(2) I actually liked Privilege of the Sword (which I read first) a lot more than I liked Swordspoint. I just think it's a better book, without the messy structure and random loose ends that Swordspoint has. I adore Richard, but can't take Alec -- in either book -- as anything other than bad news. I don't find him charming or intriguing, I just want to tell Richard to go find someone to be with who isn't fucking crazy.
Katherine, on the other hand, rocks! I loved that she wasn't a tomboy type, and I really liked her dynamic with Marcus (I was shipping them, too) and Artemisia (I could easily ship the two of them, as well, though I generally don't get pinged by femslash).
The Fall of the Kings, on the other hand, I disliked more than I liked. The only thing that appealed to me about it was the deftly drawn academic setting. Everything else just felt WEIRD. (The whole thing is written up somewhere... I have a swordspoint tag, but apparently the one thing I didn't actually tag with it is the actual Swordspoint. Ah, here it is.
(3.1)
we seem to be doing this thing where we use GRRM as a convenient benchmark for contemporary fantasy authors
Yes, I find I'm constantly doing this! And it's not even that I think GRRM is an unimpeachable genius, but I do think he doest shades-of-grey fantasy better than anyone I've read, where there's enough grit to feel "realistic" and yet enough shininess to not be dreary, enough complexity to be satisfying and enoug Cool Shit to be fun.
(3.2)
i think scott lynch is a magician. a stage magician. he's very good at what he does, which is create a spectacle. it's choreographed just like one of locke's capers, and what's more he's aware that he's pulling the strings, and he flaunts it. he's reveling in his own cleverness?
That's a great way of thinking about it, and I think you're rigt! His writing is very, very slick, especially for a first book, but, yeah, it does kind of feel like the flash-bang of stage magic. Hell of a good show! but had to get emotinally invested in.
lynch is the magician who acts as our intermediary but sometimes you just want to be like fuck this i don't want a guided tour.
Haha, yes. Interesting point -- I loved all the bits of worldbuilding he mentioned, but there didn't seem to be any depth to them. I have no feel fr Camorr or any of the other places, I have o desire to spend any more time there, other than with some of the characters that I really did like. And I think it's becaue, as you say, the world-building is pretty much only there to serve as props for his tricks (and the bits that don't seem to be -- like Elderglass -- then elicit the question of what is it for. Normally I don't care what the worldbuilding is for, I'm just busy lapping up all the "Bear and Maiden Fair" lyrics and Cats of Queen Beruthiel.
(2) I actually liked Privilege of the Sword (which I read first) a lot more than I liked Swordspoint. I just think it's a better book, without the messy structure and random loose ends that Swordspoint has. I adore Richard, but can't take Alec -- in either book -- as anything other than bad news. I don't find him charming or intriguing, I just want to tell Richard to go find someone to be with who isn't fucking crazy.
Katherine, on the other hand, rocks! I loved that she wasn't a tomboy type, and I really liked her dynamic with Marcus (I was shipping them, too) and Artemisia (I could easily ship the two of them, as well, though I generally don't get pinged by femslash).
The Fall of the Kings, on the other hand, I disliked more than I liked. The only thing that appealed to me about it was the deftly drawn academic setting. Everything else just felt WEIRD. (The whole thing is written up somewhere... I have a swordspoint tag, but apparently the one thing I didn't actually tag with it is the actual Swordspoint. Ah, here it is.
(3.1)
we seem to be doing this thing where we use GRRM as a convenient benchmark for contemporary fantasy authors
Yes, I find I'm constantly doing this! And it's not even that I think GRRM is an unimpeachable genius, but I do think he doest shades-of-grey fantasy better than anyone I've read, where there's enough grit to feel "realistic" and yet enough shininess to not be dreary, enough complexity to be satisfying and enoug Cool Shit to be fun.
(3.2)
i think scott lynch is a magician. a stage magician. he's very good at what he does, which is create a spectacle. it's choreographed just like one of locke's capers, and what's more he's aware that he's pulling the strings, and he flaunts it. he's reveling in his own cleverness?
That's a great way of thinking about it, and I think you're rigt! His writing is very, very slick, especially for a first book, but, yeah, it does kind of feel like the flash-bang of stage magic. Hell of a good show! but had to get emotinally invested in.
lynch is the magician who acts as our intermediary but sometimes you just want to be like fuck this i don't want a guided tour.
Haha, yes. Interesting point -- I loved all the bits of worldbuilding he mentioned, but there didn't seem to be any depth to them. I have no feel fr Camorr or any of the other places, I have o desire to spend any more time there, other than with some of the characters that I really did like. And I think it's becaue, as you say, the world-building is pretty much only there to serve as props for his tricks (and the bits that don't seem to be -- like Elderglass -- then elicit the question of what is it for. Normally I don't care what the worldbuilding is for, I'm just busy lapping up all the "Bear and Maiden Fair" lyrics and Cats of Queen Beruthiel.
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