Victor Hugo Kebbe
Such a nice book, a nice and ingenious universe. I could feel some H.P. Lovecraft influences here and there, but very well diluted and very well used by the author (it's not a Horror plot, I must say). It's an adventure book, well written and, the most important, a humble and beautiful homage to all fantasy books ever written.
An amazing book, indeed. All that issues regarding the power of naming people, animals and things were just amazing, hiding a powerful message about the language and Linguistics. In a land where the real or true names are so precious, the “magic power” only can be the power of... naming the world around us, giving meaning to our surroundings from the moment we are born until we die! That's awesome, somehow and indirectly a beautiful homage to the Levi Strauss' Structuralism or, perhaps more important, a beautiful homage to the Language itself.
It was an interesting reading, but I was struggling to reach the end. I don't know, but after more than 1000 pages, I was becoming quite exhausted with Kay's style, lengthy, lengthy... I was gladly hooked again at the end, a fine conclusion for the saga. It's a must read for those interested not just in epic fantasy genre, but because it is a beautiful homage to Tolkien legacy.
It was an interesting book, introducing an important jedi character in the same way they did with Mara Jade, Kyp Durron or even with Kyle Katarn. Now we have the honor to meet the starfighter ace Corran Horn in his journey to become a Jedi Knight. To do so, he must find his wife, Mirax Terrik, who has disappeared on a secret mission. By the way, this book follows the events of Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy, but from the perspective of Horn (which is nice, for the remembrance).
I think there are several similarities between Horn and Katarn: they aren't jedi at the beginning and they must find and deal with their inner selves to finish their jedi training. Katarn is the most independent character I've ever seen (he doesn't even need the aid of Master Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi; his hero's journey is quite odd and very interesting in the same way)... Corran seeks Luke at the beginning, but becomes quite dissatisfied with his jedi training: he's desperate to find the missing Mirax... by the way, such a cool name, uh, Mirax?
It's not the best book I've ever read, but it's quite entertaining and well written (a fast read and definitely better than the Dark Forces comic book/audiobook trilogy, if you want to compare with Katarn's journey). Written in first person, it seems a jedi pupil personal diary (without being tacky), which is... unusual if we take all the other Star Wars books by comparison, but introduces new dynamics and possibilities for the reader to understand the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
When talking about Star Wars books, well, I must confess that Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole are ma favorites, so... But anyway, nice read, lot of fun.
This is definitely one of the best Fantasy books ever written... It is a beautiful homage to [a:J.R.R. Tolkien 656983 J.R.R. Tolkien http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1329870573p2/656983.jpg]'s [b:The Lord Of The Rings 15369 The Lord Of The Rings (Radio Collection) J.R.R. Tolkien http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166672332s/15369.jpg 3462456], showing how amazing and powerful is the Guy Kay's knowledge on Mythology, Fantasy and Tolkien's works. [b:The Summer Tree 104086 The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry, #1) Guy Gavriel Kay http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348810485s/104086.jpg 3238632] has not the same flowery prose as seen in [b:Tigana 104089 Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348738842s/104089.jpg 1907200], but Guy Kay certainly knows how to write in a beautiful way.I confess that it took a while to be hooked. At the beginning it's a little bit hard to believe in the five main characters, the university students Paul, Kevin, Dave, Kimberly and Jennifer. But as soon as we see the narrative being brightly woven, we can also observe the amazing growth of these characters. Guy Kay knows how to touch the reader who wants, for a while, to be a fantasy hero in a different world. Well done, well done, Guy Kay... now I'm getting ready for the next book, [b:The Wandering Fire 104088 The Wandering Fire (The Fionavar Tapestry, #2) Guy Gavriel Kay http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348816263s/104088.jpg 1136221].
[b:Assassin's Apprentice 45107 Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) Robin Hobb http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320339497s/45107.jpg 171715] is definitely one of the best books I read this year. The narrative does not depend on any commercial appeal such as several known titles... Finally, [a:Robin Hobb 25307 Robin Hobb http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1205023525p2/25307.jpg] knows how to lead the story of a very elegant way. Despite being written in a slow pace, [b:Assassin's Apprentice 45107 Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) Robin Hobb http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320339497s/45107.jpg 171715] has richly drawn characters in a captivating storyline. Awesome, definitely one of my favorites.
Unlike the previous book (Mass Effect - Revelation), it took a long time to be (loosely) hooked by this one, with such a poor plot. If in the previous book you didn't have to know the Mass Effect lore, this one unfortunately requires that the reader must know about what happened in the first game, showing an adventure that just touches some major events of the ME storyline. Sometimes it seems it was hastly written, showing that the pace and rhythm was not the same all the time. I was disappointed because I felt that sometimes the reader is required to complete the gaps by himself, or worse, forced to believe in very implausible hooks.
Such as “Revelation”, “Ascension” is loosely characterized as a sci fi book, without exploring - once again - all the possibilities of this huge scenario. It's just a detective/thriller story with spaceships and aliens, that's all.
Nice ending, just like a shonen manga. But it was a little bit messy when dealing with Ramona's past, Gideon's superpowers, etc... But I enjoyed a lot all these adventures by O'Malley's and the worst thing is happening now: I'm feeling that huge void when you finish a fine book series, after developed such an incredible relationship with its characters... I'm gonna miss Scott Pilgrim's adventures...
Nice, very nice... The plot is quite simple and engaging (and sometimes poor though), just as a set of WOW in-game quests. It has only 144 pages, so, you don't have to read those huge book trilogies to entertain yourself. By the way, this WoW special is better than those WoW short stories by Tokyopop (manga...ishhh adventures by [a:Richard A. Knaak 5369 Richard A. Knaak http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1308185937p2/5369.jpg] and Ryo Kawakami, Jae-Hwan Kim, etc). It's a good option if you want to read something short on the Fantasy genre.
I read this book 15 years ago and it is still good. It was great to return and spend a few nights at that Castle again...
Path of Deceit is one of the first titles of Phase II of Star Wars High Republic. I decided to give this new phase a chance, knowing that I did not have the best experience with Phase I (I lost the desire to follow this book series at the time thanks to the book [b:Light of the Jedi 51637946 Light of the Jedi (Star Wars The High Republic) Charles Soule https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582619576l/51637946.SY75.jpg 76212411], by [a:Charles Soule 1641284 Charles Soule https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1679508257p2/1641284.jpg], a book that was sold as being for adults, but was practically written as a YA book, sorry). This time I saw that Path of Deceit was written as YA, which helped me adjust my expectations. Compared to the themes of Phase I, Phase II seems much more interesting. The idea of explorers and Pathfinders is really cool and the threat to the established order makes more sense than the space bikers who are the Nihil. I intend to continue following Phase II.It's not easy to judge or analyze a YA book being an adult. We assume that some tropes are expected and others should be avoided. There isn't much room (nor the intention) for the development of more three-dimensional characters, which means these books don't provoke some kind of connection with mature readers (but, once again and to be fair, it is worth remembering that this is not the aim of these books).With Path of Deceit it's no different. The characters are flat and do not show great development. For example, the character Marda Ro, who is a naive and fanatical teenager from the Path of the Open Hand sect, ends the book as a naive and fanatical teenager (perhaps even more fervently fanatical than before). Kevmo Zink, the Jedi padawan of the story, is the same: he appears and disappears in the same way he appeared, without significant developments.I have the impression that, very unfortunately, the current YA Star Wars books seem to be centered on the same formula, which focus on two teenagers of opposite sexes living a forbidden or impossible romance. This appears in [a:Claudia Gray 1192311 Claudia Gray https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234643683p2/1192311.jpg]'s book [b:Lost Stars 25067046 Lost Stars (Star Wars) Claudia Gray https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539015804l/25067046.SY75.jpg 44751860], but perhaps because of its novelty, [b:Lost Stars 25067046 Lost Stars (Star Wars) Claudia Gray https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539015804l/25067046.SY75.jpg 44751860] was better in this respect.In Path of Deceit we have the same formulaic solution of the love-struck couple who cannot get involved, but ends up being the focal point of several major events happening in the background, such as the theft of Jedi artifacts on one side and a plan to destroy the Jedi Order on the other. As the goal of the story is to tell about this romance and not about everything else surrounding it, other characters and/or factions appear more or less unbalanced. If you expect to read a book with a Jedi adventure or something similar, perhaps this title will be a disappointment.Despite my criticism, the writing is fluid and very well articulated. [a:Tessa Gratton 26955517 Tessa Gratton https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Justina Ireland 5833089 Justina Ireland https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1601064644p2/5833089.jpg] know what they're doing. I would have loved this book if I had read it at 15 years old. The book deepens some knowledge of the Star Wars universe and expands a bit more on canon. I confess that I am not excited to continue with [b:Path of Vengeance 61176500 Path of Vengeance (Star Wars The High Republic) Cavan Scott https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1665326764l/61176500.SY75.jpg 96437193] by [a:Cavan Scott 87934 Cavan Scott https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1654767185p2/87934.jpg] (mainly because of the author's writing style, which I am not very fond of).
First read - March/2013 - Astonished. Speechless. It was the best fantasy book I've ever read.
Second read - February/2014 - Once again, definitely, the fantasy book I've ever read.