What is the WORST book you ever read?

[Ken Rauhl]

Originally posted by Sneeki Two: This whole last book is about the largest war ever fought in the Abyss. Gord was basically wheeling and dealing with the other sides to get the Theoparts. He didn't just hack is way to victory. He couldnt. The demons were too many. He basically played them against each other,and used their own chaotic natures and fears against them.

and pray tell, how exactly did it happen? why exactly do all these demons put aside their common hatred for mankind and an intruder to abyss, and decided to fight each other while the greatest threat desende upon them? lol, kinky, erh. lame book

[Sneeki Two]

This is going nowhere Ken. The book is an AD&D novel with AD&D characters in an AD&D world. You are using some other defintions. Im sorry, but demons are not gods (not even close, in AD&D) and can be slain or summoned by powerful enough characters.

I understand exactly what you are meaning, but in AD&d demons are what I have shown you.

In Tolkiens world, the Balrog is closest to a demon. We know that one wiped out a dwarven nation, but also died at the hands of a single powerful wizard.

The fact is demons are what you want them to be (no one I know has ever seen one). The books Im referring to are all stories made up by writers(pure fiction).

In a biblical sense demons are simply fallen angels.

If you want your demons to be all powerful, unstoppable fiends then dont bother reading the book "Dance of Demons". This book was a high level adventure (there are very few of these written). For what it was I enjoyed it. Some hated it...as I have hated other books suggested here on the boards.

I wish you happy reading.
My current most recommended series: The Song of Fire and Ice by George R. Martin

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Sneeki Two: This is going nowhere Ken. The book is an AD&D novel with AD&D characters in an AD&D world. You are using some other defintions. Im sorry, but demons are not gods (not even close, in AD&D) and can be slain or summoned by powerful enough characters. I understand exactly what you are meaning, but in AD&d demons are what I have shown you. In Tolkiens world, the Balrog is closest to a demon. We know that one wiped out a dwarven nation, but also died at the hands of a single powerful wizard. The fact is demons are what you want them to be (no one I know has ever seen one). The books Im referring to are all stories made up by writers(pure fiction). In a biblical sense demons are simply fallen angels. If you want your demons to be all powerful, unstoppable fiends then dont bother reading the book "Dance of Demons". This book was a high level adventure (there are very few of these written). For what it was I enjoyed it. Some hated it...as I have hated other books suggested here on the boards. I wish you happy reading. My current most recommended series: The Song of Fire and Ice by George R. Martin

Another Song of Ice Fire fan!!

While I agree with you that D&D demons are not very powerfull, I have seen in multiple sourcebooks the 9 demons lord of Hell, and some of the Abyss, being refereed as quasi power (quasi god). So I think that a mortal being able to beat them is a little too much.

What I don't like about that series is that the main character get some extremely powerfull powers/items from gods, and I think it's an overkill. The term used to describe such campaign is "Maunty Haul" and it's never a good thing. I would love that series a lot more if the main character had never received such powerfull powers/items.

Those items remove all challenge. I can accept the Demon Lords getting defeated in an epic battle lasting 25 days and night, but I sure can't accept them getting defeated in one less than an hour.

So, my opinion is that story had potential. But no challenge and suspense is boring, in my opinion.

Since you are a fan of George R.R. Martin, you should know what I am talking about. The characters in a Song of Ice and Fire are all balanced, and you never know if they are going to die or survive. That's a good thing.

[Ken Rauhl]

and i am sorry, if demon are not so powerful as to threaten the worlds of living, then why does Gord dude bother to go to abyss and clean them? huh? it is taking life without a need, isnt it? if the Gods deem them a threat, then they are indeed powerful, so powerful as to need Gods GIVING Gord their power in order to kill em

u still did not answer the author's overlooking of, without the forces of good to hold the evil at bay, how is it possible that Gord eliminate the (so-called) strongest demon without the world suffering consequence?

plus, the thing is, this author does NOT understand the definition of demon. ANY friggin self respectable DM would know to write slaughtering demons like chickens are out of question. they, who understand and appreciate their existence and the way they affect the story, would NEVER write anything like this book. replace the demons with hobgoblins, the "strongest demon" with an ogre, you get the same story, different ingrediants. makes sense?

[Queen Kalindra]

Hmmm, worst RPG novel? "Might & Magic: The Sea of Mist" by Mel Odom. Now, I never played beyond Heroes II or M&M VI but this book seems to have nothing to do with Might & Magic whatsoever except that there are monsters and mages. Story starts out very intriguing: the hero is raised by a demon in a pocket universe and sent to a training school. From there it goes downhill into Dawson's Creek complications with his friends and then fighting a Bad Guy. No questions are answered, characters are unlikable, and nothing makes much sense.
I tried reading a Kathyrn Kurtz book of Deryni, once, but it was very boring and obviously a space-filler between other books. Star Wars: The New Rebellion was pretty bad.
I can appreciate "bad" books if they are entertaining: Gary Gygax's Cyborg Commando series, Louis L'Amour, Hyborea knock-offs, etc. Like eating potato chips. But when a good series goes bad, I torture myself by continuing to read in hopes that the writing will be as good as it once was. Examples: Earth's Children, Gotrek & Felix. The first books are excellent, the rest are poison.

[Bardan the Slayer]

Originally posted by Memnoch: </font><blockquote>Quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Mouse: </font><blockquote>Quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Memnoch: Hmmm...I take it you're a Gygax fan, Mousie?

Ooooooh yes, give me all the cheesy, fantasy-by-numbers crap out there. If it's mildly *cough*erotic*cough* so much the better. Come to think of it (nudge, nudge, wink, wink ) I seem to remember some really dire fantasy from way back in the dim mists of time. I think it was all about some barbarian called Gor........ [img]graemlins/crazyeyes.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]DON'T TELL ME YOU READ THAT WHEN YOU WERE A KID TOO!!!!

Actually, wait a minute...I read those when *I* was a kid, and that was only 15 years ago, so how old were you...? [img]tongue.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]Actually, some of the Gor books finally achieved readability. Priest-Kings of Gor is thew only one I actually own, but that is quite far into the series, and by then he was looking for far-out ideas. The storyline is rather whacked, but the writing style is good, and that makes it readable.

Oh, but Dancer of Gor is so bad it made me want to vomit.

Gygax is absolutely awful. the man lacks the slightest ability to write, imho. Give him any important event, soul-stirring moment of history to describe, and he will destroy it by having the main characters exclaiming,

"What did you just say mate?"
"I I said that we are about to bebeset by some demons, Gord!"
"Oh, i didn't hear you because i was picking this dung off my foot."
"Yes, Gord, but don't you think we should be worried about this demon lord here?"

I think it's how he tries to attain some kind of lifelike banter, but all he does is suck every last ounce of atmosphere from the encounter. Sea of Death was totally ruined by this type of dross.

As to the one I actually think is the worst fantasy book ever? I agree with Johnny, but seeing as people want a more socially acceptable answer than the bible, I'll plump for ......

are you ready ... ?

it is Warblade (Konrad vol 3)

And my reasoning? It is an absolutely fantastic book. Based on the warhammer fantasy setting, the Konrad trilogy is absolutely fantastically written. it has a great storyline, and the quality of the writing is superb. You ruch through book 1 - Great! Book 2 - brilliant! Book 3 (Warblade) - Exceptional! But wait!

What's the problem?

Warblade consists of 300 pages of thrilling adventure, and then ... just before the grand finale, just befroe we are about to find out the very core premise of the books, just as the intricate workings of the plot are about to weave together into a perfectly crafted work of art ... it ends! It ends, right there! Right before the climax. The whole trilogy takes you up to the crashing finale and ... stops! Right there, it just ends! With one of the most banal, uninformative sentences ever written in the history of literature.

ARGH!

I think it was the first time i actually cried tears of frustration over *anything*, let alone a book. I felt robbed!

So, there you go. My nomination - Warblade, by David Ferring.

Oh, and please notice - Warblade, a fantasy book filled with death, blood spurting everywhere, demon monsters and large, terrifying battles is classified by amazon as a "children's book" because it is fantasy. Like I said in a thread in GD - mainstream thinks 'fantasy' = 'fairy tale' = 'children's bedtime story'. Hacks me off, that does.

[ 04-12-2003, 07:52 PM: Message edited by: Bardan the Slayer ]

[Barry the Sprout]

Originally posted by Davros: I was stuck for an anwer until I read Barry's post, then the same horrors came flooding back - this IS the worst book of all time - no doubt about it. Davros swivels and looks at the 2nd bottom shelf of his secondary book case - OMG - it's still there (and gathering more dust than the Gor books ).

Its nice to see that other people also hate this book with the passion I reserve for it! But like yourself Davros, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of a book - no matter how bad I thought it was. For some reason I just keep getting this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I might one day want to read it again... :s

Tancred - I expect I will read Heretics and Chapter House anyway, I've actually heard that they pick up a bit compared to God Emporer, and I want to finish the series in some way. Whilst I think God Emporer failed to interest me in the characters in the slightest way I still want to find out what happened next!

Also I'd like to agree with Bardan about the Konrad trilogy - in their classification that is. Its weird to see books with such ridiculous amounts of sex and violence classified as childrens stories. I read them when I was really young though, so I can't really comment on the ending - I can't remember it! I'll have to have another look at them soon.

[Tancred]

Warblade? Yeeesh, the entire Konrad trilogy cheesed me off because it never went anywhere. In fact, a lot of the GW books lacked direction back then. Space Marine's a shining example. It's a mercy to have Jack Yeovil books...

[Barry the Sprout]

I quite liked Space Marine...

Mind you, I remember it being deep and meaningful - but only a quite non-specific way. I read it when I was so young I really didn't know what about it exactly was deep and meaningful, but I knew deep writing when I read it! I'll have to read it again some time, refresh my memory.

[Bardan the Slayer]

Space Marine is fantastic, as are Inquisitor and Harlequin (to a lesser degree), but then Chaos Child does a Warblade and ends meaninglessly, with no answers to the questions it spent 2 books forming, having spent about 150 pages totally forgetting the main storyline and following a 'lost love' focus which was up until then, totally irrelevant.

Still, the intricate 40K universe is one of my all-time favourite settings. it is true genius, top to bottom.

[ 04-14-2003, 10:24 PM: Message edited by: Bardan the Slayer ]