Also being among the 15-year-olds the novels are purportedly aimed towards pleasing, I must say that I have been horribly disappointed with the unbelievable amount of hype over the topic series since it came out. I read the first book around six years ago. It was alright - nothing too horrible, but it doesn't compare to the likes of *any* of the authors mentioned on this thread. (Not even Jordan.)
I've read books two through six just for the sake of reading them. Everyone else of a similar age with myself I know personally was madly in love and wanted to have JKR's children until the fourth book came out. Daily, I asked them "Why? Why do you stab your brain with vinegar-coated sharp implements in this way? You know it will only cause you pain."
All I got were crazed deer-in-headlights looks.
- - -
On 'dandelions'. Oddly enough, it's not the adverbs in and of themselves that are a problem. Used sparingly and in conjunction with common sense, adverbs can provide a nice spice to a writing style. It's the 'tom swifties' that make anyone with experience or learning want to burn their own eyes out. Examples:
"I'm burning up," Tom said hotly.
"These jeans are wonderful," panted Tom as he ran.
etc.
Rowling has the annoying habit of restating the meaning of the adverb she uses in the words of the character speaking. Useful for those of us who haven't gotten through third grade english just yet and don't know what the heck words with three or more syllables mean.
Also. A couple of good ones that haven't been mentioned here yet:
- David Gemmel's "Drenai" and "Rigante" series, plus a couple of side books - Fairly good stuff. Not the very best, but still worth reading. Gemmel has a very strong sense of the heroic - manages to make it come off both epic and plausible, but doesn't dumb anything down.
- Steven Erickson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" - Focuses on the human and inhuman sides of war, chaos, and destruction. Erickson has a sweeping style that focuses on macrocosm as opposed to microcosm. While it skips over a lot of bits that I for one would find interesting, he does a good job of telling a bloody huge story without getting bogged down in the details, stopping dead in his tracks, or pulling a Jordan.
- Baker's "Prince of Nothing" - new stuff, and looks to possibly become my very favourite series with book three, based on the course of the first two. Sort of a cross between Gaiman, Erickson, and Martin. Good action, strong plot with a solid feeling of mystery hanging in the background, yet, as the others mentioned, manages not to make the reader feel stupid.
