Reading in November 2008

[Julian]

I like Russell's writing very much, I think he's doing some naval novels under the name S. Thomas Russell, but nothing in Fantasy since The Shadow Road in 2004.

...which I quite liked. I must admit to not having read anything of Russell's prior to The Swan's War Trilogy, but I found that series interesting and fun. I have some earlier stuff of his on the shelf, but haven't got round to it yet.

Currently reading The Steel Remains, after having just finished The Painted Man, which read like a juvenile-not-meant-for-juveniles. Not necessarily a criticism: I rather liked the sparse, simple prose (& thought). Morgan is much more convoluted.

Well, I'm at page 60 or so, so should see where the rest goes. I'm already a little tired of the swearing and the tough talk, though... And if I read about one more decadent emperor wallowing in silks and woman flesh, I'll just take a vacation to Lourdres or some other nice, holy place.

No, wait - damn. Bakker destroyed that idea.

 

[WyrvenGuard]

I started reading the new Genesis of Shannara books by Terry Brooks. I have to say... as much as I loved some of his earlier Shannara books... the environment in which the story takes place deviates so much so that I find myself skipping pages trying to get to more Terry Brooks-esque worlds and places...

Overall, it's a servicable prequal to the Shannara books, but I'm unimpressed as of yet. I read the 2nd book (before the first by accident) and I have to say that the story seems kind of short and uninvolved.

 

[BrightStar]

(I've been quiet for a while. I've been traveling for work extensively so I didn't have time to browse through this forum. But it looks like I'm getting back some time to "live" again )

Me too. I don't seem to have been reading all that much lately, which has kept me away from these forums for the past month or so. Been trying to make the effort to read more, but I'm still not reading my usual weekly amount).

And yes, I was talking about the Descent. I've always liked reading about numerous personal stories converging in a book and it doesn't have to be done quickly to satisfy me. So I'm not complaining about that however the author surprised me so far with some of the characters. Their roles didn't turn out to be (so far) what I had thought when they were first introduced. But as I said, I've kinda enjoyed being surprised about the development of the plot and the characters. And as you put it, there are definitely some social aspects that are interesting in such an environment. Being an atheist myself, I'm amazed to see how religion has had its ways for being around us. "Search for the real Satan", if I remember correctly, is a prime example of an opportunism. .

Descent strikes me (so far) as being very fantasy-ish. So far, I get the feeling that the planet could be anywhere (not just Earth) and the premise would still work pretty well. So, that makes it a more appealing book to me, in a way, since I'm not always very fond of books set in "the real world".

I've not gotten much farther than the first chapter of part two currently, but I'm still enjoying it a great deal. I've had a bad run of reading below average to poor books lately, so it's nice to finally find something that's actually a pleasure to read.

 

[Dark Wolf]

I finished "Bloodheir" by Brian Ruckley. I liked this novel even more than "Winterbirth" and I can't wait to see the outcome of this series. It has a slow start and a rahter slow pace for half of it, but I don't complain, because I believe it compensates in other aspects. And the story is building steadily toward its boiling point and it made me await eagerly the third novel.

 

[BrightStar]

I finished "Bloodheir" by Brian Ruckley. I liked this novel even more than "Winterbirth" and I can't wait to see the outcome of this series.

Reminds me that I need to return to Winterbirth sooner or later. I made a start at it a few months back, but felt that the story's setting and writing didn't suit my mood at the time, so set it down for other reads.

 

[Dark Wolf]

I had a slow start with "Winterbirth", because of the names and the setting, but my patience was rewarded later. And now with "Bloodheir"

 

[Justin2209]

Just finished Brent Weeks first two books in the Night Angel Trilogy. I'm almost done with Stephen Lawhead's Hood which I'm probably enjoying more because I'm eager to see how he adapts the Robin Hood story. Still a decent read so far though. I'll have to order Scarlet when my paypal money finally shows up.

 

[suciul]

I finished Dragonfly Falling by A. Tchaikovsky the 2nd book in his wonderful Shadows of the Apt series. The book is due in Feb 09 and for those who enjoyed the first one, I have to say that this one is even better.

The writing is smoother, there is even more sense of wonder and there is a lot of action both in the big picture level - quite a few theaters of the war with which Empire ends are described in detail with all kinds of battles, sieges, reversal of fortunes... - and in the individual characters whose paths take unexpected twists and turns, as well as having several new major characters introduced including the Wasp Emperor, a Mosquito sorcerer, a Dragonfly lady warrior bent on revenge, a seemingly decadent Spider aristoi, a ruthless mechanical genius who may be just a bit mad and a bunch of other characters that leave quite an impression.

And Stenwold gets to have a girlfriend and to be War Master though none happen quite as you would expect .

This one is truly epic in scale and I am really looking forward to book 3

 

[afterroots]

Finished Memories of Ice last night. My favourite so far and I've loved both the other two. Wasn't as 'sad' as Deadhouse Gates imo which I've heard alot of people claim. Am very eager to hop into House of Chains but i hope i won't have to wait until Toll The Hounds to see more of Quick Ben & Paran.

 

[eldric]

Finished two books of The Sea-Beggars by Paul Kearney. I had to struggle a bit to settle into nautical term as most of the books cover oceanic adventure. Although I got a little bit annoyed about the whole drinking blood to prolong lifespan, I mean that's just too easy but I enjoyed the rest of story.

 

[kcf]

I finally finished a got a revew written for Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. It's both a very good book and one that didn't appeal to me much at all - a tough review to write.

Now I'm reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, which is turning out to be just the sort of read I'm in the mood for. Next up will be The Judging Eye by Bakker which just got here today.

 

[Mithfânion]

Suciul, what is the size of that second book? The amazon listing has it half the size of book 1 which strikes me as a bit strange.

It continues to sound very intriguing. Does he ramp up the steampunkish elements as well? Mechanical genius sounds like it might.

 

[Miriamele]

They're not talked about here often, but the four books in this sequence are some of my favorites. I'll look forward to hearing what you think of them, Miri. Be sure to have Sea Without a Shore on hand for when you finish. There's not much closure to WWE, as I recall it.

Nice to have you back around the site again. I miss the old faces sometimes...not that there's anything wrong with the new faces.

Hi, Erf! It's nice to see your, erm, slightly creepy lemur face again too.

I do indeed have Sea Without a Shore on my shelf awaiting to be read, but what's this about four books in this sequence? How did I miss this information...I thought there were only two? (Crap, looks like somebody's putting through another order to Amazon...)

I read the prequels first (didn't know they were prequels or that there were "sequels" at the time). It was interesting reading the books that were set later but written earlier after knowing what came before in the chronology. So I didn't have a sense of spoilerishness going into the prequels and it made the sequels a little richer. Though having not read the sequels there were things in the prequels that didn't make as much sense as they should have as I didn't have the proper literary future resonance set up.

I'm tempted to scratch all that because it reads in a much more confusing way than I had intended, but I'll let it stand as a bizarre internet thing.

LOL! Halfway through that first paragraph I got totally lost...I'm sure it would make sense if I read it a few more times though.

Still a great series and I wish Mr. Russell would write more after the disastrous later "classic epic" trilogy that most likely finished his career or at least slowed it considerably. Though even that was not as bad as many people said, but it was a big, big drop-off from his quirky earlier fantasies

I truly enjoyed the Swan's War trilogy. I thought it was a perfect mix of "classic epic" and originality, and the writing was beautiful too.

As for World Without End, I am I think about 120 pages in and I'm really enjoying it. It is indeed quirky and unique, and as I am an amateur herbalist myself I am finding all this talk about plants most interesting.

 

[suciul]

Suciul, what is the size of that second book? The amazon listing has it half the size of book 1 which strikes me as a bit strange.

It continues to sound very intriguing. Does he ramp up the steampunkish elements as well? Mechanical genius sounds like it might.

The size is 672 pages. I am rereading it now and I appreciate it even more - on the first read I turned page after page very fast to see what happens, but now I am sort of savoring it.

There is a lot of new stuff - if you read book 1, you will have seen some inventions that were more like blueprints there - for example Totho had one that Stenwold appreciated but evaluated as impractical.

As we know from our history, war concentrates minds and accelerates things so I would answer yes to the second question

Also there are lots of *big questions* which are quite relevant today that are discussed there. What is a *just* war? What is the duty of people who believe in freedom and equal opportunity - do they actively oppose evil or just avoid it? What is the responsibility of scientists/engineers when designing terrible weapons?

And of course you have the magic/mystical side, sword fights, Tisamon in super form...I really do not want to spoil the book more, but it's really good and also it flows much smoother than the first one.

The author has about 5 ss on his website - no spoilers for the novels by and large- some featuring minor characters from the books and they are quite good, as are the drawings of various type of kinden.

http://shadowsoftheapt.com/

 

[suciul]

I truly enjoyed the Swan's War trilogy. I thought it was a perfect mix of "classic epic" and originality, and the writing was beautiful too.

As for World Without End, I am I think about 120 pages in and I'm really enjoying it. It is indeed quirky and unique, and as I am an amateur herbalist myself I am finding all this talk about plants most interesting.

The prequel duology to Moontide and Magic (WwE, SwS) is entitled River into Darkness, consisting of Beneath The Vaulted Hills and Compass of the Soul.

They feature Erasmus Flattery as a young man, great uncle and guardian of Tristam of WwE and last apprentice of the last magician - forgot his name - and a lot of characters that appear or are mentioned in the original duology.

Regarding the Swans War trilogy - I sort of liked it too, though not as much as those 4 books above which are still some of my all time favorite fantasy novels or the Initiate Brother duology - but it has been trashed badly in various places - I saw it somewhere named one of the worst epic trilogies ever - and it tanked at the box office so to speak

 

[Erfael]

I stalled out halfway through the third book of the Swans War. I really liked the first book, started to lose interest in the second book, then was completely adrift during the third. Given how much I'd like the other six Russell books, I really wanted to like this one. I still intend to get back to the third book to finish it off, but I wish it was equal to what he'd done with his earlier books.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Given how much I'd like the other six Russell books, I really wanted to like this one. I still intend to get back to the third book to finish it off, but I wish it was equal to what he'd done with his earlier books.

Ahhh. I had only read the Swan's War trilogy and let it form my view of Russell's stories. They weren't bad, but didn't induce enough interest to seek out other works by him. Now, I'll go back and take a look. Combing these forums have given me some awesome reads over the past few months.

 

[suciul]

I finished The Riddler's Gift, The: First Tale of the Lifesong by Greg Hamerton, a novel published first in South Africa in 2007 and recently published in the UK which deserves a wider audience in the epic fantasy world since it's quite engaging and a page turner despite its 640 or so pages.

The novel is set in an alternate Earthlike domain called Eyri which was isolated and hidden with strong magic from the rest of the planet by a cabal of 8 wizards called the Gyre.

The Gyre is facing the most powerful Chaos wizard ever Ametheus who brought destruction and misery to the rest of the planet, but they are not strong enough to fight him directly.

Setting up Eyri and introducing a magical artifact and an wizard observer/adviser, they hope to nurture new wizard blood away from Ametheus' interference, so while Eyri is a relatively peaceful medieval like land with an order of magicians of light - lightgifters, there is also a hidden counterpart of the magicians of dark - shadowcasters to ensure conflict.

A new wizard will emerge only when a person can master both the dark essence and the light essence and across several hundred years, nobody has succeeded yet.

Tabitha Serannon is a talented singer daughter of a lightgifter mother and while working at an inn and entering in a local contest to represent her local town to a singing festival in the capital of Eyri in front of the king, she attracts the wrong attention from a shadowcaster Kirjath Arkell who has his own plans of accumulating power and independence from the ubber-shadowcaster Cabal, the dark master of the forces of the night.

Luckily the Eyri sword master Glavenor - a sort of chief constable of the kingdom with a magic sword - is at hand to save the day, but Arkell escapes and is set on revenge.

When tragedy strikes, Tabitha escapes with a strange ring and with help from the funny looking "Riddler" Twardy Zarost, she decides to become a lightgifter like her mother and find the powerful wizard the ring is destined for and give it to him/her so protecting it from the shadowcasters.

Of course things are not so simple and Tabitha is soon involved in intrigue, the struggle between the forces of light and dark and of course the big picture hangs over the whole of Eyri.

While The Riddler's Gift starts as a reasonably standard epic fantasy, it is a novel with a lot of energy that makes you keep turning page after page to see what happens. Slowly the characters start growing on you and you do not want to put the book down until done.

The ending is excellent wrapping up all the threads of the novel, though as usual with the first book in a series the big picture is only now start to impinge on our characters.

Though longish at about 640 pages, the book reads very fast and I finished it in two sittings since I was really absorbed by it after I got into its flow.

Highly, highly recommended.

 

[Evil Agent]

Finished my Tolkien kick (reading his biography, as well as RE-reading the Hobbit and the Silmarillion).

Now I'm diving back into Erikson's world, with Reaper's Gale. And it feels goood..

 

[Astra_]

I finished the last book in the Crown of Star series by Kate Elliott.

Unimpressive final.
I am disappointed with the last book in the series. Something about it doesn't sit quite right with me. There were ups and many downs in this volume. The whole Sanglant/daimone situation was very awkward and artificial. The epilogue was ..meh. The whole series were about Sanglant and Liath and what do we get at the end? I expected a lot more.