The Chris Wooding Thread

[Werthead]

[url="http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2007/10/fade-by-chris-wooding.html"]From the blog[/url], a review of [i]The Fade[/i]:

[quote]The world of Callespa was long ago settled by humans. A rocky moon circling a much huger world (presumably a gas giant) in a binary system, the world became virtually uninhabitable when the stars' output dramatically increased. Humanity retreated underground, splintering into many tribes, leaving only those hardy people known as the SunChildren to dwell on the surface. For many years the nations of Eskara and the Gurta have been at war, a battle fought back and forth through vast subterrenean chambers with neither kingdom able to win a decisive advantage.

Massima Leithka Orna is a Bondswoman, an indentured servant of Clan Caracassa. She is also a member of her clan's Cadre, a collection of warriors and magic-wielders (known as chthonomancers) beyond compare, elite fighters at the front of every major push but also adept at assassination and espionage. During a brutal battle her forces are betrayed and her husband is killed. Taken prisoner to a Gurta fortress, Orna lives only to escape and find her son, now serving on the front lines.

The Fade is a terrific novel. Relatively short (just over 300 pages in hardcover) it is nonetheless superbly-written with vivid characters. The first-person narrative works well, as does the unusual structure (the present-day storyline alternates with flashbacks - in reverse order - showing Orna's history up until the point of her capture). Whilst the epic story of conflict between two civilisations forms the backdrop, the novel is much more concerned with Orna's emotional journey and her relationship with her late husband and her son, which is handled well with all the depth and complexity of real-life relationships. The underground steampunk-esque setting is extremely well-realised and atmospheric, as are the short sections set on the surface.

The Fade (****½) is a complete story in itself but a fair number of loose ends are left dangling for possible future sequels.[/quote]

[beniowa]

Certainly sounds interesting Wert. I'll be sure to pick this up. :thumbsup:

[Amras]

I bought this one based on Wert's review and should be reading it before the end of the year if everything goes as planned. However, I was wondering whether or not it was just me who got a copy with everything "upside down". My copy has the Gollancz emblem turned on its head and the dust-jacket was on the wrong way, too. The same thing happened to a lot of the RSuRS copies earlier this summer if I'm not mistaken.

I guess this could make my copy more valuable, but logic tells me that there must be a lot of badly pressed copies if there is in fact a single one. Thankfully the rest of the book is gorgeous, what with Edward Miller being the cover artist and all. Hopefully the content is as good as he is :thumbsup:

[Peadar]

[quote name='Amras' post='1112652' date='Nov 19 2007, 21.43']However, I was wondering whether or not it was just me who got a copy with everything "upside down".[/quote]

I think it was just you, mine was perfect! Great book.

[Amras]

I hope that's true, Peadar. Even so, I can't wait for the reactions I'm gonna get when I start reading it with the dj upside down (cos I won't - won't! - turn the dj around) :pirate:

Btw, somehow a book called "The Inferior" (in perfect condition) arrived with the same package... You don't suppose it can be as good as "The Fade", do you?

The chances seem pretty slim from where I'm standing :P

[Peadar]

[quote name='Amras' post='1114376' date='Nov 20 2007, 19.50']Btw, somehow a book called "The Inferior" (in perfect condition) arrived with the same package... You don't suppose it can be as good as "The Fade", do you?[/quote]

Hmm... good question, Amras.

If you like books that are merely excellent, then, yes, "The Fade" is for you. If, however, you're prepared to go up a few notches into the realm of stratospheric, mind-blowing, 'where-the-hell-did-that-come-from' page turners, books that have the gods themselves rolling around in fits of ecstasy strong enough to shatter mountains... maybe then, you will be worthy enough to enjoy [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inferior-Peadar-%C3%93-Guil%C3%ADn/dp/0385610955"]The Inferior[/url].

But I doubt it. :pirate:
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P.S. many thanks for your hard-earned dollars. :cheers:

[Daedalus V2.0]

[quote name='Peadar' post='1114528' date='Nov 20 2007, 14.02']Hmm... good question, Amras.

If you like books that are merely excellent, then, yes, "The Fade" is for you. If, however, you're prepared to go up a few notches into the realm of stratospheric, mind-blowing, 'where-the-hell-did-that-come-from' page turners, books that have the gods themselves rolling around in fits of ecstasy strong enough to shatter mountains... maybe then, you will be worthy enough to enjoy [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inferior-Peadar-%C3%93-Guil%C3%ADn/dp/0385610955"]The Inferior[/url].

But I doubt it. :pirate:
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P.S. many thanks for your hard-earned dollars. :cheers:[/quote]
Hmm. That book actually sounds prettty good. When's it coming out in paperback?

[Peadar]

[quote name='Daedalus V2.0' post='1114636' date='Nov 20 2007, 21.49']Hmm. That book actually sounds prettty good. When's it coming out in paperback?[/quote]

The paperback will be out next year in the UK. The hard back will be out in Canada in June. The pb? No idea when you'll see that one...

[Daedalus V2.0]

[quote name='Peadar' post='1114835' date='Nov 20 2007, 16.34']The paperback will be out next year in the UK. The hard back will be out in Canada in June. The pb? No idea when you'll see that one...[/quote]
:(

[Peadar]

[quote name='Daedalus V2.0' post='1115100' date='Nov 21 2007, 02.05']:([/quote]

The good news is that both of my Aunts in Vancouver have copies that they're probably too sqeamish to read, so, if you were really dedicated, you'd walk a 1000 miles and borrow it ;)

Seriously, though, thanks for asking. Now, I'll stop hijacking this thread. Promise.

[Amras]

[quote name='Peadar' post='1114528' date='Nov 20 2007, 22.02']Hmm... good question, Amras.

If you like books that are merely excellent, then, yes, "The Fade" is for you. If, however, you're prepared to go up a few notches into the realm of stratospheric, mind-blowing, 'where-the-hell-did-that-come-from' page turners, books that have the gods themselves rolling around in fits of ecstasy strong enough to shatter mountains... maybe then, you will be worthy enough to enjoy [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inferior-Peadar-%C3%93-Guil%C3%ADn/dp/0385610955"]The Inferior[/url].

But I doubt it. :pirate:
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P.S. many thanks for your hard-earned dollars. :cheers:[/quote]

Oh, don't you worry about the money - I got it for free due to my b-e-a-u-tiful gift-certificates from a very *giving* Norwegian bookclub.

[Amras]

Finished this earlier today. I must admit that I caved in and turned the dj the other way around so that I didn't have to switch the damned thing around everytime I picked it up. I've written a review of it on the blog, [url="http://natsecorma.net/theredundantblog/2007/12/02/the-fade-by-chris-wooding/"]but I'll just link it[/url] since it's just another way of saying nearly the same thing as Wert. I think I wasn't as enthusiastic about it, but a fine recommendation none the less :thumbsup:

[beniowa]

I finished this book Monday night and I pretty much agreed with Wert's review. Great book and worth reading!

[A wilding]

Just read this and generally agree. Good read, interesting central character, not too long, structure copied from [i]Use Of Weapons[/i].

Only, the Eskara are drow aren’t they? It is not just me who couldn’t help but think of them as such? With the Gupta being a lawful evil Underdark race of your choice?

[Werthead]

[quote name='A wilding' post='1348935' date='May 9 2008, 18.16']Just read this and generally agree. Good read, interesting central character, not too long, structure copied from [i]Use Of Weapons[/i].

Only, the Eskara are drow aren’t they? It is not just me who couldn’t help but think of them as such? With the Gupta being a lawful evil Underdark race of your choice?[/quote]

No idea. The only thing I could think of whilst reading [i]The Fade[/i] was, "Y'know, this book renders Salvatore's entire career obsolete in the space of 300 pages" :P

[A wilding]

I have never read any Salvadore (I was lent a couple of Forgotten Realms books by a brother years back, decided then that written down D&D was not for me, and have not seen anything to change my mind since), but the Eskara do seem in essence a good realisation of a drow Underdark civilisation, just slanted towards steampunk and with a de-emphasis on the spell casters, who are mostly kept off stage.

[Werthead]

[url="http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2009/02/braided-path-by-chris-wooding.html"]Just finished[/url] Wooding's earlier [b]Braided Path[/b] trilogy in omnibus. In short: excellent. Right up there with the other epic fantasies people have been exhalting in the last few years (as good as Abercrombie and Lynch, better than Rothfuss) and a bit surprising not to have seen more mention of it around the blogosphere. Definitely worth a look:

[quote]The Empire of Saramyr is vast, rich and powerful. The Blood-Empress Anais tu Erinima is one of the most powerful and respected rulers in Saramyr's history, and her rule seems secure. However, the nobility learns that Anais' daughter Lucia has magical powers, marking her out as an Aberrant. Amongst the people of Saramyr only the Weavers are allowed to wield magic in the service of the Empire, and Aberrants - especially women - are to be killed on sight. Anais' determination that her daughter will follow her onto the Imperial Throne splits the nobility and incurs the displeasure of the Weavers, and the seeds of civil war are sewn.

Meanwhile, a young woman named Kaiku and her handmaiden Asara are the sole survivors of a devastating attack that leaves her home in flames and her family murdered. Taking refuge in the wilderness, Kaiku learns that she also harbours the powers that mark her as an Aberrant, but as she travels through Saramyr, trying to find the secret her father unearthed that got him and his family killed, she gradually learns that the Aberrants are not the wanton forces for evil the Weavers have presented them as, and that the Empire is facing many threats to its existence from within and without.

The Braided Path Trilogy was originally published between 2003 and 2005, consisting of the novels The Weavers of Saramyr, The Skein of Lament and The Ascendancy Veil. In 2006 the three books were re-released as a thousand-page omnibus simply entitled The Braided Path. It's well worth tracking down the omnibus edition with its plethora of maps and a very handsome cover.

The Braided Path is an epic fantasy and contains all the requisite battles, political intrigue and memorable characters the subgenre demands. It also has some nice twists on the conventions of the genre. The technology level is higher than normal, with rifles and cannons coming into use, and the culture of Saramyr skews towards Asia by way of Renaissance Italy. The Asian feel of the books makes itself known in the types of monsters that appear, the use of spirits and spirit magic and the types of languages that are featured in the book. Given that Asian-influenced fantasies can easily turn into The Lord of the Rings But With Ninjas!, the author avoids that temptation and successfully gives the trilogy a rich atmosphere.

The trilogy is deftly paced, with an enormous number of characters, conspiracies, plots, subplots and factions featured in its relatively modest length (the entire trilogy is shorter than a lot of Steven Erikson's individual Malazan novels, for example). It takes the reader on a wild and enjoyable ride, and it certainly reminded me of how good epic fantasy can be in the right hands. In fact, alongside The First Law Trilogy, The Ten Thousand and The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Braided Path is probably the most outright enjoyable work of epic fantasy I've read in the last few years.

There are a few minor niggles with the book. Occasionally the prose feels a little too modern, and the use of the word 'genetic' at one point feels slightly out of place. Wooding also hints at many other places in the world where stories could be waiting to be told but doesn't expand on them, although it's more of a compliment that he makes the world a living, breathing place that feels like it existed before the story begins and is still there when it ends. American readers may also feel short-changed that the trilogy is not available, at this time, from an American publisher, although copies of both the trilogy and omnibus are available as imports from Amazon.com.

The Braided Path (****½) is an excellent work of epic fantasy fiction and I heartily recommend it. It is available now in the UK ([url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Weavers-Saramyr-Book-Braided-Gollancz/dp/0575075422/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823429&sr=1-2"]The Weavers of Saramyr[/url], [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Skein-Lament-Book-Braided-Gollancz/dp/0575076461/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823429&sr=1-6"]The Skein of Lament[/url], [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ascendancy-Veil-Three-Braided-Gollancz/dp/0575077697/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823429&sr=1-12"]The Ascendancy Veil[/url], [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Braided-Path-Weavers-Ascendancy-Gollancz/dp/0575078812/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823429&sr=1-3"]omnibus[/url]) and the USA ([url="http://www.amazon.com/Weavers-Saramyr-Braided-Path/dp/0575075422/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823088&sr=8-2"]The Weavers of Saramyr[/url], [url="http://www.amazon.com/Skein-Lament-Braided-Path-Bk-2/dp/0575074442/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823088&sr=8-6"]The Skein of Lament[/url], [url="http://www.amazon.com/Ascendancy-Veil-Braided-Path/dp/0575077697/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823088&sr=8-3"]The Ascendancy Veil[/url], [url="http://www.amazon.com/Braided-Path-Omnibus-Collection-Acclaimed/dp/0575078812/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234823088&sr=8-1"]omnibus[/url]). The author has a website at [url="http://www.chriswooding.com/books.html"]this location[/url].[/quote]

[url="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n54/n272382.jpg"]The cover for his new novel[/url], [i]Retribution Falls[/i] (out in June), is jaw-droppingly good as well :)

Oh yeah, and I think those who have problems with Bakker's treatment of women and their role in an epic fantasy, particularly with regardes to magic, may find this one very interesting indeed ;)

[Serious Callers Only]

The braided path was that one where masks conferred superpowers right? It was a while ago i read the first book...

[Werthead]

[quote name='Serious Callers Only' post='1688738' date='Feb 16 2009, 23.31']The braided path was that one where masks conferred superpowers right?[/quote]

Sort of:

SPOILER: TBP

They boosted the powers of the Weavers, absorbed some of their essence, and transferred it to the next wearer after the old one died, which made them uber at the cost of also driving them insane after a few years.

[Peadar]

I'll definitely be buying all of these and as soon as I can.