Back to Books
Back to the Good Stuff
Back to Tolkien
Stuff That's Not So Good
Ugh. Where to begin? A true listing of all that is hideous in
fantasy literature would quickly fill up the disk space for this site and many
more. I'll make a general condemnation of a certain sub-genre, then narrow
in on two specific authors.
It's a rule of thumb that Shared Universe series are almost
always boring & tedious. By 'Shared Universe' I mean the countless Star Wars,
Star Trek, and Dungeons & Dragons books that litter the shelves of your local
book store. With some exceptions these series attract novice authors with little
experience in how to construct a story. Though to be fair, these authors have
their hands tied in what they can do in that world. Having Chewbacca get rabies
and maul Han Solo is a story that's aching to be told, but you know the powers
that be would frown upon it. All this being said, there are some diamonds in the
rough. Timothy
Zahn in Star Wars,
Peter David in
Star Trek and especially
R.A. Salvatore in the Forgotten Realms of Dungeons & Dragons. Accomplished
writers all of them, and exceptions that prove the rule, that 'Shared Universe'
books are bad bad bad.
David Eddings
Looking back, I should have known about David Eddings. At one
point in my life, I had read every word he had published. My calendar would be
circled with the release dates of latest works. What happened? Well, I read
David Eddings first fantasy series, "The Belgariad" in grade six. I was
eleven and thought it was the greatest thing I had ever read. I read and re-read
the series numerous times. Then one magical day the news arrived that Eddings
was planning a sequel series of 5 books, called "The Mallorean". I was
overjoyed. Over the next five years, the series was released. With each new book
in the series my enjoyment of all things Eddings lessened. Eddings was simply
repeating the events of the first series. It got so bad that even the characters
started making the connection that the events they were experiencing were oddly
similar to their earlier adventures. This second series seemed a pointless
exercise, with no purpose other than to line Eddings pocketbook. So I was kind
of miffed with Eddings, but I still considered myself a fan.
Eddings' next two projects lost me forever. Two trilogies set
in the same world, (though different from the Belgariad & Mallorean). These
execrable trilogies are called "The
Elenium" and "The Tamuli". You know you have horrible main characters when
you're rooting for the bad guys. Well in these stories the bad guys are so
annoying, you can't even root for them. I found myself hoping an asteroid would
strike the planet and obliterate everything. That's how bad the characters are.
What fault do these characters all share? Excessive sarcasm. Now I don't mind
sarcastic characters in literature. But I do mind when the entire cast is
sarcastic EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY SCENE. No matter the situation, the characters
would make some snide, ironic comment. If the characters themselves don't take
the story seriously, why should I? Oh, and the story was virtually identical to
that in "The Belgariad". Eddings was simply repeating himself again, but
this time with hideous characters. But such was my love for Eddings initial
series, "The Belgariad", that I forced myself to read these books, in the inane
hope that they would redeem themselves. They never did, and I swore off David
Eddings forever. I suspect the only reason I enjoyed, "The Belgariad" in the
first place was that I was eleven years old and simply didn't know better. Well
I know better now. The six books that comprise, "The Elenium" & "The Tamuli"
represent the absolute worst of fantasy literature.
Terry Goodkind
Terry Goodkind arrived on the fantasy scene in the mid
nineties with a lot of fanfare. His first book "Wizard's First Rule" was an
instant best seller and marked the beginning of yet another long fantasy series.
Reading the hype around Goodkind, I was extremely excited. It's every fantasy
fan's wish to discover a quality series with the promise of multiple books
to follow. I was hoping Goodkind would deliver on this. He didn't. Now maybe
it's just me. Every book Goodkind publishes is an instant best seller, and he's
received critical praise. I just don't see it. The characters are boring, and
the plotting is extremely weak. Some scenes are so awful, they make you question
why you ever started reading fantasy in the first place. After wasting so much time on Eddings, I refused
to follow a series that repulsed me. However, due to the popular acclaim of this
series, I tried to stick it out...but alas, after four books of Goodkind's "Sword of
Truth", I had enough. There are so many little things I dislike about these
books that there is no purpose for me to list them here. It would only
discourage and sadden myself to be reminded of all of the series shortcomings.
So I'll just pick out the MAJOR fault of the series, and that is the use of the
"Deux ex Machina". The god in the machine. This is a literary term, that comes
from the ancient Greek plays, where the hero would be saved from some insoluble
problem by the appearance of a deity, lowered in via wires. Now why the Ancient
Greeks would name such a plot device in Latin is beyond me. To put it more
simply 'deux ex machina' is where an author uses some improbable (and often
clumsy) plot device to work his or her way out of a difficult situation.
In SF, dealing with futuristic technologies and magic, topics that are
ill-defined by rules, the 'deux ex machina' is commonplace. It is the hallmark
of all lazy writing. An author writes him/herself into a corner, and presto-chango,
they're magically saved by something out of the blue. The four books of the
"Sword of Truth" series I read was filled to capacity with it. The most galling
was a scene where the hero is being brainwashed by a cult of sado-masochistic
women (don't ask). It's established that no man can resist being broken by these
women, but our hero succeeds by unknowingly partitioning his mind so no one can
touch his mind. Huh? You then realize that the entire business with the cult
exists only to titillate, and nothing more. And you also realize that no matter
what problem the hero finds himself in, the solution will be wholly
unsatisfying. This realization is indeed proven time and again.
However, there is another reason why I disdain Terry Goodkind
so. And it has nothing to do with his lack of writing ability. And that is his
ripping off ideas from Robert Jordan. For the uninitiated, Robert Jordan
is also a highly touted fantasy author who appeared in the 90's, but unlike Goodkind, Jordan can write. Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series started a good five
years before Goodkind first book was published and its obvious where he (Goodkind)
got a lot of his ideas. Now I realized that the basic themes of epic fantasy go
back thousands of years. There's nothing original about any of them, including
Tolkien. However, Goodkind copies institutions, magic and artifacts directly
from Jordan. There are so many that I may devote an entire page to all the
similarities. But that would require reading Goodkind's drek again, and that's
something I'm not prepared to do.
Please, take my advice, and AVOID these authors. You'll be a
much happier individual.
Back to Books
Back to the Good Stuff
Back to Tolkien