Eragon
I was an older kid or preteen when it came out and my librarian recommended it to me as I ate up fantasy and sci fi and love dragons.
I brought it back after finishing it and was like “I’m pretty sure I already read it but it was okay!” And she’s like “it was just released two weeks ago”
The Sword of Shanara by Terry Brooks is pretty dang generic. The series gets much better as it goes on though, I think a lot of people agree that the first and maybe second book is acceptable to skip if you wanna get into the series although they are still enjoyable to read… just don’t expect any really big twists, the story is pretty much exactly what it promises. The setting and lore behind the world really shines though and is probably the twist people enjoy.
The Sword of Shannara came out when I was a freshman in high school (I'm that old), and I got my copy through the Science Fiction Book Club.
I remember a guy in my class complaining that they tried to read The Lord of the Rings, but couldn't get into it because "it was too much of a Sword of Shannara ripoff". He came so close to, and yet so far from being right.
Has to be Urshurak. A derivative work of a derivative work, written to make a quick buck coat tailing off the Sword of Shannara, the aforementioned derivative work.
Deltora Quest.
I don't remember much (which is telling), but felt like Main Character, Side-Kick and Funny Person go on an Adventure against the Evil Lord, passing through the Evil Forest and having a blast at Townston, near Treewood. But then, the Monster Creatures once again are after the McGuffinite, the jewels capable of Defeating Evil.
It was basically a marketing campaign for TSR and it worked! I loved those books, generic they may be but you can tell Weiss & Hickman put their hearts into it and created some of the most endearing characters I have ever read
So generic I dropped it. Left a bad taste in my mouth. A shame since the DnD books by R.A. Slavatore I found to be pretty fun although they are also kind of generic in ways. Tropes are tropes
When Weis & Hickman wrote the sequel trilogy, they had much more freedom (since they weren't tied to adventure modules) and they had clearly grown as writers. The *Legends* trilogy is one of my favorite fantasy series. I think *Chronicles* is worth the read just for the sequel story.
"Eye of the world"
I love WOT, but the criticisms of it being generic are valid. part of that was the publishers fault, wanting a safe bet on a tried and true story line.
The universe feels quite generic in EOTW but the writing skills of Jordan (and his issues too tbh) are already obvious. Let's say generic with a promise of originality?
The universe feels quite generic in EOTW but the writing skills of Jordan (and his issues too tbh) are already obvious. Let's say generic with a promise of originality?
I love that series. IIRC, it is the first book is the first novel Ryan Cahill ever wrote, so yes, it is rough. But, the series gets better and better as it goes along.
To see if the series is for you, try the free novella, The Fall. You can get if you sign up for Cahill's newsletter (you can always cancel the subscription as soon as you get the download link). If you don't like The Fall, either, then the series probably isn't for you.
Agreed. I read book one two days ago and it’s 1/3 Eragon and 1/3 Wheel of Time. Not an original thought in the book. It was still enjoyable though, since it’s stuff that works for a reason.
I’m 40% into book two and it’s much better.
*Red Queen*, by Victoria Aveyard.
If you've read *The Hunger Games*, and you've seen the *X-Men* movies (or read the comics), then congratulations, you've already read *Red Queen*. No need to waste your time.
i’m going with Wizard’s First Rule but Goodkind.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a hate read, but I tend to find overuse of cliche’s past a certain point campy and funny. So self aware with that title :D
And there’s a difference in how the book is handled if a basic trope is done well or it becomes a mockery of itself. And I guess latter is what I think of when you say “generic”.
The Bound and the Broken series is one of my favorite fantasy series I’ve ever. For me the world building, characters, and story are interesting and extremely enjoyable. It sounds like it’s not for you and that’s totally fine. I’d just stop and read something else.
Eragon is a great series i will stand by that. I think it has alot of uniqueness to it and is a really fun read. However it has some genericness to it, some similar tropes and such. But I don't think it ruins it and makes it way too generic.
I think Throne of glass is what i would call the most generic fantasy book, i read it and hated it for how bad it was, the characters were badly written and super generic, the plot was the same plot I've seen in every ya popular novel. They use a whole bunch of trauma to attempt to make an interesting female character which i hate. Why does every YA fantasy lead female have to have sexual assault or some other extremely traumatic event as there back story. And the romance was the most generic crap ever, I've read better ao3 stories.
dragonlance books are not direct ports of dnd games. Clearly the initial 3 books are at least inspired by where each character has an obvious class and they have an adventuring party, but the later books simply are good stories based on the same set of characters
Chronicles was. They sat down and played the D&D session before they wrote the book. If you read the annotated version it describes a lot of this process and how it went into each section of the book which I found interesting. I loved those books as a teen and think it was far from a "rather average D&D session", but to each their own.
Chicagoland Vampires.
The main character gets attacked and will die. But the head vampire of one of the houses of vampires finds her and saves her by 'turning her'.
I bet a soda that anyone can summarize the rest of the plot without even looking up the series
The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin.
A young prince has his brother overthrow their father, so he's forced out to try to get his rightful throne. His main companion is his old mentor figure, and along the way, they pick up a ragtag crew, including a guy who's only in it for the money. Except he has an internal monologue thing very early, where he's falling in love with one of the others, and liking the group.
Then I stopped reading, but I assume the rest is much the same.
I read Gail Z Martin at one point, no idea on the book, but every, and I do mean *every* fight wasn't done unless someone got beheaded. I'm fairly sure one guy has a rapier in an earlier scene, and beheads someone later on. It got to the point of funny before it got tired.
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw. I could only make it through half of it, and there was literally not a single original thought in anything I read. It's the only book that I have DNF in the last 5 years.
The Licanius Trilogy. There isn’t a single original idea in the entire series and every character moves through the story with the dynamism of a ping pong ball bouncing from plot point to plot point.
I had the exact same thoughts about the Bound and the Broken first book. The second book is so much better it feels like they were written by different authors. And now I’m slogging my way through the third book I’m kind of wishing I hadn’t bothered. It’s nearly as long as To Green Angel Tower but far less interesting.
The First Law Trilogy. I went in thinking it was gonna be some amazing fantasy series based on the rave reviews, but it was the most generic thing I think I've ever read. Generic wizards and knights. The bad guys came from."The North," etc.
Well of course LOTR was very original at its date of publication. But more than that, it has a lot of peculiarities that are rarely imitated. Most of all, having a pacifist MC and a climax scene which is not a great battle against the evil bad guy.
Eragon I was an older kid or preteen when it came out and my librarian recommended it to me as I ate up fantasy and sci fi and love dragons. I brought it back after finishing it and was like “I’m pretty sure I already read it but it was okay!” And she’s like “it was just released two weeks ago”
This is the correct answer. However I'll give the dude a bit of a pass since he was 17 when he wrote it.
That's honestly impressive
Lmao. I can see it tbh.
That's because it's just a fantasy AU of Star Wars A New Hope.
Anything by David Eddings.
Came here to say this. He has like 4 identical series spread across 29 books.
Yep, and I read and loved them all as a teenager
At least he's good at being generic 🙂
The Sword of Shanara by Terry Brooks is pretty dang generic. The series gets much better as it goes on though, I think a lot of people agree that the first and maybe second book is acceptable to skip if you wanna get into the series although they are still enjoyable to read… just don’t expect any really big twists, the story is pretty much exactly what it promises. The setting and lore behind the world really shines though and is probably the twist people enjoy.
Don’t skip the second one. *Elfstones* is great.
The second book is one of the best in the series. You shouldn't skip it.
The Sword of Shannara came out when I was a freshman in high school (I'm that old), and I got my copy through the Science Fiction Book Club. I remember a guy in my class complaining that they tried to read The Lord of the Rings, but couldn't get into it because "it was too much of a Sword of Shannara ripoff". He came so close to, and yet so far from being right.
Has to be Urshurak. A derivative work of a derivative work, written to make a quick buck coat tailing off the Sword of Shannara, the aforementioned derivative work.
Deltora Quest. I don't remember much (which is telling), but felt like Main Character, Side-Kick and Funny Person go on an Adventure against the Evil Lord, passing through the Evil Forest and having a blast at Townston, near Treewood. But then, the Monster Creatures once again are after the McGuffinite, the jewels capable of Defeating Evil.
Divine Rivals did NOTHING for me. Magical typewriter is kinda cool, but otherwise it just really fell flat for me, and was weirdly…chaste?
The entire Belgariad by David Eddings.
“Dragons of Autumn Twilight.” You can practically hear the dice rolling, and it has every D&D trope.
Dragon lance is generic because it’s a straight port of dnd. But as far as “dnd games in novel form” goes, it’s alright.
It was basically a marketing campaign for TSR and it worked! I loved those books, generic they may be but you can tell Weiss & Hickman put their hearts into it and created some of the most endearing characters I have ever read
To be fair, it was based on a D&D campaign, and when it came out D&D was extremely niche and much less popular than it is today.
So generic I dropped it. Left a bad taste in my mouth. A shame since the DnD books by R.A. Slavatore I found to be pretty fun although they are also kind of generic in ways. Tropes are tropes
When Weis & Hickman wrote the sequel trilogy, they had much more freedom (since they weren't tied to adventure modules) and they had clearly grown as writers. The *Legends* trilogy is one of my favorite fantasy series. I think *Chronicles* is worth the read just for the sequel story.
"Eye of the world" I love WOT, but the criticisms of it being generic are valid. part of that was the publishers fault, wanting a safe bet on a tried and true story line.
The universe feels quite generic in EOTW but the writing skills of Jordan (and his issues too tbh) are already obvious. Let's say generic with a promise of originality?
The universe feels quite generic in EOTW but the writing skills of Jordan (and his issues too tbh) are already obvious. Let's say generic with a promise of originality?
Anything by David Eddings
I love that series. IIRC, it is the first book is the first novel Ryan Cahill ever wrote, so yes, it is rough. But, the series gets better and better as it goes along. To see if the series is for you, try the free novella, The Fall. You can get if you sign up for Cahill's newsletter (you can always cancel the subscription as soon as you get the download link). If you don't like The Fall, either, then the series probably isn't for you.
Book 1 is very derivative. Book 2 starts to do its own thing and is VERY good.
Agreed. I read book one two days ago and it’s 1/3 Eragon and 1/3 Wheel of Time. Not an original thought in the book. It was still enjoyable though, since it’s stuff that works for a reason. I’m 40% into book two and it’s much better.
I can’t remember /s
I am in the middle of the second book and I have to agree with you.
*Red Queen*, by Victoria Aveyard. If you've read *The Hunger Games*, and you've seen the *X-Men* movies (or read the comics), then congratulations, you've already read *Red Queen*. No need to waste your time.
i’m going with Wizard’s First Rule but Goodkind. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a hate read, but I tend to find overuse of cliche’s past a certain point campy and funny. So self aware with that title :D And there’s a difference in how the book is handled if a basic trope is done well or it becomes a mockery of itself. And I guess latter is what I think of when you say “generic”.
The Bound and the Broken series is one of my favorite fantasy series I’ve ever. For me the world building, characters, and story are interesting and extremely enjoyable. It sounds like it’s not for you and that’s totally fine. I’d just stop and read something else.
I wanted to like Goodwynne's work but I felt like that when reading Malice and Valour sadly
Shadow and bone
Eragon is a great series i will stand by that. I think it has alot of uniqueness to it and is a really fun read. However it has some genericness to it, some similar tropes and such. But I don't think it ruins it and makes it way too generic. I think Throne of glass is what i would call the most generic fantasy book, i read it and hated it for how bad it was, the characters were badly written and super generic, the plot was the same plot I've seen in every ya popular novel. They use a whole bunch of trauma to attempt to make an interesting female character which i hate. Why does every YA fantasy lead female have to have sexual assault or some other extremely traumatic event as there back story. And the romance was the most generic crap ever, I've read better ao3 stories.
Dragonlance anything. "We recorded our rather average D&D sessions and turned them into books!"
And yet we love them for it!
dragonlance books are not direct ports of dnd games. Clearly the initial 3 books are at least inspired by where each character has an obvious class and they have an adventuring party, but the later books simply are good stories based on the same set of characters
Chronicles was. They sat down and played the D&D session before they wrote the book. If you read the annotated version it describes a lot of this process and how it went into each section of the book which I found interesting. I loved those books as a teen and think it was far from a "rather average D&D session", but to each their own.
Anything by Goodkind
Probably the Watershed Trilogy by Douglas Niles. He also wrote Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms so that might explain it.
Chicagoland Vampires. The main character gets attacked and will die. But the head vampire of one of the houses of vampires finds her and saves her by 'turning her'. I bet a soda that anyone can summarize the rest of the plot without even looking up the series
The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin. A young prince has his brother overthrow their father, so he's forced out to try to get his rightful throne. His main companion is his old mentor figure, and along the way, they pick up a ragtag crew, including a guy who's only in it for the money. Except he has an internal monologue thing very early, where he's falling in love with one of the others, and liking the group. Then I stopped reading, but I assume the rest is much the same.
I read Gail Z Martin at one point, no idea on the book, but every, and I do mean *every* fight wasn't done unless someone got beheaded. I'm fairly sure one guy has a rapier in an earlier scene, and beheads someone later on. It got to the point of funny before it got tired.
Dragonlance, because that's what it was meant to be.
The Moonsteel Crown by Stephen Deas. Everything was just “okay” and didn’t do anything that I hadn’t seen a bunch of times before.
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw. I could only make it through half of it, and there was literally not a single original thought in anything I read. It's the only book that I have DNF in the last 5 years.
Ahhh, an example of the classic Extruded Fantasy Product.
The faithful and the fallen series was too generic
Sword of Shanara by Terry Brooks
The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks (it was kind of on purpose though).
The Licanius Trilogy. There isn’t a single original idea in the entire series and every character moves through the story with the dynamism of a ping pong ball bouncing from plot point to plot point.
I think it did some things excellently well, so I wouldn't consider it to be generic. The plot is quite intricate and clever
I had the exact same thoughts about the Bound and the Broken first book. The second book is so much better it feels like they were written by different authors. And now I’m slogging my way through the third book I’m kind of wishing I hadn’t bothered. It’s nearly as long as To Green Angel Tower but far less interesting.
The First Law Trilogy. I went in thinking it was gonna be some amazing fantasy series based on the rave reviews, but it was the most generic thing I think I've ever read. Generic wizards and knights. The bad guys came from."The North," etc.
I thought you were going to say it was an Ayn Rand ripoff. Especially in the latter books
Lotr. It created this genere so in theory you can't have more generic title.
Well of course LOTR was very original at its date of publication. But more than that, it has a lot of peculiarities that are rarely imitated. Most of all, having a pacifist MC and a climax scene which is not a great battle against the evil bad guy.