All fantasy fans – read these books! You won’t be sorry. I followed your advice. You know you've been straining my budget for years now with your recommendations. ;) Thank you for breaking the curse that has been hanging over my head for more than 2 years. I used to be an avid and fast reader all my life, but since summer 2007 I haven't managed to finish a single book in one go. It seemed I was afraid of being drawn into the story again, afraid of caring too much. It has been a sickening experience. Relying on your statement that the protagonists are not too likable,I just started reading and it worked. I'm looking forward to get through the other books piling on my bedside table for ages from now on.
BTW I don't find Nick unlikable; I figured out what his problem might be pretty early into the book. He's remarkably nice and human under the circumstances. Cal is actually more likable than his original; Perceval has never been a hero I could care about, it's the story only that gets me through. When it comes to Arthurian knights, Gawaine has always been my favourite.
In general I think books can be seen as pie charts with characters and plot as the largest pieces. If the characters aren't likable or at least interesting, the story has to be thrilling and vice versa. So I can deal with shallow characters in good story lines or shallow story lines with lovely characters and even with a certain lack of language skill, if the story or characters are worth caring about. OTOH great literary skill without a real story and with unlikable characters don't work at all for me. e.g. I dare to dislike the great German author Thomas Mann; his angry, whining young men are simply getting on my nerves and there isn't any story except their self-inflicted downfall; deadly boring.
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Date: 2009-09-01 08:04 am (UTC)I followed your advice. You know you've been straining my budget for years now with your recommendations. ;)
Thank you for breaking the curse that has been hanging over my head for more than 2 years. I used to be an avid and fast reader all my life, but since summer 2007 I haven't managed to finish a single book in one go. It seemed I was afraid of being drawn into the story again, afraid of caring too much. It has been a sickening experience.
Relying on your statement that the protagonists are not too likable,I just started reading and it worked. I'm looking forward to get through the other books piling on my bedside table for ages from now on.
BTW I don't find Nick unlikable; I figured out what his problem might be pretty early into the book. He's remarkably nice and human under the circumstances. Cal is actually more likable than his original; Perceval has never been a hero I could care about, it's the story only that gets me through. When it comes to Arthurian knights, Gawaine has always been my favourite.
In general I think books can be seen as pie charts with characters and plot as the largest pieces. If the characters aren't likable or at least interesting, the story has to be thrilling and vice versa. So I can deal with shallow characters in good story lines or shallow story lines with lovely characters and even with a certain lack of language skill, if the story or characters are worth caring about. OTOH great literary skill without a real story and with unlikable characters don't work at all for me. e.g. I dare to dislike the great German author Thomas Mann; his angry, whining young men are simply getting on my nerves and there isn't any story except their self-inflicted downfall; deadly boring.