Thank you to everyone who voted in my poll to help me decide what novel to recommend as a Member’s Choice selection next month at the GoodReads SciFi & Fantasy Book Club. Despite a tie in the poll, several members of the aforementioned group expressed their opinions in a discussion thread I started last week, which sealed my decision.
So, without further ado, my Member’s Choice selection for a group read in July 2012 is . . .
The Silent Tower by Barbara Hambly (cover art on the 1986 edition by the late Darrell K. Sweet)
I took the initiative and contacted the author, Barbara Hambly, who graciously agreed to participate in a question and answer thread, much to my surprise and delight.
I will lead, or rather guide, the discussions online at GoodReads (follow this link to join in early). Or wait the ten days until July and hit the ground running with me and several hundreds (perhaps thousands) of your new fantasy friends as we read The Silent Tower together. All are welcome and I’m looking forward to meeting you and introducing you to a fantastic author.
If you prefer a printed edition, please check with your local library, used book store or your favorite online retailer, like AbeBooks.com (who may have some new or nearly new editions available).
I received the honor of selecting the Member’s Choice reading selection for July 2012 at the GoodReadsScience Fiction & Fantasy Book Club. I reviewed the bookshelf of read books for the club (over a hundred since January 2008) and then reviewed my five star rated books. I narrowed the selection down to just three, two of which I’ve read (multiple times) and one I have wanted to read for many months.
Choices Three
The Silent Tower by Barbara Hambly
The group has only read one other book written by Barbara Hambly, but she is a prolific fantasy author that deserves more attention.
I honed in on The Silent Tower because it remains one of my favorite Hambly novels. Here’s a brief synopsis to tease you:
In a world where wizards are relegated to ghettos, it is no surprise to see one murdered in the street. But for Stonne Caris, a young warrior monk who sees the killing and gives chase to the culprit, there is nothing ordinary about seeing a murderer disappear into a black, inky portal. The Archmage sends him in search of Antryg Windrose—a half-mad mage who understands the nature of these passages between dimensions.
On the other side of the Void is Joanna, a programmer as mild as Caris is deadly. She has spent her life in cubicles, staring into computer terminals, as far from heroism as she can get. But when the power that is crossing between dimensions draws her through the Void, she finds herself battling to save a world she never even knew existed.
Average GoodReads Rating: 3.92 stars (on a five star scale) based on 819 ratings
Availability: Only the ebook edition is currently in production (I found the best price at Kobo for $7.69; not DRM-free).
The Diamond Throne by David Eddings
It shocked me to learn that the SF&F book club had not read any of David Eddings‘ works; not even from his hugely popular Belgariad series. He also happens to be one of the two fantasy authors I can get my husband to read and I give full credit to the voice of Sparhawk.
Synopsis/Teaser:
Sparhawk, Pandion Knight and Queen’s Champion, returned to Elenia after ten years of exile, only to find his young Queen Ehlana trapped in a block of ensorcelled crystal. Only the great sorcery of Sephrenia, ageless instructor of magic, kept her alive — but the spell would only last a year, and it’s cost was tragically high.
Now a Prince Regent ruled Elenia, the puppet of Annias, ambitious Primate of the Church who planned to seize power over all the land.
As Sparhawk and Sephrenia set out to find a cure for Ehlana, Sephrenia revealed that there was only one person in the west who could defeat the evil plots against Ehlana. That person was Sparhawk.
Average GoodReads Rating: 3.83 stars (on a five star scale) based on 8,983 ratings
Availability: A mass market paperback edition is still in production. No ebook edition is available.
Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay
And last, but definitely not least, I settled upon a novel I have wanted to read for months, but can never seem to squeeze into my reading queue: Guy Gavriel Kay‘s The Last Light of the Sun.
I’m not sure of the protocol with respect to recommending and leading the discussion of a book that I haven’t actually read yet, but Kay has never disappointed me. In fact, he always inspires me and leaves me awestruck.
Synopsis/Teaser:
From his very first books, the trilogy known as the Fionavar Tapestry, Guy Gavriel Kay was recognized as one of the world’s finest and most innovative writers working with the fantasy tradition. In later works he has taken on, with striking success, an alternative history of Europe, which reached a pinnacle with 2004’s The Last Light of the Sun. Set at the hinge moment of Britain’s Alfred the Great’s enlightened reign (he’s known as Aeldred in Kay’s parallel Europe), Last Light is a drama of cultural clash and change in a world shadowed by the presence of faerie but deeply engaged with human questions of ethics and honour.
Average GoodReads Rating: 3.79 stars (on a five star scale) based on 2,291 ratings
Availability: Several versions are in print, including mass market paperback and trade paperback editions. An ebook edition is also available, but quite pricey at $12.99.
Selection Conundrum
My dilemma remains. I cannot decide which of the above novels to put forth to the group for next month’s Member’s Choice selection. I selfishly lean towards the Kay novel, because I really would rather read something new. But I equally yearn to introduce more readers to either Hambly or Eddings (at least his less well known Elenium series). I have a few days (less than a week) to make up my mind, so I’m soliciting your opinion through this blog post and the poll below. Votes and comments welcome.
I liked Throne of the Crescent Moon a lot. I loved the characters. I liked the setting, although the world building relied on references to Earth-like locations in our own Middle East, including the cultures and legends that thrive therein.
The magic found in this world contained some supernatural elements: an Angel-touched shapechanger; something similar to a demon helping an undead (or reanimated) man create ghuls (vaguely like zombies but different) using pain, torture, etc. (blood magic or necromancy); some alchemy; some aura-like internal magic; and, an invocation style magic wielded by the main character.
A murder mystery with apocalyptic consequences. Lots of action sequences kept me turning the pages. And as much as our young dervish might strive mightily for stark black and white choices, all of the characters find themselves compromising their principles and morals for the greater good and survival.
I can’t wait for the next installment in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms series.
I eagerly awaited the arrival of Insurgent. I devoured Divergent last fall in hours, unusual in that I normally read two to three books simultaneously over the course of a week or so. I put all my other reads on hold when I picked up Divergent. I almost repeated the process with Insurgent, reading half of the book one weekend and finishing it the next. Quick and easy reading, but a bit disappointing turn in the plot at the end left me with an aftertaste I still can’t rinse out of my mind.
I gave Insurgent four stars here at GoodReads, but I will most likely settle on a 3.5 star rating on my personal objective scale. Parts of the book brought tears to my eyes, but they did not outweigh the moments of frustration I felt with Tris. She personifies recklessness in the extreme.
I’m trying to avoid spoilers, so I won’t express the specific reasons for my distaste or displeasure with the final revelation in the last few paragraphs of the book. I may have to go back and re-categorize this novel, and place Insurgent on completely different shelves.
If there is a sequel, and I haven’t gone looking to determine if there will be one, I hope more background is provided to justify the premise revealed at the end. Too many questions, and not the ones I expected to be answered; just a whole barrel of new ones on top of the old ones.
My favorite fantasy publishing imprint, Tor, caused a stir earlier this week by announcing the demise of DRM in early July 2012 in their entire list of ebooks (printed under Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen imprints). I’m only slightly disappointed that I have to wait until July. I’m torn, though. I had planned to purchase, next week in fact, the second book in the Wheel of Time series, The Great Hunt, from Barnes & Noble for my Nook Color, to facilitate my role as a discussion leader at the GoodReadsFantasy Book Club Series group. We are wrapping up our discussion of the first book, The Eye of the World, these last few days of April. I have until Monday to make up my mind. Do I re-purchase the DRM’ed ebook through B&N for my Nook (for convenience sake)? Or do I crack open the hardcover languishing on my shelf (and deal with the weight and lighting issues)?
Prior to the ebook emancipation proclamation, Tor released the color sketch created by Darrell K. Sweet, who passed away before completing the cover art for the final Wheel of Time novel, A Memory of Light, due out early in 2013.
Click on this color sketch to see a tribute to Wheel of Time cover artist Darrell K. Sweet at Tor's website.
Oh, the agony … of defeat. Last round, in the Science Fiction category, The Hunger Gamesbit the dust before the unstoppable Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But at least my personal pick for all time greatest epic fantasy novel ever written didn’t fall to mere rabbits. This round, however, The Lord of the Rings faces very stiff competition from that upstart Harry Potter.
And it remains a mystery (at least until Monday morning and the votes are tabulated), whether Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot will solve the Case of the Sweet Sixteen Surprise.
Cast your votes now and be entered in a drawing for a Booketology Prize Pack of one copy of each of the eight books that advance to the Elite 8 round, plus a basketball autographed by Kansas City author Whitney Terrell. (Click here for rules and details).
HPB's Tournament of Villians
And just in case you weren’t having enough fun already voting for your favorite books, stop by Half Price Books Tournament of Villains, also in the Sweet Sixteen of the third round. Polls close in a few minutes, at 2:00 p.m. Central.
I started reading this the evening of February 13th, with snowfall predicted to commence after midnight. I sat shivering at the kitchen table while I read the first few chapters, even though the furnace kept my house a toasty 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I even dug out a blanket to put on the bed before I went to sleep (still shivering). Brrrr….. Great writing by Dan Simmons, atmospherically speaking.
And I restrained my insatiable desire to research the quest for the Northwest Passage and specifically the final voyage of the HMS Terror until after I finished reading the novel. Simmons kept me riveted until the last few chapters, when he decided to take an extreme detour into arctic supernatural spirituality that left me, well, cold.
Still, a great read by an outstanding author. I recommend lots of warm tea or hot cocoa and abstinence from long pork.
The protagonist, Rachel, grabbed me immediately. Not only was she a superb vocalist, she reminded me in so many ways of my own daughter, also named Rachelle, and who is also a superb vocalist (mezzo soprano, though, instead of Rachel’s coloratura soprano). As soon as I finished the book, I sent a recommendation off to my Rachelle, hoping she’d read it and enjoy it as much as I did.
The religious references intrigued me (and sometimes made me laugh – did anyone else think that the name of Semorrah was a mashed-up condensation of Sodom and Gemorrah?) and the musical elements fascinated me. I play piano, attempt to sing (not as well trained as my daughter, so I gave it up as a lost cause at this point in my life) and I know basic music theory. My husband has years of training (jazz trumpet and guitar), composes music and has perfect relative pitch; all of which he passed on to our daughter.
On the question of whether this novel is science fiction or fantasy, I leaned towards the former early on. Once introduced to the oracle Josiah in Archangel, I began to believe I was reading a science fiction story (perhaps along the lines of Pern?). But the rest of the novel revealed little beyond that scene with the Oracle. Another clue could also be derived from the ‘smallness’ of their ‘planet’ in area and scope.
I interpreted the singing as magical. The story is mostly a romance, which I normally avoid like the plague, but in this case it worked well.
I have not decided yet if I will continue this series. I’ll have to research my friends’ reviews of it and see if it gets better or if this installment is as good as it gets.
All in all, I really enjoyed Archangel, even if it seemed to be a romance masquerading as a fantasy with hints of science fiction sprinkled throughout.
I can’t wait until this weekend to see John Carter at the theater. I would have bought my tickets over lunch except my favorite theater has not yet listed showtimes for this weekend. I convinced my uncle to venture forth as well this weekend. But the real icing on the cake came with the short note he sent me this morning proclaiming his success in finding A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs at Project Gutenberg and getting it downloaded to his Nook Color.
My local favorite library posted a cool YouTube video via their Facebook and Twitter feeds that I’d like to share here, prefaced by their blurb:
Do you know who created Tarzan and John Carter of Mars 100 years ago this spring? Check out this video preview of an upcoming event featuring author, critic & broadcaster John Tibbetts celebrating the legacy of an American cult icon…
And thanks to an update from Sky & Telescope‘s Facebook feed, I learned that “Mars is at its closest to Earth for this apparition: 100.8 million km (62.6 million miles). Mars appears 13.9 arcseconds wide, compared to the 24″ or 25″ it reaches during its closet swing-bys. The last time that happened was in 2003; the next will be in 2018.” I saw Mars shining brightly this morning in the west before the sun arose, when I let the dogs out after they ate their breakfast.
Throne of the Crescent Moon
