Wprst Sci-Fi & fantasy books EVER

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2003-01-10 09:37am

What is the absolute WORST sci-fi or fantasy book you have read?
I'm not talking about merely mediorcre, I'm talking something you downright HATE.
The worst one I read is the Postman by David Brin.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2003-01-10 09:53am

Dune.

Hoo-WAH but that book stunk on ice. I'm glad I avoided its many sequels.

"Pets and Children of Dune."
"Dune, Meshugganah."
"Dune: The Unfortunate Continuation."
"Chicken Soup for the Fremen Soul"
"10 Stupid Things Harkonnen Do to Mess Up Their Lives"
"Mentats for Dummies."

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-01-10 10:19am

Lagmonster wrote:Dune.

Hoo-WAH but that book stunk on ice. I'm glad I avoided its many sequels.

"Pets and Children of Dune."
"Dune, Meshugganah."
"Dune: The Unfortunate Continuation."
"Chicken Soup for the Fremen Soul"
"10 Stupid Things Harkonnen Do to Mess Up Their Lives"
"Mentats for Dummies."

Lagmonster...You go to hell you go hell and you DIE!!!

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2003-01-10 10:44am

Any novel Steve White wrote by himself after "the disinherited"

Balrog · Post by **Balrog** » 2003-01-10 10:46am

Battlefield Earth

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2003-01-10 10:54am

Stravo wrote:Lagmonster...You go to hell you go hell and you DIE!!!

*sniff* Stravo mean to Lagmonster.

Seriously, though...I couldn't get through it. I'm sure it was a perfectly fascinating tale from a philosophical, religious, or even psychological standpoint, but from the perspective of a guy waiting for the characters to stop discovering their destinies and get ON with the whole damn plot thing, it was a thousand-page sleeping pill.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-01-10 11:04am

Any of the Shannara Books by Terry Brooks. The best is mediocre but the worst are painful. Especially for some that loved Tolkien.

The Skies of Pern. Way to draw out the death agaony of a series that should have ended well and gracefully a few novels back. It offers nothing meaningful and no conflict or concern except for those invented in the book and it's just plain pathetic.

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2003-01-10 11:47am

Eon. sorry, but i just didn't get it.

The later Vampire ChroniclesThat woman really really needs to get some sex.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-01-10 12:12pm

Anthing from mr boredom himself

Robert Jordan

Longwinded booring 1 dimensional plotless crap!

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-01-10 12:21pm

Faram wrote:Anthing from mr boredom himself

Robert Jordan

Longwinded booring 1 dimensional plotless crap!

I used tvo LOVE this series back when it was just three books...but C'MON, this is just getting ridiculous. One thing is weaving together an epic tale the other is BORING THE SHIT Out of your audience. I stopped reading this after book 7 I think. A waste of paper and type.

I do believe I read somewhere that his wife was a big wig at the publisher.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-01-10 12:23pm

Hmm that would make sense given he wants 13 of these books.

I'm trying to wonder what does he want to do...for me Books 1-3 were good, 4-6...decent but starting to show waaaay too many characters. 7-9...I'm having trouble remembering indeed who's who and what are their objectives beyond help/kill Rand.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2003-01-10 12:46pm

Easily the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
For about 3000 pages he describes Mesas, Valley, Mountains, Volcanoes,...
It'd be more interesting to look at a map o the Mars.
And then he sokmehow threw some boring characters into the mess, without any character development whatsoever.
I never, ever was so bored by any book, let alone three...

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2003-01-10 01:10pm

Battlefield Earth. Shitty two dimensional characters, stretched out plot, dull plot and a dull writing style. Ugh. I gave up at about page 500 when I realised that I was still only halfway through the damned thing.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2003-01-10 01:10pm

Stormbringer wrote:Any of the Shannara Books by Terry Brooks. The best is mediocre but the worst are painful. Especially for some that loved Tolkien.

The Skies of Pern. Way to draw out the death agaony of a series that should have ended well and gracefully a few novels back. It offers nothing meaningful and no conflict or concern except for those invented in the book and it's just plain pathetic.

Well, I read the Shannara books and liked ;em.
Sure, no Lord of the Rings or nothing like that, but they weren't bad.
They tended to be repetitive though.

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-01-10 01:40pm

Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series went downhill very quickly after the first book.
Steven King, alot of his works are really bad.

So is the thread of books to avoid?

Atlan · Post by **Atlan** » 2003-01-10 02:51pm

Stormbringer wrote:Any of the Shannara Books by Terry Brooks. The best is mediocre but the worst are painful. Especially for some that loved Tolkien.

The Skies of Pern. Way to draw out the death agaony of a series that should have ended well and gracefully a few novels back. It offers nothing meaningful and no conflict or concern except for those invented in the book and it's just plain pathetic.

Anything about Pern actually. I`d heard a lot of good about those books, and bought the first one. This was the first book that I simply couldn`t get through. After thirty-something pages I just gave up, totally disgusted. Took it to a second-hand book store and got rid of it.
Robert Jordan gets my vote for most drawn out start of a series. Hundreds of pages in the first book alone to get us to understand that, YES this guy is the Dragon Reborn, when it was bloody well clear the first time the guy used magic.... After that I realized that it was going to be a VERY long series of books, and stayed the hell away from it.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-01-10 03:03pm

Stravo wrote:
Lagmonster wrote:Dune.

Hoo-WAH but that book stunk on ice. I'm glad I avoided its many sequels.

"Pets and Children of Dune."
"Dune, Meshugganah."
"Dune: The Unfortunate Continuation."
"Chicken Soup for the Fremen Soul"
"10 Stupid Things Harkonnen Do to Mess Up Their Lives"
"Mentats for Dummies."
Lagmonster...You go to hell you go hell and you DIE!!!

Lagmonster, in Hell they've got a turd cigar for you to smoke. It lasts for all eternity and comes complete with corn and peanuts.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2003-01-10 03:05pm

Frank Hipper wrote:Lagmonster, in Hell they've got a turd cigar for you to smoke. It lasts for all eternity and comes complete with corn and peanuts.

They also probably make you read Dune while you smoke it. In heaven, conversely, all the halls are lit by magnificent braziers fuelled by copies of said book.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-01-10 03:09pm

Stravo wrote:
Faram wrote:Anthing from mr boredom himself

Robert Jordan

Longwinded booring 1 dimensional plotless crap!
I used tvo LOVE this series back when it was just three books...but C'MON, this is just getting ridiculous. One thing is weaving together an epic tale the other is BORING THE SHIT Out of your audience. I stopped reading this after book 7 I think. A waste of paper and type.

I do believe I read somewhere that his wife was a big wig at the publisher.

Jepp loved the first books but I lost it somwhere around the 4-5 and goot boored.

Now I am pissed, he just throws in more and more stuff, never gets anything done.

Everyone has a pointless agenda tha has nothing to do with the main story.

Common do battle with th dark one murder the lost ones or sumthing importaint but no I must run around in the dessert, train a bunch of wierdos poping up from nowhere and stuff like that.

/tired and boored exuse the rant.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-01-10 03:14pm

robert jordan is good, if you skip the bits with the white tower's point of view. always blaming men.

the armies exploding in fireballs was rocking, so it's all good.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-01-10 03:18pm

Captain tycho wrote:
Stormbringer wrote:Any of the Shannara Books by Terry Brooks. The best is mediocre but the worst are painful. Especially for some that loved Tolkien.

The Skies of Pern. Way to draw out the death agaony of a series that should have ended well and gracefully a few novels back. It offers nothing meaningful and no conflict or concern except for those invented in the book and it's just plain pathetic.
Well, I read the Shannara books and liked ;em.
Sure, no Lord of the Rings or nothing like that, but they weren't bad.
They tended to be repetitive though.

They were the same basic story for each of them. Awful, after the third one I quit reading them for a long time. I picked the next few up for a long car and they were just as dull.

Not too mention Shannara really is Lord of the Rings with the serial numbers filed off.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-01-10 03:28pm

KJA books need no introduction. Novelisations of numerous sci-fi movies. but the worst book i ever read was Timeline by Crichton. It had some excelent insights but in the whole it was boring, like most of crichtons work.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-01-10 05:00pm

Sci-Fi: Neuromancer. Unimaginably confusing and difficult to follow.

Fantasy: WoT. Blegh.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-01-10 05:37pm

I tried reading Neuromancer and nearly fell asleep. I was like "WTF is all this? Why do I care about money in Japan? WTF?!"

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-01-10 05:41pm

GOR-Ray Cav the Book series