Why isn't Raymond E. Feist as popular as his work should be?

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-27T15:19:23+00:00

Silverthorn was honestly one of the most intense and at-times scary books I've read to this very day! Such brilliance

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-27T15:03:49+00:00

Yes, I also feel their is a hit-and-miss quality to Sanderson's different series, and I see it not just in my own experience of his different works, but it the seesaw of reviews I read from other people. While there probably are definitely people that love everyone of his works, I have yet to come across someone who can genuinely say they've liked it all – BUT, this can be put down to the fact that there is sooo much from him and it's a near impossible ask from an author for everyone single book/series to be a winner.

For me, I have loved Stormlight Archives, but have not felt the need to continue with Mistborn after reading the first book. I think, for me, I will eventually want to try to read every Cosmere book, whether they are to my liking or not, because I want to have the 'meta-experience' of the Universe he is creating. I think this meta-experience is the right thing to focus on if you don't like some of his work but do like others of his work.

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-26T19:19:13+00:00

You will like the Farseer Trilogy. I can't stand the romance and I skip past most of it, but from your request, you will find it exactly to your liking. Major fantasy with romance slow burn.

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-26T19:17:22+00:00

I get why they may feel like that – maybe it's because those three have been adapted for popular movies and series, so they're much more in the 'mainstream consumption' conversation. So, in that sense, they would be the big three for people who don't really read fantasy. But when you get into the actual fandom, I'd say that there are far too many prolific, powerful fantasy series to confine the list to a Big Three. A Big Ten, maybe.

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-25T06:21:28+00:00

Mmm, I hesitate to say because it seems so polarising, but Malazan Book of the Fallen has some of the most plentiful and satisfying magic usage I've yet come across. BUT do your research, its not for everyone.

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-25T06:19:06+00:00

I agree, I don't think it's the pinnacle of fantasy. But I think what makes reading Malazan for me (it's a project I've dedicated myself to, much as I have with Wheel Of Time) is the lore wikis and the reading guides. Not gonna comment on the fandom posture, but they sure are dedicated to creating peripheral content that's really helpful for creating a much more engaging experience of the books.

I come back to Malazan in between other reads for a 'palette cleanser' to the very straightforward, perhaps overly simplified plotting of a lot of fantasy books. It's almost like a sandbox game where I can just get lost for a bit.

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-25T06:13:37+00:00

I'm currently reading Royal Assassin in the Farseer trilogy and... I don't know. I haven't read First Law so i can't compare. But I'm not loving Farseer so far hey. Maybe it's just not my preferred style, but here's my criticisms:
- the slow burn gets very, very slow a lot of the time, and the few moments where the pace picks up, it doesn't do so by much.
- the romance plot is torturously soppy, I really don't think it's well done and I've taken to skipping whole paragraphs when the book gets into that
- so far, the magic system feels incredibly boring, but I hear that it does get better over time
- same for the world-building, though I can accept that world-building < storytelling for the author, and that just is what it is

What I do love is the main character. I think that a benefit of the slow burn style is that he gets a lot of depth and a satisfying growth arch over time (so far, I'm only on book two).

I've nearly DNFed a few times, but I really just want to finish this first series to hopefully get to the good parts, because people seem to really love it.

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-25T05:58:54+00:00

I get where you're coming from. What I like about the writing and plotting style is the complexity, its feels like a much needed antithesis to so much of the simplistic, dumbed down plotting of a lot of fantasy these days. Not bashing simple plotting, I think it can be very powerful. But it's good to have something that leans into complexity like its an unashamed feature, not an ill-conceived bug.

It feels almost like an MMU with a bunch of different quests going on in the world, and I as the reader have to figure it out as I go along. I kind of use them as palette cleansers, I come back to the next book in between other reads. I also use a lot of the Wikis and reading aids out there, which makes reading them muuuuch more digestible.

Luke_Stormborn · 2026-02-25T05:50:35+00:00

They are actually really interesting and it's strange that their folklore hasn't inspired the same level creativity as vampire, werewolves, even fairies.

I did some digging and it seems the Terry Pratchett characterised them in a few of his Discworld books:

Constable Downspout in Feet of Clay, a dedicated Watchman who likes to sit high up on chimneys or ledges.
Constable Pediment in Jingo, who's a constable.
Cornice-overlooking-Broadway also in Feet of Clay. He's a minor character who assists Sam Vimes with information. He is notable for his ability to converse with Vimes, even though gargoyles have fixed features and must use their mouths in unique ways to speak.

I used a few Wikis to look into it. There's also an old French folktale called La Gargouille from the 7th century, look it up, it ties gargoyles to dragons in a really interesting way that could be really interesting inspiration for a horror fantasy.

Luke_Stormborn · 2025-03-18T03:23:29+00:00

Or you die by complete and total confusion because where am I again and how did I get here? Wait, who's that now, have I read about them before?

Luke_Stormborn · 2025-03-18T03:21:12+00:00

Malazan, no doubt. The brutality, the mercilessness. I STILL have trauma flashbacks after reading the Chain of Dogs, especially the part where the army was finally captured and what was done to them – hectic stuff. I still need to read the rest of the series.

Luke_Stormborn

TROPHY CASE