David Eddings (1997/12/17)

David Eddings

Posted by Adam Hattrell on 1997/12/17 14:34

And let's remember that David Eddings was fairly early on.
He can be forgiven for being so stereotypical because he was
amongst the earlier batch of authors doing that sort of stuff.

Ah yes Eddings, that well known contemporary of Lewis and Tolkien.

Come off it Dom, Eddings wasn't one of the old school, he was one
of the newbies who jumped on the AD&D Hick and Weisman (sp?) band
wagon. Nothing wrong with it as filler (if you can stomach it)
but it definitely ain't gormet food.

Later,

Adam Hattrell, Support, Cimio Ltd. adam@

David eddings

Posted by Chris L on 1997/12/16 10:16

Why are people getting at mr Eddings books?

They are undemanding fun. And that is all they are intended to be. Therefore it is not nice to slag them off for not being intellectual enough for you.
....clyth(a)vla.maff.gov.uk
...'Where am I?'
...'In the VLA'
...'What do you want?' etc etc
.. I am not a number, unless you happen to be counting in roman.

David eddings

Posted by Adam Hattrell on 1997/12/16 12:20

Why are people getting at mr Eddings books?

Because they are boring, cliched and badly written?

They are undemanding fun. And that is all they are intended to be.

They failed then. My definition of undemanding fun would be say
Robert Asprin's Myth or Phules Company series. It's light hearted
fun, that you can read in one or two sittings. Or maybe Pratchet
or Piers Antony for a slightly longer read.

Eddings on the other hand, is one of the few writers who managed
to bore me so thoroughly that I failed to finish his book. Very
few authors have managed that. I did go back to it a few years
later, after being told how great the series was. I forced myself
throught the second book too, in the hope that it got better. It
didn't.

Many authors make up for their weaknesses by being stronger in other
areas, Herbet has great vision. Heinlein has great style, Clarkes
strong on science. The list goes on. Eddings on the other hand..

Therefore it is not nice to slag them off for not being intellectual
enough for you.

Intellectual! I'd settle for something about the quality of Neighbours.

PS

Could you please try and hit return once in a while? Preferably once
every 60-70 characters. Oh and a sig seperator would make your
text easier to read. A simple "--" at the top of your sig does the
trick if you mail reader doesn't support it.

Later,

Adam Hattrell, Support, Cimio Ltd. adam@

THe David Eddings Award for Painful Prose

Posted by Simon Richardson on 1997/12/16 12:23

In article <"/GUID:00C91622BF73D111BB50000000000001*"@MHS>, Lyth Chris <Chris.C.Lyth@> wrote:

Why are people getting at mr Eddings books?

They are undemanding fun. And that is all they are intended to be.
Therefore it is not nice to slag them off for not being intellectual
enough for you.

I failed to slag them off for a lack of intellectual content. I slag them
off for being unbearably irritating. I read about 60% of one before I
screamed "enough already" and threw it back into the miserable corner where
it belongs. I never read any others, so I probably cannot defend my
opinions with academic rigour. So I will use my own small rhetorical
abilities, instead.

The book was "Pawn of Prophecy", which had been recommended as the beginning
of a mighty epic. The main character (I forget his name - he's not worth
remembering) was a weak-willed crybaby being bullied by an overweening aunt
who should have been told to fuck off in no uncertain terms somewhere around
page 16.

When the main character failed to do so, I did. I gave him about half the
book to do it - he wouldn't. Simple as that. I cannot read a book that is
mainly dialogue between one character I hold as utterly pathetic and another
who I hate. "Intellectual" doesn't come into it.

The only other book I can think of that I genuinely gave up on and left
unfinished was an incredible feat of writing committed by someone called
William Hope Hodgeson - a thing that goes by the name of "The Night Land".
It's got a super plot completely let down by terrible writing. Not only is
it full of the sort of purple prose that makes Emily Bronte or H.P.Lovecraft
look terse, but it is also completely devoid of reported speech. It is
about 200,000 words of first-person description, and is all-but-impossible
to read. I spent the first 200 pages waiting for the scene-setting
narrative to finish and the dialogue to start. That "OK, I know where we
are - now what is happening" feeling. Then I skimmed the rest ... and the
dialogue never does start. Another candidate for the David Eddings Corner,
I'm afraid...

Like any book review, these are matters of opinion. I intend them to be
amusing or thought-provoking, (didn't someone say we weren't getting enough
SF chat?) and I hope the only person whose ego-structure should be reliant
on the quality of Mr Eddings' work (that is Mr Eddings, of course) is not
actually reading this. So, if you take this personally and your name is not
David Eddings, then you have probably misunderstood something. If you
disagree by all means say so - and why.

If your name *is* David Eddings - did you write anything with likeable
characters in it? And as for you, Mr Hodgeson, you appear to be dead. So do
be quiet, there's a good chap.

Simon

---
"This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind" -Ecclesiastes 4:16

simon@ | Not affiliated to any religion
simon@ | Not affiliated to any politics
H (+44/0)1784 431998 | Not affiliated to any ideology
W (+44/0)1784 434568 (GMT/BST) | What does that make me?

"I have been asked to point out, as if you couldn't guess, that my rantings
are not the opinions of One Chip Solutions. So now you know, don't you..?"

THe David Eddings Award for Painful Prose

Posted by Chris L on 1997/12/16 13:12

Simon said

Like any book review, these are matters of opinion. I intend them to be
amusing or thought-provoking, (didn't someone say we weren't getting >enough
SF chat?) and I hope the only person whose ego-structure should be >reliant
on the quality of Mr Eddings' work (that is Mr Eddings, of course) is not
actually reading this. So, if you take this personally and your name is >not
David Eddings, then you have probably misunderstood something. If you
disagree by all means say so - and why.

I was not taking anything personally. I just wanted to know precisely what people disliked about the Eddings books.
............................................................................................................
....clyth(a)vla.maff.gov.uk
...'Where am I?'
...'In the VLA'
...'What do you want?' etc etc
.. I am not a number, unless you happen to be counting in roman.

----------
From: simon
Sent: 16 December 1997 12:23
To: c=GB;a=ATTmail;p=MAFF400;o=MAFF;ou1=SMTP;dda:RFC-822=ifis-chat(a)cimio.co.uk;
Subject: THe David Eddings Award for Painful Prose

In article <"/GUID:00C91622BF73D111BB50000000000001*"@MHS>, Lyth Chris <Chris.C.Lyth@> wrote:

Why are people getting at mr Eddings books?

They are undemanding fun. And that is all they are intended to be.
Therefore it is not nice to slag them off for not being intellectual
enough for you.

I failed to slag them off for a lack of intellectual content. I slag them
off for being unbearably irritating. I read about 60% of one before I
screamed "enough already" and threw it back into the miserable corner where
it belongs. I never read any others, so I probably cannot defend my
opinions with academic rigour. So I will use my own small rhetorical
abilities, instead.

The book was "Pawn of Prophecy", which had been recommended as the beginning
of a mighty epic. The main character (I forget his name - he's not worth
remembering) was a weak-willed crybaby being bullied by an overweening aunt
who should have been told to fuck off in no uncertain terms somewhere around
page 16.

When the main character failed to do so, I did. I gave him about half the
book to do it - he wouldn't. Simple as that. I cannot read a book that is
mainly dialogue between one character I hold as utterly pathetic and another
who I hate. "Intellectual" doesn't come into it.

The only other book I can think of that I genuinely gave up on and left
unfinished was an incredible feat of writing committed by someone called
William Hope Hodgeson - a thing that goes by the name of "The Night Land".
It's got a super plot completely let down by terrible writing. Not only is
it full of the sort of purple prose that makes Emily Bronte or H.P.Lovecraft
look terse, but it is also completely devoid of reported speech. It is
about 200,000 words of first-person description, and is all-but-impossible
to read. I spent the first 200 pages waiting for the scene-setting
narrative to finish and the dialogue to start. That "OK, I know where we
are - now what is happening" feeling. Then I skimmed the rest ... and the
dialogue never does start. Another candidate for the David Eddings Corner,
I'm afraid...

If your name *is* David Eddings - did you write anything with likeable
characters in it? And as for you, Mr Hodgeson, you appear to be dead. So do
be quiet, there's a good chap.

Simon

---
"This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind" -Ecclesiastes 4:16

simon@ | Not affiliated to any religion
simon@ | Not affiliated to any politics
H (+44/0)1784 431998 | Not affiliated to any ideology
W (+44/0)1784 434568 (GMT/BST) | What does that make me?

"I have been asked to point out, as if you couldn't guess, that my rantings
are not the opinions of One Chip Solutions. So now you know, don't you..?"