Elder Gods: The Dreamers
Published June 03, 2004
As heroic fantasy goes, Elder Gods lacks the pulpish energy of Robert E. Howard (or even a Howard imitator like Karl Earl Wagner) or the emotional pallet of that Ring guy or Mervyn Peake. When I finished the volume, I felt pleasantly entertained but had none of the burning investment to learn what happens next that I remember experiencing the first time I read, oh, Michael Moorcock's original Elric cycle. But I wonder: would I have had a different response if I'd been listening to it as a Book-on-Tape? Perhaps all this faux oralizing has a purpose to it, after all. . .
- Elder Gods: The Dreamers
- Published: June 03, 2004
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- Section: Books
- Filed Under: Books: Fantasy
- Writer: Bill Sherman
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I started reading Saberhagen's "Sword" series before he finished it -- what agony it was waiting, even if the last couple of books weren't of quite the same quality as the first nine!
Woe to anyone (like my brother) waiting for Jordan to eve get around to finishing his epic series.
At least Modesitt has kept up the quality of the "Recluce" series, even if it is a long time time between books!
The Discworld books (which I've generally enjoyed, though I haven't been driven to obsessively read 'em all) are more like P.G. Wodehouse than an epic fantasy: the setting and some of the characters may be the same, but you can read each book by itself and get plenty of pleasure from the experience. (First Pratchett I read was Hogfather, in fact, which is at least twenty volumes into the series.) I can see Phillip's point about wanting to wait until all the books in a multi-volume epic are done - I'm still chafing and waiting for Stephen King to finish his Dark Tower series. But with writers I really like (Michael Moorcock, say) I'm personally willing to take the risk just to read something fresh from 'em. . .
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I make it a point to never start a series of books that is not yet finished. Never again!