oKAYSorry for the previous mix up in replying, I'll try and do something better now.
@jayde, as regards king, it's funny you seem to like the King books I don't. Misery I really didn't get on with at all, ---- actually I found the so called "bad and hammy" historical romance bits where you got extracts from the fictional author's novels more interesting than the overarching story .
Like wise, Bag of bones was okay, but certainly not my favourite King novel, not when compared to hearts in Atlantis, It, Insomnea or yet the Dark tower, I suppose I just tend to enjoy King's more fantasy novels more than his psychological horror.
As regards Potter, well i noticed that the mechanics of the writing and Rowling's ability to describe improve throughout the series, though often they are lacking in the first few books, almost as if the style grows up with the characters. Hp however I regard as good for it's characterization and world rather than it's writing, and I enjoy it as such.
of course for me, as I went to university just as the first potter film was released it comes with lots of good memories too.
As to readers, I'm a litle confused as to what you say about fry being samish. One thing I admire in fry is the character voices are distinguishable, without going over board with crazy accents, overblown emotions or ridiculous comedy that would detract from the overall book. As he said in an interview, he wanted the voices realistic and distinct rather than to treat the books as a show off exercize for how many accents and crazy vocal pyrotechnics he could put in the books, ---- anyone who's seen him in blackadder will know how mad! he can do voice wise, that for me is what shows him as a professional in reading, where as Dale's reading I found as you said Jayde, much more aimed at a child audience, which for me rather detracted from the overall books.
As to faith of the fallen, for me that was the point that the series really went too far into the realms of preaching.
As a story about a man rebelling against an oppressive society and a woman changing her life I could have found it touching, and indeed when not spouting diatribes against the evil comunists some of the characters did show the very appealing emotional quality I really enjoyed in Wizards first rule and earlier books.
For me though, Faith of the fallen utterly failed due to Goodkind trying to write a political fable.
As an example of left wing philosophy, the empire is frankly laughable, ---- where that crazy idea about people only being aloud to do a small amount of work comes from i don't know!
Of course, evil societies can be built on anything, George orwell, himself a socialist proved this by writing 1984 where his own "english socialism" became the totalitarian "ingsoc" of Big brother. But it's as stupid to try and show a philosophical position as evil by constructing what is effectively a parody villain around it as it would be to say all Christians are evil because the Natzis claimed to be christian.
Thus while I wouldn't have minded an evil comunist society, the amount of time Goodkind spends trying to equate! the evil with the comunism just made the hole thing lose all impact for me the way any parody overblown villain would.
It's the difference betwene having a really believeable dark skinned villain, ---- like Mr. big in Live and let die, and having a villain who's held to be evil because! he is black.
I actually haven't read the Omen machine or even the law of nines, sinse I found book eleven of sword of truth really irritating for it's overblown preaching which got unrealistic to the point of insanity, ---- having a twelve year old girl deliver a moralizing lecture while watching the person who once made her life hell be torn to pieces was really the last straw!
I may try the Omen machine at some point, just because I did always like the Mord sith, and there were! occasionally moments in the past where goodkind showed a really beautiful characterization that indeed was touching, ---- like the point where Zed finds his daughters' lost ball while being forced to identify magical artifacts.
Dean Koontz is someone I've read a couple of books of, the first Od Thomas novel and first Christopher snow book. These were fun certainly for the ironical characters and general weerdness, however I did find both books rather too naive.
His characters, while colourful all seem to live very symplistic lives where nothing really goes wrong and they can just swan their way through regardless. Even the death of odd Thomas girlfriend in the end of the book seemed a case of "oh well, not too bad, here's all your jolly chums come to chear you up Thomas old boy!"
It's as if evil characters are just patholotically, psychotically selfish, while good characters are just not bothered by anything and live their happy litle lives free from any sort of trouble even when bad things doo happen.
Speaking of girls that's another thing, Koontz seems to suffer from Robert Jordan syndrome in that all the female characters seem to be beautiful and either happily married off or besotted with whoever the protagonist is.
It probably says something more about me than about Koontz, but personally I prefer heroes to be people who do! get hurt, do! have bad things happen to them, but keep on with their purpose regardless, probably why frodo in Lotr is my architype of a hero, ---- at least in the book (don't get me started on that wining, feeble, pathetic piece of misery in the film).
Of course, I freely admit I've not read many books by Koontz and I probably need to check out some more, ---- actually I was confusing Koontz with another horror writer initially and thus avoiding his stuff, but I realize now I was mistaken.
@Grryf, glad you like the trader books. as regards the falcon banner series, there are actually quite a number of scifi space series. I'd deffinately recommend anything you can find by douglas hill, the single best writer for writing about unarmed and weapon based combat I've ever found, also the Lois Mcmaster Bujolt Vor Kosigan books are good, space empires and political intrague with a very interesting main character.
I'll try and have a think about other good sf I know.
As for Doctor who, there are many books, every tv story has been novelized, and there are many original novels. The best thing though are the dramas from big finish, where the past doctors have been got in to record some fantastic doctor who audio plays. These are great to listen to, particularly sinse they start all the original doctors like Colin baker and give a lot of background to different enemies and adventures of the doctor.
Of course as with any long running series, Doctor who varies in quality according to the writer and what's going on, but most of the dr. who stuff is pretty good.
@anthony I must! read the game of thrones series, it really sounds my sort of thing. Myself, I rarely if ever give up on a book once I've started, but then again growing up in the uk where very few audio books were available I learnt to try and get the most out of even the most dreadful piece of rubbish.
i've read the first riftwar book. it was okay, though really I only started to be interesting when they got away from the rather boring D&D type world and into the alternative dimention where the main character was made a slave. As I said, I love fantasy literature, but I just can't get on with books where the characters are amazingly shallow, and where you can tell everyone's D&D character class at a glance.
For instance in a terry brooks novel I remember one character turns up wearing green clothes and leather and holding a bow and says "I've hunted many more wild things in the forest than you!"
So, he's a ranger then! he did virtually nothing through the rest of the book but woffle on about tracking and the wild, shoot arrows and smack people with a sword.
Female characters do nothing but get captured or occasionally chuck the odd fireball, ---- in fact in the three or four brooks books I read, despite very long and rather irritating explanations of how each magic using character studdied something different, all anyone! seemed to do in terms of magic was chuck fireballs!
Eragon felt just like this, really shallow characters I had no interest in who might've been taken from the example pages of the D&D players guide, a lot of elements that looked as though they'd be knicked hole sale from other fantasy books for instance the 13 forsworn riders (anyone remember the 13 forsaken in Wheel of time?).
Okay, wrant on bad fantasy over! .
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)