[Andrew J]

Has anyone read the above two books? I saw them in a used bookstore and they sounded pretty interesting, and The False House had an eye-catching cover, so I was curious what people thought about them.

[Alle]

I read both books and the first, although not great, was at least a bit different. The character development wasn't very great, but it was an interesting read. The second book was not as good as the first by a long shot, imo.

Still, if the price is good, why not give them a try? :)

[Lowlander]

These books were a great disappointment to me. They looked great : great cover art, the kind of Victorian background I really enjoy, a hommage to the old fantasy masters like William Morris, Cabell, Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson etc..

Good news is Stoddard can write. The prose is beatiful but the novels are poorly plotted and there is not one character in the book I could like or dislike. So in the end the story left me indifferent, which is probably the worst thing that can happen when reading a novel.

Of course these books received a lot of critical acclaim and when you search the internet you'll find many readers who really seemed to enjoy the story. So if you can buy them cheap why not give them a try. Although my advice would be to try something by the above mentioned "old masters".

[Sell Sword]

I read The High House last summer and gobbled it up in about 3 days. It was really unique and quirky but I never did get around to reading The False House.

[Rob B]

I read both books a few years ago. I really, REALLY enjoyed The High House, both an homage to classic fantasy (Dunsany, Peake, etc) and a refereshing story in its own.

The follow-up was very good, but not nearly as good as the first.

I would love to see something new from Stoddard. One of the many mis-steps published by Time Warner's Aspect imprint, not keeping his books in print.

[Andrew J]

Ok, thanks for the thoughts so far, guys, though I'd like to hear even more from those who have read it but haven't commented yet.

Well, I actually bought the two books about month ago for $4 combined, and the real reason I put this up was not so much if I should buy them but if it should be high on my priority list (no kidding here, but I actually have about forty plus fantasy books to read). So while I probably won't read it right away, I'll definitely get to them if I have a chance in the next month (right now I'm reading Illium/Olympos by Dan Simmons and I picked up Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel today for $8, so I might read that next.)

[Julian]

Ok, thanks for the thoughts so far, guys, though I'd like to hear even more from those who have read it but haven't commented yet.


Well, my comments would be a bit of repetition, since between them Sell Sword and Fitz already seem to have made them!

I'd say you're bound to like at least the first book (haven't read the sequel yet) if you happen to like the older writers like Dunsany. If you aren't familiar with those writers, though, you might be a little bemused at the somewhat stilted prose and ostensibly stiff plotting.