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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lovelies!
And now, on to a small rant of sorts, from chatting withlennaofmidearth about books and series' that don't know when to stop.
A while back, I came across a very cheap (50 cents) used copy of the book Wizard's First Rule, by Terry Goodkind. Well, it was fifty cents and it was autographed and it looked like the sort of thing I liked, so I bought it. And I enjoyed it, and started in on the rest of the series. I made it until book fine, and then wanted to gouge my eyes out with a fork. Terry Goodkind started out well. But the fifth time the same exact plot was used, the fifth time he introduced something completely new and random, the fifth time he relied on plot devices of utter stupidity.....
Book One: We've got wizards, intrigue, manifest destiny, wise old wizard figure, cruel and sadistic bad guy (Darken Rahl was seriously one of the creepiest villains ever), UST, farm boy has hidden past, all that good stuff. He's got me hooked. Even when he defeats the big bad in the end of the first book, and the two main characters hook up.
Book Two: Hmmm, plot device right off the get go. Okay, I can deal. We've got reconstruction, we've got some nice hurdles between the main couple, we've got loose ends getting tied up, we've got... well, okay, so we've got some new stuff that comes totally out of nowhere and is sort of jarring, but that's okay. I'm still with him.
Book Three: Hmmm. More plot devices. Alright, no big deal, I still like the story. Hmmm. The same plot between the two main characters. Well.... okay, same thing different circumstances, alright. Um. A secret society that is involved in all the politics all over the known world and is made up of magical women that aren't the same as that other group of magical women that also have a hand in politics.... um. Okay. Right, some of these are evil. Okay. Whatever. I'm dealing.
Book Four: The Mega-Huge Book of Plot Devices Galore. Could you work any harder to make random already happened events exactly the right circumstances needed for some obscure and never before heard of prophecy to come to pass? And do you need to address every single media hot button topic of the moment? Hey, I like serial killers as much as the next fan, but it doesn't fit! And I'm sorry, but that was the worst serial killer ever. Try a little thing called research. And.... the same plot between the two main characters. It's getting pretty old. Followed by the most anti-climactic and confusing ending ever. But... well, maybe the next one will be better. I'm still with him, sort of.
Book Five: Um. The same old plot device. None of the characters we know and love. A whole new place that we've never heard of even though it's been made clear we know almost all of the world? With...wtf, technology? And here is where he loses me.
I know I'm beating a dead horse when I say that I'm extremely picky about how my fantasy and technology blend, but I've never seen a poorer attempt than what Terry Goodkind pulled out of his ass. No explanation, no attempt to make it blend in, nothing. Just 'oh shit, I need something new because my books are starting to suck, I know!'
Vernor Vinge can do it beautifully. Anne Macaffery made a good show of it. L. E. Modestet can do it, and I don't even like his books. Hell, those stupid elves-with-racecar books by Mercedes Lackey handled it better.
When fucking Mercedes Lackey can do something better than you, it's time to hang up your hat. I stopped reading after Soul of the Fire, and I always groan when I see he's put out yet another book, that seems to be serving up the same heaping piles of shit that began with the fourth book.
lovelies!And now, on to a small rant of sorts, from chatting with
lennaofmidearth about books and series' that don't know when to stop. A while back, I came across a very cheap (50 cents) used copy of the book Wizard's First Rule, by Terry Goodkind. Well, it was fifty cents and it was autographed and it looked like the sort of thing I liked, so I bought it. And I enjoyed it, and started in on the rest of the series. I made it until book fine, and then wanted to gouge my eyes out with a fork. Terry Goodkind started out well. But the fifth time the same exact plot was used, the fifth time he introduced something completely new and random, the fifth time he relied on plot devices of utter stupidity.....
Book One: We've got wizards, intrigue, manifest destiny, wise old wizard figure, cruel and sadistic bad guy (Darken Rahl was seriously one of the creepiest villains ever), UST, farm boy has hidden past, all that good stuff. He's got me hooked. Even when he defeats the big bad in the end of the first book, and the two main characters hook up.
Book Two: Hmmm, plot device right off the get go. Okay, I can deal. We've got reconstruction, we've got some nice hurdles between the main couple, we've got loose ends getting tied up, we've got... well, okay, so we've got some new stuff that comes totally out of nowhere and is sort of jarring, but that's okay. I'm still with him.
Book Three: Hmmm. More plot devices. Alright, no big deal, I still like the story. Hmmm. The same plot between the two main characters. Well.... okay, same thing different circumstances, alright. Um. A secret society that is involved in all the politics all over the known world and is made up of magical women that aren't the same as that other group of magical women that also have a hand in politics.... um. Okay. Right, some of these are evil. Okay. Whatever. I'm dealing.
Book Four: The Mega-Huge Book of Plot Devices Galore. Could you work any harder to make random already happened events exactly the right circumstances needed for some obscure and never before heard of prophecy to come to pass? And do you need to address every single media hot button topic of the moment? Hey, I like serial killers as much as the next fan, but it doesn't fit! And I'm sorry, but that was the worst serial killer ever. Try a little thing called research. And.... the same plot between the two main characters. It's getting pretty old. Followed by the most anti-climactic and confusing ending ever. But... well, maybe the next one will be better. I'm still with him, sort of.
Book Five: Um. The same old plot device. None of the characters we know and love. A whole new place that we've never heard of even though it's been made clear we know almost all of the world? With...wtf, technology? And here is where he loses me.
I know I'm beating a dead horse when I say that I'm extremely picky about how my fantasy and technology blend, but I've never seen a poorer attempt than what Terry Goodkind pulled out of his ass. No explanation, no attempt to make it blend in, nothing. Just 'oh shit, I need something new because my books are starting to suck, I know!'
Vernor Vinge can do it beautifully. Anne Macaffery made a good show of it. L. E. Modestet can do it, and I don't even like his books. Hell, those stupid elves-with-racecar books by Mercedes Lackey handled it better.
When fucking Mercedes Lackey can do something better than you, it's time to hang up your hat. I stopped reading after Soul of the Fire, and I always groan when I see he's put out yet another book, that seems to be serving up the same heaping piles of shit that began with the fourth book.
