From: aef 
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 02:35:54 -0600
Subject: Books Worth Reading

First off I would just like to start off by saying, WOW. I had always
considered myself to be well read until I found your site. Now I realize just
how much is out there that I haven't even heard of.

As this is the purpose of your site I will get on with my list of
recomendations.

----
Robert Jordan:

The Wheel of Time series:

The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
The Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords

I find it hard to believe that someone as well read as yourself
hasn't read these books. I'm sure you have at least heard of him. As to
Jordan I must say: Read them, and read them now.

# People don't believe me when I say I get at least one "You must
# read Robert Jordan" letter per month, so I thought I'd print a
# couple of messages this time around the likes of which I would
# normally delete due to their repetitive nature.

This is a series of staggering proportions. It currently has 7 books in the
series with predictions that it may end somewhere near 11 or 12, furthermore
each book is anywhere from 600 to 1000 pages long.

As can be expected with a series so large, the author is able to go into a
great amount of detail as to what the characters are like, the history of the
world, and the motives that drive the story.

The only complaints I can find about this series is that there is a wait of
1 to 2 years between each book, and that with a series this large I find it
easy to forget the names, and importance of the minor characters that show up
from time-to-time.

----
C.S. Friedman

Black Sun Rising
When True Night Falls
Crown of Shadows

The Coldfire Trilogy remains among my favorite books. This takes place on a
world that was colonized by Earthlings, but after they had started settling in
their worst nightmares(literally!) started coming to life(Vampires, Werewolves,
Demons, etc..)

The cause was discovered to be a source of power that native to that world
called the Fey. The Fey changes the world to suit what the life on the planet
thinks. Before the humans came the world was populated only by native beings
who were used to the Fey. Then, it didn't cause horrors, but changed the
weather to be more suitable to the life-forms, and other beneficiary feats.

The main characters are a priest and the founder of the priest's church. It
isn't quite that simple, though. The founder of the church is over a millenia
old. He had gotten that old by forsaking the church he started and selling his
soul to what I guess cold only be called evil(The evil in people manifested
itself into a creature who was the very embodiment of evil.).

This is a very dark fantasy filled with all sorts of horrors. Well worth
the read.

One problem with this series is that Black Sun Rising isn't very easy to find.
I bought my copy 3 years ago(the only copy they had), and haven't seen a
copy in a bookstore since. You should probably be able to get it from
Amazon.com, but I don't know for sure. The other two books in the series
are fairly easy to come across.

----
Raymond E. Feist
Fairie Tale

If there was ever a book that should be made into a horror movie, this is
it. Had I not known who the author was I would have expected it to
be Stephen King.

This book tells the story of an author who moves with his family to a
house out into the country bordering a large forest. This forest is, but one
of the many forests across the world that was set apart for the Faeries to
inhabit when they were defeated by humans in a war that lasted long Before
written history. Worst of all is the fact that the Faeries are tired of their
imprisonment and want revenge upon the human race.

The Serpent War Saga

Shadow of a Dark Queen
Rise of a Merchant Prince
Rage of a Demon King

I have to start out by saying that this series pales in comparison to
Magician(one of my favorite books.) While it shouldn't be put at the top

of your reading list it is still worth reading, especially if you want to know
some of the great mysteries, like who is Macros the Black(All that stuff
he said in Darkness at Sethanon was a lie.)

----
Robin Hobb

The Farseer Trilogy

Assasin's Apprentice
Royal Assasin
Assasin's Quest

These are books that aren't as well known as I would with they were.
They tell the story of FitzChivalry Farseer the bastard son of Chivalry
Farseer the King-in-Waiting. Because bastards are not able to become King,
or even hold any high positions the Kind decides to secretly train him to
become an assasin, and by the time he is 15 he has already killed dozens of
people for his King.

The series is written completely in the first perspective, which can be highly
misleading. Being written that way you are brought to believe what Fitz does,
just to learn later that what you believe is completely wrong. This I think
is a big improvement over many of the books out there where you can
virtually judge exactly what is going to happen later in the series.

As I haven't read Assasin's Quest yet(Just ordered it 30 minutes ago from
Amazon.com) i can't give you a complete summary.

I must warn you of one thing that annoyed me until I actually got into
Apprentice, and found out the reason for this. All of the nobility have names
like Chivalry, Regal, Verrity, Patience, King Shrewd, King Wisdom, and other
such names. At first when I read the review for the book I thought it to be
lack of imagination on the author's part. I couldn't have been farther
from the truth.

The reason the nobility have names like this is that the people believe that
if someone is given a name like Wisdom at birth that they will grow to possess
the attribute that their name signifies.

----
Peter Maas

Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia

I know that this one doesn't exactly fit in with the books I wrote about
above. I mention this one, because I truly liked this book. It offers a
startling insight into the acts of the Mafia.

If you like Mafia stories you must get this book.
---------------
While I could keep going on, I am going to cut my list short here (mostly
because it's 2 a.m. and I'm getting tired.)

Now I would just like to address some of what I consider to be rating
injustices on your own list. Hope you don't mind.

----
Douglas Adams

All of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books should be at least 9,
but in my opinion 10. These are just too damn funny to rank anything less.

Who couldn't help but laugh at the hijinks of Ford Prefect, and the way he
drug poor Arther Dent all over the universe?

I'll be the first to admit that this series is by no means a literary master-
piece, but any book where I laugh the whole way through (several times) has to
be a 10 on my list.

----
Orson Scott Card

Spreaker for the Dead, and Xenocide should be lowered to 5. I say this
mostly because Ender's Game was so great(easily deserved the 10 you gave it.)
that when I went out and bought Speaker for the Dead hoping for something
similar, my expectations were dashed when instead it turned out to be more
about religion, and philosophy then about War like Ender's game was.

----
David Eddings

Pawn of Prophecy was ranked too high. I didn't feel that all that much actually
happened in that book. All that really happened was that Garion traveled north
and ran around a castle spying on people. Need I sat dull?

I probably would have thought better of Eddings had I not read his other series
(The Tamuli, and The Elenium? I think those are the names.) After reading
all his books it struck me that I had just read the same series four times.

----
Raymond Feist

Magician: Apprentice should be given an 8 and Magician: Master a 7.
You should also make an entry just for Magician (as the other two are just
this one book in hardcover.) with a ranking of 8.

----
Stephen King

The Stand should be ranked a 10. Hands down his best work, and one of
my favorite books. This is one of those books where I can't exactly put my
finger on why I liked it so much. Instead, after reading it I just say to
myself: "Damn, that was good."