Re: What Are the Great SF Novels of the 1990s?

Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:


The example I cited earlier was The Mists of Avalon, which was a
hardcover success for ten years before it went to _trade_ paperback,
and which still doesn't have a mass-market edition in the U.S.

Bradley wrote adequately; I wouldn't call her a great stylist, but she
could, in Mike Resnick's phrasing, push a noun up against a verb.

I find there are three major points that contribute to the "readibility" of a story: the story (or plot, if you will), the characters, and the writing. If any one of the three is exceptional, it makes it fairly easy to ignore the other two - although good writing seldom stands on its own. If the writing is bad but I like the characters, or the story intrigues me, I'll continue reading to find out what happens, if nothing else. This was the case for me when reading Brian Daley's Gammalaw (no offense Brian, if you're reading this :) ) - I found it difficult to read, but I wanted to know what happened to the characters, who interested me.

If two of the elements click, then you have an exceptional book. When all three come together - well, all bets are off :)

Just my opinion, FWIW...

--
"The most convoluted explanation that fits all the available and made-up facts is the most likely to be believed by conspiracy theorists"
.

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