I am an avid reader. As a child, I read many books, and almost all the classic Science Fiction that I could get my hands on. These years, I still read a lot, but most of it is Technical manuals. I read for enjoyment about 2-3 books a year, usually on the long flights to California I take a couple of times a year.
My Latest endeavor is to read Brian Herbert, Frank's son. For the uninitiated, Frank Herbert wrote the masterful Dune Series. One of my all time favorite (my all time favorite is the foundation series by Isaac Asimov).
Well, I decided to give Brian a try. Usually I retire a series upon the death of the original author as I know that any subsequent material cannot live up to the original. But hey, everyone deserves a chance.
The book is not bad, but maybe it is just me, or maybe he is not that good of an author, but I have found myself guessing ahead of time the plot line. I call it telegraphing. It is kind of disappointing that before you read a chapter, you already know the ending.
I heard once that there are only 7 different plots in fiction, and that every book is just a variation on one of them. I dont know if this is true, but I have found that most of the books I read now, I know the plot before the author unfolds it.
Does anyone else have this problem? It really kind of makes the book suck. I will finish this book, but I may have difficulty reading another by this author. ANd he is not the only one.
Am I too old to enjoy good literature? Or has all the good SciFi literature already been written?