Old Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread • Page 30 • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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Old Random Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread
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Kingofpain89
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:50 am

ashmire13 wrote:I think I'd be rather disappointed if I went back to them, so I've struggled on with the Wheel of Time series and will probably even stop on those soon...

What book are you currently reading? I only ask because at one point I thought the same. I started reading the WoT series back in the 90's when they first came out. The first three books were fantastic and I read through them in no time. Then I got to the fourth book The Shadow Rising. I think it took me a few months to slog through it. It absolutely bored me to tears. After I finally finished it, I read through the fifth book The Fires of Heaven pretty quickly but I think I skipped around a bit because I just was that disinterested by that point.

I started re-reading the series a few months back. The first three books were as good as I remembered them. Soon after I prepared myself for another torturous journey through the fourth book. Surprisingly though I ended up reading through it very quickly. Maybe it is because I am older now but it has really become my favorite of the series. The fifth and sixth books went by fairly quick but once I got to the seventh book A Crown of Swords it got to be a bit muddled and difficult to get through. I persevered though and am currently reading Path of Daggers. I am a little more than halfway through and it has been a pretty good read so far.

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

ashmire13
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:40 am

Currently half way thru Book 5, but agree 4 was hard work.

I am hoping it'll pick along again soon, as it seems a bit disjointed at the mo.
But I do like some of the ideas and would use them in my campaign if I ever started again. I'm seeing if my 7yr old will get into AD&D at some point, by trying him on the Dragonlance boardgame and maybe LotR Risk, on the basis its gaming in a fantasy setting and that dragons and orcs will interest him...

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MetaSigma
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:56 am

Wow, you guys are made of sterner stuff than I. My well-meaning wife bought me the entire WoT series (thus far, probably 5 or 6 books) years ago, so being a good husband (I had serious misgivings) I dove in. I made it through book 1 and about halfway through book 2 before I realized that the characters were so painfully boring that I wanted them all dead. I don't even remember the titles of the books. They went to the local paperback book swap joint soon after. Ugh.

I think I read some Brooks, hot on the heels of finishing LotR in the early '80s. I was able to slog through two or three of those.

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MetaSigma
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:12 am

JasonZavoda wrote:I reread Patrica McKillips Riddlemaster trilogy a week ago and that was incredible. Didn't care for it as a teenager, I'd like to go back in time and slap some sense into my head.

I recall reading at least the first one of those bitd and liking it. I'll have to track them down again. I've toyed with the idea several times, but figured they wouldn't measure up to my (admittedly vague) recollection.

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red wizard
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:24 am

My fifth grade teacher, Mrs Whelly, read us the Sword of Shannara throughout the school year and I can still picture her leaning forward in her chair reading and us all huddled and entranced on the floor in a semi-circle around her. Her gestures and antics as she read really pulled us into the story and probably had a lot to do with my love of fantasy literature and gaming. Funny thing is over 30 years later I still see her and immediately think of that time.

JasonZavoda
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:15 pm

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Wow, you guys are made of sterner stuff than I. My well-meaning wife bought me the entire WoT series (thus far, probably 5 or 6 books) years ago, so being a good husband (I had serious misgivings) I dove in. I made it through book 1 and about halfway through book 2 before I realized that the characters were so painfully boring that I wanted them all dead. I don't even remember the titles of the books. They went to the local paperback book swap joint soon after. Ugh.

I think I read some Brooks, hot on the heels of finishing LotR in the early '80s. I was able to slog through two or three of those.

Jordan wrote some decent Conan stories, but Wheel of Time, it kept reminding me of better books and I keopt slogging through to get to a good part, or to get somewhere, and... it... never... did...

I don't think Jordan would have ever gotten anywhere with this story. Buried within it are some excellent ideas for a campaign world but as a story it never lived up to my modest expectations. Jordan needed someone to cut the crap out of his writing and someone else to kick him in the ass and get to some plain storytelling in each book. Instead Wheel of Time seems padded and strung out as far as possible to sell the next book in the series and then the next book.

I want a story from a writer not a way for him to have a steady income.

MetaSigma
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Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 2:23 pm

JasonZavoda wrote:I want a story from a writer not a way for him to have a steady income.

Amen to that. Unfortunately, endless, aimless series like Jordan's seem to be the rule nowadays rather than the exception. While I hardly begrudge someone their meal ticket, it irks me when an author writes a couple of successful fantasy novels, then just keeps trudging onwards because the publisher and less discerning readers just want more, more, more of the same, whether the story requires additional volumes or not. I'm convinced this is what has happened to George Martin's ASoIaF pentahexaseptuatrilogy (he keeps adding more prospective volumes). He's now stymied because he never bothered to figure out ahead of time where the hell he was taking the plot, and he's written himself into a situation where he has like 20 Point-of-View characters and no clue how to tie together all the loose ends. The first few books were actually quite promising, IMO.

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Plaag
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 2:13 pm

Enjoyed the Wheel of Time, but it isn't until a few books in or more that characters have an impact, least to me. Don't think I've finished the series as I know I'm at least a book or two shy of that and may not get them unless I ever really have the time to read novels again.
Have 2-3 of the George R. R. Martin A Song of Ice and Fire books, loved the first one, but haven't read the rest. Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series is good, but may scare some people away from the content. Deverry Novels by Katherine Kerr are enjoyable and funny, and she helped write a module for TSR as well.

ShaneG.

I reject your reality and substitute my own

ashmire13
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 4:55 pm

The WoT stops at Book 11 I believe as Jordan passed away, but hasn't it gone to fan writing or another writer to finish? Don't recall his name immediately.

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ashmire13
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 4:56 pm

My reaction to this if I were on the boat would be F*CK!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100721/tod ... 0a197.html

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wavemotion
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 5:04 pm

ashmire13 wrote:The WoT stops at Book 11 I believe as Jordan passed away, but hasn't it gone to fan writing or another writer to finish? Don't recall his name immediately.

Brandon Sanderson - longtime fan of the books was given the task of finishing it up. It was going to be a single book - but now looks like it will be a 3 book "finish". *sigh*

I gave up after book 3 and moved on to the Dresden Files.

-Dave

ashmire13
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 5:14 pm

wavemotion wrote:- but now looks like it will be a 3 book "finish". *sigh*

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MetaSigma
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 5:56 pm

Plaag wrote:Deverry Novels by Katherine Kerr are enjoyable and funny, and she helped write a module for TSR as well.

ShaneG.

I just realized yesterday that Kerr was responsible for some of those interminably long yet factually accurate (read "incredibly dry") articles in Dragon in the mid-'80s. If the books are anything like those dissertations in the magazine, I'll pass thanks very much

Ithaca Dragon
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FormCritic
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:32 pm

Plaag wrote:Wheel of Time

21 Puke Salute. World's Worst Fantasy Series.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Blackmoor
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:21 pm

Check out this auction my wife put up the other day:

** expired/removed eBay auction **

The interesting part is it had over 3500 page views.

Most of our auctions get 50 - 200 views, I am just amazed.

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

MetaSigma
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:24 pm

I'm sure others have said this before, but her work is simply incredible. I'm not much for miniatures, and I don't even care for that particular sculpt, but WOW! Does she take commissions?

Ithaca Dragon
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FormCritic
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:29 pm

JasonZavoda wrote:Jordan wrote some decent Conan stories.

Jordan wrote two painfully awful Conan stories.

He managed to so badly misfire on his characterization of a young Conan that commentators have moved them around in the Conan timeline.

Hard to believe this is the same pervert who wrote the Horseclans novels.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

MetaSigma
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:32 pm

FormCritic wrote:
Jordan wrote two painfully awful Conan stories.

He managed to so badly misfire on his characterization of a young Conan that commentators have moved them around in the Conan timeline.

Hard to believe this is the same pervert who wrote the Horseclans novels.

Naw, that was a different pervert. Robert Adams...

By all acccounts I've heard Jordan (Rigby) was a nice normal sort of chap.

Ithaca Dragon
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