Karsa Orlong

You've got a corker coming next then!

Well I wouldn't go that far, but it definitely has its plus points :o I don't think I'm the best person to answer that I did like the first Dying Earth book better, as it was a set of interconnected short stories. I felt about the same about the second book (Eyes of the Overworld) as I do about Suldrun's Garden, though. I didn't get far with Cugel's Saga and have yet to read Rhialto the Marvellous at all. I'm just deciding what to read next. Something completely different, I think.

One of my all-time favourite characters

Book #42: Suldrun's Garden by Jack Vance Synopsis: Lyonesse evokes the Elder Isles, a baroque land of pre-Arthurian myth now lost beneath the Atlantic, where powerful sorcerers, aloof faeries, stalwart champions, and nobles eccentric, magnanimous, and cruel pursue intrigue among their separate worlds. In this first book of the trilogy, Suldrun's Garden, Prince Aillas of Troicinet is betrayed on his first diplomatic voyage and cast into the sea. Before he redeems his birthright, he must pass the breadth of Hybras Isle as prisoner, vagabond, and slave, an acquaintance of faeries, wizards, and errant knights, and lover to a sad and beautiful girl whose fate sets his bitter rivalry with the tyrant Casmir, King of Lyonesse. Thoughts: Crikey, this is a difficult one. To the story first. King Casmir awaits the birth of his child, demanding a boy and heir. Unfortunately for him, what he gets is Princess Suldrun. Unwanted by her father and mother (Queen Sollace, who views it as her own failure that she has not pleased her king), Suldrun grows to be a bit of a rebel, uninterested in courtly ways and the teachings of her guardians. She finds peace in a garden in a rocky cove beyond the castle walls, to which she escapes when the mood takes her. Meanwhile, her warmongering father sets about his grand plan to conquer neighbouring Dahaut by manoeuvring with various other factions. He pushes the King of Troicinet too far, however, and unpleasantness ensues. I apologise in advance to VF for what I'm about to type ... This is the fourth of Vance's novels I have read and I have come to the conclusion that his writing style may not be for me. I found Suldrun's Garden a bit of a slog, sadly, especially towards the end where it seemed to drag for much too long. I even toyed with the idea of giving up on it, but every now and then something exciting, intriguing, or tragic would happen that grabbed my attention. For the most part, though, I found it strangely uninvolving, as if I was reading it from a distance instead of being sucked into the world. As with the Dying Earth books, I found the dialogue a bit wearying. Everyone seems to talk the same way, be they male, female, young or old, and I found it difficult to sympathise with any of the characters, apart from Suldrun herself, as a result. I think this also meant that I wasn't able to see past this and recognise much of the wit, which I'm sure is there. Vance also seems to love putting his characters through misery after misery - he is quite vicious in this book, in most unexpected ways, which is fantastic and an aspect of the book that I really liked. I did find he did it just a little too much, though, and a large amount of the book is taken up by misfortunes and obstacles being stacked up against the characters, one after another without respite, which is something I'm not keen on (see my review of A Dance with Dragons in last year's thread). His descriptions are marvellous, though, and the worldbuilding is great, and his 'throwaway' inventiveness is on practically every page - ideas thrown out there with vivid description that are never mentioned again. Ultimately I think my disappointment is down to my personal tastes rather than the book. I was really looking forward to it but, ultimately, found myself continually checking to see how much of it there was left. I'm unsure at the moment whether I'll read the other two books. I find it really frustrating, because there are parts in Suldrun's Garden that I thought were fantastic and gripping, just not enough to sustain me. I think that I would have enjoyed it much more had I read it a few years ago, but my fantasy tastes now seem to gravitate towards the more recent, grittier approach. One curiosity to note: I bought a second hand copy of the paperback, primarily for the map, but the text was so small in it that I ended up going back to my Kindle edition. The Kindle edition, I found, was brilliant. There's a lot of artwork in there, and there also seems to be a bit of extra text and some rearranging of the order of chapters. I'm guessing this is down to it being taken from the Vance Integral Edition. I got all three books for £2.99 each from the SF Gateway. Well worth a look. 6/10

Glad you enjoyed it. I must give one or two of his other novels a go.

My favourite song ...

Hope you enjoy it - I loved that series when I was younger Did you enjoy Gates of Fire?

Not my fault, honest

In this one of many possible worlds, all for the best, or some bizarre test? It is what it is - and whatever Time is still the infinite jest The arrow files when you dream, the hours tick away - the cells tick away The Watchmaker keeps to his schemes The hours tick away - they tick away The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect So hard to earn, so easily burned In the fullness of time A garden to nurture and protect In the rise and the set of the sun 'Til the stars go spinning - spinning 'round the night It is what it is - and forever Each moment a memory in flight The arrow flies while you breathe, the hours tick away - the cells tick away The Watchmaker has time up his sleeve The hours tick away - they tick away The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect The way you live, the gifts that you give In the fullness of time Its the only return that you expect The future disappears into memory With only a moment between Forever dwells in that moment Hope is what remains to be seen - Rush: The Garden

Damn, I went into Smiths on the way home for a magazine and ended up walking out with three books instead: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury - this was suddenly kind of a 'must' The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie - been waiting a long time for this one. I was originally intending to get it for Kindle, but there's something about the covers of his books - they're just so tactile and sexy - and it's finally in regular paperback size, so ... The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin - been wanting to read some Rankin for a while - I think this is the second book with these characters, so I may have to get the previous one before reading this, but it's okay cos I got this half price, effectively, thanks to the deal in Smiths

It's a great book, Devi

I've never seen it right through, Kylie, no, just a few minutes here and there. I did wonder, whilst reading the novel, how on Earth they could have carried off certain aspects in the movie, particularly the hound. I would worry about a remake, though. Done correctly it could be fantastic, as the narrative seems even more relevant today than ever. I could imagine David Fincher making a real go of it. Unfortunately it would probably be given to Michael Bay and would star Will Smith - and be cgi'd up the wazoo

Book #4(5)1: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Synopsis: Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. Thoughts: If I'd been Ray Bradbury I'd've sued Walter Tevis. I'd've said "Hey, Wally! Stop nicking my ideas!" Okay, so Tevis added some other ideas to Mockingbird, but the central theme seems to me to be almost identical: people giving away freedom of thought and expression to technology, and one or two people rediscovering that freedom through books. I found Bradbury's novel to be compelling, written with real flair. Lots of wordplay, lots of driven passages where you can almost feel his own anger seeping out through Guy Montag's pores. I did find that there were a few parts where I lost track of who was speaking, and had to re-read them to get it clear in my mind. This was particularly true when Montag has another character speaking to him through an earpiece whilst he was in the midst of a conversation with others around him. But that's really the only problem I had with it. I didn't see the ending coming at all, even though the groundwork had been laid for it throughout the novel's brief length. It's one of those rare books where anything extraneous has been cut away to leave just the essential meat on the bone. Reading the 'afterword', I was amazed to learn that Bradbury wrote this in nine days. That sense of immediacy and urgency really shines through in everything that happens to Montag. His rage and confusion is palpable, pushing the story forward at pace. The characters around him are no less real, especially his wife Mildred (the most memorable scene in the novel takes place when she has her friends around to stare at the tv walls whilst Montag stands in the doorway quoting poetry), and the Fire Chief, Beatty, who seems to exist in a cloud of pipe smoke as he goads Montag at every given opportunity. Highly recommended. And I haven't even mentioned the hound ... RIP Ray. 9/10

I used to love The X Files, back in the day. The first two seasons are still my favourites - it was so inventive and exciting and fresh at that stage. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the first season is one of the best debut seasons I've seen on any show. It really hit the ground running with episodes like the pilot, 'Deep Throat', 'Squeeze', 'Conduit', 'Ice' etc. Fantastic stuff!

Did they have baked beans before the game? Sorry, couldn't resist

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one Probably doesn't help that I had to read it for my A level. I absolutely loathed it. Not as much as The Mill on the Floss, though

I take it that's the theme music to 'Homeland'? I fast forwarded through it every time - awful opening credits in general, I think. The theme music to 'Prisoners of War' is quite good, though

Agreed on all counts

Yeah, it's a prequel of sorts. I would hope that it wouldn't rely on your foreknowledge of the characters (because some of them do feature in the main series, and the events it's about are mentioned in the main series, too) but obviously I can't say that for sure. I think it would be a mistake if he didn't make it accessible for readers new to his world, though

That wasn't my intention, honest! Glad you liked the sound of it, though Yeah, and they needed someone to do the cooking and cleaning, after all Now that would be telling

Thanks Kylie Decided to read Farenheit 451 next. I'm ashamed that I've never read it, especially in light of Ray Bradbury's passing this week. Also, Mockingbird bears some similarities to it, I suppose, in terms of reading being outlawed etc, so it might be an interesting comparison.