So the BBC is running a story right now asking just why it seems so many Fantasy characters speak with distinctly British accents. Speaking strictly as a fan of the Fantasy Genre, It is a rather preposterous question to be honest. They act as if they need it spelled out to them that the reason the bulk of the characters in Middle Earth and Westeros speak with a variety of British accents is because, well, they are set in Pseudo Britains. They argue, rather unconvincely, that due to Game of Thrones being based on an American series, the characters should probably have American accents. I could buy this if the series being adapted was Terry Brook's Shannara, set unquestionably in a future north America. In fact, I would be offended if Shannara was adapted and wasn't populated by North American accents. If they ever get around to adapting Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, the author himself was explicit on what sort of accents his characters should have, and I hope, for sake of the strangeness of seeing a bunch of African Samurai's speaking with Texas accents, they honor the author's wishes.
The Article goes on to question whether or not the surge in British Accents in Fantasy is a result of Kevin Costner's abysmal accent in Robin Hood: Prince of thieves, It's an alright question but rather dubious. Fantasy Films have been sporting accents and casting "Foreign" (Non American) Actors for a very long time. Or that perhaps it is in reaction to years and years of British accents being synonymous with villainy in Hollywood. Star Wars being a great late example of this. But Practically every World War II film that didn't force its actors to use bad fake German accents, simply substituted for British.
However, that being said, if you look at the 1977 Rankin-Bass adaption of The Hobbit, the entire cast, more or less, is comprised of Americans, and it worked. At least to me, I felt the voices in The Hobbit were all quite good for the characters. They were believable because it was consistent. Obviously you run into problems when you have a hodgepodge of accents with no discernible reason for them to be different. This was a sevre problem with the recent Tom Cruise film Valkyrie. Every other actor in the film, except Cruise, had a British Accent. It made the Germans convincing, except for Tom Cruise. Why so many Americans, myself included, have so much difficulty with accents, baring caricatured ones, is a mystery.
Showing posts with label George R. R. Martin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George R. R. Martin. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2012
Monday, July 25, 2011
Dropping a series.
I'm sure we have all done it. You get to the point where you just cannot take the author's work anymore. Or, you simply cannot take the author any more. You have two choices basically when this happens, you can skim, flip forward, hope things get better, get back on track, get back to what you originally saw in the work to begin with.
Or you can simply drop the series. Abandoned halfway or sometimes even less. It's a very extreme measure, but I've found recently I've been doing it more and more.
Last year, I only abandoned one book without finishing it. Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself. I managed to soldier through Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth, but not without skimming huge chunks of the last four books. By the time I got to book 8 of that, I was forcing myself to read 50 pages a day of them. I had it marked on the calender when I'd finally finish that last page of Confessor. But I only abandoned one book.
This year I've already abandoned one book, without finishing it, David Foster Wallace's The Infinite Jest. Like Gravities Rainbow, better men than me have abandoned that. Worse, I've abandoned two series. Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin series, and Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars series. Both for the same reason. To much talk Wheeljack, Not enough action.
After the rollicking start that O'Brian's series had, and its eventual and meteoric pickup of steam leading up to the war of 1812 I read each volume faster than the last. Once the war was joined however, the author slammed on the brakes. They became distended plays dealing chiefly with manners. It suddenly took an entire book to say what he previously said in a chapter. He also began to subtly change the characters alignment. Maturin went from being Chaotic good, to lawful Evil. Aubrey went from Knight in shining armour to indifferent and apathetic. They quit being characters I liked. But they are living still, and its possible that some where buried in the depths of books 11-20 that their previous selves are waiting to be re-discovered by me. That may or may not happen. I rarely give a series a second chance.
Kate Elliot's series on the other hand, I never liked. I read it hoping for another series similar to Tad Williams. Her name is frequently mentioned as being "The Other author inspired by Tad Williams" The chief one being George R.R. Martin. The problem is, nothing ever happens in Kate Elliot's books. Originally intended to be a trilogy, the Crown of Stars grew to encompass 7 volumes. It's a shame too. It probably would have been a fantastic trilogy. Instead she bogs it down with countless diversions into the social standings of various underclasses in her pseudo invented world. I say Pseudo, because all she really seems to have done is replaced any instance of a Male name in history with a Feminine name. Constantine becomes Constance, Alexander becomes Alexandria, on and on, ad nauseum. I know too much about history, and that slap dash approach just kept forcing me out of the novels. The turgid prose, and constant discussions on arranged marriage and political machinations did it better though. In the first 700 page book, they treat two major battles with less than a chapter a piece. The main characters daily chores to her master, take up nearly 10 times as much page space. In other words, the books are boring.
In the past, the one series that I've abandoned that seems to irk the most Fantasy fans, is George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. I likely could have abandoned dozen's of other series, even the Ur-Fantasy The Lord of the Rings, and escaped without so much as the batting of an eyelash. Not Martin however. I've apparently become a heretic because of my refusal to acknowledge his supposed greatness. I tried though. I read the first one, shortly following the release of the fourth volume. Numerous people convinced me I needed to read this series desperately. I hesitated, I avoid long series that aren't finished. Thats the result of the interminable waiting for the later Wheel of Time volumes. I foolishly bought all four hardcovers for nearly full cover price, sight un seen. I nearly quit reading the first book, following Bran getting pushed out the window.
You see, had the series been a typical Fantasy series. Bran would have been the main character. The entire series would have followed him. He would have been the Frodo or Rand Al' Thor or Richard Rahl or Paul Atredies of the song of ice and fire. Martin chose not to do that. It made me angry. But with a lot of encouragement I stuck to it. By the time I finished the volume, I realized I should have gone with my gut and quit it hundreds of pages earlier. I vowed not to read any more of the series until I knew the ending. Any author who kills his main character (Surely, if not Bran then Ned must be?!) cannot be trusted.
Thats what I typically want from an author. I don't want challenge. I want sameness. I want to be able to read each and every volume knowing the main character will survive largely unscathed. Life is uncertain, and certainty is a fantasy only enjoyed by the wealthy. I can catch glimpses of it in novels, or so I had become accustomed to through a long diet of what would typically be termed "Mediocre" fantasy.
This decision tends to be met with dismissal, pleading, anger, or confusion. They just cannot understand why I wouldn't want to read such fantastic books. Maybe they are. I'll likely never find out. Since its highly unlikely that Martin will be able to end his series on a note with which I don't object.
A Specific and recent example follows:
To which I responded:
Another Quote I just came across, From Black Gate
It's most assuredly his fault. He's the author. Any problems the reader has with his work, ultimately are the fault of him who built it. Just as surely as a defective car tire is the fault of the manufacturer. I don't enjoy being toyed with. I was alienated.
Don't lose heart however, Martin is in good company. I made up my mind to jettison the Dune series when Paul walked into the desert. Beyond finishing the second half of the book, being made up of Children of Dune, I have yet to venture back to Arakkis. Martin already has my money, so what does it matter if I don't venture back to Westeros?
Or you can simply drop the series. Abandoned halfway or sometimes even less. It's a very extreme measure, but I've found recently I've been doing it more and more.
Last year, I only abandoned one book without finishing it. Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself. I managed to soldier through Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth, but not without skimming huge chunks of the last four books. By the time I got to book 8 of that, I was forcing myself to read 50 pages a day of them. I had it marked on the calender when I'd finally finish that last page of Confessor. But I only abandoned one book.
This year I've already abandoned one book, without finishing it, David Foster Wallace's The Infinite Jest. Like Gravities Rainbow, better men than me have abandoned that. Worse, I've abandoned two series. Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin series, and Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars series. Both for the same reason. To much talk Wheeljack, Not enough action.
After the rollicking start that O'Brian's series had, and its eventual and meteoric pickup of steam leading up to the war of 1812 I read each volume faster than the last. Once the war was joined however, the author slammed on the brakes. They became distended plays dealing chiefly with manners. It suddenly took an entire book to say what he previously said in a chapter. He also began to subtly change the characters alignment. Maturin went from being Chaotic good, to lawful Evil. Aubrey went from Knight in shining armour to indifferent and apathetic. They quit being characters I liked. But they are living still, and its possible that some where buried in the depths of books 11-20 that their previous selves are waiting to be re-discovered by me. That may or may not happen. I rarely give a series a second chance.
Kate Elliot's series on the other hand, I never liked. I read it hoping for another series similar to Tad Williams. Her name is frequently mentioned as being "The Other author inspired by Tad Williams" The chief one being George R.R. Martin. The problem is, nothing ever happens in Kate Elliot's books. Originally intended to be a trilogy, the Crown of Stars grew to encompass 7 volumes. It's a shame too. It probably would have been a fantastic trilogy. Instead she bogs it down with countless diversions into the social standings of various underclasses in her pseudo invented world. I say Pseudo, because all she really seems to have done is replaced any instance of a Male name in history with a Feminine name. Constantine becomes Constance, Alexander becomes Alexandria, on and on, ad nauseum. I know too much about history, and that slap dash approach just kept forcing me out of the novels. The turgid prose, and constant discussions on arranged marriage and political machinations did it better though. In the first 700 page book, they treat two major battles with less than a chapter a piece. The main characters daily chores to her master, take up nearly 10 times as much page space. In other words, the books are boring.
In the past, the one series that I've abandoned that seems to irk the most Fantasy fans, is George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. I likely could have abandoned dozen's of other series, even the Ur-Fantasy The Lord of the Rings, and escaped without so much as the batting of an eyelash. Not Martin however. I've apparently become a heretic because of my refusal to acknowledge his supposed greatness. I tried though. I read the first one, shortly following the release of the fourth volume. Numerous people convinced me I needed to read this series desperately. I hesitated, I avoid long series that aren't finished. Thats the result of the interminable waiting for the later Wheel of Time volumes. I foolishly bought all four hardcovers for nearly full cover price, sight un seen. I nearly quit reading the first book, following Bran getting pushed out the window.
You see, had the series been a typical Fantasy series. Bran would have been the main character. The entire series would have followed him. He would have been the Frodo or Rand Al' Thor or Richard Rahl or Paul Atredies of the song of ice and fire. Martin chose not to do that. It made me angry. But with a lot of encouragement I stuck to it. By the time I finished the volume, I realized I should have gone with my gut and quit it hundreds of pages earlier. I vowed not to read any more of the series until I knew the ending. Any author who kills his main character (Surely, if not Bran then Ned must be?!) cannot be trusted.
Thats what I typically want from an author. I don't want challenge. I want sameness. I want to be able to read each and every volume knowing the main character will survive largely unscathed. Life is uncertain, and certainty is a fantasy only enjoyed by the wealthy. I can catch glimpses of it in novels, or so I had become accustomed to through a long diet of what would typically be termed "Mediocre" fantasy.
This decision tends to be met with dismissal, pleading, anger, or confusion. They just cannot understand why I wouldn't want to read such fantastic books. Maybe they are. I'll likely never find out. Since its highly unlikely that Martin will be able to end his series on a note with which I don't object.
A Specific and recent example follows:
Anonymous said...
Rex, I believe I speak for the many fans of the book, when I say that you made a really, truly, tragic, and stupid decision. I really urge you to pick the book back up- the whole series is excellent.
To which I responded:
I already feel as if I wasted my time on the first book. What's tragic would be wasting more time getting invested in more characters that I already know Martin kills off. What was stupid, was buying into the hype and wasting 120$ buying all four hardcovers, new, because people just kept on about them.
Another Quote I just came across, From Black Gate
Martin invites us again and again to withhold trust from the things we’re told, but again and again reveals to us how much we’ve accepted without realising it. It’s a nice trick; and it surprises me that he’s consistently able to pull it off without alienating his readership. I think the secret is that he plays fair with the readers. He puts his clues out there in the descriptions he gives; he shows us, by revealing a few minor mysteries, how his riddles are constructed. And if, given that, you’re still surprised by what happens — it’s hardly his fault, is it? Words are wind.
It's most assuredly his fault. He's the author. Any problems the reader has with his work, ultimately are the fault of him who built it. Just as surely as a defective car tire is the fault of the manufacturer. I don't enjoy being toyed with. I was alienated.
Don't lose heart however, Martin is in good company. I made up my mind to jettison the Dune series when Paul walked into the desert. Beyond finishing the second half of the book, being made up of Children of Dune, I have yet to venture back to Arakkis. Martin already has my money, so what does it matter if I don't venture back to Westeros?
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Should I Sell...
My George R.R. Martin books?
Preceding the announcement of the Television show, and not wanting to repeat the whole Wheel of Time never ending story fiasco.. I have thus far not read any of the Song of Fire and Ice. I did this because I don't like to wait on new chapters of a story to come out. I'd have been terrible with the old Saturday serials. I have infinite patience to wait a series out to completion, provided I've not already started it.
However, due to the Television show. My attempts at avoiding spoilers are completely shot now. It is effectively impossible to avoid them. And what I've seen/read/heard does not enthuse me in the slightest. What interest and enthusiasm I had towards the prospect of reading the series has evaporated entirely. All I'm left with now is a stack of Hardcovers that are likely to never get read.
Hardcovers that are selling for 14-25$ on Amazon right now. Not as much as I paid for them, but would recoup at least the first 2 if I sold all 4 of them.
This is an odd choice since if he pulls the series up by its bootstraps and gets out of the nihilist slump its already in before the first one is out.. thats great. But I still don't think I'd actually bother reading them at this point. It's like he's based an entire series around the concept espoused by Dark Helmet "Evil will always triumph because Good is dumb!". Others of course have taken that and run with it and gotten away from even the pretense of having moral characters in their books.
I'm not saying that Martin himself feels this way, Lord of the Rings and Conan have their moments of doubt, but after them they gain something. The Ring is destroyed, Conan liberates an oppressed people from their mad king. After all the pain and suffering and doubt, a melancholy but positive outcome is achieved. One in which magic is eroded from the world, and Conan has to hold onto his new kingship with his fingernails against all comers.. but positive. Martin's world so far just dosen't seem like that sort of place. It feels to much like a world in which any positive outcome would be completely incongruous.
So it's a toss up. Do I keep the books in the hope of finding out that the ending redeems all the pain and suffering, and then read them knowing the ending before I go in. Or do I sell them, cash in on the Martin mania sweeping the internet right now and wash my hands of the whole thing? It seems like a series as well touted as this is one that I should like. I just am having a difficult time getting any enthusiasm back. It was easier before I knew anything about them other than that they were "Fantasy" which to me means something very specific. Something that I feel these books fail to be.
Preceding the announcement of the Television show, and not wanting to repeat the whole Wheel of Time never ending story fiasco.. I have thus far not read any of the Song of Fire and Ice. I did this because I don't like to wait on new chapters of a story to come out. I'd have been terrible with the old Saturday serials. I have infinite patience to wait a series out to completion, provided I've not already started it.
However, due to the Television show. My attempts at avoiding spoilers are completely shot now. It is effectively impossible to avoid them. And what I've seen/read/heard does not enthuse me in the slightest. What interest and enthusiasm I had towards the prospect of reading the series has evaporated entirely. All I'm left with now is a stack of Hardcovers that are likely to never get read.
Hardcovers that are selling for 14-25$ on Amazon right now. Not as much as I paid for them, but would recoup at least the first 2 if I sold all 4 of them.
This is an odd choice since if he pulls the series up by its bootstraps and gets out of the nihilist slump its already in before the first one is out.. thats great. But I still don't think I'd actually bother reading them at this point. It's like he's based an entire series around the concept espoused by Dark Helmet "Evil will always triumph because Good is dumb!". Others of course have taken that and run with it and gotten away from even the pretense of having moral characters in their books.
I'm not saying that Martin himself feels this way, Lord of the Rings and Conan have their moments of doubt, but after them they gain something. The Ring is destroyed, Conan liberates an oppressed people from their mad king. After all the pain and suffering and doubt, a melancholy but positive outcome is achieved. One in which magic is eroded from the world, and Conan has to hold onto his new kingship with his fingernails against all comers.. but positive. Martin's world so far just dosen't seem like that sort of place. It feels to much like a world in which any positive outcome would be completely incongruous.
So it's a toss up. Do I keep the books in the hope of finding out that the ending redeems all the pain and suffering, and then read them knowing the ending before I go in. Or do I sell them, cash in on the Martin mania sweeping the internet right now and wash my hands of the whole thing? It seems like a series as well touted as this is one that I should like. I just am having a difficult time getting any enthusiasm back. It was easier before I knew anything about them other than that they were "Fantasy" which to me means something very specific. Something that I feel these books fail to be.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Review - Winter is coming.
Alright, so I just got home from a the house of a buddy with HBO. We watched the episode twice. Sitting through all the stupid commercials for true blood along the way.
Game of thrones the show, is a very starkly beautifully rendered production. The costumes seem designed for functionality rather than screen appearance. It generally was a nice looking program. It felt like a world thats been lived in.. rather than one that was thrown together with oddments found in the backlot's broom closet. I imagine a good bit of their budget went into those aspects.. because it didn't go into the CGI.
The Characters were well Acted, believable, the only ones who I considered distracting where Khal 'Ronan "Jason Momoa" Dex' Drago and Eddard 'Richard "Sean Bean" Sharpe' Stark. They are simply too identifiable and I can't help but thinking back to their other characters. Almost no one else in the show with the exception of Peter Dinklage is anyone I could place. I know Mark Addy was in the recent Robin Hood.. and he was in A Knight's Tale... but he isn't some one I really think of immediately as some defined character. None of the women in the program stood out to me for any of their previous roles. So the cast was very well assembled.
But thats not really important.
Already I can state, without any vacillation, there is no way I will be able to actually watch this program for years and years. I will not invest another minute of my time, another Iota of my effort into George R.R. Martin's program. I simply cannot countenance allowing him to rope me into it. Regardless of how well it is written as a show (or a novel), Regardless of how well the performers do. I cannot do it until I know the ending and KNOW without any doubt, that the Lannisters and Targaryens all die, much deserved, deaths. And since I cannot trust G.R.R.M to do that. I can't be certain going in that that is how it will end. I cannot take any more steps on this journey. I'm keeping my feet, and I'm heading back to my front door.
Game of thrones the show, is a very starkly beautifully rendered production. The costumes seem designed for functionality rather than screen appearance. It generally was a nice looking program. It felt like a world thats been lived in.. rather than one that was thrown together with oddments found in the backlot's broom closet. I imagine a good bit of their budget went into those aspects.. because it didn't go into the CGI.
The Characters were well Acted, believable, the only ones who I considered distracting where Khal 'Ronan "Jason Momoa" Dex' Drago and Eddard 'Richard "Sean Bean" Sharpe' Stark. They are simply too identifiable and I can't help but thinking back to their other characters. Almost no one else in the show with the exception of Peter Dinklage is anyone I could place. I know Mark Addy was in the recent Robin Hood.. and he was in A Knight's Tale... but he isn't some one I really think of immediately as some defined character. None of the women in the program stood out to me for any of their previous roles. So the cast was very well assembled.
But thats not really important.
Already I can state, without any vacillation, there is no way I will be able to actually watch this program for years and years. I will not invest another minute of my time, another Iota of my effort into George R.R. Martin's program. I simply cannot countenance allowing him to rope me into it. Regardless of how well it is written as a show (or a novel), Regardless of how well the performers do. I cannot do it until I know the ending and KNOW without any doubt, that the Lannisters and Targaryens all die, much deserved, deaths. And since I cannot trust G.R.R.M to do that. I can't be certain going in that that is how it will end. I cannot take any more steps on this journey. I'm keeping my feet, and I'm heading back to my front door.
The Bleakness Game of Thrones
So I just read the three page review of Game of thrones from the New York Times Magazine. This is a separate review from the incendiary one from the New york Times proper.
The basic gist of this article is that the Game of thrones is too bleak. And could do with a bit of optimism thrown in. Maybe some levity that dosen't involve raunch of jokes about bloodshed. I'd say this is a fair complaint from what I remember of the part of the book I read.
I'm willing to be supportive of the Show for the same reason I was supportive of Legend of the Seeker, Your Highness, Eragon, and a whole host of other Fantasy films and shows. I want more, and I want better. So I better support what we get. Or the next Peter Jackson might not get so lucky. But that dosen't change my opinions of George R.R. Martin's opus.
It's still a gritty, bleak, dark series of novels that leave very very little room for the more noble aspects of the human spirit. Chances are anyone who exhibits them is swept down upon like white on rice in a snowstorm and swiftly eliminated. Martin has crafted a world in which nobility, altruism, and the like are vices at best, and weakness at worst. His enemies are the Self. Rather than the standard Fantasy of having the enemies be the Other. Martin's kingdoms operate the same way a cancer ridden body does.. systems failing and feeding on each other in a confused morass of decay. He simply localizes the problems. It turns your neighbor into the Other.
That's not to say it dosen't happen. You can see it endlessly repeated in a whole host of nation-states on a nearly daily basis all over the world just by turning on the nightly news. It happened constantly in the TV show which Game of Thrones is endlessly compared too.. The Sopranos. A show which, I didn't like. It glamorized criminals. None of them were shown having to pay societies price for their malediction of their end of the social contract. If anything they were shown to be 'Just like everyone else'.. except that they murder and steal to get what they want.. while the rest of us slave away.
I just hope thats not how I feel after watching Game of Thrones. I want to like it. I want to support it in the hopes we get more Fantasy programs. But I have to have characters to like, that I'm sure will survive till the end, or it won't be worth bothering with. It's always darkest before the dawn, etc. But I'm left wondering if Martin intends to include the Dawn in his books. Certainly no shortage of his imitators show no inclination to include anything of the sort.
So this brings us to the other edge of what is as always a double edged sword. If it does well, it won't be doing well "because its a fantasy" but because its bleak and bloody and shows lots of tits. And we can no doubt look forward to adaptions of even bleaker and more bloody books into series.
I suppose I should console myself with the fact we are apparently going to get a Discworld Television show.. At least I can always count on Pratchett to make me laugh. Even if I can't count on anyone else to inspire me.
The basic gist of this article is that the Game of thrones is too bleak. And could do with a bit of optimism thrown in. Maybe some levity that dosen't involve raunch of jokes about bloodshed. I'd say this is a fair complaint from what I remember of the part of the book I read.
I'm willing to be supportive of the Show for the same reason I was supportive of Legend of the Seeker, Your Highness, Eragon, and a whole host of other Fantasy films and shows. I want more, and I want better. So I better support what we get. Or the next Peter Jackson might not get so lucky. But that dosen't change my opinions of George R.R. Martin's opus.
It's still a gritty, bleak, dark series of novels that leave very very little room for the more noble aspects of the human spirit. Chances are anyone who exhibits them is swept down upon like white on rice in a snowstorm and swiftly eliminated. Martin has crafted a world in which nobility, altruism, and the like are vices at best, and weakness at worst. His enemies are the Self. Rather than the standard Fantasy of having the enemies be the Other. Martin's kingdoms operate the same way a cancer ridden body does.. systems failing and feeding on each other in a confused morass of decay. He simply localizes the problems. It turns your neighbor into the Other.
That's not to say it dosen't happen. You can see it endlessly repeated in a whole host of nation-states on a nearly daily basis all over the world just by turning on the nightly news. It happened constantly in the TV show which Game of Thrones is endlessly compared too.. The Sopranos. A show which, I didn't like. It glamorized criminals. None of them were shown having to pay societies price for their malediction of their end of the social contract. If anything they were shown to be 'Just like everyone else'.. except that they murder and steal to get what they want.. while the rest of us slave away.
I just hope thats not how I feel after watching Game of Thrones. I want to like it. I want to support it in the hopes we get more Fantasy programs. But I have to have characters to like, that I'm sure will survive till the end, or it won't be worth bothering with. It's always darkest before the dawn, etc. But I'm left wondering if Martin intends to include the Dawn in his books. Certainly no shortage of his imitators show no inclination to include anything of the sort.
So this brings us to the other edge of what is as always a double edged sword. If it does well, it won't be doing well "because its a fantasy" but because its bleak and bloody and shows lots of tits. And we can no doubt look forward to adaptions of even bleaker and more bloody books into series.
I suppose I should console myself with the fact we are apparently going to get a Discworld Television show.. At least I can always count on Pratchett to make me laugh. Even if I can't count on anyone else to inspire me.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Quasi Medieval, Dragon-ridden Fantasy Crap, Uhh what?
So.. I'm taking it that Slate's TV reviewer dosen't like Game of thrones all that much.. and wants to take out his anger on someone.. He apparently already hates the Fantasy Genre before even going into it. Fair enough. But I'd expect some one who reviews TV shows to be objective in reviewing well.. a TV show..
It would be like if I reviewed 'Mad Men'. It's obviously a great program, well written, with lots of drama and all that jazz. Good costumes, sets, actors giving great performances. But it's also about Ad executives.. people who make it onto my top 5 lists of "Those who will not be allowed into the bunker when the end comes" along with Lawyers, Politicians, Insurance claims adjusters and people who say ' Thats what she said' ". I wouldn't be objective, my dislike of the manipulative act of selling people stuff they don't need, negatively colours my opinion of the program before anything else is even taken into account. The same is true of 'Walking Dead' I don't like zombies, 'Jersey Shore' I don't like stupid people. I could go on and on.. but I've explains my position.
I've not seen anymore of the show than anyone else at this point. That 10 minute preview, I've read the first 100 pages of the book. It didn't really do much for me. But I'm going to cheerfully give the show a chance. See thats something else the reviewer assumes. That just because it's fantasy, means that every fantasy fan will enjoy it. Thats simply not true. I certainly wouldn't enjoy a film based on the works of R. Scott Bakker.. any more than I enjoy films based on the works of Cormac Mcarthy. Just because the Road was Science Fiction dosen't mean I went to go see it. I imagine plenty of people who tuned into Krod Mandoon just as quickly tuned back out. Obviously the same is true of the recent Your Highness, which seems to have just as many supporters among Fantasy enthusiasts as detractors.
The problem is now however, that his review is the review of the series for that website. He is their TV reviewer and he obviously hated it. And at the same time wants you to know how dumb you are for liking it.
If you read that.. the whole thing kinda reminded me of this
It would be like if I reviewed 'Mad Men'. It's obviously a great program, well written, with lots of drama and all that jazz. Good costumes, sets, actors giving great performances. But it's also about Ad executives.. people who make it onto my top 5 lists of "Those who will not be allowed into the bunker when the end comes" along with Lawyers, Politicians, Insurance claims adjusters and people who say ' Thats what she said' ". I wouldn't be objective, my dislike of the manipulative act of selling people stuff they don't need, negatively colours my opinion of the program before anything else is even taken into account. The same is true of 'Walking Dead' I don't like zombies, 'Jersey Shore' I don't like stupid people. I could go on and on.. but I've explains my position.
I've not seen anymore of the show than anyone else at this point. That 10 minute preview, I've read the first 100 pages of the book. It didn't really do much for me. But I'm going to cheerfully give the show a chance. See thats something else the reviewer assumes. That just because it's fantasy, means that every fantasy fan will enjoy it. Thats simply not true. I certainly wouldn't enjoy a film based on the works of R. Scott Bakker.. any more than I enjoy films based on the works of Cormac Mcarthy. Just because the Road was Science Fiction dosen't mean I went to go see it. I imagine plenty of people who tuned into Krod Mandoon just as quickly tuned back out. Obviously the same is true of the recent Your Highness, which seems to have just as many supporters among Fantasy enthusiasts as detractors.
The problem is now however, that his review is the review of the series for that website. He is their TV reviewer and he obviously hated it. And at the same time wants you to know how dumb you are for liking it.
If you read that.. the whole thing kinda reminded me of this
Saturday, March 19, 2011
King's Dragon, Crown of Stars Volume 1 - Kate Elliot
Released in 1997, this tells a tale of political intrigue in a some what unique and oddly egalitarian setting. It's definitely odd at first, and rather incongruous. The writing is quite good, and its obvious the author put a lot of effort into her research of the real dark and middle ages before writing this first volume of what, like all fantasy series that came out in the 90's, was supposed to be a trilogy. Soon this ballooned into a shelf sagging behemoth of 7 volumes.
I'd never really planned to read this series, but My sister had read it and left the books behind when she moved out. And instead of bunging them off straight to the trade-a-book I thought I'd give them a try first. Needless to say, I don't normally feel my sister has much in the way of taste when it comes to.. well.. anything actually.. so I was a bit surprised by this. It's not a bad novel, and if the series stays at least on par with this it won't be a bad series. It seems to me however that far more time is spent on back door political dealings and pages of characters navel gazing than anyone actually doing anything.
I've seen this series compared sometimes with George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, also occasionally with Tad Williams' Memory Sorrow and Thorn. I can some what see the resemblance, but they are all 3rd cousins at best. So far however, Elliot has stayed on the side of stark contrast closer to Williams rather than crossing to the dark side that is the various shades of grey approach that GRRM is so good at. This series has obvious good and evil characters. That isn't to say that sometime in the next 6 volumes their positions on various issues won't change.
The World building is top notch, but the modern gender ideas are sometimes very jarring when compared to what the actual time periods that inspired this series were like. That may be one of the books biggest flaws. This novel feels too much like a historical novel for me to really see it as a Fantasy..
Some of the characters are good, some aren't. Some are just bland, and those are the ones who seem to get a large amount of pages dedicated to them. I'm sure all the stuff they ramble on about, the history of the church, the history of the kingdoms.. It's all probably very important to the plot. But it tends to come in such boring segments it sometimes makes me feel as If I'm back in high school history class. In other words, this novel makes frequent use of the dreaded infodump. Sometimes its handled well.. some times less so.
Worse, the series is slow. Slow and Slow. You plod along, huffing and wheezing and groaning under the exertion of slogging through the navel gazing infodumps.. and suddenly you will hit an icy patch and skid for 3 or 4 chapters and feel exhilarated and think.. Finally, it's going to get started. But then you hit a gravel patch and slow down again and regain control, and then slow down some more as you come to a pedestrian crossing. The book didn't begin to really pick up plot wise until there were less than 100 pages left. It's definitely all set up. But it left me feeling rather tepid towards the rest of the series. If the rest are like the last 100 pages of this one, then it will be a snap to finish. If they are on the same format as this book with the first 500 pages being set up for very little reveal.. it will be a snoozefest. I suppose I'll see when I get to reading the second book. I hope it stays moving at a good clip, as I'd really like to like this series.
Though not in the least the authors fault, the cover art on this series is, in a word, horrible. It's not even just bland like a Darrel K. Sweet cover.. It's just downright bad. The UK Editions, and Especially the French Editions.. have vastly superior cover art.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Which is more Howardian, Barbarian or Destroyer?!
I've really really got to stop reading forums.. I'm not joking.
The people at Westeros.org are having a debate over which is more faithful to Robert E. Howard, Barbarian or Destroyer in the guise of a thread for "Worst Fantasy Films Ever".. It's not surprising so many posters don't understand Howard's writing though.. Judging by the normal sort of fare which they seem to enjoy, I guess maybe Howard just dosen't have enough minorities, non consensual sodomy, or socialist rhetoric for their tastes.. Maybe some one (I don't) who has an account, will see fit to hoist a shield against this nonsense?
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/47379-worst-fantasy-film-ever/
Half their posts just make me wonder why any of them even like GRRM...
The people at Westeros.org are having a debate over which is more faithful to Robert E. Howard, Barbarian or Destroyer in the guise of a thread for "Worst Fantasy Films Ever".. It's not surprising so many posters don't understand Howard's writing though.. Judging by the normal sort of fare which they seem to enjoy, I guess maybe Howard just dosen't have enough minorities, non consensual sodomy, or socialist rhetoric for their tastes.. Maybe some one (I don't) who has an account, will see fit to hoist a shield against this nonsense?
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/47379-worst-fantasy-film-ever/
Half their posts just make me wonder why any of them even like GRRM...
Monday, March 8, 2010
Whats wrong with the Multi Tome Epic?
After reading on another site, which was against the 90's fashion of "doorstop" fantasy.. It made me start wondering.. what exactly is wrong with it? I mean I realize that you get your occasional unfortunate circumstance like Robert Jordan dieing, or an NFL game distracting George R.R. Martin. But generally speaking these sorts of series that just go on and on and don't finish are not the norm. Terry Goodkind Finished his "Sword of Truth" series. Kate Elliot Finished her "Crown of Stars" series. Tad Williams finished "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" and looks set to finish his Shadowland series in the next year or so. And the series which followed up the post in question, David Drakes Lord of the Isles, Just finished up.
Tor books was more or less responsible for the " Doorstopper trend ".. but Daw picked it up and ran with it too. Which considering that they previously published only shorter novels.. that was a bit of an odd swap. Oddly Del Rey never really had that many large books.. the remarked upon Sword of Shannara being a bit of a singular example.. I don't own to many Del Rey's that are more than about 350 pages at the most.
Yes, Terry brooks is still going with his "Shannara" series, but his books are interconnected trilogies rather than one huge series. And no one really knows if Dennis Mckeirnan will ever finish the "Mithgar" series.. and It dosen't seem to be popular enough that anyone but me will really care either way.
The complaints seemingly were specifically directed at character interaction and dialogue driven story telling.. Whats wrong with that?! Whats wrong with knowing what motivates characters beyond " Wizard bad, Thongor Smash! " all the time.
Its become obvious to me lately with the number of trilogy omnibuses out there that even 250-300 pages is too short for some readers.. and with the average price of a paperback book being in the range of 9$ I can see why.. If I only have 10$ to spend on a book.. do I want one thats going to take me 2 days to finish or one thats going to take me all week to finish?
Now I'm certainly not trying to tell anyone what they should and shouldn't read or like. I love short stories.. But I prefer them when they are presented like the Lankhmar series... In Chronological Order.. so I can read them as a larger series rather than sporadic episodes. People may hate me for saying it, but I actually prefer the 12 volume Ace Conan series because of this. I just wish that Howard had been alive in order to do what Leiber did instead of having some one else do it for him.
And I admit that some of the stuff in the Wheel of Time series and these other multi-tome epics is a bit gratuitious.. the endless descriptions of clothing and re-iterations of what characters look like as if anyone would just pick up volume 10 on a lark and read it.
Perhaps in this particular case my attention span is too long for a 15 page short story of a 80page novella to really keep me interested, I'm obsessed with Chronologies and what order I should read things in. And I'm also obsessed with getting the most for my Money. The resent Omnibus versions of Glen Cook's Black Company are great, For 15.99 you get 3 complete novels. Vs the 7.99 you'd likely pay for each of them if you bought them separately. The same holds true for all the various David Eddings books.
Alright I'm done rambling now, continue with your regularly scheduled Wenching and Wizard smashing.
Tor books was more or less responsible for the " Doorstopper trend ".. but Daw picked it up and ran with it too. Which considering that they previously published only shorter novels.. that was a bit of an odd swap. Oddly Del Rey never really had that many large books.. the remarked upon Sword of Shannara being a bit of a singular example.. I don't own to many Del Rey's that are more than about 350 pages at the most.
Yes, Terry brooks is still going with his "Shannara" series, but his books are interconnected trilogies rather than one huge series. And no one really knows if Dennis Mckeirnan will ever finish the "Mithgar" series.. and It dosen't seem to be popular enough that anyone but me will really care either way.
The complaints seemingly were specifically directed at character interaction and dialogue driven story telling.. Whats wrong with that?! Whats wrong with knowing what motivates characters beyond " Wizard bad, Thongor Smash! " all the time.
Its become obvious to me lately with the number of trilogy omnibuses out there that even 250-300 pages is too short for some readers.. and with the average price of a paperback book being in the range of 9$ I can see why.. If I only have 10$ to spend on a book.. do I want one thats going to take me 2 days to finish or one thats going to take me all week to finish?
Now I'm certainly not trying to tell anyone what they should and shouldn't read or like. I love short stories.. But I prefer them when they are presented like the Lankhmar series... In Chronological Order.. so I can read them as a larger series rather than sporadic episodes. People may hate me for saying it, but I actually prefer the 12 volume Ace Conan series because of this. I just wish that Howard had been alive in order to do what Leiber did instead of having some one else do it for him.
And I admit that some of the stuff in the Wheel of Time series and these other multi-tome epics is a bit gratuitious.. the endless descriptions of clothing and re-iterations of what characters look like as if anyone would just pick up volume 10 on a lark and read it.
Perhaps in this particular case my attention span is too long for a 15 page short story of a 80page novella to really keep me interested, I'm obsessed with Chronologies and what order I should read things in. And I'm also obsessed with getting the most for my Money. The resent Omnibus versions of Glen Cook's Black Company are great, For 15.99 you get 3 complete novels. Vs the 7.99 you'd likely pay for each of them if you bought them separately. The same holds true for all the various David Eddings books.
Alright I'm done rambling now, continue with your regularly scheduled Wenching and Wizard smashing.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Martin Meltdown
over on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, they recently posted up an excerpt from the new Dunk and Egg story from George R. R. Martin, and it caused a bit of a kerfluffle. The causes for this in case you aren't aware is because George R. R. Martin is responsible for one of the most popular Fantasy series of all time ' The Song of Ice and Fire '..
The First three volumes came out over a 6 year period, followed by a 5 year gap before the 4th came out, and we are now nearly a second 5 year gap for the 5th volume.. with two more at least still to go after that.. all told, it will probably be something like 30 years between the first one and the last one being released.. the problem with that is.. that George, is 62 this year, and a few of us are worried he may in fact never finish the series.. some would say that he has no obligation to his fans to finish the series.. and that is probably true. And while I'm not trying to begrudge him his Football games, or his book signings or his jet setting.. he's worked hard to earn that.. I do wish he wouldn't be quite so blatant about it.. because to people who have an emotional investment.. not to mention a monetary and time investment in his books.. it does come across as well.. Dithering.. most of his readers I imagine.. don't care who won the football game he just spend the last 3 hours watching.. or who won the other 3 games he Tivo'd to watch latter..
I'm not going to say he won't finish the series, I certainly don't want anything happening too him, but I do hope he was at least pro-active like Robert Jordan and has arranged for such an occasion.. Telling some one who can keep a secret the ending, leaving a concise outline of where he wants to go with it.. I'd rather have another author finish the series than have it half complete.. or have to have the ending presented in an extremely unfinished form.. like what was done with Tolkien's Silmarillion.
This is part of the double edge sword with writing a multi-tome epic.. It takes time, and the world is an uncertain place.. and I look forward to reading the remaining 3 Westeros novels.. and I'm glad to get a 3rd Dunk and Egg novella.. I just wish that everyone could be calm about it, as insulting the man is not going to help get it published any sooner..
The First three volumes came out over a 6 year period, followed by a 5 year gap before the 4th came out, and we are now nearly a second 5 year gap for the 5th volume.. with two more at least still to go after that.. all told, it will probably be something like 30 years between the first one and the last one being released.. the problem with that is.. that George, is 62 this year, and a few of us are worried he may in fact never finish the series.. some would say that he has no obligation to his fans to finish the series.. and that is probably true. And while I'm not trying to begrudge him his Football games, or his book signings or his jet setting.. he's worked hard to earn that.. I do wish he wouldn't be quite so blatant about it.. because to people who have an emotional investment.. not to mention a monetary and time investment in his books.. it does come across as well.. Dithering.. most of his readers I imagine.. don't care who won the football game he just spend the last 3 hours watching.. or who won the other 3 games he Tivo'd to watch latter..
I'm not going to say he won't finish the series, I certainly don't want anything happening too him, but I do hope he was at least pro-active like Robert Jordan and has arranged for such an occasion.. Telling some one who can keep a secret the ending, leaving a concise outline of where he wants to go with it.. I'd rather have another author finish the series than have it half complete.. or have to have the ending presented in an extremely unfinished form.. like what was done with Tolkien's Silmarillion.
This is part of the double edge sword with writing a multi-tome epic.. It takes time, and the world is an uncertain place.. and I look forward to reading the remaining 3 Westeros novels.. and I'm glad to get a 3rd Dunk and Egg novella.. I just wish that everyone could be calm about it, as insulting the man is not going to help get it published any sooner..
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