# Tell us about the worst books by your favorite authors. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079 "2020-02-17T16:54:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/81 "2020-02-19T02:23:06Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Lois McMaster Bujold is my favorite author, but _Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen_ is weak by any standards. There’s almost nothing for the main characters to overcome, and the dialogue is dull. Mmn. Can’t really disagree with you. Mind you, _GJatRQ_ isn’t _bad_. It just isn’t anything to fire the imagination. It felt to me like an extended character study, where Bujold was playing with the intersectionality of biology, identity, and technology; a theme that runs through all of the Vorkosigan Saga. And seeing if she had any more stories to tell about Cordelia. As you point out, the conflicts are all internal, and there aren’t any villains to defeat (save maybe the sleazy plascrete contractor). I wasn’t to impressed by the big reveal about her history, simply because it felt like that came out of nowhere. It’s always fun to see Miles in a state of crogglement, though. As good as the Vorkosigan Saga is, my very favorite LMB stories are the World of the Five Gods tales, especially the Penric and Desdemona novellas. It’s a shame that the success of _Game of Thrones_ means that it will be years before anyone can make a series of _The Curse of Chalion_ or _The Paladin of Souls_, without being accused of ripping off George R.R. Martin. Complete nonsense, of course - the Chalion books are wildly different in tone than _GOT_. That said, I found _The Hallowed Hunt_ to drag, quite a bit, and Ingrey and Ijada not as compelling as Cazaril, Iselle, Ista, or Penric. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > China Mieville is astonishing. His imagination is a wild garden where half the plants are carnivorous and the other half have names that can’t be pronounced by human voices. He’s changed fantasy, bringing a robust element of the bizarre to the forefront, using beautifully rococo language. He’s weirdpunk. > > **King Rat** is a hot fucking mess of a book, ending with a pun so cringey that I nearly threw the book across the room. Haven’t read _King Rat_ yet, and maybe I won’t after your comment. (Which is probably the best description of Mieville’s style that I’ve ever seen.) So I’d have to rate _Iron Council_ as my least favorite Mieville novel. I generally liked the New Crobuzon stories, but I had to force my way through that one. And even _Perdido Street Station_ and _The Scar_ didn’t rise to the levels of _Embassytown_ or _The City and the City_. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/82 "2020-02-19T03:44:15Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > As good as the Vorkosigan Saga is, my very favorite LMB stories are the World of the Five Gods tales, especially the Penric and Desdemona novellas. It’s a shame that the success of _Game of Thrones_ means that it will be years before anyone can make a series of _The Curse of Chalion_ or _The Paladin of Souls_, without being accused of ripping off George R.R. Martin. Complete nonsense, of course - the Chalion books are wildly different in tone than _GOT_. I’d expect just the opposite - the success of GoT meant that a lot of people are looking to replicate its success, which makes it more likely that someone is going to take a look at Chalion and try to turn it into a TV show. Fear of being accused of being a rip-off didn’t stop the Witcher from getting adapted, nor Shannara, nor Sword of Truth. Nor, for that matter, GoT itself, which likely was largely greenlit because of the success of the Lord of the Rings movie. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/83 "2020-02-19T15:16:13Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > Alistair MacLean started off well _(HMS Ulysses_, _The Guns of Navarone_, _Where Eagles Dare_, _Ice Station Zebra_, etc.), but his later works are dreck. By the time he got to _Athabasca_ or _Seawitch_, he was apparently deep in the throes of alcoholism and just didn’t care anymore. _Goodbye California_ had a Nero Wolfe like protagonist and a ticking bomb. I didn’t finish it. A friend of mine insisted that his decline began with putting headlights on a formula V in _The Way to Dusty Death._ I’d say the decline began with _Breakheart Pass._ He write great stuff up until then. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/84 "2020-02-19T15:36:01Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > _I Will Fear No Evil_ is the worst Heinlein for me also, but I can see that if someone started with NOTB they might be real confused. I kind of liked it, better than _Friday_ also. Sorry if I gave the impression that I began with The Number of the Beast. I started reading his juveniles back in about the 1970s (The Man Who Sold the Moon; Starman Jones; Have Spacesuit, Will Travel - things like that). ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/85 "2020-02-19T15:59:23Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > IIRC, King has no memory of having written _Cujo_, due to substance abuse. Might explain a lot. I haven’t heard this about **Cujo**. However, I know King had admitted this exact thing with regards to **The Tommyknockers**. I haven’t read a ton of Heinlein. I did manage to make it through **Stranger in a Strange Land** , although I didn’t really like it. But I just could not complete **Time Enough for Love**. I think that’s the only book I ever put down in the middle. I gave up once the incestual kiddie-diddling was front and center. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/86 "2020-02-19T16:02:21Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > I haven’t heard this about **Cujo** … Sorry, I should have looked it up before I claimed it. “Barely remembers” is a better description: > [@](#): > > Stephen King discusses _Cujo_ in _On Writing_, referring to it as a novel he “barely remembers writing at all.” King wrote the book while he was on a cocaine binge. King goes on to say he likes the book and wishes he could remember enjoying the good parts as he put them on the page. > **[Cujo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cujo)** > > Cujo (/ˈkuːdʒoʊ/) is a 1981 horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983. > Cujo's name was based on the alias of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for orchestrating Patty Hearst's kidnapping and indoctrination into the Symbionese Liberation Army. Stephen King discusses Cujo in On Writing, referring to it as a novel he "barely remembers writing at all." King wrote the book during th... ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/87 "2020-02-19T20:04:01Z")
I’m a big fan of fantasy writer Guy Gavriel Kay, obviously, but his 2007 novel _Ysabel_ - AKA, \*My Provence Vacation Tax Write-Off \*- was virtually unreadable. (His subsequent books were a bit better, but nowhere near the level of his 1990s masterpieces). ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/88 "2020-02-19T20:24:16Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’d expect just the opposite - the success of GoT meant that a lot of people are looking to replicate its success, which makes it more likely that someone is going to take a look at Chalion and try to turn it into a TV show. Fear of being accused of being a rip-off didn’t stop the Witcher from getting adapted, nor Shannara, nor Sword of Truth. Nor, for that matter, GoT itself, which likely was largely greenlit because of the success of the Lord of the Rings movie. I hope I’m wrong and you’re right; I’d like to see a Chalion series. I’d be interested in how the screenwriters translate the theology of the Five Gods, which is integral to the story, onto the screen. I’d just be afraid viewers would think, “Castles, swords, magical gods, slightly odd titles of nobility, a young queen struggling for her throne – eh, we’ve seen this before.” Despite Iselle and Cazaril being nothing whatsoever like Daenerys and Jon. I’d really love to see _Paladin of Souls_ made into a series, because that would be something truly unique – a medievalesque swords-and-castles fantasy where the hero is a middle-aged grandmother who rescues the hero, rediscovering her agency and her sexuality in the process. But _Paladin_ really doesn’t make sense unless you’re familiar with the events of _Curse of Chalion_. ---
**Author:** ![Stowed\_Bob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stowed_bob/32/3312_2.png) [@Stowed\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stowed_Bob)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/89 "2020-02-19T20:58:57Z")
Only book of Frank Herbert’s I didn’t like was The Godmakers. I bounced right off the settings and characters, and sadly I can no longer remember why. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/90 "2020-02-20T02:00:16Z")
Mark Twain - _The Prince and the Pauper_. Just boring, tries to be overly clever, lots of dreary dialogue about complicated, but ultimately uninteresting situations. I know he was making points about class distinctions etc, but he did it far better in _A Connecticut Yankee_[/I\*]. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/91 "2020-02-20T04:50:54Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Has there ever been a lengthy fiction series featuring particular characters that _didn’t_ get stale/sloppy/boring towards the end? > > Another example: Dick Francis’ books were consistently well-written and entertaining but went downhill late (even before he brought his son in as co-author)… I’ve been surprised by how much his son’s books have been Francis-esque. Right down to all the cliches that I like: the innocent guy with a character flaw… out of his depth when faced with evil, but of course finds just enough resolve to overcome his oh-guess-it-wasn’t-quite-a-fatal-flaw. It helps that I’ve been listening to them… the books by Dick, then Dick With Felix, and now Felix… and they use the same classic Brit narrator (Simon Prebble? Martin Jarvis? One of those blokes). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/92 "2020-02-20T12:04:24Z")
Well of course they’re Francis-esque. It’s just surprising that they’re Dick-esque. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/93 "2020-02-20T12:06:55Z")
J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing has definitely gone downhill since he died. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/94 "2020-02-20T13:18:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing has definitely gone downhill since he died. And as if I am compulsively contrary, I must say that I rather enjoyed “The Children of Húrin”. it is one of the audiobooks I have kept on each of my iPhones. ---
**Author:** ![jbaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@jbaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbaker)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/95 "2020-02-20T18:26:33Z")
So much hate for Heinlein’s Number of the Beast, and nobody has even mentioned To Sail Beyond the Sunset? Although, in fairness, I gave up on that one fairly early. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/96 "2020-02-21T17:48:37Z")
I’m a big fan of Tana French – her first two novels recently appeared on TV as _Dublin Murders_ – but I was severely disappointed by her latest, _The Witch Elm_. For the first time she told the story from the suspect’s POV instead of the detectives’, and I found it impossible to believe any of it. Plus it was bloated as hell. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/97 "2020-02-21T18:36:03Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I read all the sequels, and Gentry Lee’s standalone novel, and if that guy ever wrote one good paragraph I must have missed it. > I hope Clarke got a lot of money from those travesties. These are the books that came to mind when I saw the thread title. The original book in the series _Rendezvous with Rama_ by Clarke is a masterpiece of suspenseful, clearly written and well thought out science fiction. The three sequels are set in the same Universe and have the same idea - mysterious alien spaceship flies through the solar system and is visited by humans - but are just awful. They are full of treacly, mauldlin emotion. There is a lot of political stuff and some weird interpersonal relations - at one point a thirteen year old girl marries a much older man and this is seen positively. I can’t say they are unreadable, because I did read them. But I wish I hadn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/98 "2020-02-21T23:03:38Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > These are the books that came to mind when I saw the thread title. The original book in the series _Rendezvous with Rama_ by Clarke is a masterpiece of suspenseful, clearly written and well thought out science fiction. The three sequels are set in the same Universe and have the same idea - mysterious alien spaceship flies through the solar system and is visited by humans - but are just awful. They are full of treacly, mauldlin emotion. There is a lot of political stuff and some weird interpersonal relations - at one point a thirteen year old girl marries a much older man and this is seen positively. > > I can’t say they are unreadable, because I did read them. But I wish I hadn’t. I didn’t include them because I don’t consider them as being written by Clarke. And you are too kind. The lead character in the first book is, IIRC, an Olympic athlete, Nobel prize winner who has an affair with the King of England. I don’t think even Lionel Fanthorpe could come up with that one. No to mention Catholic Gentry imposing his religious nonsense on Clarke’s universe. There is a sentence in Cradle which I think is the worst sentence I have read in any book. I’d find it and quote it, but the Internet would crash. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/99 "2020-02-22T00:16:05Z")
> [@jbaker](#): > > So much hate for Heinlein’s Number of the Beast, and nobody has even mentioned To Sail Beyond the Sunset? Although, in fairness, I gave up on that one fairly early. TSbtS is nowhere near as bad as NotB. It makes sense. It rambles unbelievably, but part of it is part of Time Enough for Love told from a different POV. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079/100 "2020-02-22T00:44:10Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Has there ever been a lengthy fiction series featuring particular characters that _didn’t_ get stale/sloppy/boring towards the end? PG Wodehouse’s first Blandings Castle book, _Something Fresh_, was published in 1915. It is excellent. Wodehouse was working on the last one 62 years later, when he died. I have read a version of the last one, and it is at worst pretty good, so I would say that is a lengthy series that didn’t get stale. It certainly did not descend to unreadability, like some of the examples here. My favorite author is Terry Pratchett, for example, and I could not finish _Raising Steam_. I found it much worse than _Unseen Academicals_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-the-worst-books-by-your-favorite-authors/848079.md?page=6)