Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Deadhouse Gates Sub Press Art

Back in August, I posted the cover art for the Subterranean Press limited edition of Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson (the second novel in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series).

The publisher presented a couple of illustrations by artist J.K. Drummond (this limited edition of the book will be out in Spring 2012).  As I said before : "Anyway, Drummond's watercolor works seem to be mostly in the same tones and style..." and it seems that it will be reflected in all his artwork.  I'm not sure I like the Icarium/Mappo (or other Jaghuts if I'm mistaken) depiction and I still don't know who's the girl with the knife but the bloodfly D'ivers is interesting...  Here you go :

A round of covers

A couple of new art before the end of the year, why not?

Mark Charan Newton, author of the Legends of the Red Sun series posted the cover art for the German edition of Nights of Villjamur, the first novel in the series.  Once again, it's a take at the wondrous city of Villjamur.  Here's the pick with all his counterparts so far.  My favorite you ask?  The original UK hardcover cover art (the second one) with the close up of the city.

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Aidan at A Dribble of Ink posted the "tentative" illustration for the cover of the third novel by Sam Sykes, titled The Skybound Sea (not final art from the comment of Sykes himself on Twitter).  Lenk is back with an attitude!

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Pyr unveiled the cover art of Shadow's Master, the third novel by Jon Sprunk.  The work is still by the very talented Michael Komarck.

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Mad Hatter unveiled the cover art for James Enge's A Guile of Dragons, from a new trilogy named A Tournament of Shadows. Here you go :

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Finally for this round, Ari Marmell's second Widdershins Adventure, False Covenant.  Like for the first book, the cover art is by Jason Chan.

New poll - Youngsters

Drawing by Eric Lerner

First off, the last poll.  My topic of interest was YA reading (young adult for the non initiated). When I realized that I wasn't reading much of it, I asked myself if I was alone in doing so.  Remember that it's not that I have a distaste for it, it's simply a kind of novel that didn't catch my eye.

The results are in and 75% of the readers/respondents are reading YA Fantasy. It seems that in this reading habit, I won't fit into the average Fantasy reader definition.

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What now?

This year, Mark Lawrence released Prince of Thorns, a novel with a main protagonist of roughly 13 years old; last year it was Paul Hoffman with The Left Hand of God with a character of 14-15 years old.  Add to the list well known characters like Kvothe from Patrick Rothfuss or Arlen from Peter V. Brett whose's story also starts pretty young and we have a bunch of interesting youngsters.  I know that for both last ones, they eventually grow in the first novel so I think that they don't really qualify in the discussion I want to bring up. Let's also forget about Rand or Jon Snow who are not really that much juvenile (though in aSoIaF's case, Arya and  Bran would qualify).

I think you probably guessed my subject by now.  I, for one, was not distracted by these blossoming teenagers in the reads that I mentioned (age-wise speaking).  I know that for Prince of Thorns, the topic was much discussed on the blogs and forums.  Sarah at Bookworm Blues in her review wasn't too convinced by the young man's act at his age while for Bryce at Only the Best Sci-fi/Fantasy, he felt that it was more natural.

When I questioned myself on the presence of these prodigal youngsters, I realized that my feelings were determined by the skill of the author.  A young man or woman in his early teens can be a believable prodigy if it's done right.  It all comes down to the portrayal of the person and mostly to the context in which he exist.  Usually, there's also good reasons behind their skills at such a young age.  However, I may have a problem when a protagonist is simply way too intelligent for his experience without any help whatsoever. Anyway, isn't it mostly from experience that everything I pointed out comes from?  I'll admit that magic or exceptional circumstances which are often present in Fantasy are also good factors.

Moreover, when you think about it, age isn't the only factor in this.  I think that when I read Fantasy, I want to read about a mix of extraordinary and common people, from all the spectrum of personalities, skills, achievements and potentials.  With that being said, whether the protagonist is a youngster or an old man, I'll find my enjoyment anyway, given that the author do it right.

The other aspect of the question that got my attention is simply: 'Why?'.  No matter if you find that the age of the character is too young or not, can you tell me why do the authors tend to create them so young? They don't really need to, aside from trying to make an impression.  Why not simply add a couple of years to their age or never mention a specific number?  But then, I think they really want to make an impression! :)

So, "Do you think the prodigal youngsters in Fantasy are too young?"

- Yes

- No

2011 Goodreads Choice Awards - Fantasy winner

Goodreads announced the winner for each category earlier today for the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards.

In Fantasy, the winner is : A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin.  Not a huge surprise since the book was awaited for so long and in the end it delivered enough quality.  My pick was Rothfuss and he ended up in third place.  Dance was also in third position in the overall favorite book of 2011.

Here's the link to all the categories.

The Fantasy list :

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss
Snuff - Terry Pratchett
Don't Breathe a Word - Jennifer McMahon
The Magician King - Lev Grossman
One of our Thrusdays is Missing - Jasper Fforde
Twilight's Dawn - Anne Bishop
Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey
Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
The Rogue - Trudi Caravan
Among Others - Jo Walton
The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson
Cast in Ruin - Michelle Sagara
Deathless - Catherynne M. Valente
The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie
Blackveil - Kristen Britain
The Kingdom of Gods - N.K. Jemisin
Legends of Shannara - Terry Brooks

The Omen Machine - Terry Goodkind

The Winds of Khalakovo review

The Winds of Khalakovo is the first novel in the series titled The Lays of Anuskaya by author Bradley P. Beaulieu. The series is planned as a trilogy and is the first foray for Beaulieu into full-length Fantasy novels.  He has written several stories published in diverse publications before Winds.

Among inhospitable and unforgiving seas stands Khalakovo, a mountainous archipelago of seven islands, its prominent eyrie stretching a thousand feet into the sky. Serviced by windships bearing goods and dignitaries, Khalakovo's eyrie stands at the crossroads of world trade. But all is not well in Khalakovo. Conflict has erupted between the ruling Landed, the indigenous Aramahn, and the fanatical Maharraht, and a wasting disease has grown rampant over the past decade. Now, Khalakovo is to play host to the Nine Dukes, a meeting which will weigh heavily upon Khalakovo's future. When an elemental spirit attacks an incoming windship, murdering the Grand Duke and his retinue, Prince Nikandr, heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, is tasked with finding the child prodigy believed to be behind the summoning. However, Nikandr discovers that the boy is an autistic savant who may hold the key to lifting the blight that has been sweeping the islands. Can the Dukes, thirsty for revenge, be held at bay? Can Khalakovo be saved? The elusive answer drifts upon the "Winds of Khalakovo"...

As you can figure out from the blurb, there's a definitive influence from Russian names and lore in Winds of Khalakovo, the latter making the book quite distinctive. That presence is not simply felt in the names of the inhabitants of Anuskaya or the locations but also in the definition of clothing or choice of beverage (vodka) and in denominating some concepts, like the kind of 'elementals' from a parallel world, which I'll get to later. Russian names are not part of the easiest anthroponomy to follow.  Even more when they are applied to various specimens of hezhans (hava, dhosha, suura, etc...). On the other hand, the names of the characters become familiar easily enough since there's a nice diversity in them.   

The only aspect of this choice of "language" that I didn't like is the use of "Da" and "Nyet" in place of yes and no.  That's the only element of the Russian language that is actually applied and it feels weird (more so in italic) or out of place.

I could speak further of the names but what is capital is the protagonists to which they are applied. We mostly follow Nikandr, the young Prince of the archipelago of Khalakovo, his lover, Rehada, who is an Aramahn part of a terrorist group and Atiana, the daughter of the duke of Vostroma, his betrothed.  Nikandr is a dedicated man, conscientious and adventurous with a strange illness in link with the state of the world trying desperately to find a cure and in love with flying on his airship. His role takes more importance as the story slowly unfolds and aside from a couple of dubious moments when his actions are driven by god knows what, he usually stay true to himself.  But then, I think I would have liked him better if he eventually had blown a fuse or two.

Concerning the two other PoV, the feminine ones, I was fascinated by their decisions and path of action in the face of what they have to live through.  Nikandr is straightforward, an exemplary heroic human being, while some of his male counterparts from other duchies are dumb, spoiled and mischievous. The women in Winds of Khalakovo are more subtle.  Rehada is haunted by her past, in search of retribution she thinks will permit her to feel better but not at any cost.  When you're part of a group of hidden extremists, you have to manage truth is many cunning ways. Her part is what makes the story more profound.  The conflict between the whole duchies and the Landed (the 'free people') is one of the main theme and she make's it more captivating.

As for Atiana, she feels both fragile, frustrating and tenacious. She's the character through which we can glimpse the experience of touching the aether, another concept at the heart of one of the book threads, 'world-endingly so'. However, as for Nikandr, the author sometime chose to make her perform some extraordinary tasks without the knowledge of them, it felt fortuitous or astounding depending on which occasion. By the way, the three of them have special talents inherent to the magical or fantastical elements of Beaulieu's book.

Other elements in the book catch the eye rapidly, right off when you look at the cover.  The windships are a great idea, formed from windwood, piloted by Aramahns connected to wind spirits and driven in aether 'currents'.  Their complexity was probably not easy to put to words and above all, they create mythic battle scenes, which were somewhat hard to imagine.  Recreating fighting in the air with ships was risky, potentially entertaining but mostly confounding.

The battles involving the 'elementals' (hezhan), are less evasive.  Although the hezhan have difficult names to follow and are based on the usual elements (air, fire, water, earth, spirit), they bring more dimension to the tale.  Along with a couple of more magical concepts like the kind of soul-stones, it all makes up for many fantastical features. The world feels richer for it but the story is also encumbered. This approach makes me think of Brandon Sanderson or Brent Weeks. Some portions of the book are defined by this instead of being enriched by it.

The author's writing is smooth, slightly polished with a slow cadence.  Usually, the chapters are short, creating a great rhythm.  Sadly, there's a weird presence of PoV switches in the middle of the action that make the prose more complicated for nothing. To his credit, I think he wrote an intricate story with several storylines that may not always fit perfectly well together but that are essentially compelling. Dukes are fighting for power, the world in on the verge of complete destruction, love is blossoming and everyone wants to play his part in it. I'll definitely read the follow-up, The Straits of Galahesh.

Technically, I really love the cover chosen for the Night Shade Books edition of the novel. The "four-side-masted" ships are such a good concept for his world that seeing it represented on the cover is wholly justified.  Two maps are included along a nice Dramatis Personae.  The paperback edition of the book stands at 354 pages.

The Winds of Khalakovo review score :

Characterization............. 7.5 /10
World building............... 9 / 10
Magic system................. 8.5 / 10
Story..............................  7.5 / 10
Writing...........................  7.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 7.5 / 10


Enjoy!


Bradley P. Beaulieu's page