Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Robin Hobb - The Liveships Traders Trilogy
Ship of Magic; The Mad Ship; Ship of Destiny.
It has been way too long since I read these books for me to be able to write a proper review. But it suffices to say that trilogies like these remain the reason that I read fantasy novels.
The only complaint I remember having was the conclusion to book 1 and book 3. There was no real conclusion in book 1, I suppose that you may not need one in the first book of a trilogy, but I think that the story should still lead somewhere. I was a little spoilt by having access to all the books at once, as I often do with trilogies, so it is hard to tell what I would dislike more if I had to wait a year or two for book 2 – would I hate no having an ending, or would I dislike having an ending that leaves much unexplained. I think that in the long run I want some kind of ending. The Eye of the World is a perfect example, apart from the whole we have to have a huge Last Battle (note the capitals) this could survive as a stand-alone novel (the cynical among us may say that it should have been).
Robin Hobb’s characterization is masterful. Her imagination is not chained by fantasy cliché. Her world has complex politics, actions have real implication, characters have real reactions. People do stupid things through ignorance, and generations are affected. There is no black and white; not unredeemable evil, or irreproachable good. Some characters we care about, others we hate – but we understand why they are doing what they are doing, whether we love it or despise it.
I guess it would be easy to dismiss the novel – ships are alive, can talk and move to some extent, and feel and respond to the emotions of the crew. Serpents are sentient, although fading, and are in fact a larval form of dragons. I guess this kind of stuff could turn people off. But it is a great story, you just have to let go a little and suspend disbelief just a tad. There are no plot flaws though, everything is completely internally consistent.
This is the type of fantasy that non-genre readers don’t realize exists. They know about sword and sorcery, and think that all fantasy readers are pimply teenagers reading Forgotten Realms and playing Dungeons and Dragons (not that there is anything wrong with that) Good fantasy is so much deeper than that, sure its fun to read about people hacking each other into ever smaller pieces, but sometimes it is good to read about people in adverse circumstances. These are people as real as those in any real world novel. It is simply there locale that differs.
I am hardly likely to convert many people here, and I am not sure I would know how to go about it, but I would very much like to be able to get more people to read fantasy. The more people read it, the more people will write and publish great novels like this one.
So how was that for a review that manages to rarely mention the actual novel? Seems like most reviews I read on websites are like that now – just the reviewer pushing their point of view, in my case ‘People should read more good fantasy novels thinly disguise as a review for Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy.
It has been way too long since I read these books for me to be able to write a proper review. But it suffices to say that trilogies like these remain the reason that I read fantasy novels.
The only complaint I remember having was the conclusion to book 1 and book 3. There was no real conclusion in book 1, I suppose that you may not need one in the first book of a trilogy, but I think that the story should still lead somewhere. I was a little spoilt by having access to all the books at once, as I often do with trilogies, so it is hard to tell what I would dislike more if I had to wait a year or two for book 2 – would I hate no having an ending, or would I dislike having an ending that leaves much unexplained. I think that in the long run I want some kind of ending. The Eye of the World is a perfect example, apart from the whole we have to have a huge Last Battle (note the capitals) this could survive as a stand-alone novel (the cynical among us may say that it should have been).
Robin Hobb’s characterization is masterful. Her imagination is not chained by fantasy cliché. Her world has complex politics, actions have real implication, characters have real reactions. People do stupid things through ignorance, and generations are affected. There is no black and white; not unredeemable evil, or irreproachable good. Some characters we care about, others we hate – but we understand why they are doing what they are doing, whether we love it or despise it.
I guess it would be easy to dismiss the novel – ships are alive, can talk and move to some extent, and feel and respond to the emotions of the crew. Serpents are sentient, although fading, and are in fact a larval form of dragons. I guess this kind of stuff could turn people off. But it is a great story, you just have to let go a little and suspend disbelief just a tad. There are no plot flaws though, everything is completely internally consistent.
This is the type of fantasy that non-genre readers don’t realize exists. They know about sword and sorcery, and think that all fantasy readers are pimply teenagers reading Forgotten Realms and playing Dungeons and Dragons (not that there is anything wrong with that) Good fantasy is so much deeper than that, sure its fun to read about people hacking each other into ever smaller pieces, but sometimes it is good to read about people in adverse circumstances. These are people as real as those in any real world novel. It is simply there locale that differs.
I am hardly likely to convert many people here, and I am not sure I would know how to go about it, but I would very much like to be able to get more people to read fantasy. The more people read it, the more people will write and publish great novels like this one.
So how was that for a review that manages to rarely mention the actual novel? Seems like most reviews I read on websites are like that now – just the reviewer pushing their point of view, in my case ‘People should read more good fantasy novels thinly disguise as a review for Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy.
Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch
The first book from the author of High Fidelity (which I loved; both movie and book) and About a Boy (which I am keen to get my hands on), this is a story about the neurosis of football fans. It is autobiographical, following Nick’s support for Arsenal and all the pain that goes with it. The world of British football is a foreign one to me and I think that if I was more knowledgeable then I probably would have got more out of it. There were some things that struck home though.
He links various up and downs of Arsenal with his own personal ups and downs. Something that he sees as perfectly reasonable – his support of the team is irrationally personal; as is mine of my football (rugby league, not soccer) team, the Bulldogs. But it is hard not to become like this. The Bulldogs were kicked out of the comp for salary cap breaches on my birthday two years ago. The last time we won the competition (1995) was the same year as an amazing 3-0 win to the Queenslanders in State of Origin. These are the things that you remember. Our come from behind victory against Parramatta in the major semi final of 1997(after they had poached 5 of our players in 96) – and rubbing it in to my uncle and my friend’s mother who are both Eels supporters
He seems to have a unerring memory for matches and scores and players that I envy, but he also gets to see his team play live on a weekly basis, whereas I have to subsist on the occasional TV game and the once a year the Doggies make the trip from Sydney to Brisbane.
I enjoyed this book even though there were large parts of it I skimmed, as he went into discussion of soccer tactics, players, managers etc. He manages to poke fun at himself while explaining in some respects the passion that football fans feel. He gives some insight into the loutish behaviour that is synonymous with English football fans, and gives reasons for the various tragedies that have happened over the years.
I love the irrationality of it all. Why do you feel more attached to your team when they are losing? It is easy to be a fair weather fan, but while it hurts to watch your team lose, it makes the infrequent victories all the more special. People outside the scope of football don’t understand that once you have chosen the team you support you can no more change it than you can change your birth parents. It is just something you are. I am a Bulldogs fan, and always will be. Hornby is an Arsenal fan, and they will probably have to drag him away from Highbury to bury him.
If you are a soccer fan you must read this book. If you are a patriotic football fan of any code you should read this book. If you have no interest in football of any kind, read High Fidelity – it’s great, and then get yourself to a footy game, you’re missing out!!
He links various up and downs of Arsenal with his own personal ups and downs. Something that he sees as perfectly reasonable – his support of the team is irrationally personal; as is mine of my football (rugby league, not soccer) team, the Bulldogs. But it is hard not to become like this. The Bulldogs were kicked out of the comp for salary cap breaches on my birthday two years ago. The last time we won the competition (1995) was the same year as an amazing 3-0 win to the Queenslanders in State of Origin. These are the things that you remember. Our come from behind victory against Parramatta in the major semi final of 1997(after they had poached 5 of our players in 96) – and rubbing it in to my uncle and my friend’s mother who are both Eels supporters
He seems to have a unerring memory for matches and scores and players that I envy, but he also gets to see his team play live on a weekly basis, whereas I have to subsist on the occasional TV game and the once a year the Doggies make the trip from Sydney to Brisbane.
I enjoyed this book even though there were large parts of it I skimmed, as he went into discussion of soccer tactics, players, managers etc. He manages to poke fun at himself while explaining in some respects the passion that football fans feel. He gives some insight into the loutish behaviour that is synonymous with English football fans, and gives reasons for the various tragedies that have happened over the years.
I love the irrationality of it all. Why do you feel more attached to your team when they are losing? It is easy to be a fair weather fan, but while it hurts to watch your team lose, it makes the infrequent victories all the more special. People outside the scope of football don’t understand that once you have chosen the team you support you can no more change it than you can change your birth parents. It is just something you are. I am a Bulldogs fan, and always will be. Hornby is an Arsenal fan, and they will probably have to drag him away from Highbury to bury him.
If you are a soccer fan you must read this book. If you are a patriotic football fan of any code you should read this book. If you have no interest in football of any kind, read High Fidelity – it’s great, and then get yourself to a footy game, you’re missing out!!
Beowulf
I just read this out of curiosity. I am interested in legends, those of the Greeks and Romans may be the most well known, but those of the Australian Aboriginals, Native Americans and many African nations are equally interesting if perhaps less fully formed. It had the additional allure that Tolkien translated one of the most read editions. This edition actually had the old English one the facing page to the modern English translation. No words are recognizable; the difference a few hundred years can make on a language are amazing. I think that the invention of the printing press has markedly slowed this natural evolution of language, which is a shame in some ways, and a benefit in others. We can still read and understand the manuscripts of Shakespeare, but must rely on translation for great literary works older than that, e.g. Chaucer.
Beowulf is a legend about a Scandinavian warrior who is renowned for his strength in battle. He rescues the hall of Heorot from the monster Grendel, and his revenge-seeking mother, and returns to his land in glory. After many years as king he is once again called into battle against a dragon, which leads to the downfall of both him and the wyrm.
The author states in the introduction that he attempts to keep some of the rhythm of the original, which relies heavily on alliteration of stressed syllables, but I can never tell which syllables are meant to be stressed and which are not, so I fear my ear in this was lacking.
It was a very simple tale, you could imagine it being told around campfires to groups of men who inhabited a similar world to that of Beowulf. Strength in arms and loyalty to allies rewarded by woman, food and riches.
So it was an interesting rather than an enjoyable read, but something that is good for me to be able to say that I have read.
Beowulf is a legend about a Scandinavian warrior who is renowned for his strength in battle. He rescues the hall of Heorot from the monster Grendel, and his revenge-seeking mother, and returns to his land in glory. After many years as king he is once again called into battle against a dragon, which leads to the downfall of both him and the wyrm.
The author states in the introduction that he attempts to keep some of the rhythm of the original, which relies heavily on alliteration of stressed syllables, but I can never tell which syllables are meant to be stressed and which are not, so I fear my ear in this was lacking.
It was a very simple tale, you could imagine it being told around campfires to groups of men who inhabited a similar world to that of Beowulf. Strength in arms and loyalty to allies rewarded by woman, food and riches.
So it was an interesting rather than an enjoyable read, but something that is good for me to be able to say that I have read.
Dante Alighieri - The Inferno
This epic poem was originally written in Italian in rhyming triplets. I flicked through a number of translations at the university library until I settled on this one, which seemed the most natural, aimed more at a literal translation than twisting meanings to the confines of rhyme. This meant that only the first and last lines of each triplet rhymed, and occasionally not even them, but I think it preserved the scope of the poem quite well.
The poem itself is quite incredible, and this is actually only the first of three books, to be followed by Purgatory and Paradise, which complete the Divine Comedy. Dante himself is led by Virgil through that circles of hell and witnesses the punishments that God metes out to sinners of different ilks.
The footnotes of the edition I read were enormously helpful, and allowed me to appreciate the genius of this work, and it is without doubt genius. The talent required to create an epic poem of this scope, and to include within it such precise symbolism is mind boggling.
If you get a chance to read this poem – do it!
The poem itself is quite incredible, and this is actually only the first of three books, to be followed by Purgatory and Paradise, which complete the Divine Comedy. Dante himself is led by Virgil through that circles of hell and witnesses the punishments that God metes out to sinners of different ilks.
The footnotes of the edition I read were enormously helpful, and allowed me to appreciate the genius of this work, and it is without doubt genius. The talent required to create an epic poem of this scope, and to include within it such precise symbolism is mind boggling.
If you get a chance to read this poem – do it!
Guy Gavriel Kay - 'The Wandering Fire' and 'The Darkest Road'
Books II and III of the Summer Tree trilogy and both vast improvements on number one. The threads that were somewhat haphazardly spun out are woven together into a storyline of breathtaking complexity, originality, and beauty. Everything seems interdependent on everything else. Kay’s writing style is very different to that of other fantasy authors. Heavy on symbolism and near poetic description, it leads the mind to form its own image from the feelings conveyed, rather than from the images spelled out.
I don’t think that I will ever be a blurb writer, and attempting a plot summary months after I have read the books is probably ill advised. But these books often left me in awe of Kay’s storytelling prowess. An absolute pleasure to read.
GGK is very much like the Weaver he styles as the creator and fate maker; holding disparate threads and then weaving them, subtly, warp and weft. First a vague impression of the image forms, a tickling at the front of your mind and then slowly, faster in patches, the true grandeur is revealed. Such is the way GGK spins his plots. Layer upon layer, complementing, enhancing, deepening. An impressively spun tale!
If I had to pick a defect it would be the common fantasy tropes that are used. The lios alfar still parallel the Tolkien elves very closely. The Dwarves are also Tolkienesque. This is probably not surprising considering he helped Christopher Tolkien finish The Silmarillion. The clichés detract slightly from the story, but this is a minor nitpick.
As a footnote the cover illustration of Book II (I have the Harper Collins 3rd Ed 1992) by John Howe is remarkably similar to his illustrations for Robin Hobb’s Liveship Trader’s trilogy. It depicts a serpent rising out of storm tossed waves
I don’t think that I will ever be a blurb writer, and attempting a plot summary months after I have read the books is probably ill advised. But these books often left me in awe of Kay’s storytelling prowess. An absolute pleasure to read.
GGK is very much like the Weaver he styles as the creator and fate maker; holding disparate threads and then weaving them, subtly, warp and weft. First a vague impression of the image forms, a tickling at the front of your mind and then slowly, faster in patches, the true grandeur is revealed. Such is the way GGK spins his plots. Layer upon layer, complementing, enhancing, deepening. An impressively spun tale!
If I had to pick a defect it would be the common fantasy tropes that are used. The lios alfar still parallel the Tolkien elves very closely. The Dwarves are also Tolkienesque. This is probably not surprising considering he helped Christopher Tolkien finish The Silmarillion. The clichés detract slightly from the story, but this is a minor nitpick.
As a footnote the cover illustration of Book II (I have the Harper Collins 3rd Ed 1992) by John Howe is remarkably similar to his illustrations for Robin Hobb’s Liveship Trader’s trilogy. It depicts a serpent rising out of storm tossed waves
