In short, I think this is flawed but magnificently fun and novel. I just love the world and the concept - steampunk flying machines in a completely faIn short, I think this is flawed but magnificently fun and novel. I just love the world and the concept - steampunk flying machines in a completely fantastical (in that 'no discernible references to earth and therefore not a planetary colonisation scenario' way) - and the characters are a pretty splendid collection of accurate and unapologetic misfits and mistakes.
The style and storytelling is sometimes more than a little stilted - many important things and emotional developments are told to us with a bald-faced lack of subtlety that occasionally made me wince a little. And some of those things and developments dipped disconcertingly towards melodrama by way of the gothic... which on the one hand works for the atmosphere (that steampunk vibe, that oh-the-horrors-of-man-that-he-is-poised-to-unleash-upon-himself deal) but occasionally did make me want to smack people around the ear.
But while all of that stops me giving this five stars and wholehearted, gleeful, READ THIS DAMN YOU endorsement, it didn't prevent me enjoying it all a great deal.
I understand there are more books following on from this; as a first book, it sits perfectly as a stand-alone, self-contained introduction to a universe and characters that I wouldn't mind having adventures with again, but needn't return to immediately with burning questions unanswered....more
One of those slick page-turner fantasies, quick and easy to read, nothing really wrong with it, just not amazing. (Australia produces a lot of these, One of those slick page-turner fantasies, quick and easy to read, nothing really wrong with it, just not amazing. (Australia produces a lot of these, and I used to be less picky about it than I have become in my cantankerous old age.) I liked the wintry setting (Vikings on skates!) and the story was entertaining, but I just wish there was more to it. I wish it had made more of the suggestion that stigmatising homosexuality makes other forms of betrayal more likely. I wish it had dug more deeply into the hard truths and settings of the younger siblings (Fyn's compulsory holy orders, Piro's compulsory useful marriage, both of their stories more interesting to me than the older brothers). And I wish it hadn't conformed quite so readily to the "rough and ready honest folk versus those smooth-tongued tricksy bastards" stereotypes.
Gave up at 174 pages. Really, I'd given up a hundred pages before that, but it was a day or two before I could get to the library. It didn't give me aGave up at 174 pages. Really, I'd given up a hundred pages before that, but it was a day or two before I could get to the library. It didn't give me any reason to reconsider.
Two stars because there's nothing utterly wrong with this except the fact it's completely standard world-fantasy. There's a teenage male protagonist who's going to have his world turned upside down, manifest some powers, discover some parentage, probably save the world, though in the first 170 pages the book never really got around to establishing what form the forces of darkness/destruction were going to take. OK fine, sure. Yawn.
But really, the sins of this book that made me put it down were: 1) Such mediocre prose. Not just is there is no joy in language to be had through this book, but it always felt on the verge of clunky. Unnecessary simplistic actions described, just to move the character around the space. No grace. No style. An occasional sense of humour. Bully for you. 2) The bloody magic system. For starters, it was so tremendously complicated that whole chapters had to be devoted to basically showing how it worked, and the narrative still had to have little explanations sprinkled through it. I really like to be able to know what's going on, not because you've told me, but because it makes sense. I like to be able to predict and intuit. Plus, everything was so brightly coloured it was like wargames with the Wiggles. 3) I didn't like any of the characters (all two of them - though by the time I finally put the book down, there was a third. I didn't like her either). Oh, there were hints of a more fulsome depth to our main character, and a wonderfully interesting dark past that seemed to have all the good, intriguing story in it. But it became clear I was going to have to sit through a whole lot of wankery as these cardboard cutouts (failed to) develop in predictable ways. And nuts to that. The problem with "fast-paced" fantasy, is that the characters don't have any time to show anything like character (and what little they did show was unsympathetic, you smug git) before they launched into a hundred and twenty pages of action.
A hundred and twenty pages of action is not a bad thing by itself (hello, Neal Stephenson). But I have to care. And I didn't....more
This book was a strange experience. There were many things about the world and writing that I really liked, but many aspects that I really didn't likeThis book was a strange experience. There were many things about the world and writing that I really liked, but many aspects that I really didn't like, and overall I'm not really sure I enjoyed it. I thought more than once about setting it aside, but didn't. I'm somewhat glad I finished it, but I have absolutely no desire to go on to the next book in the series.
The good: a gleefully dirty (and realistic) world, with all the little details of how life circa (say) Elizabethan England actually worked. Those details - such as a new pair of candles with the wicks still joined - delighted me, because I'm weird like that. There was also much about the magic system, and the implications for wider plot (the series-long prophecy-including level of fantasy plot, you know what I mean) that looked really fascinating.
The bad: but it never delved into that stuff, because we spent the entire book running around after the MacGuffin. Right about the point halfway through where I was hoping that it would lose its single focus and blossom into delicious complexity... it didn't, it just did a couple of switchbacks and powered on. It never developed the sort of big-scope multi-faceted stuff that I really love about fantasy, and I found it rather frustrating.
Plus, one of the main characters was that breed of irritating noble that needs to be very carefully handled. Benton Fraser manages it in Due South. The Middleman manages it. For a while, Sir Croy teetered on the brink of managing it, but by the time we got into the final third of the book, I was just plain bored with him and didn't really care.
The romantic storyline(s) were interestingly and complexly handled, though.
As a closing point, I will note that it came as no surprise at all to learn that the author usually writes horror. His gleeful and lurid details of demons and horrible illusions occasionally teetered towards the purple, which isn't really my cup of tea. But in general, his writing was enjoyable, and that's probably why I actually finished the thing.
Left me with such an urge to re-read Locke Lamora, though....more
I remain very impressed with this as a novel. it's a tight telling of a big story close bound to the personal, and the first person narration often teI remain very impressed with this as a novel. it's a tight telling of a big story close bound to the personal, and the first person narration often tells us more than merely the events. but the story is too often bound up in anime-style plots and images that just don't resonate for me personally....more
The writing is sparkling (in that gritty, sniggering, vicious way Abercrombie glories in) and the characters are masterfully layered, flawed, and deliThe writing is sparkling (in that gritty, sniggering, vicious way Abercrombie glories in) and the characters are masterfully layered, flawed, and delivered. The only niggling problem I have with this series is that the Big Plot is very much taking place in the sub-strata. On the one hand, this is novel and excellent inasmuch as it delivers the "Big Prophetical Fantasy Plot" in a realistic on-the-ground really-living-it sort of way. On the other hand, that realism means that the characters, and by extension the readers, don't really know what we're doing and what the Big Point is. It takes away a little of the zing. Still highly enjoyable entertainment, though, and I'm looking forward to the final book....more
OK, so actual notes so that fifteen books down the track I can still remember the reasons for my ambivalence. + Competent and non-problematic writiEh.
OK, so actual notes so that fifteen books down the track I can still remember the reasons for my ambivalence. + Competent and non-problematic writing style, except... - the witty banter really didn't flow well into the scenes, though I think this might just be a more obvious symptom of overall scene-pacing that just didn't work for me. + Nick was an excellent written character, a really complex concept that was shown well. - Though possibly too well, because none of the major reveals were at all surprising for me. + Though without that, it was still interesting to read Nick's POV. - But overall, it just didn't really do anything big, amazing, gripping, enthralling, transporting. I can see how perhaps if I were a teen, this might really speak to me of the uncertainties of growing up, but as an adult, I was looking for more in the world that didn't really come through.
Entirely delightful, with a rambunctious sense of wonder unimpeded by any stodgy reality, but still sensibly anchored in realistic processes. AdventurEntirely delightful, with a rambunctious sense of wonder unimpeded by any stodgy reality, but still sensibly anchored in realistic processes. Adventure of the Jules Verne variety, with plenty of swashbuckling for the young (and young at heart)....more
I should know better than to read kids' books - just starting to get itself going, and the book's finished. A fun alterni-futuristic-history steampunkI should know better than to read kids' books - just starting to get itself going, and the book's finished. A fun alterni-futuristic-history steampunk Great War, with a lot of concepts that are best described as "cute, but ridiculous". Fun characters, good action... but I just couldn't help thinking how much more enjoyable Larklight was....more
I do like books where you can formulate and discard theories on just what the hell is happening as you go along and further snippets of information arI do like books where you can formulate and discard theories on just what the hell is happening as you go along and further snippets of information are given to you. With the fact that half of Ringil's adventure in this book is done in metaphor (or, as he calls them, the Grey Places) it's extremely possible to theorise wildly at every turn. Which is good, because otherwise, I find his trekking through fantasyland slightly tedious.
This remains thoroughly interesting fantasy, partly because it's just so damn different. Morgan takes a gleeful, filthy cant on traditional fantasy, and he rolls around in mysterious world-building that includes so many elements you just don't often see in the genre (the state of the night sky remains one of the most compelling ongoing items in the worldbuilding for me). I've seen criticism of the patchiness of his plotting, and that's entirely justified, but I'm willing to run over the top of it for the black humour and the interesting development.
However, I am fumbling with certainty that hatched within me halfway through that this is probably not going to be a trilogy, given that I'm not sure we've even MET the true villains yet, and they haven't even set off on the quest they were planning for half the book.
Also, as a writer currently struggling with POV questions in my own work, I was somewhat bemused to see Morgan's careful system of POV rotation (previously Ringil-Egar-Ringil-Archeth-Ringil) fall down completely in the second half of the book. Did I care? Only inasmuch as Archeth kept getting left out. There's only so much wildly silly testosterone a girl can take....more
I really quite enjoyed this, actually. It had enough of the Yet-Another-Fantasy-Series about it to be comfortable and easily-digested, with heaps of nI really quite enjoyed this, actually. It had enough of the Yet-Another-Fantasy-Series about it to be comfortable and easily-digested, with heaps of newness to keep things interesting.
After having read The Way of Kings and now this, what really stands out for me is the creativity of the worlds Sanderson builds. So often with world-fantasy you can deliver the world concept in one easy combined real-world reference. Often just straight-up medieval, of course, but Venetian has been very popular recently, as has Elizabethan grit (that birth-of-science-and-the-satirical-arts vibe) and getting your Ottoman on is always a nice way to add colour and movement. I personally favour tropical settings, which are often Asian-influenced.
The closest I could get to that with Mistborn would be: the Matrix done as serious world-fantasy. It's dystopian in that clinging-to-the-edge-of-slowburning-apocalypse way. It's about hope and struggle in the face of the force grinding you into the mud, possibly for your own good. And it's very, very real, but at the same time it draws from no single solid body of historical context.
It shares that jaw-dropping where-did-this-come-from? element with Way of Kings, but unlike that toe-breaking tome, it's punchy and neatly delivered, barrelling along with heaps of story-furthering action. The characters are (once again) really well delivered, having facets and flaws and plans that come unstuck and real, interesting lives. And if he is once again a little too paragraph-spewingly detailed about precisely how his magical system is used for kicking the arse of every Stormtrooper in the goddamn room, I found myself actually read the fight scenes as the book progressed and it became obvious that the intricacies of the magical system did indeed hide clues to wider concerns.
It's not choirs-of-angels holy-shit amazing, but it's a solidly good read - and while I'm going to happily go on to the later books in the series, I think it could probably stand alone....more
Many things in its favour - fun with street argot, sassy narrator voice, complex existing relationships, lack of cliche, interesting magic. But it nevMany things in its favour - fun with street argot, sassy narrator voice, complex existing relationships, lack of cliche, interesting magic. But it never really made these things work hard for a big pay-off, and I found myself generally on the under side of whelmed. Big and bold plot options that were flying around promisingly got shelved for future volumes in the last quarter of the book in favour of a tidy "let's set up a series here" conclusion.
To deviate into the general rumination for a moment: Every now and then I have moments where I wonder why I read fantasy - not just read, exclusively read; it's a rare thing indeed that I pick up something not speculative to a greater or lesser extent. These moments usually occur to me when my eyes are glazing over in the middle of a(nother) big fuck-off fight. I tend to find the intricate details of violent set-pieces downright tedious, especially when there are lots of them, and DOUBLY especially if one or more parties are not-human. (I skipped pages upon pages of monster-killing in things like The Warded Man. I mean, they didn't even drop good items!) If such encounters are rarer, and deeply seated in emotive stuff for the characters (I'm thinking of the fights in The Lies of Locke Lamora now, of which I skipped not a word) then it's different.
And that, I guess, is the reason I read fantasy. Because when it does step beyond the gaming-session rendition, when it becomes an epic story, the emotional range is so far beyond what you find in general literature, and I love it.
Anyway, Among Thieves was, for me, fun but nothing special....more
James Bond versus the Fae in Elizabethan England. But I was really quite disappointed with the delivery. Our hero is sort of tedious, never really bogJames Bond versus the Fae in Elizabethan England. But I was really quite disappointed with the delivery. Our hero is sort of tedious, never really bogged down in his emotions, and often making phenomenally stupid decisions. There are long sequences of action that don't really carry emotive resonance (and they could, were Will Swyfte more deeply plumbed) and when he does wrestle with a moral dilemma he sort of comes across as weak. The writing is rather pedestrian, tending to clunky and repetitive sentences festooned with high-drama - and there were at least two glitches of the "nearly but not quite the word you were looking for" variety. (Ships founder, they don't flounder. Well, they might, but not the way you mean.)
It's entirely possible I only finished this because at the times when I really went, "...but I don't care!" I was either stuck on a train with half an hour between here and home, or I was within a hundred pages of the end. (Yes, I didn't care within a hundred pages of the end. That level of general disinterest.) And part of my irritation is that I feel that this really could have been a thoroughly entertaining book, but all of the elements were under-utilised. The ruthlessness and emotional trauma of the spies was in some ways over- and in some ways under-played (Swyfte's woe-is-me ruminations on the spy's lot were often trite). Some big plot comes out at the end when it would have been used throughout. And don't even get me started on the fact that all the Fae are unremittingly evil despite the mentions of "helper" or good faeries. Lack of ambiguity often makes me pull a face, but especially when you're dealing with folk who would probably be found pressed between the dictionary pages at the entry for "ambiguous".
I'd prefer to give this three-and-a-half stars, because it's extremely well done and very good, but frankly, I didn't really like it.
It gets a lot of I'd prefer to give this three-and-a-half stars, because it's extremely well done and very good, but frankly, I didn't really like it.
It gets a lot of comparison to Georgey Martin, but for me, the similarity is only there in the gleeful grit, the elegant brutality, the unapologetic bastardry that is the base level of reality. For me, Martin is brilliant and satisfying for the complexity and realism of his story - the myriad angles and the rampant confusion. Lawrence, in contrast, has pared fantasy storytelling back to a single vicious line of first-person narration (with a little backstory smoke-and-mirrors to provide texture and pacing). I'm not saying it's not an elegant, masterful stab to the heart, but it's just the one. (Martin, if we wanted to strain this analogy, is flaying you to death over a period of weeks.)
I appreciate what the book does, without really finding it to my taste. Not because of the young narrator's fey delight in death and rape, but because of its stylistic and story choices. The condensed style of narrative used leads to a manner of storytelling almost stylised in its sparsity, which can give brutal power to the careful phrases... or can teeter on the edge of melodrama. (And especially coming out of reading Abercrombie, the melodrama sometimes won out for me.) And while I really liked the world-building - and more importantly, the gradual revelation of that world - I intensely dislike that our narrator is apparently the only one who has the keys to unlock it, despite being, educationally, ten years old (and having spent a significant portion of that education learning languages, apparently, since he allegedly speaks six). I suspect there are Reasons for this embedded in the deeper Ageless Magical Struggle hinted at (deliciously) throughout, but frankly, I'm not sure even Reasons can overcome that much bullshit. It's a problem for me.
Look, it had vicious style, brutal class and some wonderful innovation in a genre that traditionally gets a little spooked about new things. I applaud all of that. But it didn't really move me....more
I love Pratchett. Even the ones that aren't really my thing are still a clear cut above a lot of other writing (because of the wit, because of the intI love Pratchett. Even the ones that aren't really my thing are still a clear cut above a lot of other writing (because of the wit, because of the intelligence, because of the deeper things shown about humanity). But this is not the master's finest hour.
I feel somewhat bad pulling apart the flaws I see in this, because I believe they probably stem from Pratchett's circumstances, and dealing with them - it feels like production was rushed, for instance, and I can understand why it might have been. But that rush manifests itself in writing, language, storytelling that is just not as smooth, as effortless, as immaculate as Pratchett has always been... and especially when so much of his transcendant style and humour comes from elegant wordplay, having the wrong word (or repeating a word too often, or having a clunky rhythm of sentences, or interspersing two conversations together) really lets it down.
This book just feels shorter than my favourites (which physically, I believe it is - and, I will admit here, I have not read the "for younger readers" Discworld books, due to my blind prejudices) and it shows in the style of storytelling. Much of the book is dialogue, often large paragraphs from respective characters, and often teetering on the verge of talking heads, which is really not at all what I expect from an author who does narration prose so delightfully. (I feel like it falls out of this a bit in the final third to a quarter of the book, where it once again feels zippy and light and wise.)
And I don't remember Willikins being all, "Yes, well on the Streets where I grew up," every five minutes before, but maybe that's just me.
It's good. It's interesting. It's funny. It's just not as developed, as deep, as thorough, as challenging as I think it could have been. And I understand all the reasons why, and I lament them....more
Interesting world, intriguing magic system, excellently flawed characters, and competent writing. I'm not sure why they retitled this for the UK (fromInteresting world, intriguing magic system, excellently flawed characters, and competent writing. I'm not sure why they retitled this for the UK (from "Girl of...") because it's so shoutingly YA; as an adult book, it's too simplistic, too facile, too short (or maybe that's just me). Stylistically, the simplicity of language and phrasing made it easy to read, but also easy to ignore. And the present-tense never stopped tripping me up. I really don't think it added anything.
I did like the way in which the main character's "laziness", weight, and relationship with food were handled. I am not so impressed with the plethora of men falling in love with her....more