reading the English translation - The Florentine Emerald - not sure why there is no record on Goodreads of it;
(dec 14) well now it is so i switched t...morereading the English translation - The Florentine Emerald - not sure why there is no record on Goodreads of it;
(dec 14) well now it is so i switched to this edition...
The Florentine Emerald is a book that flows well and one turns the pages to see what happens, but also one that could have been great, rather than the enjoyable but relatively forgettable one it turned out.
I do not know if it is the translation or the author prose, but the novel feels very flat as style goes with no real emotion about the characters or their fate except for the last part
Split into 2 parts (and an epilog) covering 1478-early 1480's and then 1492-1498 and the early 1500's and following our heroes from the blurb (and a villain whose pov alternates in short pages with the ones of the two heroes - here the book has a plus as the hero and heroine marry soon and have a few kids rather than enduring the usual contrived separation for the sake of the plot) from their early 20's to their 40's through triumph and tragedy, their fate being intertwined with the Medicis, Florence, humanism and tolerance as opposed to fanaticism and persecution
And yes all the named characters (Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Columbus etc etc) appear and interact with our heroes - Mauricio even invests in Columbus voyage and well, read to find out what happens with that...
While Lorena for her part has her own secrets that she may even not quite know...
The content is excellent and this could have been a once in a while great reading experience but for the very flat style
Finished the anthology which i bought 2 days ago for the Baxter/Reynolds/McAuley stories and they delivered
“The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by...moreFinished the anthology which i bought 2 days ago for the Baxter/Reynolds/McAuley stories and they delivered
“The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan
- nothing for me here as the author's style just doesn't work for me;
“The Deeps of the Sky” by Elizabeth Bear
- a story from an alien's point of view on Jupiter; see comment above
“Drive” by James S.A. Corey
- excellent story set early in the Expanse; short but quite human-oriented more than anything; people discussing politics, science, engineering with the threat of war hanging above their heads; one of the big highlights of the anthology and showing how good the authors are at their best
“The Road to NPS” by Sandra McDonald and Stephen D. Covey
- nothing for me here as the author's style just doesn't work for me;
“Swift as a Dream and Fleeting as a Sigh” by John Barnes
- very good story about AI's tending to humanity and what happens when they try to be more like humans so to speak
“Macy Minnot’s Last Christmas on Dione, Ring Racing, Fiddler’s Green, the Potter’s Garden” by Paul McAuley
- not as coherent as other Quite war stories but a great visit through the universe; highly recommended for any fan of the novels and the milieu
“Safety Tests” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
- nothing for me here as the author's style just doesn't work for me;
“Bricks, Sticks, Straw” by Gwyneth Jones
- a decent story that I read and immediately forgot; something with a mission to Jupiter
“Tyche and the Ants” by Hannu Rajaniemi
- another fast read through and forget as the author's style seems not to work for me; wants to be deep and funny and comes out as pretentious by and large
“Obelisk” by Stephen Baxter
- excellent story set on a future Chinese Mars where a former heroic ship captain who seems himself as a failure and a conman/businessman with pretensions of grandeur change the future between themselves; another huge highlight of the anthology
“Vainglory” by Alastair Reynolds
- another superb story with asteroid sculptures and the vanity of the rich
“Water Rights” by An Owomoyela
- decent story about water and its preciousness when disaster strikes;
“The Peak of Eternal Light” by Bruce Sterling
- this one could be funny and entertaining but comes up on the smug and annoying side despite some interesting cool world-building on mercury for a change; someone like JC Wright who could write a story like this earnestly, could have made it very good but Bruce Sterling writes it parodically and then it becomes a repeat of essentially steampunk ethos in space
Overall 5 excellent stories (Corey, Baxter, Reynolds, Barnes, McAuley) two with enough stuff to keep me reading and remembering them for a little while at least (Owomoyela, Sterling), two that I passed fast through and forgot but were readable (Jones, Rajaniemi) and four basically unreadable for me (Cadigan, Bear, McDonald/Covey, Rusch) though the surprise would have been to find them readable.
Overall a pretty good ratio for a thematic anthology and I recommend it (less)
This is a book that is written well and it is quite absorbing, while its controversial nature is more of a reflection of the conflict between the cont...moreThis is a book that is written well and it is quite absorbing, while its controversial nature is more of a reflection of the conflict between the contemporary pc values and human nature than anything else as the decisions taken by the narrator and his wife would be quite uncontroversial in earlier times when family was paramount.
The other point I think the book drives well home (intentionally or not) is how today's world is quite fragile and beneath the civilized facade lurk the ancient demons, but that's a point that survivors of the attempt to create the "new human" during the last century collectivist dictatorships know very well, even if the contemporary trends towards collectivism in Europe tends to mask it beneath pc rhetoric, of course until prosperity breaks down and the ancient demons resurface(less)
A fast read that was an improvement on the tepid book 3 that almost made me gave up on the series; as usual in his more recent works, H. Turtledove is...moreA fast read that was an improvement on the tepid book 3 that almost made me gave up on the series; as usual in his more recent works, H. Turtledove is focusing at the grunt level rather than the movers and shakers, so you get a "low level" view of the action, characters sometimes die but new ones replace them, while his alternate timeline chugs on.
You may or may not buy the author's premise, but his world building is logical if you accept them and the books read like historical novels but for the changes in the timeline.
I finally got a copy of the book itself and a little to my surprise I found it very entertaining and the authors present a convincing case for most books (I still do not get Temeraire which is still mediocre fantasy with no place on either a sf list or a best of anything but how to churn endless sequels that go nowhere) and while I disagree in a lot of cases with the choices as noted in the post above, I felt the authors did a good selling job for most novels.
The style is generally jargon-free and the arguments to the point with a short overview of the author's work and a description of the novel in cause, sometimes (but not always) an argument for why it was chosen from among the author's work rather than why the author has been chosen.
As for content again imho it has several notable misses and it has a heavy "soft sf" orientation rather than the epic-sf - space opera and its cousins, mil-sf and epic alt-history which i tend to favor, so i think that it will be much less relevant 20-30 years from now since I would argue that in the 1985-2010 period, sf moved decisively towards the more epic form plus a strong post-apocalyptic branch (not that well represented in the book either), while the softer side moved into mainstream, thrillers, YA, urban fantasy (which is a misnomer to a large extent as its topic used to be sf once upon a time) and is much less prevalent today in what is packaged as sf(less)
Another trilogy ending that delivers what was expected; muscular prose, battles and powerful characters make up for the essential straight-up nature o...moreAnother trilogy ending that delivers what was expected; muscular prose, battles and powerful characters make up for the essential straight-up nature of the story which lacks the twists and turns of the first two volumes(less)
I finished this one a while ago (early August vs writing this in early September), though only as fast, turn the pages and see what happens read; I th...moreI finished this one a while ago (early August vs writing this in early September), though only as fast, turn the pages and see what happens read; I thought I would give it a more careful read towards publication date, but now i doubt it as I feel the series exhausted its interest for me in the first two volumes; overall a good series ending, kind of as predicted in the first two volumes.
This book is absolutely superb for about 3/4 but stumbles and falls down badly in the end when it becomes cheap psycho-melodrama, eschewing the potent...moreThis book is absolutely superb for about 3/4 but stumbles and falls down badly in the end when it becomes cheap psycho-melodrama, eschewing the potentialities of before.
Definitely a page turner and while the main character Oscar is a bit improbable in some ways, he is very compelling and you cannot help but root for him and his quite unlikely love story with Iris Bellwether, a medical student at Cambridge.
But there is a hitch and it's not Iris' rich surgeon father or her Church going snobbish mother (Oscar is a proud atheist and nursing home attendant from a working class family); it's Eden the charismatic older brother of Iris and extremely talented organ player who believes his music can heal the sick and dying and his need for adulation conflicts with Oscar practical experience of nursing homes and how the body breaks down due to age and illness.
But who knows, Eden may be onto something as his healing seems to work; though of course destroying a golden boy's illusion may be dangerous
Overall the superb first 3/4 offers enough to make me recommend this novel but I wish the author would have been more imaginative; sometimes going sff-nal really would help and this book is a clear example of something that would be much better with some sffnal touches or at least more ambiguity, though I can also see the point of the author which is driven home quite emphatically in the last few pages; that lack of subtlety added a little to my disappointment for the ending, though there is a stark power to it in a way.
After quite high expectations, I have to say that Worldsoul turned to be a little mixed for me as the novel aligned closer to the UF subgenre than to...moreAfter quite high expectations, I have to say that Worldsoul turned to be a little mixed for me as the novel aligned closer to the UF subgenre than to the SF that remains by far the most interesting of the author's oeuvre to date. It is true that the novel is not quite the usual UF junk as it takes place in a "higher dimension" from Earth, but Earth's cultures, myths, supernatural beings of lore, books and tales are crucial for all that happens.
Worldsoul has great inventiveness and the writing style is the compelling one I have been expecting from Liz Williams with interesting main characters, and action happening in the higher dimensional city Worldsoul of the title, metropolis which is in a bit of disarray as its former rulers vanished a while ago and the various powers to be have started the struggle for domination.
Mercy is a somewhat naive but dogged librarian - though of course not of a mundane library - from a Northern tundra clan lineage whose two mothers have left on a quest to find the disappeared rulers - Worldsoul is a Liz Williams book so expect men to have minimal roles if they are not dispensed with as in her superb Solar System novels like Banner of Souls or Winterstrike - while Shadow is a devout alchemist from a Middle Eastern inspired culture who is compelled by the local power broker, a male Shah, to do some work for him that her ethics code finds distasteful.
A few demons including a duke of Hell - still female - who is the best and funniest secondary character, Disir i.e. Loki's supernatural minions, and assorted supernatural beings play the humans and one another and are occasionally played in turn while the novel moves at a brisk pace and ends at quite a satisfying point solving its main local stories though of course the big picture is just coming into focus as the ending emphatically punctuates that.
Where my reservations lie is in that the whole UF setup is a bit hard to take seriously and the external world lacks focus with the Worldsoul itself more of an abstraction or a stage for our characters than a "real place" with texture and depth.
On many occasions scenes that are supposed to have tension simply lacked it for me as I had no idea what the parameters were (and no idea if the book follows standard UF ones as I heartily detest the subgenre) so the various fights, chases etc read: "well this happened because it happened" with no way for me to realize if it was normal, an act of valor or something unusual.
I would compare my experience in those parts of the novel as with reading about a Wild West gunfight without having any ideas what guns can or cannot do - pretty much everything described can happen as the fact that the sheriff is faster on the draw may simply be so because his gun is a "lawful" one so it comes out faster, the fact that he shoots straight and the villain shoots badly maybe because his gun is an AI that targets itself etc and if the author inserts that the sheriff's gun shot 500 times in succession without recharge, it may seem a little odd but hey, it may be possible after all...
Overall, I think that if you are a UF buff you may love Worldsoul a lot, while personally I found it entertaining and I would definitely recommend it. Not as grand as the author's excellent sf, but I am still looking forward to see what comes next in the series!(less)
Good ending of the trilogy; the prose of the author and the adventures of Jianna make up for the more-or-less cliched/expected happenings that bring l...moreGood ending of the trilogy; the prose of the author and the adventures of Jianna make up for the more-or-less cliched/expected happenings that bring little surprise; the first book of the trilogy was the best as being new with the following two essentially straight continuations without too many surprises (less)
INTRODUCTION: Mary Gentle has written a couple of the most memorable sffnal novels I've read, namely the two alt-history novels A Sundial in th...moreFBC RV:
INTRODUCTION: Mary Gentle has written a couple of the most memorable sffnal novels I've read, namely the two alt-history novels A Sundial in the Grave: 1610 and Ilario, both deserving a place on my all time "more favorites list". She also has written the somewhat (in)famous Orthe duology of which the final volume Ancient Light courageously follows the logic of the story to its more natural conclusion, rather than the more standard "it'll be alright in the end" that even last year's Embassytown - which follows the same kind of story - presented. So any new novel by her is a priority for me and I've been impatiently waiting for The Black Opera since it was announced a few years ago.
Here is the blurb which is generally accurate though it does not really convey the richness of the book:
"Naples, the 19th Century. In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, holy music has power.
Under the auspices of the Church, the Sung Mass can bring about actual miracles like healing the sick or raising the dead. But some believe that the musicodramma of grand opera can also work magic by channeling powerful emotions into something sublime. Now the Prince's Men, a secret society, hope to stage their own black opera to empower the Devil himself - and change Creation for the better!
Conrad Scalese is a struggling librettist whose latest opera has landed him in trouble with the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Rescued by King Ferdinand II, Conrad finds himself recruited to write and stage a counter opera that will, hopefully, cancel out the apocalyptic threat of the black opera, provided the Prince's Men, and their spies and saboteurs, don't get to him first. And he only has six weeks to do it."
ANALYSIS: While Ilario and 1610 were clearly sfnal, The Black Opera is fantasy-nal as it has souls, returned dead, ghosts and music as magic. It is also lighter and the least "serious" of the three with action that resembles an operatic plot in many instances. I am not that familiar with opera terminology and customs but I enjoyed the parts set into its world - bare-bones plot - bad guys want to use a special opera to bring down society for the greater good of course, good guys have to write/compose/perform a "counteropera" to stop the bad guys, though of course things are subtler in many ways.
The main characters of the book are part of the opera world in a role or another with a few kings, emperors, cardinals and soldiers added in since we are in sff hence we deal in saving the world and they are quite vivid and stand out with different personalities.
The action takes place by and large in the 1820's South Italy - home of the opera after all - though there is some backstory and some detail about the rest of the world. As mentioned above the operatic touch means that the novel balances between over-the-top fun and more serious stuff, but the author's skill is such that it is always a pleasure to read as the dialogue is crisp and funny - with occasional touches of subtlety and depth - and you slowly get to care about the characters and their fate. In traditional operatic mode there are powerful emotional scenes - while Mary Gentle's storyline twists and turns quite a lot.
If there is a weakness beyond the general lightness, "this is a story and it cannot be truly real" and of course assuming that the balancing act mentioned above works for you - I would say it is the choice of Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as the focal point of the movers and shakers of the action which of course makes sense from an opera point of view but not really from a sffnal point of view so to speak.
Overall The Black Opera is a highly recommended novel for 2012 but its ultimate lightness will keep it from my top of the year.(less)
The best Bazhell by far and finally a "real" ie great Weber fantasy novel as i have been accustomed in most all his sf. Will have a full rv closer to...moreThe best Bazhell by far and finally a "real" ie great Weber fantasy novel as i have been accustomed in most all his sf. Will have a full rv closer to pub date in July, and I will just note that I finally became interested in Bazhell, Leanna, Brandark and Wencit's adventures. All the trademark stuff of DW is present for once (the scheming villains, nefarious plots, heroes trying to save the day in the last minute, brutal battles with lots of casualties including of main characters...) and the previous arc started in Wind Rider's Oath ends conclusively - the novel published 8 years later also takes place some 7-8 years later too...(less)
This is a book I would rate as an A-/**** 1/2 but I would still recommend as it has some great, great stuff mixed with some mediocre such, while the l...moreThis is a book I would rate as an A-/**** 1/2 but I would still recommend as it has some great, great stuff mixed with some mediocre such, while the last part raises it above the "run of the mill" thriller with its "save the world" bla, bla that it threatened to devolve into.
I still believe the author missed writing an unforgettable book by going too much the Hollywood way with chases, men in black, etc at some point - though luckily he backs away in the end from that aspect which ultimately looks even more pointless - while the comparisons of the McCarthy era and later of Bush's invasion of Iraq with Nazi Germany are beyond the pale and that aspect is even clearer today in the "new era" of drone executions and take no prisoners navy seals assaults ordered by our current Nobel Peace Prize winner president to the unembarrassed silence and even cheering of the former Bush critics...
But the good parts - the diary of Kino about his life that arrives into the hand of his granddaughter Mina and later the revelations of his still living 92 year old wife (Mina's grandma though she has been estranged from her son for ages) - the portrait of the Weimar republic and the sketches of Nazi Germany, together with the examination of the role of art in society - are just great stuff.
Where the book misses its greatest potential is though in the sff aspect which justifies the chases and men in black - since that part is ultimately glossed over way too much as if the author wanted to write a "realistic thriller" and was embarrassed to delve too much into the supernatural; too bad as the potential lost there is huge, but at least the last part of the book stands back from the men in black and that was a huge plus
Overall the pages mostly turn by themselves and with few exceptions when the men in black appear the book is quite the page turner, but I still wish the author would have had the courage to go the sff route and embrace fully that aspect
FBC Review;
INTRODUCTION: With the blurb below and coming from Atticus Books of which I saw and heard quite a lot of good things, I was very interested in Kino and read it pretty much on obtaining an e-arc a few months ago, while the book is scheduled to be published April 17, though Amazon has it already shipping. While mostly a cross between historical fiction and standard contemporary thriller, Kino has a sfnal aspect too, but more about this below.
Here is a quote from Kino's diary:
''I came from nothing, I scaled the Olymp, and I can do it again. Even when the Nazis burned my movies, I clung to hope. You have marked me crazy and yet you ask me to explain myself. Art will prevail! I'll make another movie yet. Cinema cannot be detained! Nothing can stop me, for I am Kino.''
Here is the actual blurb:
"When the long lost, first-ever silent film from visionary director Kino arrives mysteriously on his granddaughter Mina's doorstep, the mission to discover the man she barely knew begins. As Kino's journals plunge the reader into the depraved glamour and infectious panic of 1920s and '30s Germany, Mina turns her life upside down to redeem her grandfather's legend.
With a cast of characters that includes Joseph Goebbels, Fritz Lang and Leni Riefenstahl, Fauth concocts a genre-busting blend of German history, film, and art into a fast, sinister tale of redemption. The tightly woven narrative is filled with thuggish darkness and back alley shadows running neck-and-neck with cinematic light and intrigue."
ANALYSYS:"Kino" is a book which I would rate as an A- but I would still recommend as it has some great stuff mixed with some more common such, while the last part raises it above the "run of the mill" thriller with its "save the world, etc" that it threatened to devolve into.
I believe the author missed writing an unforgettable book by going too much the Hollywood way with chases, men in black, etc - though luckily he backs away in the end from that aspect which ultimately looks even more pointless. I also found the comparisons of the McCarthy era and later of Bush's invasion of Iraq with Nazi Germany beyond the pale and that aspect is even clearer today in the "new era" of drone executions and take no prisoners navy seals assaults ordered by our Nobel Peace Prize winner president to the unembarrassed silence and even cheering of the former Bush critics. As another negative, in the Net Galley e-arc copy I read there were also a few historical mistakes like situating Pearl Harbor in 1943, but those may have been corrected.
However the good parts - the diary of Kino about his life which arrives into the hand of his granddaughter Mina and later the revelations of his still living 92 year old wife, Mina's grandma though she has been estranged from her son for ages, the portrait of the Weimar republic and the sketches of Nazi Germany, together with the examination of the role of art in society - are just great stuff and I'd rather read those 100+ pages and the mostly standard present day thriller that fills in the rest, than many other books.
Where the book misses its greatest potential is in the sff aspect which the author uses to justify the chases and men in black as Kino's movies..., well read the book to find out why they are believed to be important even today. That part is sadly glossed over as if the author wanted to write a "realistic thriller" and was embarrassed to delve too much into the sfnal; too bad, as the potential loss there is significant, but at least the finale of the novel stands back from the men in black and that was a big plus for me.
Overall the pages mostly turn by themselves and with few exceptions when the men in black appear the book is quite the page turner, but I still wish the author would have had the courage to go the sff route and embrace fully that aspect. (less)
I will have a review soon but for now i will make a few observations:
- this book in many ways came a year too late for me as I moved away from its sub...moreI will have a review soon but for now i will make a few observations:
- this book in many ways came a year too late for me as I moved away from its subgenre recently, though I still enjoyed it to a great degree but I thought it weaker than both Wintertide and Emerald storm; those two books and especially Wintertide are the peak of the series for me
- there a quite a few issues I had also - things are tied way too well in the end giving an impression of "all this is a game" than a real book as reality is messier; there were moments I felt that the few main characters were the only 'real people" and the rest were just puppets that the authors moves for their benefit
- the 1000 year timeline which here becomes essential is a bit ridiculous as a 1000 year is a loooong time (think society ~ 1100 vs today or even 100 vs 1100); maybe in prehistory when things moved slowly, yes but in historical time 1000 years are a lot; in earlier volumes this was more of a prop, but here it really seemed very simplistic
- the plot also here goes the most toward the traditional "ancient evil awakened, bla, bla" will destroy life and all as we know it, bla, bla, unless the heroes valiantly go and put a stop to it... - there are a few wrinkles, but that is the essence and as i mentioned I just moved away from that and I'd rather have the intrigue and adventure of the previous two volumes
All in all a good finale giving a neat package and a series that rewrites the classical 80's fantasy for the modern sensibilities of the 00's with both the virtues and the faults of such(less)
A more polished FBC rv instead of the original raw thoughts but content is pretty much same so I kept only this
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "The Ruined City" is...moreA more polished FBC rv instead of the original raw thoughts but content is pretty much same so I kept only this
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "The Ruined City" is a direct sequel to "The Traitor's Daughter" and a typical middle series novel insofar things advance but nothing is really resolved. The book was still fun to read as style but the content was too standard this time so I found myself reading a few pages and then putting it down so I do not get too bored by what happens and then repeating this a few times, until I finished it maybe a month after I started it.
There are a few twists and the ending is quite interesting - it is similar to how the first novel ended so with a dramatic touch - but in typical middle book fashion, story-lines that split earlier and characters whose coming apart was a major part of the first volume, remain split this time and remain apart, but in a time sensitive switch of places which read just a little contrived.
I also found Aureste's change in focus and outlook somewhat unconvincing and all his storyline which is the big picture thread after all, seemed very "unreal" given the way the world building - occupation, constraints, even character relationships - has been presented earlier. In many ways he becomes a more interesting character true, but the whole change of focus in "let's forget everything and let's go save the world" - this without the occupiers otherwise portrayed as keeping a tight leash on the occupied seeming to notice or care - jarred to a large extent.
In contrast I found Jianna's storyline much more interesting and "natural" and her transformation from "smart but bookish, other worldly pampered girl" to a practical, let's do what is needed to survive and help my new found friends, continued apace, though like with the big picture issue nothing was really solved here.
The book and the series to date excels at portraying strong women who are determined to do what it takes to reach their goals, while Jianna is getting there and her character arc is quite fascinating and the reason I enjoyed the novel and I plan to read The Wanderers which presumably will end the trilogy, and this finale volume will decide how I will regard the series overall.
So to sum quickly, The Ruined City (recommended novel of 2012) focuses more on the big picture than I found desirable or interesting as the whole "ancient evil, world is in danger, let's go save it" seems to be so predictably done these days - and here it is no exception to a large extent - that it has become a reason to stop reading a book whose focus is there.
On the other hand the personal stories, especially Jianna's, are still fascinating and represent the strength of the author as she has shown us in her wonderful 1990 novels like Illusion. I really hope the last volume will be very strong there, though I fear to some extent that it will go the whole faux-drama of everything seeming lost until at the last minute the heroes save the world and everybody lives happily ever after while all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed, which seems to be the way traditional fantasy series end these days. We'll see in July... (less)
As I will have a full FBC rv close to its publication next year (I read an earc of the US edition, though the UK edition is out) only some points:
- a...moreAs I will have a full FBC rv close to its publication next year (I read an earc of the US edition, though the UK edition is out) only some points:
- a very dark novel written in a somewhat whimsical tone that most of the time tones down the horrors
- excellent atmosphere and memorable characters mostly set in a Viennese housing complex that in the spirit of the times mixed the better off with working poor and was supervised in the name of the Reich by a chief administrator/informer that worked hand in hand with the Gestapo and the police; the one here is an unusual one as being a formerly very respected University professor and physician that was tried for child rape (though acquitted) some years ago and finds National Socialism a good vehicle for his revenge on the Viennese society that shunned him after the trial
- mostly historical fiction and people looking for a mystery will be disappointed as there is no real such despite the talked about murders and the dog
- Vienna October-November 1939; the war has started, the Jews have been beaten and kicked out, though their murder is still only sporadic, the mentally sick and physically disabled are starting to be killed in hospitals for the good of the race, or at least this is what the characters believe (the actual killings started mostly in 1940, but rumors have been going around earlier), while forced sterilizations have been done for a while now
-integrity is rare, corruption and violence are common
- great interludes from the press of the times that read stranger than fiction
Another fantasy series ending (3rd in 2012 after Percepliquis and Daemon Prism) that was a huge, huge asap and while i enjoyed it and would recommend...moreAnother fantasy series ending (3rd in 2012 after Percepliquis and Daemon Prism) that was a huge, huge asap and while i enjoyed it and would recommend it, it just did not blow me away as earlier novels in the series.
In this one I still loved the language and the setting is still great, but somehow Ivy who was undoubtedly the star of the first two novels, loses a little her distinctiveness and centrality to the novel and while I did not mind that much having Rafferdy and Eldyn Garitt as the main stars, the book lost some luster for me there. Another issue I had was the acceleration of action as the earlier novels worked better at a slower pace where dialogue and setting counted for more since once frantic action starts the fantasy part of the world building starts being exposed as quite shallow.
Also the "everything explained, all i's dotted and t's crossed" that seems to afflict series ending these days are present here and there were quite a few "yawn" rather than "oh, what" moments there too.
Another series ending (maybe?) and again I plan to talk later more and have a full review, but in short i would say two things:
- first 3/4 (more or le...moreAnother series ending (maybe?) and again I plan to talk later more and have a full review, but in short i would say two things:
- first 3/4 (more or less) of the novel are awesome and i thought this would be a top 25 of mine, but the ending is a bit disappointing and this is why i hope for more; it will be a major spoiler to say why but essentially it suffers from the "great tension, great danger, way too easy out" syndrome
- i realized why I love so much this whole series - nostalgia - as something that has Jules Verne, Karl May, Sherlock Holmes, Winnetou, Milady de Winter, the Comte Rochefort, Van helsing, Bram Stoker, Viktor Frankenstein, Harry Houdini, etc etc as characters - cannot be but wonderful if done well(less)
I finished this (maybe last) Burton and Swinburne novel and while I plan to talk more a bit later on further thought, for now i will say that overall...moreI finished this (maybe last) Burton and Swinburne novel and while I plan to talk more a bit later on further thought, for now i will say that overall I thought it a very good book despite that it almost fell in the solipsistic (the action of one or more characters can erase/change timelines ie have God powers ie solipsism) trap that tends to afflict time travel/timeline changes novels. Very good writing and in the "local" - chapter by chapter, adventure by adventure, scene by scene the book is excellent, but in the global as mentioned it almost collapses the suspension of disbelief and the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The ending was superb though - balance of ambiguity and necessity - to raise the whole a bit more, but while I would highly recommend the book and the series, it is not quite at a top 25 level.(less)
Loading...
