*howls with mirth*

[rj_anderson]

Found this on a forum while Googling for D&L reviews:

Hi Ev1,
Some years back I read some good books that I really liked called "the master's apprentice" and I guess it was part of something called "the rip war saga". I'm not sure what it would be classified under, perhaps fantasy. I'm not sure but I can't remember for the life of me what the author's name was. From what I remember the books were based on a boy becoming a magician and fighting off different enemies and so on. If anyone knows what I am talking about, please let me know!!! Thank you!

Which elicited the following delightful reply:

You're not thinking of "The Potion Master's Apprentice" by RJ Anderson, are you?

Hee!

I'd apologize to Raymond E. Feist (author of Magician: Apprentice and the rest of the Riftwar Saga) for confusing his fans, but I really doubt his book sales have been affected.

Comments

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

[applause] Go, you!

I wouldn't have thought of Feist first, honestly -- I'm not more than name-value familiar with his stuff.

[ymfaery]

*snicker*

"Rip war saga" indeed.

I used to love his stuff, but lately I've been easing away. I guess it's because of the way he can't seem to decide if he wants to write about his first set of characters, their descendants, or something else entirely.

Re:

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I read the Magician series in my teens, but really couldn't get into it. Of course, part of it was aesthetic: I found it immediately and permanently off-putting that the hero was named "Pug". My distaste was alleviated for about one book in which they were all calling him "Milamber", but then Feist had him revert to the hated "Pug" later on...

That, and I just didn't care for Feist's style. He's a bit like Orson Scott Card for me that way -- technically very able writer, and I did actually read several of his books to be sure I wasn't doing him a disservice, but I just found his stuff not really to my taste.

[bookaholicgirl.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of when I, while having posted LM Montgomery fanfic for a while, started lurking around an LMM forum. One day I saw a post where someone was asking someone else if they'd "read piper" and if so, what they'd thought. I thought that they might mean "The Piper", the story I was writing at the time, so I delurked and introduced myself. It turned out that they were talking about a book by John Piper, a Christian writer.

[sibylle]

That is cool! :-)
Feist - Personally, I think he should/could have stopped writing with "A Darkness at Sethanon". All he did afterwards in the books is kill characters one has come to like of, and to take his universe appart. But then I am often critical of later books in a series.

Re:

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

All he did afterwards in the books is kill characters one has come to like of, and to take his universe appart.

A lot of authors do this, I find. Ursula LeGuin destroyed just about everything I loved about Earthsea with TEHANU, for instance, and Douglas Adams spent the last two Hitchhiker books savagely ripping his universe apart. I think it happens when an author feels pressured by the public (or publishers) to keep writing in a creative universe they're personally tired of. It's not a good thing.

[sannalim.livejournal.com]

Ditto on Earthsea and Hitchikers' Guide. I felt the same way, so when I bought Hitchikers' for my personal collection, I only bought the first three. And Tehanu destroyed the Earthsea series so completely for me that I've not even purchased the original three.

I hope that JKR doesn't give in to pressure to write more about Harry after the Hogwarts septet is complete, and likewise ruin the world she's created.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

::stabs Raymond E. Feist::

I like your fic better, anyway.

Re:

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Bestselling fantasy authors, beware of Liz, especially armed with a spork.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

*brandishes spork and cackles*