[Mock]

Anyone read this? Any good? It looks really interesting, like Princess Bride meets Martin (Very) Lite, and the cover art is simply awesome, but I'm undecided and there don't seem to be any reputable non-Amazon reviews out on the Internet (maybe I've missed one/some).

[Seak]

Wasn't this made into a movie?

[Cranky Hamster]

No. Although I always get confused and think about the movie when the novel comes up, and then have to stop and remind myself that they are two totally different things. Every time. Without fail. And I haven't seen the movie or read the book.

The movie is about a couple of American college girls who get busted for smuggling heroin in Thailand and have to deal with the legal system there.

The novel is a standalone story set in the Vlad Taltos world. I don't really know what it's about besides four dysfunctional royal brothers.

Anyway, there's no connection between them, except (sigh) in my head.

[Seak]

That's good to know, I won't make that mistake again. Or, will I make it much more?

[KatG]

It's not as good as the Vlad Taltos books, in my opinion, though set in the same universe. I would suggest starting with Jhereg first, rather than Brokedown Palace for Brust. Brokedown is more fabulistic and gets a big bogged down in world building, which isn't Brust's usual style.

That being said, it's still an interesting, standalone epic fairy tale with a brooding and melancholy streak spiked by Brust's usual bits of humor. It's just not my favorite of his.

[Mock]

It's not as good as the Vlad Taltos books, in my opinion, though set in the same universe. I would suggest starting with Jhereg first, rather than Brokedown Palace for Brust. Brokedown is more fabulistic and gets a big bogged down in world building, which isn't Brust's usual style.

That being said, it's still an interesting, standalone epic fairy tale with a brooding and melancholy streak spiked by Brust's usual bits of humor. It's just not my favorite of his.

Thank you, will do :)

Fabulistic, eh?

[KatG]

He's sort of going for a Hungarian-like fairy tale, but with his own style. :)

The new cover art for it -- or maybe it's just new to me -- is, I agree, absolutely gorgeous.

[yonkge]

I remember this book very fondly, but it had a very different feel from the Taltos books. Maybe more whimsical or lyrical. I had to register just to mention that I really liked it.

[Mock]

I remember this book very fondly, but it had a very different feel from the Taltos books. Maybe more whimsical or lyrical. I had to register just to mention that I really liked it.

I tried to get into the Taltos books but couldn't because I felt the prose was too modern—pretty gangsta by fantasy standards. I skimmed a few pages of Brokedown Palace and found it much more to my liking. Lyrical, indeed. But I'll give Taltos another shot; I did read that there are some interesting allusions to it in Palace, so it's too much to pass up.

In the meantime, Palace is on my Christmas list :cool:

I have taken a liking to Eastern European settings recently. They seem so much more gritty than, say, Westeros, but retain a lot of beauty. Sapkowski and now Brust ...

[KatG]

Wait, Brust is modern but Georgie isn't? Brust used a thriller style, noir division, with a New Weird-ish secondary world. What's wrong with that? Is there a reason why all fantasy has to sound like a Keats' poem? (Is there anything wrong with fantasy sounding like a Keats' poem?) Come on, Mage, join my revolution where we are not hidebound to one style of prose.

That being said, Brokedown is more lyrical. Fabulistic, as I mentioned. And that's a style I often love. But it didn't quite work for me on this one, just to be honest. The Phoenix Guards, which is related to both Brokedown and the Taltos series, is sort of in the middle of the two and I liked much better. This is not so much a commentary of mine on Brust's writing, but that the characters in Brokedown didn't work for me. (And if the characters don't work for me, the reading tends not to be my favorite even if I admire the prose.)

It's been quite a long time since I read it, though. You never know, I might change my mind. We've got it somewhere. But first, I might try to catch up on the Taltos series, since he sort of stopped for awhile and now we're behind.