When I was a kid I devoured Terry Brooks whole Shanara series. I lived in that world and knew it's geography better than my own countrys. But going back to them as an adult they are awful. The writing is pretty poor, they are soooo repetitive, and there's no escaping that book 1 was obviously a huge LOTR ripoff. But maybe the worst thing is that every single novel follows the same damn formula. Band of scrappy heroes tasked with a quest to travel some geographic distance to fight the new big bad or retrieve the new macguffin. Rinse and repeat for twenty books.
Brandon Sanderson isn't perfect but reading him lately has helped me get back into fantasy that actually has other plot structures. Or reading Monk and Robot series which doesn't even HAVE a plot hardly but was a delightful little slice of life novella pair.
by diceblue
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Was obsessed with the “Redwall” series as a kid, haven’t tried reading one as an adult yet but have been curious what I’d think about it
Foundation. Still a fascinating concept and story, but the character writing is beyond shoddy.
Narnia, though hate is a strong word. I was merely disappointed by it as an adult
I totally get that feeling! When I was a kid, I loved books like Sweet Valley High, The Secret Seven and The Famous Five. They were my go-to for easy, fun reads. I also enjoyed The Princess Diaries, with Mia’s hilarious antics and drama. But as an adult, I can barely get through any of them now. The plot feels too predictable, and the characters’ behavior can be so one-dimensional that it’s hard to connect with them. It’s interesting how our tastes shift with time, though—I’ve found a lot more joy in stories with deeper character development or unique narratives!
O.R. Melling’s The Chronicles of Faerie were biiiiig for me as a kid/young tween, but when I sought out a newer edition of The Hunter’s Moon as an adult to recapture the nostalgia, the writing was…well, for young adults. Descriptive, cool setting/ideas/plot, but fairly…lightweight, I suppose? There are some edits to the newer edition, apparently, but I don’t know if that means they changed much of the writing besides updating some cultural references?
I think as the series went on the writing level complexity matures, though. Melling is absolutely still a great YA writer and, too little known, especially outside of Canada, I think. So I hardly hate it, now—I just couldn’t recapture my youthful obsession.
My Blue Country (non-fantasy, semi-autobiographical) was a formative read for me.
I dont think Heinlein has held up well. Herbert’s Dune seems to be doing great though.
Memoirs of a Geisha. I loved it when I read it in High School. Then later learned that thr story was embellished by a white author and sensationalized a lot of Japanese culture for book sales. Apparently the woman it was based on wrote her own book that details her life. I definitely want to check it out someday.
Mists of Avalon. Just can’t anymore.
The Wheel of Time series. It’s my dad’s favorite series so I devoured it growing up. I tried to read it again and I didn’t like it at all. Especially Mat’s relationship with Tylin.
Piers Anthony. And not necessarily because of his actual personality… the books are just badly written. All of them.