You can interpolate "I stopped reading BAD sci-fi and fantasy when I was 15. It was the nouns." It is a problem that most sci-fi/fan authors have to get over. I remember a review of one of Sherri Tepper's True Game books where the reviewer said that he usually put a book down straightway when something called a "Gamesmaster" appeared on the second page. In that case, it would have been a mistake to put down the book, but often it's a good idea.
Think the worst of Marion Zimmer Bradley. It's not just the goofy nouns . . . it's the preachiness. Kills enjoyment stone cold dead.
Too true. I always found the adjectives more off-putting.
(But then I’m still reading it 30 years after turning 15.)
I think Kyle has a point. Somewhere along the line, publishers started pushing this fantasy sword and sorcery crap as sci-fi. It’s not. It’s fantasy crap with made-up words masquerading as nouns. I enjoy reading good sci-fi - space travel, time travel, alien creatures - things like that. When you get to flying dragons and mysterious glowing orbs, that’s fantasy. And the only sword and sorcery fantasy I ever liked were the Robert E. Howard Conan stories.
Well, I had an awful difficult time getting through “A Clockwork Orange”.