Raymond Feist, David Eddings, or Robert?

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Well, sticking to the topic at hand I'd say that Feist is a better writer. Jordan's WoT series and Eddings' Belgariad started out very well, but they started to lag after a while. At the end of the Belgariad, you could pretty much tell what was going to happen, and I was getting pretty sick of the tired comments between the characters. The Malorean was the same series, only slightly re-written, and it seemed pretty ridiculous to have all of these super-powerful people sneaking about the world.

The WoT started out so good! I was really excited when it first came out - over a decade ago. The story lines from the first few books have almost completely disappeared, and all of the last several books haven't advanced the main plot one bit. It almost seems like he's been asked to drag it out so that the publisher can keep selling books. I was given the latest book for a gift in the summer - it's still sitting unread on my bookshelf. I've got better things to read.

Of the three, only Feist has been able to write a complete series that doesn't bore me at the end. The Riftwar saga was thrilling, exciting and surprising right through to the end. One of the signs of a good writer is being able to stay focused throughout, and to keep their audience interested at the same time. Feist acheived it, Eddings barely acheived it, and Jordan has completely lost it at this point. Admitedly, the SerpentWar saga wasn't that great, but his books in between the two series were still pretty good.

After all that, there are several fantasy authors I'd put above any of the above three who might not be as well known by some. In no particular order: Marion-Zimmer Bradley (for her Darkover novels, as well as 'The Mists of Avalon'), C.S. Lewis (Narnia), T.H. White ('The Once and Future King', among others), George R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire), Julian May (The Saga of Pliocene Excile, and pretty much everything else she's written), and the highly underrated writings of Terry Pratchet. If you're in to fantasy, I strongly recommend reading the works of these authors. And if you're in for an extremely good SF read, try 'Doomsday Book' and 'To Say Nothing of the Dog' by Connie Willis.

Oh! And the Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwall (generally not considered fantasy though).

[This message has been edited by Gnolyn Lochbreaker (edited February 01, 2002).]

 

well after hearing all of your points of view i have to dimiss most of them and say that Fiest is still the better writer. His books have vivid descriptions in them, realistic characters and some random events every so often to keep you going.

 

I'd have to say that while the Belgariad is good, Eddings has never written anything else as good as that, so he's out of the picture, and Jordan has completely lost his grip on his series, so that leaves Feist. His world is the most interesting, and he doesn't repeat himself as much as other writers do.