Maybe it’s trendy to hate on Koontz but I enjoyed his books when I was a bit younger. The Face, Watchers, TickTock and a couple others but I also liked Clive Cussler at the time so there is that. I think I found it easy to pick up and read as opposed to an investment like King.
A quick google says that Koontz has sold 450 million books and is worth over 200 million. I’m sure he is okay with not being some people’s favourite.
I enjoyed the hell of his books at one point, read a bunch of them over the course of a year or two. In hindsight he’s very formulaic and everything is pretty predictable, but they’re a fun read for what they are.
Brandon Sanderson and Tim Patrick Rothfuss started signing each other’s books for awhile too. I read that Sanderson signs his and Rothfuss books at the airport bookstore when he’s traveling. I managed to find a few signed Sanderson books at the airport bookstore in SLC when I flew through there for a connecting flight once. I still have them on my bookshelf. No cross-signings though.
Yes, I had to think about it for a minute before I even came up with “Tim Rothfuss”. He used to be a household name, and then he just stopped writing. Idk what his deal is, but he did say once that he’s envious of Sanderson’s writing speed. I guess it takes him a long time to write a book, and it seems like he either got burned out, or ran out of ideas. I felt like he took some ideas from Jordan in the 2nd Kingkiller book. I met him once, walking around on the floor at Emerald City Comic Con. He seems like a cool guy. He spent like an hour talking to my sister at his booth after I ran into him. It’s a shame that I think you’re right. It doesn’t look like he’ll ever finish that trilogy.
Whoops! I just deleted my original reply because I thought I was replying to another conversation I’m having about Jordan and Terry Goodkind.
The author I’m referring to is Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series. The warrior culture that Kvoth goes to live & train with in the 2nd book seem to be almost a direct copy of Robert Jordan’s Aeil from the Wheel of Time series. That said, Jordan inspired a lot of writers, including Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson was able to finish Jordan’s epic 14 book story, when Jordan’s health started failing and he reached out to Sanderson to take over the project. Sanderson wrote (I think) the last 2.5 books in the series.
Dean Koontz is kind of like the RC Cola of horror/suspense novelists:
See RC Cola in the store
“Hmmmm, it’s been a while, but I THINK I liked RC the last time I got it”
Purchase and consume RC Cola
“I kind of wish this was a Coke, but it’s not that bad, might as well finish”
Several years pass, go back to step 1
As a side note, I LOVED Dean Koontz books back in the 80’s/90’s. They were fun and quick reads that are in the “high floor, low ceiling” realm of books.
I tried, yo. I really tried to like it. When I first moved to Michigan everyone was trying to give it to me all the time saying it’s the best, but I just can’t. Now, their Cherry Soda? Yum.
Don’t need to go to the Carolinas for Cheerwine. I live in Indiana and got it in my grocery order a few weeks ago. I had never had it before. It was listed as “Cherry Soda”. Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be cherry cola. Gross.
I’ve never had Jones, but “straight cherry flavor” sounds like exactly what I was looking for. I’ve never been a fan of cola.
On that note, while I agree with Dr Pepper being better than all the others listed, it doesn’t even belong on the list as it doesn’t have the slightest hint of cola flavor.
Think of it on a scale of 1-10. High floor means it’s not a stinker, so worst ranking would be in the 4/10 - 5.5/10 range. Low ceiling means it’s not going to be an all-timer, so the best ranking would be in the 6/10 - 7.5/10 range. Basically you’ll never HATE it, but you’re also never going to LOVE it.
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