Guys/gals, you know, I love you all and with respect ... just don't know how to jump in without insulting you'all ... but no other way to put it, his books are mediocre and that's being kind. Someone gave it a B, young adult fiction feel, that's because it's not good. I genuinely think if I gave it all I got, I could cook up something about this level of quality ( and I consider myself to be a poor writer with no interest in getting better at this age ). It has no detail or dimension, it's not clever or surprising or suspenseful. Are you sure you're simply not accepting the reality that there ARE great writers and then there's everybody else? Given a world population of 7 billion, that leaves an impressive amount of great writing available to us. You want to read this guy, fine, you're an adult, don't need to explain yourself to me. But his response to you is a favor ... "beat it, you're giving me too much credit, my books suck". At least he has the wherewithal/introspection to not give his fans respect given he's unworthy of it himself ( at least toward the quality of his writing ). Prince of Thorns was toilet reading at best. You guys remind me of sports fans here in the US looking for the next Michael Jordan or next Tiger Woods - there ain't no other Bakker and that's that. There's other really good stuff out there, so I heed H's wise words ( paraphrasing ), given so much A quality out there, I don't waste my life on the crap. I was keeping out of this, since it's not my business what anyone likes, but it's gone on for 3 pages now, so I'm here to tell ya, it simply does not matter, is of no consequence whatsoever if this guy loves or hates or ignores you, Madness et al ... don’t mistake creative intensity with quality, it ain’t there with this; there’s a difference between crafting a story and making shit up. I can make up all kinds of murderous shit for ya and wont' charge you a penny for it. And yes, Madness, you can create a blog for my "work" along with all of the toilet analytics.