# Authors You Looked Forward to Reading, and then were Disappointed by? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325 "2013-03-19T02:49:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/81 "2013-03-30T03:35:12Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Well…_The Blue Knight_ is **not** good. True. Tedious and dull at best. Especially if you had had the good fortune to have read Lines and Shadows first, the story of the Border Alien Robbery Force. Lines and Shadows _killed_. > **[Lines and Shadows](https://books.google.ca/books?id=UV3X19lRB-0C&pg=PT1&source=gbs_selected_pages&hl=en)** > > This is the true story of a squad of San Diego cops, posing as undocumented immigrants, whose mission is to police the no-man’s-land by the international border where men, women, and children cross in the dead of night only to fall prey to ruthless... And the late Hemingway…so beyond dreary as to be oddly remarkable. (Paraphrasing) “Thomas Hudson paused in mid-pour; no, he would not drink just yet. First he would paint. He was a good painter.” more: [http://www.weltordnung.ch/books/Hemingway,%20Ernest%20-%20Islands%20In%20The%20Stream.pdf](http://www.weltordnung.ch/books/Hemingway,%20Ernest%20-%20Islands%20In%20The%20Stream.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/82 "2013-03-30T04:39:14Z")
I agree with a lot of these, even when they are about authors I like. About Pamela Dean: I actually love her but I was laughing while reading the descriptions of her work. I should hate her, but I don’t. Charles de Lint is so… limp. Or something. I like the Dresden books, but half of me agrees with everything bad written about them in this thread. I think I should love Pratchett. I don’t hate him, but I don’t feel drawn to his work, either. Same for Gaiman. I’m just underwhelmed. I’m a little surprised anyone’s friends recommended Sue Grafton. She’s not someone I think of as more than a hack. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/83 "2013-03-30T14:16:54Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > I’ll add my vote to the Dresden Files. I read Cecil’s “Straight Dope Chicago” column about the [Chicago Undertown](http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20090319.php) way back in March 2009, and he made the books sound pretty cool – " think Harry Potter for adults, or Sam Spade meets _The Lord of the Rings_," he said. > > Guy needs an editor: If you want Harry Potter for adults, try [Lev Grossman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Grossman#Writings)’s _The Magicians_ and its sequel. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/84 "2013-03-30T16:40:51Z")
> [@theR](#): > > If you want Harry Potter for adults, try [Lev Grossman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Grossman#Writings)’s _The Magicians_ and its sequel. That’s an author that belongs in this thread for me! ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/85 "2013-03-30T17:29:54Z")
Paul Auster. He was represented to me as the be-all-and-end-all of modern literary fiction. God, what a bunch of MFA crap. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/86 "2013-03-30T18:34:20Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Anyway, the Ryanverse long ago diverged from real life, and in that universe everything progressed nicely. Until 9/11. Somehow we were jolted back into the real world, which makes no sense because > > Denver was nuked by terrorists in _The Sum of All Fears_, but no mention of it ever happens again after 9/11 You left out the fact that, at that point in the Clancyverse, Saddam Hussein was dead, Iraq merged with Iran (but then split again after the Ayatollah was overthrown), and China had become a democracy. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/87 "2013-03-30T19:26:34Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > That’s an author that belongs in this thread for me! It’s not really surprising. Any author that has a reputation and following will obviously have some people that are disappointed when they think the author didn’t live up to the hype. Of those mentioned in this thread already, Heinlein is definitely mine. I just read Gaiman and Pratchett for the first time in the last year. I liked Gaiman enough that I’ve now read four of his books, and I liked Pratchett’s _The Colour of Magic_ quite a bit. However, I understand some who expect to like them won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/88 "2013-03-30T20:08:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You left out the fact that, at that point in the Clancyverse, > > Saddam Hussein was dead, Iraq merged with Iran (but then split again after the Ayatollah was overthrown), and China had become a democracy. When did Tom Clancy start writing fantasy fiction? I stopped at _The Hunt for Red October_. Glad I did. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325/89 "2013-03-30T22:44:32Z")
I like Neil Gaiman well enough, but I can see how people might find him disappointing. Not merely because his writing isn’t to everyone’s tastes, but because there’s a sort of cult of personality regarding Neil Gaiman that isn’t based entirely on his writing. He’s an entertaining public speaker and reader of his own work, does quite a few public appearances both to promote his own work and to raise money for charity, had a fairly popular [blog](http://journal.neilgaiman.com/) before blogging was even very common, and while he’s not exactly a matinee idol he’s [not a bad looking guy](http://static.flickr.com/245/527023361_c16f4fd7c2.jpg). So he gets a bit more publicity and is a bit more “swoon-worthy” than other writers who may be equally talented. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-you-looked-forward-to-reading-and-then-were-disappointed-by/653325.md?page=4)