Thar she blows! The Whoite Wheyle!
I do not like panel interviews.
I do not like panel interviews.
I do not like panel interviews.
Thank you.
What I did like was 'The Lies of Locke Lamora'. Actually I finished it yesterday, but was too distracted on my Shirt Hunt to post.
First of all, I want to find Scott Lynch and either a) clone him or b) fund his dictatorial Published Authors' Retraining Boot Camp with a Huge Stick. I've read books where the writer understood one of the necessary ingredients - people should like my characters, people should see my world, people should believe my story, etc., etc. - but not within Lissish memory have I read a book with so many you'd-think-they'd-be-fundamentals in it at the same time.
The book isn't flowery-ambitious. It's not about continent-spanning events or delicately worked motifs of redemption. It's about a rather cunning group of confidence-trickster friends - all essentially decent sorts, and with mostly believable explanations for why this is so - and how they get sucked into a power shift involving other thieves who are anything BUT decent. The story doesn't pretend to be anything but an adventurous, suspenseful and fun way to spend your reading hours, so that's what it turns out to be.
Lynch hasn't let this constitute an excuse to be lazy, either. Everything in his world (alchemy! ancient magical glass! *swoons*) is described in fascinating detail without becoming very infodumpish, and it's all very well thought-out, and it's logical. This also extends to his characters for the most part. Even very minor characters are given less cliched roles and personalities than you'd ordinarily expect.
They're also extremely likeable, by and large - even the protagonist, for a change *gasp*. There are quite a few things I love about Locke. First and foremost is that Lynch lets him fail. Locke is a smartarse who isn't always right, and sometimes his trust in his own cleverness gets the better of him. He's also an essentially decent sort in spite of all the thieving - almost the street-trash-with-the-heart-of-gold, but not quite, since there are aspects of his upbringing which provide more or less credible reasons for why this is so. I was willing to believe them, anyway. ;)
(For the record, my favourite character was Jean. Hem. Moving on. ;)
There were a few things that still made me quirk a brow a bit. I was often puzzled about what the Gentlemen Bastards' actual purpose was, and why only they were so effective - a team of five with pretty formidable resources for a group formed only a matter of years ago. I thought it was odd that there were no older Gentlemen Bastards hanging about (all are recruited within the scope of the book). I also thought it was a wee bit of a stretch of the imagination to think that (mini-spoily: highlight to read) an ambitious little git like Locke never had more grandiose ideas about what to do with all the money they stole.
The Bondsmagi struck me as a tad overpowered - why would they not be ruling the world by that juncture with that sort of incredible magic? why was the gang war so drawn-out with a power like that on the other side? And as for the climax, why on -earth- did the Bondsmage assume that a thief like Locke would give a crap about what happened to a bunch of nobles he didn't know? Quite obviously he did, but it didn't feel like character information that the Falconer should have.
But none of those little ponderings were game-breakers for me, and overall I found it a really immersive, really enjoyable day's read. Oh, yes - and I cared what happened to them all. :D
I will be buying the sequel. I will also be reading 'His Dark Materials' next ... fingers crossed!
Happy Wensdy, peoplies :)
I do not like panel interviews.
I do not like panel interviews.
Thank you.
What I did like was 'The Lies of Locke Lamora'. Actually I finished it yesterday, but was too distracted on my Shirt Hunt to post.
First of all, I want to find Scott Lynch and either a) clone him or b) fund his dictatorial Published Authors' Retraining Boot Camp with a Huge Stick. I've read books where the writer understood one of the necessary ingredients - people should like my characters, people should see my world, people should believe my story, etc., etc. - but not within Lissish memory have I read a book with so many you'd-think-they'd-be-fundamentals in it at the same time.
The book isn't flowery-ambitious. It's not about continent-spanning events or delicately worked motifs of redemption. It's about a rather cunning group of confidence-trickster friends - all essentially decent sorts, and with mostly believable explanations for why this is so - and how they get sucked into a power shift involving other thieves who are anything BUT decent. The story doesn't pretend to be anything but an adventurous, suspenseful and fun way to spend your reading hours, so that's what it turns out to be.
Lynch hasn't let this constitute an excuse to be lazy, either. Everything in his world (alchemy! ancient magical glass! *swoons*) is described in fascinating detail without becoming very infodumpish, and it's all very well thought-out, and it's logical. This also extends to his characters for the most part. Even very minor characters are given less cliched roles and personalities than you'd ordinarily expect.
They're also extremely likeable, by and large - even the protagonist, for a change *gasp*. There are quite a few things I love about Locke. First and foremost is that Lynch lets him fail. Locke is a smartarse who isn't always right, and sometimes his trust in his own cleverness gets the better of him. He's also an essentially decent sort in spite of all the thieving - almost the street-trash-with-the-heart-of-gold, but not quite, since there are aspects of his upbringing which provide more or less credible reasons for why this is so. I was willing to believe them, anyway. ;)
(For the record, my favourite character was Jean. Hem. Moving on. ;)
There were a few things that still made me quirk a brow a bit. I was often puzzled about what the Gentlemen Bastards' actual purpose was, and why only they were so effective - a team of five with pretty formidable resources for a group formed only a matter of years ago. I thought it was odd that there were no older Gentlemen Bastards hanging about (all are recruited within the scope of the book). I also thought it was a wee bit of a stretch of the imagination to think that (mini-spoily: highlight to read) an ambitious little git like Locke never had more grandiose ideas about what to do with all the money they stole.
The Bondsmagi struck me as a tad overpowered - why would they not be ruling the world by that juncture with that sort of incredible magic? why was the gang war so drawn-out with a power like that on the other side? And as for the climax, why on -earth- did the Bondsmage assume that a thief like Locke would give a crap about what happened to a bunch of nobles he didn't know? Quite obviously he did, but it didn't feel like character information that the Falconer should have.
But none of those little ponderings were game-breakers for me, and overall I found it a really immersive, really enjoyable day's read. Oh, yes - and I cared what happened to them all. :D
I will be buying the sequel. I will also be reading 'His Dark Materials' next ... fingers crossed!
Happy Wensdy, peoplies :)