Over-rated thread

[Anonymous No.17918716]

The most over-rated book you have ever read?
For me it is picrel.
I found it so boring that I won't bother with the rest of the series.
>inb4 you just aren't smart enough to appreciate this masterpiece.

[Anonymous No.17918783]

>>17918716
What fantasy do you enjoy?

[Anonymous No.17918805]

>>17918783
I really like Jack Vance, The Dying Earth series was great in my opinion. I like Clark Ashton Smith short stories too. Also, Tolkien.
I really haven't read much fantasy, I'm just getting into it.
I'm not saying that Gene Wolfe was a bad writer, but everyone goes on about that book like it was the best fantasy ever written. It was so hyped up that I was disappointed when reading it.
I'm happy to hear any suggestions.

[Anonymous No.17918806]

Disliking popular thing isn't a substitute for an interesting personality.

[Anonymous No.17918816]

Everything the ancient Greeks wrote.

[Anonymous No.17918869]

>>17918805
Volume 2 and 3 are better imo. There is not going to be a bombastic plot but the subtle world building and the creative setups make the series worth it desu. Wolfe's prose is also the only one in the genre with literary merit, as in it's the only one that doesn't bore me to tears.

[Anonymous No.17918901]

>>17918869
Yeah you are the second person to say that actually, maybe the series needs to be taken as a whole. I did like the first 1/3, I just felt that the story never really went anywhere. I suppose that's what happens when you only read the first book. I do love some good world building, maybe I will get around to finishing
it sometime.

[Anonymous No.17918940]

>>17918716
I enjoyed it well enough, but I agree that it's somewhat overrated. I find that an especially overrated element is the supposed subtlety. There is plenty of exposition throughout, and then there are a bunch of things so esoteric almost no reader will discover them, and not a whole lot of middle ground between the two.
The first book was by far my favorite. I liked the more intimate and in a way insignificant story, before it goes all out with an overarching epic messianic chosen one plotline, which I found to be really disappointingly generic at its core, despite the prose which I'm sure is leagues above most fantasy, and the worldbuilding and all the hidden allusions and all that. I wish the series had continued more in the spirit of the first book.
Anyway, I'll probably give it another read eventually.

[Anonymous No.17918952]

>>17918869
>There is not going to be a bombastic plot
isn't there though? Felt like a pretty bombastic plot to me.

[Anonymous No.17918962]

>>17918806
>gene wolfe
>popular
He's not obscure or anything but I would still call him fairly niche in fantasy

[Anonymous No.17919027]

>>17918962
Even if he's not popular within the general public he's relatively popular here on /lit/. I've noticed a phenomenon where people with strong contrarian attitudes congregate together, but because they're now in agreement some of them revert back to the original position that was popular within wider society but unpopular within the contrarian space they occupy,

[Anonymous No.17919047]

>>17919027
That's right. No one can ever just not like a book, it's all an esoteric game that's being played to see who is the most unique. But you won't fall for it, you're far too perceptive.

[Anonymous No.17919070]

>>17918952
Compared to most fantasies, its pretty laid back. There is an undercurrent of bombast and expectancy but it doesn't surface regularly and that is for its own good.

[Anonymous No.17919106]

>>17919070
Well most fantasy is absolute trash, so why compare?

[Anonymous No.17919156]

>>17918716
Well it must be because I was tainted by hyperion, another highly rated science fiction book but shadow of the torturer was some of the best fiction I have read.

[Anonymous No.17919424]

>>17918805
Tolkien is infinitely more boring. Try again and this time continue beyond Shadow.

[Anonymous No.17919545]

i dislike two books. both are rated pretty highly in their own circles. but my reasons for disliking them are polar opposites. one is house of leaves, the other is the sun also rises.

house of leaves is filled with a billion colorful ideas, all purposelessy put there and all clashing. all of them badly executed. sun also rises on the other hand is well executed, satisfyingly written, kinda relatable and purposeful. but its completely devoid of artistic joy, imagination, ideas, creativity and engagement

[Anonymous No.17919553]

[Anonymous No.17919636]

>>17919424
I suppose I will.

[Anonymous No.17919644]

>>17919545
I have not read either, and now I suppose I never will.

[Anonymous No.17919720]

>>17918816

>Filtered

[Anonymous No.17919872]

this book was basically like every stupid holohoax book you have to read in highschool but about muh gommunism

[Anonymous No.17920001]

>>17918805
Based Jack Vance fan. I really enjoyed the Lyonesse series. Agree that Gene Wolfe is overrated.

[Anonymous No.17920044]

>>17918716
yeah, fuck pic related, biggest pseud ever

[Anonymous No.17920371]

I've posted it before, but I detested Gilead. The sum of the parts of the books (the prose, the plot, the major themes) aren't bad, but it's really the small things that make the book agonizing. It clearly is a book made from research, not real experience, and it just feels so inauthentic as a result.

[Anonymous No.17920553]

>>17918869
>Wolfe's prose is also the only one in the genre with literary merit
read more

[Anonymous No.17920949]

>>17920553
like what?

[Anonymous No.17920959]

>>17920553
>read more fantasy
No thanks.

[Anonymous No.17921062]

>>17920949
Jack vance

[Anonymous No.17921074]

>>17921062
Vance's prose sucks donkey balls

[Anonymous No.17921087]

>>17921074
It’s unironicaly much better than Wolfe’s prose. You just got filtered.

[Anonymous No.17921096]

>>17919047
I'm sure there's a few naive nature children on here who simply like or dislike books, but he's right about the fascinating brownian motion of edgy retards that plays out constantly on this board.
>>17921074
Evocative.

[Anonymous No.17921196]

>>17918816
t. M*sopotamian

[Anonymous No.17921240]

>>17921074
Get raked leaf

[Anonymous No.17921308]

>>17921087
>>17921096
>>17921240
Fuck you. This shit is not good
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5376.Jack_Vance

[Anonymous No.17921344]

>>17921308
Enjoy the compost bin canuck