Friday 31 January 2014

City of Dragons - Robin Hobb

RATING: THREE STARS

After a long, arduous journey that was wrought with disaster, the Kelsingra expedition has finally reached its end. The dragon keepers are wearing little more than rags, with barely enough equipment for a few people between them all; the crew of the Tarman is starved and exhausted; and the dragons continuing to grow, now requiring an unsustainable quantity of food as winter draws in.

In an effort to save the expedition, Captain Leftin races back to Cassarick to collect the money the Trader’s Council owes them to purchase some much needed supplies. Even as he traverses the Rain Wilds, Leftrin knows that he’s going to need all of his wits to keep from the jaws of the Council. They are determined to find out and lay claim to what the expedition found upriver; coveting any profit that could be made.

Worse still, other traders—the business elite of Rain Wild culture—descend on Casserick like vultures the moment the Tarman is spotted. The most affluent of their number have used their wealth and influence to hire vessels to chase the liveship upstream, including strange foreign longboats that can sail at great speed and are impervious to the river’s acidic water. Leftrin knows he must flee them, but heading upstream with a barge laden with supplies will be slow going. If he fails, he risks more than the decadent greed of the traders. He could return to find the whole expedition has perished . . .

The Good
City of Dragons is the best instalment of the Rain Wild Chronicles yet! Although it’s not quite as exciting as The Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven overall, it really begins to delve into the mythology surrounding dragons and, in particular, elderlings. This makes for fascinating reading as Robin Hobb as created a rich and well-established symbiotic culture where each party worked to better the lives of the other. Hobb spends a great deal of time developing these ideas and has really set the groundwork for a very exciting finale of the series in Blood of Dragons.

Once again, Hobb’s prose flows well and is very easy to follow. In fact, her writing makes reading the book almost effortless and she has a knack of really immersing my in her world; dropping me straight in the environment of her characters. As well as making the book very enjoyable, it shows me that Hobb is a very talented writer and is certainly worthy of her reputation as a master of fantasy!

Hobb’s chacterisation continues to be first rate in City of Dragons and the people in the story seem almost real, with the same faults and failings that mar us in real life. Mistakes are made as frequently as the correct decisions and, with motivations of blackmail and greed driving many of the characters, it’s extremely difficult to predict  what will happen next!

The Bad
The biggest problem I had with the book was with Thymara and her continual whingeing about whether or not she should lose her virginity. While this is obviously a big deal for people—particularly for women—it actually has nothing to do with the storyline and Hobb has kept it up for three books now. Thymara’s whining did begin to get on my nerves a bit and I found many parts in the book slightly grating.

My Thoughts
City of Dragons is a detailed, well-thought out book that is exciting and interesting to read. While giving details of the elderlings, Hobb has already begun to tie up many strands of the story and has laid the groundwork for Blood of Dragons to be a fantastic finale to the series! If you haven’t already, I would recommend giving the series a go (although Hobb’s unconventional view of dragons takes some accepting and might not be to everyone’s taste).

Saturday 25 January 2014

The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan

RATING: FOUR STARS 

Rand al’Thor wants nothing more to do with Aes Sedai. He is sick of being manipulated, tired of being hunted by Ba'alzamon's servants and wants nothing more to do with resisting the Dark Lord’s plans to break the Wheel of Time once and for all. He is unsafe to be around and, after great consideration, decides that he must leave his friends behind him before they come to harm.

But Rand’s plans are shattered when the Horn of Valere—a relic from the Age of Legends that brings heroes back from the dead—is stolen by the foul Darkfriend, Padan Fain. Rand cannot leave the Horn in Fain's and reluctantly joins the quest to retrieve it. 

On Lord Agelmar's behest, Rand, his friends and Lord Ingtar pursue Padan Fain and his Darkfriends as if they were heading straight to Shayol Ghul itself, following a swathe of death and destruction. But trollocs and Myrddraal are the least of the heroes’ worries as Fain’s powers grow. Even Ba'alzamon has underestimated the corruption that lies in the gleeman’s heart and, touched by madness, Fain challenges Rand to end their great dispute in Toman Head – a peninsula that’s being invaded by the Seanchan, the direct descendants of Artur Hawkwing. The Seanchan bring strange magic and monsters with them; seeking to own all and enslave the Aes Sedai to their terrifying will. 

The Good 
Robert Jordan has outdone himself again in The Great Hunt. The story is every bit as imaginative as its predecessor (The Eye of the World) and he builds upon his mythology well, creating a vivid, detailed world with a well-established history. Jordan also continues to steer clear of ‘conventional’ monsters and uses those of his own invention as antagonists. This makes for an interesting read and really helps the book stand out in a genre that’s full of goblins, trolls and orcs! 

Jordan’s characterisation is also exceptional and he has managed to give his entire cast their own unique voices and thought processes. This adds a sense of realism to The Great Hunt and allowed me to really relate to certain characters. It was also interesting to read about their motivations and how these influenced their actions throughout the book. Despite many of the characters being in the same place, with the same intent in mind, very few are there for the same reasons. 

The plot of the book was also quite good. Admittedly it was simple, with much of the book being based around Lord Ingtar's men pursing Padan Fain as they tried to retrieve the Horn of Valere, but Jordan has written it well and The Great Hunt never became stale. He has also taken the time to lay the groundwork for things that will presumably happen later in the series and begins to unveil aspects of certain characters’ pasts.

The Bad 
To be honest, there wasn't really anything I disliked about The Great Hunt and it more than lived up to the standard set by its predecessor, being exciting and extremely interesting throughout. One thing that did stand out to me though, was the book was very heavily focused on Rand as the 'point of view' character. The Eye of the World was written from the perspective of several characters with different story arcs and I felt as if Jordan neglected many of his characters overall. Hopefully, this is something he remedy's in The Dragon Reborn and I'm looking forward to a more complex story too!

My Thoughts 
I have to say that I was very impressed with The Great Hunt and it lived up to expectations. Its settings and cultures were as rich and detailed as those seen in The Eye of the World and Jordan continue to develop his characters and story. Once again, I recommend that you read the book (or begin The Wheel of Time) as it's certainly worthy of its status as a masterpiece of fantasy!

Sunday 5 January 2014

Read an interview with Travis Simmons

Hi all,

I've actually been meaning to put a post about this up for a while now, but I never seemed to get round to doing it. I recently stumbled across an interview with Travis Simmons on My Book Addiction (another reviewing site) and thought that I'd post a link to it here.

As you may already know, Simmons is an independent fantasy, science fiction and horror writer who is most notable for his Revenant Wyrd Saga and Infernal Designs series'. Simmons writes with great flares of imagination and I have reviewed a number of his books in the past - check out his tag in the FEATURED AUTHORS section if you want to read them!