2003 releases read

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Which new books particularly Mithfânion? Feast of Crows maybe?
 
Finished P N Elrod's COLD STREETS latest in the Jack Flemming Vampire Files .
I found this one was alot like one of the ealier books, Blood on the Water, It was still very readable and it was fun to catch up with Jack and his friends again. The new villian was not up to the job through. I found myself much more intrested in Jacks life than in the plot line of the book.

I give it three and a half out of five and I can wait for the next one..
 
Well I recently finished Greg Keyes' The Briar King. Excellent book!!! Totally took me off guard with his talent. I had read The Waterborn when it first came out and was quite frankly severely underwhelmed. I pruchased the follow-up The Blackgod but never got beyond the first fifty pages or so. Something else would always come along and claim my attention. It still sits on my 'to read' list and piles.

Then Keyes starting writing alternative history. Something I am not really fond of anyway and so despite the good reviews, I stayed away from his work.

Thank goodness for Locus. I made a note to check out the book when I saw that Keyes had sold the rights to a new fantasy series that had gotten some buzz just on a rough, rough outline. And I m hopeless at completely cutting an author loose.

I already had it pre-ordered when advanced reviews started flowing in to various forums. I was not thrilled to hear it described as 'Martinesque' or Keyes being described as comparable to other authors. Mainly because each of the authors compared is enough for the world all on their own. For good of bad. Keyes surprised me by not being derivative at all. Fabulous work and I am greatly looking forward to the next book.

But if I did have to compare this work to another author or two, it would not be Martin. Rather in tone, and tone only, I get a similar vibe to what I would imagine if Robin Hobb, Tad Williams and Kate Elliott collaborated on a work together.
Similar. not same.

Regardless, Keyes' work here is very approachable. Fast paced and yet enough subtle and evocative narration that fans of Gemmell to fans of Kay should find common ground here.
This is definitely one of the must reads of fantasy for 2003. And only one month in. What a glorious year this is going to be.
 
Finished up The Skrayling Tree by Moorcock today. Another thought-provker. Good stuff here, I really liked how he brought Ulric and Elric together in this one. I was also impressed with both Moocock's handling of early North American exploration by Vikings and their interaction with the natives. I also very much liked how he structured the novel. (I've been really looking at how novels are structrued lately)

Anyway, it was a Very Good Book.

So far batting .666 for 2003 One Superb read, one Very Good Read and the worst read in years.
 
Dominus

I'm thinking of Feast for Crows yes, but also of Erikson's Midnight Tides, Hobb's Fool's End, Williams's War of the Flowers, Zindell's "Lord of Lies", the new Kay novel (provided it's released this year), Forest of Serre by McKillip, the Lyonesse re-print from Vance etc etc etc.
 
Kay has his book of poetry coming out but I don't think he is releasing anything else in 2003, unfortunately. Not sure which is coming first, his single novel or the planned duology. Hopefully we will whatever it is in early 2004.

Is it Fool's Fate or Fool's End? One is perhaps a bit more prophetic than the other. I am hoping that march's issue of Locus has quite a few pleasant surprises in store for the second half of the year.

Is Zindell's Lord of Lies part of the Lightstone series? I have yet to read Lightstone and I know that Red Dragon is due out this late summer and keep shoving Lightstone to the top of the 'to read' pile in vain hopes I shall polish it off in time to decide if Red Dragon will head my way.
 
I don't think Hobb's new book's name is set in stone yet, so it could be both, or neither.

Lord of Lies is the renamed Red Dragon, so yes it is part of the Ea cycle.
 
Hmm. Robin (or Megan) is refering to it as Fool's Fate as of now with the stricture that titles can change. And it is being lined up for a March 2004 release so I think it can be bumped from the 2003 wishlist. Dang it.
 
In e-mails to me and on her website she has been referring to the book as Fool's End. I personally prefer Fool's Fate but that's what she's been saying. It's not certain yet btw.

As Rooster said, Lord of Lies is book two renamed. I quite enjoyed the Lightstone, one of the better reads last year.

I'd say Fool's End can safely stay on your 2003 list unless you refuse to buy from the UK or Australia, which have a probable October date (Hobb said just last week that although the book isn't finished yet at this time, she expects it to be published as scheduled initially).

Unlike say, GRR Martin, who's making the wait an exceedingly long one, with now August as the date both by his own account and that of the publishers.
 
Well that is really odd. I just got an email from her just more than a week ago and she confirmed the title and said that a late winter early spring release in 2004 as amazon.uk has is the likely scenario.

I had thought that maybe they were going for a different title here in the US and hence the email to her site.

Just have to wait and see I guess.

Steering this back to its overall original intent:

Just finished Kate Elliott's The Gathering Storm. Very very good. Did not disappoint at all. I did find it a little slow in the beginning before I got my bearings. Remembering what had been what as of the last book kept me from just jumping in whole hog.

The only thing that really bothered me is the possible foreshadowing concerning Sanglant's fate. No spoilers here, so don't worry. But if Elliott is foreshadowing his fate, then it is a bit too blunt and obvious and shall lose the irony. Though not quite as certain, it still reminds me of watching a movie and a woman is trying to escape from an assailant and she has a gun in her hand, but you just know that she will drop it or have it wrenched from her hand. Or a cop film where a minor character has a birthday, retirement, etc. coming up in a day or two... you just know they are dead. Sometimes pre-ordained is okay but sometimes it can lose some of its dramatic edge if you can see it coming a mile away.
 
I just finished Elliott's "Gathering Storm" - very, very good as I just said in march readings.

But I didn't detect the possible foreshadowing fate of Sanglant.
Can you give me a hint without a spoiler JohnH?
 
I don't think this would constitute as a spoiler... I just thought the Sanglant/Achilles parallel was a bit too obvious. If indeed that is where she is going. The obvious is not always the end result. And even if she does, Elliott is such a great writer that I am sure she will do it well.

Back to regularly scheduled programming.


Children of the Shaman by Jessica Rydill was one of a few recent reads. This has been out in the U.K. for a couple of years but was just released for the first time in the U.S. (and so qualifies). This one was a bit odd. Rydill seemed to try too hard to present something completely different and yet still remaining recognizable as 'fantasy'. Granted she had some interesting things going on, but her narration was thin and stumbled a bit. the whole plot just lurched a bit too much for my liking. However as she is published, here in the U.S., in ppbk. I might pick up the next work to see if she has improved any. There might be some true talent lurking in there and going off on a lesser traveled route is great when done well.


The Fifth Ring by Mitchell Graham. I am still waiting for Robert Jordan's lawyers to sue over this one. Horrid and gruesome don't even begin. and I thought Goodkind spent too much time cribbing from WoT. Graham almost lifts entire passages from The Eye of the World, changes a few names and seems to get away with it. Only McKiernan's desperate homage to tLotR is more blatant. Graham should be run out of town on a rail. Pathetic man; he does not deserve the title of author.

The Bastard King by Dan Chernenko. I am horribly disappointed in this one. It seemed so promising. But Chernenko never can decide whether he is exploring the real political machinations of a fantasy realm or whether he is writing an epic on good facing ultimate evil in physical incarnation. If he could do both, and do them well, it would not matter. The problem is he cannot do either in a truly credible manner and the weaknesses of both end up making what could be an entertaining book, a very weak, stuttering and almost insipid attempt. Chernenko would be wise to take more time to flesh out his world and give it a little breadth and a little more depth. The chronological pace was way too fast for my liking. And weak main characters just do not work. Chernenko would be advised as well to realize that unlikable characters can still work if there is some dimension to them.


The Reliquary Ring by Cherith Baldry. Best read of the bunch so far. A bit odd as well. But this time odd is good. Definite elements of scifi going on, but this was a very nice book and I look forward to her next one. I would like her to delve into the 'fantasy' aspect a bit more. Par down the cast of lead characters a bit and focus on what she really does well, which is character studies. Nice.


Angelica by Sharon Shinn. Also rather nice. Though typical Shinn. This is a romance disguised as a fantasy/scifi novel pretending to be a romance. Get it? I would love to see Shinn attempt a true series, leaving things unresolved at the end of one book and having to develope an arc of plot and action. I think she could pull it off rather well. The one complaint I have is that her "Samaria" novels, though the most popular, are her weakest. It seems to be a 'safe' haven that she retreats into and this leaves the reader (well, me) feeling a bit left out. Summers at Auburn Castle, was my favorite of her works and I hope that she decides to return to this type of work for her pending series.

The Sword of the Land by Noel-Anne Brennan. Yet another author I suspect has romance-novel roots. I don't know if the editor ripped out a chunk of book or the author did herself. This book was a bit too meandering and the first two-thirds read more like a cliffhanging first in series. Then suddenly everything was shuffled in a way that allowed the author to get to what was clearly the whole point all along but never appeared to be an acheivable goal in just one book. I know there will be another book in this world; but I am not sure I will venture back. What had promise to be complicated and interesting ended up instead to be a bit too trite and one-sided. Too bad.
 
Mojo: Conjure Stories edited by Nalo Hopkinson

Overall, a very even and satisfying collection of 19 short stories. Noted uthors include Neil Gaiman, Andy Duncan, Steven Barnes, and Barbara Hambly. Also a few authors I've never heard of or read, but still, the majority of the stories were very good. The connecting theme of all these stories was 'mojo' or the "personal magic" brought over the America by West African Slaves.

My official review for the book will be appearing soon.

BTW - JohnH thanks for the warning about Mitchell Graham. I had considered giving it a try, though it did evoke similarities to LotR and Vance's Dying Earth.
 
I've read a lot of new releases this year, in March, I just finished two. The first, is Robert Stanek's third "Ruin Mist Chronicles" novel, Kingdom Alliance . Released in March 2003.

What can I say? Stanek published the first two in this series last year. The first, Keeper Martin's Tale, was a good introduction, as good as any I've seen. I would compare favorably to many first books in current series. The second, Elf Queen's Quest, was different, supposedly an alternate look at the story with some rehash but good for what it is supposed to do: set up the fact that there will be competing histories and competing POVs. The one year wait for the true sequel, Kingdom Alliance, was much appreciated. I liked being able to zip through the books without having to wait. The fourth and fifth books are due in 2004 and 2005.

Like Jordan, Stanek writes a continuing story. According to what's been written, books 1, 3 and 5 are direct continuations of each other. Books 2 and 4 provide alternate story, view. The style and the feel of Stanek's writing is sometimes reminiscent of Martin. Andlike Martin, he rotates views between a group of characters, but in my opinion, one ups Martin by switching views with each scene rather than each chapter, which makes it so much more readable/coherent, even if the writing doesn't have as much depth. Not a lot of gore/sex, which makes it less gritty than some, but it's all right there.

And the books in this series are like one part of a whole puzzle with individual puzzle pieces scattered in each work. I did have to read the books twice to appreciate and grasp this, I'll admit, and I look forward to additional reads. Pouring over the books to find clues and hints is half the fun. The books so far have had endings, but threads are left so that you know the story continues. It's all building to something.

The second book I read is Golden Fool and I'm hesitant to take a stab at this one until I re-read a few parts. I did like it, and it is actually quite good in parts. As I understand it, I should have read Tawny Man first. I think both books will have a place on my shelf evebntually.
 
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Well April stormed in with some rather wonderful, if expected, works. First, of course is the conclusion of Jacqueline Carey's trilogy: Kushiel's Avatar. A wonderful, if subtle homage to Dorothy Dunnett. The book was magnificent. Carey is one of the best, without a doubt.

Then it was on to David Gemmell's The White Wolf. Good, solid Drenai stuff. Gemmell is always good. sometimes quite a bit better. I liked this somewhat more than the "Rigante" books; though I found this more in vein with that recent series than most of the Drenai novels.

Terry McGarry confounded again with The Binder's Road. McGarry has a style that is a bit abrupt and too often a bit coy in the beginning. She seems to deliberately go out of her way to create a cloud of confusion instead of an air of intrigue and interest at the start of her books. I know that she is aiming to create a burning curiosity for the reader to plunge into the work. However it comes acrossed as a bit too chaotic and disorganized. The first ten chapters slowly coalesce into something pertinent and sensical. That can be a bit too long. She is a good storyteller when she stops playing games though. Her world is a bit confusing as well. She tends to drop placenames in a way that seems pertinent to plot and developement and yet is done so in a way that leaves the reader a bit lost as to exactly where and why she is making a reference.

Mercedes Lackey refits an old theme with some pleasing results. It is still a "Lackey", but Joust is quite entertaining and enjobable. A bit of McCaffrey is there in the foundations but manages to be different enough that visions of lawsuits do not dance in the head.
 
Originally posted by JohnH


Then it was on to David Gemmell's The White Wolf. Good, solid Drenai stuff. Gemmell is always good. sometimes quite a bit better. I liked this somewhat more than the "Rigante" books; though I found this more in vein with that recent series than most of the Drenai novels.
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Have to totally disagree - I was utterly disappointed with this new offering, the narrative had no balance, was wooden and had wayyyy too many flashbacks. The new character Olek Skilgannon was totally uninteresting, the use of Druss was abusive and the actual tale was just downright pointless. All other characters apart from the main ones were also random and served very little purpose nor were fleshed out in anyway. Lastly the battles, something I think DG is exceptionally good at normally were poor and uninteresting. I expect more from a David Gemmell book than to be fobbed off with this trash.
 
I expect more from a David Gemmell book than to be fobbed off with this trash.
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From you Kater, that's pretty damning!

Carey is one of the best, without a doubt.
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I've only just got a copy of Carey's first, after it had been mentioned here a lot. I actually ordered a HB copy from the States on the strength of the comments round here as it's only available in a Trade PB edition here in the Uk. Looking forward to it, but not sure when I'll get near it.

(Sorry, that's a bit off topic!)

Hobbit
 
Originally posted by Hobbit


From you Kater, that's pretty damning!

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Unfortunately - I've been given grief for it on my site aswell, I probably am getting too cynical but having read all his stuff the quality of his books recently, especially this and Stormrider has just gone down hill. Fingers crossed for White Wolf 2 (his next book) I guess :rolleyes:
 
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