Then I got number 10. I realise he probably needed to fix up a bunch of storylines, but damn, that book is a drag. I can’t think of one memorable thing whatsoever he did in that book.

Feist’s Riftwar Saga is not done. The beginnings of the 3rd Riftwar (The Darkwar) are taking place now. http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Nighthawks-Darkwar-Saga-Book/dp/0060792787/sr=1-3/qid=1160761497/ref=sr_1_3/002-4619831-6296063?ie=UTF8&s=books

Actually, Into a Dark Realm, the 2nd book in the Darkwar saga (which would have just been a continuation of the Conclave of Shadows but there was some publisher trouble or something) is out in the UK, but not in the US until Spring. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Into-Dark-Realm-No-5/dp/0007133774

Feist’s books are all written to lead up to the pen&paper game that he and his friends played in during the early and mid 70s. The books are meant to explain the history of the world and how it ended up as it is in the game period (Midkemia is SUBSTANTIALLY changed in the game period vs. the few hundred years during which the books are taking place).
–matt

I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling a sense of malaise about the current big fantasy series. I used to love reading this stuff. Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga is brilliant from start to finish, and I loved David Eddings in my younger days (although it doesn’t really stand up to re-reading, tbh). I always though David Gemmel didn’t quite stand up to the greats of the genre, but at least he kept things moving.

The latest sword of truth novel is the first in a few books that has any real progress, but even this could be a false dawn. It’s as though Goodkind specialises in the literary version of the famous ‘Galactic Reset’ button so reminiscent of Star Trek episodes - make sure you leave the universe just as you found it, eh Terry? I mean:

- Kahlan and Richard have been separated for most of the series. I wouldn’t mind so much, because they’re both interesting characters in their own right, but they do mope a lot.

- The Imperial Order has been on the verge of crushing them for at least 4 books now.

- Richard has remained in his state of ‘uncontrolled’ power since it was revealed he was a wizard, in book 2.

- Also, Goodkind has this terrible habit of posing extremely detailed explanations for magical happenings, in this sort of pseudo-scientific meta-physics style language. I wish he wouldn’t do that. I understand the importance of internal consistancy and all, but it’s really starting to grate.

- He’s also getting very heavy on the moralising. It’s clear there’s meant to be some sort of theme along the lines of non-appeasement of evil, but the over-slow dawning of this gem of wisdom has (again) been going on for books and books…

/rant over

…Yeah, that just sounds dumb. What I mean is, it’s a good story, only spread out too thinly after the first books. Also, he keeps planting subtle or not so subtle hints and seeds that you expect to, at any moment, turn the entire story around and keep it interesting, but after a while they just pile up in your mind and die.

I’ve read up to book 11, I think. Made it through that one just because I couldn’t sleep for worrying about what was going to happen to Matt. (If that was his name. The weasel of the trio.) Wossname, the main main character (Rand I think? Something like that) is, at this point an extremely boring character, and the only thing he has going for him is some trouble with women.

If I ever were to get a chance to speak to Robert Jordan, I’d beg him to read the books through and pick up all the loose threads that he seems to have dropped along the way.

Books 5-10 could be condensed into, say, two novels of Jordan’s usual size and be far more readable. That won’t happen, but a real option is to catch up with the story on Wikipedia for the books in the 5-10 range you missed, then read books 11 and 12 (when it’s done).

Don’t even get me started on Goodkind. I gave that up on, I think, the fourth volume. I think it was the same one Kyle mentioned — it was about a young boy and girl down in some city never mentioned before. The series main protagonists don’t even show until the very end. I finished it and swore off ever reading another.

Really, where *are* the good epic fantasy novels nowadays? I miss them.

There’s George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire epic, which some acclaim and I enjoyed well enough … until when midway through the third book I realized that he had the Jordan problem too, in his own way. Instead of dragging in the regular characters to do the same thing over and over, he kills them off, which is kinda refreshing in a sick way, but rather than tightening up the story thereby (which I hoped for), he adds *new* viewpoint characters to make up for the loss.

Aside from that, Martin chooses to move all the characters towards the middle grey ground, morally. Thus the reader starts to like the villains more (they ain’t ALL bad), and the “good guys” less (their ugly, unpleasant aspects come out), as the story progresses. Unfortunately, by the middle of the third book I realized that I no longer cared for any of the characters. There weren’t any good villains nor sympathetic heroes. All became a mush of grey. Sure, that’s “realistic”, but I’m not reading fantasy for a reprise of real-life “realism”.

It’s pretty hard to slog through a huge novel when you no longer care a bit what happens to any of the characters, when the prospect of a main character getting killed off only brings forth mild regret, if that.

Where did all the good fantasy stories go?

–matt