Finished Joe Abercrombie's series. He is fantastic writer. He did alot of things the opposite of current trends in fantasy. Instead of creating a vast world with lots of nations and histories, he simplified it to 3 nations and no map. However, this left him room to work on a deep plot and stunning characters. The battle scene in the 3rd book may be my favorite battle scene of all time. I also really liked the way he wrote the northmen. He did a great job with them in the 3rd book. It is the kind of depth I would expect to only see in a very good and very well researched historical fiction novel. Oh and of course, he has canibals and a torturer is a viewpoint character. I think I might end up liking Abercrombie more than George RR Martin in the dark genre. Its too early to tell.
I am on Ken Scholes second book. I am reading this due to the good reviews on the Elitist book review site. I like the post-apocalytpic fantasy. The first book starts with a robot getting repgrammed, to cast a spell, that nukes a city. He also has a neat twist on the catholic church. In his books, the church is a group of archeologists. I like that his books are short and he is very efficient in his writing. A couple of things bothered me. First off, I think he was too brief in a few places. I remember thinking, a few times, how did we get here so fast? Also, the book starts with a catastrophe, but I don't think Scholes does that good of a job describing the sense of grief and horror that people would have gone through. Some of the main characters spent months burying an entire city. I would think that would be horrifying. Scholes doesnt doesn't really describe that well.
All that being said, I like him and will stick with him. I started on the second book and I think his writing has improved immediately.
I also really like the concept that he is running with. I have wanted to read fantasy books that mix magic and technology. This is the
first that I have found. I believe Brandon Sanderson said he is going to do that on his next Mistborn book.
I also picked up a Daniel Abraham book. I had never heard of him. I don't know anyone who has. I am reading him due to reviews
on the Elitist book review site and I think Brandon said he liked him at one of his book signings.
Also, audioing the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I read the first two in the 1990s. They are as good as I remember. These
are books where you can tell, the author must have spent an incredible amount of time on. They are done very well. It is about the
colonizatin and terraforming of Mars.
