George R. R. Martin v. Robert Jordan

[TK-421]

Bitter? That's a new one. I guess there was a tone to my typing that I did not intend to be there.

Anywho, ASOIF and HP have nothing in common and I rather enjoy both series. Mocking WOT is a perfectly acceptable sport. Next up, the Sword of Truth series...

 

[pan naranus]

Sword of truth...
Book one readable, X rated, but readable, you BDSM people, enjoy. The rest of it - don't bother.

 

[Clansman]

Mocking Sword of Truth is too easy. Talk about fish in a barrel, and there are numerous threads on the Chrons that bash Goodkind. As one of the bashers, I must admit, it is getting a little boring.

ASoIaF is head and shoulders above WoT, but WoT is not bad. Would have approached great if he finished it in 8 or 9 books and his editors had bothered to care about the quality of the series instead of trying to make more money.

I would put ASoIaF in the same class as Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen and Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow for a better comparison than Jordan. The first three authors show an incredible ability to juggle huge story lines with hundreds of sub-plots and a large number of POVs. The first three have also sustained the freshness of their stories, although I haven't worked through all the Malazan books yet (I suspect this to be true, as I trust the Chrons, and have the first three books). Though at least Martin and Wurts have had "difficult" books in their series (AFFC for Martin, and Peril's Gate for Wurts), I suspect that the difficulty of these particular books will prove themselves necessary down the line.

Jordan wasn't quite able to pull off what Martin, Wurts and Erikson have, and it totally unwound for him in books 7-10. Too bad, because I really did enjoy the first half of the series.

 

[The Curious Orange]

Waiting ages for the next volume? Some of you people need to try waiting for Ricardo Pinto to finish the last book in his excellent Stone Dance of the Chameleon trilogy. He makes GRRM look like the fastest writer in the world.

 

[Memnoch]

Oh I get it, in this thread it's allowed to mock WOT only, sorry

No this thread asks a specific question . . . Mr Jordan is losing quite convincingly I'm afraid!


As for setting in for a patient wait for GRRM's next installment!!! Well it was you GRRM lunatic's on here that persuaded me to give it ago 2 years ago!!! Now I am a freak like you lot!! I am not a patient person. I also now will have to re-read the entire series once a definate date is announced for the new arrival!! (Not that it will be a hardship)

 

[Werthead]

Waiting ages for the next volume? Some of you people need to try waiting for Ricardo Pinto to finish the last book in his excellent Stone Dance of the Chameleon trilogy. He makes GRRM look like the fastest writer in the world.

Pinto had the excuse of his house burning down around him mid-way through the writing process, which kind of shook him up a bit He handed it in last year and I think Voyager are supposed to be putting it out sometime in late 2009.

 

[TK-421]

I also now will have to re-read the entire series once a definate date is announced for the new arrival!! (Not that it will be a hardship)

We all have to make sacrifices sometimes

In the meantime, I've consumed myself with the Malazan series and am just about to dive into the Children of Hurin by Tolkien.

 

[pan naranus]

which tolkin is that? dead genius of living wannabee?

 

[Boaz]

pan naranus, I used to be something of a self appointed watchdog of internet spelling. I have chilled out quite a bit... especially since I misspell words with greater frequency than I care to admit. With all due respect, I realize that English is at least your second language, if not your third or fourth... and I commend your abilities. Yet there are a few words that drive me crazy when they are misspelled. One of these is the name of Tolkien... especially in the midst of fantasy forums.

Go ahead and misspell my name, but not the name of the master.

 

[Eulalia]

GRRM is better, no contest!

If you are prudish, might I suggest "The Wind in the Willows".(joke) Or Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series (OMG) and have a happy aneurism!

Tad Willams "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" series is good, if a little bit formula as defined above and spends too much time underground. It is tamer than GRRM.

Most of Guy Gavriel Kay's fantasy books are enjoyable, in my opinion.

Thanks to all making suggestions, while I wait for Dance.

 

[dreir]

No contest is right. When you read aSoIaF, you hang on to every word. When you read WoT, you skim over half the book just to get through the skirt-smoothing and braid-tugging bits.

I agree with Clansman that a comparison between GRRM and Wurts would be more apt. And this Malazan series.. hmm.. I guess I'm gonna have to give it a go now..

- Dreir -

 

[Werthead]

which tolkin is that? dead genius of living wannabee?

Since The Children of Hurin was written by JRR Tolkien, and Christopher Tolkien has never written or published any original Middle-earth fiction, I think he means the dead one.

 

[TK-421]

See for yourself, smartypants:
Amazon.ca: Children of Hurin: J.R.R. Tolkien: Books
The Children of Húrin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[GOLLUM]

Martin is so far ahead of WOT it's not even funny...

 

[citri]

OK then, it seems like they are pretty uneven by the popular perception, but then what books are of the same caliber of ASoIaF? I have so far heard most often the Malazan Book of the Fallen. If you mention some, could you put some stuff on what the book is about? This thread was mostly just to see which books to read so it would help me/other people choose a lot more easily.

 

[Aegon the Unworthy]

I wont argue with people that Martins work is better than Jordan. I will be the first to concede theres about 6 books worth of material in Jordans WoT that can be removed without affecting the story (Im looking at you Bowl of Winds). For all that it is an interesting take on the traditional "boy turning into a powerful hero alongside his friends " tradition of fantasy literature. I enjoy the world in which he wrote.

I would hasten to add that theres no need to bash an author to say another is better, it just cheapens your argument. Bash the work intelligently and Ill listen...bash the author indiscriminately and Ill ignore you.

Of course (and Ive used this parallel before) asking which is better "Martin or Jordan" in the Martin section is like going into the Pepperoni lovers forum and asking which is a better pizza topping, pepperoni or canadian bacon? Odds are good the answers are going to be lopsided.

 

[TK-421]

As Homer would saY:"MMMMMM....BACON."

 

[Wiggum]

I think I'm going to make some tea, and fuss with my hair, and maybe, just maybe scowl at the male protagonist.

And I may do this 135 times in one book.

Because, thank God that Eddings didn't give us CeNedra.

Yay!

 

[Boaz]

Pepperoni, Bacon, Tea, and CeNedra in the last few posts... Wow!

I love pepperoni and tea. I detest Canadian Bacon (on pizza) and CeNedra.

Continuing on with Egg's (that's Aegon the Unworthy, not an actual egg) analogy, if a Tolkien versus Martin poll was posted in this forum... Martin would probably still win. But put that poll in the Tolkien forum and Martin would go down in flames.

Egg, btw, do you think I indiscriminately bashed Jordan in this thread just to make Martin sound better? Hmmmm. It was over on page 2. I'm not the most sensitive poster around, but I'd agree that I semi-accurately portrayed WOT to make LOTR look better, but not ASOIAF. And by going back to my post you'll notice that I slid in a Clavell reference.

Finally, I'll post this link to Martin's Not A Blog. This link is to his remarks upon the passing of Mr. Jordan last year. It's obvious that Martin thought highly of Jordan and his body of work.

 

[Wiggum]

Thinking highly of one of your contemporaries doesn't do anything as far as highly repetitive exposition.

I respect Jordan, and his fans, but I just couldn't deal with the books after the 5thish.