Karsa Orlong
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Posts posted by Karsa Orlong
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I really enjoyed Mistborn, a good way to start Sanderson.
Oxymoron
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Something similar happened to me in December, unrelated to books.
Every year, this internet duo called the Vlogbrothers (Youtube stars, the founders of Nerdfighters (like freedom fighters, but for nerds!) and in the case of one half, a bestselling author) have a charity event that is 48 hours long, called the Project For Awesome, in which people advocate charities in YouTube videos, people donate to the foundation, named The Foundation To Decrease Worldsuck, and a select bunch of charities get the money.
I made three donations, and I got a phone call from my visa debit card people. They wanted to query some of the transactions on my card.
"You recently made a donation for $75 to the... Foundation to... Decrease... World..."
"Worldsuck. Yes. Yes I did."
I think he thought I was a bit mad
Well at least he didn't ask you to spell it - 's' and 'f' get confused so easily on the phone
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Hahaha I'm so sorry but tht really made me laugh!
They actually put a stop on my card cos there were so many of the 99p transactions going through within a few minutes - I had to phone them to get them to release it so I could keep buying books -
Haha no problem, what is at the top at the moment?
Usually it's whichever book I see next
Thanks! I am certainly enjoying The Way of Kings more at the moment.
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I'm not overly keen on that new cover - and having Christopher Paolini do the blurb . . . For once I wouldn't have minded seeing GRRM's name there instead
These are the covers that I have:
Pretty generic, but at least they don't follow the sword/axe/dagger trend
Btw, I forgot to mention that there are two other books in the Belgariad/Mallorean world: Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress
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It follows the same chapter structure, of having one devoted to a specific character before coming back to them a few chapters later.
That sort of approach, I find, has worn thin very quickly
Thanks for the review, Tim - it's dropped it down my wishlist a fair way, which isn't a bad thing at the moment
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I wasn't keen on it myself either, but I figure an author gets their up and down books.
Oh yes, definitely - I just feel I that I want to get through the first trilogy before reading the Empire trilogy, so that would mean reading Magician again (cos it's years since I read it) and then trying Silverthorn again, and hopefully not disliking it so much second time through
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# 6
Morningstar by David Gemmell
1993 - Orbit paperback - 282 pages
From Amazon:
From the internationally bestselling author of Lion of Macedon and The Dark Prince comes an action-filled new epic fantasy based on the classic Robin Hood legend. Jarek Mace, a thief who preys upon wealthy nobles, is hailed as a hero. But is he a soldier of honor, or just a mercenary?
Thoughts:
This is the book I actually set out to get the other week, then ended up coming home with six or seven Gemmells
It's one I kind of overlooked at first, largely because I was trying to complete the Corgi set (this one's published by Orbit) before they changed them all to the new cover style.Morningstar is unusual in that, of the ones I've read so far, it is the first Gemmell I've encountered that is written in the first-person. The prologue is even written in first-person and present tense, which seems to have caused some consternation (why do some readers struggle with present tense, I wonder?). What makes this more unusual is that the main character - Owen Odell - is not the hero of the story, and we are therefore at the whim of a potentially unreliable narrator. We see everything through Owen's eyes as he, as an old man, tells his story to a ghost.
Odell was, in his day, a bard; not a particularly great one, but he got by. He was also a journeyman magicker, and could conjure illusions to accompany his tales. When he was a young man he travelled to the city of Ziraccu and, on the way to his lodgings after a performance, happened on a young woman being attacked by several thugs. He was unarmed, but yelled at the men to stop. Naturally, a couple of them turned on him. And that was when chance came to his rescue, when another man jumped from a balcony and fought off the attackers. This man was Jarek Mace, and Odell quickly learned that he did not jump into the fray through any altruistic motives, but because he was himself being pursued by the authorities.
Gemmell's heroes were often flawed, troubled individuals, sometimes with dark events in their pasts, but usually trying to atone in one way or another, or maybe even escape from that past completely. Mace, on the other hand, doesn't really care. He's a self-centred thief and womaniser who isn't bothered about anything except his own satisfaction and the gold he can accumulate. He's an anti-hero drawn into situations that spiral out of his control. Odell spends much of the time hating Mace: Gemmell took another risk in making him so unsympathetic and it gives a quite uncompromising edge to the book.
Mace is, imo, maybe not as good an anti-hero character as Connavar (Sword in the Storm), but it seemed to me that Gemmell was trying to achieve something else here. We aren't privy to the inner workings of Mace's mind like we are with Gemmell's usual characters. Instead, Gemmell explores the nature of the hero through the eyes of his adoring - and not so adoring - followers, and the effect a legend can have on an oppressed people, and also the positive and negative effects this can have on the individual in question. This isn't the sort of story where the anti-hero suddenly has an epiphany and sees the light - much the opposite - but it does a great job of illustrating the shades of grey in between.
Morningstar has quite a different feel to it, mainly due to the first-person narrative. The pacing is exemplary (there isn't a word wasted here), the supporting cast is fantastic (especially Megan, Piercollo, Wulf, and the mute Ilka). The action, due to the nature of the narrator, takes more of a backseat than usual. And there is a brilliant twist near the end that puts a new perspective on the whole story. Perhaps its only fault is that the enemy is not fleshed out in Gemmell's usual manner, the result being that they are somewhat faceless and devoid of motive, other than that they are evil, which is a shame.
This is a completely stand alone story and, as such, is not a bad place at all for anyone interested in Gemmell's work to start, although I'd still recommend his 'Rigante' series, or Troy trilogy, or Legend above it.
8/10
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Problem is, I didn't like Silverthorn at all
Maybe I'll have another go at some point -
I got my credit card bill through yesterday and it's nearly two pages of '£0.99'. Damn the Amazon Kindle sales over Christmas
Just finished Morningstar. Review to follow
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Great review, Laura. I'm scared to re-read Eddings because I'd probably find the same issues with his work now. When I originally read the series, back in the early 80s, it was awesome, though
Yeah, The Mallorean is a direct sequel to The Belgariad, and is basically more of the same.
The other two books you mention aren't connected. The Diamond Throne is the first book of his 'Elenium' trilogy, about the knight called Sparhawk. It follows a similar pattern but doesn't contain the farmboy with the destiny. I gave up on Eddings after The Redemption of Althalus, which was very poor, so I haven't read The Elder Gods.
Oh, and Silk RULES. Still one of my favourite characters ever, in any book(s)
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Loving the avatar, maritxu
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Never heard of Janet and John books.
It's a series of children's books. According to this you might know them as 'Alice & Jerry' in the US
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^^ That's gorgeous
This is my copy, a little worn with multiple reads from me and one read from my partner. A much loved book, this is what started it nine years ago for me. All from a friends recommendation too. R.E.F.s name was embossed in gold but that has worn out, but i quite like it that way.
Never seen that one before
This is mine:
I'm tempted to replace it with the new version - it might prompt me to get beyond Silverthorn. Although he's written so many books I think, if I ever do read any further, it'll be on Kindle
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Yeah, they are lovely covers
I like the latest covers of Feist's 'Riftwar Saga', too - they follow the same style as the one you have there 
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Ah, I seem to have a different opinion on Wyndham's work from you.
Yep, I think we've had this conversation before.
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But Wyndham's writing style is weird, to me - a combination of British information film of the 50's and a Janet and John book.
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120 pages into David Gemmell's Morningstar.
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How quickly do you think we'd all volunteer to come and stack shelves? ME FIRST!!!!!
Not to mention the staff discounts -
Gladiator
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Wait, there's going to be an adaptation of JS&M.N?!?! Eeeeeeeeeeee!
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but I also bought some books(oops
)! For a moment I misread that as 'I also bought some bookshops'
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I don't know the actor who's going to play Stephen Black .. his name is Ariyon Bakare ... do you know him?
I don't know the name. Looks like he's something of a BBC regular, though, so it might be a case of knowing him when you see him.
I'm not worried in general .. just I wonder if they'll be able to get the special effects right .. I don't know if they have the budget for it.
To be honest, I don't think there's anything particularly spectacular needed for the magic effects, so it should be okay, I reckon.
Lord though! I'm sure I read it was scheduled for the autumn and now I read it'll form the centrepiece of BBC's Christmas schedule
.. that's bound to cause me added stress but then, on the plus side, I already definitely know there's going to be something on worth watching .. in theory So they're going to show all seven episodes over Christmas? Or just start it then?
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Pretty much agree with your review of Against a Dark Background, Athena. Although I preferred it to the Culture novels I've read so far, I don't think it's his best.
John Wyndham
in Horror / Fantasy / SF
Posted
Nice!