Author Topic: The Best and the Worst  (Read 686 times)

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The Best and the Worst
« on: February 15, 2013, 18:37:55 »
So, what is your favourite Fantasy book? And do you know a Fantasy book you absolutely hate?

My favourite is probably one of the Harry Potter books or Lord of the Rings, since they are so well written and the stories are... well, maybe not perfect (what is?), but they're close to perfect.

Worst? Breaking Dawn, probably. Stephenie Meyer just forgot what her own characters were like and she loved them too much to give them some depth. They were so close to perfect it was annoying. (In that way they became imperfect, by the way, but that's not a good thing...)

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2013, 23:07:21 »
Nice questions! The worst book I ever read would indeed be Breaking Dawn, though that was to some extent still enjoyable (I'm more likely to see past flaws when the story is still enjoyable, even if it is unrealistic and ultimately bad). So I think my worst would be The Sword Of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Bo-ring!

Best book ever is hard to say... I was really impressed with The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson, even though the book was only about 175 pages... but the magic was so damn good and intriguing! I really liked how it was described. There are some other candidates for best book (The Way Of Shadows by Brent Weeks, or Myrren's Gift by Fiona McIntosh, really mostly because their magic is loveable. And the writers aren't afraid to put their characters through hell) that I can think of right now, but I've read them a long time ago and cannot really remember all that much - except that they were impressive. Same counts for Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings - though that is just a whole different category for me. Those books will continue living for me, for the rest of my life.

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2013, 20:59:24 »
I was kind of expecting The Hunger Games there... ah, well, here I my worst and favourite:

The Worst has to be Breaking Dawn (it wasn't even a little enjoyable, if you ask me.) or Het eerste zwaard: Sperling (Meestermagier) which is a dutch book, although I think there is some English translation somewhere. Anyway, it was boring. And unoriginal. I mean: why do there have to be nine companions? Oh, yeah, because The Fellowship of the Ring consisted nine people. And there was a wannabe Gandalf too. And I don't think there was a single character that I didn't want to die. They were all so flat...

The Best I have read is either one of the Harry Potter books (the second is my favourite, I think. Although all of them are great reads) or it is one of the books of The Lord of the Rings. Or the Hobbit. Game of Thrones was absolutely awesome too...It's kind of hard to pick one xD 

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2013, 23:13:14 »
Were you expecting The Hunger Games as a Best-book of Worst-book? :P
And I think there's a huge difference between best books and favourite books. Some books are incredibly well written, others are simply very very enjoyable and exciting, like The Hunger Games, while the style of writing may not be very extraordinary... (However, you could of course reason that being able to write very enjoyable and exciting books is quite extraordinary). So it's always a dilemma for me which books to mention :P

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2013, 18:09:50 »
Best-book. Since you said that you like it when writers aren't afraid to put their characters through hell... and I think Suzanne Collins is that kind of writer :P (but there are a lot of writers like that, of course xD)

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2013, 16:28:09 »
I think THE HUNGER GAMES was great. One could argue that Suzanne Collins' writing is amazing too. Although it is not exceptionnal and very literary etc., she has this amazing writing style that sucks you in, and how many authors can accomplish that?

To go back on-topic:

My absolute worst book, ever?
THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass. It is a YA dystopian, The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor. Great premise, poor execution. There is no distinguishable plot, the heroine is even worse than Bella, no swoon-worthy love interests, weak world building and I could go on for a long while. The worst thing was that this story could have been great. (On top of that, there was a lot of drama surrounding this book, with the author's agent publicly bashing a reviewer.)
The worst fantasy books? Terry Brooks is definitely a front-runner. There was no originality involved, and I'm tired of the LOTR rip-offs. Christopher Paolini's BRISINGR was quite horrible as well.

So, the best fantasy books? Harry Potter, but that is obvious. I enjoy Robin Hobb books as well, but her Liveship Traders Trilogy will always hold a special place in my heart. I fell in love with her world and her characters and I really hope she'll continue to write books set in the Realm of the Elderlings.

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2013, 19:35:02 »
About The Hunger Games: Collins indeed wasn't afraid to put characters down, but sometimes... well, it could've been described better.
Spoiler (hover to show)
But indeed, still very amazing writing :)

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2013, 19:59:29 »
It's not that
Spoiler (hover to show)
and that the other characters did not have time at that moment to ponder over it. However, I thought
Spoiler (hover to show)
. On top of that, I was very disappointed
Spoiler (hover to show)

THG definitely was a good series though. The biggest disappointment is that it caused some kind of trend, where (not even a good) romance is poorly disguised as a dystopian. (But then again, other dystopians such as DIVERGENT and LEGEND are awesome, so everything has its positive and negative sides?)

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2013, 20:02:40 »
I think I realised that spoiler-thing at the moment it happened, but it was a rather chaotic scene if I remember correctly. Btw, I loved the ending of THG, I think it fitted very well and wouldn't it have been weird if it had ended like you said?

Anyway, it's always such a shame when good stories end up being told very bad, like you say about the Selection (haven't read the book, but I know what you mean). It makes you want to rewrite the book and create some epic bestselling story.  ;D

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2013, 20:23:50 »
Worst part? THE SELECTION is a bestseller. Just not that epic. :P

I think certain events were right, but Katniss
Spoiler (hover to show)

Overall, I thought the final book was the weakest of them all, but still very enjoyable. :)

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2013, 20:33:46 »
I agree the last book of the Hunger Games wasn't the best, but I liked the ending somehow.
Spoiler (hover to show)

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Re: The Best and the Worst
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2013, 21:04:02 »
Same for me! While I felt some things in the last book were rushed too much, I liked the irony...
Spoiler (hover to show)