April's Anticipated Ascent of Aspiringly Artful Words

[Grunkins]

Last night I started Cordelia's Honor the Lois McMaster Bujold omnibus. Pretty fantastic thus far. I'm very happy to have found a new series to dig into.

[J-Sun]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

The novel sequel (which was released first), The Changing Land, is next. Jury's out as to whether I finish but I'll give it a try.

So far, so okay. I particularly liked this bit - Dilvish, Our Hero, and an Esteemed Wizard meet (ominous bell toll and all):

"I am Meliash," he said.

"And I am Dilvish. You are the Brotherhood's warden in this area?"

Meliash cocked and eyebrow and smiled. "I know not from what place you might have come," he said, "but we have not been known by that name for some fifty or sixty years."

"Really?" said the other. "What are we now?"

"The Society."

"The Society?"

"Yes, the Circle of Sorceresses, Enchantresses, and Wizardesses raised a fuss, and finally got it changed to that."

It's not exactly breaking the fourth wall or anything, but its anachronistic irony has a similar effect.

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

Finally finished Zelazny's Dilvish, the Damned, amidst some other reading. Eh. Some decent stuff but no great shakes to me. Not very stylistically or structurally consistent. He has characters saying things like "Perhaps 'twere better an' I were" in the earliest stories and things like "Up yours!" and "Sh*t! Why didn't you strike?" in the latest. And where the heck did Reena go? And what took Black so long to learn the keen and neato fire-breathing trick? And so on. This isn't necessarily fatal (the stories were written from '65-'67 and '79-'82, after all) but it's just indicative of my not being blown away that that's what springs to mind to say. And we trade things off without ever putting it all together. Generally better plots in the later stories (especially the two with Reena) but generally better... um, "sense of evocation" or something in the earlier. Despite the artificial and ineffective verbal style, the earlier ones did a better job of pointing to a larger background or had a greater feeling of dimension despite being slight in other aspects. Whereas the more detailed ones lose that while gaining other aspects... Again: "eh".

More or less agree with this post. It's certainly not Zelazny's best work by a long shot, but I do recall a few of the later stories being quite fun to read at the time.

[thatollie]

I finally got my hands on the first part of A Dance with Dragons.

[J-Sun]

Originally Posted by nomadman

More or less agree with this post. It's certainly not Zelazny's best work by a long shot, but I do recall a few of the later stories being quite fun to read at the time.

Yep, I'd agree with that, in turn. Now that I've finished it, about the same goes for The Changing Land - interesting enough for the most part but nothing I'll read again. Oddly detailed in its depictions of sorcery despite not having any real framework laid for it. If it were science fiction, people would criticize those parts for being clunky infodumps - literally "wiring diagram fantasy" (thinking particularly of Holrun tracing out the mirror mechanism, but there are at least a couple of bits like that). Also kind of frustrating in that it seems very imaginative, yet under-utilizes its elements. Black is missing an unduly long time and never sufficiently explained nor left completely mysterious. All the ladies are quite intriguing and not much is done with them. Dilvish seems ripe to be either a fantastic hero or anti-hero and yet... And stuff I can't say without spoiling. But basically a lot of sound and fury, it seems to me.

[Connavar]

I have gone from the masterfully, different prose style of Vance to Labrava by Elmore Leonard.

So far a mid level Leonard and not the same quality writing,wit,characters you expect from his better books. Its a fun setting though in 1983 Miami, South Beach. Colorful and not as generic as Miami Vice type story.

[Vertigo]

Originally Posted by Lord Soth

Anyway, I have Off Armageddon Reef up next by David Weber...

Think you'll enjoy that one LS!

Originally Posted by Grunkins

Last night I started Cordelia's Honor the Lois McMaster Bujold omnibus. Pretty fantastic thus far. I'm very happy to have found a new series to dig into.

I am just reading Ethan Of Athos, a bit of a spin off from the Vorkosigan books. I haven't read all of the Vorkosigan series yet but I have to say I found the initial books (essentially the omnibus you are reading) better than the last couple I read. I sadly found the situations, motivations and reactions of the characters a little unbelievable in them. Hopefully that will improve again as the series goes on; they were still enjoyable and I will be continuing with the series.

Have finished Stephen Baxter's Raft. This is my first book by him (hides face in shame) and I shall certainly be reading more. Whilst I felt it showed that it was his first book, with slightly cliched, cardboard characters, I understand that his characterisation does improve in the following books. But his science was good, his nebula environment was fascinating in the extreme and his storytelling was well paced. Definitely an author I will be returning to.

Also finished Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife. I enjoyed this almost as much as the first but maybe not quite as much. I was a little uncomfortable (though possibly sympathetic) with the vilifying of religion that became really quite strong in this one. Also Lyra, the main character, came across somewhat younger than she did in the first book. I also thought it was a bit of an unforgivable cliff hanger ending; it felt more like the end of a chapter than a book. That said the storytelling, pacing, action etc. are all excellently handled.

[Mouse]

Originally Posted by Vertigo

Also finished Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife. I enjoyed this almost as much as the first but maybe not quite as much. I was a little uncomfortable (though possibly sympathetic) with the vilifying of religion that became really quite strong in this one. Also Lyra, the main character, came across somewhat younger than she did in the first book. I also thought it was a bit of an unforgivable cliff hanger ending; it felt more like the end of a chapter than a book. That said the storytelling, pacing, action etc. are all excellently handled.

I'm glad you're still enjoying HDM, Vertigo!

As for me, I'm still reading the Glen Duncan novel, but I've almost finished. After that, it's either the scary-heavy Dance with Dragons, or Lee Evans' autobiography. I might read both.

[Vertigo]

Yup still enjoying them Mouse but, as said, a couple of grumbles with this one that I didn't really have with the first.

[Mouse]

Well hopefully the third one'll be even better for you.

[thatollie]

This talk of His Dark Materials makes me want to read it again.

[Vertigo]

One of the things I like is they have a similar ambiguity to Perdido Street Station with elements of both fantasy and science fiction woven together quite cleverly.

Just finished Bujold's Ethan of Athos; an offshoot from the Vorkosigan books. An interesting and unusual book in some ways; it is good typical Bujold adventure but it also explores the unusual idea of a man coming into the outside 'normal' universe from a planet that has no women and all births are male and from 'artificial reproduction units'.

However there was one writing/editorial gaff that I had to share. This slightly unusual but otherwise unexceptional phrase appeared at one point:

...bored-looking young woman on duty eating little fried morsels of something from a bag.

Less than 20 pages later:

A Security person sat, feet up, eating little fried morsels of something from a bag and...

Am I being picky to feel that using a phrase like that twice so close together is just a little messy?

[Grunkins]

Originally Posted by Vertigo

One of the things I like is they have a similar ambiguity to Perdido Street Station with elements of both fantasy and science fiction woven together quite cleverly.

Just finished Bujold's Ethan of Athos; an offshoot from the Vorkosigan books. An interesting and unusual book in some ways; it is good typical Bujold adventure but it also explores the unusual idea of a man coming into the outside 'normal' universe from a planet that has no women and all births are male and from 'artificial reproduction units'.

However there was one writing/editorial gaff that I had to share. This slightly unusual but otherwise unexceptional phrase appeared at one point:



Less than 20 pages later:


Am I being picky to feel that using a phrase like that twice so close together is just a little messy?

Not quite as powerful as Hemingway's Robert Jordan laying against the pine-needled floor of the forest in For Whom The Bell Tolls.

[Rodders]

Started Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. (It's a bit of a departure from what i normally read, but it's one of those books that i've been meaning to get into for some time, yet never got around to it.)

[Mangara]

Just finished The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. Cracking read.

"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof." V for Vendetta (2006).

The Final Empire is a heroic fantasy, set in an industrialised fantasy world, where the sky rains ash and the bad guy is firmly in charge. It focuses on two characters Vin and Kelsier, who together with their band of thieves plan the ultimate heist.

The world is very interesting with an extremely well developed and original magic system unlike any other I have come across. Faith plays quite a pivotal role in the story, and the various belief systems are deep and relevant.

I found Kel to be a very interesting character, on the face of it he is brash, cocky and seemingly insane, but as the story develops we see just how smart he is as he plans to overthrow the Final Empire.

Vin is easy to like, initially a shy, quiet girl trapped in a world of loneliness, we see her develop and grow throughout the book through the situations she finds herself in. Unassuming appearance, and often under-estimated we soon learn there is more to Vin than meets the eye.

A wonderful read, well worth checking out for any fan of the fantasy genre.

Onwards to Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts. Something a bit different I think...