should I keep reading this?

[eub]

Some series I have stopped reading in the middle of, could see continuing, but as things stand it's about a thousand entries down on my to-read list. So I should move them higher up, or get rid of the books. I seek help from the LJ Oracle: can anyone say about these, "yes, I can see why you had that problem with the first book, but it gets better"? Or the contrary?

Joyce Ballou Gregorian, Tredana trilogy. Came with some high recommendations. I read The Broken Citadel, and it was... okay. Weirdly sketchy, in a way that I associate with critiquing fiction by beginning writers who haven't figured out yet how the mind of a reader works. And I think this was her first book, so maybe that was the problem?

Dorothy Dunnett, Lymond books. I read the first three or so, and bogged down. Some combination of 1) Francis Crawford is an asshole, and 2) awful things happen to him. Very good other than that, though.

James Branch Cabell. I read Figures of Earth, I think. Way more entertained by his own self than he ought to be. Does that change, ever?

Rosemary Kirstein, Steerswoman books. HA HA J/K.

It's not a series, but while there were some things I loved about Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale (okay, I'm a sucker for use of Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words), but there were elements I didn't like that get in the way of my starting another of his very large books. Namely, a character or two -- a dwarf? -- that seemed to be in the author's contempt, in a way that I've since mentally associated with the author's being a speechwriter for Bob Dole.

Also, Hypnoeratomachia Poliphili, read maybe first chapter of. Was this thing meant to be read, at all, or is it a steganographic encoding of scurrilous gossip about local political figures?

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Emeritus member of this list, now graduated to "definitely not reading": Scott Bakker's Darkness That Comes Before, first book in a trilogy. Looks like it might have interesting worldbuilding background? But it's full of gay-hating, has the idea that "deep" and/or "dark" is done by making all of the (minor) female characters abused or else prostitutes, and I just read reviews that confirmed what I feared: the guy who's the uber-manipulator power fantasy of an emotionally stunted 13-year-old, he does become the lead character and presumably gets more screen time than the already intolerable amount he did have. Rejected.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed everything I've read of Helprin's, but it's taken a *lot* of work to get through them. However, "City In Winter" was an exception: a very lovely book, and entirely worth reading. Maybe that's because it's Young Adult rather than full-on fiction.

[eub.livejournal.com]

I have read that one, come to think of it, when I look it up! But I don't remember it hardly at all. So hm.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i really liked the lymond books. but you're right; crawford is an asshole and awful things happen to him, awfuller as the series goes on. if that's what you're sticking on, give up now.

[eub.livejournal.com]

That's very useful to know. Thanks.

[3smallishmagi.livejournal.com]

Here's a zero information added recommendation: A Winter's Tale was one of my favourite books, but I haven't read or heard about any of his other books till now. The reality I'd prefer is the one in which you read another book and enjoy it.

[eub.livejournal.com]

How about, say... I lend you some of these others, and you evaluate them?