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Steve's Bookshelf 2012


Karsa Orlong

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Oh, I seem to remember that being on - shall have a look for it :smile:

 

I'm going to try and be organised with my next few reads. I took three books out last night to decide what to read next. They were:

 

The Book Thief - Markus Zuzak

The Skystone - Jack Whyte

Midnight Falcon - David Gemmell

 

I went for Midnight Falcon, so I'm determined that The Book Thief and The Skystone will be my following two reads. Unless Clive Barker's Weaveworld totally scuppers that plan :D

 

bump up Th Book Thief!! You won't regret it!!

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I don't know if I can handle the pressure :lol:

 

Okay, okay, my next three books will be The Book Thief, Weaveworld and The Skystone ... not necessarily in that order :D

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Be so interested to see what you make of The Book Thief .. I mean it's not your usual style is it and it's a very emotional book so I'm wondering whether .. as a guy .. you'll love it as much as all us ladies do. I'm not saying that guys are unemotional or incapable of real feeling or anything .. (perhaps I've just been unlucky :D :D ;) ;) :D :D) but you know .. I know you prefer stories with swords in and lasers and zappy stuff and this is a million miles away from that.

 

It's a brilliant book .. I can't see any reason why you won't love it .. except for the fact that I did .. oh and the absence of splatty things ... READ IT soon .. we are all waiting (no pressure ;))

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Book # 33: Midnight Falcon by David Gemmell

 

MidnightFalcon.jpg

 

Synopsis:

 

Bane is the illegitimate son of the Rigante king who men called Demonblade. Born of treachery, Bane grew up an outcast in his own land, feared by his fellow highlanders, and denied by the father whose unmistakable mark he bore–the eyes of Connavar, one tawny brown, the other emerald green.

 

Hounded from the country of his birth, Bane found acceptance across the seas–only to have it stripped away in an instant by a cruel and deadly swordsman. Now fighting as a gladiator in the blood-soaked arenas of the Empire, Bane lives for one thing: revenge. And he pursues his goal with the same single-minded determination that won his father a crown.

 

But more is at stake than a young warrior’s quest for vengeance. The armies of the Stone are preparing to march on the lands of the Rigante. The fate of human and Seidh alike will be decided by the clash of swords–and by the bonds of twisted love and bitterness between a father and a son . . .

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I'm running out of things to say about David's books. This one's another cracker, but not quite the sequel I was expecting (which is a good thing - I like it when the unexpected crops up). So, rather than follow on immediately after Sword in the Storm and continue Connavar's tale and the Stone invasion, this story leaps forward 17 years and introduces us to Bane, Conn's illegitimate son, who has grown up hating his father, for reasons far too spoilery to go into here.

 

Bane's another wonderful Gemmell character, and the book tells his tale as grief drives him across the sea to the land of Stone, where he becomes a gladiator in his efforts to seek revenge. His relationships with other characters like Vorna, Banouin and Rage are so well written that it's hard not to sympathise with him, even though he is a cold-hearted killer. Connavar and the other characters from the first novel are largely absent, although Gemmell uses a couple of them at the start to fill in the backstory in such a clever way that it doesn't feel like exposition.

 

As usual the action, when it comes, is relatively brief. Gemmell prefers character development and the motivations that drive them to the violence (or otherwise) in the first place over lengthy, graphic descriptions of the fights. The violence is there, but I find it has more impact for its brevity.

 

I did find the construction of his chapters a little odd, in that - where a jump between locations and characters, and sometimes even months and years occurred - there was merely a section break rather than a new chapter. It threw me occasionally, until I got my head around what had just happened. He liked to illustrate the lead-up to certain big events or changes in a character's life then, rather than go into it in detail, leap ahead and tell of the aftermath and consequences instead. It's actually a really neat trick, and I ended up liking it a lot.

 

I'm also finding that Gemmell had a knack for writing fantastic last lines in his books, and this one's no different.

 

Another cracker :smile:

 

 

9/10

Edited by Karsa Orlong
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:lol:

 

Alright, alright :D

 

So long as you read The Lions of Al-Rassan :D

 

I have now bought The Lions of Al-Rassan, and will read it once I have finished Wizard's First Rule and read I Capture the Castle for the Reading Group! :) (So far I am about 350 pages into WFR and am quite enjoying it although I certainly wouldn't put it into my favourite books category; a lot of the Amazon reviews said it really comes to life in the last couple of hundred pages so I am looking forward to seeing if that's true!)

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I am 4% into The Lions Of Al -Rassan and so far it is not what I was expecting.....I thought it was going to be based on some real historical events which then took a different turn so that history developed differently....thought I would recognise something but cannot..the names are all a bit Islamic but nothing makes sense....I am going to read it as a straight fantasy instead.

Story itself is fine so far

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I have now bought The Lions of Al-Rassan, and will read it once I have finished Wizard's First Rule

 

Yay! That'll be an interesting comparison of fantasy styles :lol:

 

 

I am 4% into The Lions Of Al -Rassan and so far it is not what I was expecting.....I thought it was going to be based on some real historical events which then took a different turn so that history developed differently....thought I would recognise something but cannot..the names are all a bit Islamic but nothing makes sense....I am going to read it as a straight fantasy instead.

Story itself is fine so far

 

:huh:

 

Strange comments, VF, I have to say. It is historical fantasy (as are all GGK's later books), not historical fiction or alternate history. Apologies if the GGK thread I started gave you the wrong impression.

 

It is most definitely based on a historical place and time, though - the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. The only names that sound Islamic, iirc, are the Asharites - unsurprisingly as they are based on the Moors. Rodrigo Belmonte is effectively El-Cid. I expect you've worked this out by now.

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The only names that sound Islamic, iirc, are the Asharites - unsurprisingly as they are based on the Moors. Rodrigo Belmonte is effectively El-Cid. I expect you've worked this out by now.

 

The man from Bel Monte !! :P Sorry couldn't resist that one.....OK so it's not actually Islam though? Mohammed has never existed in this story? that was what was confusing me...that is a big bit of history to change. So the foreign white mercenaries are like the Norman mercenaries in real history? I will read more. Thanks for the heads up. :readingtwo:

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Kindath = a parallel of the Jews; Asharites = a parallel of the Muslims; and Jaddites = a parallel of the Christians

 

Jehane is a Kindath, Ammar ibn Khairan an Asharite, and Rodrigo Belmonte a Jaddite.

 

Here's my comments on it http://www.bookclubf...post__p__253977

 

:smile:

Edited by Karsa Orlong
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I'm not saying anything .. apart from saying that I'm not saying anything .. that's the only thing I'm saying .. nothing ...

 

... but if I was to say something it would be 'how's it going?' :hide: but I'm not saying that .. I AM thinking it though :D

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bump up Th Book Thief!! You won't regret it!!

:she:

Be so interested to see what you make of The Book Thief .. [...] READ IT soon .. we are all waiting (no pressure ;))

 

:D Frankie's come over to add to the pressure! Although I now realise I'm too late, and Mr Orlong is already well into the book. Well, I shall add pressure to fricking love the book :D

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