Death Magnetic:
The bible and other religious books as such.

Mmmm, I wouldn't say that now, maybe you're just saying that out of a dislike for religion, but don't discount their texts on account of that. Some of them, yes even the bible, that is when they aren't harping on about laws and lineages, contain some pretty good stories, mostly morality fables and such. And, I'm not saying this as a religious person myself, I'm not, just that one shouldn't let their distaste for the use of something get in the way for their enjoyment of the subject itself. Although, maybe that's not what you were saying at all, and just consider the Bible or any other religious works to be bad reads. ^^'

Personally, even if I don't partake in the beliefs, I still find the lore, history and stories surrounding religion to be fascinating. Somewhat of the same kind of interest one would have with Norse or Greek mythology for example.

aswiftlytiltingreality:

Lord Krunk:

aswiftlytiltingreality:

Autistic Lemon:
Twilight.
Need I say more?

I have to read the first book in my young adult lit class and when the professor mentioned it, all the girls started swooning and I said, "You guys do realize that Edward Cullen is a fictional character, right?" They all stared at me in abject horror. Then started in on all the ways he's perfect. Um, he's a vampire...how is that attractive? I'm pretty sure the fact that the book's "heroine" wants to sleep with him is necrophilia as he is indeed dead and I don't understand why he has to marry her. He's a vampire and so he can't exactly walk into a courthouse and file for a marriage license. Seriously, it's Anne Rice for the emo-set. Danielle Steele with fangs, if you will.

I haven't exactly read the book; I read the first chapter and threw it away. What exactly was the plot, besides some vampire being a girl's love interest or vice-versa?

That's basically it. Just her whining and complaining that he won't sleep with her and him saying they have to be married.

Oh. It's official:

Twilight = FAIL

Twilight

unless you are a 15 year old girl, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK AND BURN ANY COPIES GIVEN TO YOU but thats just my opinion, ignore it if you wish. Your sanity will thank you later.

Oh, now that i see previous discussion, you know Twilight=fail no wait EPIC FAIL. Go read The Codex Alera or The Dresden Files, good stuff. Or Dies The Fire, or D&D fiction. Thats some heavy stuff there, especially Eberron fiction. I endorse Jim Butcher and S. M Sterling as 2 of my fav authors besides J.R.R Tolkien, Brian Jaques and Erin Hunter (actually 2 people). I am writing my own novel sereis called Memoirs Of A Ghost-Theif. I read A Game Of Thrones, Very hard to follow.

Margaret Atwood's books in general...

Orson Scott Card's "Ender" series, but this gets tricky. The first two books are great, I think. Then there are a whole bunch of terribly boring ones... and then I'm told the newer stuff is quite good.

And from what I know, Twilight is awful.

Twilight. OH MY GOD. What a shitty series that is. It's basically Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Harry Potter meets some shitty romance novel. And my does it suck. Stephanie myers can burn in hell for all i care.

Vortigar:
Kevin J Anderson isn't all bad. Frank Herbert managed to screw Dune up all by himself before they tapped Anderson to continue it (he's under contract for it, it could very well be he's indeed under deadline to produce words for it). I'm pretty much enjoying his saga of seven suns, it's not incredibly even in characters or plot, but some parts are written very well indeed. It isn't very sophisticated, but it rolls along incredibly well. But then, Seven Suns is his pet project, he took his time to do it (oh hell, book seven is out?).

That almost makes it worse. The pair of them have been spitting out the Dune books at almost exactly 1 per year. Knowing that he _can_ take his time to write decent works just makes me wonder all the more why he hasn't stopped, pulled Brian Herbert aside, and helped him do things the right way. His name is on these books as well, so these are representing him out there in the literary world. They're embarrassing.

The Harry Potter series. I won't lie, I read all of a page, but I worked at a book store when one of the books was on the way and so many little kids asked me about it every three minutes (10 kids would ask it 100 times in a couple of hours) and tainted what little chance it had.

Oh god. I'm quite frightened now. I haven't read the Twilight series but I saw my friend last week and she went on abotu how she'd think I'd really enjoy it. Was she having a subtle stab at me? Or does she honestly think I'd like it? I'm not sure which is more frightening!

I'm happy that there people who don't like SOT from Goodkind.

Someone gave me the first Book, "Wizard's First Rule" to read.
It was so...immature.

Gore? Check.
Horrible, Horrible Naming of the Bad Guy? Check.
Torture and Femdom Games for what feels like a hundred pages? Check.
A female lead that can only exist in the mind of someone who jerks off to fantasy books? Check.

Still, i will watch the Movie (or was ist a series?) that is being produced based on Sword of Truth. Hopefully that will at least make me laugh.

Other than that, there were not much books i did not like.
Most disappointing was probably "Children of the Night" by Dan Simmons. Picked it up because i loved the Hyperion Cantos by Simmons, and was interesting enough, thanks to the fun portrayal of vampirism as a realistic sickness and some tense chapters.
But towards the end it became very generic and dull...

I'm going to have to say the Eragon series. The first book was bad enough, it recycled elements that have been done many times before, only better, and the main character has a personality the size of a thimble. You don't even really feel concerned about him because you can't relate to him. And then, in the second book, Paolini made one of the biggest mistakes I've ever seen. He takes the one character that has a semblance of personality, removes him from the story in the first chapter, and then throws him back in as a cliched 'friend turned enemy' character that I saw coming from a mile away. Also, the part of the second book where Eragon is training with the elves was brutal to read.

That and I hate his name. You took the word Dragon and replaced one of the letters to make Eragon, because he gets a dragon! That's really clever.

Elric by Moorcock, seriously overrated, especially considering how its credited with kickstarting the fantasy genre...

Every single book which has a cheap looking illustrated cover, and purports to be about teenage vampire werewolves who are a bit confused and angst ridden, because they have to save the world from some other vampire werewolf furries...

Wow, lots of hate on Terry Goodkind for some reason on here. The Sword of Truth is by far one of the best series I have read. The characters feel more real and believable in the realm of the world he creates, rather than the cookie cutter feel most books have. (He still has the stereotypically characters, but they don't FEEL like it) To each his own though.

Oops, I forgot to include the Old Testament. A couple of health doses of genocide, with large helpings of rape, torture, destruction on an epic scale, and lots and lots of murder (mostly for no apparent reason). The plot is generally pretty garbled too, and the author(s) made no attempt to maintain historical accuracy in this one or the sequel (in the bits which attempt to talk about real goings-on).

BigKingBob:
Elric by Moorcock, seriously overrated, especially considering how its credited with kickstarting the fantasy genre...

Really 0_o I thought Elric was supposed to be a dig at traditional fantasy? He not especially strong, and in fact gets most of his powers from his blade, which incidently must feed on the living thus forcing Elric to kill. Otherwise he's a weak man with ablinism. He's not really all that tragic either, it being quite established that he and his people are quite evil, if not without their own sense of honor. He never really does anything heroic either.

Definately not something I'd consider kick starting the fantasy genre, so I agree, as I understood it was a reaction by Moorcock to the works of the likes of Tolkein and Howard. Maybe an early anti-hero, although Conan himself showed traces of this.

PxDn Ninja:
Wow, lots of hate on Terry Goodkind for some reason on here. The Sword of Truth is by far one of the best series I have read. The characters feel more real and believable in the realm of the world he creates, rather than the cookie cutter feel most books have. (He still has the stereotypically characters, but they don't FEEL like it) To each his own though.

I didn't have much of a problem with Goodkind's characters, it's more of his method of generating plots became repetitive. Throw in a few 'no one would do that, except to advance the plot' bits here and there, and I just got tired of the series.

For some really good characters (and amazing stories), give the Jhereg series by Steven Brust a try.

... Wtf. A Song of Ice and Fire is utterly amazing. The reason I like it is because they kill everyone off. Noone is safe. There is no X cast that you know will always be fine and the fact that it then goes and shows you the villians point of view just makes it better.
*hates you all*

Anyway I hate the Wheel of Time series. Fucking plodded on and on and on and a single convo between minor boring characters can take like 20 pages. Then the bastard author goes and dies before he finishes the series.

Also Anita Blake. Anyone whos read that series knows what I am on about.
A chick who starts off kinda weak and gets her ass kicked alot but has a few cool powers and is slowly getting built up then suddenly on like book 10 the whole plot changes. She goes from virginish to fucking literally half the cast. I stopped reading when she had a triumvirate with two sets of people. Which considering it plainly states there has only been one other triumvirate ever it kinda ruins it.
Plus she ends having a stable of like 20 guys she just fucks non stop. One book introduced a story got you into it a bit, fucked for most the book then wrapped up the story in like the last 20 pages like the author forgot all about it.

GothmogII:

BigKingBob:
Elric by Moorcock, seriously overrated, especially considering how its credited with kickstarting the fantasy genre...

Really 0_o I thought Elric was supposed to be a dig at traditional fantasy? He not especially strong, and in fact gets most of his powers from his blade, which incidently must feed on the living thus forcing Elric to kill. Otherwise he's a weak man with ablinism. He's not really all that tragic either, it being quite established that he and he people are quite evil, if not without their own sense of honor. He never really does anything heroic either.

Definately not something I'd consider kick starting the fantasy genre, so I agree, as I understood it was a reaction by Moorcock to the works of the likes of Tolkein and Howard. Maybe an early anti-hero, although Conan himself showed traces of this.

Really? I just thought it was his take on the fantasy hero. Hmm... Maybe the "kickstart" was a bit of an overstatement but I did read alot about it online and about how influential it was. The book just didnt get me involved, the whole evil anti-hero thing just came across as a kind of depressive apathy.

I liked his "epic pooh" essay and "the dancers at the end of time" but really didnt like Elric.

Ah well, probably just me.

paulgruberman:

PxDn Ninja:
Wow, lots of hate on Terry Goodkind for some reason on here. The Sword of Truth is by far one of the best series I have read. The characters feel more real and believable in the realm of the world he creates, rather than the cookie cutter feel most books have. (He still has the stereotypically characters, but they don't FEEL like it) To each his own though.

I didn't have much of a problem with Goodkind's characters, it's more of his method of generating plots became repetitive. Throw in a few 'no one would do that, except to advance the plot' bits here and there, and I just got tired of the series.

For some really good characters (and amazing stories), give the Jhereg series by Steven Brust a try.

Fair enough. I didn't notice anything out of character in their behavior, but everyone reads things differently. I'll see about checking out that Jhereg series you mention once my crunch time at work passes.

Personally I could not get past Book 3 in the Wheel of Time. Some of it just drug on and on and I finally had to put it down. I know there is a lot of fanfare for the series but I just could not get into it.

For a single book, Eragon.

Razzle Bathbone:
Any Dune book with words other than "Dune" in the title.

I disagree, but i respect your opinion. I would amend it to "any Dune books not written by Frank Herbert." Personally I love the Dune series.

Vash108:
Personally I could not get past Book 3 in the Wheel of Time. Some of it just drug on and on and I finally had to put it down. I know there is a lot of fanfare for the series but I just could not get into it.

For a single book, Eragon.

Eragon is series. The 3rd book comes out this month I think.

avykins:
... Wtf. A Song of Ice and Fire is utterly amazing. The reason I like it is because they kill everyone off. Noone is safe. There is no X cast that you know will always be fine and the fact that it then goes and shows you the villians point of view just makes it better.
*hates you all*

Anyway I hate the Wheel of Time series. Fucking plodded on and on and on and a single convo between minor boring characters can take like 20 pages. Then the bastard author goes and dies before he finishes the series.

Also Anita Blake. Anyone whos read that series knows what I am on about.
A chick who starts off kinda weak and gets her ass kicked alot but has a few cool powers and is slowly getting built up then suddenly on like book 10 the whole plot changes. She goes from virginish to fucking literally half the cast. I stopped reading when she had a triumvirate with two sets of people. Which considering it plainly states there has only been one other triumvirate ever it kinda ruins it.
Plus she ends having a stable of like 20 guys she just fucks non stop. One book introduced a story got you into it a bit, fucked for most the book then wrapped up the story in like the last 20 pages like the author forgot all about it.

That was the point I stopped reading Anita Blake. I used to love those books -sniffle- DAMN YOU LAURELL K. HAMILTON! *shakes fist at the sky*

I have to agree with the Sword of Truth series, it's a badly scripted action movie in book form, along with the least endearing protagonist ever, who Terry quickly establishes as messiah. Frankly, the best moments are when Richard is about to die and then the reader is disappointed when Richard survives yet again.

The characters in general are terrible with little portrayal of real human emotion or nature except the shallowest kind, and the characters all have the same purpose of making Richard look good by being either his servant, his lover or his soon to be dead enemy.

I wouldn't read any of the books a second time.

Cahlee:
Oh god. I'm quite frightened now. I haven't read the Twilight series but I saw my friend last week and she went on abotu how she'd think I'd really enjoy it. Was she having a subtle stab at me? Or does she honestly think I'd like it? I'm not sure which is more frightening!

She was probably serious. I know quite a lot of other English majors who are completely infatuated with that book series and they literally turn into foaming fangirls whenever I say anything bad about Edward Cullen (I sometimes get a "I'm the future Mrs. Edward Cullen! Don't talk about him that way"...I'm not kidding). It's really, really sad.

Wow, several responses said 1984. Jaded because your high school teacher made you read at all?

That's one of the best books ever written. Hands down.

Oh yeah another one, "Catcher in the sodding Rye."

I can sum it up in one line:
"Wah wah awah, I'm depressed, I'm a dropout, I punch windows, wah, wah, wah."

PxDn Ninja:

paulgruberman:

PxDn Ninja:
Wow, lots of hate on Terry Goodkind for some reason on here. The Sword of Truth is by far one of the best series I have read. The characters feel more real and believable in the realm of the world he creates, rather than the cookie cutter feel most books have. (He still has the stereotypically characters, but they don't FEEL like it) To each his own though.

I didn't have much of a problem with Goodkind's characters, it's more of his method of generating plots became repetitive. Throw in a few 'no one would do that, except to advance the plot' bits here and there, and I just got tired of the series.

For some really good characters (and amazing stories), give the Jhereg series by Steven Brust a try.

Fair enough. I didn't notice anything out of character in their behavior, but everyone reads things differently. I'll see about checking out that Jhereg series you mention once my crunch time at work passes.

Also check out his Phoenix Guard series, it's set in the same Universe as the Jhereg books, only it's based off of the Three Musketeers and hence rocks the fuckin' show.

I know quite a lot of other English majors who are completely infatuated with that book series and they literally turn into foaming fangirls whenever I say anything bad about Edward Cullen (I sometimes get a "I'm the future Mrs. Edward Cullen! Don't talk about him that way"...I'm not kidding). It's really, really sad.

Dear lord...and to think that stuff is already being introduced in my country already, with the translated name "Crepuzculo."

Oh, crap...

EDIT: I edited a lapsus brutus.

Da Vinci Code in fact most Dan Brown

Well i belive the books that involve anything about star wars suck.

Fuck both Jane Eyre and The House on Mango Street.

PedroSteckecilo:
Also check out his Phoenix Guard series, it's set in the same Universe as the Jhereg books, only it's based off of the Three Musketeers and hence rocks the fuckin' show.

Yep, I'd have recommended the entirety of his works (he does characters really, really well) from the start, but I figured go with the first. Plus, the writing style in the Phoenix Guard matches the old Three Musketeers style, which can take a bit of getting used to.

If you find the 'I'm so goth it hurts' nature of the Ann Rice vampire world gets on your nerves (not saying the books are bad, just that bit annoyed me), read Agyar. Only thing that annoyed me there was that it was a novel, and no more like it was to be found. Again, amazing characters, amazing stories, amazing delivery.

Ok, enough derailing the thread with the exact opposite of the intended post (plus there's already one for recommendations somewhere around here).

Avoid: The Descent by Jeff Long
Why: Climactic scene is the opening, then we get something that reads like a bad history book, then a boring story with uninteresting characters. Interesting concept, horrible execution.

RabbitJunk:
Well i belive the books that involve anything about star wars suck.

Did you read the Rogue Squadron stuff by Stackpole?

paulgruberman:

RabbitJunk:
Well i belive the books that involve anything about star wars suck.

Did you read the Rogue Squadron stuff by Stackpole?

Or the Thrawn books by Timothy Zahn? And the more recent "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader was quite good as well.

Hmmm, books/series to avoid? Sorry, I can't really think of any. I guess maybe I supress memories of the bad ones?