On Mon, 17 Feb 2003 13:05:49 -0800, Richard Malena <rmalena at softhome.net> wrote: >> E.g., Terry Goodkind. [rant elided] > We start with "Wizard's First Rule," and this is actually a good book. Whoa, whoa. WFR sucked donkey balls. It was Boy Hero With a Secret Past and Legacy of Secret Power, right off the back of the cereal box. OTOH, Tad Williams could have been a decent author at some point. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is a solid duology spread out over three books. Given that after its success he's probably less subject to editing than before, I have little interest in plowing through the verbal underbrush for 'Otherland'. In fact, a lot of the junky fantasy on the shelves today can be laid at editorial feet, or the absence thereof. paul e.