Growing the Beard/Literature: Difference between revisions
→top: replaced: [[Lord of the Rings → [[The Lord of the Rings (2)
No edit summary |
(→top: replaced: [[Lord of the Rings → [[The Lord of the Rings (2)) |
||
Line 8:
* David Brin's novel ''Sundiver'', the first set in his ''[[Uplift]] Saga'' universe, is poor, and it is usually recommended that readers skip to the second, ''Startide Rising'', instead. This is made easier by the second book being set 300 years after the first, featuring a totally different cast and having minimal references to the first book.
* The ''[[Aubrey-Maturin]]'' series picks up considerably with 3rd and 4th books ''HMS Surprise'' and ''The Mauritius Command'', after being given command of the titular [[Cool Ship]] and heavily reducing the land-based romantic storylines of the 2nd book ''Post Captain''.
* Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World", the first in his ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series, cops a lot of flak for its "borrowings" from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The second book, "The Great Hunt", takes the story in a completely different direction and is much better, and the beard is completely grown in the third book, "The Dragon Reborn". However as is common even when this trope shows up, a reader can't really skip the first book because it introduces so much of the setting and characterization.
** [[Word of God]] stated the first book was written to intentionally resemble then-contemporary fantasy fare, which the series would then take into a new direction. The second direction is clearly better, even though [[Long Runners|the series has been running so long]] this [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|no longer seems unique either.]]
** The series may have the unusual distinction of growing the beard twice. After [[Author Existence Failure|Jordan's death]] in 2007, young author Brandon Sanderson took up the reins using Jordan's notes, and his ''The Gathering Storm'' has another slightly different direction and is awesome in a refreshing new way.
Line 24:
* A surprising leap in style occurred between books six and seven of ''[[Ranger's Apprentice]]'', with more originality, humour, and maturity in the following stories.
* Ian Rankin, acclaimed Scottish author of the ''[[Inspector Rebus]]'' novels, started out the series with quite straight forward serial killer and murderer hunts. The fourth novel, ''Strip Jack'', had a change in tone in dealing instead with the sordid life of a (fictional) British politician. Afterwards, the series began to focus more on the morally gray world of big business and British politics, and the relationships between the two. The series was much better for it.
* In Terry Brooks' ''[[Shannara]]'' series, the second book Elfstones of Shannara is often cited as the best starting point, due to the first book, ''Sword of Shannara'', being [[Follow the Leader|very very similar, and even downright identical in places]] to [[The Lord of the Rings|a certain other fantasy series]].
* ''Lord Foul's Bane'', the first book in Stephen R. Donaldson's ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'' series, isn't very good. The series improves dramatically in the second book, titled ''The Illearth War'', and stays that way.
* The first couple of ''[[Dresden Files]]'' books are pretty good, but not amazing; it's only really during the third that it picks up, beginning the tradition of [[World of Badass|totally over the top]] [[Crazy Awesome|levels of]] [[The Dresden Files/Awesome|awesomeness]] that would later become one of the series' hallmarks and starting Harry down the road to [[Woobie|woobiefication]] and [[Character Development]] with {{spoiler|Susan's [[Vampire Refugee|being half-turned by the Red Court]]}}. It improves even further around ''Dead Beat'', with the introductions of Cowl and Lash, {{spoiler|Harry joining the Wardens}}, and the reveal of a traitor on the White Council.
| |||