What ruins a good fantasy story?

[NightIntent]

I've had that type of thing happen. I read... which book was it... somethnig by Laurell K. Hamilton or whatever her name is. Except it was the entire book was filled with sex. Useless sex, might I add. That really, really didn't need to be there. I hate when authors do that.  

[Saint Rydire]

when your parent reads it and wont shut up about "the moral of the story. blah blah" or "I liked this book, it had a good meaning..." GAH  

[NightIntent]

Which is the exact reason why I hate English. We have to dig into the text and find the theme. As if all authors bother to put a theme inside their books. Can't they have just written it because it was fun? Like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It was a stupid book, and I can't for the life of me figure out what people see in it. Especially in the way of a theme. I swear, the last few chapters were just there because Mark Twain got bored with the book and decided he'd just write whatever came to him.  

[jaythenerdkid]

I've noticed that lots of people think that politics and religion can ruin books. I disagree. Then again, I am a politics-nerd in real life, so that could be why...

In the Crown of Stars series, for example, everything is centred around the church, and I found it fascinating. There's also a lot of politics, which adds more interest to the series. Tamora Pierce does quite a lot with religion (and a little bit with politics as well), as does David Eddings (to an extent). I love those two authors.

And of course, there is HEAPS of religion in King Arthur, and that particular story is the father of a lot of contemporary epic fantasy.  

[NightIntent]

I actually love politics in books, as I've said. That was one of the main reasons why I loved Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper series. The politics of who would be the next king/queen were so interesting. And Court Duel, too. Such fun it was.  

[jaythenerdkid]

NightIntent

I actually love politics in books, as I've said. That was one of the main reasons why I loved Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper series. The politics of who would be the next king/queen were so interesting. And Court Duel, too. Such fun it was.

I'll definitely have to check those out. Thanks for the recommendations!  

[LamingtonQueen]

SO many things can ruin a good book. I'll just list all the ones that come to mind... although I probably don't need to - load of my chest, if you will xd

- Bad beginning or bad ending. Who even reads a book if it's so boring you can't get started? Or when the ending is so cliched or predictable or doesn't make sense it's just as bad.
- Bad writing. Using words that don't exist. Some people go on about good writing vs bad writing but to me it's as simple as; if you don't notice the writing style, it's good - if you DO notice it, it's bad xd
- Stupid characters. There's always ones that you go 'hey, that's like so-and-so' in another book. The worst, for me anyway, is annoying feminine characters. Why is it that 90% fall into either 'weak, pathetic, soft-willed, do-whatever-you-say' or 'OMGHARDCODEFEMINIST' catagories? WWHHYY?!
- Sex. A little bit of sex is alright, but those books where you're going 'did I take this out of the romance section by mistake?' are a joke.
- Random plots. Plots that are TOO complicated (unnecessarily so) or too simple are annoying, as are nonsensical ones.
- For me personally (and I know this definately isn't everyone) anything that has guns in it is too modern. Anything after the invention of guns transports me NOWHERE in my imagination - I watch the Discovery channel blaugh

Hmm, that's all I can think of at the moment, although they're pretty broad... I'll probably think of something else and add to it when I see it in my next read xd  

[isidar_mithram]

A lot of things make a good book bad in my opinion but most likely someone else has already posted them,

- Involving too much from a classic and yet too little. Like one book I was reading had Excalibur, the knights of the round table, merlin's cave, Camelot and yet was set in the modern day with a bumbling buffon for a main character.

-I hate it when you can just TELL what is going to happen. Like when I was reading (hmm..same book incidentally), the guy's father ran off before he was born and his uncle told him to steal something. I just went, the guy he has to steal from is SO his father. I was right.

-Bad endings. They just irritate me. I don't believe I have to elaborate.

-Books that go on a set plot and then seem to wander off randomly from that plot. I LOATHE that.  

[lavenvi05]

When they make movie sequels out of fantasy books that don't have a series. When they make a movie out of the book, it's well done, but of course, it depends on certain things.  

[Hiitachin Kaoru]

FaeDreamer

It's called the Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams I like part of it, I'm over halfway, but it just bugs me. Especially in the beginning the main character is so flighty as to be almost stupid. *shrug* and he doesn't really seem to give the characters the depth that I would expect from a book this long...I don't know, maybe it's just me. sweatdrop

I just read The City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams. He really seems to enjoy writing extremly long books. The thing is I was waiting, and waiting for the big climax and then the book ended.
I then realized it was a part of a trilogy or something. It was a really good book, but at the end I was like, 'huh? what just happened?' Just stopped. That bothered me.  

[Hiitachin Kaoru]

KaoriCeres

There was a book I read call The Lost Years of Merlin. The story was great up until the end when an extreme Star Wars cliche was used. To read what it was, the spoiler is in white: The villain in the story tells a young Merlin that he (the villain) is Merlin's father. This was said right after Merlin tells the villain that he killed his (Merlin's) father. sweatdrop

Lol. I read that book, and that annoyed me too! Why does anyone do that?  

[NightIntent]

KaoriCeres

There was a book I read call The Lost Years of Merlin. The story was great up until the end when an extreme Star Wars cliche was used. To read what it was, the spoiler is in white: The villain in the story tells a young Merlin that he (the villain) is Merlin's father. This was said right after Merlin tells the villain that he killed his (Merlin's) father. sweatdrop

...Isn't that a series? I started a series called that, but I've never heard of a book with the same title.  

[thymeast22]

Most books i can read in a few days, but some are just harder to read. The plot isn't that good and i can't get addicted to them, so i don't have to keep reading to find out what happens. I've only abandoned a one or two books, but some just take a while to read because of thier lack of plot.  

[NightIntent]

Oh, oh! I remembered one! A really, really bad cliche ending. Or just something utterly stupid. For exaple, I was reading this one book about this woman who falls in love with a guy, but a vampire is also in love with her. At the very end, the human she was in love with get shot (can't remember why) and the vampire then attacks him while he's down. The woman promises to go with the vampire, as long as he stops hurting the guy. The vampire is touched at their love for one another and leaves for good. The end. *Gag* I hate unrealistic endings like that. (Please note that this is in my words, and not an exact summary. n.n") But, yeah, completely ruined the book. I'm never touching it again.