, no. And the side story Ender's Shadow just seemed like a money-wringing grab.

 

[theprestige]

The Ender series. Really liked the first one. (Before my reread, I thought they had spent a lot more time in the Battle Room. I thought they should have concentrated on that more in the movie.) Speaker for the Dead was OK. The rest, no. And the side story Ender's Shadow just seemed like a money-wringing grab.

My dad really liked Speaker for the Dead. He doesn't read much fantasy or SF at all, so the fact that he even picked this one up, let alone read it, let alone really engaged on a heartfelt level with the story, is pretty amazing to me. Doubly so because I didn't really care much for it. I wanted a lot more of the warrior-savant goes to war in the midst of conspiracy stuff from the first book. The set-piece problem solving and hard SF of it all. Oh well. At least I'll always have Cheradenine Zakalwe.

 

[ahhell]

Probably an unpopular opinion but Ghormenghast. As a proof of concept - stringing together fantastical vignettes in an "and then"-style narrative, it's great. The imagery and invention are iconic. Few could do what Peake did, even half as well as he did it.

But I read the first book at the same time I was realizing how many modern TV shows were just soap operas with artistic pretensions. The goal was never resolution, closure. The goal was always stringing along the audience along with yet another vignette that starts nowhere and goes nowhere and is only there to be a chapter in a story they want you to come back for more of. So naturally I got about halfway through Peake's book and thought, "this is that'? And then what's the point?

That said, I still use Ghormenghast as a worldbuilding reference, for when I need a suitably fantastical scenario or character for a TTRPG campaign. When the loremaster you seek is a melancholy giant, and his footman is a giant, and his whole family is giants, and they all live in a giant castle that comes and goes like Brigadoon... well, you know whose work I'm shamelessly stealing frrom.

I think this is somewhat unfair to most soaps. As a rule the vignettes are part of longer stories that do come to an end but they always have 3, 4, 5... of those stories going so if one ends, there's 3 more still running and they'll start a new one tomorrow.

 

[alfaniner]

I think this is somewhat unfair to most soaps. As a rule the vignettes are part of longer stories that do come to an end but they always have 3, 4, 5... of those stories going so if one ends, there's 3 more still running and they'll start a new one tomorrow.

And always a cliffhanger on Friday.

 

[LSSBB]

I found The Radix Tetrad increasingly more difficult and less rewarding to read. Radix itself I thought was excellent.