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is terry brooks ,or isaac asimov any good?

I haven't read Asimov, but I understand he's an excellent starting point for sci fi readers. Brooks is in the fantasy genre, but I really don't like his work. I read 'Sword of Shannara' and I thought it was a blatant rip off of Lord of the Rings. Now, I've read a lot of fantasy, and some of it draws heavily on Tolkein's use of elves, the long quest, the small party of good vs. the minions of evil, etc. But Brooks takes this to a whole new level. I'm not even a Tolkein fan, but even I got very annoyed at the consistent plaguerism of ideas in that book.

That being said, give Guy Gavriel Kay or David Eddings a try. The former is a very original fantasy writer, while the latter uses some of the Tolkeinesque ideas that I mentioned earlier and writes a ripping tale!

Sci-fi wise, I have read JG Ballard, and really enjoy his short stories.
 
I liked Terry Brooks. His first lot are a lot like LotR, but they get better. Many people don't like him, as Kook said, but I found him entertaining.
 
I'm rolling through Asmiov's Foundation Series now and they are pretty good. His stuff is smart, but doesn't get so bogged down in the science that you get bored or lose your way. Having read a lot of sci-fi, I would agree with what Kook said about them being a good entry into the genre.
 
Billy said:
I liked Terry Brooks. His first lot are a lot like LotR, but they get better. Many people don't like him, as Kook said, but I found him entertaining.
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So you reckon his later work is better? I do feel a little judgemental of him because as I said I only read 'Sword of Shannara'. It just left me so disappointed at the lack of originality. That being said, he may have improved over time, and I'd hate to sell him short. Any recommendations of a better book/series that he's written that demonstrates originality?
 
Kookamoor said:
So you reckon his later work is better? I do feel a little judgemental of him because as I said I only read 'Sword of Shannara'. It just left me so disappointed at the lack of originality. That being said, he may have improved over time, and I'd hate to sell him short. Any recommendations of a better book/series that he's written that demonstrates originality?
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I've reads everything by Brooks. I read his stuff in b/w heavier reads in the fantasy Genre as a bit of R'n'R. You're right in that it certainly has Tolkienesque themes. Unfortunately if you're after originality you're probably not going to find it here. His writing and story structure improves as would be expected but the stories still contain your standard dwafs, elfs and other fantasy archetypes although the latter books did introduce these cool airships which I quite liked.

Asimov is SF which i'm not heavily into but his foundation series is very good. I'd say in terms of orginiality, significance and writing ability in their respective Genres Asimov is light years ahead (pardon the pun...;) ) of Brooks in pretty much all respects.

Hope this helps shed light on your query.
 
I'm not particularly a Asimov cheerleader, but think there is no questioning he is a quality SF writer. It jsut depends on what variety of SF one enjoys, I have always thought of myself as from the Philip K. Dick school of science fiction.

I think Terry Brooks is a hack, and one of the least imaginative autrors in the hsitory of fiction, but you're asking for his best wok, and that in my mind is his Word/Void series which includes

Running with the Demon
A Knight of the Word
Angel Fire East (his single best work IMHO)
 
Kookamoor said:
So you reckon his later work is better? I do feel a little judgemental of him because as I said I only read 'Sword of Shannara'. It just left me so disappointed at the lack of originality. That being said, he may have improved over time, and I'd hate to sell him short. Any recommendations of a better book/series that he's written that demonstrates originality?
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As Gollum said, Kook, he is not very original, but I found his later series not quite as obviously LotR copies as the first. They still involve a quest and elves, dwarves and other magical beings, but for entertainment value, I thought they were pretty good.

With the Sword of Shanarra, even his main characters appeared to be Frodo and Sam, but at least in the following series his characters become much less LotR copies.

I really enjoyed the books, but as you've probably figured by now, I tend to enjoy almost everything I read. ;) :)
 
I have never read any Asimov but i do like Terry Brooks a lot. I've read a few of his books and though The Sword of Shannara has many themes in it that seem to be a Tolkien rip off i still really enjoyed the book, i actually didnt want to put it down. The rest in the series are very good to and they dont have the rip off status that his first book did. The only Sci-Fi that i really have read is Frank Herbert's Dune, and some Star Wars novels that i wasn't to impressed with. If your looking for more fantsy i really like RA Salvatore and George R. R. Martin.
 
Ainulindale said:
..you're asking for his best wok, and that in my mind is his Word/Void series which includes

Running with the Demon
A Knight of the Word
Angel Fire East (his single best work IMHO)
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Yes sorry, I didn't read the question properly, Word and Void series is definitely his best work. As has been suggested Brooks is fairly unimaginative especially with the Shannara books but I don't mind the books so much to have as a light read, I've certainly read worse.

His other series Kingdom of Landover was plain silly IMO...:(

For Asimov I've read little but of what I've read I'd say his Foundation series.
 
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