Signor Finzione Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Great review Steve. I really must go back and try this one again sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Great review Steve. I really must go back and try this one again sometime. How far did you get first time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Probably just as well this didn't happen before Tim's RC thread came up . . . http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jan/17/wheel-of-time-hugo-award-tolkien-robert-jordan The Word Science Fiction Society - those that give the Hugo award - says: Works appearing in a series are eligible as individual works, but the series as a whole is not eligible. However, a work appearing in a number of parts shall be eligible for the year of the final part. That means all 15 books in the series can be treated as a single work for the Hugo nominations this year, simply because the final book was published in 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Yeah... that would be a hell of a month! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 (edited) Glad that you liked it! I have always loved footnotes and find they add to a story rather than detract from it. Childermas was my favourite character too. Edited January 21, 2014 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 I may just have bought the three David Gemmell books I was missing to complete my collection, cos they had them in Waterstone's and, well, I had to, didn't I? The Hawk Eternal Lion of Macedon Dark Prince That's it, then. I have them all, and there'll never be any more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 How far did you get first time? I can't entirely remember . . . at least 200 pages, but maybe more. I remember reading the bit where JS helped them do that war by moving roads and stuff, and someone was impersonating Norrell, and some woman hired JS and then he went into a painting . . . it's all a bit blurred. That's it, then. I have them all, and there'll never be any more Sad day. But YAY on having the whole collection! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 # 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I like the sound of this one Steve although I didn't like the first King Arthur book, which is set a bit earlier of course. Danes and Vikings are cool though.. Edited January 23, 2014 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - thank you, Sari - I loved it 9/10 Woohoo! Great review Steve .. I agree with almost all of it You'll be able to watch the drama now .. do you think it's going to adapt well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Woohoo! Great review Steve .. I agree with almost all of it Thanks Kay! Wait . . . Almost??? You'll be able to watch the drama now .. do you think it's going to adapt well? 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Great review of Sword Song Steve...... i already have Lords Of the North so i guess i'll just have to add this to my wishlist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Yay for new books ! Congrats on completing the collection . Great review of the book . P.S. As a fan I hope the Wheel of Time series or one of its books wins the Hugo Award. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 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 Seven parts I think and yes, I agree, Eddie is brilliant and I've never seen him in anything rubbish so he's a good chooser of projects .. hopefully I think Marc Warren is going to play The Gentleman with the Thistle Down Hair and I can see that working and ditto Paul Kaye as Vinculus. I don't know the actor who's going to play Stephen Black .. his name is Ariyon Bakare ... do you know him? I know Charlotte Riley a little but not Alice Englert. 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. 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Wait, there's going to be an adaptation of JS&M.N?!?! Eeeeeeeeeeee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share Posted January 25, 2014 Wait, there's going to be an adaptation of JS&M.N?!?! Eeeeeeeeeeee! http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-bbc-one-casting-release.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Oh god now I want to read the book again but it took so long the first time!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 (edited) # 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 Edited January 27, 2014 by Karsa Orlong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Great review ! I should really read a Gemmell book at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I got my credit card bill through yesterday and it's nearly two pages of '£0.99'. Damn the Amazon Kindle sales over Christmas Hahaha I'm so sorry but tht really made me laugh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 haha that is quite brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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