Steve's Bookshelf 2013

[Karsa Orlong]

Sorry you didn't like the book that much. I guess to each their own.

 

 

Indeed!

 

 

 

I didn't like Gardens of the Moon when I read it (I'm hoping that will change when I reread it), you really like that book. I hope your next read will be more enjoyable.

 

 

I didn't hate it.  I guess I wanted/expected more from this, given its popularity, and my patience wore a little thin.  But then that's no different from people not liking Gardens, so it's horses for courses.  I'm not giving up on WoT just yet, but I think my original idea of reading one book from the series per month has bitten the dust.  I think I'd end up breaking things    

 

[Karsa Orlong]

Plan update:

 

Marathon Man - William Goldman - finished 03/02/13
The Kingdom of Bones – Stephen Gallagher - started 22/02/13
The Mozart Conspiracy – Scott Mariani (next in Ben Hope series)
The First Men In the Moon – H G Wells - finished 10/02/13
The Great Hunt – Robert Jordan (next in Wheel of Time series) - finished 21/02/13
Heresy – S J Parris (first in Gordiano Bruno series)
Post Captain – Patrick O’Brian (next in Aubrey/Maturin series)
The Heresy of Dr Dee – Phil Rickman (next in Dr Dee series) - finished 07/02/13

Dead Beat – Jim Butcher (next in Dresden Files series)

The Coldest War - Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Tryptich Book 2) - finished 14/02/13

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #13:  The Kingdom of Bones by Stephen Gallagher

 

 

 

From Amazon:

 

It was my friend, Bram Stoker, who told me of the legend of the Wanderer a man who made a bargain with the devil himself, trading his soul for forbidden knowledge and eternal life.

Once I would have dismissed such tales as mere fancy but I knew what I had seen. And there is no mind so open as that of desperate man.

 

A dark Gothic Victorian thriller, The Kingdom of Bones unfolds in a twilight world of music halls, boxing booths, and travelling theatrical shows; and pits a formidable Pinkerton detective against a man who fears more than justice.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I came across this book when Tim was asking about historical horror stories.  I first 'discovered' Stephen Gallagher back in the late 80s, when his horror novel Valley of Lights was well reviewed in, iirc, Starburst magazine.  I bought it and read it, and went on to read a couple of his other novels; Oktober and Chimera (which was adapted for a tv mini-series in the early 90s).  And since then I'd pretty much forgotten about him.

 

Starting in 1903 in Philadelphia, detective Sebastian Becker is drawn back into an unsolved mystery when he recognises a face linked to traumatic events in his past.  The story then moves between 1903 and 1888 in Victorian England, as the rest of the story is gradually revealed, intertwining with Becker's personal life, his wife and autistic child, and a touring stage production that may be the cover for a serial killer.

 

Gallagher has an economic style that flows very well, and the pages flew past.  That economic style came up with one of my favourite pieces of character description I've read for a while, from page 187: "He was a man of some thirty-five years, balding like Shakespeare, bearded like Christ." 

 

On the face of it, the story is very similar to that of Valley of Lights, just set in the past.  And, again like Valley of Lights, it comes close to being great.  There's just something missing that holds it back slightly, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is.  I think, perhaps, he missed an opportunity to take his idea of the Wanderer that step further and make this a truly chilling and atmospheric novel.  As it is, the chills aren't scary enough and, despite all the period detail, the atmosphere is strangely low key.

 

That said, I found it a very enjoyable read.  It's an intelligently written tale with decent characters and a good sense of time and place.  Notably, Bram Stoker is a major character in the story, and it is evident from the notes at the back of the book that Gallagher did a huge amount of research into his life.  Also, Sebastian Becker is already the subject of a sequel, out in hardback: The Bedlam Detective  

 

The Kingdom of Bones is well worth a look.

 

 

7/10

[Karsa Orlong]

Plan update:
 

Marathon Man - William Goldman - finished 03/02/13
The Kingdom of Bones – Stephen Gallagher - finished 24/02/13
The Mozart Conspiracy – Scott Mariani (next in Ben Hope series)
The First Men In the Moon – H G Wells - finished 10/02/13
The Great Hunt – Robert Jordan (next in Wheel of Time series) - finished 21/02/13
Heresy – S J Parris (first in Giordano Bruno series)
Post Captain – Patrick O’Brian (next in Aubrey/Maturin series) - started 25/02/13
The Heresy of Dr Dee – Phil Rickman (next in Dr Dee series) - finished 07/02/13

Dead Beat – Jim Butcher (next in Dresden Files series)

The Coldest War - Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Tryptich Book 2) - finished 14/02/13

 

 
 

[Kidsmum]

Adding the Kingdom of Bones to my wishlist 

[Karsa Orlong]

Hope you enjoy it if you get it

[Karsa Orlong]

Just ordered US MMPB editions of Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God from BD.  I am mad enough (in general, before anyone else says it, and about the series) to have two copies of all the other 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' novels apart from these, until now.  My existing complete set is pristine and displayed on the shelf, these two are to complete my less than pristine set, which is for reading and reference, and crammed into the bottom of a cupboard to conserve shelf space   

 

I am kind of disappointed, though, that Tor decided to re-issue all the US MMPBs with the UK artwork.  My original reason for starting to buy a second set was to get the different US covers.  When I ordered them, mostly from BD, they were showing the old US artwork on the site but, when the books arrived, they were the re-issues.  Oh well.

 

This is all building up to a Malazan re-read, I can tell

[frankie]

^ Oh dear.....

[Athena]

I ordered some books from BD and I had the same thing Karsa, the picture showed one thing but the cover of the actual books I received was different. Kind of strange and stupid. I've had this once with Amazon too, only once though (but in the Amazon case it was an improvement so I didn't mind!).

[Devi]

I ordered some books from BD and I had the same thing Karsa, the picture showed one thing but the cover of the actual books I received was different. Kind of strange and stupid. I've had this once with Amazon too, only once though (but in the Amazon case it was an improvement so I didn't mind!).

 

I hate when this happens, I always tend to go for the cover that catches my eye so when I get it, and it's not the cover I chose... it annoys me a little. Especially for a series of books.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Devi

[Athena]

I fully agree! In one case it wasn't bad though as the cover I ended up with matched the ones I already had (a The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency book), but in another case I would've preferred the cover shown on the site.

[Karsa Orlong]

 

I ordered some books from BD and I had the same thing Karsa, the picture showed one thing but the cover of the actual books I received was different. Kind of strange and stupid. I've had this once with Amazon too, only once though (but in the Amazon case it was an improvement so I didn't mind!).

 

I hate when this happens, I always tend to go for the cover that catches my eye so when I get it, and it's not the cover I chose... it annoys me a little. Especially for a series of books.

 

I contacted BD about it and they just said they couldn't guarantee which cover I'd end up with.  I guess that - if the ISBN number doesn't change - they just re-stock but don't change the image on the website until they can be bothered.  The same thing happened with a couple that I ordered from Ebay.  It's annoying, but hey ho.  The original Tor covers are a bit tacky but it would've been nice, in my fanboi ways, to have a set of each.  On the plus side, the US MMPBs aren't all as thick the UK editions, and the spines aren't as rigid, so they're easier to read 

These are the old Tor covers:
 

 

 

ETA:  This guy's got the hardbacks as well.  Jealous!

Edited February 26, 2013 by Karsa Orlong

[Devi]

Wow I love those covers! I think they are better than my ones.

[Karsa Orlong]

Don't say that! 

 

I do prefer the UK artwork for most of them, myself, but I like these ones - especially the Midnight Tides and House of Chains ones

[Athena]

Those are some pretty covers!

[Ooshie]

Covers changing are a real bugbear of mine - I have some long series, a couple of which have ended up with 7 or 8 different cover designs over the years! 

Edited February 26, 2013 by Ooshie

[Karsa Orlong]

Yeah, it's a real pain, I don't know why they do it part way through a series.  With Malazan, the last three UK books are the larger paperback size that's predominant now, but they're still publishing the previous seven books in the smaller MMPB size.  Makes no sense.

[Athena]

That's such a pain! I have series like that too, where some covers are different or some sizes are different (or maybe both). It really is quite annoying! I have one series (translated into Dutch) where 4, 4 and 4 books have got different covers iirc (12 in total), they're all pretty covers in their own right, it's just a shame they don't match. A size difference annoys me even more though, I have this with various series too and it really doesn't look nice at all on a book shelf (it makes it a lot harder to stack books on top, too).

 

(it's very nice that I'm not the only one who's annoyed by this kind of thing!)

[Karsa Orlong]

(it's very nice that I'm not the only one who's annoyed by this kind of thing!)

 

 

 

You've come to the right place

[Janet]

I hate when this happens, I always tend to go for the cover that catches my eye so when I get it, and it's not the cover I chose... it annoys me a little. Especially for a series of books.

Oh, that annoys me no end too!  Grrr!

[Timstar]

Ah yes the never ending battle to get a series with the same bloody covers!

 

I have found that Penguin, Gollancz and Picador are the best for author and series 'cover consistancy'

[Karsa Orlong]

I think I've reached the point where I'm going to give up trying to get them all the same size, at least.  I've got the main Malazan sequence all the same size (twice), but I doubt I'll do the same with the new trilogy, and I've pretty much given up on getting the Esslemont 'Malazan Empire' books in the same style.  Now the 'Ice & Fire' books have gone to the larger size, too, and they're re-issuing David Gemmell's books in a new style, and I noticed the other day that the Peter V Bretts have gone to the larger size as well. So, basically, most of the series I'm collecting for keeps are probably going to end up stuffed.  I wonder how many different styles I'll have Sanderson's 'Stormlight Archive' in by the time the tenth book comes out (assuming I'm still reading them)  

 

I like what Gollancz do, but I wish they'd stuck to publishing more books in the original style rather than changing to this weird yellow-tinged thing they've got going on now.

[Timstar]

  I wonder how many different styles I'll have Sanderson's 'Stormlight Archive' in by the time the tenth book comes out (assuming I'm still reading them)  

 

Yeah I was thinking that... have you read the first one yet?

 

I like what Gollancz do, but I wish they'd stuck to publishing more books in the original style rather than changing to this weird yellow-tinged thing they've got going on now.

 

I don't like them either, the sci-fi masterworks are nice though. And I do have lots of matching series from them.

 

If they release the final WoT MMP in the larger edition I will be livid!

[Karsa Orlong]

Yeah I was thinking that... have you read the first one yet?

 

 

It's in the next plan   I originally bought it for Kindle (which is one way of getting all books in the same style, I guess . . . ), but I was looking through it a couple of weeks ago and the artwork is so extensive and gorgeous I went out and got the paperbacks as well, so that's kicked it up to the top of the TBR pile

 

 

If they release the final WoT MMP in the larger edition I will be livid!

 

 

I can only imagine the uproar if they did that.  I'm kind of tempted to try The Dragon Reborn on Kindle and see if the mistakes are as bad as a couple of the reviews say.

[Athena]

Now the 'Ice & Fire' books have gone to the larger size, too, and they're re-issuing David Gemmell's books in a new style, and I noticed the other day that the Peter V Bretts have gone to the larger size as well. So, basically, most of the series I'm collecting for keeps are probably going to end up stuffed.  I wonder how many different styles I'll have Sanderson's 'Stormlight Archive' in by the time the tenth book comes out (assuming I'm still reading them)  

Oh no !