Overrated Books

Ordered chaos is great! It's the change of order I can never cope with. Maybe there's a new theory in there - the Theory of Relatively Knowing Where Things Are..."
 
No, I just think he should've written that. :)

Imagine the topics that could be spawned: Relative Distributions of Matter in Desk Fields; Spatial Anomalies and The Lost Pen Lid; What you Forgot you Ever Had...

Hm...could get silly. :)
 
Yeh well Robin Hobb is at the top of my hit list followed closely by David Eddings with Robert Jordan coming up the rear but then I really liked the first few books in the series but it's gone downhill since then even if I'm thick enough to see the series out to the bitter end....:eek:
 
I agree Eddings is over rated but I started Elder Gods so will finish it.Terry Goodkind is another,the series started well but went rapidly down hill I managed 8 books,dont know how but managed to trawl through them.Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody was another although as they're sat on my bookshelf I'll read the next two and give it her a second chance
 
I think Ringworld By Larry Niven is over rated - im still a fan off the book But once you get over the wow factor its just a group of people who spend a few months flying through the air
 
I can't believe I haven't already replied to this, but anyway, here's a long list of overrated books in fantasy/science fiction:
1) The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - already mentioned and fully discussed earlier.
2) The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb - yes, its good, but the last book was pretty poor, with one of the worst endings ever to a fantasy series. Yet people still say its the best series in fantasy. I don't think it even has a strong claim to being the best epic fantasy today, with such strong competition, and its best part, the characterisation, still isn't as good as the best in fantasy.
3) Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - you all knew it had to come some time. Sure, it's a good series. It's an amazing feat in worldbuilding, pretty much unparalleled in depth. But is it a good story? The plot, characterisation, prose - all are sketchy at times. Personally, I don't think it can compete with either its contemporaries or with modern epic fantasies. It was a children's novel that could appeal to adults just as easily, but it wasn't a masterpiece. The masterpiece of the time, Gormenghast, was hideously overshadowed by this.
4) David Eddings - anything he's written. Hugely popular, hugely derivative, boring and repetitive. He's honest about it, but the novels are just about passable when you're first coming into the genre and slowly degenerate after that.
5) Wit'ch series by James Clemens - over-rated, not because of its popularity, but because of its sheer awfulness. It's definitely the worst fantasy series I've had the displeasure of reading, ranging from idiotic characterisation to a perfectly predictable plot to cliched worldbuilding to ridiculous apostrophes in every other name.
6) Foundation by Isaac Asimov
7)Dune by Frank Herbert
Both of these, unlike most of the others, I really enjoyed and found them to be excellent. So why did I put them on an over-rated list? Because both have acquired a similarly mythic status to Lord of the Rings in fantasy, and this overshadows the true masterpieces of science fiction, such as The Forever War (I would have said PKD, except I don't think PKD can be overshadowed).
 
I'm going to have to say The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, I started it in the 6th grade and didn't even finish it I was so disgusted with that book and especially with Jordan. My best friend can't get enough of him though and We always end up arguing about the books. He is convinced that the WoT series is better than the John Marco books.
 
David Eddings and Robert Jordan are both overrated authors who series/books needed some better editing (IMHO):)
 
I think most really popular books are over-rated during their first blaze of popularity. It takes time to put these things into perspective.

Most of all when the writer is especially in tune with the mental-set of his/her particular decade. Anyone who re-enforces/validates our own current ideas about life/humanity/spirtuality/society/ the-workings-of- the-universe-in-general is going to look amazingly wise and perceptive.

Then when the cultural "gestalt" shifts, the backlash sets in. Some people will dislike the book just because they're sick of hearing about it. Others will begin to notice flaws that were present all along but obscured by our pleasure in finding a book that meets our own tastes (of the moment) so exactly.

If the book's reputation survives all that -- if new readers continue to discover it and love it -- or if its reputation grows rather than diminishes over a long period of time -- obviously it has some unique qualities that transcend mere fashionable thinking.
 
Brys said:
I can't believe I haven't already replied to this, but anyway, here's a long list of overrated books in fantasy/science fiction
Click to expand...
Well don't be too surprised as the new unofficial thread detective as dubbed by Cullwch, it's just another of those gems I discovered trawling through the backlots of yesteryear (i.e. my pre-registration on Chronicles) as I'm determined to resurrect threads I hope will prove to be of interest to new members. Seemed like a good idea at the time....;)

You've all reminded me of Terry Goodkind, I'd have to rate him on a par with Eddings, which means worse than Hobb....:eek:

Then again as we've discussed in the past its all horses for courses, so each to their own I suppose.....
 
for me overrated are:
1.goodkind. i loathe him. i think his characters are bland and flat, his writing style is just boring, and his abuse of women is disgusting.
2. eddings. its what i call starter fantasy, its just ridiculous and simplistic with happy endings everywhere
3. jordan. i LOVED his first book, second, third and fourth were ok. after that i got lost under the pile of meaningless names and random pointless plot nonexistance. i dont' think he is that overrated these days. i think a lot of people are tired of him. same with goodkind, to be honest, but there are still enough people to buy him to make him go to number 1 on booksellers lists and prevent him from having any reason to finish the series.

mostly, i hate goodkind. he's the only write i truly despise. others i am ok with, just think that they're not all that. but i kinda like that, knowing there are some people out there that arne't as great as the hype, gives me encouragment that i can achieve the same one day!
 
I step far, far away from Brys who has the blasphemous audacity to say that LOTR and Dune are overrated (just in case lightning should strike! ;) ).

Isn't it interesting how many of these authors (Jordan, Eddings, Goodkind, Hobb, etc) were considered the next hot ticket when they first published only to end up in the "overrated" column as their writing/series progressed? Seems like they've somehow lost their charm, their glamour, their orginality - or maybe they just like to "hear" the sound of their voice. Kinda sad, actually.

And something even more interesting is that they are continuing to write book after book, series after series, and folks are still buying! (sound of hitting head against the wall) I just don't get it. :confused:
-g-
 
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