Posts Tagged ‘series’
Two more Vlad Taltos Books
Posted on: September 24, 2019
You saw this article on BoingBoing about Steven Brust and Roger Zelazny, yeah?
I’m going to talk about these books in the order I read them. Even though in hindsight, I should have read them in the opposite order. Oh well.
Minor spoilers and major teases ahead.
So, I haven’t read every single book in this series, and the ones that I have read, I haven’t exactly read them in order. But it’s okay, because the books in this series are sorta kinda meant to be read in whatever order you please, and then reread in whatever order you please. I kinda don’t want to get to the point where I’ve read every book in this series? Like, I always want there to be some surprises left. Lol I’ll be 90 years old and blind, and that’s when I’ll decide to read the one I haven’t read, and then I’ll be shouting in the middle of the night at the nursing home “That’s how Teldra and Morrolan met? You are fucking shitting me!”
These books are my comfort reads. When I need something I know I’m going to love from page one, I pick up a Vlad Taltos book, and I’m a happy camper for a few days.
Also, I’ve got a little bit of history with this series.
Phoenix was written in 1990, and is chronologically the approximate 9th book in Brust’s Vlad Taltos series. (yeah, this isn’t that kind of fantasy and these aren’t those dragons. Just so we’re clear)
This is the book where Vlad realizes his marriage is over. Some readers will gloss right over those scenes, I had a really tough time. I’m a softy, ok? And he still loves her. And I think she still loves him. And I get why they split, and I respect it, but I can still cry about it, ok?
Anyway, the book opens with Vlad getting killed. And he thinks about the Demon Goddess Verra, and how he
“had once traveled several thousand miles through supernatural horrors and the realm of the dead men just to bid her good-day”
And I thought that sounded hella cool, so I pulled Taltos off my bookshelf to read next. Not only does Verra answer when Vlad calls out to her with his dying breath, she gives him a job. All Vlad’s gotta do is kill a guy. He’s pretty good at that, so no problem. Except, his target is the king of a tiny island country that the Empire doesn’t have anything to do with, because sorcery doesn’t work there. Sorcery is what allows the Empire to function, so if you could go somewhere where it doesn’t work . . . .
There’s also a drummer who might be a spy.
And there’s a revolution brewing at home. This book has buckets of societal questions about the rights of the lower classes and the rights of minority ethnic groups, and the right to protest and the right to be heard. But this isn’t a book about how to start a revolution, it’s not a youth anthem, it’s not a book about toppling the system, this ain’t Hunger Games, you know. In truth, Vlad would very much like for things to quiet down and go back to the way they were. He just wants to live a quiet life where he gets paid to kill people, and runs illegal gambling dens, you know?
The Gate to Futures Past (Reunification #2) by Julie Czerneda
published in Sept 2016
where I got it: rec’d review copy from the publisher (Thanks DAW!)
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The Gate to Futures Past is a tricky book to review, because not only is this the middle book of the Reunification trilogy, it is the penultimate book in Czerneda’s long running Clan Chronicles series. I actually read this book last summer when it came out, but I didn’t have time to review it. What better time for a review, than when the next book is about to come out? I also have the benefit of having already read the final book in the series, so I am cheating more than a little bit. With the final book in this series releasing in just a few months, readers new to this series will have an opportunity no one else has ever had – you’ll be able to read all three Reunification books, This Gulf of Time and Stars, The Gate to Futures Past, and To Guard Against the Dark, one right after the other. That’s to your advantage, as these last three books do read as one long novel. Click here to read my spoilery review of This Gulf of Time and Stars. And by the way, both This Gulf of Time and Stars and The Gate to Futures Past are now available in mass market paperback.
Did you cringe when you read that phrase “long running series”? I know some of you did! Yes, the Clan Chronicles is a space opera epic that spans three trilogies. If you’ve read any of Robin Hobb’s interconnected trilogies, you know you can jump in at any Book 1, and do just fine. I’m sure there are readers and fans who will disagree with me, but I believe the same is true for Czerneda’s Clan Chronicles series – so long as you jump in at any Book 1, you’ll be ok, with the added bonus that if you enjoy what you read, you can then start again at any other book 1! It’s neat, because if you and your friend each start at a different point, you’ll have a different timeline and a different perspective of the entire story.
I preamble with all of that so you’ll be understanding that this review will involve references to events that occurred outside this novel, that there will be unavoidable minor spoilers. It’s all to the greater good though – if you enjoy space opera with healthy dose of romance, family drama, cosmic mystery, humor, and aliens that work, anything Julie Czerneda writes is for you!
“Aliens that work”, that’s a weird phrase. You ever read a book with aliens and think to yourself these are just humans with blue skin, or elephants that talk and think just like a human? A biologist by trade, Czerneda’s aliens act differently than humans because they have biological evolutionary histories completely different from anything that evolved on Earth. They have different physiologies, different brain patterns, different reasons for doing what they do and how they do it. If you want to write aliens that aren’t humans in disguise, quit watching Star Trek and start reading Czerneda. (Actually, keep watching Star Trek. I keep hoping Huido will show up in an episode of DS9 or Voyager)
Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, by Lois McMaster Bujold
published in 2012
where I got it: Hugo Voter’s Packet
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The umpteeth entry in her famous Vorkosigan saga, Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance takes place very late in the Vorkisigan chronology, in fact, we only briefly meet the famous Miles Vorkosigan, and he’s semi-retired and chasing toddlers. Never read a Vorkosigan novel, or only read the first one? Have no fear, you really jump in (or back in) at this one. Bujold does her world building in my favorite way – through interactions between characters. Relatives and friends show up from time to time to let everyone know how things are going back home, which also lets the reader know about “back home”, and how it fits into the chronology. There’s no infodumping, just characters have an easy going and often inadvertenly funny conversation.
Right off the bat we meet Ivan Vorpatril, and his buddy Byerly Vorrutyer. These young men are effectively rich wastrels – extra heirs in a hierarchical militaristic society. They have wealthy parents, a title, and maybe some inheritance, but no one expects much from them because they’re so far down the line from the throne. Ivan spends his free time chasing women and promising his mother he’ll settle down one day, and Byerly uses his reputation as an idiot cad to his advantage in his career. It’s easy to think at first that these two playboys are exactly what they seem.
Ivan does a favor for Byerly, and ends up tied to a chair in a beautiful woman’s apartment, while the real kidnappers are breaking through the window. The beautiful woman, Tej, happens to be the on-the-run daughter of a deposed Major House of Jackson’s Whole, a planet on the other side of the wormhole.
In a last ditch effort to protect her from the local authorities, Ivan offers her instant entry into High Vor society, via becoming his wife (in name only of course, with a promise of a divorce once he’s seen her safely to her destination). A few hastily spoken sentences later, and poof: Tej is now Lady Vorpatril. She’s only know Ivan a few hours, but he seems earnest in that he’s just interested in helping her. And besides, if he tries anything (which he swears he won’t), Tej’s blue skinned companion will beat the shit out of him.
Tiassa, by Steven Brust
Posted on: November 9, 2012
Tiassa, by Steven Brust
published in 2011
where I got it: purchased new
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I am among the fans who came to Tiassa with trepidation. The two books that come before it, Jhegaala and Iorich are slower, quieter reads. Not much happens, Vlad pines for his ex-wife, everyone is very sad about a lot of things, the witty snark was toned down. They aren’t bad books by any means (Brust’s writing will break your heart no matter what’s going on in the story) they just aren’t super fun to read. Would Tiassa be more of the same? I didn’t even care if it moved the timeline forward, I just wanted the feeling of fun, and adventure, and optimism that I’d gotten out of the earlier Vlad books.
After a handful of “meh” reads these last few weeks, I was desperate for a book that would grab me and insist that it was going to lead this dance. I needed a comfort read; an author I could trust to transport me to a different world, a book that would swallow me whole so quickly I wouldn’t even feel its teeth.
Steven Brust’s Tiassa to the rescue.
I saw a review on Amazon that said Tiassa was Brust’s love letter to his fans, and after reading it I have to whole heartedly agree. If you are already a long time reader of the Vlad Taltos series, you will be in heaven with Tiassa. But on the flip-side, if you’re new to the series, this is a terrible place to start (start here. really.).
The book is sharply divided in three portions, with interludes inbetween, and throughout everything a silver tiassa sculpture keeps coming up. A tiny, seemingly useless sculpture of a winged cat, it may have been forged by the gods or it may be worthless. Regardless, the little tiassa seems to be making its own plans. Packed with the requisite witty dialog but jumping around in time and touching on Draegaran mythology, Tiassa isn’t so much a Vlad Taltos book as it is a Dragaeran Empire book.
Witch World, by Andre Norton
Posted on: December 3, 2011
Witch World, by Andre Norton
Published in 1963
Where I got it: borrowed from a friend
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Andre Norton, the woman who has not one, but two literary genre awards named after her. She broke glass ceilings left and right, has a near endless list of books to her name, and is rightfully so a legend in the science fiction community. Her Witch World series started with a few stories, and grew exponentially to cover over 20 novels and novellas known as the Estcarp Cycle and the High Hallack Cycle.
What I’m getting at here is that if you style yourself a science fiction fan, read yourself some Norton. She may not use the flashiest guns or the shiniest spaceships, but these are the stories your favorite authors grew up reading. These are the stories that influenced many of the authors who are influencing you.
If there is such a thing as traditional sci-fantasy, Witch World is it. Simon Tregarth, soldier turned bootlegger is running from the law. Approached by a gentleman who promises he can hide Simon forever, Simon doesn’t have much of a choice. Offered a doorway to the “world his heart desires”, Simon finds himself someplace. . . strange. After saving a woman who is being hunted, Simon slowly learns about this new world. Escarp is a country ruled by women who have the Power (witches), and the surrounding countries are primarily male dominated cultures who wish to take over Estcarp. Estcarp’s highly trained guardsmen (assisted by Simon) can take care of most of her enemies. But the soldiers of the Kolder, that’s a different story all together. Once they are on the march, no amount of guns or arrows will stop the creatures of Kolder.
Welcome to our The Hobbit read-along, part one! These questions are for chapters 1-7. Post your answers here, or on your own site. If you do a post, leave your link in the comments, and Geeky Daddy and myself will edit our co-hosting pages to include a direct link to your post.
Interested in joining us in our epic journey through JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings ? It’s easy! Check out the reading schedule here, sign up here, or here, or leave a link in the comments to your blog discussions post, and we’ll add you to the mailing list.
This week’s questions were provided by Geeky Daddy:
1. What were your expectations starting The Hobbit ?(If you never read it before)
(For those who have read the Hobbit) Did you learn something during reading that you missed from the last time you read it?
2. What would have been your thoughts if 13 strangers came in your house and wanted to fed and housed in a moments notice?
3. What has been your favorite part of Bilbo’s journey so far?
4. Where do you think the group would be without Gandalf?
Visit these other blogs for their discussions:
Geeky Daddy
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My answers, after the jump!
my preciousssss. . . .
ready for some really epic, high fantasy? I know I am! good thing too, as our The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings read along starts today! co-hosting by yours truly and GeekyDaddy, sign up here, or here. No Pressure if you’re already involved in other things, we’ll be taking two to three weeks to read each book, starting a new one on the first of each upcoming month, with discussions/questions/etc on the weekends.
Never read The Hobbit or LOTR? now’s your chance! Read it before and loved it? here’s your chance to spread the love! read it before and weren’t so sure? Give it another try, this time w/friends. 🙂
Just so you know, I’m a total LOTR virgin. Saw the movies, but really, all I was watching was Viggo.
Iz gonna be awesome.
and for once, I’m happy I’m not a cat.
Review: Forest Mage, by Robin Hobb
Posted on: July 1, 2011
- In: fantasy | Review | Robin Hobb
- 13 Comments
Forest Mage (Soldier Son Trilogy: book 2), by Robin Hobb
published in 2006
where I got it: purchased new
why I read it: enjoyed the first book, Shaman’s Crossing
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Picking up shortly after the end of the first book in the trilogy, Shaman’s Crossing, Forest Mage was mostly what I’ve come to expect from Robin Hobb – a powerful character driven fantasy that starts out “traditional”, and then, quite suddenly, most certainly isn’t.
As the military academy recovers from the Plague, life slowly goes back to normal. Noble families are coming to grips with the fact that their third son (destined for the priesthood) may now be their second son (destined for the military) and so forth. Nevare is readying to head home to his brother’s wedding and to see Carsina, his betrothed. While most people who survive the plague become weakened and skeletal, Nevare is having the opposite reaction to his brush with death: he can’t stop gaining weight. He becomes heavy. Then fat. Then obese. Hobb takes every possible opportunity to remind us that Nevare is supposed to be a fit, trim soldier, and “letting yourself go” simply isn’t accepted in this society (I’ll just assume that every woman in this world always loses the baby fat, and thyroid problems are nonexistent). Due only to his size, Nevare is in turn spurned by his father, his siblings, his friends and his betrothed. And then he is given a medical discharge from the academy. Everything he was destined to be, the military life his father trained him for, is over.
Humiliated and disowned by his father, Nevare sets out for the eastern frontier determined to join up with a military post far from home. Everywhere he stops it seems, people don’t want anything to do with him because of his girth. People assume he is homeless, or a thief, or a murderer, or all of the above, and only because he’s fat. Hobb belabors this point, often.
Along the King’s Road, Nevare learns first hand the folly of building a road with chain gangs, of building frontier towns just to abandon them when the road passes through and the guards leave. Puts me in the mood to track down some American history about the transcontinental railroads and the natives who were “in the way”.
- In: Jack Chalker | Review
- 13 Comments
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Midnight at the Well of Souls, by Jack Chalker
published in 1977
where I got it: husband’s collection
why I read it: cuz it’s damn fun!
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The far flung future of humanity isn’t a pretty place. Having colonized over 500 planets, many governments have turned to utopian totalitarianism, extreme forms of socialism, cloning, and forced equality through genetic engineering. Nathan Brazil isn’t the only freighter pilot who’d rather live alone on his ship than ever settle on one of those hellholes, where everyone is exactly the same. Wonderfully antisocial, Nathan happily goes decades without speaking to another human. Old enough to remember the good old days before the stagnation of humanity, these days it’s just freight, freight, more freight, and the occasional passenger run.
While ferrying a few passengers, he makes an unplanned detour, and hears a distress call from the non-inhabited planet of Dalgonia. One of the original planets of the Markovian race, Dalgonia is nothing but ruins these days, a favorite dig spot for archaeologists. The Markovians, an ancient race, possible the first race to populate our universe, left no writings behind, no artwork, nothing to identify what they might have looked like. The planets they colonized spanned the universe and all had massive, planet-wide computers living just under the surface. Nathan and his passengers investigate the impossible distress signal, only to fall through a gateway that shouldn’t exist.
No one will be reaching their destination. except for Nathan, who might just finally be at the right place.
Read the rest of this entry »
Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
published in 1971
where I got it: husband came with it
why I read it: this is one of my husband’s favorite series, so I wanted to give it a try.
Picking up seven years after Dragonflight (reviewed here), Lessa has come into her own as Weyrwoman, F’lar is a respected Weyrleader, and the “oldtimers” that Lessa brought from four hundred turns ago are having trouble adapting to their new world. The oldtimers who were once revered above all Pernians are having trouble swallowing that they are no longer seen as demigods by the populace.
The politics between the oldtimers and the contemporary Pernians are my favorite part of this book. I interpreted it as an interesting little political commentary, how the oldtimers (conservatives) react to the contemporary dragonriders (the progessives). The way the oldtimers see it, everything the progessives do is wrong and to the detriment of society. But the contemporary dragonriders don’t see why they shouldn’t use every tool and every new technology they discover to make life easier for everyone? When developing new methods and drastically moving away from tradition, how far is too far? Read the rest of this entry »
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