Signor Finzione Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 I've not been around for a few days or so - I've not had a lot of spare time, and we lost our internet connection for 3 days earlier in the week (it was like losing an arm!). But, I've managed to acquire a few books in the last couple of weeks: This turned up on my doorstep on Wednesday. It was sent to me for free by the publisher in exchange for a review on the blog - it actually looks quite interesting, so I may be giving it a go in the next couple of weeks. I bought Thud! for £1.49 from a charity shop, and the others were obtained from a "3 free books" centre in Preston. Bargain! This is the big one. I pre-ordered Half a King earlier this year with my Christmas money, and also ordered Warbreaker at the same time (which I'd actually forgotten about!). I've been looking forward to reading HaK all week - it was delivered on Monday, but I was at work, so it's been sitting in the post office all week until I could finally go and collect it today. Very excited! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Oh it's horrible been without internet! Glad it's sorted. Great books, Warbreaker is an interesting read, hope you enjoy it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 Oh it's horrible been without internet! Glad it's sorted. Great books, Warbreaker is an interesting read, hope you enjoy it Thanks Tim, I've never read any Sanderson and I'm not sure whether to start with Warbreaker or The Final Empire. Does it matter which one I read first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 Review: 'The Daylight War' by Peter V. Brett On the night of a new moon all shadows deepen.Humanity has thirty days to prepare for the next demon attack, but one month is scarcely enough time to train a village to defend themselves, let alone an entire continent caught in the throes of civil war.Arlen Bales understands the coreling threat better than anyone. Born ordinary, the demon plague has shaped him into a weapon so powerful he has been given the unwanted title of saviour, and attracted the attention of deadly enemies both above and below ground.Unlike Arlen, Ahmann Jardir embraces the title of Deliverer. His strength resides not only in the legendary relics he carries, but also in the magic wielded by his first wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose allegiance even Jardir cannot be certain of.Once Arlen and Jardir were like brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity’s enemies prepare, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all: those that lurk in the human heart. The Daylight War, book #3 in the Demon Cycle, started out really well. In the first few chapters we’re thrown into the origin story of one of the most powerful characters of the series, and are given our first real insights into Inevera. The focus on her humble background, rigorous training and gradual rise to power made her much more sympathetic than in the previous book, and built her up as a really strong and likeable character. However, I felt that the story began to flounder once it returned to the main story. The characters spend the vast majority of the novel preparing for Waning, or new moon, which is when the demon army will attack the humans in force for the first time in hundreds of years. I was really looking forward to this, expecting the build-up and conflict to be something close to epic. However, it actually involved a surprising lack of action, as the characters spend a lot of their preparation time travelling back and forth, talking a lot, and agonising over their love lives. The battle itself is not really given that much page time and is therefore a little bit anti-climactic, with entire nights just skimmed over, and not really enough emphasis on the catastrophic scale of destruction caused by the demons. In fact, much of the latter half of the book feels somewhat disjointed, as it switches from Arlen’s experience of the Waning assault to Jardir’s, and there are a few flashback scenes in the book that feel quite repetitive (there’s one particular event that we’ve now seen from no less than 3 characters’ points of view). The Daylight War introduces several new characters, and continues to follow the old ones, with mixed results. Leesha sadly seems to have regressed from her strong persona into something more shallow, and spends much of the novel being defined by her feelings for different men; and Renna, who was actually one of my favourite characters in The Desert Spear, quickly became irritating, as did the dialect in which she and Arlen spoke. However, I did enjoy the new Rojer-Amanvah-Sikvah dynamic, and Abban’s segments are also interesting; but Inevera’s story is definitely the part I enjoyed most. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading The Daylight War. It just started to feel like a chore after a while, and I found that I didn’t really care what happened to the characters any more. I think it’s partly because the demons aren’t frightening any more. The characters can fight them easily now, and aren’t even the slightest bit worried about walking outside at night. But it was the characters’ fear of the darkness and the demons that made The Painted Man so distinctive, and kept me on edge whilst reading it. In The Desert Spear, the characters were less afraid of the demons, but there were enough other things going on to keep up the readers’ anticipation. I get that The Daylight War is supposed to be more about the conflict between the Krasians and the Thesans, but sadly I felt that, by taking away this defining aspect of the series, the book lost much of that atmosphere that made the first two books such a joy to read. 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Glad I took it to the charity shop now Shame you didn't enjoy it, though, when you enjoyed the previous ones so much. Never nice when a series lets you down Yay for the new books Apart from the Bob one, of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 It wasn't completely awful, but I definitely don't think you would have liked it. Maybe not as much as you dislike Bob, but still . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Congrats on the new books! I hope you enjoy them ! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy The Daylight War as much as the first two books in the series . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 Congrats on the new books! I hope you enjoy them ! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy The Daylight War as much as the first two books in the series . Thank you! I think it may have been something to do with the fact that it took me so long to read it, on the train and everything. I think as well, because I read it so soon after the others, that's probably why some of the flashbacks felt too repetitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 That makes sense , I read the third book maybe one and a half years after book two, and between book one and two was also maybe a year. I hope your next read will be more enjoyable . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 That makes sense , I read the third book maybe one and a half years after book two, and between book one and two was also maybe a year. I hope your next read will be more enjoyable . Thanks I'll probably still buy the next one when it comes out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 Review: 'Half a King' by Joe Abercrombie Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself. And he must do it all with only one good hand.The deceived will become the deceiverBorn a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.The betrayed will become the betrayerGathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.Will the usurped become the usurper?But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi’s path may end as it began – in twists, and traps and tragedy... Having read and enjoyed all of Joe Abercrombie’s other novels I had HUGE expectations of Half a King, the first book in the new Shattered Sea series. And, while I enjoyed it enough that I sailed through it in less than 24 hours, I have to admit to a tiny bit of disappointment. I’ll start by saying that the beginning didn’t exactly blow me away. Oh, there was nothing wrong with it: the first 50 pages or so just felt a little flat, and a little bit generic and predictable. To be fair, though, the storyline actually gets going very quickly. Joe wastes no time throwing Yarvi and the reader into big events; and, after a somewhat lacklustre beginning, Half a King quickly twists into the kind of story we’ve come to expect from Joe: a group of mismatched people thrown together by circumstance, a struggle against the odds, a large dose of bloody action, and a main character struggling against a physical flaw which makes him an outcast and an object of scorn in the eyes of others. Yarvi is the youngest son of the king of Thorlby. Crippled since birth, he has trained for years in preparation for joining the Ministers, but is instead forced to take the throne after the unexpected betrayal and death of his father and older brother. His reign is short-lived, as he too falls to betrayal; now he has to work his way back up from the dregs of humanity into which he has fallen, and take revenge on those who wronged his family. As with all of Abercrombie’s novels there’s a great cast of supporting characters. In Yarvi’s little fellowship there’s Sumael the no-nonsense navigator, Rulf and Jaud the simple but loyal oarsmen, Ankran the corrupt storekeeper, and – my personal favourite – Nothing, a ragged slave with a big secret and an even bigger grudge. Though not quite as motley a group as we’re accustomed to with Joe’s stories, there’s still a nice mix of friendships and rivalries, and a fair amount of entertaining dialogue. Yarvi himself is a flawed and sympathetic protagonist, full of little nuggets of wisdom learned during his training; and I particularly enjoyed the character of Shadikshirram, the drunk merchant captain and nemesis of the group. Being intended for a YA audience I’d expected Half a King to be a ‘toned down’ version of a ‘true’ Abercrombie novel, and I suppose it is, though not in the ways I’d expected. True, it’s missing all the sex, all the swearing and much of the bloodiness of his adult novels. However, I don’t think it suffered from this at all. I do think that the main difference with Half a King is the way that you never really feel like the characters are in any danger, and never really doubt that they’ll overcome the odds and achieve their goals. It’s true that not all the characters have a happy ending, but even at the characters’ lowest points the novel lacks any real sense of futility . . . which I suppose is a good thing in a YA novel, as I imagine there’s a limit to how much ‘grimdark’ younger readers are able to take. I think Half a King suffered partly (in my eyes) from being hailed as a revenge story. Now, Joe Abercrombie has already written the best revenge story I’ve ever read: Best Served Cold. I’m not sure whether I was expecting something similar to Monza’s story from Yarvi and co., but Half a King – although revenge is certainly a key part of the story – is more of a coming-of-age tale of survival and growth. I found the revenge aspect to be surprisingly anti-climactic and unsatisfying, since I’d expected the whole Shattered Sea trilogy to build towards its conclusion. I think the downside of having created such brilliant works as First Law, Best Served Cold, and The Heroes, is that everything written afterwards is going to be judged against them. It’s probably by holding Joe’s previous novels – especially Best Served Cold – on a pedestal that stopped me from enjoying Half a King as much as I wanted to. That said, it has all the hallmarks of a great Abercrombie novel: wit and irony, humour and bloody action, and characters who you feel like you know even though they’ve hardly said two words. Not only am I keen to try the next in the Shattered Sea series when it’s released, but I’ve also got a sudden appetite for a re-read of the First Law books . . . 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Thanks Tim, I've never read any Sanderson and I'm not sure whether to start with Warbreaker or The Final Empire. Does it matter which one I read first? I would start with The Final Empire, it doesn't matter in terms of the story, Warbreaker is a stand-alone book (although set in the same universe, but a different planet I believe ) but TFE remains my favourite Sanderson and a great introduction to his writing. Fully agree with your Daylight War review, it was a let down for me as well, really felt like he moved too far away from what made the first book so great. Did you also notice... the complete lack of a daylight war!? It must be difficult to give a fair review of Half a King, after reading and loving all his adult works and not been a teenager. I would love to read some honest opinions from a 16 y/o who has never read Abercrombie before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 (edited) I would start with The Final Empire, it doesn't matter in terms of the story, Warbreaker is a stand-alone book (although set in the same universe, but a different planet I believe ) but TFE remains my favourite Sanderson and a great introduction to his writing. Thanks, I'll definitely start with that one then. Fully agree with your Daylight War review, it was a let down for me as well, really felt like he moved too far away from what made the first book so great. Did you also notice.. Oh my God, YES!! Literally nothing happened at all. It must be difficult to give a fair review of Half a King, after reading and loving all his adult works and not been a teenager. I would love to read some honest opinions from a 16 y/o who has never read Abercrombie before. I'd be interested to read those too, and maybe from adults who found his other work a bit too dark. It's still recognisably Abercrombie; it's just, for me, not quite enough. Steve's description of it as 'Abercrombie Lite' is about right. Edited July 13, 2014 by Signor Finzione Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Great review! It's a shame you didn't enjoy it as much as his adult works, though I'm glad you still enjoyed it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I think Half a King suffered partly (in my eyes) from being hailed as a revenge story. Now, Joe Abercrombie has already written the best revenge story I’ve ever read: Best Served Cold. I’m not sure whether I was expecting something similar to Monza’s story from Yarvi and co., but Half a King – although revenge is certainly a key part of the story – is more of a coming-of-age tale of survival and growth. I found the revenge aspect to be surprisingly anti-climactic and unsatisfying, since I’d expected the whole Shattered Sea trilogy to build towards its conclusion. Great review, Laura, but I do disagree with this bit. I'd better spoilerise it . . . I loved that it didn't go down the route I expected it to - I thought it made it a bit more unpredictable than if it had followed the familiar path you mention. I liked that the book stands on its own, and has a pretty much self-contained story. For me, it makes the prospect of the next book more enticing because we really don't know where he's going to take it. I think three books of Yarvi seeking revenge would have been a little too samey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I gave up on Daylight War, which was a shame because I really liked the 1st two. I've seen Half A King around, but didn't realise it was YA. I tend to like YA and I haven't read any of his before, so I may give it a go at some point. Also, I've seen Smiler's Fair a lot on twitter. I was tempted to pester the publisher for a review copy, but I'm getting behind on the ones I do have! I look forward to seeing what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Great review! It's a shame you didn't enjoy it as much as his adult works, though I'm glad you still enjoyed it . Thanks! I think it would definitely be something you'd enjoy reading. Great review, Laura, but I do disagree with this bit. I'd better spoilerise it . . . I loved that it didn't go down the route I expected it to - I thought it made it a bit more unpredictable than if it had followed the familiar path you mention. I liked that the book stands on its own, and has a pretty much self-contained story. For me, it makes the prospect of the next book more enticing because we really don't know where he's going to take it. I think three books of Yarvi seeking revenge would have been a little too samey I can see why you'd say that. I just think I got a bit of a misleading impression of what the series would be about, but never mind. I'll just go and read BSC and grumble in a corner. I gave up on Daylight War, which was a shame because I really liked the 1st two. I've seen Half A King around, but didn't realise it was YA. I tend to like YA and I haven't read any of his before, so I may give it a go at some point. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two, but I have to admit I almost gave up on the Daylight War a few times. Very disappointing. I'd definitely recommend giving Half a King a try, especially as you like YA. You'd probably also enjoy some of his others. Also, I've seen Smiler's Fair a lot on twitter. I was tempted to pester the publisher for a review copy, but I'm getting behind on the ones I do have! I look forward to seeing what you think. I know the feeling! I tend to get sent lots of books all at once, and quite a lot of stuff I'm not all that interested in (such as vampire/werewolf fiction, and thrillers), so to have a full-on fantasy novel drop through my letterbox was a pleasant surprise! I'm about halfway through it, and again am pleasantly surprised. The cover actually makes it look like a YA novel, which it most certainly isn't, but I'm quite enjoying it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I can see why you'd say that. I just think I got a bit of a misleading impression of what the series would be about, but never mind. I'll just go and read BSC and grumble in a corner. Oh I prefer Best Served Cold, too, but I found Half a King quite refreshing and enjoyed it a lot. I guess I benefited from knowing absolutely nothing about it before reading it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 Oh I prefer Best Served Cold, too, but I found Half a King quite refreshing and enjoyed it a lot. I guess I benefited from knowing absolutely nothing about it before reading it Yeah. I enjoyed it a lot too, and despite my complaints it's probably still one of the best books I've read this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 Review: 'Smiler's Fair' by Rebecca Levene Smiler's Fair: the great moving carnival where any pleasure can be had, if you're willing to pay the price. They say all paths cross at Smiler's Fair. They say it'll change your life. For five people, Smiler's Fair will change everything. In a land where unimaginable horror lurks in the shadows, where the very sun and moon are at war, five people - Nethmi, the orphaned daughter of a murdered nobleman, who in desperation commits an act that will haunt her forever. Dae Hyo, the skilled warrior, who discovers that a lifetime of bravery cannot make up for a single mistake. Eric, who follows his heart only to find that love exacts a terrible price. Marvan, the master swordsman, who takes more pleasure from killing than he should. And Krish, the humble goatherd, with a destiny he hardly understands and can never accept - will discover just how much Smiler's Fair changes everything. Never judge a book by its cover. I went straight into Smiler’s Fair believing it to be a light YA fantasy. Instead I got one of the most gory and shocking beginnings I’ve ever read, followed by a series of events that rarely failed to include some form of death, sex or violence. Aside from this, book #1 in the Hollow Gods series is pretty much your quintessential run-of-the-mill fantasy fare. The author has created a fairly well-imagined world with some nicely original quirks, such as cities pulled by mammoths, civilisations that are constantly on the move, and the eponymous Fair itself. However, despite the book’s title, Smiler’s Fair doesn’t actually feature as prominently as you might expect; and many other features of the book are disappointingly generic, from the unimaginative fantasy tropes (gods, magic runes, giant birds) to the lacklustre title of the series itself. Although, I did like that the author had thought about how the fantastical elements would affect everyday life, such as the fact that metal is a rarity because the worm men make it almost impossible to mine properly. The story itself is average, and is pretty much evenly paced throughout. As with most fantasy novels, it’s written from several different characters’ POVs, which unfortunately don’t really gel together all that well. Though most of them start out well, the characters don’t always go in the directions you’d expect, or even in any particular direction at all, which put me in mind of the somewhat dreary A Dance with Dragons. The characters, rather than developing perceptibly, simply each undergo a sequence of events that serves to get them from A to B, and character development is often seemingly pushed aside in favour of ‘shock value’ character turns. Indeed, the novel as a whole becomes needlessly darker as it progresses, and it feels like the author is trying to force the story into the ‘grimdark’ category, which doesn’t suit it very well at all. As for the characters, it’s unfortunate that there just isn’t that much to like about most of them; and the ones who do start out likeable (or at least promising) end up being dislikeable or just plain dead. One particular gripe I had was that the author seems to have fallen into the trap of so many female authors who create gay male characters: that is, defining them solely by their sexuality. Not only is Eric gay, but he is also a 'lady of the night', and almost every one of his thoughts is of a sexual nature, even in extreme situations (although admittedly his situation at the end of the book does seem to imply that his character will be developed more in the future). I did like that Krish the prophesied ‘hero’ is somewhat weak and unconventional; however, he’s also fairly bland and two-dimensional, which makes him about as unsympathetic as most of the other characters. That’s not to say I disliked all the characters, though ironically the ones I found most interesting were the more peripheral ones, particularly Sang Ki and Olufemi. To sum up: Smiler’s Fair was a pleasant surprise for the first 50 pages or so. After its strong beginning, however, it was distinctly average, and after a while it was merely disappointing. A story that looked to have a lot of potential quickly degenerated into a collection of unsympathetic characters undergoing improbable and sometimes ridiculous events . . . most of which had nothing at all to do with Smiler’s Fair. 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 It's a shame this book wasn't more enjoyable. Great review, though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 It's a shame this book wasn't more enjoyable. Great review, though . Thank you Gaia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I'd never heard of Smiler’s Fair. What made you pick it up in the first place? Was it one sent to you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 I'd never heard of Smiler’s Fair. What made you pick it up in the first place? Was it one sent to you? Yeah, they sent it to me. I was glad at first, because they rarely send me fantasy novels - they've been sending thrillers recently, which I'm not really interested in reading. I just wish they'd sent me a better fantasy one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 Review: Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis Raybould Marsh and other members of British Intelligence recently seized a damaged reel of film from enemy territory. It appears to show German troops walking through walls, bursting into flames and hurling tanks into the air from afar. This film, along with other classified reports, confirms our worst fears: that a Nazi scientist has been endowing German troops with unnatural, unstoppable powers. British Intelligence may be forced to resort to our own dark methods to hold the impending invasion at bay. Bitter Seeds is the first book in Ian Tregillis’ Milkweed Triptych,and tells of an attempt to uncover and foil a covert and mysterious Nazi operation during World War II. British Intelligence operative Raybould Marsh discovers part of a film reel which seems to show Germans scientifically imbued with superhero-esque abilities, and he is determined to stop it: thus is born the ultra-secret Project Milkweed. After a series of defeats at the hands of the Germans, it appears the war is all but lost; however, the British are not without their own secret weapon . . . but using it comes with a heavy price. I recently read The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar, and the general premise is the same: what if there were soldiers with special powers, and how would they affect the war? However, while Tidhar’s Ubermensch are born with their powers, Tregillis’ soldiers are the result of horrific scientific experiments who are only able to utilise their abilities through having surgery to connect their brains to a special battery. The most notable of these are Reinhardt, who can harness heat; Gretel, who can see the future (but doesn’t always choose to share it with others); and Klaus, who is one of the main POV characters and can walk through walls. The story of the German super soldiers is really interesting, particularly at the start when we don’t know very much about them apart from the hints in a damaged and creepy film reel. However, I felt that the British answer to them – the Eidolons – was a bit ridiculous, and was somewhat shoe-horned into the story. I would have preferred to see the British using their wits and strategy to overcome the scientifically superior German soldiers, rather than resorting to improbable supernatural forces. Saying that, I did like that the Eidolons came with a price, and that the author used the character of William to explore the argument of whether or not it is right to sacrifice a few for the needs of the many. For me, one of the things that really stood out about Tregillis’ writing was the vivid descriptions. Whether the author is describing a battleground, a car journey, a pub, or just a man sitting in an office, he makes you feel as though you’re actually there: you can feel the heat of the explosions, hear the tick of the car’s engine, see the condensation on the pint glass and smell the smoke from the match used to light a cigarette. The author does a great job re-creating the wartime atmosphere, and his focus on the senses really helps bring every single scene, big or small, to life. Highly recommended. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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