Pieces on Speculative Fiction

I still have a few read books waiting to be reviewed. Robin Hobb’s Renegade’s Magic, Ian C. Esslemont’s Malazan novel Night of Knives, Tim Powers’ Last Call and David Gemmell’s Shield of Thunder. I also read recently James P. Blaylock’s Digging Leviathan. Still reading Kay Kenyon’s Bright of the Sky and I fear that completing it will take a while. I really don’t like the direction the book is taking and it just isn’t that enjoyable to read. I rather like my science fiction either as quite a bit shorter novels or in the page-turner form.

I’m a bit on the fence whether to read something new or just reread something classic David Gemmell novel. I’m itching to reread Erikson’s Malazan, even though I read it recently when the latest, Reaper’s Gale, came out. I do have a few unread books. Some are really classic fantasies, like Michael Moorcock’s Gloriana, Wind in the Willows, Austin Tappan Wright’s Islandia and quite a few others.

I’m also looking to make yet another big Amazon.com order as Dollar is soon like Monopoly money compared to Euro, so any tips on good newish fantasy & science fiction books are welcome. Maybe mainly fantasy.

5 stars out of 5. Perfect Circle is brilliant story about ‘Dead’ Kennedy, who can see ghosts and has to embrace his talent for a living. It’s a small story, sad story and story with hope. 243 pages packed with hot goodness that everyone should read.

Will ‘Dead’ Kennedy is in his thirties and got fired once again. He can see her daughter only occasionally, because her ex-wife has the custody. Out of the blue a cousin offers him thousand bucks to check his garage for ghosts. From there on everything gets more complicated for Will.

Stewart has a talent for writing great characters, who haven’t really succeeded in life in conventional terms. In other words, Stewart writes about normal people.

3 stars out of 5. I really liked the Blade Itself, but this middle book of the trilogy, while entertaining, feels somewhat lacking. Partly this is because I liked only one of the three main plot lines and just would’ve liked to have more Glokta. Before They Are Hanged still is very good character-driven fantasy and enjoyable for anyone who liked the first part.

There are three main story arcs: the mysterious quest lead by the magi Bayaz, Glokta’s mission in Dagoska and Union’s war with Northmen. Glokta’s arc is easily the monst intersting, in my opinion, and Bayaz arc the weakest, as there are some easily guessed elements(which despite of this are very enjoyable). Union’s war with the Northmen is quite meh as it is predictable and the characters aren’t the most interesting ones. Luckily there are couple of nice twists in each of the plot lines.

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3 stars out of 5, first impressions, not as good as Lies of Locke Lamora, but if you liked it you’ll like this one too. Doesn’t have much fantastic feel, but all the wit and banter make up for it quite well. I really appreciate that Lynch is writing these modern thriller and adventure books within the fantasy genre.

This is story of Jean and Locke trying to rob the biggest casino of Tal Verrar, where they fled from Camorr. Not surprisingly there are kinks on the way and they have to embrace the sweet life of sailors. Oddly enough, quite a few of those now verses from various books. Reavers are civilized people.

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4 stars out of 5, first impressions, Patrick Rotfuss’s opening of the Kingkiller Chronicles shows his talent as storyteller. The story is moving and moves at quick enough pace along with solid and likeable enough characters.

The story starts with an injured local stumbling bleeding into the village inn with a spider-like dead monster that killed his horse and nearly him. From there on everything starts to wind out with the innkeeper Kote taking the lead role. It turns out that he previously was Kvothe, notorious mage-warrior whose story we partly hear. So the format is story in a story as Kvothe stars to tell his tale.

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I feel that Lynch dropped the ball with this one. There is still the good natured banter between Locke and Jean, but the book is overlong. Cutting parts of the plot would probably have made the book a better read. Reading Red Seas Under Red Skies is a lot like watching one of newer action films: there is really substance for a 1h 30min film, but it drags on over the 2h mark. The ending still managed to seem a bit hurried, when everything came together in one big flurry.

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Joe Abercrombie mentioned my review of The Blade Itself in his blog. Times a changing when authors are amongst us mortals. Anyways there’s also a interesting post in his blog on how fantasy series compare to TV series, where he goes to point out the that the TV trend of long plot lines and open-endedness might be making it’s way to fantasy series.

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Name of the Wind is the best new novel I’ve read this year. Seriously I can’t understand how Acacia(review) can be mentioned in the same breath as candidate for best fantasy debut this year. Name of the Wind has everything Acacia doesn’t have: clear writing, engaging story(or story in a story) and characters who you come to care about. I have to admit that I’m a sucker for coming of age stories, but this one was really, really good. As far as entertaining fantasy goes, this is top notch. Only gripe I have is that the story presented is a premise of a huge story arc. The author has set it so that he could write probably quite a few parts to his Kingkiller Chronicles.

After reading the first 60 pages I wasn’t really sold. There was some apparently evil monsters, this innkeeper who isn’t what he seems etc. I even put it down to read Tim Powers’ Last Call and Joe Abercrombie’s Before They Are Hanged. Today I continued where I left of and had to change the plans for the day as I just couldn’t stop reading.

2 stars out of 5. Acacia offers complex fantasy world where the line between heroes and villains is blurred. Sadly there are way too many point-of-view characters and the characterization just isn’t very good. Despite the verbose prose there was lack of feeling between me and the book, at no point did I care about what happend to the various people.

The story is about the children of the Acacian King Leodan. Acacia rules the known world and has done so for more than 20 generations. The times are troubled, Meinish assassin is closing in and Acacian troops in Mein are facing a dire new threat. From there on the story slowly unravels.

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4 stars out of 5. The Blade Itself is the first book of a trilogy The First Law. The story is told character drivenly from the points of views of barbarian, fencer and inquisitor, who are fleshed out very well. Everything of the medieval-style world of the Union is shown through a film noir lens. The grander plot takes the backseat when the characters converge to the heart of the Union against the backdrop of impending war with the North. Very entertaining read despite some length issues.

The book starts with Logen Ninefingers, the former champion of the King of the North, fighting for his life. From there on we are given a host of new characters where each chapter is told through one character. This gives great insight to different characters and despite none of the them being really likeable you come to care about what happens to them, which is something that is often lacking(Acacia anyone).

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