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Karsa Orlong

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Everything posted by Karsa Orlong

  1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-bbc-one-casting-release.html
  2. For a moment I misread that as 'I also bought some bookshops'
  3. 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. To be honest, I don't think there's anything particularly spectacular needed for the magic effects, so it should be okay, I reckon. So they're going to show all seven episodes over Christmas? Or just start it then?
  4. 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.
  5. Karsa Orlong

    Cricket

    Our players have been having a rest all tour
  6. Thanks Km Have you read the first two books in the series? Did you like them? I'm guessing you did if you've got Lords of the North as well Just starting a new Gemmell (well, new to me, anyway) - Morningstar
  7. Karsa Orlong

    Cricket

    What just happened? Did we win a game??
  8. Thanks Kay! Wait . . . Almost??? Good question! What is it, six or seven parts? Well Eddie Marsan is fantastic, so that's a plus, and the Beeb are great with the period dramas, so it could be decent
  9. # 5 Sword Song (The Warrior Chronicles Book 4) by Bernard Cornwell 2007 - HarperCollins Kindle edition - 366 pages From Amazon: The year is 885, and England is at peace, divided between the Danish kingdom to the north and Alfred's kingdom of Wessex in the south. But trouble stirs, a dead man has risen and new Vikings have arrived to occupy London. It is a dangerous time, and it falls to Uhtred, half Saxon, half Dane, a man feared and respected the length and breadth of Britain, to expel the Viking raiders and take control of London for Alfred. His uncertain loyalties must now decide England's future. A gripping tale of love, rivalry and violence, Sword Song tells the story of England's making. Thoughts: It's getting hard to know what to say about Cornwell's books because the same comments always spring to mind: he has a wonderful, flowing writing style; it's fast paced; it's exciting; it's got brilliant characters; it's action-packed; etc etc, blah blah. These all apply, again. This fourth book about Uhtred and Alfred the Great takes place some four or five years after the brilliant third novel in the series, Lords of the North. It starts when Uhtred is lured north of the Temes (yes, the Thames - Anglo-Saxon names are used throughout) into Mercia by old adversary Haesten, to a graveyard where a corpse rises and tells Uhtred he is destined to be King of Mercia. Naturally, Uhtred is quite taken with this idea, as is his wife, Gisela. However, when he returns to Wessex, Alfred arrives and orders him to attack and take Lundene back from the unsavoury types currently occupying the city, led by the Norse warlord Sigefrid - who just happens to be the man Haesten is in league with. Naturally, all sorts of merriment ensues I have to say, the attack on London is one of the most thrilling sequences I've read in a while. Whilst a lot of this is down to Cornwell's writing, it was in part down to the battle taking place at Ludd's Gate, or Ludgate, and I work right near there, so I was completely enthralled by this part of the novel. I always find it fun to try and imagine what the landscape was like in times past, without all the buildings, roads, and traffic, and when the River Fleet wasn't underground. It also helps that the battle is so exciting and scary. Next time I walk up Ludgate Hill should be interesting Whether it happened like it does in the book or not, that battle did take place, but after that Cornwell freely admits that the novel moves in a direction purely of his own making, and it is no less exciting for it - even if it does move to Essex Many of my favourite characters return from the previous novel (Pyrlig, Finan, Steapa, Gisela, Aethelflaed, Beocca) and some I love to hate (Aethelred!!), and it all builds to a quite powerful finale. All in all, it's maybe not quite as good as the previous book, which I gave a 9, and I'm trying to be a bit tougher with my scores this year, but this is yet another brilliant entry from Cornwell. 8/10
  10. I wish there had been a Kindle edition when I wanted it, I had to search high and low for an imported copy of the paperback. Mind you, I didn't have a Kindle back then, so it wouldn't have helped
  11. Ah well, this won't help, then, but my copy of Dune is this SF Masterworks hardback. The story itself runs to 556 pages, and plus the appendices it comes to 611 pages
  12. If it's the paperback you're after, this one'll do the trick ETA: actually, I think Amazon and BD might have their page counts confused - I think the 449 pages is closer to the truth I'll check my copy when I get home and let you know
  13. Crikey, sounds like the Finnish edition has been split, it's just the one volume here ETA: and yeah, the novel has three parts: 1: Dune, 2: Muad'Dib, 3: The Prophet
  14. Just finished Sword Song. Don't know what to choose next <<ponders>>
  15. 280 pages? Something's wrong there, it's about 600 pages long
  16. Awesome book Even more awesome book
  17. Well that is true, to be fair. I haven't read Jem, but I thought Gateway was pretty good.
  18. That's not a big book. Get back to me when you've read Malazan
  19. No, don't think so - they don't really work that way, they're all separate stories. Shame you didn't enjoy it but then you liked A Dance with Dragons so there's obviously something wrong with you Actually, I think I gave it a 7 as well So I wasn't as enamoured with it as others, either. I was pretty underwhelmed by Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons, too. Generally, so far I've preferred his non-Culture SF (Feersum Endjinn, Against A Dark Background, and especially The Algebraist, which I have grown to like more and more)
  20. Ooh, I've been wanting to read this for ages I thought the film (the original Swedish version, not the typically pointless Hollywood remake) was excellent
  21. Winter's Bone is excellent - and the book is very good, too.
  22. Ooh, good to know, I must get this myself
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