I won't have a playthrough to post for a while, as I'm working on a couple of gaming projects. More or less, the stuff I normally would be posting is under wraps for the time being, until such time as we can do the Big Reveal. +Adam Muszkiewicz and I will have something to roll out in the next couple of weeks on that score, and I will have something else to post after that. Not sure how long after.
In the meantime, I've been reading some stuff that's got my gaming juices flowing. Some of it came from my boy, +Wayne Snyder, who sent me lovely GenCon swag, and included a few Kane novels by Karl Edward Wagner. If you haven't read Kane, you probably should. You may have heard of him before? Killed his brother? Cursed by God to wander the Earth forever? Yeah, that guy. He's not very nice, in fact he's downright evil, but in many ways he's a lot better than the bastards he's fighting.
I also got some new books, by new authors.
First up, we have The Grim Company by Luke Scull, an author with which I was not familiar. With this first offering, we get a pretty standard fantasy world. Fearsome northmen, corrupt and all-powerful mages, and all that sort of thing. What's best about it, I think, is how Scull puts together his protagonists from dribs and drabs of faulty humanity: Aging warriors who are definitely "too old for this shit," but nonetheless do their best, cocky self-described "hero" types who are destined for fame, and all kinds of crazy ass wizards who are incredibly powerful, each ruling his or her own kingdom in his or her uniquely fucked up way. Better yet, magic is a limited commodity. They mine it from the corpses of dead gods (who these mages killed in the Godswar, way back when). Put it all together, and it's a fun read. Recommended.
Next, we have Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. This is a lovely, lovely book, set in a corrupt, fantasy Middle-Eastern city. Given my interest in such things, what with the whole Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad thing, it fit like a comfortable old shoe. This novel is about an aging man, a trained ghul-hunter of an ancient (but fading) order. He's partnered up with a young and devout Dervish, and find themselves in the company of a young tribeswoman who can take the shape of a lioness. They face off against the rise of a terrible evil, a ghul-maker who seeks to harness the power of an ancient throne. This is pretty standard fantasy fare, I suppose, but Ahmed does an excellent job in building characters, and I found myself wishing it was a longer book. I really liked these guys a lot and wanted to see what happened next. Oh, and the good guy gets the girl in the end, which is also nice. Again, recommended.
In comparing the two books, I'd probably give them similar marks. Scull's work has more weirdness, but Ahmed's reads more like a fairy tale, if you know what I mean. Neither is quite what you'd expect, in the end, and neither author is afraid to kill off people.
By the way, I get a lot of this stuff though my membership at SFBC.com, which keeps me supplied with books. I kind of prefer the bookclub editions because they tend to package trilogies and series into a single, omnibus edition. This saves me shelf space and also ensures that I don't have to track down copies of single books. Much easier that way (Disclaimer: Edgar is not a spokesperson for SFBC.com, nor has he accepted any gratuity from them. He just likes buying books.)
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
More Books
I've been a bit remiss in getting back to the blog this week. No real excuse. I just haven't had much to say. However, I have been continuing to read some really great books at bedtime. I'd like to throw a few of them into this blog post and urge you to check them out.
First up is the Black Prism by Brent Weeks. My first exposure to Weeks' work was in the Night Angel trilogy. Also a very good read. In Black Prism, we find a world in which (like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time) the world is centered around a collection of magic users who inhabit the Chromeria, a city on an island in an inland sea. The world, in this case, consists of seven satrapies, one of which still suffers from having rebelled, and is afflicted with a revolving governorship/cleptocracy.
Magic in this world is derived from the light of the sun, and each user is adept in one or more colors, each with its own unique properties. Somewhat like Dragon Age, magic is a corrupting force (or so it seems...) and its use results, ultimately, in the creation of "color wights," mad users who become a danger to those around them. The story itself centers on a young boy, Kip, who (we come to find) is the bastard sun of The Prism, the emperor (more or less) of the land by virtue of his ability to martial all the colors of light.
It's a very good opening book for Weeks' new series, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
Next, a pair of books from Paolo Bacigalupi (no idea how that is pronounced, sorry), Shipbreaker and Drowned Cities. These books both take place in a not-to-distant future, where climate change has created a collapse of governments, widespread civil war, and all the trimmings that come with it. Filling the power void are large, transglobal corporations with their own agendas. For most people, life is brutal, poor, and desperate, and the poorest of the poor scavenge the wreckage of the old world to sell to these firms. Both books are told from the POV of children growing up in this environment.
Shipbreaker is about a young boy who is a scavenger along the Gulf Coast. He lives with his abusive, drug-addled father, who is a real piece of work. He has few friends and only one protector, and seems destined to be killed by his dad, or to starve once his usefulness in retrieving copper wire form narrow conduits is at an end (i.e., he's growing too large, but not large enough to be useful for heavy work). Then, something happens that allows him to take a terrible risk, and maybe to escape from his circumstances. No spoilers.
Drowned Cities is told from the POV of a young girl who lives in a small community near what used to be New Orleans. She is half-breed Chinese, which makes her an outcast. The Chinese, apparently, tried to intervene in the civil war that broke out in this area, but ultimately fled. New Orleans, it seems, was their Vietnam. Those who collaborated were brutalized and killed. Their offspring are still around, but treated like shit. In any case, she is learning to be a healer and is apprenticed to a kindly old man. Then, a band of soldiers (child-solidiers, really) show up. Everything falls apart. The rest of the tale is about her quest to survive, to save a friend, and to escape.
Both of these books are excellent, and great fodder for a post-apocalyptic RPG of some kind. They imagine what could be the most realistic dystopian future I've seen so far. Very much recommended.
First up is the Black Prism by Brent Weeks. My first exposure to Weeks' work was in the Night Angel trilogy. Also a very good read. In Black Prism, we find a world in which (like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time) the world is centered around a collection of magic users who inhabit the Chromeria, a city on an island in an inland sea. The world, in this case, consists of seven satrapies, one of which still suffers from having rebelled, and is afflicted with a revolving governorship/cleptocracy.
Magic in this world is derived from the light of the sun, and each user is adept in one or more colors, each with its own unique properties. Somewhat like Dragon Age, magic is a corrupting force (or so it seems...) and its use results, ultimately, in the creation of "color wights," mad users who become a danger to those around them. The story itself centers on a young boy, Kip, who (we come to find) is the bastard sun of The Prism, the emperor (more or less) of the land by virtue of his ability to martial all the colors of light.
It's a very good opening book for Weeks' new series, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
Next, a pair of books from Paolo Bacigalupi (no idea how that is pronounced, sorry), Shipbreaker and Drowned Cities. These books both take place in a not-to-distant future, where climate change has created a collapse of governments, widespread civil war, and all the trimmings that come with it. Filling the power void are large, transglobal corporations with their own agendas. For most people, life is brutal, poor, and desperate, and the poorest of the poor scavenge the wreckage of the old world to sell to these firms. Both books are told from the POV of children growing up in this environment.
Shipbreaker is about a young boy who is a scavenger along the Gulf Coast. He lives with his abusive, drug-addled father, who is a real piece of work. He has few friends and only one protector, and seems destined to be killed by his dad, or to starve once his usefulness in retrieving copper wire form narrow conduits is at an end (i.e., he's growing too large, but not large enough to be useful for heavy work). Then, something happens that allows him to take a terrible risk, and maybe to escape from his circumstances. No spoilers.
Drowned Cities is told from the POV of a young girl who lives in a small community near what used to be New Orleans. She is half-breed Chinese, which makes her an outcast. The Chinese, apparently, tried to intervene in the civil war that broke out in this area, but ultimately fled. New Orleans, it seems, was their Vietnam. Those who collaborated were brutalized and killed. Their offspring are still around, but treated like shit. In any case, she is learning to be a healer and is apprenticed to a kindly old man. Then, a band of soldiers (child-solidiers, really) show up. Everything falls apart. The rest of the tale is about her quest to survive, to save a friend, and to escape.
Both of these books are excellent, and great fodder for a post-apocalyptic RPG of some kind. They imagine what could be the most realistic dystopian future I've seen so far. Very much recommended.
Friday, August 30, 2013
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
I just finished Neil Gaiman's new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and find myself on the edge of tears. It's not a sad novel, not really, but there's something so very melancholy about it, about reflecting on the past, and the decisions people make, and the things they forget, and the other people who make them who they are.
It's not swords and sorcery, but as pure a fantasy as you might ever read, more akin to Stardust than American Gods, though it is set in the here-and-now (and the then-and-there). The Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone make appearances, and are both mundane and magical in surprising ways. Mostly, though, it's just a story about a little boy, and his brush with the infinite, with a cursory glance toward the man he's still becoming. That said, I shan't spoil it with details; I'm still working through them, myself. This is a book that has invisible pages, if you know what I mean, and I'm still looking for the word, the line, the way (with apologies to Mr. Bukowski). I love it when a book does that to me.
I recommend it to you without reservation. It's a very short book, but perfect in length, nonetheless. Mr. Martin, you could probably learn something about that from Mr. Gaiman, I think.
I've been reading a few other things, as well, and I'll be reporting on them soon.
It's not swords and sorcery, but as pure a fantasy as you might ever read, more akin to Stardust than American Gods, though it is set in the here-and-now (and the then-and-there). The Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone make appearances, and are both mundane and magical in surprising ways. Mostly, though, it's just a story about a little boy, and his brush with the infinite, with a cursory glance toward the man he's still becoming. That said, I shan't spoil it with details; I'm still working through them, myself. This is a book that has invisible pages, if you know what I mean, and I'm still looking for the word, the line, the way (with apologies to Mr. Bukowski). I love it when a book does that to me.
I recommend it to you without reservation. It's a very short book, but perfect in length, nonetheless. Mr. Martin, you could probably learn something about that from Mr. Gaiman, I think.
I've been reading a few other things, as well, and I'll be reporting on them soon.
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