Reading in April 2005

Hello, everyone.

I finished Gardens of the Moon last week. A tough read, but worth it. Since then, I finished two more really good books: Revenge of the Sith by Matt Stover and Baudolino by Umberto Eco (historical fantasy).

Right now, I'm working on The Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker, and it's pretty interesting so far. Not every fantasy book opens up with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche. ;) I'm also working on a book called Monster by Frank Peretti, which is about a tribe of Sasquatches attacking campers in Idaho.
 
I ran out of Tanith Lee to read, and have just started Letters From a Lost Uncle, written and illustrated by Mervyn Peake. As might be expected, it's ... odd.
 
For Kat G

Back Blurb: Garrett's having a pretty good morning until he finds a strange child named Penny Dreadful poking around his house. Before he can figure what the mysterious urchin wants, he's hired to investigate how an old crime boss(Chodo) ended up in a coma- leaving his gorgeous,criminally insane daughter(Belinda) to run the family business.

The ravishing beauty has some lascivious designs on Garrett--and some dealy ones too. But she's not the only one dreaming up ways to finish off the endangered private eye, who has to figure out why everyone is suddenly after him....

End of Blurb.

I will say that Cook ties up alot of loose ends with this book.
 
The six Sara Douglas books that make up the Axis and Wayfarer Redemption trilogies. They're a little on the romantic side but decent examples of popular fantasy, and some of the characters are very interesting. They read like they were rushed though.
 
madeline howard said:
I ran out of Tanith Lee to read, and have just started Letters From a Lost Uncle, written and illustrated by Mervyn Peake. As might be expected, it's ... odd.
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Tanith Lee sounds familiar. Did she write a series or trilogy that was something about "The Flat Earth"?

I can't remember...
 
Just wanted to mention that I started The Briar King this morning. I read 50 pages and I can't wait to read more. What a difference from The Etched City for me. That was a chore, this is a joy.
 
Gary, I hope you enjoy The Briar King. Somewhat Martin-esque I would say... speaking of GRRM, have had a chance to read A Song of Ice and Fire? Would love to hear your comments on it if you have... sorry if you have already referenced it in earlier posts, but my hectic life doesn't allow me to scan earlier threads.

And Gary, your books are next up on my reading list.
 
Honestly, since I have been writing my own series for the past seven years without so much as a month's break between books, I had fallen so far behind in my reading. Although I am now in the middle of Book V in GemQuest, I have figured out a way to read that doesn't take away from my writing time. So now I am madly catching up. That's probably why I have so little patience for books that don't enthrall me from the very beginning. My free time is so sparse. I had also tried to avoid anything too epic in nature because I was afraid that I would read critically instead of for enjoyment, as I write epic fantasy myself. Now that my own world is so firmly developed in my mind's eye, I find that I can read anything without worrying that it might influence me. I am having fun. So GRRM is on my very very very long list. I just gave A Song of Ice and Fire to my son to read first.
 
Gary, I hope you enjoy The Briar King. Somewhat Martin-esque I would say...
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I'm not directing this at Rhaegar just the thought. This is an opinion, I see a lot on various messageboards, and I just don't see why. I like Keyes' Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series and I certainly think it's an above average series, and I'm eagerly awaiting book III, however this series always seems mentioned to have sort of similarity to A Song of Ice and Fire. The only 2 similarities I can come up with are they are both epic fantasies, and both use POV style chapters.

Thematicaly I find them completely different, their prose are no where near similar, and I don't find anything more similar between these two series as I would any other. Thus far IMHO Keyes' offer much less in regards to scope, characterization, and I think it's defintely more flattering for Keyes to be compared to Martin than the other way around.

As I mentioned before I enjoy Mr. Keyes series (as I have enjoyed his other work as well) but IMHO if just taking the first books in the series, Martin's A Game of Thrones, is basicaly IMHO the start of the best current epic series in fantasy today (on a tier above Bakker, and Erikson IMHO, whom I enjoy a lot as well), and Keyes' The Briar King falls short of that standard by quite a bit IMHO.

I think there is a profound difference in the seires; and that being one is merely good, and one is fantastic.

The only reason why I could think the association became so prevalent was because The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone came out after A Song of Ice and Fire, and Martin's popularity is so incredible that one of the msot common questions on genre related messageboards was something in the same vein as "Recommend a Martin-like book" or "I just finished Martin ,recommend me someone like him", and at the time The Briar King was released and seemingly was one of the first people recommend on each occasion. I didn't understand then, and I don't now, but it's always funny to me to see how the opinion has perpetuated itself, probably aided by the length of time Martin takes to release new intsallments.

Again, not a knock on Keyes , The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone is a solid series thus far, but IMHO his series doesn't compare very favorable to Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which IMHO is in a class by itself when regarding epic styled fantasy.

I guess this post is merely to say Mr. Wassner if you end up enjoying Keyes, I would highly recommend Martin, who IMHO sits on top of the epic fantasy world at the moment. There's really nothing like A Song of Ice and Fire IMHO.

I remember R. Scott Bakker once saying more aptly than most (I can't remember if it was an interview or on his site) "Martin is King"
 
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Spears&Buckler said:
Tanith Lee sounds familiar. Did she write a series or trilogy that was something about "The Flat Earth"?

I can't remember...
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I want to say yes, but she did write novels like, The Birthgrave , a scifiSilver Metal Lover (one of her most famous),Heroine of the World ,Mistress Delerium and many many others
 
Yes, she did write the Flat Earth books. Sort of Arabian Night's fantasies with lots of violence and weird magic and some eroticism. I'm not fond of those particular books, but she has a remarkably fertile imagination and has developed a gorgeous writing style over the years, and I love most of her more recent novels. (Though I won't read them at bedtime, because some have a distinctly nightmarish quality.)
 
I think one of the other similarities between Keyes and Martin is how nicely they treat their characters and the sense that nothing is safe. Their styles are different yes, but for me, simliar emotions and feelings were evoked by both stories. I am actually enjoyng Keyes work more, right now. However, things may change when A Feast for Crows finally publishes.
 
Madeline, have you read Lee's Secret Books of Venus? What did you think of those, and of Mortal Sun(s)?
 
Intensity, I read the first three Venus books, and loved her alternate Venice (perhaps even more than her alternate Paris). Still waiting to get my hands on book four. Mixed feelings about Mortal Suns; as usual the prose is beautiful and evocative, but the characterization seems a little flat and unappealing.
 
Fitz said:
The concept I was referring to was an Earth ravaged by war giving rise to magic, like in Vance's Dying Earth cycle. Granted, Vance's is executed better.

I'll post back when I finish, though, Ainulindale, but I've heard the same argument (re: Brooks's mishandling of the technological aspect) previously.

We shall see.
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Well, I couldn't even finish, closing the book at about the halfway mark. The prose was so stilted and boy does he really TELL and not SHOW things about his characters. Pargraphs about how great these people are (and they are all just great people aren't they) just got a bit annoying.

Problem is I really wanted to like the book. If nothing else, I like the Steve Stone artwork on the US editions of the Jerle Shannara books.

So I'm moving on to the latest issue of Black Gate magazine.
 
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intensityxx said:
Madeline, have you read Lee's Secret Books of Venus? What did you think of those, and of Mortal Sun(s)?
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I got the SCIFI Book club omnibus version with two novels in one,Faces Under Water and Saint Fire . Both were well done, like most of Ms. Lee's stories.
 
Thanks for the blurb on the Cook book, Priestvyrce! It is for me, in a number of ways, a very dear series, and I'm glad he hasn't dropped it despite the greater popularity of his Black Company series.
 
Just started JONATHAN STRANGE & Mr. NORRELL by Susanna Clarke and am enjoying it so far.
 
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