Just began my WoT re-read, I sense a lot of braid pulling in my future!
Just began my WoT re-read, I sense a lot of braid pulling in my future!
I agree. I just finished this. I was thrown initially by spending so much time with the tribe girl (forget her name) rather than Gair. I didn't quite understand the need to re-hash the previous book, this time from Savin's POV. Are we just meant to fear him more now? Couldn't she have woven that in to the first book and saved us 30% of the second ...? I'm not sure what Tanith (sp?) is either. What's the point of having her walk through that wood? Padding a story out with antics while getting from A to B is a bit 80's. The first book was a cracker. Of course, that makes book two tough but I was a bit disappointed nonetheless.Originally Posted by Loerwyn
It's amazing that I've had that book sitting around for years, seen plenty of comments about the series in general and the entire time my eyes have slipped right over it and told my mind 'Recluse,' until you pointed that out. Very bizarre.
I'm still reading Malice by John Gywnne, sneaking the odd look at Frontier Fortress by Myke Cole and this weekend I dived back 30+ years to revisit a Moorcock classic, The Bull and the Spear. It had aged less well than I hoped but better than I feared: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/149073954
Hey Mark, How is Malice holding up? I been hoping thats a good one.
Wrong Mark, Kazz, but I have a copy of that as well, so I can throw my opinion in.Hey Mark, How is Malice holding up? I been hoping thats a good one.
So far, so good. Quite traditional Fantasy but I like what I've read so far.
In fact, like Miles Cameron's Red Knight (also on the go), they're two of the strongest debuts I've read for a while.
Old school Fantasy, very well done.
(Hope that helps!)
Mark
It's alright. It took me ages to get it right.
I've been slow to get into it. I find very little time to read in any event and it's a big fat book. Quite traditional fantasy with a YA flavor perhaps.
I'll say it's what I imagine might result if Michael Sullivan had written A Game of Thrones! And Sullivan has a big following, and Game of Thrones is 'quite' popular, so I'm hoping John has a hit on his hands.
I finished Red Knight by Miles Cameron and while I loved it quite a lot and will be in my top 25 of the year, I think that Anthony Ryan's Blood Song (which is still the number one debut of the year and also the best fantasy debut since Name of the Wind) is a stronger debut, while David Hair's Mage's Blood is another one which I may rate slightly higher, though i may rate this one higher...
I opened a new thread with detailed thoughts, while a full review will be posted on FBC by Nov 1.
Thanks Mark, Sounds good, old school done righteous. That and Red Knight sound good. And I have to get Blood Song, that one seems to be well loved already.
That sounds like a good combo to me! I've only read Sullivan's first so thanks, Mark,I like that endorsement there. lol
Don't get many opportunities to post now [though I check regularly]. This month I read....
K. J. Parker, Sharps: This was the first Parker I'd read, and on its strength ... well, I'd definitely say I'd try more, though I'm not exactly a convert. It was funny in a bleak way, and like a lot of good bleak humour it often slipped round me with a moment of profound horror or sadness using the same dry, laconic style with which it delivered its dry, laconic funnies. It was also interesting to see ... how to put this? some of the set-dressings of epic fantasy used to tell a story that was in most [most] ways so aggressively non-fantastical. And I liked the way it highlighted the dangers of political power games played by those far-removed from the places where these games will be played out, both in the relentless emphasis the plot puts on mistakes and, and this is more of a tonal thing, in the way it would hold back, building and building as a novel of pointed manners and then exploding in these horrific, unthinkable outbursts that these manners have brought about.
But Parker is, almost by necessity, maybe, kind of cold. No, not cold, but maybe "removed". And that's a great style, but it's not one that works for me particularly well. It worked for me here a lot better than I was expecting, and I got very involved with the characters throughout. It's just not a story I find it easy to get really worked up about. I admire it, a lot; I think people should read it. But it's not the sort of story you hold too close; that's just not how it works, I don't think.
Seanan McGuire, Ashes of Honor: Some of the writing is still repetitive, reminding the reader of what's going on too often. Some of the banter still outstays its welcome [though it crackles when it's on.] The villains still get all mustache-twirly whenever they get the chance. But this installment of the ongoing October Daye series helped me to realize that I don't care. I just really like these. I like the heroine, and I like the supporting cast. One plot element is getting rather old, having been central to three books now [it's a particular villainous ploy of which McGuire is fond], but this particular plot trick plays very directly into the heroic and familial ideals which stand at the heart of the series for me. The books come from such a place of warmth, even though they're perfectly willing to admit of nastyness. Reading them is very emotionally rewarding, like a guaranteed warm-fuzzy.
Also finished Ian Tregillis' The Coldest War and Daniel Abraham's The King's Blood, and in case I don't end up saying anything else about them they were great. Both series seem to me to still be underread.
Thanks very much to Suciul and the Marks Lawrence and Hobbit for their thoughts on Malice and The Red Knight. Very interested in both of these.
I finished what turned out to be a top five vampire novel for me during the power outage (thankfully I had a book light!) - Fevre Dream by GRRM. Great characters, mood and everything. Loved it.
Yesterday I started Red Country by Joe Abercrombie. Some of you 'round here may have heard of him.
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