[ Home ] [ Up ]

Peevish Authors

Herein lies some authors who've managed to annoy me.  This list is highly biased however, as I've had to read quite a few of their books before I get peeved with them.  Read on...

Anne McCaffrey. Wow did the Pern series ever get hosed by The Dolphins of Pern and Renegades of Pern. Two thumbs so far down I'll have to excavate them. Renegades was a legitimate attempt by Ms. McCaffrey to expose some of the more common life on Pern, but I personally think it failed. I haven't read much of the other McCaffrey series' but the number of titles attached to each do not give me hope.

Mercedes Lackey. Valdemar went way too far when she wrote the Storms trilogy which neatly tied up all the loose ends to date in every story. It also introduced foreign, powerful, mages that seemed to rival the power (if not skill) of Urtho and his Arch nemesis Ma'ar.; This plot device, which crept up on us without much warning didn't seem to ring true in the fallen post-cataclysmic Velgarth world. Having Vanyel come back and sacrifice himself all over again was also a bit too much. Given I have not read much else by Ms. Lackey, and I haven't read all of her Valdemar novels, I still think she spreads herself a bit thin.

Issac Asimov. What!? Asimov? How can I possibly say that? Well, Second Foundation should have been the end of the Foundation saga. Foundations Edge and Foundation and Earth were unnecessary so far as the story went. It was merely a vehicle to explore the effect that R. Daneel Olivaw had on the galaxy as well as to explore into the psychic aspect of life. Other than that, Issac Asimov still ranks way up there on my Top Author's List.

Piers Anthony. I stopped reading Piers a while ago because his characters kept having romantic relations at a younger and younger age. I thought it was weird so I stopped reading. However, that doesn't alleviate the sequel-itis curse that he follows so assiduously. Just pick up his latest Xanth novel and you'll see what I mean.