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Bosh
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Taehan Mingook
Jan 1970
time: 00:27
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We can't let the sci-fi people have all the fun can we? Also, us college students are either done or almost done so we shold have time to get down to reading some good brick-sized fantasy books. I'll set up a voting thread for a book of the month after I get a good number of nominations.
After thinking about A Game of Thrones by George Martin I've decided to go with Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman, since its works better as a stand-alone despite being the first book of a trilogy.
Black Sun Rising has two things going for it, world building and character building. The world of Erna is a nicely-built place which is dark without being annoyingly Goth. The main driving force is the fae which is one of the better attempts to build magic that is a natural force that follows rules that make sense. Equally interesting is how the fae interacts with the human subconscious which results in all the nasty critters in Erna being the result of the dark side of the human psyche.
One result of all this is Black Sun Rising is one of the few bits of fantasy in which religion isn't some kind of hazy Deism, an evil maiden-sacrificing cult or a mere rip-off of medieval Catholicism. Basically since magic in Black Sun Rising is responsive to human will, faith has concrete power and the whole point of religion is to tame magic and make Erna more like a vaguely-remembered Earth. So its nice to see religion that actually makes sense in a fantasy context.
But what really makes the book its characters, specifically Gerald Tarrant, who's the best-realized representative of the intelligent/"fallen"/sauve/cold/aristocratic/amoral/nasty anti-hero cliche that I can remember reading, especially since there's interesting psychological conflicts with no angsty self-pity or whiny moping, which is a massive relief and makes him fun to read about.
The concept that the world is based around and the interesting character(s) easily make up for Black Sun Rising's flaws, but there are a few. Motivations for a pivotal choice or two are a little hazy, the dialogue could've been a little less stilted, the plotting isn't the best I've ever seen and the "bad guy" isn't quite fleshed out enough (more of that comes in the sequels I think). But overall, its well worth reading since its an intelligent bit of work and does a lot of good conceptual reworking of fantasy stocks of trade. Highly recommended.
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Jon Miller
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quote:
Originally posted by Boshko
We can't let the sci-fi people have all the fun can we? Also, us college students are either done or almost done so we shold have time to get down to reading some good brick-sized fantasy books. I'll set up a voting thread for a book of the month after I get a good number of nominations.
After thinking about A Game of Thrones by George Martin I've decided to go with Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman, since its works better as a stand-alone despite being the first book of a trilogy.
Black Sun Rising has two things going for it, world building and character building. The world of Erna is a nicely-built place which is dark without being annoyingly Goth. The main driving force is the fae which is one of the better attempts to build magic that is a natural force that follows rules that make sense. Equally interesting is how the fae interacts with the human subconscious which results in all the nasty critters in Erna being the result of the dark side of the human psyche.
One result of all this is Black Sun Rising is one of the few bits of fantasy in which religion isn't some kind of hazy Deism, an evil maiden-sacrificing cult or a mere rip-off of medieval Catholicism. Basically since magic in Black Sun Rising is responsive to human will, faith has concrete power and the whole point of religion is to tame magic and make Erna more like a vaguely-remembered Earth. So its nice to see religion that actually makes sense in a fantasy context.
But what really makes the book its characters, specifically Gerald Tarrant, who's the best-realized representative of the intelligent/"fallen"/sauve/cold/aristocratic/amoral/nasty anti-hero cliche that I can remember reading, especially since there's interesting psychological conflicts with no angsty self-pity or whiny moping, which is a massive relief and makes him fun to read about.
The concept that the world is based around and the interesting character(s) easily make up for Black Sun Rising's flaws, but there are a few. Motivations for a pivotal choice or two are a little hazy, the dialogue could've been a little less stilted, the plotting isn't the best I've ever seen and the "bad guy" isn't quite fleshed out enough (more of that comes in the sequels I think). But overall, its well worth reading since its an intelligent bit of work and does a lot of good conceptual reworking of fantasy stocks of trade. Highly recommended. |
I am looking for the third book in this serries
it is surprisling interesting
Jon Miller
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Wraith
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Austin, Texas, USA
Aug 1999
time: 23:27
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If you're actually serious about this, I'll nominate one.
"Curse of the Mistwraith" by Janny Wurts.
It's the first in a series, but that's good. I like epic fantasy, and she's one of the few doing it these days (her and George R. R. Martin) with good results.
quote:
On the splinter world of Dascen Elur, two kingdoms have been at war for generations. The heirs to the thrones of these kingdoms, half-brothers by chance, are carrying on the battle begun by their forebears. Lysaer, light of hair and fair of bearing, born to riches and raised to inherit the crown, blessed with the Gift of Light. Arithon, with dark hair and bearing upon his shoulders the need to engage in continued piracy of the seas to support his people even through his Mastery of Shadow and magery.
Through a series of events, these two find themselves in a strange land, swaddled so in mist that not even the sun can pierce the ever present dampening gloom. A gloom that has lasted five hundred years and divided the people into townsmen and clan barbarians.
Into all of this comes the West Gate prophecy made by Dakar the Mad Prophet. Two shall come through the West Gate and by combining their powers shall defeat the Mistwraith and return sunlight to Athera.
So begins Curse of the Mistwraith, a story of deep, thought stirring events. Janny Wurts has crafted a masterful tale of wizards and enchantresses, of love and hate, of war and death. This is a book that should be savored slowly. Ms. Wurts utilizes a method of combining large chapter like sections that allow you to immerse yourself in this world of her creation with short triplets that give you necessary images that will reflect in greater depth later in the tale. Rushing through the pages will leave you without the necessary framework to truly appreciate the climactic ending of this first volume. An ending that will leave you speechless, nay breathless. |
The author does her own cover art too.
Wraith
"Power without wisdom eventually destroys itself. This sorcerer is old beyond estimate."
-- Arithon ("Curse of the Mistwraith")
 Attachment: curseofthemistwraith.jpg
This has been downloaded 61 time(s).
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raghar
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I wish somewhere else.
Oct 2002
time: 05:27
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Why not use old classic. Sunrunner trilogy. From Rawn.
Or Dragonlance chronicless. Hickman and weis.
Or Trilium saga.
Then again do you know if exist some books from warhamer about undeads. Not rulebooks, but stories with undead.
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Jon Miller
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scifi ish
but Morgaine (Gate of IVril) by Cherryh
Jon Miller
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Jon Miller
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quote:
Originally posted by raghar
Why not use old classic. Sunrunner trilogy. From Rawn.
Or Dragonlance chronicless. Hickman and weis.
Or Trilium saga.
Then again do you know if exist some books from warhamer about undeads. Not rulebooks, but stories with undead. |
eh
not horribly ick
but eh
Jon Miller
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SnowFire
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New York City, NY
Jan 1970
time: 00:27
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Hmm... I would nominate Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams being that that's what I'm reading right now anyway (well, right now in the "if I had time" sense), but that's a bit big for a book club. Suffice to say that what I've read of it so far is quite excellent.
Instead, I'll nominate The Black Company by Glen Cook. First off, if anybody played the game Myth: The Fallen Lords, it ruthlessly ripped off TBC, so you'll have a better idea from that what it's like than anything I'll say. About the best description I can come up with is All Quiet on the Western Front set in a fantasy world. The setting is a world in which an entity known as "The Lady" has ruled an empire founded in a great war long ago (more to it than that of course, but only so much time), using those who opposed her in the first war as her Generals called "Taken" (they've been bound to her will, at least somewhat). But unfortunately, her holdings are now under attack by a circle of new sorcerors who have raised quite an army. It's nice to not have the huge hordes of evil armies all brainwashed and there only being a small group of noble people ready to make a stand for Good, Light, blahdy blah blah blah. No, people hate the Lady's evil rule and there are more than enough rebels to go around. Meanwhile, because their leaders are arrogant ******* sorcerors who for the most part don't care about their own troops, morale is terrible on the "evil" side. The protagonists are part of The Black Company, a mercenary organization hired by one of the Taken to shore up defenses, and are professional enough to do the job to the bitter end.
Lots of fun stuff going on... and obviously, being that this a fantasy book, it's not all "grim in the trenches" stuff. They definitely get to do some neat stuff in their attempts to slow the Rebel tide. But it's a quite refreshing and unusual take on the fantasy genre. There are some sequels, too, but the first book is complete in and of itself and I never bothered to read the sequels myself.
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Rogan Josh
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So is this happening or not?
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Static Universe
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I'm interested as well. Is it on or is it not on?
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02-05-2003 12:31
ACK!
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