Posts Tagged ‘epic’
The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn
Posted on: May 8, 2013
The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn
published in 2011
where I got it: purchased new
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Whatever you expect this book to be, or to be about, it isn’t. The blurb on the back is fairly useless, making it sound like an action packed revenge story with some magic. I’ll give it that, it is a revenge story, and there is some magic. But at the core, The Diviner is the story of a family who was nearly destroyed, and instead, irrevocably changed the world.
Long review short, Melanie Rawn’s The Diviner is so full of awesome that I don’t even know where to start talking about it. Complex and sprawling, subtle yet epic, The Diviner offers stunning world building, an elegant magic system, and characters who I swear I just spent an endless summer with. Doesn’t hurt that Rawn’s writing style is poetic yet purposeful, layered like sheer silks that shift and billow in the breeze, offering momentary glimpses of a larger pattern.
The Diviner is all about the details – details that support other details, that are required to make something else work, yet like a cathedral or a fractal, the complexities blend into the background at first blush. There’s so much I want to touch on, that trying to review this book is like trying to review Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind. It would be so much easier if this review could just consist of “you have to read this book!” over and over again until I reach 800 words.
Spanning four generations, the pacing of The Diviner is very fast, but the point of the book requires that time pass quickly. When months or years pass between chapters, we’re often given a passage written by a chronicler who has documented what happened. The chroniclers are just one more subtle architectural detail, it’s easy to see they each have their own style but were trained in the same school. This method of showing the passage of time may not work for all readers, but I found it refreshing and enjoyable.
Epic: Legends of Fantasy, edited by John Joseph Adams
published November 2012
where I got it: Received ARC from the publisher
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Epic Fantasy requires the story to be bigger, the dragons be faster, the warriors be stronger, and everything generally be more. And Epic: Legends of Fantasy offers up just that – more mythos, higher stakes, more of simply everything.
Many of the entries are part of the author’s larger work, taking place in an epic fantasy world that the author has already written hundreds and sometimes thousands of pages about. Randomly, the stories I read first happened to be part of larger works, and at first, the lack of stand alone works bothered me, but I quickly came to appreciate it, and to learn the collection had plenty of stand alone stories as well. An anthology like this is a brilliant method of introducing readers to these larger fantasy worlds created by famous authors such as Robin Hobb, George R R Martin, Michael Moorcock, Melanie Rawn, Tad Williams, and many others, and serves as an excellent introduction to the writings of newer authors as well.
Some works were fairly new, but others were older than I am. the Moorcock for example was originally written in 1961. A pure classic sword and sorcery, complete with sexualized and helpless female, it might be offensive to today’s readers, but I’m happy Adams included it, as what’s the point of talking about Epic Fantasy if we’re not going to touch on the journey the genre has taken?
Clocking in at over 600 pages, Epic: Legends of Fantasy is itself a bit of a doorstopper. We eat clunksters like this for breakfast, so I was surprised at how long it took me to plow through it. ahh, but spending 600+ pages in one fantasy world is one thing. Try spending that quantity of pages in over a dozen fantasy worlds. More often than not, my brain needed a little break in between. This isn’t the kind of anthology to gorge on, this is the kind you savor, over many winter evenings.
Here’s my thoughts a handful of the entries:
The Emperor’s Knife, by Mazarkis Williams
Available in the UK: Oct 2011 Jo Fletcher Books, US Dec 2011, Night Shade Books
Where I got it: Received advanced reading copy
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A royal family on the brink of disaster, a bride with an unsettled assassin on her trail, an ill emperor and his mad brother, their royal mother who will do anything to keep whatever power she has, a conniving vizier who will do anything to steal the throne and a mysterious magician known only as The Pattern Master, saying there isn’t much going on in this story is the understatement of the year. With echoes of a crusades era Ottoman Empire and brimming with the intrigue and courtly betrayals that reminded me at times of a Zhang Yimou film, Mazarkis William’s debut novel The Emperor’s Knife is a refreshing change from the European centered epic fantasy that’s recently seemed to take over bookstore shelves.
Following three major story lines (and a few small ones), we are quickly introduced to Prince Sarmin, younger brother to ruling Emperor Beyon; Eyul, the Emperor’s assassin; and Mesema, a young woman from a Felting tribe destined to be a royal bride. Instead of a chapter at a time from each storyline, the point of view changes every few pages, or in some cases, every few paragraphs. It takes a bit to get used to, but this style of writing quickly turns into a method of keeping the reader’s rapt attention.
Soup du jour: Link Soup
Posted on: August 6, 2011
Guess who at ComicCon?
Eh, I finished one book this morning and am about a third of the way through another one. No reviews even close to be being ready to post, let alone even started. And I got a busy crazy blog-on-fire week coming up (more on that later, I promise).
Here’s some delicious link soup for you. Tastes like Epic.
Wanna join our read-along for Lord of the Rings? starts this coming week, one book per month till we finish. Sign up here.
Awesome article on Jeff Vandermeer’s Ambergris series, focusing on City of Saints and Madmen.
Neat article/video on blood & guts CGI in HBO’s Game of Thrones (no fake blood was harmed in the making of this show).
Love fest for Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series. Tastes like blood and guts. . .
My buddy Jim got me hooked on Mercury Men, a noirish SF alien invasion 7 minutes per episode webshow on Hulu. Go check it out.
Patrick Rothfuss answers your questions at SDCC.
and Patrick Rothfuss’s epic blog post about being epic at SDCC
Vote for your favorite SFF titles on NPR’s top 100 SFF book list. Everyone gets 10 votes, so make ’em count!
Prince of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence
Posted on: August 3, 2011
- In: epic fantasy | fantasy | Mark Lawrence | Review
- 19 Comments
Prince of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence
Published August 2011
Where I got it: rec’d review copy from Harper Collins/Voyager
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With an epic, empire-shattering sprawl that brings George R R Martin to mind, and a quick and snarky narrative style reminiscent of Scott Lynch, yet with a twist unlike anything I’vecome across, Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Thorns is easily the most incredible epic fantasy I have ever read. To drop yet another name, this is a novel that practically vibrates with deliberateness, making me think of Patrick Rothfuss at times.
Showing a true mastery of foreshadowing, Lawrence drops hints both overt and subtle that creep up on the reader like a path of breadcrumbs that twists and turns through the forest. I don’t care if this path leads to a witch’s house, Lawrence has completely seduced me to the point where I can do naught but follow. I knew from the first chapter this was a book I’d be devouring. The plot set-up is fast and clean, the prose and dialog alive with “show me”, and long before the first twist hits you’ll realize this is nothing at all like your typical epic fantasy.
Lord of the Rings read along!
Posted on: August 1, 2011
- In: fantasy | JRR Tolkein | Lord of the Rings | read along
- 14 Comments
Our Dune read along was such a success (thanks to YOU of course!) that I’ve decided to jump right in and do it again. I was so very impressed by the response and how many people were interested in diving into a classic SF book that maybe wasn’t their cup of tea, that I felt it’s only fair for me to do the same for a classic Fantasy series.
Yes, yours truly, who just over a year ago swore she would never read fantasy because she hated it (and then I read The Name of the Wind, and wow did that change everything!) will not only be reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings this summer and fall, but co-hosting a read along with Geeky Daddy.
I hope you’ll join us on our trip to Middle Earth, whether you’ve read LOTR a million times, once, or like me, have only seen the movies. personally, I couldn’t be more excited about the whole thing!
We’ll be taking three to four weeks to read and discuss each book, with discussions starting on Saturdays. Here’s the tentative schedule for starting each book:
The Hobbit-August 8
Fellowship of the Ring-September 1
The Two Towers-October 1
Return of the King-November 1
Children of Hurin- December 1
Geeky Daddy and I will be taking turns hosting guided discussions. We hope you’ll join us. To receive the guided discussion questions, just leave a reply here or on Geeky Daddy’s website. Even if you don’t the mailing list, you are welcome to read along and post your thoughts.
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert | read along | science fiction
- 10 Comments
walk without rhythym. . . .
Hi Everyone, and welcome to the final section of our Dune read along. Hope you enjoyed the ride! Our last group of questions was kindly supplied by Grace, and she came up with some great ones!
Here are the questions, and my answers are after the jump:
1. What is your reaction to finally learning the identity of Princess Irulan? Do you think that her convention added to the story?
2. Were you satisfied with the ending? For those reading for the first time, was it what you expected?
3. On both Arrakis and Salusa Secundus, ecology plays a major role in shaping both characters and the story itself. Was this convincing? Do you think that Paul would have gone through with his threat to destroy the spice, knowing what it would mean for Arrakis?
4. Both Leto and Paul made their decisions on marriage for political reasons. Do you agree with their choices?
5. What was your favorite part in this section of the book?
6. One of the things I noticed in the discussions last week was Herbert’s use of the word “jihad.” What do you think of Herbert’s message about religion and politics?
Dune read along, part two
Posted on: July 16, 2011
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert | read along
- 16 Comments
Hi everyone, welcome to part two of our Dune read along. Part one is here, and checkout Stainless Steel Droppings for links to everyone else’s discussion.
This week, it was my turn to provide questions, and I came up with a whole bunch, but suggested that people choose whichever ones they felt like discussing. This way, everyone’s posts will be a little different.
If you have never read Frank Herbert’s classic epic scifi novel DUNE, or you haven’t finished reading the middle portion of the book, be warned, here be spoilers!
our story so far:
The Harkonnens have retaken Arrakis with the help of the Emperor’s Sardaukar shock-troops. the few surviving members of the Atreides household have gone to ground, and after being rescued by the imperial planetologist Kynes, Jessica and Paul escape in an ornithopter. Believed dead by the Harkonnens, Paul and Jessica take advantage of the mythos planted on Arrakis by earlier Bene Gesserit sisters. But maybe Paul is the child of the prophecy? His Mentat and Bene Gesserit trainings combined with intense quantities of Spice awaken his prescience ability. The futures that Paul sees are either brutal and bloody, or steeped in stagnation. Is there no middle ground?
Meanwhile, Baron Harkonnen is grooming one awful nephew after another to inherit control of Arrakis.
Taken in by a Fremen tribe, Paul and Jessica are tested, and then accepted into the tribe so quickly they can barely think about it before it happens. Plans within plans, and circles within circles, this is only the beginning for those destined to live our their days on the desert planet Arrakis, known as Dune.
Of the handful of questions I put forth, here are the ones I’ll be discussing after the jump:
Was Liet’s identity a surprise? who do you think he really works for?
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What do you think of Count Fenring’s unusual verbal mannerisms?
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The center portion of the book is still pretty dialog heavy, but what I’ve noticed is the subtlety of the dialog. Things left unsaid are often more important than things that are said. What do you think of that as a stylistic choice? does it make the dialog more interesting? less interesting?
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Dune was written in the 60’s. Does it feel dated to you? How does it compare, writing style-wise, to more contemporary science fiction you’ve read?
- In: Dune | Frank Herbert | read along
- 16 Comments
Hi Everyone, and welcome to the Dune Read-along! If you are posting your thoughts in your blog as well, please visit Stainless Steel Droppings and add your link so others can find you. If you aren’t posting related threads on your blog, no worries, you can post your thoughts in this thread, or anywhere else you’d like. This past week, we read the first “book” within Dune, called “Dune” (wow, that was redundant!), and Carl from Stainless Steel has provided some excellent discussion questions.
If you haven’t read this book, or haven’t finished this section, be warned, spoiler ridden postings ahead. Behind in reading? no worries, come back and visit whenever you’re ready.
here are Carl’s questions, and I’ll provide my detailed answers after the jump.
walk without rhythym. . . .
1. What, if any, preconceived ideas did you have before you started reading Dune and how has the first section measured up to those preconceptions?
alternate Question 1 for those who’ve read the book before:
Did you see anything in this first section of the book that either you hadn’t seen before or that you had forgotten about, anything that stood out to you?
2. What did you think about the plot device of the early revelation that Yueh was to be the traitor?
3. What was your favorite part of this first section? Which character(s) do you find most interesting and why?
4. Did the revelation about the Harkonnen surprise you? Why or why not? Thoughts.
5. Finally, please share some overall thoughts on this first section of the book. Are you finding it difficult to follow? Easy to understand? Engaging? Boring? Just share what you are thinking thus far.
And my answers:
So I finally got my other half to read Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind (reviewed here) and The Wise Man’s Fear (reviewed here), which, for the uninitiated are books one and two in Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles. We both adored The Name of the Wind, and while I found The Wise Man’s Fear to be long yet lovely, the other half had similar complaints as many other reviewers have had: it’s too long, too episodic, Denna is annoying and it’s too convenient that she keeps showing up everywhere Kvothe does, the Felurian bit was fine but went on about 50 pages too long, same with the Adem fighting clan bits.
we discussed it, and I pointed him to Jo Walton’s excellent spoilery threads on TOR, which he read, and then I reread. if you’ve read both books, go read ‘em. if you haven’t read these books, for the love of anything you believe in, do NOT read the TOR spoilery posts, or this great thread over at Fantasy Faction. It will spoil everything. As could, umm, reading the rest of this post.
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, be warned: this post contains spoilers, guesses, predictions, etc that you may want to avoid if you haven’t read these books.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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