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I would also like to comment on why we Robert Jordan fans think the series is so great. I know, and probably most other fans know, that his world is not completely believeable. However, he taps into just about every mythology in world history, from Greek to Norse to Arthurian legends. His main character is an obvious Christ figure (he's going to die to save the world? Hmmm...). I think Mr. Jordan is just tapping into the subconcious forces which drive human mythology, and everybody who reads them, consciously or not is affected by this. I personally think "The Wheel of Time" is the greatest fantasy series ever written, if you couldn't tell from the above.
Sincerely,
David L. Watkins

True, Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time"-world is uncommonly eclectic. There are obviously traces of king Arthur, and Rand has got some an interesting Messianic role to play. I've heard Mr Jordan himself talking about searching for "the mother of all stories" or something like that. And the story he creates is great (although maybe a little slowly told), and there are also a lot of fascinating places to visit and interesting people to get to know. But I still think it would be better if he also had created a believable history and at least some linguistic outlines for the world. But that is of course only my opinion. /karl henriksson

2. British and American publishers aren't interested in translations. To become published by an American publisher, writing in another language, you have to be writing something quite unique, like Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" (not really fantasy, but a great book - and I think most fantasy readers would agree). To be Scandinavia's most read writer is certainly not enough - Margit Sandemo, whose "Sagan om Isfolket" ("The Icefolk Saga") has sold millions of copies in Scandinavia and Poland, is as far as I know yet to be published in English. With her occult fantasy set in a valley in Norway, she has a strong hold on her readers, many of whom have read the at least 50 books of the series. I haven't read anything she has written myself, and I would probably not find the books worth reading, but it is still quite symptomatic for the english-speaking publishers' ignorance of - or lack of interest in - what's going on in the rest of the world. And because of that, the rest of us are about as ignorant. I checked my bookcases and didn't find any non-Anglo-Saxon fantasy books, if I didn't count Isaac Bashevis Singer and Salman Rushdie. /karl henriksson

Well, since I thought the books were generally pretty great, I'm dying to know what authors and books in the Fantasy genre you think *are* best!

Your reactions to both the Jordan and Eddings books are so close to my own, that I just have to know what you liked best. How about a top ten list? Or even a top one? Quick, save me--before I go out and buy one by Terry Goodkind!
Don

In Goodkind's defense, something also tells me that he did not have the assistance of a C.S. Lewis as Tolkien did. Too bad - one can only think about how much better Wizard's First Rule could have been. I'm getting ready to read "Stone of Sorrow",but after reading your review, I can only speculate that Goodkind is still struggling to find himself. Has he published anything before WFR (short stories, essays)?
Mike Huber

P.S. I appreciate your website. I'm going to check on a couple of other books on your top ten list. Thanks...:-) MH

I haven't heard of anything else he has written (and he doesn't exactly strike me as a writer of short stories), but if he has published anything shorter than novels, I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't hear about it. /karl henriksson

He had an excellent plot in the first two books, and he has a technique that keeps the reading interesting. Granted he is not a perfect writer, but I would like to see Karl Henriksson do better.
Paul E. Sullivan

As regards Gemmell's other 15 books, I have read them all. Most recently I met him in London and received an autographed copy of his new book, "Dark Moon," which is the first in a new series. And do return to "Legend." I rank it as one of my favourite books.
Nigel Kersh
Ra'anana
Israel

R. A. Salvator should have a higher listing in your top listings Why? BECAUSE he is the man who made DRITTZ ask any role player of Drittz and you know they know the baddest scmitar man there ever was ever will be. As well he has done other works as well. But unlike Mr. Goodkind this is a novel artist. Both deserve better than you are rating them.
Tim S

Ps. I did enjoy your reviews on David Eddings though another keyboard artist.

All the books are really well written and are hilarious. If has read these books and have seen pictures on the web from the covers of these books, can you e-mail me at data@gte.net ? I would really appriciate it!!!!
Jade

I'm enjoying your site--unfortunately, I only get to browse the web from a friend's place (I refuse to get an on-line service, because I need to sleep sometime! But I'm weakening . . .)
--Elizabeth Glover
Queens, New York City

So everyone please be conscious that there are obviously those who prefer "soap opera" tactics of an epic 8 book series, and those who prefer more action-oriented books - (like an R.A. Salvatore work.)

Otherwise, everyone should stop bickering over whether they are "pro" or "con" for the Jordan/Goodkind style of writing. It is clear that there isn't going to be a book that will be everyone's #1 pick. But some will just be on MORE people's list! :)
Yours respectfully, Daniel Dean

Even though I like epics, I think stand alone novels like, for instance, Sean Stewart's "Nobody's Son", Martha Wells' "City of Bones" and Caroline Stevermer's "A College of Magics" have received to little attention. If you want to become a fantasy literature superstar, it's better to write crappy epics than brilliant stand alone novels. That's sad, in my opinion. /karl henriksson

I like your site. As someone interested in writing fantasy, it's nice to see opinions about things. -Sherab

I agree with Mr. Henriksson on his appraisal of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, which is my favorite work of fiction. Tad Williams created a true escapist wonderland.

I do think that Jordan's work is great, though the last three novels in The Wheel of Time seem to be more Soap Opera-esque than the first four.

On to Robert Jordans Wheel of Time. Great story, good characters (of which Rand is not the most interesting by far), but too many pages. Especially book 6 was a ripoff. Half the pages would have been sufficient. Take Lan, he leaves at the end of book 5, but he doesn't actually arrive anywhere until the end of book 6! Book 7 was better, but I do hope he won't go beyond book 10 (I can't see him finishing before then).

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is equally great, but has less of a problem with the page-overdose (and is therefore better). Only part that could have been condensed was 'To Green Angel Tower part 1' (or ' Twiddling Our Thumbs on the Stone of Farewell'). This series has the most memorable hero-starting-humbly of all. And his companion Binabik is a treasure.

If I may recommend some things I haven't encountered in your list: Simon Green - Blue Moon Rising. Neat little story (one book!) that is quite original and funny. The main characters are sympathetic: Prince Rupert the grumbling second son who gets sent out to kill a dragon (i.e. get himself killed so he's no longer a threat to his elder brother), princess Julia, who is just a bit more violent than your average spunky princess (and who has the bad taste to fall for Ruperts brother in his absence), and a delightful whining coward of a unicorn. It's the best book Simon Green has written, better than his Deathstalker Space-opera. Bridget Wood has written some interesting dark Ireland things (Wolf Prince etc.), but these may not appeal to you since you have a distaste for torture scenes (so do I most of the times, I tend to skip those bits).

I'll save some more for later and get working on my top-5 now.

Thanks for providing an intersting web-page.
Marleen

Furthermore I would like to mention Barbara Hambly as one of my favourite writers. She always keeps the focus on the people she writes about, never losing herself to much in the story.
Magnus Löö
magloof@algonet.se
Ps. Several of the books you recommend is now on my "Books-I'm-going-to-read-as-soon-as-time-allows"-list. Ds.

For myself, I tend to go for the song not the singer, the story not the writer hence I have lost out, I'm sure( or someone will point it out to me).

The books that I have enjoyed so far are: The Belgariad but not the Mallorean. Eddings really made a meal out of a good thing.
David Gemmell's Legend, Waylander1 & 2, Morningstar and the King beyond the gate.
F.Paul Wilson's Healer.
Feist's Riftwar and now the Serpent War.
I gave up reading Jordan's Wheel of time as I couldn't remember what the plots were or who the people was?
I also gave up reading Tad williams's books after I read the Green Tower Part 1.
I highly recommend Lawrence Watt-Evans's Misenchanted sword and With a Single Spell.
Another book I enjoyed is A Name to Conjure With by a Donald Aamodt.
John Johnson.

I also wanted to mention an author who is somewhat "obscure" but who wrote absolutely one of the best fantasy novels I have ever read: P. C. Hodgell and God Stalk. I like to mention her on whatever fantasy pages I come across mainly because she's still published only by a relatively small press due to her lack of popularity, and I live in constant fear that the publisher will stop publishing the Kencyrath series, of which God Stalk is the first book, without her acquiring a more broad-based readership. Anyway, if anyone is interested in reading a well-written, original series, do check this one out... Or if anyone's read it and has any comments, I would love to read them. (There was an interesting thread about the series on rec.arts.sf.written a while ago if anyone wants to know more about the series and is not afraid of spoilers.)
Sorry for the wordiness of the message,
Tawen

Now Legend may not be in my top 5 but it deserves some merit for bringing heroic fantasy back into focus. That thing about finding Gemmell's literary style unreadable is absolutely rubbish, us Brits find it perfectly readable. So have a heart and take it easy on my favourite books.

By the way, do you know that you sound a lot like Eric S. Raymond, this is good of course. Ta Ta for now.
John Johnson

---
i wanna suggest 2 authors. the first i rarely hear about. and the second is rather new to the fantasy genre.

one is Dennis L McKiernan. a friend loaned me one of Mr McKiernan's books, "dragon doom", and when i asked her what it was about ... she replied, "red birds and blue birds. you'll like it jasyn". i loved it. and i would highly recommend this one to anyone and respond the same if asked what it was about.

second is george r.r. martin. the only reason i picked up his book, "a game of thrones" is because robert jordan said, "grabs hold and won't let go. it's brilliant." i must say .. i'm not sure about brilliant .. but it was _definitely_ a good read and a lot less hurried than others i've read. well developing characters and a plot that's going to drop right into your lap like a spilled bowl of beef stew. meaty and full of juice.
sorry about being long winded .. =)
jasyn chen

If there are any of you (and there are a few) finding themselves at a loss for a trilogy of books to keep you going all through the year, then look no further than J.V.Jones' Book of words trilogy! Three, books, oodles of characters, a water tight story line and greatwriting all in one! Each book is around 500 pages long and the first two come in paper back at around £6.00, and the third coming as hard back at around £17.00 (approximately) I strongly recommend this to any persons wanting a good solid read to keep the going! Could all people with any contact addresses, quieries and/or info about the author please send them to -

profken@msn.com

I want to compliment you for your great site. I also have some comments about Goookind: I've read both he and Jordan and I got really irritated when I found the same type of person, the same type of happenings and the same type of places as Jordan has created in a BAD copy in the books written by Goodkind. Here are some examples: (Jordan to the left - Goodkind to the right)

White Tower - Palace of Prohets
Black Ajah - Sisters of Dark
Sword of Truth - Callandor
Thom (the gleeman) - Zedd (the Wizard)
The Dark One - The Keeper
Rand, the Dragon - Richard, the Seeker
Whitecloaks - The Blood of the Fold

There are more things that I've found wery alike and that several times made me put down the book and promise myself not to finish it. I'm a big fan of Jordans books (though not a "fanatic Jordanit" ) and I don't like reading not so good copys who are that obvious but each time I've picked it up and continued my reading. ( I guess I'm to curiouse to stop.)

The only thing that makes me a tiny bit positiv about Goodkind is the fact that his book HAS an end. The Sword of Truth is a triology, but Jordan has made a statement that his Wheel of Time is going to last at least another three books (that makes at least ten alltogether!)

This is just a repeat of what Jasyn Chen said about this but i think it's necessary.

I've also read all books that Eddings has written and I´ve got a question: Why are so many so critical about Elenien and Tamuli??? They are really good and entertaining.

There are more fantasy that I've read and I think they are good and want to recommend them to everybody. It's books written by: Janny Wurst (Take your time while reading!! Let her get to the story!!) Raymond E Fiest (He's in a hurry writing, the tempo is fast but the story is really good!) Elisabeth Moon (Paksenarrion, The main caracter is to much of a saint for my taste, but she is good at describing environments and feelings.) Stephen Donaldson ( The books of Mordant: This is good!) Marion Zimmer Bradely (The Mists of Avalon: wierd end!!!!but good!!)

Sorry for writing a looooooooooong message but I hope you dont mind!! ;-) Thank you for letting me voice my thoughts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eva Söderlund, Sweden

Did you ever read something from Hohlbein. It is one of the famoust german fantasy authors. Most of his stories follow a special scheme so you have to read it up to the end to understand what is really behind the story because it changes on the last pages into a completely diifferent direction.

Top authors in my opinion
1. Tolkien: (he will never be reached from any others because he really have created such a complete world with legends, languages, races and many other stuff that make middle earth a real world on its own. I find it often amusing sometimes it makes me angry to read that the author x or y is the only true heir of tolkien or sit on the right to tolkien in fantasy heaven. Very few will ever nearly reach the level of this man and his legends.
2. Kurtz: when you read the book, you recognize her background as a historian. I never found such precise description of religious rites in a fantasy tale. And the language she is using is absolute fantastic, though I must admint I have only read the german translation. Maybe only the translator was the genius. :-)
3. Anne McCaffrey: Another author that is not yet into your reviews.
4. Hohlbein: He follows the motto: start with your hero in a bad situation and then make it even worse...
5. Weiss and Hickman: You never know if you have to laugh or to be frightened.

For those who are interested: I'm writing my own stories, surely influenced by the authors above. The first three books are on the internet, book four is finished, too. Try

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/3276

I like to hear comments, critics, etc...
Greetings
-- Markus

Anyway, what I'm attempting to say here is that while many fantasy series start out similarly, they generally begin to deviate from the norm in later books. You might want to at least try to read Blood of the Fold for this reason.
Chris