Authors you used to like - but lost their touch

[ikslo]

Ugh. Agree with that too. The last couple were just painful.

 

Erica in OR

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And here I thought it was just me!

[kewb]

Ugh. Agree with that too. The last couple were just painful.

 

Erica in OR

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So painful. I stopped reading long ago because I just couldn't take the pain.

 

I love early James Patterson. But at some point his work seemed to become his publisher saying "write a sentence in this manuscript and we will say you co wrote it and it will sell like hotcakes" I stopped reading.

[mellifera33]

J.K. Rowling

 

I think the Harry Potter story, as a series, is fantastic, but Deathly Hallows and Order of the Phoenix were too long. I might include the Half Blood Prince, but that's nearly blasphemous with the plot involving Dumbledore and Snape. Tighter focus and better editing would have improved these books and ultimately the series. I think Rowling was under immense pressure to finish.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I could barely finish Deathly Hallows, and I still haven't finished the movie. Camping just isn't that exciting to watch, even if it's wizard camping. 

[ScoutTN]

Anne McCaffrey

[Liz CA]

I read on Agatha Christe that seemed to make no sense at all. I thought I was being exceptionally dumb so I googled and it turned out no one else could work it out either. It was one of the last or maybe the last novel she wrote and maybe some dementia was setting in or something?

 

Do you remember which one it was? There are a few I have not read yet because they were either out of print or local library could not get them through Interlibrary loan.

[Erica in OR]

:iagree:  and I also think it was due to his son's influence.  A couple of years ago I read one his son had written alone (since DF had passed away) and it wasn't nearly the same caliber as dad.  I read it on vacation and left it at the place we were staying (on purpose).  I also told my mom not to buy me any more for Christmas.

 

Interesting that this thread came up now as I just sent my whole collection of his books to a local store to be sold on consignment.  I had over 40 of them.  I was quite the fan in my youth.  My mom knew it was a reliable gift each year.  :coolgleamA:

 

My whole herd of model horses is getting sold off too - a phase in my life that was fun, but I don't see going back to it.

 

Good point. I am wondering if his son was influencing the books even before he was credited as a co-author. Or was he possibly losing his edge at that point? I found some of the later books under just Dick Francis's name not as good. The ones by both of them are just "Huh?"

 

I think buying used Dick Francis books was the main reason I joined eBay way back when. :)

 

Erica in OR

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[Liz CA]

Karen Kingsbury

 

I am sorry to hear that about Dee Henderson as I've loved her stuff I've been reading lately.

 

"Full Disclosure" by Henderson had me shake my head a little. If you ever read it, let me know what you think.

[Liz CA]

At some point in reading Patricia Cornwall's books, it struck me that she became paranoid herself. I get the feeling she thinks she is writing a consistent character in Kay, but her own issues make that impossible. I think Kay became more depressed, paranoid, and emotionally isolated because the author did. I tried to google some info to see if my hunch was correct, but only found a bit. I still read the books, but partly as a glimpse into a paranoid mind, and I seriously doubt Cornwall means for that to happen. Kay is so emotionally cold too, even though Cornwall tries so hard to make her seem likable. Again, I have to wonder how much of that is Cornwall's own issues.

 

I think you nailed it. I began to wonder myself. Cornwell - many years ago - wrote Ruth Bell Graham's biography which I read first and a reference somewhere back then turned me to her other books - the Scarpetta series. I have not tried any new ones in several years.

 

Edited October 21, 2016 by Liz CA

[poppy]

I hated The Deathly Hallows when it came  out.  But just last month, I listened to it on audiobook and I've changed my mind - I think it's brilliant.  Relentless action, big emotional payoffs, and it aches because course all the characters miss cozy boarding scool life just like the readers do.   So many series peter out because they become formulaic or have to spend page after page on exposition. I admire JKR for switching things up.  

[aggieamy]

Do you remember which one it was? There are a few I have not read yet because they were either out of print or local library could not get them through Interlibrary loan.

 

I avoid any of her books after 1955ish. 

[creekland]

Good point. I am wondering if his son was influencing the books even before he was credited as a co-author. Or was he possibly losing his edge at that point? I found some of the later books under just Dick Francis's name not as good. The ones by both of them are just "Huh?"

 

I think buying used Dick Francis books was the main reason I joined eBay way back when. :)

 

Erica in OR

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If I recall correctly (it's been years and I'm only repeating what I was told), in the later years his son was doing most of the research while dad still wrote the books - hence - son not getting co-authorship.  I can't help but believe that the son gave his thoughts and opinions on what to write (or how) as well.  There is a similar style, but the depth of story and caliber of writing is just not there IMO.  The son also dwells on every nitty gritty detail about relationships too.  I find those sections to be quite boring.  I'm reading for the mystery (and horses, of course).  In the last book I read there was no way one could mentally figure out the ending either.  He brought in a whole new character who "did it" in his conclusion.  What is the point of that?  I know I read mysteries with the challenge that I can figure them out.  I'm not clairvoyant.  That was the final straw.

 

Still, in the good years it was a fun phase.  I discovered his books through a Reader's Digest condensed version my grandma brought home from the thrift store sometime back in the 70s or early 80s.  Then I caught what I could from the library.  Soon afterward folks knew it would be a terrific gift.  In the end I owned most of them.  It was a sad day for me when I heard of his death.

[Ausmumof3]

Do you remember which one it was? There are a few I have not read yet because they were either out of print or local library could not get them through Interlibrary loan.

Postern of fate - a Tommy and tuppence one. At least I'm pretty sure that was it.

[SparklyUnicorn]

This isn't recent, but I used to be a huge fan of Steven King.  I enjoyed his books up until around 1996 when he released The Green Mile series.  I really haven't liked any of his newer stuff at all.  No clue if my tastes changed or if I really just didn't like his newer stuff.

 

 

[Jaybee]

Many years ago, I read an autobiography by Agatha Christie. I loved it, and found it fascinating. But when I tried to find a copy later, I could only find a short version that was not so interesting. I just looked it up, so maybe it's been republished--only I don't know if it is An Autobiography or not. It was long like that, so maybe I will have to take my chances.

 

Another autobiography I loved was Patricia St. John's. I love her books, and this was as good or better than they were.

 

So...I don't guess this is really answering the OP, is it? lol

[Granny_Weatherwax]

@Creekland - save those model horses for future grandchildren. I kept my 3 and then DD added to the collection. We plan on giving the whole herd to DGD when she is old enough to appreciate them and not break the legs. The newer horses just aren't the same quality so those older models are going to be precious.

[Guest]

@Creekland - save those model horses for future grandchildren. I kept my 3 and then DD added to the collection. We plan on giving the whole herd to DGD when she is old enough to appreciate them and not break the legs. The newer horses just aren't the same quality so those older models are going to be precious.

I totally agree! My Mom saved mine and my oldest loved them. So much better than the newer models.

[Dmmetler]

I have several theories. The first is that sometimes even an author's earlier books just don't hold up if you read them later, so their later books are inferior to your memories of the first book. I've had that happen with Humorous fantasy, especially. the Myth series and Xanth are ones I enjoyed when I was younger, but later books fell flat, and now that DD is reading the earlier ones, I realize that it isn't that the later books are worse than the earlier ones, it's that sophomoric humor is only funny when you're a middle school age kid!

 

The second is that the author gets to the point that they can publish their grocery list and people will buy it, so their editor basically stops saying "you know, this isn't a good idea". Heinlein's later books are a prime example. From hard Sci Fi, much of which was written for teens, to stuff that is basically connecting every possible character with every other in the most intimate ways possible, with an air of "see, really evolved people don't need taboos". I actually kind of think Life of Fred has gotten to that point. Math, Ok, science, especially the more mathematical parts of it, yeah. But his Financial Choices is more "the way I think the world should be financially", and in no universe should the guy have written reading or language arts textbooks (his claim that the LA series covers more English than most people get before college is downright scary if it's at all true, because my DD had covered more by 3rd grade between FLL and MCT Island!).

 

The third is when either the existing author or the publisher wants to continue a series well past it's sell-by date, so it gets weird, creepy, starts stretching out plots over several books, adds a ton of the same books from slightly different perspectives, or just plain hires a different author to keep writing under the series, but the books no longer have the same feel. Mary Janice Davidson's Vampire queen books, Pern, Darkover, The Ender's War series, Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Game of Thrones, those ones where a different author took an Asimov short story and turned it into a novel... Tons and tons of them.

[Ravin]

My favorite somewhat prolific authors are Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, S.M. Stirling, Robert Heinlein, and Orson Scott Card, and Terry Pratchett.

 

McCaffrey's work got better with time, IMO, especially the Pern books. I don't like some of her other work outside of Pern, though. Lackey, again, I like the Valdemar books, and some of her other series, but some of her stuff just doesn't interest me. It doesn't seem to correspond to recency or older works, though. Part of it may be that she co-authors with some people I like better than others. Stirling's writing has improved over time from his earliest stuff for sure, and the way he works his Emberverse novels, it's all set in the same world and continues to be more sequels, but they're clumped in trilogies or 4-book cycles, so there have been several spots where he could have ended it and it would have been satisfactory, though I'm glad he's kept going. Heinlein's later stuff got better (though decidedly more adult audience) once he was loosed from tight editorial oversight. Card...his earlier stuff was better than later stuff. Ender's Game was a fantastic stand-alone and did not need all the prequels and sequels and sidebar novels, etc. And with some of his other work, well, once you've written an allegory of the Book of Mormon, that ship has sailed. Can't do it twice. Gets old after a while.

 

Pratchett never lost his touch. His stuff kept it up, all the way through every last Discworld novel.

[forty-two]

I avoid any of her books after 1955ish. 

I really loved Sleeping Murder (the last Miss Marple case), and it came out in 1976.

[SproutMamaK]

I heard the same thing about Robert Jordan -- people who stopped reading the series until it was complete.

In the case, it seems the fears that the author would die before the series was completed were justified. Thankfully Sanderson seems to have done a great job of finishing it up and keeping the same tone as Jordan.

[mamaraby]

Stirling's writing has improved over time from his earliest stuff for sure, and the way he works his Emberverse novels, it's all set in the same world and continues to be more sequels, but they're clumped in trilogies or 4-book cycles, so there have been several spots where he could have ended it and it would have been satisfactory, though I'm glad he's kept going.

I'll agree that his book groupings are pretty nice and does facilitate leaving the series as a reader. For me, though, book nine was the last book I was able to finish reading willingly/easily. Book 10 was a slog, and book 11, I returned to the library maybe one chapter in. I vastly prefer the first three to everything else that followed.

Edited October 21, 2016 by mamaraby

[vonfirmath]

My favorite somewhat prolific authors are Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, S.M. Stirling, Robert Heinlein, and Orson Scott Card, and Terry Pratchett.

 

McCaffrey's work got better with time, IMO, especially the Pern books. I don't like some of her other work outside of Pern, though. Lackey, again, I like the Valdemar books, and some of her other series, but some of her stuff just doesn't interest me. It doesn't seem to correspond to recency or older works, though. Part of it may be that she co-authors with some people I like better than others. Stirling's writing has improved over time from his earliest stuff for sure, and the way he works his Emberverse novels, it's all set in the same world and continues to be more sequels, but they're clumped in trilogies or 4-book cycles, so there have been several spots where he could have ended it and it would have been satisfactory, though I'm glad he's kept going. Heinlein's later stuff got better (though decidedly more adult audience) once he was loosed from tight editorial oversight. Card...his earlier stuff was better than later stuff. Ender's Game was a fantastic stand-alone and did not need all the prequels and sequels and sidebar novels, etc. And with some of his other work, well, once you've written an allegory of the Book of Mormon, that ship has sailed. Can't do it twice. Gets old after a while.

 

Pratchett never lost his touch. His stuff kept it up, all the way through every last Discworld novel.

 

I haven't much liked anything McCaffrey did paired with her son.  I would have been perfectly happy with ALl the Weyrs of Pern being the last book, I think. (And even that one "Broke" things. But it had good endings to other plot lines such that I will admit it needs to be there.)

 

I love Lackey's Last Herald Mage series, Oathbreakers and By the Sword, and the Arrow series. I slogged through the Wind series. But I couldn't get through the Mage STorms stuff and haven't really enjoyed any of the other Valdemar I've read since. Though I can reread those first books fine.

 

I really like several of Orson Scott Card's series. Not just Ender's Game, but the political books on earth after the war is over. (but Bean is a particular favorite).  when he goes off following Ender in space it is not as interesting. Though I do like the ending of that series and where it went.  I also like the Alvin Maker series/alternate US History series quite a bit.

 

[Lisa R.]

Doug Wilson. 

 

I first heard about classical education from a radio show he was on. I was in the car switching radio stations and heard him talking about classical education. This was 1996, and I'd just started home educating. Hearing about classical education for the first time helped put name and a form to the education I desired for my children. I ordered and read his book on classical education and read many of his other books. 

 

He's gone off.the.rails. Wacky. Scary. I mean, thanks, Doug for introducing me to classical education before others were talking about it. But that's it. Yikes!

 

I now feel badly I recommended any of his books. 

[creekland]

@Creekland - save those model horses for future grandchildren. I kept my 3 and then DD added to the collection. We plan on giving the whole herd to DGD when she is old enough to appreciate them and not break the legs. The newer horses just aren't the same quality so those older models are going to be precious.

 

I agree about the newer models.  They don't even feel the same.  However, none of my boys are interested in horses at all and hubby + I are still figuring out what we want to be when we grow up (approx 2 - 5 years if I make it that long).  Chances are that will entail a condo on a beach, a Class B RV, a boat, and/or a third world country.  None of those are compatible with a huge herd of Breyers (or real ponies).  I have the opportunity to sell them in a shop in a tourist town now where I can get premium prices even after the commission (beating E-bay by far).  The $$ are far more useful.  If I don't make it that long, it also saves hubby and the boys having to figure out what to do with them.  They seriously would not want any.  Hubby would end up living on a boat.  They didn't make a Sea Horse model.  That he might have kept!   :lol:  (Our older deer set happily resides with FIL.) 

[ktgrok]

Laurel K. Hamilton

Agreed. I loved the early ones but haven't even bothered to get the newest one. The books keep getting longer but with way less plot or introspection. All sex and power struggle.

[ktgrok]

As an author I can say that the pressure to write more aND faster can effect quality.

[Bluegoat]

I agree that it's hard to say exactly... but most of the authors and series being named at the start of the thread were all ones I'd consider genre fiction as opposed to literary fiction. I used to read piles and piles of fantasy novels and occasionally I'd dip into mysteries or romances... and with the series that went on and on, it always felt like the authors just stopped being edited really after the fourth or fifth book beyond having their typos checked. And yet they weren't writing anything else. Or, if they were, it was another series that had a similar issue (but often started weaker). Obviously, sometimes more literary series also go on too long and decline in quality, but it does seem like the business model of genre publishing imprints is to push authors to stick with a hit and quality doesn't especially matter after the initial success/acceptance. It's like watching the final seasons of Lost or something with these series. I wonder sometimes what they would be like if the industry was different and encouraged shorter run series and nurtured talent.

 

I agree that Ursula LeGuin would be a great example of an exception.

 

But even genre authors that achieve some amazing success don't seem totally immune. Like, I agree with the George RR Martin suggestion above. And I'd chip in (don't hate, haters) Diana Gabaldon as another.

 

Yeah, this is why I don't read nearly as much sci-fi and fantasy as I used to, I have a harder time finding things that I consider to be really good - I read enough of the best stuff when I was younger that I don't have a lot to choose from now.  So I only tend to go there when I get a reccomendation from someone I trust.  I'm reading mysteries more these days though they have the same problem in the end.  Literary fiction tends to have fewer series, so perhaps that is why you don't see such obvious formulas?  But I find as a genre it can be surprisingly formulaic.

 

I don't think Martin got worse myself, although I do think the way he divided up books 4 and 5 by location rather than chronology was an error, and perhaps an editor with more power might have been able to avoid that.  But mostly, I think the story just became more complicated than it had been in the first two books.  I did, however, have to read the other novels a second time to come to that conclusion. I think if someone read just the first two, it might seem more like a Asimov type of story, but past that it reminds me more of the Dune series in terms of scope.

[Bluegoat]

J.K. Rowling

 

I think the Harry Potter story, as a series, is fantastic, but Deathly Hallows and Order of the Phoenix were too long. I might include the Half Blood Prince, but that's nearly blasphemous with the plot involving Dumbledore and Snape. Tighter focus and better editing would have improved these books and ultimately the series. I think Rowling was under immense pressure to finish.

 

I tend to think of the HP novels as a good example of this problem.  THe first was charming, but after that I found them very repetitive - I felt like in every novel I was saying "yes, really, you should go tell some adult about this..."    Then a lot of the charm wasn't all that deep, it was little plays on technology/magic and such, so it didn't maintain much interest for me over that many books.  And as you say, the editors seemed to pretty much let her do what she wanted and so the books were a little bloated.

[poppy]

Yeah, this is why I don't read nearly as much sci-fi and fantasy as I used to, I have a harder time finding things that I consider to be really good - I read enough of the best stuff when I was younger that I don't have a lot to choose from now.  So I only tend to go there when I get a reccomendation from someone I trust.  I'm reading mysteries more these days though they have the same problem in the end.  Literary fiction tends to have fewer series, so perhaps that is why you don't see such obvious formulas?  But I find as a genre it can be surprisingly formulaic.

 

I don't think Martin got worse myself, although I do think the way he divided up books 4 and 5 by location rather than chronology was an error, and perhaps an editor with more power might have been able to avoid that.  But mostly, I think the story just became more complicated than it had been in the first two books.  I did, however, have to read the other novels a second time to come to that conclusion. I think if someone read just the first two, it might seem more like a Asimov type of story, but past that it reminds me more of the Dune series in terms of scope.

 

Have you tried Robin Hobb? I've only read 3 of hers so far (starting with Assassin's Apprentice) but she seems really, really good.

[Bluegoat]

Have you tried Robin Hobb? I've only read 3 of hers so far (starting with Assassin's Apprentice) but she seems really, really good.

 

No, but I will have a look for her at the library.  Thanks!

[Wheres Toto]

I heard the same thing about Robert Jordan -- people who stopped reading the series until it was complete.

 

Yeah, I read all except the last one, found out he died and now I need to reread ALL of them in order to read the last one.

 

 

 

But even genre authors that achieve some amazing success don't seem totally immune. Like, I agree with the George RR Martin suggestion above. And I'd chip in (don't hate, haters) Diana Gabaldon as another.

 

I agree with these two.  I stopped reading Game of Thrones when I found out how long it was between books but I also was finding it a bit of a slog.  I stopped Diana Gabaldon after book 4 or 5 I think.

 

I liked Sword of Truth series right until the end, Mercedes Lackey - I love some series and can continue reading, others I just couldn't get into at all.

 

F. Paul Wilson Repairman Jack series was good right up until the end IMO.

 

Sherilyn Kenyon (Dark Hunters) - I don't know what happened but the last couple have a completely different voice and it seems like someone different wrote them.  And I don't like the new voice nearly as much.

 

JD Robb has been okay through the whole series but I can only read 4 or 5 in a row before needing to read something different.

[Amber in SJ]

Anne McCaffery.  As a young adult I loved her YA dragon series.  As an adult I loved them all; the dragons of Pern series, Pegasus series, the Ship Who...series, etc.  I read them all.  Over & over & over.  The most recent stuff?  Particularly the books written with her son & the books written by her son alone after her passing are terrible.  Terrible.  If someone besides the son had written them they would have never been published, they are just awful and an insult to the world building of the original books.

 

Amber in SJ

[Liz CA]

Postern of fate - a Tommy and tuppence one. At least I'm pretty sure that was it.

 

I have to admit that the Tommy and Tuppence ones were never among my favorites. I did like Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.

 

The author Ngaio Marsh wrote books very similar to Agatha Christie. I have only read a handful of hers but so far liked them.

 

[Farrar]

I tend to think of the HP novels as a good example of this problem.  THe first was charming, but after that I found them very repetitive - I felt like in every novel I was saying "yes, really, you should go tell some adult about this..."    Then a lot of the charm wasn't all that deep, it was little plays on technology/magic and such, so it didn't maintain much interest for me over that many books.  And as you say, the editors seemed to pretty much let her do what she wanted and so the books were a little bloated.

 

I disagree about Rowling. I don't think they declined in quality really... she could have used more tight editing, especially in the middle, but it wasn't terrible and I see all the ways in which the way she wrote those books appealed to children and worked for young readers - and even - and this is pretty universally acknowledged - changed the way people write for children completely, which is a bit mind-bogglingly influential. I mean, I don't think they're the best quality writing for the most part. There are children's fantasy series that are better written, most definitely. But also, they're children's books and while I think children's literature deserves scrutiny, I think some adult readers when a series crosses over like that evaluate them with a different eye and that's a bit unfair. And they had a complete arc. And they stopped at the end of that arc (I mean, if you discount the fact that she moved on to other media writing for them eventually).

[Little Nyssa]

Many years ago, I read an autobiography by Agatha Christie. I loved it, and found it fascinating. But when I tried to find a copy later, I could only find a short version that was not so interesting. I just looked it up, so maybe it's been republished--only I don't know if it is An Autobiography or not. It was long like that, so maybe I will have to take my chances.

 

Another autobiography I loved was Patricia St. John's. I love her books, and this was as good or better than they were.

 

So...I don't guess this is really answering the OP, is it? lol

I've read that autobiography and thought it very good. Hope you find it.

 

Daphne Du Maurier-- Rebecca is wonderful, but i've never been able to get into anything else of hers.

Alexander McCall Smith-- I love his Botswana series and his Scotland series (plural)- at first I would run out to buy them right away... then I waited for the paperback... then I got them used... now I get them from the library. Still good, just somehow much lighter and not so compelling.

Ursula Le Guin stayed strong- when I saw The Telling, I disliked it so much that I was worried, but subsequently I still enjoyed her stuff...

[Lady Marmalade]

Yeah, I read all except the last one, found out he died and now I need to reread ALL of them in order to read the last one.

 

 

 

 

Honestly, it was totally worth re-reading the whole series to read that last one again.  Brandon Sanderson did a bang-up job with the ending.

[Lady Florida.]

I agree with a lot of the authors/series already mentioned. 

 

James Patterson - when he was still writing his own books

 

Stephanie Plum series - I truly laughed out loud when reading the first few. By around six or seven I was getting tired of her and thought she needed to grow up. The last one I read was #10 and I really didn't even like it.

 

Also -

Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series turned too dark for my liking

Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series - a book for every letter of the alphabet and even Grafton admitted she was tired as she reached the end

Tom Clancy until he got too technical in his exposition

 

I also think my reading tastes changed over the years. I used to like Stephen King but now I don't care for the genre at all so I don't know if I can say it's his writing I don't like. I just don't like to read horror anymore.

[bookbard]

I loved Robin McKinley's Sunshine and Pegasus, but Chalice was paper-thin and Shadows felt like Sunshine-remake. She has had a very hard and sad couple of years so I don't know if we will be getting any more from her. 

 

Diana Wynne Jones' later stuff was still interesting but not as good, same with Margaret Mahy. I agree that it would be related to pressure to write, especially in old age. 

 

Conversely, I find Tamora Pierce's early stuff unreadable, but I like her later books, the Trickster series and the Beka series. 

 

I also agree that some of the HP books could have done with some editing. Not 'lost the plot' level, but definitely some editing. 

[DaisyDay]

Sidney Sheldon

 

John Grisham

[Selkie]

Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine.  She was always my favorite mystery/suspense writer, but her last few books before she died seemed like they were just slapped together.

 

Also agree with previous posters that the first several Stephanie Plum books were fantastic but the series began a downward slide around book 6.

[Sammish]

Charlaine Harris!

 

This was the first author that jumped to my mind, too. I loved the early Sookie books, but later books just went downhill. I never read the last two in the series. I disliked the last one I read, and then read reviews for the next one, and people were complaining about exactly the things I hated in the previous one, so... 

 

When I mentioned this thread to DH, the first author he thought of was Laurel K Hamilton (as a pp said). I stopped reading after the Edward book (where she goes to visit him), and I am forever grateful that I did. (I feel it's kind of like how we stopped watching Heroes after season 1. :))

 

I think some genre authors do get better. I think each new Kate Daniels book (by Ilona Andrews) gets better, and I just finished book 9). (Although I don't love anything else Andrews has written, even in the same world. There's a book written in the world from the POV of another character, and I HATED it. Their other series are okay, but not wonderful.)

 

Patricia Bridges is writing two series in the same world, and both continue to be excellent.