WICKED, LOVELY - First Chapter

I read the first chapter to WICKED, LOVELY by Melissa Marr several weeks ago, so here's a quick post on it. After a short prologue, the first chapter begins with a girl and a boy playing pool. Seems ordinary enough -- almost boring. However, as they play, faeries torment them. They are unseen by most people. However, Aislinn can see them. And she must never let on, otherwise they will make her life miserable.

Then she felt it: warm air on her skin. A faery, its too-hot breath on her neck, sniffed her hair. His pointed chin pressed against her skin. All the focus in the world didn’t make Pointy-Face's attention tolerable.

I'm not crazy about authors referring to nameless characters in this manner; I find it rather distracting. However, I can ignore it, because the story gets more gripping with every page. Pretty soon, Aislinn finds herself being pursued by three faeries, a boy, a girl and a wolf. When the boy takes a human guise, Aislinn is not fooled. He speaks to her, but she rebuffs him. The chapter ends on a chilling note that begs the reader to turn the page. It really is very well done.

New Debut - PLAGUE YEAR by Jeff Carlson

Debuting today is Jeff Carlson's Plague Year (Amazon UK). Here is the blurb:

The nanotechnology was designed to fight cancer. Instead, it evolved into the machine plague, killing nearly five billion people and changing life on Earth forever.

The nanotech has one weakness: it self-destructs at altitudes above ten thousand feet. Those few who've managed to escape struggle to stay alive on the highest mountains, but time is running out. There is famine and war, and the environment is crashing worldwide. Humanity's last hope lies with a top nanotech researcher aboard the International Space Station—and with a small group of survivors in California who risk a daring journey below the death line.

The publisher has a page for to the novel, which includes a blurb by David Brin and an interview. The author also maintains a profile at Writertopia and has sample chapters available at his website. There is an entry for the author on Wikipedia. I also found a very enthusiastic blog entry about it by Lou Anders, the editorial director at Pyr entitled "The One That Got Away". I found reviews at SciFiWeekly, Alternative Worlds, and Publishers Weekly (scroll way down).

The premise reminds me of Alas, Babylon, published in 1959 by Pat Frank, where humanity survives a nuclear war in isolated pockets. I am tempted to read it to see how far the similarity goes. I may feature the first chapter within the next week or so.

And Now for Something Different

Since I am maddeningly undecided on which novel I want to feature next, I've decided to read some first chapters that are posted online. And since I'm reading first chapters, I might as well put up posts about them. The first one follows this post.

THE HAUNTING OF CAMBRIA - First Chapter

I'm not usually into horror, but THE HAUNTING OF CAMBRIA by Richard Taylor is unexpectedly charming.

The first chapter works for me. It is a blend of tragedy and humor which, as I stated in an earlier post, is almost irresistible for me. The first line:

"Lily died the day we signed the escrow papers for the bed and breakfast."

The first chapter tells the story of how a young widower lost is wife of only a few hours, from what it sounds like. They did jump into bed too rapidly for my taste, but that was only after months of the man romancing the woman until she no longer wanted to resist. So at least they knew each other.

Once she dies, he is left with the bed and breakfast that they just purchased hours before. It was her dream to run the bed and breakfast. His dream, as he told her, was her.

It has some delightful and touching humor, such as:

"You have a career." (Lily)
"I have a job." (Theo)
"You have a condo."
"It's an apartment with pretension. It has a fireplace and a mortgage. It means nothing."

It's not laugh-out-loud humor, but it shows a light touch that is promising for the rest of the novel.

The Danger of the Mega-Series

I went through all my books yesterday, making room for the many books that I intend to read for this blog, and I noticed an interesting trend. The series that I set aside for the used book store were all series that I enjoyed, for the most part. But they had two things in common. Each book was ultra thick and each series went on for more than three books. I realized that -- even if I really enjoyed them -- I would most likely not invest the time in reading them again.

Into the pile went my Tad Williams Otherland series. I love everything Tad Williams has written. However, the only novel I kept is Tailchaser's Song. I have already sold Memory Sorrow and Thorn. I also am going to sell the volumes that I have left from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice and I've already sold my volumes from Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time.

I kept most the shorter series, even if they weren't my favorites. My favorite book by J. V. Jones is The Barbed Coil. But I also kept her The Book of Words series (that series title never made sense to me). I have Deborah Chester's The Sword, the Ring and the Chalice and Holly Lisle's The Secret Texts. I enjoyed them all, but if I lost them in a fire, I wouldn't replace them.

Which brings me to my point. When it comes to my favorite series, I have actually gone through the expense of replacing worn-out copies. I have purchased no fewer than three copies of Dragonlance over the years, including two omnibus copies and one copy of each individual book. I have purchased two omnibus copies of The Deed of Paksenarrion. I have purchased at least three copies of The Once and Future King, including standalone copies of The Sword in the Stone and The Book of Merlyn.

Why did I replace these? Because I read each series so many times that I actually wore them out. This has turned into extra sales for the authors. True, these aren't mega-authors. But most authors aren't.

Which brings me to Acacia. The jury is still out for this one. The first book took me three weeks to read, but David Anthony Durham has promised only three titles in the series. This alone makes me more likely to keep them.

Do you reread the novels that you love? What titles have you purchased more than once, if any?

ACACIA - Final Review

If I were to have to describe ACACIA in one word, I would have to say it is intense.

ACACIA tells the tale of the four children of a king, and of their individual attempts to win back the kingdom of their father from the Mein invaders.

The kingdom of Acacia owes its stranglehold on the known world through the widespread use of a drug, which it obtains from a mysterious land in the unknown world. In exchange, Acacia pays an annual and horrific sort of a tax, called a Quota, which is paid in human lives. When the Mein take over, they find themselves beholden to the Quota as well. And at the end of the book . . . well, let's just say that this particular situation is unresolved. It is clear that the ultimate villain in this series is whoever it is who lives in the unknown world.

The book has multiple viewpoints. The viewpoints switch every chapter, George R. R. Martin style and includes:

Thasren, the assassin
his older brother Maeander,
their oldest brother, Hamish, chieftain of the Mein
Leodan, the king of Acacia,
each of his four children, including
Aliver, the oldest and the heir,
the beautiful and treacherous Corinn,
the smart and deadly Mena,
and the personable and passionate Dariel,
Thaddeus, the king's councilor,
Leeka, the aging general,
Rialus, a treacherous ambassador

And a few others. One thing that frustrated me about the novel was how often the viewpoint changed in the opening chapters. It interfered with my ability to develop an affinity with any of them. Only during Part Two did I finally learn to like most of the royal family. I also wish Durham could have pruned some of the point-of-view (POV) characters. Was it really necessary to make the reader endure Rialus's point of view when when other POV characters were present? Maybe Durham has a good reason us to know him so intimately, but as a reader when I got to another scene about Rialus (and others), I would more often than not put the book down for a while.

However, Durham is too generous and good of a writer to make me suffer for long. Since the chapters tended to be short, I usually didn't have to read very far before catching up with the less repugnant characters. I'd have to say may favorite characters were Mena, Dariel and Leeka. My least favorite were Maeander, Rialus and Corrine. I don't think Durham really expected me to like any of those characters. Some of them make great villains. Others are merely slimy.

I thought the Santoth would turn out to be bad guys. I was glad to be surprised otherwise. Hanish didn't turned out to be quite the villain than I expected, and a certain other character turned out to be much more of a villain than I expected. Aliver and Corinne turned out to be stronger than I expected, while Dariel and Leodan turned out to be weaker than I expected.

And the death of a certain messiah-type was not really that unexpected. After all, messiahs tend to die, do they not?

Speaking of messiahs, this novel has definite Christian underpinnings. However, they are very subtle. It speaks of the power of the creator not meant to be wielded by the created. I found this a powerful concept. It was behind the world's warped -- almost cursed -- magic system.

Would I recommend this book? Well, that depends on what you want from your novels. This book is not for readers who want a lighthearted yarn. It's not for readers who want a book that makes them laugh. It's not for readers who want a page-turning thriller. It's not for readers who want to finish within 24 hours.

It is for readers who appreciate suburb worldbuilding. It is for readers who enjoy being provoked to think. It is for readers who crave a long-term commitment to an epic fantasy (especially when they have been disappointed by such epics in the past). And it is for readers who enjoy truly unique ideas, and who don't aren't turned off by occasional brutality.

Will I read the next book in the series? Absolutely. As always, I am interested in hearing your opinions as well. I just love discussing books! This post will remain on top throughout the weekend.

ACACIA Links
The Amazon link for the US and the UK
David Anthony Durham's website, blog and forum
My other posts about ACACIA

Blogrolling

Over the last week or so, I've noticed more referrals popping up in my Google Analytics and Technorati. Thanks to The Fantasy Review, The Gravel Pit, The Soulless Machine Review, The Book Swede and Graeme's Fantasy Book Review for adding me to your blogrolls! I'll be updating my blogroll this weekend. If you've blogrolled Fantasy Debut and I've missed it, please leave a comment.

Thanks again!

BTW, I've finished ACACIA and am working on my review now.

THE HOWLING DELVE by Jaleigh Johnson

Instead of doing a weekly or twice-weekly debut round-up, I've decided to announce them one at a time. It's just too time-consuming the other way. Besides, the individual novels will get more exposure this way.

Another novel that released on the 10th of July was The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson. It is a Forgotten Realms novel. It seems to me that writing a novel for a franchise such as Forgotten Realms can be a smart thing to do. On the one hand, you don't hold your own copyright. But on the other, you have a huge hoard of fans who pick up every Forgotten Realms book that comes out. Many authors got their break by writing for such shared worlds as the many owned by Wizards of the Coast along with Battletech and Star Wars. It would have to be a labor of love, and I imagine that you would have to know that world extremely well. I also know that the competition to get a contract to write such a book can be tough. Unlike other publishers, you generally submit a proposal to write such a book, even if you are an unknown author.

The blurb reads: "An orphan mage returns to the only home she's ever known to find if transformed into a dungeon, her former master missing or trapped within. To make matters worse, the thieves that hold the dungeon won't let her leave --not for supplies, not for help. It will take all of her courage, skill, and magic to survive long enough to figure out what happened to her home." There is a sample chapter at the Wizard's website. Johnson also keeps a blog and she updates it fairly often.

Remy did a review over at The Fantasy Review. In fact, he deserves a hat tip; were it not for his review I would have missed this novel. The Beezer Review also has a review up.

Status

I usually post every. However, I have not for the past few days because I'm nursing a toe that is either dislocated or fractured. After spending all day at work in front of a computer, I come home, keep my foot elevated and read David's novel.

Its taken me a shockingly long time to read this book, mostly because life keeps getting in the way. My usual reading time on the weekend has not been available in recent weeks. However, I'm almost done! I only have about a quarter-inch left.

Debut Round-Up - 7/22/07

This week, Locus put out feeds for week 2 and 3, even though week 3 is not yet available via a link on their website. Never one to miss an opportunity, I have gleaned one debut from each week (other than the ones that I've already covered).

The Hidden Worlds by Kristin Landon came out on June 26th, published by Ace. It is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel where humanity hides on hidden worlds from ruthless machine intelligences -- except now the machine intelligences have discovered these hidden worlds. Her site has links to a number of reviews. This novel was blurbed by Linnea Sinclair, who also blurbed Lisa Shearin's Magic Lost, Trouble Found. Since I liked that, Linnea's blurb makes this book tempting. I found reviews at The Best Reviews, Harriet Klausner and Deborah Hern's blog.

The Haunting of Cambria by Richard Taylor also came out on the 26, published by Tor Books. It is a haunted love story, about a recent widower who investigates the haunting of his new home. His website has a sample chapter along with reviews and events. I found reviews at Armchair Interviews, Huntress Book Reviews and another one at Harriet Klausner.

Although I've noted Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible, I have yet to include a Debut Round-Up entry on it. So here it is. But first, an aside.

I was doing my usual geek thing, which is Googling the book title and then loading a bunch of browser tabs with the most pertinent results. Well, I loaded the book's website and quickly moved on, opening about 3 or4 tabs without looking at them. Then, I heard a bunch of thunder, lightening and electronic arcing sounds. I hurried over to the novel's website and sure enough, it looks like Grossman pulled out all the stops, just like Jennifer Estep did with Karma Girl. There's even a button for the Department of Metahuman Affairs that you can easily miss if you only skim the page. But if you miss it, then you miss out on the chance of getting something like this:

check the Metahuman Activity Map

Tia Nevitt

SoonIWillBeInvincible.com

And who would want to miss that? This site is chock full of stuff, a fun time-eater.

Anyway, as I've noted in my Debut Bestseller Round-Ups, Grossman's novel has been on the Amazon Fantasy top seller list. Trashotron has reviewed it along with Newsday, and In Which Our Hero, and a lot of other people.