the Library Bar...Club...Establishment...Saloon...

[Djinn Raffo]

Thanks for posting Memnoch!

I don't think your being harsh.

This is a problem I hate finding with series that have varying authors
or in books that are a part of a larger universe.

...When you love a series, the first interpretation of it is fantastic
and you love it and then someone who just does not have the skill
comes along and destroys it...damaging your love for the series in the
process!!! It's Bogus!!!

For you this is made even harder because of the fact that the
Forgotten Realms creator is the offending culprit! What cruelty!

But would this train of thought mean that it is best when only
one author dedicates his life to the production...Salvatore pumping out
Realms until he dies? Obviously this can't be done with the Realms
where the universe is owned? Or is it? I don't know how it works in
a series like DnD books or the Star Wars books. Greenwood doesn't own
the rights does he?

The fresh brains writing the new stories is vital in series IMHO
and unfortunatly the price we have to pay for loving the universe
is that we must also hate it sometimes too.

[Mouse]

For the sake of all that's Holy, don't take this personally, but I have just finished reading the Collectors Edition of "Legacy of the Drow" by R.A Salvatore.

Now, I am a child of the 50's and have come across a reasonable range of prose styles.

Perhaps an analogy is the best way to express my considered opinion on this work....Hmmmm.... let's see...............

If the average fantasy novel was a breakfast cereal, an averagely good novel would equate to a bowl of Frosties or perhaps Sugar Puffs.

The Legacy of the Drow is the equivalent of a big bowl of All-Bran. Very filling, but tasteless.



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Regards

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Mouse

[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 06-29-2001).]

[jabidas]

Hmmmm very accurate Memnoch, I admit I visibly shudered when I read the quote and remembered the book. Personally I think the interesting thing written about the simbul and alustriel are interesting because there brief and mysterious and open to speculation. Their motives arnt clear apart from being benevolent people the whole unknown factor where you get the feeling of a wider world and of people being active outside what the author is writing is what makes it work. BTW I think alustriel is a cheap and painful rip off of Galadriel but thats probably just me.


My review is on robin hobbs farseer trilogy. To begin with its been a long long time since ive read books this well written, the brilliant fully fleshed out charecters are amazing after years of 2d people trying to get a sword to fight the evil dark lord and so forth where the only emotions the chareter feels are for the love intrest who always turns out to be some sort of princess and anger at the afore mentioned evilboss. Fitz chivalry as a person develops as he goes through life at the start cautious unsure very much at pains with what life has dealt him. In the middle he is raging, he feels huge passions of anger and love and finally in the end regret sorrow and understanding. His life moves on and Fitz like everyone changes and looking back the group is utterly different in approach and outlook at the end of the book. Fitz is there with dark and light to him, like all the other charecters examples of Chade one of his trainers and Burrich spring to mind. They are so real its scary, I know ive met Burrich countless times in my life. The plot is labyrinthine and frequently makes use of trying to view the things from other peoples perspectives and making sense of a seemingly logicless enemy or not understanding political opponents motives and not grasping the fact they arnt even thinking in the same scale. The fights are brilliant sometimes showing blurred images that fitz remembers and blow by blow accounts of the action. Both methods are intense and im happy to say always move things on the plot. An important thing in a novel is magic as in whether its as blunt as obvious as say forgotten realms or dragonlance or wether its subtle like the lord of the rings, thankfully the skill and the wit are as myterious as you could hope for so it remains a powerful force but not the uber garbage we regularly have to put up with, this is a major problem for shared worlds settings BTW. Without a doubt the best thing to happen to the fantasy genre in a long time.

Please dont kill me I was so tired when writing this.


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[Mouse]

Originally posted by jabidas: Please dont kill me I was so tired when writing this.

No way would I criticise you for the style or content of your review. It was nicely put and succinct. I have recently finished the "Liveship" series and agree with your overall assessment of the author's style.


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Regards

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Mouse

[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 06-29-2001).]

[Melusine]

OK, I've had this post on Wordpad for days
I'm SO GLAD we're back!!!!!

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: I read Siddartha by Herman Hesse outside yesterday. Is only a short read (150 large print pages) and I would highly recommend it. It is about life. From start to finish. The journey of a man through out life as son, and as father. As greedy man and as loving man, as rich man and as poor man...smart man and foolish man. The gamut of emotions...and done in a way that gives it credibility. This book really makes me feel good...it fills my hollow heart with love for life and offers me a vision of the way things are that really hits home. Probably the fourth time I have read it but the first time in several years, and frankly I will never wait that long to read it again. I feel that this is a book that all schools should have as courseware. Required reading for everyone...all ages too. Herman Hesse the author has also wrote several other good but a lot deeper books. Magister Ludi (also called Glass Bead Game) is good and has a lot to offer but is also dry. I think he won noble prize for it and wrote it while in an asylum...but I could be wrong, can't remember. Thank you for reading this post...please read this book...is very short and easy to read and it could change your life. I can think, I can fast, and I can wait... P.S. I know this book is not of the fantasy genre and I apologize if you are offended...just can't limit myself though...sorry. The Library Bar is well stocked after all! Also the Library has taken a lot of effort. Constant 'page cannot be displayed' 500 - Internal Server Errors yesterday and today. Djinn Raffo has cast 'Submit New Topic' 101 times and even as I write hope is fading...awwwww.

Great idea Djinn Raffo!! Thanks!
Hesse is very interesting to read, though I have long avoided his books like the plague for all the hippy/new age associations (you know, Steppenwolf and all that), the cheap Freudian psychology etc... I still think you need to be open to that sort of thing if you want to read him without a slightly sarcastic smile on your lips but I do see that my view of him was biased, he has written some very good books
I recommend Demian, it's easy to read, not too long and it really touched me... I was mesmerised for days after reading the whole thing in one night
Yes, it has the all too obvious Jungian references and explanations, but they are actually quite effective as a psychological framework for this novel.


Oh, and Hesse indeed won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humaitarian ideals and high qualities of style."And he indeed suffered a mental breakdown in his life. I am writing an essay for a course in Literary Theories, picking psychosnslysis as the literary theory I'm going to examine and Hesse's Demian as the book to apply it to. So I bookmarked some sites, here's a quote from one:

The war itself was especially hideous to H., although during that time he worked with German prisoners and edited a newspaper for them, the Deutsche Internierten-Zeitung. Under the pressures of the prolonged illness of his oldest son and the mental illness of his wife, H. suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1916 he began a two-year period of psychoanalytic therapy administered by a disciple of C. G. Jung (q.v.), an experience that had significance for his subsequent literary works. When his unhappy marriage ended in divorce in 1919, H. moved to Montagnola, becoming a Swiss citizen in 1923. Among the honors H. received for his writings were the Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt and the Nobel Prize, in 1946, and the Peace Prize of the German Bookdealers' Association, in 1955.

Love the quote from Steppenwolf; "Nur für Verrückte" (for madmen only)



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Melusine, High Queen of Fluffies, Archbabe of the OHF, the LH,
the HADB and the SPAE(Society for the
Prevention of Acronym Extinction) &
Official Entertainer Elf of the BG2 Bar

Your voice is ambrosia

[imperial dwarf]

Finally I can post again. It's tormenting not to be able to reply to a good thread, but fortunately that won't happen again.

First I wanted to thank you Djinn Raffo. Read Siddartha and well, was astonished. The style is a little bit difficult at the beginning, at least in German. But the contents was GREAT. The way Siddartha experiences different ways of living and goes through different stages in his own personal development in his struggle to understand life gave me an inspiration to approach this question differently. I even found my own thoughts in one of Siddarthas stages. And last but not least gave me motivation to go for the "classics".
To all of you who are in a bit of a philosophical mood, that book will give you something and maybe even more.

But enough bowing towards Hesse now to one of my favorite authors: Terry Pratchett. agreed most of his books are funny fantasy and nothing more, but one is different. Alright it is also funny fantasy but has something more. "Small Gods" tells the story of a acolyte in the Church of Omn, who has a perfect memory but is somewhat a bit slow thinking. He,a lowly sweeper and the most unlikely person to encounter any divine experience, actually meets Omn. Together they witness religion in all it's aspects and at the end even change it a bit. i do not want to give away to much contents because like all Pratchett novels it's very easy structured. One word to much and you would know the whole story.
But what makes the book really good are the very critical insights and remarks on religion, the institution and the metaphysical framework. As a gimmick it also gives philosophy its share of critics. Take this and wrap around Pratchett's brilliant Monty Python like style of humor (which maybe not all people quite understand) and you have a book you may die of laughter while thinking about death. But I assure nothing.

By the way Djinn Raffo, are there also White Russians here? I'm thirsty from talking that much.


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reality is for those not smart enough to see the truth!!!!!

[Memnoch]

Incidentally, has anyone read any L. Ron Hubbard? The only one I've read was Battlefield Earth and man that was long. I didn't think it was too bad, it was just really hard to follow.

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[Djinn Raffo]

Wow! lots of posts!

Mouse:
Thanks for posting Mouse!
I think i would agree with the cereal analogy...but am not
really qualified to totally agree on two points cause: 1.) Because
i've only read a few of the DnD books. Icewind Dale only
from Forgotten Realms and also maybe five or seven of the
Dragonlance ones. I read the Dark Sun ones too and thought
they were o.k. but by no means IMHO were they frosties which leads
me to point no. 2.) I don't even eat cereal!
If Sugar-Puffs are average whats the bomb...cream of wheat!

Jabidas:
I tried to post a reply to this during the server crisis...what
a shame. I must have cast 'Post a Reply' twenty five times throughout
the night...My eyes are popping out right now! Please don't kill me.
Thanks for the review...I have never read Farseer trilogy. Thanks for
telling us about it!

Melusine:
Thanks Melusine!
Thanks for keeping your post on wordpad...was a good one!
Are you a fan of Jung? I have tried to read some of his works
but it made my brain melt...still recovering. Yeah..the context
of Siddartha just defied all that for me cause the whole thing
just seemed so obvious yet Hesse placed the words so
pleasantly...something he fails to do in other books, like the
aforementioned Steppenwolf IMHO. Not to mention everyone else...
who knows how many authors have died on the sword that is
this books subject matter.
Thanks for the info on his life...You will have to let us know
how your Literary Theories essay turns out. By the way...I was
just wondering what language this class is taught in?

imperial dwarf:
Man...thanks...you made my day.
What a pleasure to be thanked in a post over a recommendation.
I have never read any Pratchett but i'm always drawn to the covers
when i'm in the bookstore...cool pictures man!
Perhaps i shall keep my eyes peeled for Small Gods...(i've still got em
peeled for Ghormenghast)
White Russians...oh man we got the best white russians...that with vodka
right? not gin? oh yeah...you better believe in this vodka...bottled
demon! This vodka's so righteous it'll turn your hair to wheat! Holy wheat!
Like fields of wheat! That's with vodka right?

Memnoch:
Yo!
I have read some L. Ron Hubbard. Battlefield Earth and all the
books in the Mission Earth series...10 of em.
Battlefield Earth was pretty good...too bad about the movie. I've
never seen it but all the reviews say it is right up there for the
worst movie of all time...it must be pretty bad.
The Mission Earth books are awesome. Great characters man...Soltan Gris
that guy is so dirty that ya just gots ta love...gots ta pull for him.
And Jettero Heller...superman of Voltar! Nothing is too big for
this hero...absolutly nothing. These books were real fun to read and
though a massive undertaking, I say you should at least check out the
first one and then take it from there.

Fljotsdale:
Your posts are gone...No refunds at this bar!
You still owe us some posts!...please.

[Fljotsdale]

Originally posted by Memnoch: Incidentally, has anyone read any L. Ron Hubbard? The only one I've read was Battlefield Earth and man that was long. I didn't think it was too bad, it was just really hard to follow.

Can't stand the chap! But that's just my opinion! I'm prejudiced agin, lol!

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[jabidas]

Hey Fljotsdale whats there to be prejudiced about ive never read the guy and am curious, ive only seen book titles here so far. Could someone respond to my thread about the harper books BTW. The guy who wanted to know about Homeland may need some help because I was a little negative to him about drizzt.

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