NPR recently organized a poll of the top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books. The top items on the list are no real surprise (Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker, Ender's Game, Dune), but some of the later items really surprised me. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, for example, rates as science fiction by many scales, but Atwood is not typically considered a science fiction author. Other entries fall square into the "popular fiction" category, such as The Dark Tower and The Stand. Very few of the top entries are recent novels (with the notable exception of The Song of Ice and Fire). Anyways, the blogosphere has already ranted and raved about the list. I thought it may be more interesting to write about the novels on the list that I particularly enjoyed, but haven't seen much discussed elsewhere.
First off, The Vorkosigan Saga. Although it rated only #59 on the list of 100 novels, this series ranks at or near the top of my own personal list of science fiction novels -- or novels in general, for that matter. The characters are brilliantly written and deep, the plots are intricate, and, most importantly, you grow to love the characters and care about what happens to them. The series follows a highly disabled, but brilliant, aristocrat from a military society as he grows to overcome his disabilities and make a name for himself.
Although the series doesn't sound terribly exciting, the sheer force of the protagonist's personality drips from every page. The situations in which he finds himself border on the ridiculous, but this only serves to heighten the excitement. The series is made even stronger by the fact that Bujold frequently reinvents where the series is going. Memory, for example, abruptly takes a military science fiction story and redirects it towards a mystery novel. A Civil Campaign is a regency romance, while Mirror Dance is a tragedy. The mixture of genres may sound confusing, but it allows the characters room to grow and makes them much more interesting. In particular, the three novel sequence, Memory, Komarr, and A Civil Campaign rate among the top three novels I have ever read.
Next, at number 77 on NPR's list, is Kushiel's Legacy. Before I attempt to describe the novel, I'd like to mention the one-liner on NPR's website: Sold into indentured servitude at the exotic Night Court as a child, Phedre faces a difficult choice between honor and duty as she deals with a world of glittering luxury, conspiracy, sacrifice, and betrayal.
One of the comments on the list of top 100 notes that this novel sounds like a Harlequin Romance novel, not a fantasy story. There's a reason for that -- Kushiel's Legacy is a romance story at its core, and is heavily inspired by the romance genre. However, Kushiel's Legacy -- particularly the first three novels in the series -- is not just a romance novel. The story follows Phedre from a young age, when she is sold into servitude and discovers that she has a unique gift for espionage.
The strength of Kushiel's Dart lies in its incredible prose. The world of Terre d'Ange comes alive through the narrator's incredible voice. This is the kind of novel that gets under your skin and makes you feel that you're reading an autobiography. Another strong point is the sheer immensity of the plot. Kushiel's dart starts out with the character being sold into servitude, being trained as a spy, uncovering a plot against the crown, and being betrayed, finally being sold into slavery. In most novels, that's where the first book would stop and the next begins -- not so in Kushiel's Legacy. The story continues for another two thirds of the book.
Kushiel's Dart, however, is not for everyone. The series plays true to its roots as a romance novel, with detailed and elaborate sex scenes. The sex scenes are rarely gratuitous, however, and frequently are quite important to the plot. In some of the later novels, however, they do become disturbing.
There are lots of great books on this list, but these two series I thought were thoroughly excellent books. Kushiel's Dart was a particular surprise to me. I initially picked up the novel on sale via Amazon, and was astonished at the narrative and plotline. I was more amazed when I found myself dying to find out what happened in the remaining five books in the series. The Vorkosigan Saga is more my typical reading material, but I had a similar experience where I had purchased it on a whim and found myself drawn so strongly to the series that I lost sleep reading it.
One thing that I find these series have in common is that neither is for everyone. I know that my wife, for example, would absolutely love A Civil Campaign -- if she could get the context from the previous 9 Vorkosigan novels. However, I wouldn't dream of recommending Kushiel's Dart. Both of these are meticulously plotted series with a lot to offer, but you have to be willing to be drawn into the series.
In short, it's worth while not just to read the heavy hitters on NPR's list, but also the series towards the bottom. I think the next book I read will come from the bottom as well.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
12 August 2011
18 October 2009
Wheel of Time Progress Update
As I mentioned in my last flurry of blog updates, I started rereading the epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time, written (mostly) by Robert Jordan [note: I say mostly since he passed away before he could complete the final novel in the series]. Since then I've clocked through tons of subway rides, two flights to California, and over 1.5 million words of fiction, which puts me almost half-way through the series.
As I remember from the last time I read these books, book six is where the series starts getting dull. Seeing as I'm about a third of the way through book six, I've decided that I concur -- over 100,000 words into the book (the length of a decent size novel) and no one seems to be in any hurry to do anything. Still enjoyable reading, but the main plot line is moving so slow that it could almost be called glacial.
Part of the problem with this series, I think, is that Robert Jordan tries to have too many points of view in his books. The sixth book has had the story told through at least ten points of view thus far, many of which belong to minor characters. With this many points of view, it's hardly any wonder that the main storyline is moving along sluggishly.
Anyways, I hope to be able to slog through the remaining four published books, possibly in time to get to the first third of the final book, which will be released at the end of the month.
As I remember from the last time I read these books, book six is where the series starts getting dull. Seeing as I'm about a third of the way through book six, I've decided that I concur -- over 100,000 words into the book (the length of a decent size novel) and no one seems to be in any hurry to do anything. Still enjoyable reading, but the main plot line is moving so slow that it could almost be called glacial.
Part of the problem with this series, I think, is that Robert Jordan tries to have too many points of view in his books. The sixth book has had the story told through at least ten points of view thus far, many of which belong to minor characters. With this many points of view, it's hardly any wonder that the main storyline is moving along sluggishly.
Anyways, I hope to be able to slog through the remaining four published books, possibly in time to get to the first third of the final book, which will be released at the end of the month.
26 September 2009
Wheel of Time
So, on a whim, I decided to reread the Wheel of Time series. For those unfamiliar with this series (which is probably, actually, most of the readers of this blog...), this is an epic fantasy series that's been nearly 20 years in the making. Think Lord of the Rings, but big. Huge, in fact, and quite literally; the series is currently projected to complete at over 4 million words, with 3.4 million already published in twelve novels. Most non-Wheel-of-Time novels, mind you, are around 100,000-150,000 words, so these novels are absolutely gigantic. According to Wikipedia, the paperback editions of the series total up to 9600 pages. These paperbacks are so large, in fact, that they tend to fall apart while reading.
So why have I decided to abandon all hope of reading anything else for the next couple months? Not a clue, honestly, and hence the "whim" mentioned above. I'm not normally a fan of epic fantasy, although my tastes in reading material tend to oscillate. However, I read the first five or six (I forget) novels in this series when I was in high school, so they have a sort of nostalgia factor to them. I vaguely remember the plot, but not well enough to reconstruct even a fifth of the story. This project was also somewhat inspired by Tor.com's Wheel of Time Reread, where they're providing a chapter-by-chapter review of the series in the lead-up to the release of the final novel. The first part of the final novel (which has been split into three more mammoth sized books) will be released at the end of October.
This series has an interesting history; it's impossible to write such a huge, bookshelf crushing series over 20 years without picking up some baggage, at least. The Wheel of Time series infamous throughout the fantasy literature for being, well, bloated. Despite the 3.4 million words of fiction here, not a lot seems to happen. In fact, I've been told that there's an entire novel near the end of the series where nothing at all happens -- after some 200,000 words of reading, you're rewarded with everyone in exactly the same dilemmas they were at the beginning. I guess I'll know when I get there. That being said, the books have a lot more action than I remember there being. I remember the dull chapters between the action, it seems, but almost none of the action -- and there's actually quite a bit of it. Mind you, I'm only on the third book in the series, so maybe it'll slow down soon. However, for now, still going strong.
I'd like to write about this series some more once I've read more of it, but that's a quite daunting prospect. Tor.com's reread project is progressing at the rate of 2 or 3 posts per week, each covering a chapter or two, and I doubt it'll get anywhere near done before The Gathering Storm is released. For that matter, I doubt I can catch up with the series before the final novel is released. Condensing 3.4 million words into a single blog post would be ridiculous. I guess we'll see what happens.
So why have I decided to abandon all hope of reading anything else for the next couple months? Not a clue, honestly, and hence the "whim" mentioned above. I'm not normally a fan of epic fantasy, although my tastes in reading material tend to oscillate. However, I read the first five or six (I forget) novels in this series when I was in high school, so they have a sort of nostalgia factor to them. I vaguely remember the plot, but not well enough to reconstruct even a fifth of the story. This project was also somewhat inspired by Tor.com's Wheel of Time Reread, where they're providing a chapter-by-chapter review of the series in the lead-up to the release of the final novel. The first part of the final novel (which has been split into three more mammoth sized books) will be released at the end of October.
This series has an interesting history; it's impossible to write such a huge, bookshelf crushing series over 20 years without picking up some baggage, at least. The Wheel of Time series infamous throughout the fantasy literature for being, well, bloated. Despite the 3.4 million words of fiction here, not a lot seems to happen. In fact, I've been told that there's an entire novel near the end of the series where nothing at all happens -- after some 200,000 words of reading, you're rewarded with everyone in exactly the same dilemmas they were at the beginning. I guess I'll know when I get there. That being said, the books have a lot more action than I remember there being. I remember the dull chapters between the action, it seems, but almost none of the action -- and there's actually quite a bit of it. Mind you, I'm only on the third book in the series, so maybe it'll slow down soon. However, for now, still going strong.
I'd like to write about this series some more once I've read more of it, but that's a quite daunting prospect. Tor.com's reread project is progressing at the rate of 2 or 3 posts per week, each covering a chapter or two, and I doubt it'll get anywhere near done before The Gathering Storm is released. For that matter, I doubt I can catch up with the series before the final novel is released. Condensing 3.4 million words into a single blog post would be ridiculous. I guess we'll see what happens.
09 February 2009
Kindle 2
(Source: Amazon)
So Amazon has finally unveiled their upgraded version of the Kindle. Urmi bought me one of the original editions of the Kindle and I absolutely love it. For me, it's well worth the price tag -- I read so much that I may actually be saving more than the Kindle's original (admittedly hefty) price tag. When you throw in free books available online (such as from Cory Doctrowow, the Mobile Read forums, and many more), ebook readers such as the kindle become even cheaper. However, I don't think I'll be upgrading unless my Kindle suffers some sort of unforeseen catastrophe. The new one looks great (check out the comparison with a pencil), but I like my current one quite a bit. I actually quite like the larger buttons and the wedge-shaped chassis. Etexts are small enough that I think I'm still well short of the original, built-in space, although I did purchase a 2GB expansion card for it. Anyways, I'll be excited to see what comes next for etext readers such as the Kindle. Maybe the Kindle 3 will be the etext reader that ends up cornering the market -- I don't know if the Kindle 2 will be able to do it quite yet.
23 October 2008
The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies
A while back, I read a book called Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, which ended up being one of the best fantasy novels I've read in years. It's been quite some time since I really got into fantasy -- in fact, the only fantasy series I think I've read in the last three years has been Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels. Unfortunately, the Kindle store did not (at the time) sell the sequel to Mistborn. However, every time I searched for 'mistborn' or 'brandon sanderson', this book called The Lies of Locke Lamora kept popping up. Eventually, I got curious and decided to try it out -- the book only cost like five bucks, after all -- and I ended up quite liking it. I also picked up the sequel, Red Seas under Red Skies, which wasn't quite as fun, but still worth reading.
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Lamora, henceforth) is one of many books featuring a main character representing the trickster archetype. Locke Lamora is a highly skilled con artist in a corrupt and decadent fantasy-version of Venice. In Locke's world, thieves are only permitted to steal from the lower classes; Locke, however, specializes in stealing from the nobility, which is strictly prohibited by his underworld boss. The book follows Locke through one of his cons, which ends up embroiling him in a nasty underworld upheaval. Twists, turns, and more abound throughout this book, which took me by surprise more than once. Lynch is nearly as good with misdirection as his protagonist and more than one of the chapters led in directions that I didn't at all foresee.
Where Lamora really excels, however, is in world building. World-building is a, I think, much under appreciated skill among SF sets, but it's a requirement for good, coherent fantasy stories. A good world-builder can leave the reader feeling that the world is much larger than directly portrayed within the story itself. This is exactly what Lynch has done. Lamora takes place in a city called Camorr, which appears to be an analogue of Venice, except that the city has been built on the ruins of an ancient civilization called the Elderen, who built everything out of some sort of indestructible crystal. Every chapter introduces new, incomprehensible structures that have been integrated into this city. Lynch describes this all in pain-staking detail, to the point where you can almost see the city and start to understand its charms, its problems, and it all fits together. The book leaves you with lots of little images, such as people walking across a bridge, built from solid glass, barely three feet wide, several dozen feet over a rushing river. Gentled animals, with milky white eyes and a docile attitude. Alchemical fruits which ferment themselves while still on the trees. Much like the novels of China Mieville, Lamora has an incredible sense of wonder which many stories lack, and the story is all the better for it. I frequently found myself continuing to read just to find out more about the world.
Which leads me to the downsides of Lamora and, more so, Red Seas under Red Skies. The characters suck, just plain suck. They're flat, and I finished the book wondering whether or not I want Locke to win or lose. Locke grows, a bit, as does his best friend Jean, but they never quite seem complete. Some of this may be intentional on Lynch's part, I guess, but the characters just don't seem to behave in any fashion even resembling rational. For a story told from their points of view, this is somewhat pathetic. Mind you, this flaw doesn't really detract from the story, but it certainly fails to add to it. During the course of the story, there's quite a bit of violence, but I never once felt a thing for the people being afflicted. In fact, I frequently just wanted to see what sort of oddity Lynch had in mind next for us.
Both The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas under Red Skies are available for the Kindle. The author appears to have, at some point, had a website, but it's looking quite neglected. He is, however, apparently quite ambitious and already has a contract for seven books in this series. Most authors are lucky to get one for their first novel -- cheers to him -- but I don't know when I'll feel up to picking up the third book in the series. I give the Lies of Locke Lamora a 7/10 and Red Seas Under Red Skies a 6/10.
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Lamora, henceforth) is one of many books featuring a main character representing the trickster archetype. Locke Lamora is a highly skilled con artist in a corrupt and decadent fantasy-version of Venice. In Locke's world, thieves are only permitted to steal from the lower classes; Locke, however, specializes in stealing from the nobility, which is strictly prohibited by his underworld boss. The book follows Locke through one of his cons, which ends up embroiling him in a nasty underworld upheaval. Twists, turns, and more abound throughout this book, which took me by surprise more than once. Lynch is nearly as good with misdirection as his protagonist and more than one of the chapters led in directions that I didn't at all foresee.
Where Lamora really excels, however, is in world building. World-building is a, I think, much under appreciated skill among SF sets, but it's a requirement for good, coherent fantasy stories. A good world-builder can leave the reader feeling that the world is much larger than directly portrayed within the story itself. This is exactly what Lynch has done. Lamora takes place in a city called Camorr, which appears to be an analogue of Venice, except that the city has been built on the ruins of an ancient civilization called the Elderen, who built everything out of some sort of indestructible crystal. Every chapter introduces new, incomprehensible structures that have been integrated into this city. Lynch describes this all in pain-staking detail, to the point where you can almost see the city and start to understand its charms, its problems, and it all fits together. The book leaves you with lots of little images, such as people walking across a bridge, built from solid glass, barely three feet wide, several dozen feet over a rushing river. Gentled animals, with milky white eyes and a docile attitude. Alchemical fruits which ferment themselves while still on the trees. Much like the novels of China Mieville, Lamora has an incredible sense of wonder which many stories lack, and the story is all the better for it. I frequently found myself continuing to read just to find out more about the world.
Which leads me to the downsides of Lamora and, more so, Red Seas under Red Skies. The characters suck, just plain suck. They're flat, and I finished the book wondering whether or not I want Locke to win or lose. Locke grows, a bit, as does his best friend Jean, but they never quite seem complete. Some of this may be intentional on Lynch's part, I guess, but the characters just don't seem to behave in any fashion even resembling rational. For a story told from their points of view, this is somewhat pathetic. Mind you, this flaw doesn't really detract from the story, but it certainly fails to add to it. During the course of the story, there's quite a bit of violence, but I never once felt a thing for the people being afflicted. In fact, I frequently just wanted to see what sort of oddity Lynch had in mind next for us.
Both The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas under Red Skies are available for the Kindle. The author appears to have, at some point, had a website, but it's looking quite neglected. He is, however, apparently quite ambitious and already has a contract for seven books in this series. Most authors are lucky to get one for their first novel -- cheers to him -- but I don't know when I'll feel up to picking up the third book in the series. I give the Lies of Locke Lamora a 7/10 and Red Seas Under Red Skies a 6/10.
Long time, no blog
Wow, it's been nearly a month since I touched this thing. I'm not entirely sure where that month went, but here's a few things that I've been up to recently...
- My brother gave me a fancy new game for my birthday (back in early October...) called The Spirit Engine II. It's absolutely fantastic. The gameplay is a bit simplistic, but the story is phenomenal and reminds me why I tend to prefer indie games to most of the big names. I'm in only the fourth chapter, but I already can't wait to figure out what the heck is going on.
- The news with the economy sucks primarily because that's all I hear on the radio when I'm going to NC. Thankfully, I'm equipped with my mostly-obsolete iPod.
- The only thing that's keeping me sane with all the election news is the political satire at Sinfest, one of my favorite webcomics that is nowhere near as racy as the title implies. The sunday comics are particularly well done, such as this and this. There are plenty of other good comics in the archive, too.
- I appear to be on a fantasy novel kick. Forthcoming reviews will include The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas under Red Skies, both by Scott Lynch, and Mistborn: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. I also read The Sunrise Lands by S.M. Stirling, but it may not have been exciting enough to warrent a blog post.
02 September 2008
My To-Read list
... grows by the day... Here are the books that I'm planning on reading really soon now. This is basically the list of contents from my Kindle.
In the meantime, I still owe reviews on Old Twentieth by Joe Haldeman (fantastic, btw) and, potentially, a double review on books five and six in the Dresden Files series. I'm also cooking up a review on a book a read quite a while back.
- Neptune Crossing by Jeffrey Carver (available free here)
- Blood Rites: Book Six of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (these things are seriously like crack)
- Declare by Tim Powers
- The Man who was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
- The Wallet of Kai Lung by Ernest Bramah
- The Barsoom Collection by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- The Professor Challenger Collection by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
In the meantime, I still owe reviews on Old Twentieth by Joe Haldeman (fantastic, btw) and, potentially, a double review on books five and six in the Dresden Files series. I'm also cooking up a review on a book a read quite a while back.
01 September 2008
Review: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
(Source: Doctorow's website)
A few years ago, Cory Doctorow decided to try out a bold new experiment. He released his first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, as a free ebook under the terms of a creative commons license. The book text was originally licensed under a fairly restrictive CC license, but it has since been rereleased under a CC-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license, which would even allow me to release a remix of the novel, so long as I give Doctorow attribution and, I believe, pass along a copy of the original. This is a fairly bold move for a new author, but not one that is unexpected of an internet persona such as Doctorow. It has also definitely boosted his reputation and, I presume, his career.
Anyways, Magic Kingdom is a good book that concerns itself primarily with the aftereffects -- social and economic -- of the sudden cessation of the economics of scarcity. Modern economics are based on the principle that the things that people want -- money, energy, gold, etc -- are scarce and hard to obtain. Magic Kingdom critically analyzes an economic situation where people can effectively live forever and energy -- the major bottleneck for most everything in the above -- is free. Other books have considered such societies as well (Charles Stross's Accelerando comes to mind), but Doctorow adds to the story by considering a war taking place in, of all places, Disneyworld.
The story follows a character who works for an ad-hoc collective which is operating all the old rides at Walt Disneyworld, and the war concerns a new technology (called, IIRC, "flashbaking") which he believes will make his beloved old rides obsolete. Unfortunately, during the course of his war with technology, he comes off nearly as whiny as book five Harry Potter. I hated the protagonist and kept wishing he would just try to get his life back on track. In about chapter three, the protagonist is murdered and for the remainder of the book he keeps insisting that his arch-nemesis was behind it. Naturally, the truth is somewhat more complicated that it seems, but I don't want to spoil the book.
While the book is great by itself (except for the mopey protagonist), the vision of the future that it presents is absolutely fantastic, particularly Doctorow's "Whuffie", which is a unit of prestige. At some point I'd like to return to some of the concepts in this book (and others) and write up a few essays about post-scarcity economics. Post-scarcity economics is a common trend in science fiction, and no one really seems to be sure what will happen if/when energy becomes free. More on this later...
Until then, check out Magic Kingdom, which is available under a CC license from Doctorow's Magic Kingdom website. Enjoy.
28 August 2008
Book Review: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
(Source: Amazon)
On my way to Vienna I read an older book by Jim Butcher called Summer Knight, which is part of his Dresden Files series of books. The Dresden Files are kind of like crack to me. When I start reading them, I just cannot seem to stop myself from reading to the finish -- Butcher has certainly happened upon a winning formula here. I'm not entirely sure what it is about the series, but Butcher's mix of action, mythology and traditional gumshoery is, well, captivating.
Summer Knight is book four of the Dresden Files, following Storm Front, Fool Moon and Grave Peril. All of these are full of action, mythology, and tons of Butcher's slightly flawed antihero, Harry Dresden, who always manages to just barely save the day -- usually at great cost to himself and those around him -- and inevitably manage to piss off nearly all the authorities in the process. Along these lines, Dresden has quite a bit in common with traditional, scrupulous gumshoes, such as Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Hammett's Sam Spade.
Summer Knight picks up nine months after the end of Grave Peril and largely deals with the events started in the previous novel. Dresden has spent the previous nine months researching a way to extricate his girl friend from the situation in which the previous book left her. Meanwhile, the White Council (a governing body of wizards) has spent the intervening time trying to decide what to do about Dresden and the war he inadvertently started. Meanwhile, the courts of Faerie are plotting something that will draw Dresden back into the middle of both, as well as dig up old wounds he had thought were healed.
As I said earlier, most of the Dresden books are packed page-to-page with action and mythological mayhem. Dresden is seemingly unstoppable as his situation goes from bad, to very bad, to worse, and finally to inevitably fatal. In fact, by chapter four, you would assume that Dresden is about three steps short of the grave. The only beef I have with this novel -- as a story, not as enjoyable reading -- is that everything is relevent in the bigger picture. Everything that happens to Dresden, ranging from his midnight excursion to Walmart to the rain of frogs at the book opening, turn out to be extremely important in not just the grand scheme of the novel, but also the grand scheme of the entire Dresden Files universe as a whole. Oh, and everything is linked directly with the book's core plot. Even knowing this fact, however, (this property also holds of the other three Dresden novels) the book will keep you guessing until the very end.
Summer Knight (as well as the other Dresden Files novels) are available through Amazon.com. Also available for the Kindle, which is the version that I read.
13 August 2008
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
The last few days I've been reading another Brandon Sanderson freebie, trying to keep myself occupied until I can maybe track down Mistborn: The Well of Ascension. The novel is called Warbreaker, and it's a freely available (for the time being) novel that Sanderson has been releasing as he writes it. The book has already been finished (at least, the first draft has been finished) and optioned, so it should be appearing in hard cover sometime next year. For the time being, however, it's available through Brandon Sanderson's website. The version I'm reading is version 6.1, but I'm reading a Kindlized version from the MobileRead forums.
The book seems to be a fairly typical fantasy story, except that in this story magic revolves around colors, sounds, and using parts of people's souls to animate lifeless objects. Pretty cool stuff. The story involves the amount of politicking I've come to expect from Sanderson (based on my oh-so-extensive two novels read thus far), so keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up. And did I mention it's free? As in, Creative Commons free? I'm still about a third of the way through the book. I'll write something more once I'm finished.
The book seems to be a fairly typical fantasy story, except that in this story magic revolves around colors, sounds, and using parts of people's souls to animate lifeless objects. Pretty cool stuff. The story involves the amount of politicking I've come to expect from Sanderson (based on my oh-so-extensive two novels read thus far), so keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up. And did I mention it's free? As in, Creative Commons free? I'm still about a third of the way through the book. I'll write something more once I'm finished.
11 August 2008
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
I guess I'm on a bit of a Fantasy kick... I just finished my way through one of the last of the free ebooks given away with the launch of Tor.com, Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. Note: Brandon has one of the best designed websites I've ever seen.
(Image borrowed from Amazon)
This book is very well written. I had previously read Sanderson's debut novel, Elantris, which was quite enjoyable, although I felt it was somewhat one sided and two out of the three lead characters felt flat to me. Although the setting and story were quite atypical in Elantris, the characters felt like fairly standard fantasy archetypes. Mistborn shows that my initial assessment of Sanderson as 'just another fantasy author' was wrong. The characters start off as archetypes, but quickly diverge and take on a personality all of their own, equipped with a plethora of flaws and mistakes.
Mistborn considers what happens to a fantasy world after the dark lord is sealed away. What does the hero do with his limitless power? What happens to the world? Well, in the case of Mistborn, the hero forms an empire, with himself as not just the head honcho but as an immortal, living deity who enforces a life of servitude for the lower classes, or skaa. In this world, there are a small number of people (referred to as Mistborn) who have the ability to consume small amounts of metals in exchange for magic powers, such as the ability to attact or repel other metals, or sense things that others could not. The story follows the life of a young skaa thief who discovers that she is a mistborn; it follows her life through learning to control her powers and, well, growing up.
The book is excellently written and has an amazing balance between politics and action. Many fantasy stories addressing peasant revolutions get a bit bogged down in the details (Teckla, I think I'm looking at you), but I feel that Mistborn got it right. There's no point in the book that seems to drag on; in every chapter, Sanderson reveals more about the nature of the Lord Ruler, hinting at the truth behind the events which led to the present-day. It's really an amazing hook; I spent most of the weekend reading this book. It took a while to get going, but when it did, it didn't stop.
Unfortunately, Tor is no longer giving away ebooks of Mistborn: The Final Empire, but it is available for the Kindle and in paperback. Now I need to track down a copy of Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, which appears to be dead-tree only... *grumble grumble*
(Image borrowed from Amazon)
This book is very well written. I had previously read Sanderson's debut novel, Elantris, which was quite enjoyable, although I felt it was somewhat one sided and two out of the three lead characters felt flat to me. Although the setting and story were quite atypical in Elantris, the characters felt like fairly standard fantasy archetypes. Mistborn shows that my initial assessment of Sanderson as 'just another fantasy author' was wrong. The characters start off as archetypes, but quickly diverge and take on a personality all of their own, equipped with a plethora of flaws and mistakes.
Mistborn considers what happens to a fantasy world after the dark lord is sealed away. What does the hero do with his limitless power? What happens to the world? Well, in the case of Mistborn, the hero forms an empire, with himself as not just the head honcho but as an immortal, living deity who enforces a life of servitude for the lower classes, or skaa. In this world, there are a small number of people (referred to as Mistborn) who have the ability to consume small amounts of metals in exchange for magic powers, such as the ability to attact or repel other metals, or sense things that others could not. The story follows the life of a young skaa thief who discovers that she is a mistborn; it follows her life through learning to control her powers and, well, growing up.
The book is excellently written and has an amazing balance between politics and action. Many fantasy stories addressing peasant revolutions get a bit bogged down in the details (Teckla, I think I'm looking at you), but I feel that Mistborn got it right. There's no point in the book that seems to drag on; in every chapter, Sanderson reveals more about the nature of the Lord Ruler, hinting at the truth behind the events which led to the present-day. It's really an amazing hook; I spent most of the weekend reading this book. It took a while to get going, but when it did, it didn't stop.
Unfortunately, Tor is no longer giving away ebooks of Mistborn: The Final Empire, but it is available for the Kindle and in paperback. Now I need to track down a copy of Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, which appears to be dead-tree only... *grumble grumble*
10 August 2008
2008 Hugo Awards
It appears that the 2008 Hugo awards have been awarded. The winner for Best Novel is Michael Chabon, for his The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, an alternate fiction crime novel. This is one of the first times I've managed to actually read a Hugo winner before it won the award; in fact, this year I read two of the nominees. Usually I end up waiting until the books are available in paperback, which means I completely miss the awards.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union was a pretty good book that I bet I would've enjoyed much more if I had a better understanding of Jewish culture. The premise of the book is astoundingly interesting; the point of divergence for the alternate history occurs shortly after the formation of the state of Israel, where, IIRC, a war causes the state to collapse. Unwilling to abandon the concept of a Jewish state, the US government grants the freshly homeless a sizable chunk of Alaska (prime territory, I guess...). The story follows a detective working in the Union as he investigates an apparent suicide in his apartment building. As he does, he uncovers a plot that is much larger than it first seems...
I'm also pleased to see that Stardust won the Hugo award for 'Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form'. Stardust rates fairly high on my list of all-time favorite movies, as well as my list of all-time favorite novels. If you haven't seen it, do so. If you haven't read the book, pick it up. Both are excellent works, and unlike so many novel-to-movie translations, the movie actually stands very well on its own.
Tor.com has a list of the nominees for the award, including for several other categories, many of which are available online. Enjoy!
The Yiddish Policemen's Union was a pretty good book that I bet I would've enjoyed much more if I had a better understanding of Jewish culture. The premise of the book is astoundingly interesting; the point of divergence for the alternate history occurs shortly after the formation of the state of Israel, where, IIRC, a war causes the state to collapse. Unwilling to abandon the concept of a Jewish state, the US government grants the freshly homeless a sizable chunk of Alaska (prime territory, I guess...). The story follows a detective working in the Union as he investigates an apparent suicide in his apartment building. As he does, he uncovers a plot that is much larger than it first seems...
I'm also pleased to see that Stardust won the Hugo award for 'Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form'. Stardust rates fairly high on my list of all-time favorite movies, as well as my list of all-time favorite novels. If you haven't seen it, do so. If you haven't read the book, pick it up. Both are excellent works, and unlike so many novel-to-movie translations, the movie actually stands very well on its own.
Tor.com has a list of the nominees for the award, including for several other categories, many of which are available online. Enjoy!
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