Book review: "Legacy of Kings" by C. S. Friedman

It's been almost two weeks since I have read "Legacy of Kings", the last book in C. S. Friedman's "The Magister Trilogy", but I was away on a business trip so only now has time to write a review.

In last book, "Wings of Wrath", the secret that Souleaters are returning came out, with dark history of the Wrath, magical border that kept them in the North. Now, in "Legacy of Kings", Souleaters have a new Queen, magically joined with Witch-queen Sidarea, so humanity must join forces to repel them once again, or go through annihilation of their civilization. This time, they have Magisters and they don't know will this prove a blessing or a curse. Because, Magisters have a dark secret, hidden even from them, and known only by one Magister - Colivar.

"Legacy of Kings" interweaves several plots. We follow High King Salvator, who has to find a balance between his monkish past, his new responsibility as king, and legacy of his father and heritage. Curiously, Queen Gwynofar, one of central characters of last book, here is downgraded to a side-character. We follow also the enemies, Sidarea and her female Souleater; Nyuku, leader of male Souleater and their companion; and Nasaan, new character who is not aware who is he putting his chances with. Most interesting plot-line is that of Magister's, especially Colivar. Plot oscillates between being familiar and following fantasy tropes, to being unpredictable in small details.

After the setting was expanded in second book, I didn't really expect any new additions. Sure, we finally see some of the southern kingdoms, and desert definitely proves interesting new place, but it is all familiar from previous books. The big revelation is of course connected to Magisters and their connection to Souleaters. Much of it will be as you already guessed, but Friedman was very good with details.

There are almost no new characters in this book (except Nasaan, I think), but we find out some new things about our old friends. Kamala is finally in focus of events, which was not so in first two books. I especially liked her trick and transformation in the end. All Magister are interesting characters, especially Colivar, and during the course of book they change much. It is hard to reconcile complete lack of empathy (by definition of Magister) and still be able to write a likable character. But despite them being interesting, I can't say I really connected with any of the characters.

For summary of "Legacy of Kings", and the whole "The Magister Trilogy": these are solid books, with interesting plot and characters who grow, but without a spark that would make them a hit. They are written well, so even the old fantasy fans won't have problems with them, but all in all, this is not a series that deserves any special recommendation.

Book review: "Curse of Mistwraith" by Janny Wurts

I have noticed "Wars of Light and Shadows" series by Janny Wurts before (it was on a list I studied some years ago), but somehow I never resolved to read it. But few weeks ago I noticed it again on Tor.com series "Under the Radar" and decided to give it a try. There are several series that I have started, but I am waiting for next installment to be published ("Shadows of the Apt" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, "The Second Apocalypse" by R. Scott Bakker, "The Stormlight Archive" by Brandon Sanderson"), so I am able to start another one in between.

First book in the series, "Curse of Mistwraith" starts a story about the long war of two brothers. Lysaer and Arithon are born of same mother, but their fathers and their families have been mortal enemies for generations. Lysaer's father is King of rich country Amroth while Arithon's fathers commands a kingdom of pirates. After Arithon is captured and almost executed, intervention of Arithon's and Lysaer's grandfather, the High Mage, sees them both exiled of their world through gates into unknown world. Once there, they learn that their lines has been High Kings of this world Athera and that their destiny is to defeat the Mistwraith, magical enemy that has been suffocating all life for last five centuries. But before, they have to find peace between themselves...

I must admit that I didn't like "Curse of Mistwraith" in the beginning. It started all high and noble, with stereotype characters, simplistic motives and predictive plot. Also, Wurts' pretty hard style of writing, full of uncommon words (I didn't reach for thesaurus so much for a long time) didn't help getting into this book. But as the story progressed, the style also expanded, and story and characters got increasingly more complex and interesting. For example, at the beginning there is no politics, neither on high level, nor between characters - but this changes later, and politics plays a more important role (unfortunately, it doesn't get as realistic as in some books).

Wurts' writing is very detailed and lots of effort is put into details, which interestingly all come into place with others. As I said, the book started with very noble style, but later in the book there is humor, violence, and even sex and prostitutes. Too bad there is no direct cursing, only occasional mentioning of gods. But even so, there are some funny jewels, like "... Dakar spoke phrases that cast biological doubt upon Arithon's already illegitimate ancestry". Still, Wurts is a bit too noble on human nature: I don't think some clans would wait 500 years for their prince to come and then the clan-leader would eagerly give away his position.

Plot starts simple, but later gets decently complicated. There is a lot of twists, not all unpredictable. In general, after you pass first quarter of the book, things get nicely interesting. Same is true for characters. The cast is not enormous as you would expect for a first novel in ten-books series. Interestingly, the Big Bad is not revealed, nor the overall theme for the series. Of characters, I liked Elaira's part: she was witty and contrary from the beginning. As an epic fantasy, the book contains some typical elements, like the group of sorcerers, and of course, a grumpy silent wizard that leads our heroes.

There was one thing that was irritating throughout the book: Wurts' tendency to refer to Arithon as "the Master" (from "the Master of Shadow"). I hope she drops it later.

So, "Curse of Mistwraith" presents a nice introduction into a new series. It has somewhat misleading start, but later gets pretty interesting and fun to read. My final recommendation will depend on next few books - there is no point in reading a book if you will not complete the series.

Book review: "Wings of Wrath" by C. S. Friedman

Last week I finished reading "Wings of Wrath" by C. S. Friedman, a second book in her "The Magister Trilogy" series. First book, "Feast of Souls" I have read during summer vacation and found it all right.

"Wings of Wrath" continues the story set in the first book, but focuses on another set of characters. While all the characters from "Feast of Souls" are here, this time two old characters, Rhys and Sideria. We follow Rhys investigating a disturbance in Wrath, where he comes into knowing Kamala, a main character of the series. The two of them will find out how Souleaters were able to come back and learn the unexpected story behind the Wrath. Sideria, the Witch-Queen, now left to die alone by Magisters she considered friends, is full of anger and bitterns. So when a mysterious stranger offers her a new source of power and life, she is eager to accept it. We also follow are old characters, Colivar, Ramirus and Gwynofar, but also a new characters Salvator, second son of High King Danton.

I must say that "Wings of Wrath" has a very interesting beginning. I was surprised with partial distancing from the plot of previous book and focus on new characters. This leads to new developments, although Friedman nicely closes the book with a parallel to "Feast of Souls". I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending because it felt much like "deus ex machina" solution, but globally it fits well. I liked the part with Kamala saving Rhys - it reminded be to a classical D&D story. There were few good surprises throughout the book, like with Petrana.

As expected, the middle book in series brings out the expansion of setting and a turnover. We learn more about the current setting, but also about what brought to it. And as is typical for the second books, we learn more about the other side and see them in different light. I wasn't very affected by Rhys' and Kamala's discovery inside Spears, but I presume that as religious fanatics they would be. As I said, the ending was a bit stingy with explanations, so I have a feeling that the last book will be rushed to be able to answer all the questions. Even though I like this game with Colivar and his "memories", will Friedman be able to pull it through?

As for characters, I must say I am very impressed by Friedman's Kamala. She is really not a classical main character. We actually don't spend much time with her. And when we are, she is reserved with her thoughts to reader. She has flaws and she is far from a typical "good" main character. And she definitely doesn't have luck in picking boyfriends... As for other characters, they are a mix. Colivar is a great and mysterious character, Ramirus, Sideria and Salvator solid ones. Gwynofar, on the other side, was neglected and different from the first book. I also found all Northerners not interesting.

As I mentioned in my review of "Feast of Souls", I wasn't very impressed with Friedman's writing. Her editors weren't best also: I found adverb "heady" three times in few pages, which was sloppy.

But in summary, I am satisfied with "Wings of Wrath". It was a solid second book, with advantages in setting and refreshed characters. We will see how the series will end with "Legacy of Kings", but so far so good (but not excellent).

Anime review: "Genshiken Nidaime"

I have watched the original first few seasons of "Genshiken" six years ago. I forgot much of it, but I remember it was one of my favorite anime in that time. When I saw a new season is coming up, I was of course very interested and watched it as soon as I got the opportunity.

"Genshiken Nidaime" takes a year after the last part. All original cast has a role in this one, but more focus is those still in college and formally in Genshiken (Ogiue, Ohno, Sue, Kuchiki) and three new characters Hato, Yajima and Yoshitake. In the first episode it turns out that all member of the new Genshiken, except Kuchiki, are girls in love it BL (boy love), or "rotten girls"...

There is no point in going deeply in the plot of "Genshiken Nidaime" because it is not a series with real plot. "Genshiken" was always focused more on daily or school life of characters and their relationship. The difference between the previous seasons and this one is that here there is a big focus on subjects like boy love, cross-dressing and similar. "Genshiken" always touched similar topics, but not in such way. It didn't bothered me, but nor did I find it very compelling. There was a lot of talk about bullying and accepting different people.

A big focus is put on relationship between the new character Hato and Madarame, and his obsession with Kasukabe. There is a good scene and resolution between her and Madarame that I think all the old fans will like. I am sidestepping talking much about the character because there are few surprises and I don't want to reveal any spoilers.

As I said, I don't remember much about the original, but I think that visually it was even better than this one. "Genshiken Nidaime" has unattractive design and animation. Voice acting was good, but there was no other attractive music. I think the production was poor. Also, I don't remember the original having so much fanservice.

For conclusion... If you haven't watched the original "Genhiken" and you like daily life and otaku anime, you definitely need to watch it. As for "Genshiken Nidaime", it is for the fans who wants the continuity and they will find it good. But I think that even the most avid fans will find it poorer that the original.

Movie reviews: "The Dark Knight" and "Fracture"

This weekend I watched two movies, both a bit older.

At my friend's place, we watched "The Dark Knight". This is an older hit and my friend actually watched it, but I haven't and I wanted to be familiar with it before watched its sequel, "The Dark Knight Rises".

"The Dark Knight" is a part of the of the Batman series, that started with "Batman Begins" in 2005 (it looks I should have watched this one again). This "episode" involves Joker as main villain, but also features Harvey "Two-Face" Dent - both of them were villains in previous movies before reboot.

Main difference between the older moviev and this one is that the latter is a dark and gritty movie, as is appropriate regarding contemporary trends. I really liked it - Joker in the original "Batman" was crazy, but here he is really psychotic and scary (played marvelously be Heath Ledger). Batman (played by Christian Bale) is on the other hand angsty (but not too much to be irritating) and gritty. Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart) is also a great character - his journey from idealistic crime-fighter to a manipulated villain is interesting to watch. Other characters are also great, and played by big starst: Michael Cain, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Eric Roberts.

But there is one flaw of this movie. Basically, this movie is one bit "Xanatos Speed Chess" game between Batman and Joker. I am a fan of this trope and enjoy it, but you have to know when to stop it. And here, it was played a bit over-board. Not much to be really bad, but plans-inside-plans and constant turnovers were a bit tiring after two and half hours.

But all in all, "The Dark Knight" is a great addition to the Batman franchise, and I think that I will enjoy the sequel as much.

The other movie that I watched was "Fracture" from 2007. It is a classical cat-and-mouse game between a young and successful public attorney Willy Beachum (played well by Ryan Gosling) and genius engineer Ted Crawford (play even better by Anthony Hopkins). Ted kills his wife for having an affair, but he prepares it so that he can't be convicted. Willy, on the other hand, is transferring to big private law firm and is not really enthusiastic about this case, until he realizes how easy Ted manipulates him and others.

Movie is really interesting, but it had one big, big flaw. The key move is shown at the beginning - I don't know was this my lucky guess, directory sloppiness and actual intention (like in the "Columbo" movies). But I kept waiting for some other thing arises, and when it didn't, I was disappointed.

But all in all, "Fracture" is a pretty good movie, one to watch in a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Anime review: "Seitokai Yakuindomo"

After finishing "Daily Lives of High-School Boys" several weeks ago, I noticed several comments recommending "Seitokai Yakuindomo" to those who liked the former. They also warned that it was an anime with high amount of sexual jokes, some of them pretty heavy, so it was not appropriate for those easily offended. Since there are currently no other anime I have set my eyes upon (except "Hyouge Mono", but nobody is doing the translation!!!), I decided to give it a try.

Identically to "Daily Lives of High-School Boys", "Seitokai Yakuindomo" is anime composing of several scenes/sketches per episode, something apparently called 4-koma style. Here we follow Tsuda Takatoshi who is just entering a high-school. The school he picked (because it was closest) was until this year all-girls school, so he is one of few boys there. On the first day he is selected by a presumptuous President of Student Council to be a new member, which will define the rest of his first-year. The Council consists of three other girls: President Amakusa Shino (presumptuous and full of misconceptions about boys), Secretary Schichijou Aria (rich and ditzy, fond of perverted jokes) and Treasurer Hagimura Suzu (genius trapped in a child's body).

There is no real plot, but the show has some form of time-continuity, and we follow our characters in whole-years school events: exams, excursion, sport-festival, art-festival. There is also the unavoidable trip to beach with overnight stay at the hot-springs. The jokes are heavy (they include talks about sexual toys, extreme sex, bondage...), but they stay jokes - they are neither crass nor erotic. This is not ecchi anime, and there is almost none fanservices. The jokes cleverly originate between girl's misconceptions about teen boys (who are seen as masturbating perverted freaks), intentional shameless desire to make Tsuda uncomfortable (he is pretty normal - actually a bit too reserved for a rare boy in girl-school) and some originally perverted streaks of few characters (Shino is obsessed with bondage, Aria owns several vibrators...). But there is nothing explicit in this series, and most jokes are presented orally (no pun intended). Oh, yes, there is also a lot of slapstick and pun-based jokes.

Whether you will find these jokes funny depends mostly on yourself. I found jokes funny, but not much. I think that authors intended the jokes to be more shocking, so I you are not easily shocked by sexual content, these jokes lose much of their impact. Still, there are some genuinely funny jokes, and it is always funny to see Tsuda's antics focused on Shino.

Interesting, there is even some innocent romance in this series. I actually got warmed up to the characters toward the end. Except the main four characters, there are some half a dozen supporting characters, like Hata (member of newspaper club that likes to take improper pictures to sell them on the Internet), Igarashi (female member of Discipline Comity that is chronically scared of boys), Naruko (teacher attracted to younger males)...

The graphical side of the anime is not impressive. Design of characters is especially generic and bland, but I appreciate it that they are not in the school uniform all the time and possess more than one set of clothes. There is some nice OP and ED. Music in between is intentionally made sleazy. There are 12 episodes total, but there are two more sequels with few more OVAs.

But in the end, "Seitokai Yukaindomo" is not really an anime to recommend. There are funnier high-school comedies out there ("School Rumble" for example). And for the jokes the work you would have to be not easily offended, but easily shocked by the sexual content at the same time. But on the other hand, if you like high-school comedies and don't have anything other to watch, this is not a bad anime.

Book review: "The Wishsong of Shannara" by Terry Brooks

I was very happy to start reading "The Wishsong of Shannara" by Terry Brook, because I knew that after this I was done with "The Shannara Trilogy" and I could move on to better stuff. But I was once again surprised, because toward the end I actually enjoyed the book.

Again, "The Wishsong of Shannara" starts some years after the previous book. After the end of "The Elfstones of Shannara" and defeat of Demons, Will Omshford has married Eretria and returned to the Shady Vale, where he became a famous Healer and got two children, Brin (older daughter) and Jair (younger son). But it turned out that Will's playing with the Elfstones backfired and gave his children a strange and new ability, the wishsong. In Brin it manifested as the power to change world around her by song; Jair, on the other hand, was able just to make an illusion of change. One day while Will and Eretria were on a trip, after being absent for all these years from the Four Land, Alannon reappear in Shady Vale to collect Brin and take her to a dangerous journey - to destroy the book of evil magic, the same one that turned Druid Brona to evil Warlock Lord, as this can only be done with power of the wishsong. On this trip they are joined by Rone Lean, grandson of Menion Leah. Jair is to stay at home and guard their back, from both their parents (who would object to this journey) and Mord Wraiths (magicians turned evil by the book).

It this intro sounds a bit too fast, that is all right - the same is with the book itself. You found there information in few pages and the adventure immediately starts, with no one asking why. Again, there is new and unplanned addition to setting, convenient for the plot, which no one asks much about. But if you accept this, you are in for a pretty decent book. This is a much faster and lighter book than the first two - and although it has similar number of pages, it is read much faster. It is divided to two main plotlines, Brin's and Jair's - there are other POVs too, but these two are obviously main characters and we see the most of the book from their view. Brin's part was a bit to angsty in places, but she is such characters. Jair's part was, on the other hand, much more fun to read - lots of action, fighting, cleverness. He also has a much larger cast around himself, so their dynamic was more interesting. Nice last part of the book, especially description of Maeldrom forest - this was one of rare ingenious parts.

There is much characters in this book, and we don't meet everybody at the beginning. Although Brooks intended Garet Jax to be the most imposing one (as I gathered from his introduction), I found Slanter the most interesting and complex character. Other character are good and interesting (especially Cogline), if you don't mind single-mindedness much. This was the first book in series to feature genuine humor, and I appreciated that much. On the other hand, while I can say I was every warmed up for Alannon, in this book he was most irritating so far - he is described as philosophizer, teacher, wanderer - never seen him doing anything of that.

A reader could again find many inconsistencies if he would look for them, but there are not so obvious here and I didn't mind them. Curiously, the old hero is forgotten and does't appear any more - Will here, as was with Shea in "The Elfstones of Shannara" My biggest objection is that bad guys are still indistinctive and mute.

Just a note: this book not connected with plot, just by setting and some characters - every one is stand-alone.

"The Wishsong of Shannnara" is actually a pretty good book, especially Jair's part, compared to first two (especially the first). But while I was reading it, a also happened to read this. I know that taste is not something to discuss, and I am aware that Shannara series has a tons of fans... But compared to this, this book was bland - these few chapters written by Erikson contain more history, drama, epic, magic, characters, etc. than complete Shannara original trilogy! It was something in range of Eddings, but not of Feist who is much faster and funnier. Although it is not completely bad, it is not something I would really recommend since there are much better books out there.

Movie review: "Snow White and the Huntsman"

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to movies to watch "Snow White and the Huntsman". We were talking about it or "Prometheus", but this one was playing at better time. We first saw the trailer for it few months ago and decided we will definitely go watch it because it was great. But as movie came out, I found few reviews proclaiming it as a disappointment, and telling that trailer was misleading. Now, after watching it, I think they are half-way right: trailer is misleading, but the movie is not as bad as they said.

"Snow White and the Huntsman" is an movie-adaptation of the classical fairy-tail, but with additional elements and a bit darker and more violent. After Snow White's mother dies, her father the King is in great mourning. One day he rides out to defeat a strange, black-glass army that appeared at his boarders. The army is defeated fairly easy, and in their mist they found a prisoner, young and beautiful Ravenna, who immediately catches the King's eye and heart. But on the night of the wedding, it turns out that she is actually a witch and a Trojan horse - after killing the King, she lets in the real army lead by her brother Finn, imprisons Snow White, and starts her long-year tyranny. But now, after several years and her beauty is starting to fade (despite the countless lives of innocent girl she had spent saving it), her only option is to takes Snow White's youth...

After this point, new elements starts creeping in, but mixed it classical fantasy (and Snow White's) tropes: the Dark Wood, huntsman, dwarves, fairies, poison apple... Don't expect miracles, this is not LotR, but story is OK. There is only one scene that was too much (with that elk, you will recognize it), and there is a bit of pathetic drama toward end, but all-in-all, it was a satisfying movie.

I was positively surprised with the character of Ravenna. In the fairy-tail, she would be an evil-stepmother - no reasons, not history, just evil... But in the movie, there is a revelation how and why she became what she is now - also revealing her weak side.

The dwarves were pretty funny, as it was intended. Beith kept reminding me on Ian McShane - and I was pretty surprised after I later read that this was Ian McShane... I don't usually comment on the physical looks (either good or bad), but they could have found someone prettier to play the role of Snow White - Kristen Stewart is not the one to be "the only one looking fairer in the whole land" than Charlize Theron.... Chris Hemsworth had a pretty decent part, as had Sam Claflin.

A big NO for the "rumored sequel"!

All in all, not as good as it could be, but better than I expected. A "Snow White and The Huntsman" is a nice action-adventure movie based on a darker version of Snow White fairy-tail.

TV show review: "Game of Thrones", second season

I didn't mention it before, at least I think, but I have been watching the second season of "Game of Thrones" as episodes were coming out, so I wanted to make a few short notes about it.

This season was adapted from "A Clash of Kings", a second book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin. But contrary to the first season, which followed "A Game of Thrones" book quite faithfully (with reduction necessary to transform 800+ pages book to 10 hours show), this wasn't true for the new season. Yes, in general it is the same content, but plot, structure and characters have been changed - the degree is of this change is negotiable. To me, who have read aCoK half a dozen times and consider myself a fan of ASoIaF, this change was too large. I presume for a causal read, someone that read it once and had no big interest in the series, this was not so important. But I spent most of my time bitching how they changed this thing or that...

On the other hand, although I can't be a real objective observer, for a TV show, it is a good stuff. A large cast backed up with good acting, interesting and complex plot, unique setting (for a TV)... I think that everyone how doesn't have anything particular against fantasy can enjoy this show. Most of the people who I talked to about "Game of Thrones" liked it, except for those few who didn't like it because it was fantasy. But these same people didn't like "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars"...

I didn't like how Tyrion was softened, but they made it up for him with last episodes - and that explosion was really something! On the other hand, they made a success with making Joffrey look as the ultimate prick. Arya's plot was OK, but it was a bit over-the-top mixing it with Tywin's. Daenery's parts were a complete disaster, in my opinion. Jon's part was good, although it lacked complexity it has in book. They destroyed Bran's part, but I think they did it OK with Theon's. Although I am not sure what to think about him, after "A Dance with Dragons".

I am curious what will they do with the third book, which is quite longer that first two - split it into two season, rise the number of episodes or reduce the book content...

For conclusion, although I can't say I really liked this show, I think that second season of "Game of Thrones" is a good and enjoyable show. I am planning on watching the third season - and probably complaining all the way..

Book review: "Orb Sceptre Throne" by Ian C. Esslemont

Few days ago I finished with "Orb Sceptre Throne" (this is the exact title on my book - there was some confusion with right spelling and commas), a latest installment in "The Malazan Empire" series (ah, so this is where is saw it - on the book itself) by Ian C. Esslemont. I had some big expectations from this book, since these two series set in Malazan setting are two of my favorites. Also, from my re-read of "Night of Knives", "Return of the Crimson Guard" and "Stonewielder", I expected this one to be of similar quality - not as good as Erikson's, but good in its own right. Comments that it will involve a great deal of Seguleh (on of peoples much referenced but never fully explored by Erikson) were enough to bring water to my mouth.

There will be some very minor spoilers, regarding who partake in this book, so don't read if knowing this would be a problem.

(First cover without the ships, wow!)

A surprise waited me on first few pages when I started reading "Orb Sceptre Throne", in Dramatis Personae - I knew most of the names. Sure, there are a lot of Seguleh as new characters, but since a biggest part of book is taking place in Darujistan, you will immediately recognize major players. Esslemont has "borrowed" some characters from Erikson few times, which was to be expected, since it is their joint project. But before they were characters introduced by Erikson and only briefly covered, and never POV characters (at least I think so). This time we are talking about some big names: Kruppe, Rallick Nom, Torvald Nom, Barathol Mekhar, Krull Bar's crew; and a lot of others. These are characters that took place in two or three books now, that were written marvelously by Erikson and had a solid base of fans (in case of Kruppe, we are talking about one of the defining characters of series) - so it is only natural that I was being fidgety about idea that Esslemont could take them and ruing them for me (relatively to Erikson's quality).

Regarding story, we have three and a half independent lines. The major one is of course in Darujistan. A knowledgeable fans were probably able to pick this from bare mentioning that the action is taking place there, but I will say it outright here - it extends hints provided by Erikson (some of those are trailing even from the first book, "Gardens of the Moon") dealing with the Tyrants of Darujistan. And as could have been concluded from the "pickled Seguleh incident", it involves Seguleh greatly. The half-part is connected to the first one in Darujistan, but it doesn't take place there until the very end. Second one was a bit of surprise for me - it is about Antsy (another very familiar character, although without much POV coverage from Erikson) and several other companions exploring the sinking Moon Spawn. And third one is one now typical for Esslemont involving Kiska (and Leoman) and her search for Tayschreen.

Stories are all decent enough but I must say I expected more. The one in Darujistan is good - it involves some politics, a lot of action and in its course reveals much, but not all. It had some good element surprises - Caladan Brood and his apparent loss of influence; true history of Baruk and Torud Cabal; dealing with Malazan; re-appearance of Topper in Empire affairs... Antsy's search over Moon Spawn wasn't bad either, but it provided no importance in bigger scheme of things. Mostly it reminded me to some old RPG quest where you have a company that you need to guide over some cave and use their each special ability; or to some Forgotten Realms books I've read. And for Kiska's part, let's just say that it wasn't nearly as good as her part in "Stonewielder" and I wasn't sad because of it shortness.

And now we have come to the biggest problem of this book: characters. I am very sorry to say that Esslemont blew it. Not completely and not too much, but I will not be expecting his next book very much. Most of the characters are written passable: Rallick and Torvald, Blend, Picker and rest of the gang, Malazans. Some are even written great, like Scorh and Leaf, Madrun and Lazan Door. But most important ones were not as good as they SHOULD have been to make this book work. I presume that writing Kruppe and his extravagant speech are hard - but if you can't do it right with a character this important, you shouldn't even try. And Traveller?! With few brief mentions Erikson made him good. With him as a main character in one book, he made him one of the most tragic character in whole series (and isn't this doubly true?). Esslemont did very good with him in RotCG, but here, he made me wonder who this person is? Did someone other took place of Traveller I knew? Few characters that Esslemont did on his own were nice, especially Bendan and other Malazans.

Another disappointment were the Seguleh. Well, not them in general, but in particular. Sall was only intriguing character of them. Esslemont had some great potential with Jan and could have made him tragic and great - instead he took a cheap and easy solution which could be good enough in some other series, but not in one with caliber of Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Also, what happened with Iskaral Pust and Mogora? If I remember correctly, they were both in Darujistan when we last saw them. On the other hand, I am happy that Esslemont missed to screw him also.

Regarding the style of writing, it is typical Esslemont - a lot of action and dialog, much less philosophy and need for reader to think - more straightforward then Erikson in "Toll the Hounds" that can be taken as prequel of this book. This makes it easier to follow and relax into it, but even though Erikson's style was much harder, I think it was one of the things that made MBotF what it is. Although, I am at least glad to say that Esslemont has finally started to take a grip on the humor. All in all, the book was fun to read and I finished it in few days only.

These last three books left me wondering about the future of this setting. With Crimson Guard, Korel, and now Seguleh and Moranth, Esslemont doesn't have much more new unexplored parts of the map to drain. Actually, only one that I can remember that was left unexplored is Jacuruku...

All in all, I am not very satisfied with "Orb Sceptre Throne". With solid weight of MBotF behind it, Esslemont is guaranteed to have a large fan base as his readers - but on the other hand, he has to do his part and keep as satisfied. I presume that most Malazan fans will have the same opinion of this book as mine: a good enough book with occasional brilliant parts, but Esslemont will have to work harder if he doesn't want to lose our trust, if it's not already late for that.

TV show review: "The Pillars of the Earth"

I started watching this series with my girlfriend sometime in December, after we finished watching "Game of Thrones". I heard few people talking about it (it was also going on TV around that time) and then remembered reading about the book somewhere, so I thought it will be a good watch.

"The Pillars of the Earth" is an 8-episode historical TV-show with a story set in 12th century England. As it covers a period of couple of decades there is a lot of going around. On highest scale we follow the war between cousins, after King Stephen takes the throne from rightful Queen Maude. But the focus is put on a town of Kingsbridge and its residents: Prior Phillip, an ambitious but extremely pious and moral man; Tom Builder, a master builder whose dream is to build a cathedral; his son Alfred and talented foster-son Jack. Their plans to build a cathedral in Kingsbridge will be a thorn in the eye for corrupted Bishop Waleran and wicked family Hamleigh, which stole the neighboring Shiring Castle from its rightful owners, young Aliena and Richard. In the background of all this events is the story of Jack Shareburg, a mysterious man who was killed for witnessing a sinking of the White Ship which carried England's original Crown-Prince.

Plot is not bad as it is, but it is pretty much predictable and full of tropes. I presume that it worked much better in the book where it could be developed in more details, but here, more experienced viewers will able to guess immediate events without much trouble. But if you like history you will probably find it interesting. It is gritty and violent, with lots of fights and scheming.

Characters are much better, although they also suffer from the same problem - they had to be simplified to fit the frame of the show. But they are complex enough and should be able to pique your interest. This is especially true for Bishop Waleran and Prior Phillip, who are probably two most complex characters in the series. The Hamleighs will also be able to provide you with some shock. Most of the "good" characters behave as you would expect from them, but the "bad" ones will be there to make things interesting.

The production of this series is a minus for it. Much, much weaker than "Game of Thrones" (comparing these two is maybe unfair from me, but I have watched them one after another). Locations and people are quite limited. Mass battles are anything but. The cast is pretty good and well known, though. No one is a big star, of course, but even I was able to recognize a lot of faces, if not names.

Taking all this in consideration, "The Pillars of the Earth" is nice enough historical series, although I would not recommend it to anybody. This is a series for lazy Sundays, if you don't have anything better to watch.

Movie review: "Knowing"

This Saturday I watched the 2009 movie "Knowing", with Nicholas Cage. I don't usually like Cage's movies, but I got this movie accidentally and the IMDB description looked good, so I watched it with my girlfriend. While watching it, I remembered that actually a friend recently recommended it to me, but I forgot the name.

The movie starts a bit like a horror. During the 1950s, kids in some US school are tasked with drawing a picture that will be put in a time-capsule which will be opened 50 years from then. One kid, Lucinda, instead writes a full page of numbers and places it in the capsule. Later she is found in some store-room, scratching doors with her bloody fingernails and screaming "Make them stop whispering!!" (or something like that)...

In present time, John (Nicholas Cage), a university professor of astrophysics, obtain this paper after his son receives it from the time capsule. Intrigued be the number, he discovers that numbers are dates of big accidents, with number of deaths in them. Worse, he founds that there are three more accidents in future!

Story is pretty good. Later it takes an unexpected turn toward SF, but this works very well. The suspense is done quite good, although you will probably be able to guess the ending.

I didn't like John's character very much (as usually, Cage's characters are always tragic, heroic or something else exceptional - he is a smug person, in my opinion), but neither was he annoying. Other characters are also OK, but nothing special. Whole movie is moderate in general, except the story and the sense of suspense which elevates it from the mass.

In short, "Knowing" is quite a good movie for an evening-watch, except if you for some reason hate SF. A bit of action, drama and lots of mystery, that can leave you a bit pondering.

Book review: "Shadowheart" by Tad Williams

I first planned to do the re-read of complete "Shadowmarch" series by Tad Williams, but when I got the last book, I didn't have the will to do it. First two parts didn't leave me the best after-taste - they weren't bad but neither was really good. Third part improved things quite a bit, but nevertheless I didn't felt like reading two thousand pages of not-so-great fantasy immediately after reading two great pieces ("The Judging Eye" and "Scar Night"). But this last book in series almost (but not quite) made me regret my decision.

Since I will reveal some major spoiler for previous books, I will advise you not to read more if you haven't read them.

In my post about "Shadowrise", I elaborated about some similarities between Williams' "Shadowmarch" and "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series. Although they had very similar starting point, their curses ended very much different.

As in first three books, in "Shadowheart" we have several differentiated POVs, but while before one POV equaled to one chapter, things are bit different here. Since the events converge in series' namesake - Shadowmarch castle - main characters' story-lines get pretty mixed up. In last book Prince Barrick carried the last hope of Qar (Elves) to their main seat - castle Qul-na-Qar - and in the end he was able to deliver it. But things have changed much for him - now HE is the last of of Qar. After receiving the gift of Fireflower from the Blind King Ynirr and learning the real truth behind his blood, he is left with two burdens: to learn how to live with the overwhelming voices of Fireflower and to make peace with his new People, the Qar. Both of this will become even harder after he is forced by current events to go to Shadowmarch with Queen Sarqi.

Much more to the South, Princess Briony, Barrick's sister, is also going to Shadowmarch. She is doing this in company of Sianese Prince Eneas and his small but substantial army called Temple Dogs. Briony, as poor Princess without much power, must try to compel Eneas and his fillings toward helping her country's needs, but without promising much. Somewhere parallel to her, young Quintan, after escaping Vo, now wanders the unknown countryside, trying not to end in hand of Autarch.

In Shadowmarch itself, things are bad. In the castle under siege, Hendon Tolly is using the poet Matt Tinwright for some unknown, but certainly magical and dark purpose. Around it, Autarch and his humongous army are at the same time besieging the castle, fighting Qar and Funderlings, and preparing for some Sulepis' mad plan that includes magic mirrors, gods and blood of King Olin. And under it, Funderlings have made a shaky peace and alliance with the Qar, and now are preparing to stop the Autarch together, although in poor conditions for this.

What is Autarch really planing to do here? What Gods are doing about it? And what is Flint's part in these events? All this and more will be answered in this book!

The biggest problem of this book and the whole series is commonness of its characters. In cases when Williams comes up with some original idea (e.g. Fireflower and its effects, of Jiyukin in second book), they really flourish then and are interesting to read. For example, Princess Briony: she is a decent enough character, clever and troubled, with some depth. But all in all, she is a typical spoiled-princess-growing-up character and she acts like that. Prince Barrick is complete opposite - he starts as a stereotype, but once he gets in Williams original setting (Shadowlands, Qar, magic), he becomes interesting to read - especially in this book. Now that I think about it, "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" also had this problem, although it was less pronounced.

Story, on the other hand, is much more interesting. Although there are lots of clues what in general is happening, Williams successfully masks the specifics until the very end. I must say I was surprised and delighted with the last plot-twist - although the big-bad was a little downplayed and final resolution was hinted several times from the beginning of the book.

I must commend the ending. Usually, ending consist of 5-10 pages where, after defeating the enemy, heroes have a little celebration, explain few things and go home. Williams invested some effort and really explained what happened, who ended where and gave the characters a deserved conclusion. This was so unexpected that I was expecting another twist or hidden master-mind, even though they defeated the obvious one.

What I didn't like was the "mysterious cloaked stranger". After building some much hype around him, I was pretty disappointed when his identity was finally revealed. I understand that Williams wanted to play a joke on us, but it pretty much failed.

All things considered, "Shadowheart" is quite good book, with some flaws, but ultimately interesting and fun read - best from these four books. Unfortunately, this cannot be said for complete series. "Shadowmarch" tetralogy is not Williams best work, nor is so unique and good is this thickly-populated genre. Not bad, but I would have better spend my time and money on some better piece. For those who really, really liked "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" or really don't have anything else to read.

Movie review: "Immortals"

This Saturday I went with my girlfriend to the movie to watch "Immortals". We decided this on impulse, so I didn't know anything about the movie, except that it was somehow connected to the Greek mythology. In front of the movies, I notice a movie poster saying something on the line "made by the same people who made 300", which was a turn-off for me, because I didn't like "300". More so, before entering we met two friends, of whom one claimed the movie was terrible, while other said it was OK. So you can expect that I wasn't very thrilled for the prospect of watching it.

"Immortals" is very, very loosely based of few Greek myths. We have King Hyperion (marvelously played by Mickey Rourke), a crazy and violent ruler, who decided to take revenge on god because they didn't answer his prayers. His revenge consists of finding the Epirus bow and using it to free the Titans, who will then presumably kill the God. Since he is not on best terms with humanity also, he gathered an army, turned them to blood-crazy torturers and went postal all over Greece. We then have Theseus, who is a simple villager trained by Zeus (my friend who didn't like the movie argued that Theseus is son of Zeus, but there was no implicit claim on that; one of his co-villager said that his mother was raped by some villager and that Theseus is a product of that rape). After attack on his village by Hyperion and his sentence to salt-mines, he will there met a Prophetess Phaedra, who will mark him as Greece's only hope for salvation. With a band of fellow prisoners, he will start a journey to stop Hyperion and his mad plan...

Some spoilers ahead...

Though, it is not a spoiler to say that Theseus will win. Let's face it: "Immortals" is just this kind of movie when that main character is a good guy and he has to win. If you accept this fact and see this movie just as an action hit with cool 3D effects, you can have a good time watching it. Plot is not overly predictable, actor are not too bad (except Rourke, there is no more stars) and action is good. Just be prepared to large amount of blood, gore and violence.

But, have they changed one small detail in movie, things could have been much different. If Hyperion and Titans won (and I don't buy that vision at the end), I would say this is the best movie I watched in last five years! I mean, for the whole movie Hyperion is on the go, killing and raping everybody, having the largest army ever: he looks unstoppable. And then we have this one guy, good with sword, but just one guy. Care to guess who will win? Theseus was down, with knife-hole in his stomach and severely beaten by Hyperion. If in that moment Hyperion stick his knife in him and calmly walked away, I would have stand on my feed and give it a clap. Creators of this movie had a perfect chance to make a biggest surprise since "The Sixth Sense".

As it is, "Immortals" is a decent enough action blockbuster with 3D effects. Lower your expectation and have a good time with it.

Book review: "A Darkness at Sethanon" by Raymond E. Feist

With this book I finished my little re-read of Feist's books I have home. I actually have "Krondor: The Betrayal" also, but I have issues with this internal mini-series. Raymond E. Feist started to write this five-book cycle featuring Jimmy the Hand's rise and I remember that I really liked it. He finished three books and then got in some quarrel with publisher of video-game based on these books and never finished it. Anyway, I plan to get some more books before re-reading this one. Things also get a bit confusing about the order books should be read. "Krondor: The Betrayal" is happening shortly after "Riftwar Saga", but it was actually written much later; next book published after "Riftwar Saga" was "Prince of the Blood", which is something of a stand-alone novel. If you now include in this "The Empire Trilogy", which was actually written by Janny Wurts and is taking place on Kellewan in this same time, you get a pretty good mess. I resolved it by skipping "The Empire Trilogy" and reading "The Riftwar Legacy" (Krondor books) before "Prince of the Blood".

I tangled myself in description of reading order while I should be talking about the book... As in last post, there are some minor spoilers for previous books.

Events in "A Darkness at Sethanon" start off a year after those in its prequel, "Silverthorn". There were no new attacks by Murmandus or the Enemy for the past year, but now things are stirring up again. Nighthawks are again active in Krondor, so after some trouble with them, Prince Arutha and his old retinue is again joined by Martin and Baru and they start their travel to the North, looking for final confrontation with Murmandus. There they will find friends and enemies they never expected to see again. In the same time, Pug has finished his education with allies found at the end of previous book and is joined with Tomas, his oldest friend. Two of them will start a journey with ultimate goal of finding the one person who understands all this mess: Macros the Black.

This sounds like very simple plot; and believe me, it is. As before, plot is simple, straightforward and fast. This doesn't mean it's dull; Feist provides us with enough surprises and twists that it stays interesting. Also, considering pace with which events happen, reader doesn't have the time to stop and think much how plot is "easy".

Biggest complain can be directed to characters. While interesting and funny, they are just too shallow and already-seen. At times, I was feeling like I was reading some cheap love-novel, especially when Martin meets his love-interest (love at first sight, duty before love and all other clichés...). But as with plot, speed can cover a lot of mistakes. Also, this is where he really starts with recycling of characters.

On the other hand, world-building (or better said setting-expansion) works great. Feist is able to twist elements he introduced in "Magician" completely around and still sound plausible. This will happen continuously with his books, but he still has one of largest and interesting settings, which he can always return to and work the details.

The book ending was a bit too much "happy-end", but this is nothing that it shouldn't be expected. This book is quite larger than "Silverthorn", but it doesn't feel so; it is very easy to read.

All in all, "A Darkness at Sethanon" is a solid continuation in same tone as his previous book. Not a great achievement in fantasy genre, but a simple book with likable characters that is a great fun to read. Who was able to enjoy "Silverthorn" is certain to have fun with this one.

Book review: "Silverthorn" by Raymond E. Feist

It took me much less to read "Silverthorn" than "Magician", primary because former is almost twice as short (400 pages), but also because it is much simpler book. It many ways, this book is first one in long batch of similar books. This also means that if you don't like it, you should stop reading Feist and be satisfied that you have read "Magician".

This post includes spoilers about "Magician", although minimal.

Events in the book take place a year after those in previous book. Lyam, Arutha and Martin are slowly getting familiar with their new roles (King of Kingdom of Isles, Duke of Krondor and Duke of Crydee); for last few months they have been on a tour through Kingdom. Pug, his family and Kulgan and Meecham has been busy with establishing an academy for magicians, while Tomas has peacefully resided in Elvendar. The book starts with young thief Jimmy the Hand (a minor character from "Magician") thwarting an assassination on Arutha. This will lead to short cooperation between Arutha and the Mockers (thief organization in Krondor) and Jimmy's becoming a member of Arutha's team. Another attempt of assassination will end with Princess Anita's poisoning and revelation that not only Arutha's life is in stake, but a fate of whole world, as new enemy arises in North. A team of heroes will gather to quest for a cure for Anita's poisoning, Silverthorn.

As I said, this books marks a starting of a trend in Feist's books: one part of characters (Arutha and his people in first few books) dealing with more mundane and current troubles, while other team (usually led by Pug) exploring the magical root of these troubles. This is also a first book that will feature Jimmy the Hand as one of main characters. As I said in my previous post, he is one of my favorite characters, and I presume he was the reason why many readers continued reading Feist. Because, who doesn't like to read about young man with poor origins rising up using his natural skills and with, all spiced up with witty remarks and humor.

Plot and pacing is even faster and more straightforward than in prequel. This is a typical quest-plot, full with action and short dialog. I thinks there is not one description or internal monologue longer than half page (contrary to let say Erikson, where you will find characters thinking about stuff irrelevant to plot spanning several pages). This book is on about dynamic: characters are constantly talking or doing something. Plot itself is nothing extraordinary, but best comment about it is the fact that this was my third time reading this book and I was still able to enjoy it. I think it can be said that book is self-contained; although it serves to prepare stage for next one, all plot-lines are resolved and there is no cliffhangers at the end.

Similar things can be said about characters. Most of them are known from previous book and they are still predictable and enjoyable as before. My only complaint is that they behave even more as you would expect them to. Not all the time, but sometimes dialog looks too generic and clumsy.

Feist was clever in his world-building; even though you will find here elements with no clear backing in "Magician", setting still looks believable. He kept things opened in first book and these elements he introduced here don't feel too intrusive or inconsistent (Terry Goodkind was especially bad with this, for example). It is worth to note that he doesn't delve too much in magic and its nature: it works and that is enough. Sometimes he will describe some elements of it, but most time, a character will simply wave his hands or say a spell and something magical will happen.

For conclusion it can said that "Silverthorn" is a transitional book, taking elements (setting and characters) from "Magician" and putting them in a new, but smaller plot. As I said at beginning: try this book and if you like it, feel free to continue with Feist.

Movie review: "Horrible Bosses"

Although we used to watch movies at my friend's place at Friday, for some time now we have been re-watching the complete "Seinfeld", which is one of our all-time favorite shows. But this Friday we made an exception for other friend who doesn't like it and watched some movie, a comedy "Horrible Bosses".

The movie follows three main characters who all have problems with their bosses: Nick is working in some large firm where he is constantly overused and degraded by his sadistic boss Dave; Kurt is very satisfied with his work and boss until he dies and gets replaced by his son, an immature cocaine-addict; Dale is having problems with his sex-crazy boss who is trying to seduce him. This is all going for some time until one night, during drinking in a bar, they start fantasizing about killing them. After stress becomes even stronger, they decide to turn their fantasy to reality. Of course, nothing will go as they plan...

As comedies goes, this one is a typical. It has a predicting and not-too-deep plot, but jokes are usually good and fairly intelligent. There is some toiler-humor but not too much. Biggest curiosity of this movie is the stars that play in it (as support characters): Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston, Donald Sutherland and Jamie Foxx.

"Horrible Bosses" is not a movie that will be long remembered, but is a good comedy for various audience and it can give a fun for hour and a half.

Movie review: "No Strings Attached"

Yesterday my girlfriend and I watched "No Strings Attached", a romantic comedy with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. We try to avoid sleazy teen comedies, so we pick only those with stars included. My friends, on the other hand, when they watch such movies (which is not often), don't use this "method of filtering", so results often vary much.

So, Ashton Kutchers play Adam, a young man, some kind of movie assistant, easygoing, cheerful and sensitive. Natalie Portman is Emma, a medical student with tight schedule and no liking for relationships. They have met briefly several times in past, always feeling something but never doing anything. Until one night when Adam gets drunk and accidentally ends sleeping in Emma's apartment. Since then they will start a purely sexual relationship, with rules made by Emma that will keep things simple. Of course, at first things go smoothly, but slowly Adam will find that he has more feelings for Emma. Emma, on the other hand, has fear of relationships, but she will also realize that she is not completely immune to Adam's care and happiness. But how long will he be able to fight against her fears...

Not to drag this, this is a typical romantic comedy. Introduction, happy part, sad part, happy ending, all crisscrossed with humor. I like this concept, and shorter the sad part, happier me. It has a nice kind of humor, based a lot on sexual jokes, but nothing crass and no nudity - a kind of humor you would expect from big stars that also act in serious films (well, this is true more for Portman than for Kutcher). It has weird, but funny friends, and even a bad guy. Acting is solid and movie actually gets more serious than I expected based on the beginning.

So, in short, "No Strings Attached" is a nice romantic comedy which will not disappoint if this is what you expect and want. A good evening watch that doesn't ask much of you.

Book review: "Riddle-Master" Patricia A. McKillip

I am not really sure how my attention was drawn to "The Riddle-Master of Hed" trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip, but I was under impression of this book being something of a fundamental of fantasy literature, kind of "Lord of the Rings". I actually felt a little embarrassed for not reading it; I consider myself a well-versed in fantasy, and here I was, not even aware of such a classical piece. Media can sometimes be such a seducer, true?

I bought an omnibus edition, called simply "Riddle-Master: The Complete Trilogy". It contains all three books: "The Riddle-Master of Hed", "The Heir of Sea and Fire" and "Harpist in the Wind". The books start with Morgon, a young ruler of smallest kingdom of the land, island of Hed, full of farmers and famous for its beer. Morgon became a land-heir (ruler of kingdom with special connection to the land) very recently, after the death of his parents a year ago. Before that Morgon was (which is very uncommon for people of Hed) a student of college in Caithnard, greatest place of art of riddling. After they (they being Morgon, and his sister Tristan and brother Eliard) are visited by Deth, a harpist for High One (something of reclusive over-ruler), they learn that Moron won a hand of Raedlerle of An, daughter of a King of a powerful kingdom of An. Morgon decides to take his previously unknown prize, since he met Raedlerle before, while attending college. But while on way there, accompanied by Deth, he gets attacked by mysterious shapechangers and loses his memory. After regaining it, he starts a journey toward High One's mountain planning to ask him about the shapechangers, who are starting to become a real threat. On way there, he meets the others land-rulers and learns about secret behind the stars on his forehead.

Second book brings a radical change in perspective, since it is told from point of Readlerle, a character that was only briefly mentioned in previous book. We follow her as she searches for explanation about Morgons disappearance (first book ends in a cliffhanger, so we don't know anything about Morgon and his fate) and later for Morgon himself, as rumors about him start to fill the land. As searching brings to more distant places, she also starts to find new things about herself, especially her own strange power, which frightens her.

In third book we are back to Morgon's POV. We follow him and Raedlerle as they are first running from, and later fighting, their enemies, who include shapechangers, but other, too. Also, they discover that some of their dead enemies and allies are not as dead as they believed. But the biggest discovery will be about High One...

To me, the books sucked. They were written in the seventies and the author in the introduction clearly states how she was impressed by "The Lord of Rings" so much that it directed to toward writing fantasy. This is clearly in her writing because she really managed to emulate the sense of LotR and still be completely different from it. When I say sense of LotR, I mean about that atmosphere to nobility, a thing that I tend to associate to either older or poorer works. Let's take ASoIaF for example: it is certainly epic, and it contains occasional great nobility, but its prominent characteristic is grittiness; its characters are in no way chivalrous. You won't see that in LotR; people there are either heroes (large or small), noble, courteous and strong, or villains, foul-mouthed and cowardly. For more examples, WoT tends toward that, while MBotF completely inverts it; "Sword of Truth" by Goodking tends to that, but the books are terrible. I am not saying it is bad or it is good; it's just one style and it is just part of book. Anyway, McKillip succeeds in copying this style of LotR, but unfortunately fails in making books as interesting or intense.

There are several things that bothered me. First, I was irritated by characters, Morgon, Readlerle, Lysa... Always taking a easier route would quickly lead to the Dark Side, but I would nice to be that they sometimes do the smart thing instead the perfectly noble thing and clinging to impossible ideals. I mean, it's nice when someone sticks with his believes, but sometimes it is just obvious they will have to make some compromises (except when they are shounen-heroes) so why not do the smart thing and adapt quickly instead of dragging to whole book. E.g. Rand from WoT at first doesn't like One Power, but it obvious that he will be forced to use it. So even though he struggles against it and is reluctant about it, in the end he does accept it as a part of himself and learns to live with it. Secondly, they don't do much in this book; I think that good two thirds of these books consist of traveling. Things do get interesting when they actually start to do something (for example, defense of Lungold), but they are soon interrupted by another trip. Thirdly, I couldn't completely understand McKillip's writing. I don't know if that is because English is not my first language (although I read it more than Croatian, by the way) or she just has such way of writing, but I was often find myself confused by the events. Things do get explained later, but even after reading whole omnibus, I can't say I completely understand what happened. This also happened often with Erikson, but somehow I believe that with him this is intentional; here I believe reason is the lack of skill. This doesn't mean that McKillip is poor writer; even though I am a poor judge for this, I found her writing very beautiful. Also, for a book called "Riddle-Master", full of riddling and people who pride themselves on it, it would be nice to hear at least one riddle...

When I learned that "Harpist in the Wind" won a Hugo award, my opinion of it was something like of a Picasso's painting: experts and people with taste are able to appreciate it and discuss it strengths and details, but most of people would have to take their word for it being a masterpiece. So, "Riddle-Master" can be beautifully written, it can have strong metaphors or pictures, but I don't believe it will be so appreciated by general audience (by this I mean fantasy-literature audience). The fact that is not really omnipresent on web at least partially affirms my opinion. On audience that I think could appreciate this book would be the kids; I would have liked this book when I was 10, when I adored "The Hobbit".

Book review: "Shadowrise" by Tad Williams

Interesting, I just noticed that on front cover, then name of the author if larger that the name of the book. This is also true for first two parts. If I was an ignorant buyer (ignorant about Tad Williams and this books, not in general way), I don't think I would buy it. It gives an impression that the publisher is trying to sell the book based more on author's previous fame than on the quality of the book itself. Fortunately, this is not completely true.

I finished reading this book last weekend, but I was quite busy after the vacation, so I didn't have the time to really devote myself to writing its review. Now is Saturday, so I finally can.

This is Tad Williams' third major work. First was "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" tetralogy (initially planned as trilogy, similarly to "Shadowmarch" series) and I read it. It is a very good epic fantasy series. I wouldn't say it is a masterpiece, but I would recommend it to every fantasy fan because it doesn't have any big flaws, it has an interesting setting and it's a very fun read. Second one is "Otherland" series, something of a cyberpunk or science fiction which I haven't read, although it has good reviews. I actually planed to read it last year, but other things got priority priority, so it lost its place in schedule. Other than that Williams wrote several standalone novels, of which I read only "The War of the Flowers", a very unique fantasy with setting I would compare to China Miévile's "Perdido Street Station", although not so good; but good nevertheless.

"Shadowmarch" series, which started with novel with the same name, was return to classic fantasy a la "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn". But it was even more than that. I don't know how much it was on purpose, but if someone else wrote this book, Tad Williams would be able to sue him for plagiary with no problems. We have very similar setting: pseudo-Medieval kingdoms with sever hundred years of more or less unchanging history and technological level, one Church and so on. We have elves that were once on better terms with humans, but now they have retreated behind a barrier. We even have small gnomish people that occasionally interact with humans. Characters are also very similar. Main character in both series is teen boy with red hair living on court. Then there is a friendly court-doctor who privately deals with more mystic forces. Even the plot starts in the same way: unrest and succession after disappearance of king.

But after the same start, "Shadowmarch" starts to diverge. It introduces new elements of setting, new characters; plots takes different turns... When you get to the second book, "Shadowplay", it is a curious combination of known and unknown. All in all, this series is somewhat tough to recommend. There is many better fantasy series out there, with more originality, more tension, better characters and so on. But on the other hand, it is in no way bad, just mediocre. So, if you read haven't read "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" I would advise you to start there. If you already had and liked it, you can give "Shadowmarch" a chance when you don't have anything better to read. If you didn't like MSaT, don't even try this.

And if you read first two books, "Shadowmarch" and "Shadowplay", I think you will like "Shadowrise" because it was best so far. I am only sorry that I didn't do a reread before reading it. I remembered all the characters in general way, but I forgot some specifics of their circumstances, since I read "Shadowplay" only once.

We have several POVs. Princ Barrick is on a quest in fairyland, although he is not even sure why or what he has to do. He is almost alone (except a raven Skurn), with no weapons or equipment, and he is definitely lost there. All he knows is that he has to bring a mirror elven general Yasammez gave him to elven King, to have a hope of saving humanity. He will not have a nice trip, but at least he will learn more about the reasons fairies attacked his kingdom. He will also find some sources of power that he never dreamed of attaining. His sister, Princess Briony has finally finished her journey and is now safe in the court of neighboring and friendly kingdom of Syan. At least this is what she believes at first; she will learn that she is not so save after all, and that Princess can't afford to have any friend. But she will also find strength to stop being just a victim and to try to do something for her kingdom. Captain Vansen, after sudden parting with Princ Barrick is now in Funderling Town under Shadowmarch castle. Together with Chert Blue-Quartz, doctor Chaven and other Funderlings he will try to defend the Funderling Town and Shadowmarch from underground invasion of Quars. He will also find a chance for at least temporary truce, only if he succeeds meeting with Quar General. Above them, in Shadowmarch castle, poet Matt Tinwright is have much smaller aspirations: he is trying to survive between serving regent Hendon Tolly, taking care of his missing mistress Elan and spying for former minister Avin Brone.  On the other side of the world, but slowly traveling to Shadowmarch, we will follow Pinimmon Vash, a Prime-Minister to Autarch Sulepis of Xis. Although having almost infinite power, he is like a fly to his Emperor, a living god. Even more, Pinimmon, minister to several Autarch before, will learn that the current one in nothing like his predecessors. He will also learn that he can't understand King Olin, who travels as prisoner toward his kingdom, where he will be used as mean for some unknown purpose. Somewhere behind them is young Qinnitan, abducted by mysterious Vo, who is bringing her to Autarch. But Qinnitan will do everything to escape for this fate.

In this book don't expect any sudden changes in style, setting or atmosphere compared to previous books. But expect a nice reading in familiar circumstances. There are not any boring parts. Plot develops naturally, and even though is sometimes predictable, it still introduces enough surprises to be interesting. We have everything: an important journey, court politics, religion and magic mix, history, occasional comical scenes... Characters behave in believable ways and still develop. Most interesting part to me was gradual revelations of this world's history and mythology, especially how it was seen from different races.

In the end, best thing to say about "Shadowrise" that is was very fun to read. I recommend it to all who read first two parts and liked it; they won't be disappointed.