Karsa Orlong

March 2011 GGK interview I started reading A Song For Arbonne yesterday. Once again, impossible to put down. GGK is a true wordsmith.

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers I don't like the Pirates of the Caribbean films but, had I known that the 4th film used this book as its basis, it wouldn't have stopped me reading the novel. Why? Because it was written by Tim Powers, whose 1983 novel The Anubis Gates is possibly the finest stand-alone fantasy novel I've read, matched only by Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. The Anubis Gates is a riotous explosion of action and inventiveness, and I hoped for more of the same from On Stranger Tides. This novel was written in 1987, long before Disney decided to make a movie out of a theme park ride. It's about a character called John Chandagnac who is sailing to the Caribbean to confront an uncle who has stolen away his deceased father's fortune but, when his ship is attacked by pirates, he gets drawn far off course into a tale of voodoo, the Fountain of Youth, and the clutches of Blackbeard and his henchmen. It's not as good as The Anubis Gates (few books are!), but it moves with incredible pace and verve, it's exciting, and the characters are well written. Powers, I think, has a real gift for storytelling, and for not allowing interest to drop. His books seem to be as long as they need to be, rather than padded with boring characters and sub-plots. There are many twists and turns along the way, too, and he brings with it a wonderful sense of time and place which is added to immeasurably by his grasp of all things nautical. Great fun. 8/10

Have you tried any of Guy Gavriel Kay's novels, Cookie? Practically all of them are re-imaginings of regions and time-periods: Tigana - Medieval Italy The Last Light of the Sun - the Vikings Under Heaven - Tang Dynasty China The Lions of Al-Rassan - Medieval Spain The Sarantine Mosaic - Byzantium A Song for Arbonne - Medieval France

Non-spoilery excerpt, which I quite liked, from a review of The Crippled God over on blogcritics.org: "Yet, in spite of the grand sweep of events that he created, the crooked paths the story has sometimes walked down, it has been the characters who have been the glue holding it all together. From the ones we've loved to hate, Kallor the high king, to the ones we've loved — Fiddler, Hedge, Whiskeyjack, Kalam, Quick Ben, Toc the Younger, Onas T'oolan, Kruppe, Crokus, Apsalar, Karsa Orlong, Ganoes and Tavore Paran, the humans, the undead, the gods and even a couple of dogs — they are the ones who gave the series the flavour that made it so special. They were a celebration of all that was good and bad in humanity, proving over and over again how situations can bring the best and worst out in everybody. Now here, at the end of their story, we are given a chance to celebrate all that they were and what they meant to the books. I realize I've not talked much about what actually happens in The Crippled God, but to do that would give too much away to those who have been eagerly awaiting this concluding volume and mean nothing at all to those unfamiliar with the previous nine books. If you belong to the latter group I envy you still having all ten books to look forward to. For those who are in the former all I can say is you won't be disappointed. It will not only live up to your expectations, it will exceed them. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen is an extraordinary work of epic fiction and this final instalment is not only a fitting conclusion to what's come before, it takes the series to an even higher level than you would have thought possible. Fantasy and science fiction are often thought the poor cousins of so called serious novels, but I defy anyone to think that after reading this series." The full review is here, but does contain some spoilers: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-crippled-god-by/page-3/

Last night's ep was awesome - best hour of tv I've seen in ages. Credit to George RR Martin for his writing on the episode - to cram so much vital information and so many brilliant scenes into 58 minutes - wow! They've been ratcheting up the tension in the last couple of eps and now it's starting to pay off. I think every character had at least one major scene. And Bronn still got the best line Cracking

Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks Amazon blurb: "The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action. The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought. The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a burnt-out case. But not even its machine intelligence could see the horrors in his past." Bit of a mixed bag for me, this one. I've read several of Banks's sf novels and have enjoyed them a lot, so was expecting to enjoy this one too. The problem was, around about half way through I realised I didn't actually care about the characters. I suspect that this was his intention, but it didn't quite work for me. He bravely plays around with the narrative structure, with alternate chapters jumping between current events and filling in Zakalwe's back story. When it works it works brilliantly, but at other times (and possibly because I was quite bored in the middle third of the novel) it gives the impression of being rather disjointed, and the changes in time and setting can be quite jarring. Having said all that, it really comes together in quite spectacular fashion in the final third, and the ending is brilliant. It's the sort of ending that left me thinking I should go back and re-read it, just to seek out all the clues that led to the finale. And for that alone I think it was noteworthy. So, not my favourite Banks novel (that honour still belongs to the genius that is Feersum Endjinn) but it ended up being far better than I thought it was going to be. 7/10

It's fantastic - as good as the tv adaptation is (and it is terrific), the book is much better I re-read and reviewed it not long ago here

Rush rockin' in Frankfurt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5nsnIpoyHk&feature=related

I knew we should've closed our borders

If Australia's such a paradise why are most of them over here working in our pubs?

Goodbye Sweet Innocence by Riverside

Just bought a Tim Powers book called On Stranger Tides for my Kindle. I loved his book The Anubis Gates so am hoping this will be as good. Pirates, voodoo, the Caribbean, black magic ... seriously, how can it go wrong?

You could always read the English translations of the Nesbo books Good man!

Cheers Hopefully you'll get far enough into the Malazan series to actually meet Karsa himself

Please do - I'll go and hide in case you don't like it I almost chose Glokta for my username - almost ...

A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin The second in Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire series and sequel to A Game of Thrones, this is a mammoth book. It may only have 700-odd pages, but the text is small and it feels much longer. I don't want to go into details of the plot in case it spoils it for anyone. Suffice to say, the title is very accurate. Picking up where the first book left off, the Seven Kingdoms are once again divided, with multiple lords laying claim to the Iron Throne. We are finally introduced to Robert Baratheon's other brother, Stannis, who has succumbed to the persuasions of the Lord of Light, and Melisandre - the Red Woman - is using dark magic to turn events his way. There is much politicking, power-struggling, intrigue, murder, sex, violence and emotion. As is the style of these books, Martin continues to tell the story from multiple points-of-view, with each chapter devoted to a character, leaving them on mini-cliffhangers before returning to them several chapters later. Some of the characters return from the first novel, some are new. Some stories are resolved, others left hanging for the next book. In some ways, I don't feel this one was as successful as A Game of Thrones or as awesome as the third book, A Storm of Swords. I can't quite put my finger on why - perhaps it is just that bit too long, too sprawling, too epic for its own good. Perhaps there are just too many paragraphs full of inconsequential character names, or pages describing the food at a banquet (at times it reads like a flippin' menu). Anyway, it's still a great read, and the twists and turns are many. It's most definitely for grown-ups. The characterisation is fantastic, the action brutal and - if you're anything like me - you'll feel like cheering every time certain characters names appear at the start of a chapter. I just prefer the books that came before and after. 8/10

Hurrah! It's all done - I'm bereft now, waiting for the next obsession, making do with Game of Thrones on tv for the moment

"Sixty-six series have been played, with Australia winning 31 and England 30. The remaining five series were drawn" We're doing better than I thought

Unless it's against the Aussies, of course, then it's normal

Salt. Needed a lot more seasoning I think.

Only insomuch as he mentions some point-of-view characters who appear, and those who don't feature at all in ADWD. Nothing plot-specific, but if you want to stay clear of the character list etc it might be best to read it after the book. Make sure you don't injure him when you see him - he needs to crack on with The Winds of Winter!

I'm having a fairly good year, I think. I'm on my 29th book so far, and there have been a lot of very long books (in between 800 and 1300 pages) in that number. I was hoping to surpass last year's total of 76 but I doubt I'll get to that now, as I have more longer books to read in my TBR pile My highlights so far, in no particular order, have been: The Snowman by Jo Nesbo The Crippled God by Steven Erikson The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay Arms of Nemesis by Steven Saylor Heartstone by CJ Sansom Lowlights are easier to choose: Endless Night by Richard Laymon Zero Option by Chris Ryan The Religion by Tim Willocks

George talks about the writing process for A Dance With Dragons, and why it took so long: http://grrm.livejournal.com/217066.html?page=2&cut_expand=1#cutid1 An interesting read

Well if you read back earlier in the thread I think you'll see quite clearly what most of us thought of those stickers It's utter tosh, basically. I thought the first Larsson book was clunky but passable, but I've never had the inclination to go back and read more. Nesbo, imo, is top of the class: lots of genuine edge-of-seat moments and a wonderfully flawed main character.