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321st out of 421 books
—
28 voters
Black Bottle
by
Anthony Huso
“Anthony Huso pushes the conventions of epic fantasy to their limits in this tale that that is not quite horror, not quite fantasy, and much more than both. Reminiscent of the novels of China Mieville and Glen Cook, this should appeal to fans of steampunk and epic fantasy.”—Library Journal on Black Bottle
Tabloids sold in the Duchy of Stonehold claim that the High King,Cali...more
Tabloids sold in the Duchy of Stonehold claim that the High King,Cali...more
Hardcover, 443 pages
Published
August 21st 2012
by Tor Books
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Feb 10, 2013
Alan
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Logomanes
Recommended to Alan by:
A close perusal of the shelves
Which is the more incongruous: an immortal severed head—or the plastic shopping bag, handles, logo and all, into which it's placed?
Black Bottle is a fantasy set in a world of battling duchies and feudal kingdoms which have zeppelins and super-soldiers with blue chromed goggles, where blood and mathematics intertwine with magic and at least one king has been raised from the dead. It's a unique world full of contradictory elements, some of which—like the aforementioned shopping bag—seem inexplicab...more
Black Bottle is a fantasy set in a world of battling duchies and feudal kingdoms which have zeppelins and super-soldiers with blue chromed goggles, where blood and mathematics intertwine with magic and at least one king has been raised from the dead. It's a unique world full of contradictory elements, some of which—like the aforementioned shopping bag—seem inexplicab...more
Black Bottle by Anthony Huso
This is the sequel to Last Page which I read and reviewed on Azure Dwarf. This was one of those books that makes you wonder if your own imagination was some how truncated. Huso paints a Timothy Leary type civilization with overtones of steam-punk. Caliph Howl is called to lead his nation and finds himself surrounded by treachery in the first book. The second book takes up with Sena, his wife. It explores her journey down a very bizarre rabbit hole.
Huso’s rich environ...more
This is the sequel to Last Page which I read and reviewed on Azure Dwarf. This was one of those books that makes you wonder if your own imagination was some how truncated. Huso paints a Timothy Leary type civilization with overtones of steam-punk. Caliph Howl is called to lead his nation and finds himself surrounded by treachery in the first book. The second book takes up with Sena, his wife. It explores her journey down a very bizarre rabbit hole.
Huso’s rich environ...more
Originally published at Risingshadow.
Anthony Huso's The Last Page was one of my favourite books of 2010, because it was an original and fresh piece of new weirdish dark fantasy. That's why I could hardly wait to get my hands on Black Bottle. (It didn't take long for me to read this book, because it was an excellent and delightfully weird book.)
Black Bottle is a an entertaining and complex sequel to The Last Page. It tells what happens to the characters after the first book's shocking and surpris...more
Anthony Huso's The Last Page was one of my favourite books of 2010, because it was an original and fresh piece of new weirdish dark fantasy. That's why I could hardly wait to get my hands on Black Bottle. (It didn't take long for me to read this book, because it was an excellent and delightfully weird book.)
Black Bottle is a an entertaining and complex sequel to The Last Page. It tells what happens to the characters after the first book's shocking and surpris...more
Black Bottle by Anthony Huso (sequel to The Last Page which i really loved) arrived unexpectedly yesterday and i was very excited, but I seem not to connect with it for now; the writing is actually captivating for most of the time, but so far I couldn't care less for the content and the jargon which has transformed from charming and interesting in The Last Page to very boring and annoying here; we'll see but I am tempted to give it my "browse random pages every now and then and read the ending"...more
I only made it about halfway through Black Bottle, so keep that in mind when reading this review.
Sena’s bringing Caliph back from the dead could have stemmed from her love for him, or from her need for him to be alive. I’m still not quite sure – and I suspect she isn’t, either. In any case, it’s not like she could be honest about her reasons, especially when she gets deeper into the Cisrym Ta – and seems to lose her sanity… But her actions have brought about a new cult, one that Stonehold’s neig...more
Sena’s bringing Caliph back from the dead could have stemmed from her love for him, or from her need for him to be alive. I’m still not quite sure – and I suspect she isn’t, either. In any case, it’s not like she could be honest about her reasons, especially when she gets deeper into the Cisrym Ta – and seems to lose her sanity… But her actions have brought about a new cult, one that Stonehold’s neig...more
I was a fan of The Last Page and I was excited to read the sequel and although it had some interesting points I felt this book fell flat for me. The plot was all over the place and I never felt like I knew what was happening, and not in a good mystery type way. Huso does a great job of painting pictures and characterizations but this got so diluted with them that I would often find that I had read a few pages and did not even realize I had, again not in a good way as I was often confused. I felt...more
After a scintillating first novel, Huso goes into something of a sophomore slump here. The second book clearly has higher literary ambitions than the first, but in the process it loses the charm that the first one had. Personally, I think that Huso would be better off sticking to innovation in heroic fantasy and writing stories with a happy ending. His gaming roots make him more suited than that. Not since ‘Eyes of the Calculor’ have I ever been so upset at the treatment given to two characters...more
Warning: spoilers for The Last Page but not for Black Bottle.
Black Bottle started off really, really well. We are thrust back into the world of Caliph and Sena, after Caliph had miraculously been brought back to life at the end of The Last Page. I was revved up to see more of this twisty, dark universe filled with monsters, witches, blood magic and sometimes, horrors. It seemed that some of my concerns of the first book had already been taken care of: the plot was moving fast, the prose a lot ea...more
Black Bottle started off really, really well. We are thrust back into the world of Caliph and Sena, after Caliph had miraculously been brought back to life at the end of The Last Page. I was revved up to see more of this twisty, dark universe filled with monsters, witches, blood magic and sometimes, horrors. It seemed that some of my concerns of the first book had already been taken care of: the plot was moving fast, the prose a lot ea...more
I can't make myself read this. I want to like it. I'm impressed the world building and imagination, but that's it.
I reviewed this for Bookgasm. It was by turns beautiful and frustrating.
Not as good as The Last Page, this story seemed to wander in many spots or perhaps it didn't hold my attention like TLP did. Probably needs a reread but doubt I'll do it.
Jun 09, 2013
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Anthony Huso lives in Cedar Park, Texas. The Last Page is his first novel.
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