Week-end update

This week, I was still reading The Unremembered but I'm only at page 150. So gar, I think the similarity (or should I say influences?) with Jordan's WoT as flagrant but it's only the beginning. Anyway, his world-building is well done and it will probably grow in uniqueness as the story evolves.

I should finish listening to The Broken Kingdoms this week so the review may be up before the end of the week.

Here's what picked my interest this week :

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Artwork

Joe Abercrombie posted one of the beautiful artworks included in the limited edition by Subterranean Press of Before They are Hanged. The official cover was revealed not so long ago and many were thinking that the illustration evoked something too futuristic, myself included. This one is more within the universe we expected. The work is by Alex Preuss.

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Interviews

Perter Orullian latest interview was with Night Angel trilogy and The Black Prism author Brent Weeks. Head on to Tor.com for the complete lengthy but really interesting interview/chat session. For the complete list of interviews done by Peter, go to his website.

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Authors update


Anthony Huso next novel is called Black Bottle. I asked Tor about the release date and so far the tentative date is Spring 2012. Moreover, they will be reissuing The Last Page in trade paperback in Winter 2012.

Michael J. Sullivan, author of the Riyria Revelations, will be published by Orbit books. Orbit announced the acquisition this week :

Orbit will be publishing the complete series in three volumes in consecutive months in Fall/Winter 2011-2012. The first volume, Theft of Swords, will be published in November 2011; the second volume, Rise of Empire, in December 2011, and the final volume, Heir of Novron, in January 2012.

So the six self published books by Michael will be printed in three volumes. Congrats!!!

Stephen Deas has need of you! He is writing the follow-up to The Order of the Flames, last book of this dragon trilogy, that will be named The Black Mausoleum. Among the cast, four dragon-hunters are in need of a name. Head on to his website to submit your ideas!

Mark Charan Newton posted the first extract for his upcoming novel, book 3 of the Legend of the Red Sun series, The Book of Transformation. The book will be released in June 2011.

Full extract here. For a glimpse :

This was no time to be a hero. Under the multicoloured banners of the sanctuary city of Villjamur, under the reign of a new emperor, and amidst a bitter northerly wind reaching far through the knotted streets, something was about to start.
Seven human teenagers sauntered back and forth in front of a gate that permitted access to one of the highest levels of the city.

Sleet was whipping by in the channels between these old stone walls – buildings three or four storeys high, with fat timber frames and decorated with hanging baskets inhabited by little more than limp tundra flowers.

From his horse, Investigator Fulcrom could glean only so much about the movement of the youths: their first walk-by was purely to check out the guard situation, maybe gauge the soldiers’ temperament. A little tease. Those kids had done well to get this far, given the current political climate. In their baggy breeches and hooded wax coats, they moved with long, easy strides right past the military installation. They possessed every intention of creating a scene. At least, that was what the guards were meant to think.

But Investigator Fulcrom, a brown-skinned rumel in his younger years, knew better. He’d seen this kind of thing before, from his casual dealings with the underworld – an advantage that these simple guardsmen did not possess. No, these youths were decoys – they didn’t have the guts to challenge the guards outright. Sure, they laughed and whistled and threw around tentative insults and crude hand-slang gestures; but this wasn’t the real deal, not by a long shot.

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Maps

The blog Rambling On and On as started a project to map the travels of Rand, Mat and Perrin in the WoT world. So far the first six books have been done. Great work for the WoT fans.

Have a nice week!

The Heroes review

Joe Abercrombie has signed a deal for a new trilogy and a standalone novel, all set in the First Law universe. While waiting for this new trilogy that will probably place Bayaz and Khalul face to face, Joe granted the gritty fantasy lovers crowd with another standalone novel featuring the northern part of his world, new characters and some returning names. The Heroes is the fifth book written by the blazingly shameless author. Here's what we're looking at.

In the valley of Osrung sit The Heroes, statues of northern figures of the past. On that hill sits Hardbread, one of the Dogman's men. But he won't hold the hill for long, not when Curnden Craw and his dozen, on behalf of Black Dow are set on taking it back. No sooner, that hill will become the central point in a three day fight for The Union against their northern recalcitrant neighbors. In the mist of it all, one man is trying to prove to the world that he can be redeemed for his mistakes in far away Sipani and take back his position guarding the King. Facing him will be Prince Calder, Bethod's son, waiting in line for the succession of the North but scheming behind Dow's back.

The Heroes is one hell of a ride. A fast one you might say since it covers only three days of battling action, but every aspect of this struggle makes it a rough emotional hardship punctuated with laughter and manly bravado. Hence, the dragging sections slowing the pace a bit in Abercrombie's previous work (BSC) are not to be found. The days flow by without being repetitive. At the end of a day of fighting, there's plenty of talk to be had about the lost ones, the strategy and each faction internal conflicts. No rest for the wicked.

Character wise, the sole problem I had with Best Served Cold was the difficulty to read about protagonists who I couldn't completely connect with for a substantial part of the tale (in Monza's and Shivers' case, but I was still compelled to follow assiduously their adventures). Then, with The Heroes, that difficulty didn't present itself to me. The three main PoV and all the secondary people we follow are a better match for empathy. However, in Abercrombie's case, empathy with his characters cannot be seen under the same light as with many other authors. This is again a bunch of brutal antiheroes, men and women driven to present their carnal persona when it can make them crumble info fear or rise to the status of implacable heroes.

As for the most prominent PoV, we got a sick case of a violent suicidal devoted knight, one of the last straight edge leader of a dozen of bad ass named men and a cowardly cunning Prince in search of a throne. Let's start with Bremer Dan Gorst. We have seen him in the First Law and glimpsed his misadventure in Best Served Cold. The former Knight of the Body of his Majesty Jezal is in need of glory. However for the child-voiced neck-less brute, being a hero is charging through the mass to violently kill everything in his path. Bremer narrative if full of gritty and pervert reflections. Being surrounded by a crowd of incompetent military leaders, he will have to take matters horrifically in his own hands. A character like Bremer is fascinating but you can't really love him, so when his love life falls flat I was both satisfied and feeling pity for the guy.

Curnden Craw and his crew are the bunch I wanted to root for. Even though they can be considered on the bad side of things if you envisage the civility of the Union, masterminded by a cruel wizard, to be the good guys. Anyway, as with Bremer being probably blacker that Dow himself when on the battlefield, the line between good guys or bad guys is not only blurred, it's not even there. Craw leads a curious dozen, counting among the numbers the holder of the wicked Father of Swords no less. The Chief only wants to keep his crew alive and is the reasoning spirit of the gang. I felt a great pride and pain for this fatherly loyal fellow.

Prince Calder comes as a surprise. He's not anymore the cruel spoiled son of Bethod we glimpsed in the First Law trilogy. He has grown up and found love. But being hesitant to draw his sword doesn't mean that he can't struggle his way dangerously toward the top. Another great aspect of human outlook toward the duty of subordinate soldiers. Along with many other would be heroes or Union leaders, we get a nice tableau filled with a whole landscape of personal reactions toward war. Even though the novel is presented with its healthy paradoxal dose of humor and gory scenes (one of them about a chain of PoV switches from dying combatants), that's not the main point I'll retain from this tale although it adds a nice layer of entertainment. It will be the lifelong experience lived by the characters.

Then there's Corporal Tunny. Even though the novel hardly needed a comic relief with all the cracks Abercrombie wrote throughout the book for almost every character, Mr. Tunny shines brightly. The veteran of the First Union regiment is surrounded by new recruits to whom he will try to teach the soldier trade in some peculiar way. I don't remember the last time I read a novel when I grinned that much. Joe's skilled prose is full of witty comments, dubious situations and cunning surprises.

Let's talk a bit about the setting. The valley came alive through the eyes of the would be heroes. This is a great representation of success in term of world-building. Without even noticing it, I was always able to picture the site of the battle quite easily. Blending the details of the surroundings in this kind of narrative is a feat. Also, Abercrombie's unique social representation of his northmen, you feel at home right at the start of the novel. By the way, I really liked the detail of putting the map of the valley with the armies positions between each day (I like maps a lot). Magic wise, we're almost at rest but the mysticism presented before is still present in small occurrences though not really connected with the North.

For those of you looking ahead to cameos, you could be disappointed, as I was in a way. There's a good dose of friendly faces (not sure the "friend" label can be applied to all of them...) but it's mostly the newcomers who shine. Much of them will become characters I will hope to see in future books by the author.

In conclusion, don't forget that it's a novel by Joe Abercrombie. If you don't like realistic descriptions of bloody warfare creating a lot of gore, dirty talk and moral ambiguity in a fascinating tale about a dubiously necessary battle fought by would-be heroes who come short of their goals, don't pick the book but realize that you're missing something. In this unforgiving story, you're not only getting juicy meat on the bone but also a nice layer of tasty fat!

Technically, The Heroes is encased in a sleekly-looking stylish cover, in a mapping and bloody kind of way! The start of each part (day) of the book is supplemented with Joe chapter-starting trademark, delightful real world quotes. I already mentioned the map but it can also be seen the web here. The hardcover Gollancz edition stands at 498 pages.

The Heroes review score :

Characterization............. 10 /10
World building............... 9.5 / 10
Magic system................. 8 /10
Story.............................. 9.5/ 10
Writing........................... 9.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 9.5 / 10

Enjoy!

Joe Abercrombie page
Best Served Cold review

Week-end update

I finished reading The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie and I will try to post my review this week. Pretty amazing book, Abercrombie is still at the top of his craft! So, while still waiting for The Crippled God, I picked up Peter Orullian's The Unremembered. I'm not so far into it but it already shows some promise. I will have to stop working if I want to go through those two books and Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path and Rothfuss' The Wise Man's Fear...

On the audiobook front, I started listening to The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. I'm half way through it now and I'm a little disappointed. Keeping my fingers crossed.

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Cover art

Au-delà des ombres (Beyond the Shadows, Night Angel trilogy book 3) by Brent Weeks

The cover art was posted by Brent this week and it's features the work of Frederic Perrin. Nice!

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Author update

The Wise Man's Fear March 1st release date is coming up fast and Tor.com posted this week an excerpt form the novel featuring mostly Elodin (complete excerpt here) :

Interesting Fact

ELODIN STRODE INTO THE lecture hall almost an hour late. His clothes were covered in grass stains, and there were dried leaves tangled in his hair. He was grinning.

Today there were only six of us waiting for him. Jarret hadn’t shown up for the last two classes. Given the scathing comments he’d made before disappearing, I doubted he’d be coming back.

“Now!” Elodin shouted without preamble. “Tell me things!”

This was his newest way to waste our time. At the beginning of every lecture he demanded an interesting fact he had never heard before. Of course, Elodin himself was the sole arbiter of what was interesting, and if the first fact you provided didn’t measure up, or if he already knew it, he would demand another, and another, until you finally came up with something that amused him.

He pointed at Brean. “Go!”

“Spiders can breathe underwater,” she said promptly.

Elodin nodded. “Good.” He looked at Fenton.

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Talk of the town

If you follow only sightly the fantasy literature scene, you're probably already aware that Big Hollywood's Leo Grin created quite the debate when he posted that aside from Tolkien and Robert Howard, pretty much all of contemporary fantasy authors are a sad expression of nihilism (this is a hugely condensed summary, the controversial post is here).

Then the reactions stacked up. If you have some time, you should take a peak at the refreshing responses from the following people that took time to analyze the text and write quite an essay. Since Grin's post was quite provocative toward the new main stream fantasy, his arguments could not compete for long.

Adam's at the Wertzone (mentioned in the article)
R. Scott Bakker (inventing a new fantasy readers "tribe")
Joe Abercrombie (the example quoted in Grin's text)
Floor to ceiling books (adding the women to the argument)

All in all, I hope that Leo Grin didn't expect to go far with his tirade, expressing that the popular fantasy authors of our days tend too much toward pessimism, skepticism and the importance of death, destruction and nothingness... WTF?

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On a lighter note, Tor.com posted "The Fantasy World Map" by artist Dan Meth. This map renders many fantasy kingdoms and although it's just for fun, if you look at the comments concerning the map, people are mostly asking why their favorite world is missing :)

Shadowmarch review

Shadowmarch, Tad Williams' fantasy series that ended up as being a quadralogy, was originally a movie/tv series project that evolved into "webisodes" in 2001. The first novel was eventually published in 2004 as a physical book, rewritten to the past tense (thanks Wikipedia). The saga ended last year with Shadowheart which was preceded by Shadowrise and Shadowplay.

In Southmarch, Kendrick Eddon rules the kingdom while is father his prisoner in far Hierosol. Returning from the castle surroundings, Chert Blue-Quartz, a Funderling, stumbles upon a young boy delivered through the Shadowline, a dangerous barrier between the land of the Twilight people and the March people. While taking the boy home, he realizes that the line is moving for the first time in centuries. Starting from this point, events will unfold fast in Southmarch, putting the young twins Barrick and Briony Eddon in charge. While they struggle with a mysterious murder, political intrigue and the ransom of their father, the Twilight people will start their march to regain their lost heritage. Meanwhile, is south Xis, Qinnitan is chosen among lowly acolytes to be the wife of the godly Autarch.

My first though while reading the book lead me to label the novel as a treat for the nostalgic fans of fantasy. But then, since the author is Tad Williams, I should rather classify Shadowmarch as a contemporary epic fantasy work written by an author who favors fantasy in the classical sense of the genre. Hence, a mighty kingdom is under attack by a host of faeries from the north and under pressure from a far away Muslim-like (medieval era) empire to the south. Aside from the otherworldly Twilight people and the humans, the world is inhabited by Funderlings (read dwarves) and Rooftoppers, tiny people riding rats. Magic is a fundamental part of the world, mostly so in the case of the Twilight people and their Shadowline, though negligible as far as most humans are concerned. This is the canvas for a tale of betrayal, heroism, warfare and coming of age.

Furthermore, as was the case with previous Williams' work, the main protagonists are fifteen years old. However, to my satisfaction, they are not prophetical heirs hidden away as farmers waiting for a great destiny. Kendrick twin siblings, Barrick and Briony are the princes of Southmarch and they are already fulfilling their destiny, even though it came too fast to their liking. Both are compelling enough young characters (more so in Briony's case) and since they are two of the most prominent PoV, I was afraid at first that the novel would leave a YA feeling. I needn't worry, even though the tale told in Shadowmarch is not a gritty nightmare but the story of righteous people being harassed because of the act of their forefathers, the themes and motivations are serious enough to go beyond the young adult. Anyway, Tad Williams demonstrated in The Dragonbone Chair (the sole book I read from the author prior to this one) that he can write an epic saga about a youngster surrounded by complex mature characters.

Following Briony, I registered that coming of age feeling. Her personal evolution as she scrambles with her missing father advisers is quick but right, I could feel the strong queen growing under the youth facade. Her brother is another matter. Although he hides a dark secret that will probably come as a strong asset in the future books, I couldn't identify in him the same development as with his sister. Maybe because he remains a boy, hard to say. In Southmarch, aside from them, the PoV come from Chert, the Funderling in care of young Flint, an amnesic boy, Ferras Vansen the captain of the guard and Matty Tinwright a drunken poet. Tinwright get the role of comic relief while Vansen is the heroic soldier supplementing a good dose of action. Chert is a charitable stoneworker being tossed outside his quiet living because of Flint's actions and gets his share of entertaining moments. All in all, adding to this cast the calculating lord constable Brone, the Tolly family and their plots and finally Chaven the physician who is more than he looks, you get an interesting portrait.

Preventing those characters to shine throughout the book is Shadowmarch pace, which is quite slow. There again, very similar to Williams' first fantasy foray. With a cast as large as this one, things tend to drag a bit. The characters are thinking a lot, making observations about their surroundings or simply re-assessing their situation. It can be tiresome in some passages. When many chapters follow each other without much action, that slow pace almost become a liability. However, the shining moments of some of the protagonists and the unveiling of many mysteries kept me suitably captivated.

One of the elements in cause is that the story is split between the events happening in Southmarch and those occurring in the southern continent of Xand, without any connection so far between the two. The unique PoV presented in Xand is Qinnitan, an acolyte of the Hive chosen to be next bride in a multitude of wives of Sulepis, the monarch of Xis. While her struggles will certainly take her closer the main plot in future books, it's always nice to have a thorough background of crucial characters. Just too bad that her storyline didn't get her farther. I was left with a feeling of unaccomplished business at the end since we didn't really discover why she's so important and the mystery seems to become even more out of reach.

In the end, I could say that I enjoyed the unhurried ride regardless that it was a bumpy one. The characters whose storyline I grew to like in this first novel should be worth going back for more. I fervently hope the slowish pace will get faster and that the complete mystery of the conclusion of the faeries quest will get clearer. As for that last point, the links created with some protagonists with a couple of puzzling secret masterminds leading to a stall in the faeries advance felt hollow. Too much mind-blogging can get annoying if left unanswered for too long.

Finally, I struggled with a small aspect of the book. The Bonefall Oracles epigraph at the start of every chapter. Most of them are irrational and I could not really make sense of it. Kind of weird (not sure where the author was going with this...).

Technically, Shadowmarch went through many covers, most of them posted after this paragraph. The map of Williams' world is available online (here) and the book contains nice appendices. The hardcover edition of the novel stands at 672 pages and the audiobook is 29 hours and 23 minutes long. The narration of the audiobook is done by Dick Hill, a fatherly experienced voice which I always please my ear, especially so in the case of David Anthony Durham's novels and this one.

Shadowmarch review score :

Characterization............. 8 /10
World building............... 8 / 10
Magic system................. 7 /10
Story.............................. 7.5 / 10
Writing........................... 7.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 7.5 / 10

Enjoy!

Tad Williams page

The Cold Commands excerpt #3

Third time's the charm!

Richard Morgan posted a third work in progress extract from his upcoming novel The Cold Commands, book 2 of the Land fit for Heroes series.

The first WIP was about Ringil, the second one about Egar and the third one is dedicated to Archeth. Richard also mentions that the novel is almost finished (still set for October so far).

The complete excerpt is on Morgan's blog.

His imperial radiance Jhiral Khimran II was executing traitors in the Chamber of Confidences when they got back.

Archeth had Anasharal brought up to the palace anyway. She’d known the Emperor since he was a child, had watched his ascension to the throne – apparently with a few less illusions than the rest of the court, because she seemed to be the only one not shocked when the purges started – and she knew he was going to demand to see the Helmsman as soon as he heard about it.

He might even put the executions on hold.

So she went, unenthusiastically, along the sculpted marble corridors in the Salak wing of the palace. Went deeper and deeper, towards the screaming, while krinzanz need scraped at her nerves like knives. The smooth-walled architecture gleamed and curved and swept, palely voluptuous around her, mostly tones of muted jade and amber, but veined through in places with stark copper or black, and studded at intervals with conquest pieces – artwork and sculpture dragged here from every corner of the Empire and jammed into alcoves or nailed onto walls that didn’t really suit the purpose.

And the shrieks and pleas for mercy echoed off the polished stone, chased each other down the corridors, ambushed her round corners, like the ghosts of the conquered dead, somehow trapped in the marble heart of the imperium that had vanquished them.

Before they are hanged limted edition cover

In a round of covers 3 weeks ago, I posted some artwork for the Subterranean Press limited edition of Before They Are Hanged, book 2 of the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The illustration was done by Alex Preuss (same artist as for The Blade Itself).

Well, thanks to Mad Hatter, we now know that this particular artwork was chosen to be the cover of the book. Looking at it more closely, I must admit that it doesn't look at all like what I pictured in my mind while reading the book, far from it...

For a look back at The Blade Itself cover head on here.

Week-end update

I decided to start posting a week-end update every week that will be worth it :) A humble beginning for this week but here we go :

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Cover art

The Sacred Band by David Anthony Durham

David posted the US cover (work in progress from Doubleday's edition) on his blog this week. The Sacred Band is Durham's third book in his Acacia trilogy. I just realized that I completely forgot to write my review of The Other Land which I listened to in audiobook last year... Anyway, the final novel will be released in Fall of this year. I like the illustration itself (with the dragon even though it seems they are less popular since they are so often now labeled as cliché) but the font... could be way better.

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The maps index was updated with the map for Peter Orullian's The Unremembered world (gorgeous stuff and interactive on his website) and the map for the Shadowmarch saga by Tad Williams.

Orullian, Peter
The Vaults of Heaven (The Unremembered)
http://orullian.com/vaults/map.html

Williams, Tad
The Shadowmarch lands
http://www.shadowmarch.com/world.htm

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Books received

I'm already half into The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie and so far I'm quite impressed that the author could actually put off a novel centered around three days of battle of such quality and make it so exiting. Speaking of which, Joe posted on Orbit his list of best fantasy battle scenes from movies. It's called Ingredients for a Fantasy Battle and it's clearly worth a look.

Since I've not received The Crippled God and the official UK release is February 22 (should receive it a couple of days later in Canada), I switched my priority in my to-read list and will pick up The Unremembered next. The hype machine is in full motion for this title, pushing it as the next great epic series. I hope it delivers.

On the audiobook front, this week I got Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch and The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Since Jemisin's audiobook is only 11 hours, I'll start with it, having finished Shadowmarch yesterday (I'll post my review soon).

That's it for now. Have a nice week-end!

Stonewielder review

Stonewielder is Ian C. Esslemont third novel in his take on the Malazan world sagas. Sliding between Erikson's novels, his series is set to span five volumes, the next one being Orb, Sceptre, Throne. Taking that into account, you probably should pick up this novel after reading at least up to The Bonehunters in Erikson's tale of the fallen.

In Korel, under the benevolence of The Blessed Lady, the people look up to the Stormguards and their prisoners to defend the Stormwall against the Stormriders. However, the cult of The Lady is slowly shaking at its core. In Jourilan, an ex stormwall champion is swept by a rebellion to fight against the authority. In Fist, a Malazan landing led by a mythic figure is coming in retribution. In Banith, a local assessor is investigating a curious series of murder. All the while, the Lord Protector Hiam is imploring the Goddess to help him find help in defending the fabled wall. The Crimson Guard prisoner and champion of the wall may not suffice to the task.

You probably have already read The Return of the Crimson Guard if you're envisaging picking up Stonewielder. If you did, you'll feel right at home when reading Esslemont's follow-up. The Malazan marines are back in force (Rillish among them), Greymane and Kyle are right at the center of the action, the Crimson Guards refugees are roaming the land and the wall and Kiska is wandering the warrens. Even though the tale told in Stonewielder is less filled with new mythical encounters directly from the Malazan lore than its predecessor, since the narrative is focused on Korel and its famous wall, there's enough novelty to increase the depth of the Malazan world.

On the Malazan side of things, Kiska's tale is set completely aside from the rest of the novel. To her benefit, she encounters many compelling characters, some nice cameos included and eventually gets some shining and funny moments. Sadly, that is not the case with Greymane. For a character with so much importance, when you're not set as a PoV, one of the goals of the surrounding is to make you feel compelling through your eyes. Therefore, around him is Rillish, still the same unlucky devoted good guy, Devaleth, a new High mage that feels more like a tool used when necessity is critical and his friend Kyle, not much more than a fighter with a godly sword in this case. Interesting bunch but they don't convey Greymane's role grandiosely.

In RotCG, Esslemont introduced Nait/Jumpy, who he used to create funny situations with a redundant aptitude to put himself into danger and getting out of trouble barely with his life. In this follow-up, we welcome Suth, a DalHon soldier who's got his own special aptitude, he can't seem to be able to finish a fight without getting knocked unconscious. Nice addition to the cast. Even though the best moments usually come up with the Marines (kudos to the author again), from the natives of the subcontinent, comes a whole new group of protagonists. From a weird armor wearing thief to an honorable assessor, a mixed group of leaders at the head of a rebellion to the people taking care of the wall, there's plenty of narrative threads to look up to.

Finally, there's the Crimson guardsmen. As far as their storyline is concerned, they do participate in the outcome of this ultimate convergence but their future lays in the future stories that Esslemont will tell. The journey may be more important than the goal and in their case, the journey is arduous. I liked the way the author manages the whole immortal element defining them.

In term of writing, the same style that was applied to RotCG is found in Stonewielder. (too bad for those who preferred Night of Knives). The chapters are very long with a multitude of PoV switches that can become disconcerting at times. The story unveils slowly with so many characters to make progress but a relatively good deal of action is in store. Esslemont's craft is getting better, he comes up with a multitude of "sub-stories" well woven and created a vast cast that he was able to link together.

It seems that the Malazan recipe that was so masterfully concocted in numerous Erikson and Esslemont novels, the multitude of legendary storylines building up toward one hell of a convergence was tried again. However, as a result of this endeavor, I found that one of the ingredients was missing. I was not really taken in by the resolution of this convergence. I didn't embrace the principal goal presented to the protagonists. I grew fond of many of the characters but the whole Lady/Stormwall/Stormriders thing didn't cement into a compelling conclusion. Maybe the author could have given us the point of view of some of the Stormriders. Still, individually, I consider many story arcs to be quite great.

In term of "meta" story, the book present some advancement linked with Erikson's novels. We probably won't see much of Korel in the future but the events which took place in this novel still lead to greater things (I hope).

Would I recommend this novel if it was not set in the Malazan world? I can't be a hundred percent sure. This is a solid book in many ways as I hope I illustrated in my review but with my main problem being that I didn't care enough for the central element of the plot, I will conserve a lesser feeling of accomplishment when thinking about Stonewielder.

Technically, Stonewielder's cover looks beautiful, at least the UK Bantam Press edition. A nice map of the continent of Korel is part of the novel which stands at 632 pages in hardcover. I have to add that I loved the "glassy" feeling of the pages, all the books ought to be printed on a paper of that quality!

Stonewielder review score :

Characterization............. 7.5 /10
World building............... 10 / 10
Magic system................. 10 /10
Story.............................. 7.5 / 10
Writing........................... 7.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 7.5 / 10

Enjoy!

Malazan empire

Excerpts - Dragon Path and Crippled God

Two excerpts from some eagerly awaited books surfaced this week.

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First off is Daniel Abraham who posted the first chapter of The Dragon Path, book one of The Dagger and the Coin coming up in April 2011. Full excerpt here. Here's a glimpse :

Marcus rubbed his chin with a callused palm.

“Yardem?”

“Sir?” rumbled the Tralgu looming at his side.

“The day you throw me in a ditch and take command of the company?”

“Yes, sir.”

“It wouldn’t be today, would it?”

The Tralgu crossed his thick arms and flicked a jingling ear.

“No, sir,” he said at last. “Not today.”

“Pity.”

The public gaol of Vanai had once been a menagerie. In ancient days, the dragons themselves had stalked the wide square and bathed in the great fountain at its center. At the perimeter, a deep pit, and then great cages rising three stories high. The dragon’s jade facades were carved with figures of the beasts that had once paced behind the iron bars: lions, gryphons, great six-headed serpents, wolves, bears, great birds with breasts like women.

Between them, pillars in the shapes of the thirteen races of mankind: tall-eared Tralgu, chitinous Timzinae, tusked Yemmu and on and on. The Dartinae even had small braziers hidden in its eyeholes to mimic the glow of their gaze, though no one lit them anymore. The figures were unworn by time and rain, marred only by the black, weeping streaks where the bars had rusted away – nothing eroded dragon’s jade and nothing broke it. But the animals themselves were gone, and in their place, people.

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Next up is The Crippled God by Steven Erikson, set for release this month. The extract is posted on Tor.com but you have to create an account. Here you go.

A woman with no gifts of magic, deemed plain and unprepossessing, Tavore Paran of House Paran means to challenge the gods—if it is in her power, if her alliances hold, and if her own troops don't kill her first.

Awaiting Tavore and her allies are the Forkrul Assail, the final arbiters of humanity. Drawing upon an alien power terrible in its magnitude, they seek to cleanse the world, to annihilate every human, every civilization, in order to begin anew. Elsewhere, the three Elder Gods work to shatter the chains binding Korabas, the Otataral Dragon, and release her from her eternal prison. And so, in a far away land and beneath indifferent skies, the final cataclysmic chapter in the extraordinary 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' begins.

Enjoy!