Favorite author among Jordan/Martin/Bakker/Erikson?

[Trey Greyjoy]

Easy one. George RR Martin.

[the_faery_queen]

martin. i've only read jordan as well as him, from the list, and jordan i don't really think anything of. so martin

but i'd second the other suggestion of robin hobb. she is good.

and also, the dont' read jordan until he's done with the series, comment! just for your own sanity

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by genisis2

Which was your favorite?

Oooff! You would go and ask something like that, wouldn't you? Actually, I like them each for somewhat different reasons -- and, no, that's not a copout; in many ways, they're each quite different, though very much interrelated. If I had to choose, I'd probably go with Something About Eve or The Cream of the Jest -- though I'd warn most people away from that last one, at least until reading the others, because there's little action of any kind -- the conflict is all worked out through ideas, and is almost entirely internal. It's also closely linked to the first book of the Biography, Beyond Life, which is (on the surface, anyway) all about writing. (Note, on the surface; Cabell is never a single-layer writer.) Probably the best is to start with Figures of Earth, as it introduces you to Manuel and Poictesme; but each book can largely stand alone.

(There, I wriggled out that one nicely, didn't I? Wheew!)

[pyan]

Originally Posted by the_faery_queen

and also, don't read jordan until he's done with the series, comment! just for your own sanity

You think that he'll actually finish it someday?

GRRM, by a huge margin. Great characters, good plotlines, and you never know who will survive the current volume.

[Culhwch]

George Martin. Not just for the incomparable ASoIaF, but for Fevre Dream, the best vampire novel I've ever come across. Of the others... I read the first Jordan, and it never inspired me to search out the second. I tried Erikson three or four times, and just never got it. And I'm trying Bakker for the second time now, and persevering. For now. On Martin I was hooked from the first words.

[GOLLUM]

Erikson easily, then Bakker, Martin and Jordan a very distant last.

Would be interesting to know how many members who voted Martin have actually read Erikson as I suspect more may go over to Erikson if they've read the entire series rather than give up inside Book 1, a common downfall. No reflection on the people here, just somwething I've noticed across the board on other forums in general. Bakker too is excellent.

This comparison isn't really valid or more to the point balanced unless you've read all 4 authors, so not sure if all members who voted here have done that?

[Brys]

Erikson, very closely followed by R Scott Bakker and George RR Martin. To be honest though, all are as good as one another. Martin is probably 3rd out of them at the moment, because with AFFC he showed signs of slipping a bit, but then again A Storm of Swords is one of the best epic fantasy novels ever written.

Jordan just isn't close. He's closer to the bottom of epic fantasy IMO than the top.

As for others - well there are so many, it's difficult to know where to start, but a few I'd suggest would be Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth, Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, and for some more recent novels, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Matthew Stover's Heroes Die and Graham Joyce's the Tooth Fairy. Here are some more comprehensive lists:
http://speculativereviews.blogspot.c...n-reading.html - William Lexner's list
http://www.fantasybookspot.com/forum...opic.php?t=471 - Jay Tomio's list
http://vanderworld.blogspot.com/2006...y-reading.html Jeff Vandermeer's "exhaustive" list
http://vanderworld.blogspot.com/2006...tasy-list.html - Jeff Vandermeer's even more exhaustive list

And you might want to check out the winners of the World Fantasy Award, the Hugos, the Nebulas and the British Science Fiction and Fantasy awards.

[j. d. worthington]

Er, um, not quite -- but I took the following for allowing some wriggle room:

Originally Posted by fxer

If you have another favorite you think I should take a look at, having barely read any fantasy, I would appreciate those comments too!

not just a strict comparison. Oooops.*blushes*

[genisis2]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

Erikson easily, then Bakker, Martin and Jordan a very distant last.

Would be interesting to know how many members who voted Martin have actually read Erikson as I suspect more may go over to Erikson if they've read the entire series rather than give up inside Book 1, a common downfall. No reflection on the people here, just somwething I've noticed across the board on other forums in general. Bakker too is excellent.

This comparison isn't really valid or more to the point balanced unless you've read all 4 authors, so not sure if all members who voted here have done that?

I wonder how many members actually read Bakker . I suspect that may not jump over on the Bakker band wagon but would be surprised to read something a little bit more fresh than the usual fare of fantasy books that are marketed. In full agreement with you BTW.

[Zadok]

Originally Posted by Brys

Erikson, very closely followed by R Scott Bakker and George RR Martin. To be honest though, all are as good as one another. Martin is probably 3rd out of them at the moment, because with AFFC he showed signs of slipping a bit, but then again A Storm of Swords is one of the best epic fantasy novels ever written.

Jordan just isn't close. He's closer to the bottom of epic fantasy IMO than the top.

I'd agree with this, Erickson, Martin and Bakker are definately the top of the epic fantasy pile IMO and it's hard to pick a favorite. Erickson's work in particular is amazingly ambitious for a first time author. With such massive volumes everything is not going to work, but he manages to pack quite an emotional punch.

What's interesting is that while I would say that Bakker did a better job in regards to fleshing out his main cast(which admittedly is much smaller then Erickson's) there was nothing in the trilogy that resonated like certain scenes of Erickson from DHG or MoI. Martin of course is a master, and even with the relative lack of "action" in aFFC it was still a pleasure to read. But I would be lying if I said the wait between books hasn't dulled my enthusiasm for the series.

[fxer]

Originally Posted by Brys

Jordan just isn't close. He's closer to the bottom of epic fantasy IMO than the top.

I get the feeling Jordan is not well respected on this board. A couple reasons people have mentioned are:
*Long waits between books/drawing out the series (purely for profit?)
*Poor female characters (all end up being stereotypical/crabby)

For what other reasons (hopefully without spoilers), do people not like Jordan?

[Jason_Taverner]

I still love Jorden and the 1st 6 books of wheel of time are always going to be great but I've starting reading Erikson and his Malazan Book of the Fallen and it all pales in comparison so I voted for him

[Culhwch]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

Would be interesting to know how many members who voted Martin have actually read Erikson as I suspect more may go over to Erikson if they've read the entire series rather than give up inside Book 1, a common downfall. No reflection on the people here, just somwething I've noticed across the board on other forums in general. Bakker too is excellent.

This comparison isn't really valid or more to the point balanced unless you've read all 4 authors, so not sure if all members who voted here have done that?

Well, I've attempted to read all four authors, Gollum. Does that count? Your point on Erikson I feel is a two-edged sword. He may very well get better in subsequent books, but the cold hard fact as far as I'm concerned is that in the first hundred-odd pages of GotM he delivered nothing that inspired me to keep reading. Believe me, I wanted to like him. I really did. So much so that I still haven't given up entirely - I will try again. So I'm not specifically prejudiced against him. But in comparison to Martin, who had me from page one.... It's a non-event.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Culhwch

Well, I've attempted to read all four authors, Gollum. Does that count? Your point on Erikson I feel is a two-edged sword. He may very well get better in subsequent books, but the cold hard fact as far as I'm concerned is that in the first hundred-odd pages of GotM he delivered nothing that inspired me to keep reading. Believe me, I wanted to like him. I really did. So much so that I still haven't given up entirely - I will try again. So I'm not specifically prejudiced against him. But in comparison to Martin, who had me from page one.... It's a non-event.

Point taken Cullwch but obviously to make a full comparison I guess you really need to read all of or a substantial part of the current series of the 4 authors mentioned. I agree with Martin, he had me hooked from page 1 whereas Erikson probably took to the second book to have me really sitting up and taking notice. I guess that's a shame in a way that the first book takes a while to really get you in because there will be a lot of readers who will simply throw up their hands in exasperation. Perhaps becasue Martin is a more experienced writer he understood this better than Erikson, who nevertheless does claim he doesn't want to make things easy for people reading his books but still you'ld probably want to capture as many readers as you could in the opening of a series, especially one extending to 10 volumes.

You're reading Bakker now aren't you or have I mistaken you for another member?

[dyffeg]

In response to Crysallis, I have read all Jordan's books bar the most recent. I found the lack of progression in conjunction with blurring of stereotyped female and male characters the most irritating... having said that, I found the 2nd most recent one an improvement on previous ones.

What I did like re Jordan was the strong "groups" of people... although I did work out a couple of years ago Jordan seemed to have "lifted" a few themes from Dune series (Bene Gesserit, dessert fighters etc)

Re ERiksen - I definately will try to reread book 1 and then 2... One day!!!

Regards,
Dyffeg