'The Algebraist' is a terrible introduction to Iain M Banks' books. I probably wouldn't have read any more of his books if that had been my first.

Dito that.

There is a worse Iain M. Banks book to start with, and thats "Feersum Endjinn". Only one of his books I haven't finished..

As for Dan Simmons, I felt very let down by "Hyperion". It starts well, but the book ends without being finished. It's like it's chopped in two, and you have to read the followup to finish the story. Most multi-part books are much better written in that regards.

Also got the last (two) books of the Saga of Seven Suns. I'm thinking of just skiping the second-to-last, and just read the summary in the start of the last, and finish the series.

Øystein

Ugh .....
Kevin Anderson should be banned from writing, full stop.
He seems to have a target audience of pre-teens, his writing standards are extremely poor compared to the likes of Banks, Hamilton, Reynolds, etc.

IMHO the two best Banksian novels are 'Use of weapons', and 'Consider Phlebas'. Great story, fantastic imagery.

Interesting, I have yet to read anything from Kevin J. Anderson but I've heard other people say similar things about his writing style.

If our paths ever cross, I will kick him in the nuts so hard he'll have three Adam's Apples for what he did to the Dune novels.

Yeah, I don't know how I made it through the first 3 prequels, and book 1 of The Butlerian Jihad.

Those were all co-written by Anderson and Brian Herbert correct? I'll have to read one of those myself to see what I think. I've only read the original 6 Frank Herbert Dune novels.

One novel I read years ago and would recommend is "Fade-out" by Patrick Tilley.

Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

The most underrated author of all time, IMO.