Posts Tagged: Fantasy

Review

Review of Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

By Aidan Moher February 11th, 2010

Best Served Cold

Author – Joe Abercrombie

Trade Paperback
Pages: 544 pages
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: June 1st, 2009
ISBN-10: 0575082453
ISBN-13: 978-0575082458

You can say many things for Joe Abercrombie.

You can say he’s leading the way for no-holds-barred Fantasy. You can say he’s a great stylist, with satisfying, easy-to-read prose. You can give him credit for being adept at writing convincing, startling endings (a trait sadly lacking in the Fantasy genre). You can say his action scenes are among the best out there. You can say he loves to set the reader up, then pull the rug out from under them by subverting the tropes we all know and abhor/love.

You can say all these things about Joe Abercrombie, and they all certainly apply to Best Served Cold as surely as they did for his first trilogy, The First Law. I recognized all of these qualities while reading the novel, but the whole time I also couldn’t fight the feeling that something was off, that I wasn’t connecting to this Abercrombie novel as I had to previous ones. It took me a few days, and a couple of conversations with others who had read the book, to finally unearth the roots of this feeling.
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News

A Joking Aside | Terry Goodkind is still an Asshole

By Aidan Moher December 1st, 2009
Terry Goodkind, asshole.

I generally stay away from taking jabs at people in ill-faith (okay, that’s a bit of a white lie, but still…), but this quote, from an old USA Today interview (via Ansible) with Terry Goodkind, author of such bastions of literature as Wizard’s First Rule, Naked Empire and Chainfire, just screamed for some attention. One can only assume that the dude’s still an asshole.

‘First of all, I don’t write fantasy. I write stories that have important human themes. They have elements of romance, history, adventure, mystery and philosophy. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It’s either about magic or a world-building. I don’t do either.’

No. No he does not. But, hey, at least he’s aware of his shortcomings!

I suppose the real problem, though, is that we’re all too ignorant to see past the Dragons, roiling balls of liquid fire, sword fights, Wizards, alternate realities, prophecies, Evil Dark Lords, princesses, and massive army battles to understand that he writes not Fantasy, but philosophical explorations of what it means to be a human being.

Another gem includes:

Weymouth, MA: In your opinion who is the most must-read, cutting edge writer publishing today?

Terry Goodkind: Ayn Rand.

Who wants to be the one to break news of Ayn Rand’s death to Goodkind?

Cover Art

Cover Art | The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

By Aidan Moher November 9th, 2009

In a shocking turn of events, the cover of Brent Weeks‘s next novel, The Black Prism features a menacing looking dude, a white background and a splash of bold colour (obviously signifying magic, or something). This is a major departure from The Night Angel Trilogy, his first series.

Black Prism by Brent Weeks
Source

Okay, seriously. I suppose they want to give Weeks his own identity, so you know a Weeks novel on the shelf, but this is a little blatant. The original covers were interesting when they first hit the market (and effective, too, given Weeks sales and popularity), but couldn’t Orbit have done something to give this new series its own identity? Removing the hood from the Hollister model on the front doesn’t count.

News

Full Cast list + Photos for HBO and GRRM’s A Game of Thrones

By Aidan Moher October 20th, 2009

Well, it’s done. All the major roles in the HBO adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones have been cast. Thanks to The Live Feed, we’ve got a handy look at portraits of the cast members, including ros, a character created specifically for the show. (Why they have to create new characters, when the series has dozens already is not something I going to waste brain cells trying to figure out, alas.)

The Full cast for HBO and GRRM's A GAME OF THRONES.

Not included in that handy cast list is the newly cast Jason Momoa, who’s set to play Drogo.

Jason Mamoa, cast at Drogo in HBO's A Game of Thrones

My reaction? Squeee!

News

An Aside | What’s Next for Erikson?

By Aidan Moher June 13th, 2008

Steve Erikson and IRobert, over at Fantasy Book Critic, just posted an interesting interview with Steven Erikson, author of the mighty Malazan Book of the Fallen. Among general questions about the series and tidbits about the upcoming novel, Toll the Hounds, Robert asks Erikson about what’s coming after he’s done with the ten volume Malazan series. Here’s what he had to say:

Release dates remain unknown. I am into the ninth chapter of Dust of Dreams/strong> right now and things proceed apace. I anticipate completing the manuscript some time in the autumn of this year. I normally roll straight into the next novel with not much of a breather between the two, then get slowed up doing the edited version (of the previous one) that comes back from the publisher. With a novella or two thrown in as well.

…

I don’t think it’s a secret any more that I’ve signed with Bantam UK for six more fantasy novels. Two trilogies, in fact. But not one a year – that pace (with novellas thrown in) is wearing me out. I won’t get into any details on the books, or whatever stand-alone works I may squeeze in here and there. Not yet. Too early.

Hmm… two trilogies? Could one of those be an exploration of the Ascendants’ pasts that I hinted about a few months ago?