I almost feel kinda sad that more people didnt get the Star Wars reference...
My rhyming mockery was one of my better moments.
Let me explain my disdain for Terry "Terribad" Badkind. I started reading his books because they looked similar to Jordan's. Book one was rather cliche, but I forgave that because I didn't know any better. However, I began noticing a pattern even in my ignorance. Richard doubts everyone--> finds obscure prophesy--> prophesy fulfilled causing more distrust--> random rape sequence -->Richard saves the day on accident-->The end--> return to step one. I cant stand that the character never learns. He is the luckiest bastard in the history of fantasy novels.
excuse me: "non-fantasy" novels.
The moment an author alienates the people who reads his books, I throw any respect for him out the window (not that I had much in this case). Then came the day when he said his novels weren't fantasy, and did not hold any of those genre cliches. Really? Dragon? check. Magic Sword? check. Boy king growing up from abject poverty? check. Prophecy? check. His FATHER is the BAD GUY? BIG CHECK. I can keep going.
The point is this: if anyone want to read his novels, giddyup. hey at least you are reading - a thing that I wish everyone would invest time in. However, my personal opinion is that there are better authors to read. Specifically, there are authors out there who treat their fans with the respect they deserve, and who don't make a mockery of the fantasy genre and those who read it.
Now, with that out of the way, I am currently reading Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie. I had hoped to be in the middle of Bakker's The Judging Eye, but the bookstore didn't have the copy they said they did, so I had to Amazon it. I just got it the other day - it's a very good looking book.
Also. I received my collector's edition of Erikson's Gardens of the Moon on Tuesday. It looks AWESOME!