These are hectic days

I'll get to working on the review of Forge of Darkness as soon as I get some spare moments in front of the computer. As things stand I've managed a brief reflection on what's to come, and I'm having a really hard time avoiding spoilers. But I'll get there, eventually.

Work has been demanding lately, and if that wasn't enough we've entered an october's end that means a lot of birthdays and parties. As if that wasn't enough, my 30th is coming up as well.

As you can see, I just set out upon Cook's final Dread Empire collection, A Path to Coldness of Heart. I haven't gotten that far, and I've had trouble really immersing myself in the story but I'm sure Bragi and his friends and foes will grab a hold of me eventually.

I also noticed Red Country is in stock at my local store so I need to plan my way over there.
Well, back to work!

That empty feeling again..

And so at long last I finally finished Forge of Darkness yesterday. I've got to say that the pace, at least for me, dropped off a bit towards the end but it's still a huge wow-feeling reading Erikson. He does every little thing that I value the most so well I found myself at times going back to the start of a page I'd finished just to read through everything. Almost like I didn't wish it to end.

There's a lot of familiar characters, frankly, there's a lot of characters period. But this is the part I love the most about the Malazan world. Every little detail is so well thought through that I can't find any faults with this tome. Or wilfully ignoring them I guess.

The awesome art is from PS Publishings' special signed volumes of Erikson's book. Made by David Gentry in a 300 edition. I'd positively love to own one but at 97£ they're a bit steep for me, sadly.

I'm still not certain where to go next. I feel like I have to give Mark Hodder a chance now, seeing the pair of books glaring down at me from their shelf. And with now only a matter of days before Joe Abercrombie's Red Country hit the shelves I'm a bit hesitant to pick any long read up as I will want to get my hands on it as soon as possible.

Well, that's it for the brief update, I'll get back to knocking in words for the Adamantine Palace review that was promised last week. Sorry 'bout that.

Adamantine review forthcoming

I need to get started on the review of Stephen Deas's excellent the Adamantine Palace, I just can't help myself though. I'm savouring every line of Forge of Darkness, you get sort of an idea of where we're headed now that I am pretty much halfway through.
But Erikson has that uncanny ability to rewrite the history that we thought we knew, and there have been plenty of brilliant revelations even this way into the book.

Hopefully I can finish the book in the next two days, might be a big ask, and then finalize the review for sunday at the latest. No promises though, we've got guests coming over for the better half of the weekend, as well as a team dinner to get through. And loads of work on sunday as well.
Cheers!

Steven Erikson, my personal hero

I'm a couple of hundred pages into Forge of Darkness now, and I have to say it's definitely restored my faith in personal hero and inspiration extraordinaire Steven Erikson. What he can do with his characters, his worldbuilding and his turn of phrase I have yet to come across from any other author. China Miéville is very close.
After a bit of a letdown towards the end of his Malazan Book of the Fallen I can say he has fully restored my opinion of him as the foremost now living author in the genre. It's intriguing and demanding at the same time, never just a comfortable read but, I would say, almost entirely always a more than satisfying experience.

I can see why some consider his writing a 'heavy' read, but I don't think you would get as fulfilling a ride if it wasn't for great vistas, philosophical interior/exterior debates and believable characters.

I am not psyched about nearing the end of this, the first of his Kharkanas trilogy. Hope he can keep up with his usual high-pace writing!

Friday musings at the office

Seeing as A Memory of Light, the final installment in Robert Jordan's epic tale of the T'averen, is to be released january 8 in 2013 do you think it'd be worthwhile to pick up the old tomes again?
I had an idea that I would collect the entire series in hard cover way back when. That was fresh out of authors like David Eddings (Belgariad, Malloreon and Sparhawk), Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, which I incidentally never finished) and some Star Wars extended universe.

Can't say I've ever found that the Wheel of Time holds a candle to Tolkien but I found the beginning books quite interesting but seeing as to what I'm reading now, will it feel like a step back?
I might have to put it on my list of series to finish. Makes it easier knowing that the entire collection will soon be complete.

As an aside, can't describe how good it feels to immerse yourself in Erikson again. Forge of Darkness, it's begun. Awesome.

New acquisitions, G&S and Stephen Deas

I picked up my most recent purchases yesterday. No thundering rains or hurricane-like winds this time around which was a nice change, and as usual I can't wait to get into the lot of them! Sadly, it means my pile is growing at a faster pace than which I can read.
I've been toying with the idea of not visiting as many review blogs and what not for a while, so I won't be seduced into going after more books! I'm also way behind in my reviewing. I need to finish up a new version of the Orb, Sceptre, Throne review that I/blogspot managed to erase as well as get going with the Scourge of the Betrayer notes that I haven't really looked through.

A friend got me started on the Geek and Sundry youtube cast, and while I've only gotten through the first episode; The Story Board, Episode 1: Urban Fantasy, Threat or Menace? I'm positively surprised. Good to see some insightful discussion on plot and settings from working writers and a couple of good shout outs/recommendations. Check them out if you haven't.

I'm now about 130-something pages into The Adamantine Palace and Sollos and Kemir is growing on me. They're a pair reminiscent of many of Steven Erikson's dynamic duos with witty dialogue and good stagesetting.  I'm expecting a lot from Deas now, feel his style is somewhat reminiscent of Erikson's as a whole as well, much more so than other touted heirs Durham and Kearney. You're pretty much thrust into the setting and plot without much background, and I think (as long as you're not overwhelmed) it's something that works for him.

Slump dot com

I've been in sort of a slump ever since blogger/blogspot managed to delete the entire review I had finished on Orb Sceptre Throne. While not entirely catastrophic to the main function of this blog it set me back quite a lot in wanting to have a sit down and go again.

I finished Jeff Salyard's Scourge of the Betrayer the other day as well but have yet to start on another book, knowing that eventually I will want to go back and re-do the review for Orb Sceptre Throne so I get the reviews done in the right order again. But I'm not expecting to have it finished by early next weekend, I don't really want to set a deadline. But it will be done.

As will the review of Scourge of the Betrayer once I get my thoughts properly in order.

Footy season starts again today in the Premier League, have to wait until monday for Everton though.

For my next read I'm thinking either the Adamantine Palace or either of the Hodder books that I got a back while. Still shocked every time I realize I have yet to pick up Erikson's Forge of Darkness. The sample reading available seem epic enough and I can't really wait to get my hands on it. Just a bit mad that work and what not conspires against me.

I've been doing a bit of writing myself but it's hard to find time for everything both wanting and needing to be done.

Steven Erikson news that I had somehow missed!

It would seem the next Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novella has been finished and is out from PS Publishing, since the middle of june apparently. The title The Wurms of Blearmouth does little to explain the continued story from Lees of Laughter's End but the blurb is as wonderfully whimsical and with the comedic turn of phrase that you've come to expect from the novellas. I found it on the A Fantasy Reader blog, with cover pictures from PS Publishing as well.

While browsing my local sci-fi and fantasy bookstore to see if they had a pre order available I noticed that they have the first book in Erikson's Kharkanas trilogy available, and slotted for a july 31 release date. Forge of Darkness is a definite read on my 2012 radar.

A friday like any other

Not much to report, been a long day at work but I've got the Cold Commands with me and will get some short reading done before training tonight. I've been working hard at staying away from the second season of the Game of Thrones tv-series. As much as curiosity has me piqued, I rather enjoyed the Tuesday-Night-Whiskey-And-Game-of-Thrones-orama from season one and look forward to completing the second season in one sitting with good friends and good drinks. I can make do with books in the meantime.

I noticed Tor has released an excerpt of Esslemont's Orb, Sceptre Throne (well, yesterday) which sparks some memories of good reading in the Malazan universe. I look forward to reading it, but where once I would throw myself at the chance to dive back into the lands of the Free Cities, and Darujhistan in particular, I now look at the pile of books that I still haven't gotten around to reading and feel like it can wait a while longer. The Crippled God, with it's inconclusiveness, satiated my hunger while at the same time letting me down a bit. I've been reading Erikson's Malazan novels nigh on 11 years now starting out with Gardens of the Moon after graduation in -01. I'm sure I'll get around to Esslemont's continuation in time, but the urgency isn't quite there as it was before. And I'm fairly certain it's not just the fact that Esslemont's writing is radically different from Erikson's. I quite liked both Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard, and can't say I have a problem with his writing per se, but I just feel like the whole world has so many loose ends that the suspicion is slowly creeping up on me that what seemed a Kellanved/Dancer-esque masterplan has fallen far shorter of what it promised to be when they set out.

Might just be that I haven't re-read the novels for the last two installments in the series so I'm a bit out of touch with where I started. But at the moment there are entirely too many new faces to acquaint myself with so any rennaisance will have to wait a bit longer.