Nerine Dorman's Blog, page 63
May 15, 2014
Officially going "ta-dah"! – The Guardian's Wyrd
Okay, today I'm totally pleased to officially reveal the ebook cover art for
The Guardian’s Wyrd
, my YA fantasy novel which will release later this month via Wordsmack*. The blurb says it best, I reckon.
Sometimes having a fairytale prince as a best friend can be a real pain.
Jay didn't realise that sticking up for Rowan, the gangly new kid at school, would plunge him into the dangers and politics of the magical realm of Sunthyst. But if anyone is up for the challenge it's Jay September. With his trusty dog, Shadow, at his side, he braves the Watcher in the dark that guards the tunnels between the worlds, and undertakes a dangerous quest to rescue the prince.
It's a race against time - can he sneak Prince Rowan away from under King Lessian's nose and bring him safely back home - all before the prince's sixteenth birthday? Or is Rowan's mother, the exiled Queen Persia, secretly trying to hold onto her power by denying her son his birthright?
Jay is ready for anything, except, perhaps, the suffocating darkness of the tunnels. And that howling…
Some early readers have had this to say:
This was an adventure I can go on again and again. The book is not just for one reading, but one that can be taken out on any rainy afternoon. Jay and Rowan and the other characters will become lifelong friends. Except for King Lessian. He’s definitely not friend material! – Amy Lee Burgess
Once Jay and his new friend Rowan reach Sunthyst, however, the pace picks up dramatically, with plenty of nail-biting tension and heart-racing action, leavened with just the right amount of humour, to keep hold of the target audience’s attention. – Tracie McBride
Fantastic, 'just one more chapter' fantasy book about a South African boy who realizes his nerdish new friend is a lot more than he seems. Jay is soon sucked into a world of royalty, monsters, and magic, when all he wants to do is get back home. – Brian Katcher
Sign up here to be notified when the book has gone live on Amazon and other digital platforms.
* The print edition will release later this year via Dark Continents Publishing.
Sometimes having a fairytale prince as a best friend can be a real pain. Jay didn't realise that sticking up for Rowan, the gangly new kid at school, would plunge him into the dangers and politics of the magical realm of Sunthyst. But if anyone is up for the challenge it's Jay September. With his trusty dog, Shadow, at his side, he braves the Watcher in the dark that guards the tunnels between the worlds, and undertakes a dangerous quest to rescue the prince.
It's a race against time - can he sneak Prince Rowan away from under King Lessian's nose and bring him safely back home - all before the prince's sixteenth birthday? Or is Rowan's mother, the exiled Queen Persia, secretly trying to hold onto her power by denying her son his birthright?
Jay is ready for anything, except, perhaps, the suffocating darkness of the tunnels. And that howling…
Some early readers have had this to say:
This was an adventure I can go on again and again. The book is not just for one reading, but one that can be taken out on any rainy afternoon. Jay and Rowan and the other characters will become lifelong friends. Except for King Lessian. He’s definitely not friend material! – Amy Lee Burgess
Once Jay and his new friend Rowan reach Sunthyst, however, the pace picks up dramatically, with plenty of nail-biting tension and heart-racing action, leavened with just the right amount of humour, to keep hold of the target audience’s attention. – Tracie McBride
Fantastic, 'just one more chapter' fantasy book about a South African boy who realizes his nerdish new friend is a lot more than he seems. Jay is soon sucked into a world of royalty, monsters, and magic, when all he wants to do is get back home. – Brian Katcher
Sign up here to be notified when the book has gone live on Amazon and other digital platforms.
* The print edition will release later this year via Dark Continents Publishing.
Penelope by Rebecca Harrington #review
Title:
Penelope
Author: Rebecca Harrington
Publisher: Virago Press, 2013
If I have to pick one word as the underlying theme for this novel, it would be “awkward” – everything from the writing to plot and characterisation. Penelope is the kind of girl who’s gone through life agreeing with everyone and never having a strong opinion about anything. She has no recognisable passions or interests, either. She’s so bland and self-absorbed that she’s incapable of connecting meaningfully with anyone. Even her interactions with her mother are painful to behold; her gauche behaviour at Harvard even more so.
Secondary characters all have their quirks and are generally not likeable, perhaps existing as exaggerated archetypes of the students you might recall from your own college or university days. Predictably, Penelope gets involved with a highly unsuitable boy, while the obviously suitable one ends up dating someone else.
That the characters themselves seem so obtuse and unaware of what is going on around them doesn’t ring true. Not much happens in this book, which can pretty much be summed up as “socially inept woman attends Harvard, sleeps with a heartless cad and acts in a terrible play”. We follow Penelope from one snatch of stilted dialogue to the next, all the while silently yelling for her to get a life.
Granted, there were points in the story when I found myself vaguely amused at the author’s observations of life at Harvard, but then Penelope’s floundering became tiresome again. Eventually, when she gets a little spine near the end, it’s not with any earth-shattering Oprah-worthy “A-ha” moment.
In conclusion, I’m not quite sure what the author was trying to achieve. The book switches between satire and sincerity, so that at its close it comes across as an uneasy and somewhat lukewarm mixture of the two.
The writing is simplistic and the dialogue feels unnatural; whether this was intentional, I don’t know. Lack of plot or character development don’t help this vaguely humorous story that may amuse some. But it could definitely have been better if there’d been a little more voema.
Author: Rebecca Harrington
Publisher: Virago Press, 2013
If I have to pick one word as the underlying theme for this novel, it would be “awkward” – everything from the writing to plot and characterisation. Penelope is the kind of girl who’s gone through life agreeing with everyone and never having a strong opinion about anything. She has no recognisable passions or interests, either. She’s so bland and self-absorbed that she’s incapable of connecting meaningfully with anyone. Even her interactions with her mother are painful to behold; her gauche behaviour at Harvard even more so.Secondary characters all have their quirks and are generally not likeable, perhaps existing as exaggerated archetypes of the students you might recall from your own college or university days. Predictably, Penelope gets involved with a highly unsuitable boy, while the obviously suitable one ends up dating someone else.
That the characters themselves seem so obtuse and unaware of what is going on around them doesn’t ring true. Not much happens in this book, which can pretty much be summed up as “socially inept woman attends Harvard, sleeps with a heartless cad and acts in a terrible play”. We follow Penelope from one snatch of stilted dialogue to the next, all the while silently yelling for her to get a life.
Granted, there were points in the story when I found myself vaguely amused at the author’s observations of life at Harvard, but then Penelope’s floundering became tiresome again. Eventually, when she gets a little spine near the end, it’s not with any earth-shattering Oprah-worthy “A-ha” moment.
In conclusion, I’m not quite sure what the author was trying to achieve. The book switches between satire and sincerity, so that at its close it comes across as an uneasy and somewhat lukewarm mixture of the two.
The writing is simplistic and the dialogue feels unnatural; whether this was intentional, I don’t know. Lack of plot or character development don’t help this vaguely humorous story that may amuse some. But it could definitely have been better if there’d been a little more voema.
May 14, 2014
Silver: Humanotica by Darcy Abriel #review
Title:
Silver (Humanotica #1)
Author: Darcy Abriel, 2010
We enter a fascinating future where those who have become modified with robotics – humanotics – over a certain percentage, are considered the chattel of the wealthy upper classes. Political decisions are made not only in governmental departments, but also through the sexual liaisons that can easily decide outcomes and tip the balance of power.
The humanotic Silver is our viewpoint character, and she is a trinex – possessed of both male and female aspects, and as humanotic, she is the chattel of her powerful, enigmatic and charismatic master Lel Kesselbaum. Though she still chafes at her lost freedom and being subservient to Lel, and is no better than a sex slave that exists as an object of aesthetic pleasure, she revels in her submission and the exaggerated sensuality of their relationship and her heavily modified body.
We also encounter Entreus, another humanotic, but one who is rogue and allied with a human resistance movement fighting to overthrow the current regime. He an Silver are obviously captured in an orbit of mutual fascination as the story progresses.
First off, be warned, various highly graphic sexual encounters form the mainstay of this novel. Also, Dacy Abriel’s vision allows for fluidity in gender and sexual preference, so if you’re a bit squeamish about the idea of a hermaphrodite who’s well-endowed and all too comfortable with her sexual orientation and appetites, then this might not be the story for you.
Essentially, we are faced with the inevitable coming together of these three main characters, and we eventually see the story from all three points of view. Lel himself does eventually reveal some dangerous secrets, and I so did not see these reveals, erm… coming.
Abriel mixes fantasy and SF in a heady melange. At times I was left with the sense that plot development and resolution was abandoned in favour of the highly eroticised encounters, but then this might just be a matter of reader’s taste and my own need for stronger narrative elements. My main feeling is that there could have been more effort put into heightening tension and elaborating on the closure, which definitely got overshadowed by the erotic elements. It’s also my feeling that the characters themselves weren’t challenged enough, but that being considered, this was still an enjoyable, entertaining read. Abriel’s writing and visualisation is highly detailed and evocative, and for that alone this is a treat.
Author: Darcy Abriel, 2010
We enter a fascinating future where those who have become modified with robotics – humanotics – over a certain percentage, are considered the chattel of the wealthy upper classes. Political decisions are made not only in governmental departments, but also through the sexual liaisons that can easily decide outcomes and tip the balance of power.The humanotic Silver is our viewpoint character, and she is a trinex – possessed of both male and female aspects, and as humanotic, she is the chattel of her powerful, enigmatic and charismatic master Lel Kesselbaum. Though she still chafes at her lost freedom and being subservient to Lel, and is no better than a sex slave that exists as an object of aesthetic pleasure, she revels in her submission and the exaggerated sensuality of their relationship and her heavily modified body.
We also encounter Entreus, another humanotic, but one who is rogue and allied with a human resistance movement fighting to overthrow the current regime. He an Silver are obviously captured in an orbit of mutual fascination as the story progresses.
First off, be warned, various highly graphic sexual encounters form the mainstay of this novel. Also, Dacy Abriel’s vision allows for fluidity in gender and sexual preference, so if you’re a bit squeamish about the idea of a hermaphrodite who’s well-endowed and all too comfortable with her sexual orientation and appetites, then this might not be the story for you.
Essentially, we are faced with the inevitable coming together of these three main characters, and we eventually see the story from all three points of view. Lel himself does eventually reveal some dangerous secrets, and I so did not see these reveals, erm… coming.
Abriel mixes fantasy and SF in a heady melange. At times I was left with the sense that plot development and resolution was abandoned in favour of the highly eroticised encounters, but then this might just be a matter of reader’s taste and my own need for stronger narrative elements. My main feeling is that there could have been more effort put into heightening tension and elaborating on the closure, which definitely got overshadowed by the erotic elements. It’s also my feeling that the characters themselves weren’t challenged enough, but that being considered, this was still an enjoyable, entertaining read. Abriel’s writing and visualisation is highly detailed and evocative, and for that alone this is a treat.
May 13, 2014
The Bushman Winter Has Come by Paul John Myburgh #review
Title:
The Bushman Winter Has Come
Author: Paul John Myburgh
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2014
Up until recently, the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert roamed “the Great Sand Face”, living as their ancestors had for millennia. Anthropologist Paul John Myburgh expressed his love for Africa and spent seven years wandering with a small band of /Gwikwe Bushmen. The Bushman Winter Has Come is the result of this sojourn.
If you pick up this book and expect a linear story from start to finish, you will be disappointed. If you expect a historical account, forget about it. What you will find is a collection of Myburgh’s impressions and understanding of the way of life of the Bushmen.
Fact and fable commingle in a glorious celebration of survival in a harsh environment and a record of the cosmology of the “First People”. Through this, Myburgh explores that which makes us human and our individual relationships with the environment that has broader repercussions on a bigger scale. In addition, he brings us a record and an understanding of a way of life that is now relegated to the past.
He writes: “The great sadness is not the passing of a people; it is our failure to remember, our failure to bring forward the knowledge, our failure to consecrate the wisdom and so redeem the sacrifice of those who came before us.”
That sense of irrevocable shift in time and place underpins this book, which is at times dreamlike, and others a record of how our ancestors lived.
Myburgh explores the world of his /Gwikwe band with the knowledge of what lies in wait for them, and in that his telling of their lives is tinged with sorrow, for that final change when the people make the decision to move to the settlement is unavoidable.
The world changes and those who are unable or unwilling to adapt will fall by the wayside. While Myburgh’s writing style is uneven, this is nonetheless a haunting treatise that deserves to be treasured. He evokes a sense of place, as well as the spirit of an age, and it is clear that he writes from the heart – and that’s what matters.
Author: Paul John Myburgh
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2014
Up until recently, the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert roamed “the Great Sand Face”, living as their ancestors had for millennia. Anthropologist Paul John Myburgh expressed his love for Africa and spent seven years wandering with a small band of /Gwikwe Bushmen. The Bushman Winter Has Come is the result of this sojourn.If you pick up this book and expect a linear story from start to finish, you will be disappointed. If you expect a historical account, forget about it. What you will find is a collection of Myburgh’s impressions and understanding of the way of life of the Bushmen.
Fact and fable commingle in a glorious celebration of survival in a harsh environment and a record of the cosmology of the “First People”. Through this, Myburgh explores that which makes us human and our individual relationships with the environment that has broader repercussions on a bigger scale. In addition, he brings us a record and an understanding of a way of life that is now relegated to the past.
He writes: “The great sadness is not the passing of a people; it is our failure to remember, our failure to bring forward the knowledge, our failure to consecrate the wisdom and so redeem the sacrifice of those who came before us.”
That sense of irrevocable shift in time and place underpins this book, which is at times dreamlike, and others a record of how our ancestors lived.
Myburgh explores the world of his /Gwikwe band with the knowledge of what lies in wait for them, and in that his telling of their lives is tinged with sorrow, for that final change when the people make the decision to move to the settlement is unavoidable.
The world changes and those who are unable or unwilling to adapt will fall by the wayside. While Myburgh’s writing style is uneven, this is nonetheless a haunting treatise that deserves to be treasured. He evokes a sense of place, as well as the spirit of an age, and it is clear that he writes from the heart – and that’s what matters.
May 12, 2014
Sister-Sister by Rachel Zadok #review
Title:
Sister-Sister
Author: Rachel Zadok
Publisher: Kwela, 2013
The moment I read the opening lines of Sister-Sister, I was submerged in Rachel Zadok’s almost apocalyptic vision of a possible future South Africa. At the heart of the story we follow the journey of twin sisters Thuli and Sindi, but if you think this is merely an examination of the sometimes uneasy relationship between two sisters, think again. Sister-Sister is so much more than that.
Zadok effortlessly evokes an oppressive setting in the township – a decaying environment where people’s relationships are twisted by circumstances. Underlying themes of poverty, disease and social inequality are evident, yet at first the relationship between Thuli and Sindi shines as a beautiful, pure thing. But the rot sets in even here, and events unfold that unravel this closest of bonds.
This is a story told on multiple levels, fluid in shifting between times and viewpoints. Patient readers who love detailed, lush prose filled with descriptive narrative will be rewarded. There is a dreamlike, non-linear quality here reminiscent of William Burroughs’s Cities of the Red Night in both style and structure.
Sister-Sister is complex, filled with contrasts and ripe with dark visions, populated with enigmatic characters like Ben and Joe Saviour, among others, who exist on the outskirts and take on archetypal, mythic roles. Innocence and the seemingly unbreakable twin bond is threatened by aeons-old superstition, and the girls encounter the somewhat sinister cult of the Believers, whose interference in their lives is a source of dread. The ring road encircling Joburg becomes a symbol of the grinding futility of life, and further tension grows out of an escalating heatwave that bakes the landscape, adding to the sense that there is no hope and no life-giving rains to come.
Tragedy and horror are juxtaposed with beauty in a gradual unveiling that paints a picture where our future has taken a path that is slightly left of field – familiar yet alien at the same time. It encapsulates an African essence that is quite unlike anything I’ve encountered so far. Though filled with equal measures of despair and the darkly poetic, Sister-Sister is a brave work that defies pigeonholing.
Zadok’s work reads like the secret lovechild of Nick Cave and Poppy Z Brite. If there is one South African novel you give a chance this year, make this one your choice.
Author: Rachel Zadok
Publisher: Kwela, 2013
The moment I read the opening lines of Sister-Sister, I was submerged in Rachel Zadok’s almost apocalyptic vision of a possible future South Africa. At the heart of the story we follow the journey of twin sisters Thuli and Sindi, but if you think this is merely an examination of the sometimes uneasy relationship between two sisters, think again. Sister-Sister is so much more than that.Zadok effortlessly evokes an oppressive setting in the township – a decaying environment where people’s relationships are twisted by circumstances. Underlying themes of poverty, disease and social inequality are evident, yet at first the relationship between Thuli and Sindi shines as a beautiful, pure thing. But the rot sets in even here, and events unfold that unravel this closest of bonds.
This is a story told on multiple levels, fluid in shifting between times and viewpoints. Patient readers who love detailed, lush prose filled with descriptive narrative will be rewarded. There is a dreamlike, non-linear quality here reminiscent of William Burroughs’s Cities of the Red Night in both style and structure.
Sister-Sister is complex, filled with contrasts and ripe with dark visions, populated with enigmatic characters like Ben and Joe Saviour, among others, who exist on the outskirts and take on archetypal, mythic roles. Innocence and the seemingly unbreakable twin bond is threatened by aeons-old superstition, and the girls encounter the somewhat sinister cult of the Believers, whose interference in their lives is a source of dread. The ring road encircling Joburg becomes a symbol of the grinding futility of life, and further tension grows out of an escalating heatwave that bakes the landscape, adding to the sense that there is no hope and no life-giving rains to come.
Tragedy and horror are juxtaposed with beauty in a gradual unveiling that paints a picture where our future has taken a path that is slightly left of field – familiar yet alien at the same time. It encapsulates an African essence that is quite unlike anything I’ve encountered so far. Though filled with equal measures of despair and the darkly poetic, Sister-Sister is a brave work that defies pigeonholing.
Zadok’s work reads like the secret lovechild of Nick Cave and Poppy Z Brite. If there is one South African novel you give a chance this year, make this one your choice.
May 5, 2014
Citadel by Kate Mosse #review
Title:
Citadel (Languedoc #3)
Author: Kate Mosse
Publisher: William Morrow, 2014
Although Citadel is a work of fiction that offers a whiff of the supernatural element blended in, author Kate Mosse nonetheless writes in her author’s note that the novel was inspired by real events.
She relates that a plaque in the French village of Rouellen, near Carcassonne, commemorates 19 prisoners who were put to death by the Nazis shortly before the end of World War II. Two of these people remain unidentified, and are honoured as “two unknown women”. This proved to be a perfect story seed for Mosse.
She is known for her other books, Labyrinth, Sepulchre and The Winter Ghosts, but Citadel is the first of hers that I’ve read and my interest is suitably piqued to pick up the rest at some point.
In Citadel, we mostly follow in the shoes of Sandrine Vidal, who begins her active participation in the French Resistance in 1942 when she stumbles across a young, unconscious man by the river. Though Sandrine is young, she has a lot of spirit, and a keen sense of justice.
Through her sister’s involvement with the Red Cross, she gets a taste for her work, and eventually runs an underground network that is code-named “Citadel”. With the aid of the love interest, Raoul Pelletier, and the mysterious Audric Baillard, she finds herself in a dangerous dance with Captain Authié who, apart from collaborating with the Nazis, is also on a shadowy quest to retrieve a document known only as the Codex.
If the Codex is found and its words spoken, an army of the dead will supposedly rise to bring victory, and so far as I can see, it’s been the enigmatic and unusually resilient Baillard’s mission to stop the Codex from falling into the wrong hands.
Raoul and Sandrine’s romance is touching and somewhat tragic given their circumstances, but it’s clear that they inspire each other during the darkest times when it seems that France is doomed to remain under the Nazi yoke. Mosse also sketches in believable secondary characters; it’s easy to care about Lucie, Max and his sister Liesl, Marianne, Marieta and Suzanne – who all seem like people who feel real – who keep me turning the pages.
So often war stories deal with heroes at the front line, when we forget about the many thousands behind the lines who might not have been great movers and shakers in the bigger scheme of things.
I feel that Citadel is a suitable tribute to these souls, and even if I struggled at first to get into the story, I was soon swept away by Mosse’s vivid evocation of Languedoc during the tail end of World War II. This is a worthy read about courage in the face of great adversity.
Author: Kate Mosse
Publisher: William Morrow, 2014
Although Citadel is a work of fiction that offers a whiff of the supernatural element blended in, author Kate Mosse nonetheless writes in her author’s note that the novel was inspired by real events.She relates that a plaque in the French village of Rouellen, near Carcassonne, commemorates 19 prisoners who were put to death by the Nazis shortly before the end of World War II. Two of these people remain unidentified, and are honoured as “two unknown women”. This proved to be a perfect story seed for Mosse.
She is known for her other books, Labyrinth, Sepulchre and The Winter Ghosts, but Citadel is the first of hers that I’ve read and my interest is suitably piqued to pick up the rest at some point.
In Citadel, we mostly follow in the shoes of Sandrine Vidal, who begins her active participation in the French Resistance in 1942 when she stumbles across a young, unconscious man by the river. Though Sandrine is young, she has a lot of spirit, and a keen sense of justice.
Through her sister’s involvement with the Red Cross, she gets a taste for her work, and eventually runs an underground network that is code-named “Citadel”. With the aid of the love interest, Raoul Pelletier, and the mysterious Audric Baillard, she finds herself in a dangerous dance with Captain Authié who, apart from collaborating with the Nazis, is also on a shadowy quest to retrieve a document known only as the Codex.
If the Codex is found and its words spoken, an army of the dead will supposedly rise to bring victory, and so far as I can see, it’s been the enigmatic and unusually resilient Baillard’s mission to stop the Codex from falling into the wrong hands.
Raoul and Sandrine’s romance is touching and somewhat tragic given their circumstances, but it’s clear that they inspire each other during the darkest times when it seems that France is doomed to remain under the Nazi yoke. Mosse also sketches in believable secondary characters; it’s easy to care about Lucie, Max and his sister Liesl, Marianne, Marieta and Suzanne – who all seem like people who feel real – who keep me turning the pages.
So often war stories deal with heroes at the front line, when we forget about the many thousands behind the lines who might not have been great movers and shakers in the bigger scheme of things.
I feel that Citadel is a suitable tribute to these souls, and even if I struggled at first to get into the story, I was soon swept away by Mosse’s vivid evocation of Languedoc during the tail end of World War II. This is a worthy read about courage in the face of great adversity.
May 1, 2014
A Memory of LIght by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson #review
Title:
A Memory of Light (Book #14 of The Wheel of Time)
Authors: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Orbit, 2013
No fantasy section in any library or bookstore would be complete without Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. This saga began in 1990 with The Eye of the World and ends 14 books later with A Memory of Light; these books are all doorstoppers – consider yourself duly warned.
It is perhaps not advisable to approach A Memory of Light the way I did; I read book one more than a decade ago then didn’t ever get round to reading the rest by the time A Memory of Light landed on my desk. The Wheel of Time series represents a huge investment of a reader’s time, yet I bravely, and perhaps foolishly, plunged right in with the final instalment.
The first thing I must add is names and things and powers – there are dozens of viewpoint characters to keep track of. Sanderson, who completed this book from Jordan’s notes after his death in 2007, had the task of developing the multitude of plot arcs. Consequently, the scenes are short and the author hops to fresh viewpoints with great regularity. First-timers might feel a wee bit overwhelmed.
I didn’t have any back story to form a solid foundation for the various events taking place, so I know I missed out on a lot. (And that could quite possibly be the biggest understatement of my reading career.) That being said, Sanderson deftly handles enough exposition for me to get into the flow and pick up the missing details.
The Wheel of Time has all the hallmarks of classic fantasy, complete with magic, heroes, battle and the archetypical struggle between good and evil. The final instalment concludes one of the biggest epic sagas you could wish for. There’s battle – a lot of it – and the aptly titled chapter near the end, The Last Battle, is very long, almost a quarter of the book.
If military fantasy isn’t your thing and you’re hankering after George RR Martin’s Machiavellian intrigues, then wait for The Winds of Winter. A Memory of Light is chock full of fighting, strategy, chase scenes, duels – most notably Rand al’Thor’s showdown with the Dark One himself. Various other characters have their final altercations with suitable antagonists.
It’s all very thrilling. And it can get a bit repetitive. Without giving spoilers, the ending is apt, and I finished the novel with a sense of relief. I am the first to admit that my heroic bid to master this hefty tome might have been ill-advised but I’m glad I persevered. You’ll need to be made of stern stuff to tackle this without reading the preceding books but at the heart of the matter is the fact that this is an unforgettable read.
Authors: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Orbit, 2013
No fantasy section in any library or bookstore would be complete without Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. This saga began in 1990 with The Eye of the World and ends 14 books later with A Memory of Light; these books are all doorstoppers – consider yourself duly warned.It is perhaps not advisable to approach A Memory of Light the way I did; I read book one more than a decade ago then didn’t ever get round to reading the rest by the time A Memory of Light landed on my desk. The Wheel of Time series represents a huge investment of a reader’s time, yet I bravely, and perhaps foolishly, plunged right in with the final instalment.
The first thing I must add is names and things and powers – there are dozens of viewpoint characters to keep track of. Sanderson, who completed this book from Jordan’s notes after his death in 2007, had the task of developing the multitude of plot arcs. Consequently, the scenes are short and the author hops to fresh viewpoints with great regularity. First-timers might feel a wee bit overwhelmed.
I didn’t have any back story to form a solid foundation for the various events taking place, so I know I missed out on a lot. (And that could quite possibly be the biggest understatement of my reading career.) That being said, Sanderson deftly handles enough exposition for me to get into the flow and pick up the missing details.
The Wheel of Time has all the hallmarks of classic fantasy, complete with magic, heroes, battle and the archetypical struggle between good and evil. The final instalment concludes one of the biggest epic sagas you could wish for. There’s battle – a lot of it – and the aptly titled chapter near the end, The Last Battle, is very long, almost a quarter of the book.
If military fantasy isn’t your thing and you’re hankering after George RR Martin’s Machiavellian intrigues, then wait for The Winds of Winter. A Memory of Light is chock full of fighting, strategy, chase scenes, duels – most notably Rand al’Thor’s showdown with the Dark One himself. Various other characters have their final altercations with suitable antagonists.
It’s all very thrilling. And it can get a bit repetitive. Without giving spoilers, the ending is apt, and I finished the novel with a sense of relief. I am the first to admit that my heroic bid to master this hefty tome might have been ill-advised but I’m glad I persevered. You’ll need to be made of stern stuff to tackle this without reading the preceding books but at the heart of the matter is the fact that this is an unforgettable read.
April 29, 2014
Darkspell (Deverry #2) by Katherine Kerr
Title:
Darkspell (Deverry #2)
Author: Katherine Kerr
Publisher: HarperCollins, 1994
We continue our journey with Nevyn as he comes up against the sinister Old One – a dark dweomer master who has sent his operatives into Deverry to steal a magical jewel and sow dissent. Of course Jill and Rhodry soon find themselves entangled in the plot, and Katherine Kerr also takes us on a secondary journey to examine more of our central characters’ past lives, and how these influence current events.
The template of the warrior-maiden seems to be cast for Jill, only in her past life we get to know her as a priestess in service of the Moon Goddess’s dark phase. Events unfold that have definitive repercussions much later, as the souls bound by a shared wyrd seem fated to re-enact certain patterns until they’ve worked out their issues. Of course the outcomes are never quite the same, but there is always an undercurrent of tragedy.
New characters include Rhodry’s father, who is one of the Elcyion Lacar, or elvish folk, and also Rhodry’s half-brother, Salamander. We are also introduced to the mysterious McGuffin – a magical ring (surprise, surprise) – that is supposed to be Rhodry’s birthright, though we are yet to discover the full circumstances that suggest Rhodry will be playing a more important role in Saving The Day.
Apart from the retrieval of the magical jewel of the West (that’s quite chatty too, thanks to its imbued spirits) that the dark dweomer practitioner Alystyr (shades of Crowley, perhaps?) and his two bumbling acolytes attempt to steal for the Old One, and which Jill, Rhodry and Nevyn then intercept, there really isn’t much else that happens in book #2.
Granted, the world-building and characterisation, as well as magical system, is what keeps me turning the pages. I find that this time round I am a bit annoyed with the good/light vs. bad/dark dweomer divisions. Also, the stereotyping of protagonist vs. antagonist in that the evil is portrayed as physically repulsive and some degenerate (and queer, for that matter) was not to my taste. But I must point out that I feel fantasy has evolved over the years to take a less dualistic approach, or at least in my experiences as a reader when showing a preference for protagonists that are not necessarily squeaky clean or particularly nice (um, hello Jorgy-boy a la Mark Lawrence).
Villains have, in my opinion, become more ambiguous in their negative and positive traits when it comes to fantasy literature. This is a good thing, because in my opinion, it’s closer to reality, but it must also be kept in mind that I feel Kerr’s earlier writing slips into an era when hard lines between good/evil were still the norm.
Yet, these issues considered, this remains an enjoyable story that has stood the test of time, especially since many of the details have remained foggy from the first time that I read this novel when I was a teen.
Author: Katherine Kerr
Publisher: HarperCollins, 1994
We continue our journey with Nevyn as he comes up against the sinister Old One – a dark dweomer master who has sent his operatives into Deverry to steal a magical jewel and sow dissent. Of course Jill and Rhodry soon find themselves entangled in the plot, and Katherine Kerr also takes us on a secondary journey to examine more of our central characters’ past lives, and how these influence current events.The template of the warrior-maiden seems to be cast for Jill, only in her past life we get to know her as a priestess in service of the Moon Goddess’s dark phase. Events unfold that have definitive repercussions much later, as the souls bound by a shared wyrd seem fated to re-enact certain patterns until they’ve worked out their issues. Of course the outcomes are never quite the same, but there is always an undercurrent of tragedy.
New characters include Rhodry’s father, who is one of the Elcyion Lacar, or elvish folk, and also Rhodry’s half-brother, Salamander. We are also introduced to the mysterious McGuffin – a magical ring (surprise, surprise) – that is supposed to be Rhodry’s birthright, though we are yet to discover the full circumstances that suggest Rhodry will be playing a more important role in Saving The Day.
Apart from the retrieval of the magical jewel of the West (that’s quite chatty too, thanks to its imbued spirits) that the dark dweomer practitioner Alystyr (shades of Crowley, perhaps?) and his two bumbling acolytes attempt to steal for the Old One, and which Jill, Rhodry and Nevyn then intercept, there really isn’t much else that happens in book #2.
Granted, the world-building and characterisation, as well as magical system, is what keeps me turning the pages. I find that this time round I am a bit annoyed with the good/light vs. bad/dark dweomer divisions. Also, the stereotyping of protagonist vs. antagonist in that the evil is portrayed as physically repulsive and some degenerate (and queer, for that matter) was not to my taste. But I must point out that I feel fantasy has evolved over the years to take a less dualistic approach, or at least in my experiences as a reader when showing a preference for protagonists that are not necessarily squeaky clean or particularly nice (um, hello Jorgy-boy a la Mark Lawrence).
Villains have, in my opinion, become more ambiguous in their negative and positive traits when it comes to fantasy literature. This is a good thing, because in my opinion, it’s closer to reality, but it must also be kept in mind that I feel Kerr’s earlier writing slips into an era when hard lines between good/evil were still the norm.
Yet, these issues considered, this remains an enjoyable story that has stood the test of time, especially since many of the details have remained foggy from the first time that I read this novel when I was a teen.
April 28, 2014
Masha du Toit's Crooks and Straights
Today I'm excited to introduce you to Mash du Toit. She's a fellow Capetonian, and I recently proofed her YA contemporary fantasy novel, Crooks and Straights. Also, at the end of this blog post, we've got a question and ebook giveaway for readers, so keep your eyes open for a chance to lay hands on an ebook version of Crooks and Straights. I absolutely adored the story and pretty much gobbled it up. Masha weaves in her love for her location and its people with a magical reality that is utterly bewitching. So, welcome, Masha, and tell us more about the setting for Crooks and Straights, and also a little more about the initial story seed that sparked it.
The seed that sparked this story came to me out of nowhere – I pictured a South African girl putting sunblock on a little Irish fae. I liked the idea of a supernatural foreigner in South Africa, suffering from the sun on their pale skin. The rest of the story grew from there. What would South Africa be like, if magical creatures from other countries came here – possibly as refugees? What would they be fleeing from? How would they survive here?
Who are the main characters people will encounter? Can you tell us a little about the challenges they will encounter?
The story is about a girl called Gia and her family. Gia is sixteen years old, and she's at that stage where she's enough of an adult to chafe at her parents' restrictions, but still not quite ready to stand on her own in the scary world out there. As the story starts, the family business has fallen on hard times, and they've moved into a distinctly working class neighbourhood. This means that Gia is seeing another side of life, one that was hidden from her before. In particular, she's seeing the magicals – the trolls, fairies, werewolves and other creatures who live among humans in this version of South Africa. As she explores this new world, she accidentally sets off a train of events that puts her little brother Nico in danger.
What were some of the challenges with the story that you encountered, and how did you overcome them?
One of the important characters is Nico, Gia's little brother. Nico is not like other boys. He cannot speak properly, and it's clear from the start that he has some kind of mental or behavioural abnormality. This was a challenge for me. Firstly, I had to spend some time with children who are not neurotypical, so that I could base Nico on a real child instead of on my preconceptions of what such a child would be. Then, although I based a lot of his traits are that of an autistic child, Nico is not autistic. The reason for his difference becomes apparent only quite late in the story. So I had to find a way to portray him as "different but not autistic" without seeming simply to be writing an uniformed version of an autistic child.
Was there a particular scene that is one of your favourites? Then, to flip the coin, was there a scene that you struggled with?
I think my favourite scene is the one where Gia's mother, Saraswati, comes to have a late-night chat with Gia, and gives her a belated birthday present. At that stage in the story the two of them are not getting on very well, and they both need to find a better way back towards one another. Saraswati tells Gia how she felt the very first time she saw her (Gia was adopted), and Gia starts to realise how life must seem from her mother's point of view – something she's not been very good at doing up to that point. For me, the heart of this book is Gia's relationship with her mother. In some ways, Saraswati is the real heroine, and the book is about Gia discovering her mother's story.
A scene that I struggled with? I think this is one that a lot of writers come up against – how to introduce the story-world to the reader, without simply "info dumping", writing a long, boring lecture that slows the story down. Gia attends a lesson on magical creatures near the beginning of the book, and that is also the place where the reader gets enough information to be able to understand how her world works. Or at least, I hope so! I had to rewrite that quite a few times, removing all the things I was so proud of figuring out, but that the reader really did not need to know about.
You've got a few other titles out. Can you tell us a bit more about your other works?
My other books are a two-book series The Story Trap and The Broken Path. Like Crooks and Straights, they are urban fantasy books set here in Cape Town, and, like Crooks and Straights, they are both illustrated by me. The Story Trap is about a girl, Rebecca, who goes into an unexplained coma. Her sisters discover that the coma is the result of a witch's spell, and the book is about their attempts to bring Rebecca back. In The Broken Path, Rebecca has recovered, but she longs to be back in the magical world that she inhabited while she was in the coma. All of this is mixed up with a witch who is willing to do just about anything to save the ocean from humanity's pollution.
What aspects of your home town do you find inform your writing?
I'm heavily influenced by my surroundings. I write about magical creatures and impossible situations, but I love making them seem normal and real by setting them in the places I see every day – like Cape Town station, or the Civic Centre, or Main Road Woodstock. This has the effect of giving me a sort of double vision wherever I go, as I "remember" the story events that played out all over my version of Cape Town.
Can you tell us a bit more about your literary influences?
I have so many! Some of them are obvious, like Charles de Lint or Diana Wynne Jones, both writers who like to mix up the every-day world with magic. Garth Nix is another one, the master of monsters. Others may not be that apparent – I love the humanity of children's writers Arthur Ransome and Elizabeth Enright, who have such empathy and respect for their characters. And recently, I've been entranced by Jonathan Stroud, who has a unusually delicate, wry, moral angle to his writing. I read pretty much everything though, from old classics to popular genre fiction, and all of it feeds into my writing.
Getting back to Crooks and Straights, you've left the story at a bit of a cliffie, which suggests there's more to come. Are you able to tell us more at this point?
Oh yes indeed! I worried about that quite a bit, but in the end, decided that I could not fit the entire story into a single book. I've already started on the sequel and am having a lot of fun with it. Quite a few werewolves in this story, and the sea is important too – I'm figuring out a new angle on mermaids. It helps that I've just started doing volunteer work at the Two Oceans Aquarium. Lots of source material there.
And now, for the question. Masha wants to know:
Is there a magical creature that doesn't often get featured in books, that you would like to read more about? Tell me about it! Email Masha at masha.dutoit@gmail.com.
Links:
Kindle versions on Amazon.com, Kindle versions on Amazon.co.uk, online first chapter.
My "books" site with info on all my books is here and my Google+ profile.
The seed that sparked this story came to me out of nowhere – I pictured a South African girl putting sunblock on a little Irish fae. I liked the idea of a supernatural foreigner in South Africa, suffering from the sun on their pale skin. The rest of the story grew from there. What would South Africa be like, if magical creatures from other countries came here – possibly as refugees? What would they be fleeing from? How would they survive here?Who are the main characters people will encounter? Can you tell us a little about the challenges they will encounter?
The story is about a girl called Gia and her family. Gia is sixteen years old, and she's at that stage where she's enough of an adult to chafe at her parents' restrictions, but still not quite ready to stand on her own in the scary world out there. As the story starts, the family business has fallen on hard times, and they've moved into a distinctly working class neighbourhood. This means that Gia is seeing another side of life, one that was hidden from her before. In particular, she's seeing the magicals – the trolls, fairies, werewolves and other creatures who live among humans in this version of South Africa. As she explores this new world, she accidentally sets off a train of events that puts her little brother Nico in danger.
What were some of the challenges with the story that you encountered, and how did you overcome them?
One of the important characters is Nico, Gia's little brother. Nico is not like other boys. He cannot speak properly, and it's clear from the start that he has some kind of mental or behavioural abnormality. This was a challenge for me. Firstly, I had to spend some time with children who are not neurotypical, so that I could base Nico on a real child instead of on my preconceptions of what such a child would be. Then, although I based a lot of his traits are that of an autistic child, Nico is not autistic. The reason for his difference becomes apparent only quite late in the story. So I had to find a way to portray him as "different but not autistic" without seeming simply to be writing an uniformed version of an autistic child. Was there a particular scene that is one of your favourites? Then, to flip the coin, was there a scene that you struggled with?
I think my favourite scene is the one where Gia's mother, Saraswati, comes to have a late-night chat with Gia, and gives her a belated birthday present. At that stage in the story the two of them are not getting on very well, and they both need to find a better way back towards one another. Saraswati tells Gia how she felt the very first time she saw her (Gia was adopted), and Gia starts to realise how life must seem from her mother's point of view – something she's not been very good at doing up to that point. For me, the heart of this book is Gia's relationship with her mother. In some ways, Saraswati is the real heroine, and the book is about Gia discovering her mother's story.
A scene that I struggled with? I think this is one that a lot of writers come up against – how to introduce the story-world to the reader, without simply "info dumping", writing a long, boring lecture that slows the story down. Gia attends a lesson on magical creatures near the beginning of the book, and that is also the place where the reader gets enough information to be able to understand how her world works. Or at least, I hope so! I had to rewrite that quite a few times, removing all the things I was so proud of figuring out, but that the reader really did not need to know about.You've got a few other titles out. Can you tell us a bit more about your other works?
My other books are a two-book series The Story Trap and The Broken Path. Like Crooks and Straights, they are urban fantasy books set here in Cape Town, and, like Crooks and Straights, they are both illustrated by me. The Story Trap is about a girl, Rebecca, who goes into an unexplained coma. Her sisters discover that the coma is the result of a witch's spell, and the book is about their attempts to bring Rebecca back. In The Broken Path, Rebecca has recovered, but she longs to be back in the magical world that she inhabited while she was in the coma. All of this is mixed up with a witch who is willing to do just about anything to save the ocean from humanity's pollution.
What aspects of your home town do you find inform your writing?
I'm heavily influenced by my surroundings. I write about magical creatures and impossible situations, but I love making them seem normal and real by setting them in the places I see every day – like Cape Town station, or the Civic Centre, or Main Road Woodstock. This has the effect of giving me a sort of double vision wherever I go, as I "remember" the story events that played out all over my version of Cape Town.
Can you tell us a bit more about your literary influences?
I have so many! Some of them are obvious, like Charles de Lint or Diana Wynne Jones, both writers who like to mix up the every-day world with magic. Garth Nix is another one, the master of monsters. Others may not be that apparent – I love the humanity of children's writers Arthur Ransome and Elizabeth Enright, who have such empathy and respect for their characters. And recently, I've been entranced by Jonathan Stroud, who has a unusually delicate, wry, moral angle to his writing. I read pretty much everything though, from old classics to popular genre fiction, and all of it feeds into my writing.Getting back to Crooks and Straights, you've left the story at a bit of a cliffie, which suggests there's more to come. Are you able to tell us more at this point?
Oh yes indeed! I worried about that quite a bit, but in the end, decided that I could not fit the entire story into a single book. I've already started on the sequel and am having a lot of fun with it. Quite a few werewolves in this story, and the sea is important too – I'm figuring out a new angle on mermaids. It helps that I've just started doing volunteer work at the Two Oceans Aquarium. Lots of source material there.
And now, for the question. Masha wants to know:
Is there a magical creature that doesn't often get featured in books, that you would like to read more about? Tell me about it! Email Masha at masha.dutoit@gmail.com.
Links:
Kindle versions on Amazon.com, Kindle versions on Amazon.co.uk, online first chapter.
My "books" site with info on all my books is here and my Google+ profile.
April 24, 2014
Meet Ash Corvida, fellow Para Kindred author
A big welcome to Ash Corvida, who's also one of the contributing authors in the Immanion Press Para Kindred anthology, and who's here today to share a little bit in a Q&A. So, Ash, what do you love about Wraeththu Mythos?
Storm's writing style and the imagery she creates around Wraeththu are so deliciously rich and conjure such an intoxicating blend of thought and emotions, that I was instantly hooked. Also her world populated by a species of hermaphrodites, who have grown from human stock but developed far beyond human shortcomings and whose dream it is to evolve and explore the limits of their abilities resonated deeply within me. I feel that she takes a rather accurate account on where the world might go if we don't get a grip, but then she turns this rather dreary scenario into something new and wondrous with Wraeththu rising like a phoenix from the ashes of humanity.
The books offer an inspiration to start thinking on new paths and to search for new options within each individual. Who knows, maybe there is a har hiding deep within us, a beautiful and powerful creature, who can awaken us to our full potential?
Everyone’s story will have that spark that set the wheels spinning? What was yours?
Actually I was going to write a completely different story, something dark and deeply disturbing about some stray Teraghasts. But because I had not been writing for a long time I started out on a practice piece. It was supposed to be just a quick and short one of course. But soon enough I was pulled into the green depth of the jungle sharing the adventure and wondrous discoveries with my protagonists, while the idea for the other story went back to sleep. I might still write that one at a later point though.
Without giving any spoilers, can you share a bit about your story?
Torghyn and Marach are young hara of a hunter tribe, living on the edge of the rainforest. Their leaders believe that the only way to survive is a primitive life abandoning all technological and spiritual advancement and they use the decline of humanity as proof of their convictions. They also claim that there are demons stalking the jungle, fearsome creatures of fire living in the nearby volcano, who will punish any har overstepping their rules. Thorgyn and Marach doubt the truth of those legends and dreaming of a better life one day set out into the jungle to venture far beyond the allowed hunting grounds, where they make some very intriguing discoveries.
Are there any underlying themes you visited?
One I guess is that no matter how great your inborn talent or abilities are, fear and the need for control can reduce any person to either a power hungry tyrant or a little wheel in his machinery.
Also I always wonder about technologies which work with nature instead of against it and like to explore the possibilities.
Then, a little bit about yourself and your influences.
A loner as a child I spent much time outside in nature daydreaming myself into a world of my own peopled with demon-angels and other strange creatures of my imagination. There also was a great urge to capture the impressions of those worlds in art, sculpting, painting, composing and playing music or writing poetry and stories. Over the years I kept up the dreaming when almost everybody around me "grew up" and lost interest in such fantastic worlds. Later a deep interest in spirituality provided a new layer to the kaleidoscope of inner impressions and discoveries and I found new inspiration in myth and legend.
And of course I was a fan of science fiction and fantasy, from way back in the old days, when in Germany besides the first seasons of Star Trek on the TV, The Lord of the Rings and some books by authors like Heinlein or Asimov, stories of that genre were still mostly sold in dime novels, a kind of literature which I was not allowed to read. But nothing could keep me from it for long, after a friend loaned me her stack of Perry Rhodan and Atlan dime novels, which I read in secret at her house, I was corrupted. I was also deeply inspired by those few fantasy novels which were among the first to be translated in to German, especially Michael Moorcock's Elric and Tanith Lee's Vazkor cycles. These will stay with me forever I think.
Maybe somewhat surprisingly I grew into a rather rational person anyway, currently working in programming and web design. My many interests reach from science and technology to psychology, history, foreign cultures and philosophy. This part of me is the sceptic, who keeps my feet on the ground and food on the table.
But actually no matter what I do, I am always on the hunt for more inspiration, because art in any form is the core of my life.
More Art and writing by Ash Corvida.
Also see my experimental writing blog.
Storm's writing style and the imagery she creates around Wraeththu are so deliciously rich and conjure such an intoxicating blend of thought and emotions, that I was instantly hooked. Also her world populated by a species of hermaphrodites, who have grown from human stock but developed far beyond human shortcomings and whose dream it is to evolve and explore the limits of their abilities resonated deeply within me. I feel that she takes a rather accurate account on where the world might go if we don't get a grip, but then she turns this rather dreary scenario into something new and wondrous with Wraeththu rising like a phoenix from the ashes of humanity.The books offer an inspiration to start thinking on new paths and to search for new options within each individual. Who knows, maybe there is a har hiding deep within us, a beautiful and powerful creature, who can awaken us to our full potential?
Everyone’s story will have that spark that set the wheels spinning? What was yours?
Actually I was going to write a completely different story, something dark and deeply disturbing about some stray Teraghasts. But because I had not been writing for a long time I started out on a practice piece. It was supposed to be just a quick and short one of course. But soon enough I was pulled into the green depth of the jungle sharing the adventure and wondrous discoveries with my protagonists, while the idea for the other story went back to sleep. I might still write that one at a later point though.
Without giving any spoilers, can you share a bit about your story?
Torghyn and Marach are young hara of a hunter tribe, living on the edge of the rainforest. Their leaders believe that the only way to survive is a primitive life abandoning all technological and spiritual advancement and they use the decline of humanity as proof of their convictions. They also claim that there are demons stalking the jungle, fearsome creatures of fire living in the nearby volcano, who will punish any har overstepping their rules. Thorgyn and Marach doubt the truth of those legends and dreaming of a better life one day set out into the jungle to venture far beyond the allowed hunting grounds, where they make some very intriguing discoveries.
Are there any underlying themes you visited?
One I guess is that no matter how great your inborn talent or abilities are, fear and the need for control can reduce any person to either a power hungry tyrant or a little wheel in his machinery.
Also I always wonder about technologies which work with nature instead of against it and like to explore the possibilities.
Then, a little bit about yourself and your influences.
A loner as a child I spent much time outside in nature daydreaming myself into a world of my own peopled with demon-angels and other strange creatures of my imagination. There also was a great urge to capture the impressions of those worlds in art, sculpting, painting, composing and playing music or writing poetry and stories. Over the years I kept up the dreaming when almost everybody around me "grew up" and lost interest in such fantastic worlds. Later a deep interest in spirituality provided a new layer to the kaleidoscope of inner impressions and discoveries and I found new inspiration in myth and legend.
And of course I was a fan of science fiction and fantasy, from way back in the old days, when in Germany besides the first seasons of Star Trek on the TV, The Lord of the Rings and some books by authors like Heinlein or Asimov, stories of that genre were still mostly sold in dime novels, a kind of literature which I was not allowed to read. But nothing could keep me from it for long, after a friend loaned me her stack of Perry Rhodan and Atlan dime novels, which I read in secret at her house, I was corrupted. I was also deeply inspired by those few fantasy novels which were among the first to be translated in to German, especially Michael Moorcock's Elric and Tanith Lee's Vazkor cycles. These will stay with me forever I think.Maybe somewhat surprisingly I grew into a rather rational person anyway, currently working in programming and web design. My many interests reach from science and technology to psychology, history, foreign cultures and philosophy. This part of me is the sceptic, who keeps my feet on the ground and food on the table.
But actually no matter what I do, I am always on the hunt for more inspiration, because art in any form is the core of my life.
More Art and writing by Ash Corvida.
Also see my experimental writing blog.
