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22nd out of 46 books
—
9 voters
The Lord of Castle Black (The Khaavren Romances #4)
by
Steven Brust (Goodreads Author),
Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)
With his bestselling novel The Phoenix Guards, Steven Brust took readers to a time a thousand years before the events of his popular Vlad Taltos novels. Its sequel, Five Hundred Years After, was hailed by Science Fiction Chronicle as the best fantasy novel of the year.Now, in the Viscount of Adrilankha series, Brust has returned to the Khaavren epic, first with The Paths o...more
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
by Tor Fantasy
(first published August 1st 2003)
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I loved The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years after, so I originally had great hopes for this series. Most of them have not been realized.
The earlier books worked because they had a tight focus - they were epic stories, yes, but they were told mostly through Khaavren - which is Brust's comfort zone (and skill level) as a writer. This series is sprawling and disorganized; if you're going to use a cast of thousands, you have to be able to structure your novels, and Brust doesn't know how to d...more
The earlier books worked because they had a tight focus - they were epic stories, yes, but they were told mostly through Khaavren - which is Brust's comfort zone (and skill level) as a writer. This series is sprawling and disorganized; if you're going to use a cast of thousands, you have to be able to structure your novels, and Brust doesn't know how to d...more
(Original review scale 1-3)
Summary: [2] This is the second volume of Brust’s The Viscount of Adrilankha Dumas pastiche. The Empire gets its legs underneath it, Morollan (the titular character) becomes involved in matters, and lots of folks run around doing a lot of sword fighting and exchanging witticisms.
Entertainment: [2] The conceit remains entertaining, and is crafted with a now-polished fashion. But it’s almost become too easy, and I almost have the sense that Brust is rushing things along...more
Summary: [2] This is the second volume of Brust’s The Viscount of Adrilankha Dumas pastiche. The Empire gets its legs underneath it, Morollan (the titular character) becomes involved in matters, and lots of folks run around doing a lot of sword fighting and exchanging witticisms.
Entertainment: [2] The conceit remains entertaining, and is crafted with a now-polished fashion. But it’s almost become too easy, and I almost have the sense that Brust is rushing things along...more
The empire restored, and Piro falls in love! But to the wrong person (in his father's opinion). More great action, and some good social commentary as well.
"What should I tell her?"
"Tell her?"
"You must have known girls before."
"Well, yes."
"And you must have known one with whom you desired to have conversation.'
"Oh, without doubt."
"What did you tell her?"
"That I should like to get to know her better."
"Good."
"That I have never before met another with whom I could speak so freely."
"I must...more
"What should I tell her?"
"Tell her?"
"You must have known girls before."
"Well, yes."
"And you must have known one with whom you desired to have conversation.'
"Oh, without doubt."
"What did you tell her?"
"That I should like to get to know her better."
"Good."
"That I have never before met another with whom I could speak so freely."
"I must...more
So, when is Sethra Lavode coming out in paperback? :)
I adore Brust. While i won't go so far as to say he can do no wrong, i find the results of his less-rightness (eg Brokedown Palace) are still good enough to keep on my shelf and revisit from time to time. This book? Falls squarely in the "damn good stuff" category. it suffers a little from being the middle book of a trilogy -- or rather it suffers from my having read the first book in the trilogy over a year ago. details from the past escaped...more
I adore Brust. While i won't go so far as to say he can do no wrong, i find the results of his less-rightness (eg Brokedown Palace) are still good enough to keep on my shelf and revisit from time to time. This book? Falls squarely in the "damn good stuff" category. it suffers a little from being the middle book of a trilogy -- or rather it suffers from my having read the first book in the trilogy over a year ago. details from the past escaped...more
As with "Paths of the Dead," the fourth installment of the Khaavren Romances is a story written like a history book. With detail to every rock that had ever been upturned in the history of the Dragaeran Empire, pre and post Interegnum, the reader is forced to flip through page after page of useless dialog, wherein the characters repeat the same things back and forth, turning one individuals statement into an question, and so on and so forth. However, this airy style of writing is continually bal...more
2.5. Another re-read in preparation for Tiassa. This picked up a bit more, even the Morrolan sections. I thought it was more enjoyable than its immediate prequel, The Paths of the Dead. A word of warning: you will want to have the sequel, Sethra Lavode, immediately to hand when you finish this one.
Re-read again in January 2013. I read this and thought, man, you really need to have read Issola to get this, at a minimum. And then I went back and realized ... hey. This was published after Issola.
Re-read again in January 2013. I read this and thought, man, you really need to have read Issola to get this, at a minimum. And then I went back and realized ... hey. This was published after Issola.
I think the hardest thing to get use to in this Durst story is the bombastic prose that is used.
This isn't Brust's normal writing voice of course, it seems he was trying to emulate the scholar that narrates the story as a tome of dragaeran history. Brust does such a great job at this that every character sounds like the the narrator.
Once I came to realize this it was a little easier to read. I just simply translated speeches in voices that I felt were more endearing of the characters. Unfortunat...more
This isn't Brust's normal writing voice of course, it seems he was trying to emulate the scholar that narrates the story as a tome of dragaeran history. Brust does such a great job at this that every character sounds like the the narrator.
Once I came to realize this it was a little easier to read. I just simply translated speeches in voices that I felt were more endearing of the characters. Unfortunat...more
I have increased the rating of this book after re-reading it. If the previous one did not satisfy me (The Paths of the Dead, in this one we recover the feeling of adventure, even if the main characters in the previous books take clearly a supporting role. The Dumas pastiche works very well, with sympathetic villains and a few despicable ones, fallible heroes, but heroes yet, and better rounded dialogue than others. It is still a very shallow book unless you are very interested in Brust imaginary...more
Almost sounds like it should be a story about disgraced newspaper tycoon Conrad Black ... and it's almost as windy and pompous, but I've had a soft spot for Steven Brust since back when he was just an unknown sribbler from the midwest and he can still make me smile.
Much improved from the first book in the trilogy. It’s still overly verbose and self-indulgent, with pointless digressions and a lot of flab, but at least there’s an exciting story lurking under the excess. Worth wading through for fans of the series.
Stubborn masochism is the only explanation I can come up with for why I continue to read these. The stylistic joke of drawing out every sentence into 15 sentences has grown so overtired that a small number of the characters are themselves beginning to complain about it. If one ignores the style (virtually impossible, to be sure), the plot itself is fine if a bit deus-ex-machina for my taste. This is the middle part of the "third" book (or the fourth of six books depending on how you wish to coun...more
I'm not sure if it's because I was used to the style by this book, or simply because more happens, but I found it easier to read than The Paths of The Dead. Glad I read it for the backstory on the Dragaerans, but I wouldn't recommend it for a casual reader.
Honestly, it took a long time to psyche myself up to read this after The Paths of The Dead, because I knew it was going to be a bit of a slog.
Honestly, it took a long time to psyche myself up to read this after The Paths of The Dead, because I knew it was going to be a bit of a slog.
End without a climax, since book #3 lies in the wings. I can't wait to see how all these threads are wrapped up!
Nov 08, 2011
Jeff Youngstrom
added it
I enjoy the faux-scholarly tone, but it's getting old.
All the character talk like a pair of snarky chicks in love with the same guy. Thankfully it's a fantasy novel and the constant fights that would break out if people on the street talked to each other that way, never occur.
The transition between the Phoenix Guards and the world of Taltos continues, with the recreation of the Empire, the return of the Orb and the tidying up of various problems.
Brust once again demonstrates his joy in language. Even when things are not happening, the dialogue sparkles, the descriptive text in the voice of Paarfi dances around and the action scenes are described in quite glorious pomposity. Great all round, really.
Rated M for battle violence. 4/5
Brust once again demonstrates his joy in language. Even when things are not happening, the dialogue sparkles, the descriptive text in the voice of Paarfi dances around and the action scenes are described in quite glorious pomposity. Great all round, really.
Rated M for battle violence. 4/5
The high points for me are Morrolan's character development and Pel's activities.
This book has more action than the first. That's great in some ways, but there's not much focus on the younger characters apart from one relationship subplot. That relationship leads to a surprise decision that seemed out of character, but I'll wait to see how it develops in the next book.
As always, I really enjoy the style of these.
This book has more action than the first. That's great in some ways, but there's not much focus on the younger characters apart from one relationship subplot. That relationship leads to a surprise decision that seemed out of character, but I'll wait to see how it develops in the next book.
As always, I really enjoy the style of these.
The fourth of five books in the "Khaavren Romances". It continues the story of the restoration of the Dragaerean empire after the Interregnum. It is slightly faster paced than the previous books and has a bit more wit. It develops a good deal of Morrolan's background and character. A good read if you are interested in Brust's Dragearean world, but otherwise not worth it.
Another notch in my belt towards rereading all of Brust's Dragaera novels. This latest was more of the same in the Viscount of Adrilankha series, and, in this instance, as usual, that's a very good thing.
Loved it! Couldn't wait for more!
see my review of "The Pheonix Guards"
May 21, 2013
Dana
added it
May 20, 2013
Amy B
marked it as to-read
May 17, 2013
Kate
is currently reading it
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Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the writers' group The Scribblies, which included Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, Nate Bucklin, Kara Dalkey, and Patricia Wrede, and also belongs to the Pre-Joycean Fellowship.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven...
(Photo by David Dyer-Bennet)
More about Steven Brust...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven...
(Photo by David Dyer-Bennet)
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