I knew this was the right book for me up reading descriptions of corpse engines with gears made of severed toes. This isn't your Disney-lite zombie apI knew this was the right book for me up reading descriptions of corpse engines with gears made of severed toes. This isn't your Disney-lite zombie apocalypse. The Black Fire Concerto takes horror to Lovecraftian levels, accompanied by spectral harps of burning nightmare fire and sniper-rifle flutes. You really don't want to interrupt this concert.
This book has more immediacy than most published epic fantasy. I might be tempted to call it young adult fantasy, given the heroine's age, but there's no romantic encumbrance typical to the genre. The protagonist does change and grow, so it would be unfair of me to think of her as a mere foil to the relentless personality of her lady mentor. But I do....more
Joe Abercrombie recaptures the childhood joy of playing in filth.
If you love wordsmithing that builds mud into palaces of beauty as well as charactersJoe Abercrombie recaptures the childhood joy of playing in filth.
If you love wordsmithing that builds mud into palaces of beauty as well as characters struggling through chaos and blood to find purpose, then you may love Red Country. This story follows ex-criminal Shy trying to recover her stolen siblings, trekking across the prairie along with the train of wanton hope of people journeying into recently settled wilds in search of gold. The gold-prospector town is heaven for Joe Abercrombie, balanced as it is on the uneven timbers of lawless human abandon.
The secondary protagonist is Temple, a lawyer for the infamous Nicomo Cosca. Temple is a coward and a failure, and he battles throughout the book to find meaning and self respect.
In addition to the mercurial mercenary Cosca, multiple characters reappear from previous books by Joe Abercrombie, their cameos more than satisfying. That said, if you have not read previous stories in this world, I would recommend starting with this one. I was most satisfied with Red Country's story and ending.
Though the book is a dark fantasy, it reads more like a historical fiction. Joe Abercrombie prefers grime and despair to magic. On the other hand, he brings us swords and Norsemen in gold-rush country, and that's someone's* fantasy.
Those familiar with me on Goodreads will know that I rarely review books. More often, I recommend them, suggesting the type of person who might best eThose familiar with me on Goodreads will know that I rarely review books. More often, I recommend them, suggesting the type of person who might best enjoy the story. Some people will love a book that boggles another. It is ever my goal to match books to readers who will enjoy them, will be swept be swept away in an adventure of imagination, gripping the corners of their sweat-slick electronic readers with white knuckles all night and into the unmentionable hours of the morning.
Is Fox's Bride the right story for you? First of all, you should love fantasy books. And speaking of taking delight in fantasy, I have asked hundreds of people and collected the reasons why the genre is great. [image]
If you love detailed magics that obey their own laws, you may like Fox's Bride. If you love the idea of a weekend adventure to another world, to an oasis city with bazaars, brass tomb towers etched with hieroglyphs, and enchanted rivers floating through the sky, then you may like Fox's Bride. If you love your protagonists flawed but learning to become better people, then you may like Fox's Bride. If you prefer your stories to be personal, to revolve around a few characters in peril rather than a few continents at war, then Fox's Bride may be for you. If you love your novels to both glitter with visuals as well as contain the ever-nearing thump-thump of horror, then Fox’s Bride may be your book.
I do not presume that Fox's Bride will suit everyone's tastes, but if you're looking for a new journey of imagination, please indulge in the Goodreads excerpt (green button under the illustration on the book page). If the sample shines your shield, then you can find Fox's Bride on Amazon. ...more
This book is a hallucination caused by snorting demon blood. You think I'm joking? Well, maybe about the snorting part, but it's a frame story from thThis book is a hallucination caused by snorting demon blood. You think I'm joking? Well, maybe about the snorting part, but it's a frame story from the perspective of two wolfish demon hunters who experience the life of a demon through his bones in order to track down the taint of his blood and sweat. The novel is written in a surreal style, more a piece of modern art than a plot. The content of that blood-and-mud painting surprised me.
Never Knew Another depicts the other, the persecuted demons who are cursed with poisonous blood and deformity. The principal demon had his wings cut off at birth to make him look more human. Another must hide her scales and forked tongue. A third, a master thief, is doomed to forget people after a week. Their sweat eats through their clothing. All would be burned if the city folk knew what they were. All believe demons are corrupt, but they don't act any worse than people living in constant fear. When one of the demons meets another, the relief they feel is overwhelming. Because nothing is more frightening than to believe oneself utterly alone....more
NK Jemisin's best yet. Halfway through the story I worried resolution would be deferred to the next book, which will be released shortly, but the authNK Jemisin's best yet. Halfway through the story I worried resolution would be deferred to the next book, which will be released shortly, but the author slammed the end of the story down like a card player laying a flush of spades. I would love to see more fantasy like this, featuring an end at the end, a rich setting at the beginning, and a magic awash with moral uncertainty.
This book revolves around moral dilemma. Dreamblood seems to be the energy released when a soul is shoved/escorted to the afterlife. Two of the protagonists, the gatherers, specialize in freeing sufferers. But they also harvest the “corrupt,” a perilous term ripe to be exploited by political intrigue and fallible men. And it is. And as readers, we are disturbed no matter where we fall on the euthanasia issue.
This struggle of using a potentially terrible magic for good lies at the frenetic beating heart of the Killing Moon. The forces of human need, free will, and religious devotion all clash, with no clear victor. NK Jemisin challenges the reader, not only with moral uncertainty but also with a frolic through tense and perspective shifts. (Yes, including second person, present tense.) A few times I had to blink and take a breath, when her words struck a perfect chord.
The setting is non-European but what it is seems mostly understated. Mentioned in passing are a seasonal flood, camels, a few drifts of sand, and loindrapes (more classy than loincloths?). The culture's dominant feature is the religion of a dream afterlife and a goddess of sleeping peace, an invention that transcends reference to any real-world local.
Given that euthanizing monks make up two of the three main viewpoint characters, and the tone of the story, I would be tempted to classify this as Dark Fantasy. Since it's second world, magic-centric, and has resolution in fewer than five hundred pages, High Fantasy is another reasonable description. If you like delving the uncertain waters of often disturbing ideas, of unrequited romance, and bitter triumphs, this is the fantasy book for you. Oh, and the Reaping magic is atom-bomb overpowered, but at least it has the decency to drive the user into gibbering madness....more
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