Daniel Abraham interview

Peter Orullian posted an interview with Daniel Abraham today (thanks to Orbit for the heads-up). I have to reveal that Abraham is one of the author on my shame list and I've been looking ahead to picking up The Long Price Quartet. However, the interview linked here is about Daniel writing and he offers just small glimpses of The Dagger and the coin. Here's an extract of one of the questions :

Speaking of first drafts and revision, I know from Facebook that you've just completed a draft of the first book in your new fantasy series. There's a little information out there about it, including a great press release on the Orbit website. But give me a kernel (if you can) of something we can look forward to in that book that no one knows yet. You know, an exclusive. Or barring that, tell us as much as you can to set the stage for this next career effort. I mean, epic fantasy. We gotta know.

The Dagger and the Coin. Yeah, that's going to be an interesting ride. It's a very different project than the Long Price books. It's more of an adventure story, and it's packed with the things that I like the best. Hopefully, other folks will enjoy it as much as I did.

I'll give you five exclusives.

...

Also, here's a synopsis posted by Abraham on Westeros :

The dragons are gone, the powerful magics that broke the world diluted to little more than parlour tricks, but the kingdoms of men remain and the great game of thrones goes on. Lords deploy armies and merchant caravans as their weapons, manoeuvring for wealth and power. But a darker power is rising – an unlikely leader with an ancient ally threatens to unleash the madness that destroyed the world once already. Only one man knows the truth and, from the shadows, must champion humanity. The world's fate stands on the edge of a Dagger, its future on the toss of a Coin.

Brayan's Gold cover art

The cover art for the Subterranean Press edition of Brayan's Gold by Peter V. Brett, a novella in his Warded Man series world, was unveiled by Peter himself on his blog (illustrations by Lauren K. Cannon). Not bad but not really my cup of tea.

By the way, the book is set for a January 2011 release and here's the blurb :

Humanity has been brought to the brink of extinction. Each night, the world is overrun by demons—bloodthirsty creatures of nightmare that have been hunting the surface for over 300 years. A scant few hamlets and half-starved city-states are all that remain of a once proud civilization, and it is only by hiding behind wards, ancient symbols with the power to repel the demons, that they survive. A handful of Messengers brave the night to keep the lines of communication open between the increasingly isolated populace.

Arlen Bales is seventeen, an apprentice Messenger in brand new armor, about to go out for the first time alongside a trained Messenger on a simple overnight trip. Instead Arlen finds himself alone on a frozen mountainside, carrying a dangerous cargo to Count Brayan’s gold mine, one of the furthest points in the duchy. And One Arm, the giant rock demon, hunts him still.

But Brayan’s Gold may offer a way for Arlen to be free of One Arm forever, if he is willing to wager his life on the chance.

City of Ruin UK paperback cover art

Mark posted the cover art for the City of Ruin UK paperback edition. The way Brynd is portrayed is completely different from the Hardcover art. Although I didn't like the cartoonish feel of the original cover, I won't cheer either for this one. I don't think it's ugly but maybe it's that I really didn't picture Brynd that way in my mind. The purple background is a great idea judging by the color emanating from the cultists' devices and the cities are always great looking in all of Newton books. Your thoughts?

New additions to my shelves

I have already begun my reading of The Black Prism and it looks interesting. As for the other books, I can't wait to read all of them but there just not enough time. That to-read pile is faster than I can manage...

German covers exploration part 2

Here comes part 2 of my German covers exploration. For those looking for the first part, head over here. This time, I compare covers for novels by Brandon Sanderson, Tom Lloyd, Chris Evans, Greg Keyes, Robin Hobb, David Anthony Durham and Robert V.S. Redick.

For the first part, I thought that covers were pretty nice whether they were for Germany or US/UK. In this second sample, I clearly see some lacks in the German covers.

As I said last time, I'll probably post a third and final part with Erikson, Martin and maybe one or two more. Then I'll head to France! Here you go:

Brandon Sanderson - Multiple series

Same kind of design for the German covers... not ugly but not looking great either.

German	US/UK

Tom Lloyd - The Twilight Reign series

Again, same kind of covers for all the books. Any of the US/UK covers looks way better.

German	US/UK

Chris Evans - The Iron Elves

And again, same kind of covers... it blends way too much... although the original cover for A Darkness Forged in Fire was not really good.

German	US/UK

Greg Keyes - A Kingdom of Thorn and Bone

Closer this time and at last some differences in each iterations for the German art. However, I would still go with the US/UK, aside for the Born Queen.

German	US/UK

Robin Hobb - The Farseer trilogy

And we return to the same kind of cover art for each book of the series.... Not that bad though. As for the US/UK, there were way too much different covers to post them all...

German	US/UK

David Anthony Durham - The Acacia trilogy

It's not an error, the same art was used for The Other Lands in the US/UK and for Acacia in Germany. Aside for the original Acacia cover, they all look great.

German	US/UK

Robert V.S. Redick - The Chathrand Voyage series

Clearly a win for the US/UK cover art. The German one is way too generic.

German	US/UK

New poll - Simultaneous reads

Before getting to the new subject, a little flashback from a couple of months ago... I know, I haven't been much inspired recently with the polls. The last one I did was "What sort of names do you prefer?", which I came up with because of the naming choice of Alex Bledsoe in his Eddie Lacrosse novels. The results look like this :

0% - I don't care
5% - Real world related
82% - Completely original but simple stuff
11% - Exotic names, even hard to pronounce

At least, everyone cares! Ok, it was probably a bit too obvious though you never know... anyway...

This time, my new poll was inspired by a comment made by Sarah at Bookworm Blues. I noticed that she was writing several reviews per week so I asked her how much book she was able to read per week. I already covered that topic (here and here) but she also said that she usually read 2 or 3 books at the same time. This intrigues me and I know that she's not the only one with this tendency, I've read about it from several bloggers.

As for myself, I don't remember ever having read more than one novel at a time. The only "kind of" exception is the audiobooks, not sure if it really counts as being a parallel read... but I always listen to a book when I can't physically read one (I don't how some people read when walking by the way) . Usually, if I don't like a book, I put it down and it will probably never get another chance for a long time, if ever.

I prefer to become absorbed in a limited number of works at one time. I do the same with gaming, not much more that one game at a time. I admit that sometimes I could be tempted to put one book down for a time and go with something different, moreover in case of a door-stopper but I feel it could break my immersion in some way. Although I could say that I almost contradict myself with the switch between physical book and audiobook... maybe I should try it sometime.

Anyway, this is simply my humble way of experiencing reading. Feel free to share yours.

So, my question is : "How many books do you read at the same time?"

- One
- One on paper and one audiobook
- Two or three
- Four or five
- Every last one of them that falls into my hands

The Way of Kings review

The Way of Kings... hype picked up fast for this novel, generated by Tor marketing plans and by my own eagerness in reading about the Stormlight Archive project. I haven't been exited for a new series like this for a while. Maybe the fact that I like to get my hands on door-stoppers had an influence in this. Anyway, that much hype can taint the view of a book even before the turning of the first page but in this case, it didn't influence me, the reading did and it left an enjoyable feeling.

Kaladin Stormblessed is a brilliant young squad leader. He's fighting in skirmishes in his home country trying to prove himself and his squad mates in the eyes of his light eyed superior, to be sent where the real fighting is, the Shattered Plains against the Parchendi. On those plains, Dalinar, the King's uncle and revered general known as the Blackthorn is trying to unite the highprinces for the safety of Alekhar and put an end to the Vengeance Pact. His son, Adolin, will keep him in check when the highstorms strike and he starts having visions of the past. On the other side of the ocean, Shallan, a young artist from a family on the edge of bankruptcy, will try to convince the illustrious scholar Jasnah to take her as a ward. However, there's more than a wardship in her sights.

In trying to define The Way of Kings, I would conclude that it's an impressive Epic Fantasy novel in the representative kind of Epic Fantasy style. It's not groundbreaking as some books or series can be defining to a genre, norm breaking or creating a new sub genre in itself but since The Stormlight Archive series still has nine books to prove itself, it could be within this spectrum eventually. Don't get me wrong here, this is a splendid work and it will not blend within the horde of Epic Fantasy novels.

The Way of Kings is massive in several aspects (needless to say that the book is just over 1000 pages). The prime element representing this magnitude is the world building, which is mesmerizing. It's as complex and original as any Fantasy world you can think of, a pretty crafty exercise and you can feel that there was a lot of thinking behind this world. In every aspect in which I can think to categorize world building in Epic Fantasy, The Way of Kings creates a high standard. A distinct fauna, original beasts, a religion anchored in the heart of tradition, a profound history, several distinct races with their beliefs (ex: the superiority of the light eyed cast), habits and way of life, well designed artefacts, etc... Everything is precisely linked together to create Roshar, a unique world. Brandon has already shown that he could create innovative settings but this time, it's perfected and wider in scope.

One of the best examples of this is the concept around which the book is centered or the idea that probably shaped the vision, the highstorms. These storms are something way bigger than what we are used to, they fashioned the whole world. Imagine a huge hurricane coming several times per months at a furious speed and spawning almost the entire world. It left its mark on all the aspects of world building I spoke of earlier.

Then, this world has to be populated by compelling characters. The story starts with a bang but without a hint that something big is coming. Eventually, the tale will attain a status of Epic proportions, recounted through the eyes of five or six PoV. Among these, Kaladin and Dalinar can really be considered as the most complete characters; ones I see myself following for ten books. I could not say the same thing about Shallan, though it may change in the future since she's not the most present protagonist in the novel. The story of Kaladin is told with flashbacks from his past, a nice thinking on Brandon's part. He recounts the events of his early years at key moments within the narrative, making us understand and believe the man's convictions genuinely. Brandon did not make him perfect and since he's a slave and having a hard time, some flaws ought to be visible. Anyone in this situation can have a downfall every so often.

Kaladin and his surrounding cast of bridgemen felt at first a bit like the same old song. A group of rag-tag slaves training to be the best at what they do and eventually facing overwhelming odds. However, this is not really the case since the author gave them, or at least gave Kaladin, the means by which he can overcome these overwhelming odds. Concerning the rest of his bridgemen, they really are a colorful bunch of comrades.

Regarding Dalinar and his son Adolin, they are the ones with the storyline driving the general plot forward. Both are wearers of shardplates and own a shard blade. This is one of the most interesting concept of the story. The shard blades can materialize within ten heartbeats and they can break through everything save the shardplates and similar blades. When swung at someone, if it goes through the spinal column, it simply extinguish his life. These weapons are incredible and could be too powerful, but Sanderson used them wisely, integrating them in the story to create balance. Battles fought with this kind of weapons are impressive, a choreography majestically fluid but easy enough to imagine given Sanderson's skill.

Again, they are both characters with their flaws, making errors, but evolving from it and I grew fond of them easily. Two other secondary protagonists also stand out from the crowd. Wit, the King's Wit is quite something, in the mystical kind of way. And then, there's the spren. Kaladin is bonded by one and although it may be one of the few to show intelligence, she's only one pebble in the pond. They represent visible reactions to almost everything from glory to fire. It will be easier to understand when you read about them but here's another great idea, nicely developed.

As I kept reading, I could feel that Brandon had gained more experience since Elantris. Writing a tale this long with so much continuity for so few PoV could eventually drag things down a bit (and it does in some chapters), however, he continually comes back with something refreshing or unexpected. The battles are well described but there may be slightly too much descriptions or reflection from some characters. Every part of the book (there's 4 of them) is separated with stories of people from around the world. Interesting but not really a necessity aside from one protagonist coming up every time, Szeth, a mysterious assassin growing increasingly intriguing.

Then we get to the magic system or systems. Yes there is more than one way of using magic or benefiting from it (Shards, fabrials, lashings, etc...) and most of it make use of the energy coming from the highstorms (as does the money). Each of those "ways" is represented throughout the novel but they still shrouded in mystery. The master of magic system creativeness strikes again. Moreover, at the end, we can guess that Brandon has way more ideas in store than this.

Finally, at the conclusion of the book, many story threads, ideas and theories connected. They created an expectation for things to come almost too great to wait on. A sound way to finish since there was no big culmination but many small denouement making up for it. Retrospectively, I think that Brandon decided to go through with The Way of Kings at the right time, after getting more experience as a writer. This is the start of something exciting.

Technically, the book also contains drawings of the wildlife and ecosystem every so often. It implies that it is taken from Shallan's drawings. In addition to the numerous maps included, I can only praise the visual support. The Michael Whelan cover art is nice but I think there's too much color (there was a sketch in grey tones that I like more). The novel stands at 1001 pages.

The Way of Kings review score :

Characterization............. 8.5 /10
World building............... 10 / 10
Magic system................. 9 /10
Story.............................. 8.5 / 10
Writing........................... 8.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 9 / 10

Enjoy!
Brandon Sanderson page

The Heroes final UK cover art

Blood, more blood! I must admit that it's a nice new touch for the cover. Looks better with the blood. Maybe it's simply more fitting to have a cover for a book by Abercrombie with blood on it or the addition of more red... The US cover also had a big smear of blood...

Anyway, bring on January 20th 2011.

Small update

Here's where I stand right now in term of reading and review writing. I'm currently reading Farlander by Col Buchanan (I had great expectations from this one with the reviews I read so far) and I when I finish, I want to go through this list :

Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes
The Last Page by Anthony Huso
(and then all my "to read" pile....)

In term of audiobooks, I'm not that pleased with Imager by L.E. Modesitt Jr. but it's good enough to finish it. Not sure what I will pick up next, probably some Brent Weeks of Brandon Sanderson (I have not finished their series...).

I'm currently writing my review for The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and I still have to write the one for The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham. Oh... and I will probably post my German covers exploration part 2 soon.

Then, some blogroll and map links updates. I added Bookworm Blues (nice new blog by Sarah) and Walker of Worlds (which you probably already know but that I discovered only lately) to the blogroll and I added the links for the maps of Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker, David Eddings' The Belgariad and Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God.

I have finished playing the single player campaign of Starcraft 2 and I'm not sure what to play next. I will probably go with Red Dead Redemption while waiting for Mafia 2. Speaking of gaming, I haven't done any Gaming digression post for a while, but here's something nice released this week. No it's the the Bioshock Infinite trailer, it's been everywhere... it's the preview for Deus Ex : Human Revolution. I had so much fun with the first one back in 2000 and the upcoming game looks amazing :

Video Games | Deus Ex: Human Revolution | GC 10: Gameplay Reveal Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

That's it folks.

City of Ruin review

The Legends of the Red Sun series started last year with the brilliant fantasy debut Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton (the epithet debut could be debated since Newton wrote The Reef before Nights...). Let's see if the 'noir fantasy' young author came up with another success.

Villiren. The city is the new home of Rumex Jeryd, the rumel investigator who had to disappear from Villjamur. Among its walls, the city also shelter Brynd Lathraea, the captain who is in command of the Jamur Empire. The commander will have to prepare the defences against an invasion from the Okun, beasts from another dimension pouring through a portal. Beneath the city, some strangle people will have to decide if they take part in protecting the city. Meanwhile, Randur is trying to reach Lathraea to see if he could help with the renegade princesses.

I read City of Ruin as soon as it was available in store. Thus, since I had not read any reviews (even though I know some were already out for a while), I could only guess what awaited me aside from a direct continuation of the story in the same type of “noir fantasy”. As of the first moments of the action, we are dipped back in the same atmosphere as Nights. Moreover, I believe that it is really the strongest point of Newton writing, i.e. his skill to create an atmosphere lugubrious but vibrating, dark, vivid, mysterious and especially an environment which wraps us completely. I could feel pretty easily the dread of a city close to being assaulted. Mark has real talent for this and I hope he will continue to exploit it in force.

Then, when reaching approximately the middle of the book, the storyline of Randur Estevu resumes. At this point, what was called by several bloggers “the new weird” appears in profusion. I have to acknowledge that I was disconcerted at first. Yes it is a fantasy novel but Newton decided to completely batter the barriers in the second opus. In spite of some signs of this in the first book, like the strange aliens coming from the portal, I was surprised. The "meta" tale quite simply exploded in astronomical proportions in some strange kind of way. I read afterward that Newton was restricted in his "weirdness" in the first book and so this was fully intended. In the end, I admit that I liked that aspect.

When I criticized Nights, I mentioned that the author had really succeeded in creating a world similar to our own in term of reality for the inhabitants but in a fantastic groundwork. If one does not take account of the “new weird” aspect of the novel, this applies once again in the sequel. The subjects tackled by Newton are always of topicality and it pushes still a little further his “satire” of our society. Some topics such as homosexuality are even more obviously present and are very well handled by the author. Racism, politicians, relationships, religion, you name it.

Again, a little comparison with Nights. For the first book, I had some reserves about the changes and choices of PoV. Hopefully, I must admit that I can't reproach anything to Mark this time. This aspect proves very smoothly balanced in City of Ruin. The rhythm is better and always gives us a hunger to read another chapter to know the outcome of almost all the storyline. Despite everything, some of them are less palpitating (in my taste), like those of Beami, a new character, and her lover Lupus. I never grew to be interested in their idyll. Another small detail that goes in the plus side is the "up to speed conversations". Instead of explaining everything again, the author mentions that the character reveals what he knows to his interlocutor. Doing that, we get to read less repetitions of the same account.

Randur is relegated to the second plan but this is probably temporary. It is difficult to judge for the moment if Newton seems to slightly give up this character full of potential or if he will return under the main spotlight. Moreover, besides being the first protagonist to go through those strange situations, he eventually meets with a character way too typical compared to what the author had shown until now, an old alcoholic mentor who wants repentance. Not the kind of protagonist I expected.

However, plenty of new compelling characters are integrated in the sequel. Among those, Malum, an underground vampyr gang lord struggling with his fate, a mysterious Doctor seeking to help the populace and participate in the war effort in his own way, Jeryd's new aide Nanzi and some new beasties flowing with imaginativeness. It's not always easy to create that much good secondary characters around the well known protagonists but in this case, I can only admire the work. And also, the use of some curious cultists adds an amusing side to the narrative.

As for these well known heroes, let's simply state that they shine. Brynd is developed much further and his sexuality is now interfering with his action. His role is more considerable and he gets to take part in some very exiting action scenes. Jeryd is still the taciturn, honest hardworking detective that I grew to love so much. His storyline is full of surprises and he gets to be part of the action way more than he intended to. His reactions to all this are a delight to read.

City of Ruin is a nice improvement in almost every aspect for Mark. This bodes well for the future books in the series. The mix of weirdness, noir atmosphere and perspectives of our society examined through mature characters creates something quite unique and compelling.

I almost forgot to talk about magic and the cultists devices. They are an inherent part of the world and used quite frequently and skilfully. They are still hidden behind a good layer of mystery but there's not an overly significant evolution from Nights.

Technically, my feelings for the Tor UK cover of City of Ruin are mixed. The city background looks great but as I mentioned when the art was unveiled, I can't understand why they chose to draw Brynd in a cartoonish style... There is a map of a portion of the city and I hope that with the following books we will eventually get a glimpse of the whole archipelago. The book stands at 466 pages.

City of Ruin review score :

Characterization............. 9 /10
World building............... 9 / 10
Magic system................. 8 / 10
Story.............................. 8.5 / 10
Writing........................... 9 / 10

Overall (not an average) 9 / 10

Enjoy!

Mark Charan Newton page

Knife of Dreams ebook cover art

Irene Gallo posted at Tor.com the cover art for volume eleven of the ebook editions of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, Knife of Dreams. Last month, I may not have been fair but I said that Crossroads of Twilight didn't really deserved a nice cover because of the mediocre quality of the book but Knife of Dreams cover is looking great and it's deserved. The scene depicted is Rand protecting Min against Semirhage. The release date for the ebook is August 24th.

Micheal Kormack is the artist behind the cover art (follow the link to his page). I admit that Kormack is one of my favorite fantasy artist these days. With work like the cover for the aSoIaF RPG and the beautifully illustrated Subterranean Press edition of Gardens of the Moon and now this cover, I can only praise the guy. Irene had this to say about the process :

It was time to pump up the action on the covers. I knew early on I wanted to ask Michael Komarck to work on the series but I wasn’t sure which book. After talking to Jason Denzel and reading some of the fan comments, it seemed Komarck’s gritty photorealism would be a perfect fit for this sequence.

At this point in the series Rand’s physical and mental stability is breaking down. Komarck’s tight composition and unconventional angles make the viewer feel that imbalance. Komarck engages you by making you feel slightly uncomfortable, almost wishing you could take a step back to regain your composure.

In an age when a lot of noise is being made about illustration “needing” to become moving images, I would say the beauty of this image is that you are in perpetual conflict—you want Rand to regain balance, but no amount of looking will change his struggle at that moment.

You can see the first ten ebook covers here :

The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight