Dragon Lance vs Forgotten Realms

[Iron_Ranger]

TL- I agree...Those books about the characters backgrounds werent all that wonderfull all the time. But you know, I dont think they wear ment to be great. It was just some background on the characters we all loved. And I think Darkheart was pretty good.

[Heartless Butterscotch]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Sorry, guys, but as I've said before, David Eddings is/was good at one thing only: character development. In Pawn of Prophecy, he's great. With Sparhawk, he's great. But, by the time he gets to book no. 2 of his various series, it's pretty much a rehash of what's come before with little suspense, too much predictability, and lots of reruns of the same jokes. C'mon, how many times can one ask whose turn it is to make breakfast - and then fall for the same line, "Yours" ? And don't get me started on the fact fact that the Mallorean is the Belgariad redux, and the same with the Elenium / Tamuli.

Arrgh!

Jeeves! Fetch my dueling pistols!

Haha. No, I agree with your points. Eddings seems to be one of those people who enjoys revisiting a familiar blend of humor.

As far as suspense goes, I guess he could disturb his readers' comfort zones by actually offing one of his main characters like authors Hickman and Weis do with "Flint" in "Chronicles."

However, I think there are plenty of writers who rely on memorable characters, rather than plot lines, to sell books. It's the characters that readers become attached to and then daydream about.

[ 11-26-2002, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: Heartless Butterscotch ]

[SomeGuy]

Forgotten Realms rule over every type of book,but the Lord of The Rings books.

[Iron_Ranger]

Originally posted by SomeGuy: Forgotten Realms rule over every type of book,but the Lord of The Rings books.

You think so eh? Have you ever read the Chronicals? I have yet to read a FR book that really stuck with me, the characters are all either really, really boring, or munchkins. As for LOTR...I went to sleep reading those books.

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Heartless Butterscotch: [QBJeeves! Fetch my dueling pistols! . . . As far as suspense goes, I guess he could disturb his readers' comfort zones by actually offing one of his main characters like authors Hickman and Weis do with "Flint" in "Chronicles." . . . [/QB]

Well, if he really wanted to disturb his readers' comfort zones, he could shake 'em up like GRR Martin - who offs so many characters that you can barely keep track of any discernable protagonists. Not a bad thing, I say. I'm enjoying GRR Martin's works a second time right now (before the 4th book comes out) - and this is something I almost NEVER do. It took me 12 years before I felt the urge to read Chronicles and Icewind Dale a second time - and that was mostly due to a lack of other reading material lying next to my toilet.

[Attalus]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Sorry, guys, but as I've said before, David Eddings is/was good at one thing only: character development. In Pawn of Prophecy, he's great. With Sparhawk, he's great. But, by the time he gets to book no. 2 of his various series, it's pretty much a rehash of what's come before with little suspense, too much predictability, and lots of reruns of the same jokes. C'mon, how many times can one ask whose turn it is to make breakfast - and then fall for the same line, "Yours" ? And don't get me started on the fact fact that the Mallorean is the Belgariad redux, and the same with the Elenium / Tamuli.

Timber, of the many posts from you that I have read, that is the one that I agree most wholeheartedly with. What a waste of money!

[Harkoliar]

have any of you guys read terry goodkind? they are my favorite set of books.

[Morgeruat]

I agree T L, as far as forgotten realms vs Dragonlance, I'd say I would rather read about DragonLance and adventure in Forgotten Realms, the amount of material available for adventures in the realms is astounding, but the novels are poorly constructed most of the time, and while some of the stories are interesting they don't keep me hooked like Weis and Hickman in Chronicles/Legends or like Knaak in legend of Huma (I consider most of what I've read of Knaak's to be on par with salvatore, if only because i'm a huge minotaur fan, my first magic: the gathering deck was a red/blue minotaur deck, back in '96)

as for adventuring in DragonLance, if you've read the Chronicles then there isn't much point in playing the modules, as you know what's going to happen (most of the chronicles books were majorly affected by things that happened in gaming sessions), but there erally isn't a whole lot to do there unless you're playing earlier than the books, (I haven't checked out the 5th age material, just the old hardback book from the 1st-2nd ed switchover)

[Timber Loftis]

The 5th Age stuff (IIRC) was the post-Dragons of Summer Flame, right? Well, as the gods got sorta reworked in that novel, the setting became VERY different. Plus, TSR tried to do the game as sort of roleplay-intensive live-action type rules system. I don't think it worked. And, it certainly died quickly. Weiss and Hickman, IMHO, truly ended any meaningful stories of Krynn as we knew and loved it - which was fine by me. Closure is okay sometimes, y'know.

[Kaz]

[quote]Originally posted by Iron_Ranger:

Originally posted by SomeGuy: As for LOTR...I went to sleep reading those books.

BLASPHEMER! HOW DARE YOU?
*ahem* *tries to calm down* Sorry about that...
I like the drow in FR, although Drizzt's nearly ruined them for me. But, of course, Dragonlance has the most loveable (ha) creatures of all time.... KENDER! Mwahahaha! [img]graemlins/evilhaha.gif[/img]
I'd say it depends on the author. Weis and Hickman's Chronicles are great, but there are undoubtedly mediocre DL and superb FR books as well (I don't read much in either of the series)

[ 11-27-2002, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: Kaz ]