Favorite author among Jordan/Martin/Bakker/Erikson?

[dyffeg]

HI guys,
it's GRRM by two lengths for me. Loved Jordan for the first 4 books, then he fizzled badly. And I think he is a big rip off of the concepts of Dune books (has anyone else ever noticed??? must check out some threads!)

Erikson - so blooming technical and warlike. My main memory is battle, battle, battle. Will one day try and return to him, (perhaps when nothing left in universe to read, or while waiting to see doctor). But maybe I struck him on a bad day.

Cheers!
Dyffeg

 

[Chrystelia]

HI guys,
it's GRRM by two lengths for me. Loved Jordan for the first 4 books, then he fizzled badly. And I think he is a big rip off of the concepts of Dune books (has anyone else ever noticed??? must check out some threads!)

Erikson - so blooming technical and warlike. My main memory is battle, battle, battle. Will one day try and return to him, (perhaps when nothing left in universe to read, or while waiting to see doctor). But maybe I struck him on a bad day.

Cheers!
Dyffeg

Did you stop at book 4 or did you read all of them, just curious.

I didn't vote because I haven't read all of them except for Jordan and GRRM, I like both of the, maybe Jordan a little ahead of Martin since I can relate to his characters so well and because he's a master story teller don't care if he rips someone else's idea.

 

[j d worthington]

Believe it or not, I haven't really read anything by Jordan since the beginning of his career, and not much by GRMM for a very long time -- older writers have largely been what I've been exploring (there's so darned much I'd never read before!!!)

As for other suggestions: There are a couple of threads of fantasy suggestions for people new to this branch of literature that you might check out. I'd also add the Poictesme books by James Branch Cabell -- wry, ironic, at times touching, sometimes with considerable depth of thought, and exquisitely written. (These are a subset of his multi-volume "Biography of the Life of Manuel"; if you try these and would like a list of the whole biography, PM me and I'll supply the titles in the authorized edition.)

The ones most easily available:

Figures of Earth
The Silver Stallion
Domnei
Jurgen
The High Place
Something About Eve
The Cream of the Jest

And, in answer to your query: It depends on which fantasy writers you read, though in earlier, "classic" fantasy magic tended to be used less often as a deus-ex-machina than as background or simply part of the milieu, or for other reasons; at least, speaking in general terms. (Fletcher Pratt's The Well of the Unicorn gives very good reasons why.)

 

[genisis2]

Thanks JD I personally have not heard of this author will keep a look out.

 

[Zadok]

Bakker narrowly edges out Martin(the delays and aFFC have soured me on Martin over the past year or so) with Erikson coming in third. Jordan isn't even a blip on the radar screen

 

[j d worthington]

A word of warning (should have put this in earlier): If you've never read Cabell, don't expect the usual fantasy. This is from an older school, and ignores most of what modern fantasy is all about; but they are classics of the genre nonetheless. Go into it without expectations of what you'll find (other than excellent writing); I think you'll find them an eye-opener.

 

[genisis2]

A word of warning (should have put this in earlier): If you've never read Cabell, don't expect the usual fantasy. This is from an older school, and ignores most of what modern fantasy is all about; but they are classics of the genre nonetheless. Go into it without expectations of what you'll find (other than excellent writing); I think you'll find them an eye-opener.

One more thing - these books arnt out of print are they?

 

[genisis2]

I cant believe Jordon is edging out Bakker

 

[j d worthington]

These are currently in print:

Figures of Earth
Domnei (though you might want to look for the Ballantine/Del Rey edition which, though op, is fairly easy to find, and also includes "The Music from Behind the Moon")
The High Place
The Cream of the Jest

The Silver Stallion and Something About Eve are, I think, op; but, again, they've had several paberback printings (including some lovely Dover editions that included the Frank C. Pape illos.) and are fairly easy to find, and generally quite inexpensive. In fact, the Ballantine/Del Rey editions of each of these included the majority of Pape's illustrations, save for the full-page plates; and Pape is to Cabell what Sime was to Dunsany, or J. Allan St. John was to Burroughs (or Tiniel was to Carroll).

 

[genisis2]

These are currently in print:

Figures of Earth
Domnei (though you might want to look for the Ballantine/Del Rey edition which, though op, is fairly easy to find, and also includes "The Music from Behind the Moon")
The High Place
The Cream of the Jest

The Silver Stallion and Something About Eve was to Burroughs (or Tiniel was to Carroll).

Which was your favorite?

 

[Trey Greyjoy]

Easy one. George RR Martin.

 

[the_faery_queen]

martin. i've only read jordan as well as him, from the list, and jordan i don't really think anything of. so martin

but i'd second the other suggestion of robin hobb. she is good.

and also, the dont' read jordan until he's done with the series, comment! just for your own sanity

 

[j d worthington]

Which was your favorite?

Oooff! You would go and ask something like that, wouldn't you? Actually, I like them each for somewhat different reasons -- and, no, that's not a copout; in many ways, they're each quite different, though very much interrelated. If I had to choose, I'd probably go with Something About Eve or The Cream of the Jest -- though I'd warn most people away from that last one, at least until reading the others, because there's little action of any kind -- the conflict is all worked out through ideas, and is almost entirely internal. It's also closely linked to the first book of the Biography, Beyond Life, which is (on the surface, anyway) all about writing. (Note, on the surface; Cabell is never a single-layer writer.) Probably the best is to start with Figures of Earth, as it introduces you to Manuel and Poictesme; but each book can largely stand alone.

(There, I wriggled out that one nicely, didn't I? Wheew!)

 

[Pyan]

and also, don't read jordan until he's done with the series, comment! just for your own sanity

You think that he'll actually finish it someday?

GRRM, by a huge margin. Great characters, good plotlines, and you never know who will survive the current volume.

 

[Culhwch]

George Martin. Not just for the incomparable ASoIaF, but for Fevre Dream, the best vampire novel I've ever come across. Of the others... I read the first Jordan, and it never inspired me to search out the second. I tried Erikson three or four times, and just never got it. And I'm trying Bakker for the second time now, and persevering. For now. On Martin I was hooked from the first words.

 

[GOLLUM]

Erikson easily, then Bakker, Martin and Jordan a very distant last.

Would be interesting to know how many members who voted Martin have actually read Erikson as I suspect more may go over to Erikson if they've read the entire series rather than give up inside Book 1, a common downfall. No reflection on the people here, just somwething I've noticed across the board on other forums in general. Bakker too is excellent.

This comparison isn't really valid or more to the point balanced unless you've read all 4 authors, so not sure if all members who voted here have done that?

 

[Brys]

Erikson, very closely followed by R Scott Bakker and George RR Martin. To be honest though, all are as good as one another. Martin is probably 3rd out of them at the moment, because with AFFC he showed signs of slipping a bit, but then again A Storm of Swords is one of the best epic fantasy novels ever written.

Jordan just isn't close. He's closer to the bottom of epic fantasy IMO than the top.

As for others - well there are so many, it's difficult to know where to start, but a few I'd suggest would be Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth, Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, and for some more recent novels, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Matthew Stover's Heroes Die and Graham Joyce's the Tooth Fairy. Here are some more comprehensive lists:
http://speculativereviews.blogspot.com/2006/05/ultimate-speculative-fiction-reading.html - William Lexner's list
http://www.fantasybookspot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=471 - Jay Tomio's list
http://vanderworld.blogspot.com/2006/04/exhaustive-essential-fantasy-reading.html Jeff Vandermeer's "exhaustive" list
http://vanderworld.blogspot.com/2006/05/big-ass-fantasy-list.html - Jeff Vandermeer's even more exhaustive list

And you might want to check out the winners of the World Fantasy Award, the Hugos, the Nebulas and the British Science Fiction and Fantasy awards.

 

[j d worthington]

Er, um, not quite -- but I took the following for allowing some wriggle room:

If you have another favorite you think I should take a look at, having barely read any fantasy, I would appreciate those comments too!

not just a strict comparison. Oooops.*blushes*

 

[genisis2]

Erikson easily, then Bakker, Martin and Jordan a very distant last.

Would be interesting to know how many members who voted Martin have actually read Erikson as I suspect more may go over to Erikson if they've read the entire series rather than give up inside Book 1, a common downfall. No reflection on the people here, just somwething I've noticed across the board on other forums in general. Bakker too is excellent.

This comparison isn't really valid or more to the point balanced unless you've read all 4 authors, so not sure if all members who voted here have done that?

I wonder how many members actually read Bakker . I suspect that may not jump over on the Bakker band wagon but would be surprised to read something a little bit more fresh than the usual fare of fantasy books that are marketed. In full agreement with you BTW.

 

[Zadok]

Erikson, very closely followed by R Scott Bakker and George RR Martin. To be honest though, all are as good as one another. Martin is probably 3rd out of them at the moment, because with AFFC he showed signs of slipping a bit, but then again A Storm of Swords is one of the best epic fantasy novels ever written.

Jordan just isn't close. He's closer to the bottom of epic fantasy IMO than the top.

I'd agree with this, Erickson, Martin and Bakker are definately the top of the epic fantasy pile IMO and it's hard to pick a favorite. Erickson's work in particular is amazingly ambitious for a first time author. With such massive volumes everything is not going to work, but he manages to pack quite an emotional punch.

What's interesting is that while I would say that Bakker did a better job in regards to fleshing out his main cast(which admittedly is much smaller then Erickson's) there was nothing in the trilogy that resonated like certain scenes of Erickson from DHG or MoI. Martin of course is a master, and even with the relative lack of "action" in aFFC it was still a pleasure to read. But I would be lying if I said the wait between books hasn't dulled my enthusiasm for the series.