The book that exceeded your expectations, and the one that just sucked

[BcRedneck]

For me the one that far exceeded mine was Fevre Dream Gorge RR Martin. How could a book about vampire's and steam boats be great. I never read one about vampires before or since, but i loved this.

The one that i thought would be great and totally blew it for me was Hart of Darkness Joseph Cornrad. This one pissed me off i waited 2 weeks for it to show up. I was exited as hell, I loved Apocalypses Now. My understanding up to this was the book was always better than the movie was totally blown here. How could something as cool as a trip up a river while descending into ones own morality be such nonsense. I dont care if you think im stupid for not getting it I hated that book

 

[Bick]

I'm tempted to give Fevre Dream a go myself soon, I've heard lots of good things about it.
I can't agree with any of your thoughts on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a literary classic of the highest order, but there you have it.

To directly answer the question though:

Exceeded expectations: Fire with Fire, by Charles E. Gannon
Book that failed to meet expectations: Absolution Gap - Alastair Reynolds

 

[tobl]

exceeded- the name of the wind - patrick rothfuss

there are lots of books that were bad... i guess out of the dark by david weber because it almost made not read anything else by him

 

[BAYLOR]

Past Master by R A Lafferty I read the back cover and has no great expectations of this book. What this book turned out to be caught me off guard. Any descriptio I make, cannot do justice to this book. Reading it is ,a bit like sipping a fine wine, you savor every taste or on the case of book every word. One word of warning , this book is either or book , meaning either you love it or hate it. I loved it.

The Nightland By William Hope Hodgson. It took me three months to get though it . This is without a doubt one the wretched books ive ever read. Hodgson had an interesting story which he screwed it up by have the character speak in pseudo archaic dialect and , repetitions , if I had been his publisher I would told him rewrite it with modern dialect and in more modern writing style.

 

[tobl]

Past Master by R A Lafferty I read the back cover and has no great expectations of this book. What this book turned out to be caught me off guard. Any descriptio I make, cannot do justice to this book. Reading it is ,a bit like sipping a fine wine, you savor every taste or on the case of book every word. One word of warning , this book is either or book , meaning either you love it or hate it. I loved it.

The Nightland By William Hope Hodgson. It took me three months to get though it . This is without a doubt one the wretched books ive ever read. Hodgson had an interesting story which he screwed it up by have the character speak in pseudo archaic dialect and , repetitions , if I had been his publisher I would told him rewrite it with modern dialect and in more modern writing style.

i'm sorry, you kept reading a book you hated for 3 months??that's commitment.......or masochism?

 

[hitmouse]

The thing about The Nightland is that if you can get past the really ridiculous stylistic affectation, it is a very good piece. It just needed a brave editor.

 

[Astro Pen]

Accelerando, Stross. It blew me away as I have mentioned a couple of times here. It was just a grab passing through the library but wow. An idea on every page, and you felt the change as it progressed from a familiar Amsterdam to the singularity in a couple of generations. Each comfortable in its world.

Kingdom Come Ballard was near a literary god to me and a profound early influence. So for me to feel 'I can't go on with this' and write a negative review is a sign that the pen was finally slipping from his fingers. I was saddened. Maybe in a few years I will revisit it and not be annoyed by the repeated character descriptions and impossible coincidences.
But for now the suckage is high.

 

[nixie]

Memories of Ice, Steven Erikson, I love the whole Series but this one was another level.
I'm also a big fan of Martin's Fevre Dream, like it more than ASOIF.

Black Leopard Red Wolf, Marlon James, I really wanted to like this but it was a big let down for me.

 

[BAYLOR]

The thing about The Nightland is that if you can get past the really ridiculous stylistic affectation, it is a very good piece. It just needed a brave editor.

A brave editor should have told them , the writing style was garbage and would put off readers and severely limit the success of his book

 

[BcRedneck]

My problem with Heart of Darkness Was going in looking for some great adventure up the river. The book is more introspection than anything, I may give it another shot one day.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I thought White Fang was boring when I was first reading it in middle school, but it quickly upended my disappointment when the titular wolf-dog "took over." It's now one of my favorite novels.

I really didn't like The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia. I read about it in a nonfiction steampunk book. It had some things going for it, I felt, but wound up hating it. It's hard for me to identify why exactly.

 

[BAYLOR]

i'm sorry, you kept reading a book you hated for 3 months??that's commitment.......or masochism?

Yes I did. given who the writer was and how much Alike his other stuff, I kept hoping that maybe the ennidnd would made it worth it . Well , It was disappointing . Jame Stoddard did a redo of the book The Night Land Retold. Ive heard good things about that one.

Hodgesons book bad as it was , did have some actual positives . The imagery , and the Earth of the dead sun. This book had promise and could potentially been something great.

 

[Randy M.]

The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll. I'd heard about it in the Datlow/Windling Year's Best collection, realized I had picked up the paperback, and found myself completely entranced by the story, in spite of a main character who isn't exactly likable.

From the Teeth of Angels by Jonathan Carroll. Same beautiful smooth, flavorful prose, but in service of a sour and depressing story that just did nothing for me. Maybe I'll reread it one day and discover I just wasn't in the right mood for it, but either is kind of doubtful.