Guy Gavriel Kay: Tigana

Tigana. Tigana. Mere mention of the name stirs something deep within the soul. Once a proud nation steeped in honor and ancient history, now even the memory has been banished by the vengeance of a powerful sorcerer. The nation lives on only in the memory of those few survivors who once had called it home. There are none but those fading few to recall the legends, the heroes, the glory.

I can only imagine the horror of that circumstance. If the proud, majestic nation in which I live were ripped from the collective memory of the world, would I rail against the gods? Would I weep at fate’s cruel whim? No, I think not. I would climb the highest hill, fall to my knees, raise my fists to the sky and cry, “Who fucking cares!”

Seriously. Now that may have something to do with the fact that I am jaded, heartless fellow who believes in precisely nothing, but this plot seemed paper thin to me. “Nobody remembers our home! Waaaa!” Get over it. Its saving grace is the fact that, while at times it had me rolling my eyes, Kay remains a very talented author. To some extent, he pulled it off.

What didn’t suck: As mentioned, this is a very well written novel. Kay has a flair for evoking empathy with his characters, whoever they may be. I also enjoyed the fact that he forewent the normal choices for the lead characters. Not those fated for greatness, but rather those who help them achieve it. It makes for an interesting perspective.

The romantic aspects were, for once, the highlight of the story for me. For the most part the relationships were believable and interesting, and aside from one qualm I’ll mention in the next section, I found myself enjoying all the sappy stuff. Even (or maybe particularly) when it got a little freaky.

My favorite character in the book was, ironically, the principal bad guy. He seemed like a genuinely better person than pretty much anyone else in the story. I can’t think of another novel where I was cheering for the bad guy, in particular at the end.

Also, kudos to Kay for *not* making this a series. He could have done it, I’m sure…stretched it out and padded his pockets a bit more. It could have easily been chopped up, filled in a bit, and released as a trilogy. But he chose to simply tell the story and have done, and I applaud him for it.

What sucked: I hated Dianora. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I every time the perspective switched to her I found myself annoyed. I suppose, compared to the action surrounded the other main characters, she was simply boring. Kay would go into pages of flowery exposition on her backstory, and I’m sure it was all beautifully written, but I admit…I skipped it. Get to something interesting!

As I alluded to oh so subtly in the intro, I felt the plot called for a certain suspension of belief. They messed with a super powerful wizard, killed his son, and he got angry. It seems to me they got pretty much what they deserved.

As far as romance goes, the relevant couples paired off a little too smoothly for me to believe it. We had this budding romance between two people roughly the same age through most of the book and then suddenly, without explanation, neither really cares about the other and actually loves this other person who happens to feel the same way. No surprise, no hurt feelings. Just a little too convenient. It bugged me.

Final Thoughts: Despite all my complaining, I still enjoyed the book. Kay pulls it together and manages to make something worth reading.

Rating: Doesn’t Suck

Raymond E. Feist: Exile's Return

Well, it could have been worse.  It could have been book two with a new cover.

What didn't suck: Feist displayed at least a tiny bit of creativity here by having the main antagonist from the last book become the protaganist in this one.  While it's not exactly breaking new ground, I still found it tolerably interesting.

As for the plot, well, while it was still an exercise in predictability, at least it wasn't boring this time around.  People died, stuff blew up, magic spells flew everywhere. A new race of bad guys were introduced. Much more in line with what I expect from Mr. Feist.

What sucked: THE SAME FREAKING BAD GUY.  I am NOT joking.  Yes, Talon so valiantly broke his neck while he was incapacitated at the end of the last book, but nevermind that.  He's back.  Again.  Whats that, ten times with this same Big Bad, Feist?  Seriously.  It's time to let it go.

The main character, Kaspar, was Talon's nemesis in the last book, but apparently all the horrible things he did didn't really count.  Because he was brainwashed.  In fact, by the end of the book he and Talon reconcile and are well on the way to being friends, despite the fact that Kaspar was almost singlehandedly responsible for wiping out Talon's entire people.  Meh.  This did not ring true with me.  You sir, are a pisspoor barbarian, Talon of the Silver Hawk.

Deep Thoughts: While a marked improvement over book two, it still just barely irks ahead of the "sucked" tag.  I guess I'm feeling generous.

Rating: Meh

Raymond E. Feist - King of Foxes

In which Raymond E. Feist displays absolutely no creativity whatsoever.  Ugh.  I know in my last post I was ranting about what a lovely trait a bit of predictability can be, but seriously, I'm pretty stupid.  This book did absolutely nothing I haven't seen in another fantasy novel; furthermore, it did nothing I haven't seen in a FEIST novel.  It's pretty bad when you start cannibalizing your own plot lines.

What doesn't suck: Um.  Lets skip this part.

What sucked: In the first book, Talon actually developed a little.  In this book, he did not change even slightly - but at the end of the book, the reader is expected to believe he has undergone some sort of metamorphasis into a better person.  Bullshit.  There was no epiphany, no reason his entire outlook would so suddenly change.  His entire life revolved around vengeance, and just as he gets it he decides he wants to be the bigger man?  No.  That's just the author deciding he did in a few sentences.  LAME.

The plot was boring to the extreme.  Sometimes I don't think you're even trying anymore, Feist. It turns out it's the same Big Bad its been in half of his books, but this time only Talon can save him!  Because he doesn't have magic!  Or some such crap.  It doesn't really matter.

The worst part is I have to read the next one.  Thats what sucks the most.

Deep Thoughts: This book does not warrant any further thought.  Ever.

Rating:Sucked

Raymond E. Feist - Talon of the Silver Hawk

I'm a Feist fan.  I have been for a long time. Not because I think he is a brilliant writer, or because his stories are particularly original. He isn't and they aren't.  I'm a fan because he has a laundry list of publications, all in the same world, all interconnected. I've only had to deal with completely unfamiliar territory once or twice in what - fifteen books? And there is something to be said for familiarity.  Sometimes I just want to read a generic fantasy novel, and Feist scratches that itch admirably.  Throw in an interesting character every now and then, and I'm a happy man. It's like cheesy harlequin romance for fantasy fans. Anyways, onto the novel of the night.

Talon of the Silver Hawk is book one in the Conclave of Shadows series.

What Doesn't Suck:   I would say the best aspect of this book is the main character himself, Talon. He starts out as your perfect little orphan Mary Sue, but as he develops he gains some rather nasty bad habits; womanizing, gambling, and a serious hankering for vengeance. Which is good, really.  A character needs some vices. I'm glad Feist didn't fall into the cliche of making him an excessively honorable, boring barbarian. Instead, he's got a bit of style. And of course, he's the best swordsmen in the world.  But who isn't these days?

As always in a Feist novel, the supporting cast is familiar to the point of cliche, but I find them reassuring all the same.  In particular, Magnus is a pretty cool, young, badass wizard type.  I predict cool developments for him in tomorrow's update (Book 2)

What Sucked: The plot.  The entirety of book one was a drawn out quest for vengeance and that's been done...oh lets say eleventy billion times before. That number sounds about right. There are hints of something larger, some grand overarching reason for what is actually going on...but end book 1, and nothing of consequence.  We'll see tomorrow.

Deep Thoughts: Satisfying in the way that a rerun of Seinfeld is satisfying; no surprises, but the characters are amusing and you don't have to think too much.  I'll be continuing the series. And yes, I'm aware this review sucked.  But you know what?  Screw you.  You're not even reading this.

Rating: Meh

Steven Erikson: Gardens of the Moon

First and foremost - this is not my nightly.  I just felt like adding some more content, and what better than my favorite fantasy series to lead the way?  A classic example of a novel that Doesn't Suck, to stand firm against all comers.  I've read through it enough times that I remember it, too. Well most of it.

Steven Erikson is a bastard.  I firmly believe that. Every interview, every bit of info I have read about the man only serves to reinforce the opinion.  He's an arrogant Canuck with a chip on his shoulder.  But despite that, or perhaps because of it, there is a good chance I may be just a little bit in love with him.  The scale and scope of his series - The Malazan Book of the Fallen - is unprecedented in the fantasy genre.  And it seems I will forgive much for that, even down to Canadian colloquialisms and an ego you could launch fighter planes off of.

What Doesn't Suck: This book is extremely unapologetic.  You are dropped headfirst into the thick of things.  You do not know the players, you do not know the rules, hell, you don't even know what game you're playing, and it doesn't let up in the slightest.  This may turn off some readers before they get a grip on things, but for me the mystery only added to my enjoyment. When I recommend this to friends, I make them promise to get passed the first hundred pages before deciding that it sucks.  You're simply not doing the book justice otherwise. 

The central concept behind this book (along with every other book in the series) is simple; convergence. You are introduced to a huge cast of characters, some mundane, others outrageously powerful magicians or warriors, and then in the end mashes them all up together in one huge battle. It's pretty epic. 

The greatest strength of this series is without a doubt the cast.  You have something like a dozen different races interacting on the same world, all with unique abilities, gods, beliefs etc.  All with a hundred thousand years of back story.  Some are immortal, some are nearly mundane, but all have their various heroes.  And a shocking proportion of them are just downright badasses.

This one may be a quirk unique to me, but I freaking loved the names in the series. Anomander Rake.  Andarist.  Silchas Ruin.  Sheltatha Lore.  A hundred others.  I have a friend who tried to get his first born son named Anomander, and he's never even read the series.

What sucks: Well it can't all be roses.  First, don't come in expecting poetry.  Erikson is a competent writer, but he seems far more concerned with his deliciously over-the-top characters than he is with making it all read pretty. And, as much of a fanboy as I may be, there are few Erikson fans who will argue that Gardens of the Moon was anything but the worst book in the series.  It's riddled with plot holes that don't quite sync with the rest of the series, most likely on account of the ten year lapse before the second book was written.

Something else to pick at; the plot itself is not a strong suit.  A synopsis would read like a pretty standard scramble to stop the Big Bad from taking over everything affair.  It seems boring, but really, it isn't.  Honest.  

I suppose some will be turned off by the fact that there are roughly a billion characters in this book to keep track of.  I have friends who have resorted to hand written notes to keep tabs on them all. But if someone with my memory can remember them, you should be able to as well...or at least the cool ones anyways, and those are the ones that really matter.

Deep Thoughts: All in all, GOTM has all the depth and history of The Lord of the Rings, and adds to that  the over-the-top action of a Dragon Ball Z episode.  Now I hate DBZ as much as the next guy, but somehow the ridiculous aspect works perfectly here.  Read it.  

Rating: Doesn't Suck

Glen Cook: Darkwar series

The failings of my memory are legion.  With respect to that sad fact, I have decided to add my last three night's pursuit in a lump sum, lest it all slip away.  

Darkwar is the second series I have read by Cook, and is a beast of a completely different color than The Black Company.  At the outset it seems standard, if strange, fantasy, but soon enough you will begin some very serious Scifi elements.  We're talking space battles here.  I went in with absolutely no expectations.  The books were picked more or less at random, save for the fact that I had enjoyed Cook in the past.  

What didn't suck:  The series has some rather unique elements.  For one, the central race of the series was the non- human Meth.  Mammal, upright, intelligent, all that jazz, but with an alien thought process.  One has to respect Cook for thinking so far outside the norm, and giving the race as a whole a unique perspective.  Another element that I found interesting; it truly runs the gamut of civilization.  With no significant time lapses, it starts you with a primitive, hunting and gathering culture, and by the end you're dealing with space battles of epic proportion.  Not exactly what I expected, but the for the most part it worked.

What sucked:Sadly, it had some pretty serious flaws working against it.  First and foremost, the main character is the ultimate Mary Sue.  Seriously, Westley Crusher has nothing on her.  If there is a thing that has to be done, she will do it.  Given, everything and everyone that she loved would likely be ashes and dust by the time she was done, but that she would succeed was never in doubt. After the first few times her miraculous magical powers manifested themselves, this was annoying.  After the first couple books, this was maddening.  Throughout the series, the character always made the right decision, was always smarter, faster, stronger, ad nauseum.  Hardly unique in fantasy, but still it pisses me off to see it done to this extent.  Come on Cook, you're better than that!

Another thing that sucked.  The ending.  I won't ruin it, but to say it was dissatisfying is an understatement.  You see it coming, you hope you're wrong, but in the end...you're not.  Yeah, it's as lame as you think it will be.  Weak.

And character development?  I actually think the main character devolved throughout the series rather than evolving.  It was pretty painful at times.  

Deep Thoughts: Overall, I don't regret reading the series.  It had it's weakspots and then it had some more weakspots...but there was a thing or two that was cool as well.  And hell, I've got lots of free time.  

As an aside, I have decided on a rating system consisting of three tiers: Sucks, Meh, or the much vaunted Doesn't Suck.

Final Rating: Meh

A beginning

A few days ago I found myself ankle deep in a rousing new bit of fantasy literature - in this case She Is the Darkness by Glenn Cook - and it was not until about the halfway point that I realized something disturbing.  I had read this before.  Not merely this particular book, but this entire series.  And this was the eighth book.  It was then that I was forced to come to terms with two things: 

1) I read a lot. That is, to an unusual extent.  On average I read about a novel a day, and as such, the vast majority of the fiction that I go through is often lost in pursuit of my next bout of escapism.

2) My memory sucks.  Now, as someone who loves fiction this isn't always a bad thing.  Give it a few years, and I can enjoy my favorite novels nearly as much as I did the first time around. But on the other hand, often I can't remember the name and plots of the books I was oh so enthralled in just a week past, let alone the scores of adventures lost in antiquity.

In an effort to address the latter, I have decided to turn to blogging.  Each book I read henceforth will be followed by a blog, both catalouging the results and giving a general run down of the novel.  I suppose some kind of rating would be prudent as well.  I'll figure something out.  In any case, it will be a purely self serving pursuit.  However, if by some strange chance a reader happens by and finds my posting useful, I daresay I shall not be offended.