Karsa Orlong Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Quest for Lost Heroes arrived yesterday. Had to order it through Amazon Marketplace to get the cover style that matches my collection. Then I decided to re-arrange my shelves to get all the Gemmells together. There's 28 of them and they still take up less room than the Eriksons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Oooh, shiny! They look gorgeous, Steve, especially the colourful ones on the top shelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Oooh, shiny! They look gorgeous, Steve, especially the colourful ones on the top shelf. Yeah! Unfortunately, I don't think the remaining three I have to get will fit in that little space on the second shelf, so they're either going to have to go onto a third shelf, or get moved onto the wall-mounted shelves <<ponders>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Very handsome looking book collection Steve Have you had to cull any to make room? Is the charity shop going to benefit from your rearrangements? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Very handsome looking book collection Steve Have you had to cull any to make room? Is the charity shop going to benefit from your rearrangements? Thanks I took a load of books and DVDs up to the local hospice's shop before Christmas, so I currently have an empty shelf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Rather prettiful, as Janet might say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I love a good matching set Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 # 2 Dawnthief by James Barclay 1999 - Gollancz paperback - 464 pages From Amazon: Elite, unstoppable . . . and hired to do the unthinkable. The Raven are an elite. Formed of six men and an elf, they're swords for hire in the wars that have torn their land apart. For years their only loyalty has been to themselves, and to their code. But that time is coming to an end. The Wytch Lords have escaped and The Raven find themselves fighting for the Dark College of magic, on a mission which soon becomes a race for the secret location of Dawnthief. It's a spell - one created to end the world - and there's a danger that someone is going to use it . . . Thoughts: I've had this book sitting on my shelf since 2008, and I'd pretty much forgotten about it. For some reason Barclay's name came up in discussion on here a few months back and brought it back to my attention, so I finally decided to read it, especially having picked up the ebook collection of all seven of his 'Raven' books on the cheap last month. Oh boy, do I wish I hadn't. It's not that I thought Dawnthief was bad, per se. Okay, actually I did think it was bad, but not entirely dreadful. There are some neat ideas in it, although it's a bit of a hodge-podge, a bit like he threw everything in - including the kitchen sink - but he wasn't entirely sure how it all fit together. For instance, the novel starts at a good pace, throws you right into the middle of a battle, then sees the heroes step through a door to another dimension, which in turn is a buffer between their world and a dimension ruled by dragons. One of the characters then has a conversation with a mean, big-ass dragon - which talked with Benedict Cumberbatch's voice in my head, don't know why - and finds that there are different broods of dragons, and this one's brood is protecting our world from a dragon invasion, because the other broods have pretty much destroyed their own world. I kind of liked that. But then the book settles into what I can only call a pedestrian pace, filled every couple of pages with mind-numbingly boring conversations which become exercises in exposition. It's been a while since I've read a book that is this clumsy in explaining how its world works, and again it's down to too much being thrown in here. I've no doubt that this is all set-up for the later books - and, indeed, I have heard that the subsequent novels are better (although I can't help noticing on Amazon that, although the average score per book increases, the number of people reviewing dwindles alarmingly) - but there have to be better ways to do this, surely? The result is that the characters suffer. Well, I say 'characters' . . . When they're not explaining the plot they all talk with the same voice: male, female, human, elf - they all sound exactly the same. If you're going to throw elves into the story then they should at least have some mystery about them, but the ones here are exactly the same as the humans, just with extra-good eyesight and a bunch of pointy ears. Relationships spring up out of nowhere for no reason that's apparent. The humour, such as it is, is forced and unnatural. There's a character called The Unknown Warrior. I thought 'cool, he could be interesting'. He's not - he's so bland and boring he might as well not be there. There's a barbarian called Hirad who's so barbaric that he spends all his time moaning and whining. Conan and Druss would eat him for breakfast. Karsa would pick him out from between his teeth and ask for more. On the plus side, Barclay has no hesitation in killing off seemingly major characters, completely without warning. That much I liked. Of course, it would have helped if the characters had had any, you know, character to make me care about them in the first place. With non-existent characterisation, conversations that often leave you wondering which character is speaking, and action scenes that bemuse as to who is doing what, the writing is clunky at best, extremely poor most of the time, downright awful in parts. It's unclear, uninvolving, uninspiring, and completely underwhelming. I'd nearly lost the will to live by the end. I certainly can't see myself reading anymore of these books, which makes the decision to buy the ebook collection a bit annoying, but there you go. I'll leave them on my TBR list for a while and see if I change my mind, but I can't see it happening. I suppose you have to take into account that it was published in 1999. George RR Martin had just published A Clash of Kings, Steven Erikson had just published Gardens of the Moon. Joe Abercrombie hadn't been born ( <-- slight exaggeration). The genre was showing the glimmerings of change, but not to the extent we've seen in the last few years. So, I suppose this book can be forgiven for being less than the blurb would have you believe. 'A new fantasy legend' is not born (get a grip, Maggie Furey). And I'm extremely disappointed that David Gemmell let his name be put on the cover. 'Barclay writes with power, pace and a wonderful sense of humour. Better than that, he creates novels you want to read again and again'. Bloody hell, David! Dawnthief isn't dreadful. But it's close. 4/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I think this is my favourite review so far this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Somehow it's more fun writing reviews of bad books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Ouch, I have heard of Barclay before but haven't considered picking anything of his up, don't think I will now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Given how wildly different our opinions were of A Dance with Dragons, you may like it For some balance: http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/James-Barclay/Dawnthief.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Ooh, lovely books, Steve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Given how wildly different our opinions were of A Dance with Dragons, you may like it Haha, maybe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Your David Gemmell books look really pretty!! I liked your review of Dawnthief. I'll still read it myself at some point, I have quite some of James Barclay's books, but it's a shame you didn't like it much . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Checked out your booklists Steve & most of them i've never heard of....... are you sure you didn't just make them up I bought The 5th Wave for one of my sons for Christmas, i'd added it to my wishlist after reading Michelle's review as well so of course this is a sneaky way for me to buy more books for myself by pretending to buy them for my children.............. Mwhaha Happy reading in 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Checked out your booklists Steve & most of them i've never heard of....... are you sure you didn't just make them up I'm pretty sure I don't want to be adding imaginary books to the list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I'm pretty sure I don't want to be adding imaginary books to the list I don't know, you could write mediocre reviews of imaginary books, so no one would bother looking them up, then claim your TBR number was decreasing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Oh nooo, I can't believe Dawnthief was so bad. I have the whole collection ready to read, same as you . . . I don't know, you could write mediocre reviews of imaginary books, so no one would bother looking them up, then claim your TBR number was decreasing! This is genius! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I should point out, I meant that the reviews would say the book was mediocre, not that your reviews themselves were mediocre! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I should point out, I meant that the reviews would say the book was mediocre, not that your reviews themselves were mediocre! Nice save Claire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 I should point out, I meant that the reviews would say the book was mediocre, not that your reviews themselves were mediocre! Well someone agreed with you: This is genius! You think my reviews are mediocre? Hmmph! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 Oh nooo, I can't believe Dawnthief was so bad. I have the whole collection ready to read, same as you . . . My sympathies. Don't waste your time - take 'em to the charity shop and read something else. There must be hundreds of other books you could read instead. £18 down the drain, thank you Mr Barclay I was looking through some of the reviews on Amazon yesterday. 33 fools people gave it five stars I'm guessing James Barclay has 33 Amazon accounts I should be careful, he lives quite near me Some of my favourite comments: "I had trouble finishing it and when I did felt like I had wasted time that I will never get back." "If this book was subtitled 'What I Did On My Holidays' by Bobby Joe (aka DeAThBringEr) I could give it more credence." "The dialogue was so hilariously bad I was reading it out to entertain the family - and trust me, that's the only entertainment to be found here!" "I just can't find any reason for someone to read this, and the idea of a whole series fills me with horror." "I have even tried to loan it to friends but they seem to see desperation in my eyes and make a run for it." "Well, I got to the end, but only because breastfeeding precludes reading anything very challenging at the same time." "I've seen deeper and more entertaining puddles." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I don't know, you could write mediocre reviews of imaginary books, so no one would bother looking them up, then claim your TBR number was decreasing! x Nice ! And @ the review comments from Amazon. I hope your next read will be more enjoyable, Steve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 Want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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