Review

Review | The Ancient by R.A. Salvatore

By Aidan Moher April 9th, 2008
The Ancient by R.A. Salvatore

The Ancient

Author – R.A. Salvatore

Hardcover
Page Count: 384 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: March 4, 2008
ISBN-10: 0765317893
ISBN-13: 978-0765317896

It’s funny how perspectives change. Back in high school, when I first discovered R.A. Salvatore’s DemonWars series, I was an instant fan. I loved his personal take on fantasy, drawing endearing characters through hard situations that really allowed the reader to get close. Layered on top of this were the interesting world of Corona and a unique gemstone-based magic system, both of which resonated with my younger self. Mortalis, the fourth novel in the cycle, still stands as one of the most emotionally powerful novels I’ve read.

Second to Mortalis is The Highwayman, a formerly standalone novel set in Corona, the world featured in the DemonWars cycle. It features Bransen Garibond, a young cripple who, through circumstances only available in a work of fantasy, gains full mastery over his formerly palsied body. Bransen’s struggles through the novel, as he faced a world full of rejection and misery, were a joy to watch.

Needless to say, when I first caught wind of The Ancient, the first in a new Corona based series called The Saga of the First King, I was excited. Any further explorations of Corona, a world where Salvatore was not confined by the rules of Dungeons and Dragons, were always welcome; doubly so when they featured one of my favourite characters written by the author. I eagerly dove into the novel when it arrived in my hands, will to be lost again in Corona, but almost immediately I knew something was different. Something was wrong. The Ancient is nowhere near the level of its predecessors; it fact it shares many of the pitfalls that plague Salvatore’s other series, The Legend of Drizzt.
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News

An Aside | The (Late) Bastards and the (Tardy) Knives

By Aidan Moher April 2nd, 2008

The Bastards and the Knives by Scott LynchBad News.

According to both Mithfânion from SFFWorld and Pat from Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, it looks like Scott Lynch, the ever heralded author of The Lies of Locke Lamora (go read it, you won’t be disappointed) has been late handing in both the manuscripts of the novels that many of his rabid fans hoped to get their hands on this year.

Mithfânion contacte Bill, from Subterranean Press, the specialty publisher with first rights to The Bastards and the Knives, and the response wasn’t very promising:

I got a reply from Bill from Subpress yesterday, told me he has no idea when Scott even intends to hand in the novellas, or one of them. So probably not this year.

On top of this, Pat’s reporting that The Republic of Thieves, the third novel in Lynch’s successful Gentleman Bastards Sequence, was also handed in late:

As I mentioned on Westeros yesterday, I received word from Anne Groell that Lynch was late in delivering the manuscript. Which means that the pub date for Republic of Thieves, sequel to the highly entertaining The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies, has been pushed back to March 2009, if all goes well. . .

As a fan of Lynch’s work, it’s hard to see it all pushed back, but the writer in me also understands that novels take time to come together and I wouldn’t want Scott to publish anything that would tarnish the high level of quality he’s becoming known for. Either way, when we finally do get our hands on these novels, I’m sure they won’t disappoint!

Feature Article

Article | Pile o’ Shame

By Aidan Moher March 27th, 2008

Everyone’s got one.

That secret pile of novels, so very well regarded by the literary world, sitting in a dark corner of their house, sadly neglected despite assurances by so many others that “you’ve got to read them!” It’s a secret Pile ‘o Shame that haunts readers, always calling out longingly to be conquered but always growing bigger.

There’re simply too many novels out there (even if you only count the ones worth reading) for anyone to tackle all of them, and so the pile grows bigger. It’s so shameful that many readers hide it, boastfully playing on Internet message boards and blogs, pretending they’ve read them, or at the very least have given them a meaningful glance – catch them in their lie and they’re quick to exit the conversation.

I thought it would be fun to come out of the closet with my Pile o’ Shame every once in a while, crucifying myself before the masses by laying bare the gaps in my knowledge of the genre. I’ll explain a little of why I haven’t read them before – whether it’s ignorance, taste, fear or otherwise – all in hopes that someone will come along and convince me exactly why a particular novel or series deserves to be the next wiped off my Pile o’ Shame.

So, let’s get this started.
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Cover Art

An Aside | Tim Holman Talks Cover Art

By Aidan Moher March 27th, 2008

Tim Holman, Publishing Director at the US branch of Orbit Books, recently put together an interesting post on why US and UK covers for novels differ and also pulls back the curtain a bit on the process.

This is the issue, I think, at the heart of the Great SFF Cover Debate/War. It’s nothing to do with where the book is being published in the world; it’s to do with the question that every genre publisher has to ask themselves: do we want our books to stand out or do we want them to fit in? Most genre publishers would say both: they want their books to stand out by looking exceptional, but they also want them to fit in by being immediately recognizable to readers of similar books within the genre. Depending on where you put the emphasis, though, the cover for a particular book can go in some very different directions.

The Orbit covers for several books by Iain M. Banks.

Of course there are always exceptions, but I think it’s safe to say that the UK editions of novels generally sport better cover art. It’s interesting to hear from Orbit, who publishes both in the US and the UK, and just why they change the covers for each region, sometimes just subtly, sometimes quite drastically.

You can read the whole thing HERE.

News

An Aside | The Dirty Words of Book Reviewers

By Aidan Moher March 26th, 2008

Paper Cuts, a blog by the editors of The Book Review, needs little introduction – hell, they have 194 comments on one post, almost a third the amount of comments on the entirety of A Dribble of Ink – and they’ve certainly earned their reputation. So, needless to say, when they speak up, it’s wise to listen.

Bob Harris, one of the bloggers, recently wrote a funny, informative post listing what he considers the “Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing” and it’s definitely worth a look. Here’re are a couple of my favourites:

lyrical: Reviewers use this adjective when they want to say something is well written. But using the word loosely misses the sense of expressing emotion in an imaginative and beautiful way. Save lyrical for your next review of Wordsworth.

eschew: No one actually says this word in real life. It appears almost exclusively in writing when the perp is stretching for a flashy synonym for avoid or reject or shun.

I’d love to say I was exempt from using these words… but I’m pretty sure I’ve used each and everyone of them at least once in one of my reviews! You can find the whole article HERE.

What words make you cringe when you read them in a review?

Editor’s note: For the record, I must be the only person who would actually use the word eschew in conversation. I guess I’m weird!