<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div>I entirely agree. For style, Erikson is NOT your man. (And that made me seriously hesitate mentioning him on this list.) And, like you said, his characterization is inconsistent, which is a real problem in books with upwards of 200 characters sometimes. Still, the fun there is the world building/history/politics. The problem is that he forgot to populate it with interesting people. So I read it like fake history (Silmarillion-style), and I can overlook the shortcomings. (Although I think that even Silmarillion had its stylistic charms.)<br><br>And I've heard only good things about Rothfuss, too. But I always have a problem starting a series before it's finished. You never know if the author is going to die before finishing it (e.g., Robert Jordan).<br></div><div style="font-family: times new
roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Lane Haygood <lhaygood@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> The Urth Mailing List <urth@lists.urth.net><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, December 17, 2008 7:30:16 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: (urth) OT: Vance Autobiography<br></font><br>
I never could get into Erikson's stuff, and I picked it up because it had a blurb from Stephen Donaldson on the cover, and I like Donaldson's work. Erikson's characterization wasn't as sharp as Martin's, his prose nowhere near as solid as Jordan's, and he lacked Martin's ability to work in different narrative voices to the same story. I felt it was a shame, because it seemed like the rarest of all birds, good epic fantasy (in terms of what he wanted to do with the series, which from reading websites, Wikipedia, etc., and talking to my friends, seems rather awesome). I hate to sound like one of those guys who always says that the oldies are the best, but for that kind of fantasy, I find Glen Cook to be an undisputed master. And what luck! You can get his "Black Company" novels in anthology format now. I have both "The Chronicles of the Black Company" and "The Books of the South" on my bookshelf right now and they're
both excellent.<div>
<br></div><div>For modern authors of epic fantasy that have thrilled me, Patrick Rothfuss' "The Name of the Wind" was a good exercise in frame stories, extraordinarily well written and very easy to get into. Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora books remind me a lot of one of my absolute favorite authors, Fritz Leiber. And finally, Joshua Palmatier's "Throne of Amenkor" series is refreshingly original and a blast to read.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Lane<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 7:04 PM, Craig Brewer <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:cnbrewer@yahoo.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:cnbrewer@yahoo.com">cnbrewer@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Very different, but if you like "mystery" sf/fantasy, at least in the sense of starting without a clue and slowly having to puzzle your way toward figuring out what's going on, Steven Ericson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series is a fun read. It's a very different kind of read from Wolfe. But if you find yourself at all attracted to the the Robert Jordan/George R. R. Martin 10 book epics, this is the best of the bunch, imo. It has its problems, but I also find that it has its fair bit of puzzling that increases the fun.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
<br>
<br>
----- Original Message ----<br>
From: David Stockhoff <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">dstockhoff@verizon.net</a>><br>
To: <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net">urth@lists.urth.net</a><br>
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 5:34:02 PM<br>
Subject: Re: (urth) OT: Vance Autobiography<br>
<br>
I will second that, on both counts. And add The Deep and Beasts, as well.<br>
<br>
----------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Message: 1<br>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:17:04 -0800 (PST)<br>
From: "Tim Walters" <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:walters@doubtfulpalace.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:walters@doubtfulpalace.com">walters@doubtfulpalace.com</a>><br>
Subject: Re: (urth) OT: Vance Autobiography<br>
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net">urth@lists.urth.net</a>><br>
Message-ID: <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:37532.198.1229537824.squirrel@o2.hostbaby.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:37532.198.1229537824.squirrel@o2.hostbaby.com">37532.198.1229537824.squirrel@o2.hostbaby.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
> > It's just probably not the sort of stuff that inspires me to get online<br>
> > and try to hash out what the hell is going on with some other readers.<br>
><br>
<br>
For that, I would recommend John Crowley, especially _Engine Summer_ and<br>
_Little, Big_.<br>
<br>
-- Tim Walters | <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://doubtfulpalace.com">http://doubtfulpalace.com</a> ------------------------------<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
---<br>
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.<br>
Virus Database (VPS): 081217-0, 12/17/2008<br>
Tested on: 12/17/2008 6:34:03 PM<br>
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software.<br>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.avast.com">http://www.avast.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Urth Mailing List<br>
To post, write <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:urth@urth.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:urth@urth.net">urth@urth.net</a><br>
Subscription/information: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.urth.net">http://www.urth.net</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Urth Mailing List<br>
To post, write <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:urth@urth.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:urth@urth.net">urth@urth.net</a><br>
Subscription/information: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.urth.net">http://www.urth.net</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>
</div></div></div><br>
</body></html>