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.
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
18 October 2009
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.
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.
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*
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