Juraj
This one's a bit odd. There is some great epic story woven in it but it's buried under poor story telling and decent characterization.
I liked Corwin but the whole amnesia thing was ridiculous. Not knowing who he is, he bluffed his way half way through this book with some insanely high stakes - his own life. It was done to explain how the world works as it's usual for characters with amnesia. But couldn't it be the other way around somehow? Like he would pretend he has amnesia but he really remembers everything? Or something like that.
Then there are the vague shadows and magic system which make little sense. Basically stuff is possible or impossible based on plot requirements. There are deus ex machinas as well.
I'm reading SF Masterworks edition and there were quite a few typos in the book which is odd since the book is more than 50 years old. You'd think they would've fixed it by now. There were letters missing or words contained typos. Once there were two sentences that repeated themselves with unique third sentence following. As if the draft wasn't edited and author forgot to cross one out. I don't know. So weird to see them in a modern printing of such old story.
But despite that I was intrigued enough to continue in hopes that this series will improve. This book is short enough that I'm willing to invest more of my reading time to this series.
Characters were interesting, this family drama upon which fate of the universe potentially lies. All of the characters are flawed in some way though I don't fully understand why everyone is suppose to dislike Random. Corwin makes for a good flawed, charming and selfish protagonist and given what he's against and his found love of humanity it's easy to sympathize with him.
If this book was aimed at 13yo kids in the 70's then it had fulfilled its purpose well but for today's standards it's out of date. Especially for adults. Which leaves me wondering if it's the 60 and 70 year olds of today that still sing praises for this series because they grew up with it. I can't fathom anyone giving this more than 3* unless it's out of nostalgia.
This would've been two star rating but I fully admit that I'm biased and the banality with which Stapledon approaches what I consider the utmost evil is infuriating.
It starts with out of body experience where soul of a nameless man travels the time and space and witnesses progress of other civilizations, merging with other “spirits” in search of the Star Maker, a.k.a. God.
First he visits a similar civilization than ours which destroys itself and it's blamed on “human” tendencies and oddly on position of the planet against the stars. This astrology bit is never mentioned again. This soul, or rather spirit to use Stapledon's terminology, merges with another one from this destroyed civilization gaining knowledge, becoming more. Then it travels further and visits countless other worlds of which few are mentioned in the book that is written as memoir of his experience. This spirit collects more and more souls like a blob, merging all personalities into one yet still remaining all of them at the same time too.
The civilizations make no sense, there is no evolutionary logic behind them but this was written before DNA was discovered and before evolutionary biology and psychology were developed to the level on which they are now, so it's not that big of a deal.
But this is where alarm bells started ringing in my head. As I kept reading I noticed certain pattern in these civilizations – specifically those that adhered to marxist-like ideologies, reforms, revolutions survived and ascended to higher forms and those who didn't destroyed themselves or were destroyed by other means. On top of that Stapledon kept using Marxist vocabulary – communal spirit, communal consciousness, struggle, awakened world, oppressors and the oppressed, etc.
So I looked Stapledon up and yeah, he was devout Marxist. I don't vet the authors I plan to read because to read only non-leftist sci-fi would make that list pretty short. Most of my favorite authors lean heavily left and yet it doesn't stop me from enjoying their work. But this novel is half propaganda, half genuine story and I refuse to ignore the first half which brings the whole thing down. Throughout the whole book there is no human name mentioned ever except the very end where Stapledon mentions Lenin twice. What a coincidence.
This book is hailed as one of the early masterpieces of science fiction. Even without the ideology it is not but with it it belongs on a garbage pile. Once I realized what I'm holding in my hands I was only curious how far this will go. Stapledon euthanizes (his word for geocide – destruction of the planet) whole worlds for “greater good” I guess because it would be inconvenient for civilization capable of moving planets between solar systems to instead move only the people living on them.
Stapledon meshes civilizations into world spirits where people don't have their own will, they're all cogs in the communist machine whose goal is to reach utopia. No individualism just communal spirit working as one. This progressively graduates to the point where whole galaxy becomes alliance of world spirits and starts communicate with other galaxies. Of course there is some struggle and wars first. Punishment for some of the losers? Their world spirit disintegrated and they becoming individuals again. Wow! What a terrifying notion to think for myself. Chilling.
Here's a passage where Stapledon banalizes these deeds as little price to be paid for utopia. You know, what are billions upon billions of souls if those that stand on their graves can be happy? Those were worth the price, no big deal:
(Mind of our galaxy speaks to the beings living in it.) It confronted all the tortured spirits of the past not with pity or regret but with smiling content, such as a man may feel towards his own childhood's tribulations. And it said, within the mind of each one of all its members: “Their suffering, which to them seemed barren evil, was the little price to be paid for my future coming. Right and sweet and beautiful is the whole in which these things happen. For I, I am the heaven in which all my myriad progenitors find recompense, finding their heart's desire. For in the little time that is left me I shall press on, with all my peers throughout the cosmos, to crown the cosmos with perfect and joyful insight, and to salute the Maker of Galaxies and Stars and Worlds with fitting praise.”
After some nonsense about conscious stars we are then met with Star Maker himself. This part seems to be the most normal of the whole book. But I've not read Russeau so who knows, maybe there was some hidden proto-Marxist philosophy here too.
It's my first SF Masterworks stinker. Don't waste your time on this book unless you think communism was never properly tried before.
Truth and courage!
Great conclusion to this series but I was drained by the end. The pacing is so fast and action almost never stops to a point where it was detrimental to my enjoyment.
The ending is great, I enjoyed the last 50 or so pages but there are multiple chapters for, I think, every single POV where you think the pay off will come but it doesn't. Almost every revenge happens in the last 100 pages with exception of one certain subplot conclusion that takes place right at the beginning and was very very enjoyable. :)
You think the hero will get his revenge and then the villain escapes and escapes again until the very end when there's nowhere left to run and finally we get one pay-off after another. Which I also think dulls them all since they're all so close together. But there wasn't any real fuck up, no dumb plot twist, other then these revenge subplots. The story was actually the most predictable except for Malice.
It's a great wrap up to now one of my all time favorite series and if you don't cry at a certain moment at the end your heart's more rotten than Kadoshim's.
My rating for the whole series:
Ruin > Valor = Wrath > Malice
Valor and Wrath are basically opposites of each other, one is all setup the other all pay-off but the enjoyment was about the same. One day I'll re-read Malice to catch all the foreshadowing and see the characters grow into the heroes they become later.
And one more thing:
Why didn't Calidus turn everyone into Kadoshim like at the end of Valor? I think I remember correctly that all he needed was the caldron and two other treasures. Why not reinforce his army when most Kadoshim died or were with the kings to protect them. Meanwhile he had thousands of soldiers he could've turned into new ones and become unstoppable. Did I just answer my question? Is it really such a jarring plot hole?
This book left me wondering what happened to Tchaikovsky in years after he wrote it.
I've read Children of Time trilogy and Dogs of War. None of these books had as rich and developed characters as Empire in Black and Gold. It's not even close. It's also a shame that he got famous only after CoT was released when this book is better than Time (not Ruin though which I loved).
I saw many people mention that this series is underrated - it is. There are flaws to which I will get but all in all this is excellent action packed novel set in a rich weird and original world with dozens of different races. Yet it's never a headache to keep track of stuff. Tchaikovsky does masterful work in exploring it and pumping the information in small bursts so that it's not overwhelming.
First few pages were slow and I was wondering if it is even for me (I'm not a fan of insect, kill it all except bees and maybe ants I say) but after first few chapters the story moves forward in rapid pace and what seems dull turns into Indiana Jones spy action flick with crazy runaways and colorful characters. I was also surprised to find out that this is not medieval fantasy but a steampunk one. They have airships, planes and walking(!) automobiles.
Long time ago people of this world made a pact with insects and other beasts and gained their features. Wasp, fly, moth, butterfly-kinden can fly, spider-kinden are born for politics and spying, beetle-kinden are heavier but more sturdy, mantis and ant-kinden make great soldiers, etc. Essentially they gained the stereotypical abilities you would easily think of. Some of these races (kinden) are apt, some are inapt. Apt people like ants or beetles are good with technology, inapt are not good with it at all. I'm talking your 90yo grandma trying to operate computer level. It's actually ridiculous that spider is not able to shoot a crossbow when shown how to. I think this is borderline immersion breaking because of how far Tchaikovsky took it but at the same time he manages to stay clear of these issues for most of the book. Inapt people like magic, though for the apt ones it's just superstition.
While I praised the characters at the beginning, the villain didn't work. He's suppose to be conflicted about the stuff he does “for the empire” but comes off like a joke towards the end because you already know that he won't do anything drastic like killing a character. He didn't even torture one of the main characters when he had several chances to do so and gain information. I already feel like he's going to turn against the imperial regime and take it down, again “for the empire”, or something like that.
This is Tchaikovsky's first novel so it's understandable that there was inconsistent stuff like that but I hope it improves as the series goes on because I really like what I'm seeing so far. I also think at least 150 pages could've been cut down because the rescue subplot in the middle of the book took too long, it was half of this book. While pacing was still fast I was just wishing it to be over, especially after the villain turned out to be so weak. This is the reason it's 4 and not 5 stars. The other half of the book was great.
”You pigs, you. You rut like pigs, is all. You got the most in you, and you use the least. You hear me, you? Got a million in you and spend pennies. Got a genius in you and think crazies. Got a heart in you and feel empties. All a you. Every you......I challenge you, me. Die or live and be great. Blow yourselves to Christ gone or come and find me, Gully Foyle, and I make you men. I make you great. I give you the stars.”
This book was nothing like I expected. It started great. Main character lost in space, waiting for someone to find him. But it never happens. Which makes Gully angry. Really angry. I mean “fate of the world is in his hands” angry. It doesn't begin that ridiculous but it gets there. Gully is not likeable at all. He's a monster. Thanks to a twist of faith not only on the inside but also the outside. But... it eventually works.
The book is split into two parts. I'd give part one 2/5... part two 5/5. I might adjust the rating to more fair 4/5* down the line when I look back at this book but for now thanks to a stellar ending it's full rating. 5/5 usually also means that I'd like to re-read the book sometime in the future and this one certainly qualifies.
What brings the first part down is the character of Jisbella. She's insufferable. There are other women in part 2 which are written much better but anytime Jisbella was in the scene it brought my enjoyment down by a lot.
The book actually starts strong with very pleasant and thoughtful prose style which fizzles out a few pages later, when prologue (exposition) ends and we meet Gully who uses a primitive English dialect, though not for long. I loved his character development. He goes from a dummy to smart villain to repenting antihero. Prose then picks up at the end where we get “the message” of the book on a golden platter, part of it literally told by the author in a form of a glitching robot.
What's more, in the background of all of this is a metaphor for cold war, arms race and whether the mankind should be trusted with weapons of mass destruction.
The worldbuilding is excellent for a sci-fi from the 50's and it's clear why this book is so highly appraised by so many people in the business. However, until the very end I was puzzled why this is called The Stars My Destination. While very catchy and poetic, there is no stars until the very end. “Tiger! Tiger!” seems like more appropriate title for the book – it was the original one for like a year before the book was reprinted as TSMD. But try to sell a sci-fi with title like that...
Without a doubt the best book in the series so far. A master class in traditional fantasy epic that follows Campbell's hero's journey.
I don't think there's a book which made me more invested in characters than this one. I was in tears several times, though not at the ending where I just wanted to punch Gwynne for writing it. He uses the momentum and the established events of previous books in a brilliant manner to both break hearts and fill them with joy.
If you accept that it's not going to break new ground but instead polish the old one to perfection there's really nothing to criticize here. Perhaps only that with exception of Drassil there still isn't a single fort/city/town which would feel large enough for the warbands that we follow. Where do all these people and their families live? The world feels vast only because the forts and towns are far apart, not because there are many people in it.
If for some reason you're reading this “review” without reading the previous books just go read them. Get through the slog in Malice and I promise it'll be worth it. Story accelerates towards the end and really never lets go from there. Valor and Ruin are both page turners all the way through. Let's hope Wrath sticks the landing.
Možno je to tým, že som predchádzajúci diel čítal hneď ako vyšiel, a teda som mal dlhšiu pauzu, no mám pocit, že autor si písanie tejto knihy priam vychutnával. Určite jeden z naj, ak nie rovno najlepší, román v sérii. Nielen čo sa týka príbehu, ale aj atmosféry. Hlavne pri vyvrcholení.
Mám však, ako asi mnohí, veľmi zmiešané pocity z Jaroša. Uvidíme ako sa to vyvinie, ale nemám dobrú predtuchu.
I think this was the first proper sci-fi novel I've ever read. After Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was released I was curious about the novel it was inspired by. I was maybe 14 and didn't like the book much. Wasn't used to this writing style, I guess.
It's very dense and the story is split into four chapters, each skipping some time ahead. A lot of it are main character's monologues in his head but it's well written and well translated so it never got dull, maybe with exception of part 3 which is from different character's perspective and essentially serves as info dump about the zone, it's effects and changes in the world throughout the years since it showed up.
I'm now more than twice that age and on second read enjoyed the book a lot more except for the ending. Even Stephen King writes better ones. But it doesn't ruin the story. It was just more of a whimper than a bang.
By far the best book by Michael Malice (and I enjoyed them all). Must read for anyone interested in the fall of Soviet Union and for people that are black pilled about the current events. As I'm writing this, farmers are protesting in Brussels and all over Europe against EU policies that would liquidate small and middle sized farming in most of Europe in span of few years. Déjà vu.
The White Pill covers the most important people and events in the 20th century's fight against communism. It's one of the darkest books I've ever read. History was much darker than what regular people think or even can imagine.
It's very easy to read, no dry academic text, but I had issues around the middle when the gulags and torture tactics were being described. There were several chapters where I couldn't continue reading because they emotionally drained me. I had to put the book down for a few days with tears in my eyes several times.
As I was reading I was wondering when will the white pill finally come as most of the book was filled with descriptions of the darkest deeds people ever done to their fellows. Well, it comes in the last third of the book where the narrative switches to describe Reagan's and Thatcher's rise to power and their subsequent negotiations with Gorbachev.
Gorbachev is actually the hero of this book if something like that can be said without a jest. Being a victim of Stalin's whims from his early age Gorbachev knew what the regime is capable of and wanted to avoid it, it seems, at any cost. Even if it would cost the regime to fall. When leaders of other socialist countries asked him for advice or support he always chose the peaceful solution and wanted to follow the will of the people which got more and more fed up by communist bullshit.
I wish Malice would make this white pilling part longer and included more events that led to the downfall - Afghanistan is not even mentioned, Chernobyl is but only briefly and almost nothing about its impact outside of one very angry speech by Gorbachev and Gorbachev's career was also skimmed through.
I also wish the chapters would have proper titles or some additional subtitle so that if I want to look up something I know which chapter contains it. As it is, chapter names are quotes from Ayn Rand's speech about free people not understanding what it's like to live in totalitarian country. While very effective, they say nothing about the content and there's also no index to look up key words. It's not an issue for e-book version but I own hardcover copy.
So, does the white pill work or is it placebo? I guess everyone will need to form their own answer. As someone who was already short term black pilled but mid and long term white pilled it didn't do anything to change my point of view towards what's ahead but it provided excellent context to what was and can't be allowed to repeat again. I now also understand Ayn Rand's extremist position much better.
Hope's End - 4/5 - View into Tamas's earlier days and into how he treated his soldiers.
The Girl of Hrusch Avenue - 5/5 - How Vlora met Taniel and got adopted by Tamas, best story in the collection without doubt.
Green-Eyed Vipers - 2/5 - Worst story in the collection without doubt. Thankfully, also the shortest. Tamas's revenge on the woman who betrayed his wife and told Kez her whereabouts to get her killed and get Tamas for herself. Utterly ridiculous.
The Face in the Window - 4/5 - How Taniel met Ka-Poel, the beginning of his Fatrastan story. No two shot stuff yet, though. I was surprised to find out he hasn't killed anyone nor was in a real battle before this. Thought he had something behind him before he joined the resistence.
Return to Honor - 3/5 - Vlora hunts down Charlemund's guardsman who has intel on Adran army positions and supplies which might be handy for Kez. A filler that explains a little better that “romance” in Crimson Campaign between Vlora and Olem.
The hounds at our heels will soon know we are lions.
4.5 stars but since Goodreads doesn't do those and I'm not willing to rate it 4/5 it's 5.
Edit: After some time and consideration I'm lowering to 4 stars. Taniel's storyline annoys me too much when it could've been so easy to make it more believable.
Follow up to incredible debut book The Crimson Campaign suffers a little from middle-book syndrome. Especially Taniel's story felt stretched and over the top because author needed other characters to move their storylines forward before he could “unleash” Taniel.
Oh yes, Taniel. I really like him. His cocky and yet down to earth attitude. The mysterious connection with Pole. What is she doing to him? Is she really only protecting him or something more? We see him going through sort of a PTSD reaction at the beginning of the book but once his story gets going his character improves.
I can't say the same about his storyline, though. It's maddening and frustrating. Half the time I was wondering if this is really happening. I was checking out because his “adversary” is comically evil and stupid seemingly without a reason. Taniel Two-Shot is one of the most famous men in Adro and this person constantly punishes and degrades him every chance she gets even though there is no one else who could raise the army's morale more than him. And the thing is, there is a traitor among the generals. But she can't be it, can she? That's way too obvious, right? Right?! RIGHT?!!!
And the other generals aren't any better. I couldn't comprehend how these could be Tamas's highest ranking officers. Did he take almost everyone with IQ above 60 with him? If it wasn't for Taniel's parts I would've finished this book in half the time. It was infuriatingly frustrating most of the time. But... there is a possibility that upon re-read I would enjoy these parts better.
Tamas gets a shit ton of character development in this book. We get to know him more intimately. In the first one he was a (almost) merciless leader of Adro. During his Crimson Campaign he starts to reflect on his life and especially his son. It's no spoiler to say that he gets trapped behind the enemy lines and has to fight his way through Kez back into Adro. We get a glimpse into his past and his regrets. There is a huge fight which I wish was more epic but the briefness makes sense, narrative being told from one soldier's perspective instead of a bird eye view. It's very tight and focused instead of epic. Like someone on the field would see things. It's how the whole series is written but it was still a bit of a missed opportunity.
Adamat is much more interesting in this book than in the first. Out of the three main characters his was the most boring story in Promise of Blood. It's not so in this one. Stakes aren't higher but they are more reachable now. Adamat decides to save his family and kill the abductor. And for that he will need help of a certain Privileged and dive deeper into Adrian underground than ever before.
Fourth character, Nila, plays larger part here. I didn't count her among the main ones in Promise of Blood since there were only a few POV parts from her perspective but in this one there's more. I still don't like her but I'm curious where her storyline will lead in the final book.
The small nods to Malazan series aren't lost to me and I love it. Malazan is my favorite series and McClellan plays with some of the characters in dangerous ways. My heart skipped a beat. The similarities between Tamas and Whiskeyjack can't be coincidental. There's also one scene where a character asks another what is happening to him and I just wanted to scream "it's called ascension!"
All in all a great sequel but it doesn't reach the quality of the first novel. Mostly because villains were almost caricatures. I bought Vetas, he's a psycho with interesting background so it makes sense. But the general staff? Hang them all for treason, I say. Or write them as characters, as people, and not as cardboard cutouts. Unless they're all traitors, that is. I hope this improves in the final book. Tamas's storyline was stellar and I wish we got more of that. His adversary was also very refreshing take on an enemy. I loved the endings of his and Adamat's storylines.
“The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.”- William Butler Yeats
I used to be a fan of Project Veritas before they were torn apart from the inside. (Right after THAT exposé, how curious...) So of course I liked this book.
It's a decent dive into investigative journalism, specifically muckraking. Book goes through basic journalistic principles, compares them with reality and tries to motivate potential journalists and whistleblowers to not sell their souls and not to be afraid to expose the truth.
First half is drier, there's more theory. It's a defense of muckraking in today's media landscape. I did wish there was more history, though. For example story of briefly mentioned Mirage Tovern is amazing and I don't think anyone is aware of it. In the second half James goes through some of the biggest Veritas cases and the reactions of mainstream media to them. Exposing the lies and manipulation, the deep-rooted bias and willful blindness towards newsworthy revelations - Hunter Biden's laptop, voter fraud, social media manipulation and censorship.
It is beyond my comprehension when I hear that Veritas takes things out of context. They always release the full unedited video. There's one with highlights and then there are hours long recordings of everything. There is no proof more ultimate than unedited video recording of the person committing the act or admitting to it. But when the truth doesn't match the only allowed narrative it needs to be buried. Thankfully Veritas has made a name for itself. I think they never lost a litigation.
One weird thing that irked me a bit in this book is that James calls himself “this muckraker”, talks about himself in third person. I don't know if that is artistic choice imitating some older writings on this topic but in today's era it was weird. I could maybe see it working had it been written this way a century ago.
I have immense respect for what James and his undercover journalists do. James gets the spotlight but it's the incognito journalists who do the ground work, the toughest job. I know personally journalists who had been threatened, even at gunpoint, and also knew one that was murdered for his work. This is no game. It's serious business and not everyone is willing to do what these brave people do. Veritas's fame protects them from the most severe consequences, though they finally got them. There is no doubt that the ridiculous assault on James's person was orchestrated to destroy the Veritas from within. Eating pregnant woman's sandwich. For real?
Veritas is dead, long live OMG.
The most enjoyable read of this year.
I finished First Law trilogy earlier and while those are also masterpieces they lacked solid plot, instead they had some of the best characters in fantasy. This book (and hopefully whole series) has excellent mix of both, which I prefer.
Set in a world similar to 18th century France it begins with Adran revolution. King and entire aristocracy are put to guillotine, republic is established. But bordering nations don't like it. Especially Kez, empire who rules other neighboring kingdoms and was suppose to rule Adro as well before Marshall Tamas put an end to the deal by decapitating the deviant king. Was it for the good of the nation or personal revenge against Kez?
Tamas's deed upsets the whole continent however that's not all. Old gods start to stir. But are they even real? People whisper of bad omens. Conflict erupts between royalists and new government, civil war is at hand while Kez is marching to the border. And that's only the beginning.
We follow three characters. Private investigator Adamat is hired by Marshall to investigate royal secrets. He has a knack. A magical talent that allows him to recall any memory. Some gifted individuals have a trait that gives them supernatural powers such as they don't need sleep, can tell if someone is lying, enhanced strength or endurance, etc.
Tamas is army veteran, the most renowned soldier alive in Adro. Revolutionary and leader. His son Taniel is somewhat estranged and often conflicted about his relationship with Tamas. Though who could blame him after he receives an order to assassinate his best friend. Both are powder mages, capable of enhancing their reflexes and stamina, able to ignite black powder with a thought and change bullet direction in flight. Anathema to ordinary mages they're hated and hunted in other countries as twisted unnatural freaks. Ironic, as mage servants known as Wardens are true monstrosities.
The novel has excellent pacing with memorable side characters. Some of the banter reminded me of Malazan. There was one scene about smoking between Tamas and his bodyguard Olem that would fit into Tehol and Bugg's parts perfectly. It toned down after that which fit the book better.
I can't believe this was in my TBR for years but because I didn't expect to love it this much I never got to it until now. As much as this was French revolution I'm expecting sequel to be reminiscent of Napoleonic wars. We shall see.
Short horror story from central Bohemia during middle ages. It has thick atmosphere in the second half but I wish first half was paced faster. We get some basic info about the main character and his group of mercenaries. Some exposition is necessary but I just wanted to get to the good part while reading it.
Once the plot is set up the story finally starts to move and doesn't let up until the end. It feels like a cliché to say it but it had Berserk vibes. It's brutal at some places.
I do wish there was more at the end, though. It felt rushed, like one or two scenes were missing before the twist reveal. And after the twist is revealed there's a hard cut for the last paragraph which skips some time. I know what the author tried to do there but for me it was too abrupt. I didn't like it, you might. It's not the worst ending to a short story.
Author mentions that this was originally thought of as movie script and that something might be in the works. I hope so! This would work even better as atmospheric horror movie or a story in some horror anthology show. I don't think any exists, though... Lastly, I have to praise the author for getting the local names correctly including punctuation. Now that's rare!
It's rare for me that a book lives up to the hype but this one is such case. Gripping from the beginning to the end.
The boring slow paced worldbuilding of Malice is gone, replaced by constant action and emotion. I gave Malice benefit of the doubt because its finish was great and the story was promising. Here Gwynne builds upon what he set up in the first book to deliver one of the best paced books I've ever read. Seriously, this is masterfully paced and exactly what I was hoping this series would be before I started it based on raving reviews.
Characters go through hell. I thought it was actually a bit much because until the last 100-150 pages everything goes wrong for the good guys and everything works out for the villains. It was too obvious but it did work as I couldn't stop reading. Another thing that annoyed me but works for the book's benefit are short chapters with cliffhangers. It's annoying to read three pages only to leave me hanging for another 20 until the author decides to return to that POV or location. Not a fan of short chapters. But... they work.
Next two books are allegedly even better so I can't wait to dive back into Banished Lands but first I think I'll take a break for a bit with something shorter.
A short novel about Hadrian's misunderstood(?) brother. It is well written, I actually enjoyed first 100 pages more than I enjoyed Empire of Silence because the book was showing how things have changed on Delos and third person narration was refreshing. But second half gets too predictable. Nevertheless, it was fascinating to see adult Crispin. He is perhaps... too likeable compared to what he was in EoS but maybe Hadrian had more influence on him than we thought.
He needs a therapy, though. This book takes place about 30 or even 40 years after Hadrian left Delos but Crispin still keeps thinking about him every chance he gets. I knew of father and mother issues, apparently Crispin has brother issues. If Hadrian wasn't mentioned so often I think it would only improve Crispin's story because it would have made him more independent.
I understand that the novel was written after EoS was sold but before it was published and so there was probably desire to connect it tighter to the main story but I really think it wasn't necessary to invoke his name in almost every chapter.
The Sun Eater (what an awesome name for a series) is about Hadrian Marlowe. The savior, the devil. Man who is solely responsible for genocide of alien race with which humankind wages intergalactic war. This is his story.
I don't think I can make this book justice by writing a review. It's far from the best thing I've ever read but the potential that this book represents for the whole series is enormous. It's amazing first book. Not only in the series but as debut novel of the author, too. And at such young age it makes me feel ashamed of my non-existing writing career. :D
These books are written in memoir style with Hadrian retelling his story as it allegedly really happened, without the government and chantry propaganda. I say allegedly because I know Ruocchio is Gene Wolfe fan and this series was inspired among others (Dune, LOTR) by Book of the New Sun. And anyone who read BotNS knows that you can't trust the narrator no matter what he tells you. I don't think this series will reach such deception but who am I to tell? I'm just at the beginning.
There is very little criticism I can aim at Empire of Silence. It's weakest link is definitely the lack of focus. There is no big villain, no big goal Hadrian needs to reach in this book. It's memoirs of his early years and while intriguing, it lacked the typical novel narrative of big bad or big goal that needed to be overcome by the end. Don't misunderstand, there is something towards the end, but it's not entirely expected. And most of the book is just Hadrian wondering through life, running away from his family and awful responsibility that was put on him against his will by his father.
EoS is also a slow burner. First 200 pages were a struggle even if I was interested in the world and Hadrian as a character. I wished for some action and I don't mean Colosso fights. Then Valka entered the scene and everything's got better. Approximately in the middle of the book I got absorbed in the story.
It is rare that I have interest in romance. Well... “romance” at least for now. Since the first moment we know Valka is someone very dear to Hadrian. He likes to spoil the story by giving hints about characters that enter it for the first time, especially if they are important enough. Even though she started to annoy me with her “I'm better than you” attitude I can't deny that her pixie femme fatale presence intrigued me the whole time. Just like it did Hadrian.
Ruocchio sets up a very dystopic oppressive universe in this book where no one (within Sollan Empire) is free. Especially not the nobility. Cameras are everywhere and the Big Brother is the Church. I listened to an interview with Christopher where he said he wanted the Empire to be a counter pole of Banks's The Culture series. Where that one is anarchistic this one is totalitarian even despite its size. Going to space isn't cheap nor simple which makes the means easy to control by central authority. There are other cultures in this universe where men are more free but we don't get to see those in this book.
The world building is stellar, to be honest. I got exactly what I was hoping for from this book. Most of the time when you see there's 30+ pages of footnotes and explanations of how the world works you know you're in for a treat.
Hadrian himself is as flawed as any real human. Sometimes he does more-than-stupid things to move the plot forward but I have a suspicion there is a reason for that. And it was hinted at towards the end of the book when he received a prophetic vision. Still, it would be a bummer if it all got blamed on “fate”.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone. It's great for fantasy fans who want to dip their feet in some sci-fi because the story structure is more fantasy even if the setting is sci-fi. It doesn't experiment with narrative tools like so many great sci-fi novels do. Instead it's very similar to epic fantasy narrative. But most of all I recommend this to fans of Dune. While you can't really point at many things that are “stolen” from Dune, its essence is very much present here. Just like in Star Wars, for example.
Prvých 50 strán so sa bál či to nebude hovadina ako väčšina Koskovej série, ale potom nastal zvrat a odvtedy sa to len zlepšovalo až na unáhlený koniec - no ak mám byť úprimný, keby sa to ešte natiahne tak by ma to len štvalo.
Alica je v podstate na 95% plukovník a tých zvyšných 5% si praje byť ním alebo aby bol pri nej v danej situácii. No inak to byť ani nemohlo. A vďaka svojmu pohlaviu sa dostala do situácií, kam by sa plukovník nikdy nedostal.
Výborný záver série a navyše aj najlepší diel. Síce len o chlp v porovnaní s prvým Spádom, ale predsa.
This is my first Wolfe novel outside of Book of the New Sun (which I loved). I was warned that rest of his works are mostly “crazier”.
I'm not sure what I've just read, though to be honest after the second part of the “novel” I expected even something more experimental.
The “novel” (Is it really a novel? I don't think so.) is split into three stories that are vaguely tied together. The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a story about a boy who discovers he's a clone of his father. ‘A Story' by John V. Marsch (this is the whole title) is about an alien? A human among aliens? Alien adopting human identity? In a desert. Talking to human spirit. Or the spirit thinks it used to be a human. It's full of dreams. I don't know... Don't make me read it again.
The third story is called V.R.T. and it's the longest and probably the most standard one of them all, written mostly in diary entries of a political prisoner, and frankly what saved the book from getting worse rating. I actually enjoyed this one. With the other two I got lost sometimes, in ‘A Story' I was lost basically all the time.
I think there was some criticism of colonialism, exploration of identity and I guess satire of big government though with this one I'm not so sure because it wasn't as much satirization as accurate depiction of socialist government in Eastern Europe. Plumber one day, horseshoe maker another, high government security official the next. Prisoner rotting in a cell because both execution and release would be politically inconvenient. Seems about right.
I'm sure Alzabo Soup Podcast will explain “everything”. My favorite quote from The Sword of the Lictor comes to mind: “Think well on all the things we have not told you, and remember what you have not been shown.”
I will.
I went into this deluxe omnibus edition almost blind. I read only the excerpt in Arcanum Unbounded. Based on the ratings I didn't have large expectations but I was looking forward to finally read it. After a year of waiting full of printing issues that this book had to go through I finally had it in my hands. Props to Dynamite for being so open about it and delivering top quality product in the end.
But once I started reading my disappointment started growing. The dialogues were bad. There was no characterization. Conversations continued “seemlessly” through time skips of days at least twice in the first volume. Didn't notice this later. I'm not talking about transitions but direct dialogues between characters.
Khriss was insufferable though her character improved towards the end. Instead Ais replaced her as one of the worst characters I've ever seen. I hated her inner dialogue. It was so cringe. It reminded me of Warbreaker which I used to consider by far the worst Cosmere novel. Well, now it has a companion.
I don't know if it was poor translation of a written novel into comics media or if the novel itself is this bad. But it simply didn't work. Whole story should've been reworked and properly adapted. I have a feeling they just took dialogues from the book and pasted them into text bubbles with little care for storytelling. Which suggests the book is bad too. There are deus ex machinas, it's simplistic, full of clichés and pseudo twists which you can easily guess.
When I first heard there will be omnibus of this series I couldn't wait and held off on purchasing the separate volumes. This book allegedly contains many improvements. Kriss's notes were cool and added explanations of how magic in this world works. I know that the prologue is also exclusive to this edition. But if anything else was improved I can't imagine the original. They should've spent the resources on redrawing the last chapter of volume 2 which is atrocious. Don't know the reason why it was done by different artist but the other two artists managed to capture the atmosphere quite well. This chapter was full of clinically clean low budget looking drawings which are also sadly present in many other comic books nowadays. No wonder everyone (including me) prefers manga.
There's a sequel teased at the end which I will certainly not touch if it ever comes out. I'm satisfied in getting through this book as I want to read everything in Cosmere but boy... Haven't been disappointed like this in a while. I recommend it only to the hardcore fans.
Everything bad from Volume 1 applies here too but Khriss is now insufferable in the first half of this volume (at least gets better later), Kenton is just visiting one place after another and the worst character in whole Cosmere is probably introduced further here - Ais. I have Warbreaker flashbacks. The saving grace of this series was the art but the last chapter was for some reason drawn by another artist and the quality in comparison looks like child doodles.