i've read both the trilogies and remember them with great warmth. I wouldn't read them again though and I definitely read them at the right time (early teens, playing RPG games etc)
I don't see what's wrong with them, they're no different to a comic book film or CGi fest or pop CD or chippy tea. it's not going to benefit your mind or body in any great way, but i enjoy it.
As I said above, I only read them (and reviewed them in this fashion) because a woman (okay, the one who controls rabid squirrels 
) "asked" me to do so 
Otherwise, I'd have no interest, since I didn't when I was growing up, as these sorts of stories rarely, if ever, appeal to me. Matters of taste and all (although I do understand some of their appeal to others) 
) "asked" me to do so Otherwise, I'd have no interest, since I didn't when I was growing up, as these sorts of stories rarely, if ever, appeal to me. Matters of taste and all (although I do understand some of their appeal to others) with no history of playing RPG/D&D games. you (one) wouldn't pick them out for their cover art unless the cover art appealed to them (others). once picking it up, the blurb wouldn't appeal to a passing bookshelf peruser. so you (actually you) are completely and utterly, unforgivably not the target audience.
Unforgivably?
Maybe totally not, but unforgivably sounds rather like I'm being condemned to Hell for not being a target D&D person Maybe i got a bit little carried away. i unforgive this insistent close friend of yours though.
in fact it's not even the quality of the writing. would you have enjoyed those trilogies had they have been written (takes 10 minutes to research someone) by William Shakespeare...that shouldn't have needed research really, but you get my point
Interesting question. There are subject matters that I really do not enjoy reading (say, the profile of a pedophile), yet Vladimir Nabokov in Lolita wrote a classic. So perhaps the authors can, to a limited degree, transcend the chosen literary genre?
Interesting question. There are subject matters that I really do not enjoy reading (say, the profile of a pedophile), yet Vladimir Nabokov in Lolita wrote a classic. So perhaps the authors can, to a limited degree, transcend the chosen literary genre?
Lolita is a RomCom where the female lead happens to be a 12 year old girl and the male is a delusional, (what's the word where you deceive yourself, self-deceiving?) buffoon. had the content have been truly reflective of paedophilia and rape, from the perspective of Lolita...
regardless of the style that would've been hard to stomach. however yours remains a very good point.
despite a lack of explicit description the reader knows the content and the themes involved, but due to presentation Lolita is a good book.
would any writer have made that content interest to you? plus imagine if it was a dante or milton or james joyce. it would have been at least double again the length and possibly in prose (what rhymes with Guenhwyvar?) and would you really have enjoyed slogging through Raistlin's stream of consciousness using that stream of consciousness technique that James Joyce (born 1882, died 1941) perfected?
I like to think that my own humble sonnet was a bit more interesting than what Weis and Hickman wrote But that's a good point. I think it depends upon reader tastes. I like a story written with a good style to it (one that fits the tale or perhaps transforms it), as style is integral to a tale (even Weis and Hickman have a style; it's just a very poorly-presented one ) and I think Joyce so totally could have invented words that rhyme with Guenhwyvar
I like to think that my own humble sonnet was a bit more interesting than what Weis and Hickman wrote
But that's a good point. I think it depends upon reader tastes. I like a story written with a good style to it (one that fits the tale or perhaps transforms it), as style is integral to a tale (even Weis and Hickman have a style; it's just a very poorly-presented one ) and I think Joyce so totally could have invented words that rhyme with Guenhwyvar it wasn't. it is. it doesn't. you're wrong and most likely
seriously though. no matter what the content i couldn't read a sonnet/poem about anything and really enjoy it. i have a Poe collection and i really didn't care all that much for The Raven, but the Pit and Pendulum? disturbing.
and you're right it does depend on the reader's taste, reading is completely subjective, which is why you opened such a can of worms with your original post.
i can't define why i like certain books or writers and i'm a pretty broad reader. i do know that what i admire most in a book is reduction and good editing. which is why the Malazan books will never be great, lovecraft, dick and other short story writers are geniuses, there's a difference between telling a story and constructing sentences and it is unforgivable (
) when a writer uses more words than is needed to tell a story.
This may be one of the most dire reviews you shall ever read
- 09/09/2012 09:12:25 PM
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A review of a D&D bestiary could be more dire.
- 09/09/2012 11:29:17 PM
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Perhaps
- 09/09/2012 11:50:20 PM
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They are popular as they are fun, easy reading books
- 10/09/2012 12:11:24 AM
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"Popular", "Fun," and "Easy" doesn't have to be equated with poorly-written
- 10/09/2012 12:16:27 AM
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Poorly written by what standard?
- 10/09/2012 12:29:17 AM
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By the standards of what I enjoyed as a nine year-old?
- 10/09/2012 01:04:12 AM
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So like I said, by the standards of Elitist Literary Snobs
- 11/09/2012 12:03:08 AM
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Nice attempt at sophistry, but alas, it fails
- 11/09/2012 12:38:24 AM
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Was that meant to make any sense?
- 11/09/2012 01:43:13 AM
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Re: Was that meant to make any sense?
- 11/09/2012 01:54:23 AM
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I'm with Wibble on this (big surprise)
- 12/09/2012 03:07:53 PM
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Heh.
- 12/09/2012 03:43:52 PM
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Pretty much so
- 12/09/2012 04:19:35 PM
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When did you put up that header?
- 12/09/2012 04:35:20 PM
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I didn't put it up
- 12/09/2012 04:51:32 PM
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I shall tread lightly so.
- 12/09/2012 06:15:51 PM
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- 12/09/2012 07:25:29 PM
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- 12/09/2012 07:25:29 PM
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Re: Pretty much so
- 12/09/2012 08:50:57 PM
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You apparently do not read my blog/reviews much
- 12/09/2012 09:07:18 PM
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Actually, I read them almost never
- 13/09/2012 03:07:48 PM
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I think my IQ dropped a little bit when I parsed what you said
- 13/09/2012 04:16:21 PM
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Yep, your usual rebuttal... *NM*
- 17/09/2012 02:14:56 PM
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No, not really
- 17/09/2012 06:25:15 PM
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Yes, Yes, wrap yourself in arrogance and declare yourself correct until your opposite gets bored...
- 17/09/2012 11:12:17 PM
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Don't try to argue with them. They've made their judgments. They are better than you.
- 10/09/2012 09:36:17 PM
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Defensive much? *NM*
- 10/09/2012 10:31:17 PM
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*NM*
- 10/09/2012 10:31:17 PM
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Perhaps. It's annoying, because I tend to agree with you guys - you and Tom and Stephen.
- 11/09/2012 02:32:28 AM
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The odd thing that there wasn't any belittling on my part -see other response. *NM*
- 11/09/2012 03:17:36 AM
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For the record, I wasn't trying to be condescending in my response.
- 11/09/2012 05:52:29 PM
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He never said you couldn't enjoy it.
- 10/09/2012 11:10:11 PM
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He also went on to compare liking the books to having the standards of a nine-year-old.
- 11/09/2012 02:34:18 AM
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You didn't read what I said very well then
- 11/09/2012 03:16:21 AM
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You're right. In the context of this thread, I'm basically acting like a raving lunatic.
- 11/09/2012 02:48:19 PM
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It's not like any of us have ever been innocent 100% of the time
- 11/09/2012 03:49:22 PM
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- 11/09/2012 03:49:22 PM
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I believe that they were not meant for adults.
- 10/09/2012 12:30:05 AM
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Very few of my friends were reading the books; some played the game, though
- 10/09/2012 01:06:07 AM
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Basically, both get dubious kudos for trying something new by the dire standards of the day.
- 10/09/2012 11:38:22 PM
1391 Views
Interesting point
- 11/09/2012 12:41:01 AM
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Are you aware of the game's alignment rules? Some of the novels struggle with this.
- 12/09/2012 10:58:37 PM
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Not aware of it at all until now
- 12/09/2012 11:18:57 PM
1359 Views
How is that possible?
- 12/09/2012 11:28:33 PM
1316 Views
My dad was (and is) influenced by Evangelicals
- 13/09/2012 12:17:36 AM
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Wait, so you didn't read the Chronicles first?
- 13/09/2012 02:12:13 PM
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No
- 13/09/2012 02:18:03 PM
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Chronicles is considerably weaker
- 13/09/2012 11:14:38 PM
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Needless to say, once I finish reading the Icewind Dale trilogy, I'm done with D&D
- 14/09/2012 12:38:47 AM
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- 14/09/2012 12:38:47 AM
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These threads are so much better than the rape threads! *NM*
- 12/09/2012 04:03:01 AM
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You're just waiting to see if I'll use hexameter in the next one *NM*
- 12/09/2012 04:32:31 AM
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*NM*
- 12/09/2012 04:32:31 AM
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And having now finished Dragonlance: Legends, its very own sonnet
- 13/09/2012 12:31:51 PM
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- 13/09/2012 12:31:51 PM
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At least you didn't read the Baldur's Gate novelizations
- 14/09/2012 04:29:17 AM
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Sssssh!
- 14/09/2012 05:10:19 AM
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Baldurs Gate wooooo!
- 14/09/2012 04:13:34 PM
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Eh, Star Wars Expanded Universe I could see reading. Some of them are supposed to be good
- 17/09/2012 04:37:05 PM
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Is the review dire because of the subject or the sonnet form?
- 14/09/2012 04:24:37 PM
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Both
- 14/09/2012 04:36:59 PM
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- 14/09/2012 04:36:59 PM
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it would be unusual for someone to just randomly pick books like that up
- 14/09/2012 05:05:37 PM
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Interesting scenario
- 14/09/2012 10:16:11 PM
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Re: Interesting scenario
- 15/09/2012 09:55:59 AM
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