Cornucopia
Jul. 24th, 2004 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alfvaenI did read Singularity Sky after the rather disappointing Scream Queen. It was okay, and it had some very nifty hard-SF type ideas, but I'm not sure I would've nominated it for a Hugo. Still, it's an honour just to be nominated, right?
I've definitely got a big pile of library books(five, right now). I like to alternate library books with ones that actually count toward my reading totals(which is to say, books that I own which I have not previously read), so I picked up Magic's Price, the third book in Mercedes Lackey's "Last Herald-Mage" series. It's slow starting, but the other books in the series have packed an emotional wallop once they really get moving, as Vanyel's life just sucks more and more. Since he is the Herald-Mage of the title, I don't expect him to survive to the end. But first we have to find our plot.
I finally finished going through The Shadow Rising in my concordance of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. It was one of my two favourite books of the series, but I'm not sure if it held up to that level of scrutiny. Oh, well, it still has a bangup ending.
Now my dilemma is whether to go on to The Fires of Heaven, my other favourite book, or to switch gears and head into George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, and start doing his "Song of Ice And Fire" series. I tend to waffle back and forth between the two series, depending on which I've read most recently--Martin's is more earthy, realistic, and bloody, but sometimes that can be too much.
Most of the words I can think of why I might prefer Jordan to Martin, which I'm trying to articulate here, sound like either backhanded praise for Jordan or deprecation of my fantasy tastes. But the fact is that while Jordan's world is not as realistic, it's more heroic, and that is more satisfying on other levels. Most of the good guys in Martin's series end up either corrupted, dead, or on the run from the vast majority of amoral self-seeking characters.
Also, Martin is going to be in Calgary for ConVersion in a couple of weeks, and maybe I should be re-immersing myself in his world. At last word he's still working on A Feast For Crows, the somewhat-overdue next book in the series, so it's not like I'm expecting a new book or anything, but on the off chance that I somehow manage to end up in conversation with the guy, I'd like to be prepared.
I am planning to be reading one of his books, perhaps Fevre Dream, during the convention. And I will bring Tuf Voyaging, the first of his books that I tried and still a favourite, to be signed, if I can.
My friend Darren has suggested a few times that I try to do up an article on heraldry in Martin's series, which would require some research, too, and the concordance might be a good way to do that, if slow. So, yeah, I don't know. I guess we'll see.
I've definitely got a big pile of library books(five, right now). I like to alternate library books with ones that actually count toward my reading totals(which is to say, books that I own which I have not previously read), so I picked up Magic's Price, the third book in Mercedes Lackey's "Last Herald-Mage" series. It's slow starting, but the other books in the series have packed an emotional wallop once they really get moving, as Vanyel's life just sucks more and more. Since he is the Herald-Mage of the title, I don't expect him to survive to the end. But first we have to find our plot.
I finally finished going through The Shadow Rising in my concordance of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. It was one of my two favourite books of the series, but I'm not sure if it held up to that level of scrutiny. Oh, well, it still has a bangup ending.
Now my dilemma is whether to go on to The Fires of Heaven, my other favourite book, or to switch gears and head into George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, and start doing his "Song of Ice And Fire" series. I tend to waffle back and forth between the two series, depending on which I've read most recently--Martin's is more earthy, realistic, and bloody, but sometimes that can be too much.
Most of the words I can think of why I might prefer Jordan to Martin, which I'm trying to articulate here, sound like either backhanded praise for Jordan or deprecation of my fantasy tastes. But the fact is that while Jordan's world is not as realistic, it's more heroic, and that is more satisfying on other levels. Most of the good guys in Martin's series end up either corrupted, dead, or on the run from the vast majority of amoral self-seeking characters.
Also, Martin is going to be in Calgary for ConVersion in a couple of weeks, and maybe I should be re-immersing myself in his world. At last word he's still working on A Feast For Crows, the somewhat-overdue next book in the series, so it's not like I'm expecting a new book or anything, but on the off chance that I somehow manage to end up in conversation with the guy, I'd like to be prepared.
I am planning to be reading one of his books, perhaps Fevre Dream, during the convention. And I will bring Tuf Voyaging, the first of his books that I tried and still a favourite, to be signed, if I can.
My friend Darren has suggested a few times that I try to do up an article on heraldry in Martin's series, which would require some research, too, and the concordance might be a good way to do that, if slow. So, yeah, I don't know. I guess we'll see.
