151 replies to this topic

[wolverine]

Werthead, on 02 April 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

I find Stephen Lawhead to be extremely variable, but Byzantium was, by far, his best book for me.

That is a bit scary.  Byzantium is the only book of Lawhead's I have read and while being an interesting adventure, it was totally ridiculous and unbelievable for me.

Edited by wolverine, 03 April 2012 - 09:28 AM.

[11th Heaven]

I've only read Monarchies of God, and I'm in two minds about it. I really enjoyed the first book, and the second was less impressive but good nonetheless. After that, the repeated emphasis on Corfe made me really dislike the series by the end. I found him to be a totally uninteresting character, and I couldn't care less what happened to him or in the events in the east. It almost seemed to me that a different author was writing the Corfe and Hawkwood sections.
I realise this puts me in a minority (like on so many other issues )

[pat5150]

Just finished Kings of the Morning and it was a great read! Best SFF novel I've read in 2012 so far!

Patrick

[Jussi]

Werthead, on 31 March 2012 - 10:28 AM, said:

There's the final Sea-Beggars book due at the end of this year though

Well, it's actually the first two plus a new third book in an omnibus, due to licensing and copyright issues, but the Monarchies omnibuses were priced like normal books, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

This omnibus is missing from the Solaris/Rebellion Fall 2012 catalog.

[Werthead]

Jussi, on 12 May 2012 - 08:31 AM, said:

This omnibus is missing from the Solaris/Rebellion Fall 2012 catalog.

Indeed. I had a feeling that might happen after Kings of Morning was delayed from late 2011 to earlier this year. It's possible they've dropped the omnibus back to 2013 as well.

[peterbound]

Werthead, on 12 May 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

Indeed. I had a feeling that might happen after Kings of Morning was delayed from late 2011 to earlier this year. It's possible they've dropped the omnibus back to 2013 as well.

Dammit!  Why?  Is sales the reason?

And is his website still down?

[Grack21]

Boooooooooooo. Me want more Kearny

[Adept Havelock]

I thought I'd dig up this old thread as I'd just finished the Kings of Morning, what a brilliant book to end a great series. I'll stick with my opinion that Kearney writes the best action scenes in fantasy, the battle between Corvus' forces and the High King's was simply epic. Unfortunately I've now read everything Paul has written which is sad, not as sad as the fact that one of the best writers in fantasy gets barely any sales of course.

If anyone wants to discuss the Corvus trilogy in depth I'd love too, as I've just read them all back to back. I especially love the fairly obvious historical parallels and the sheer torture of reading that last scene. Hell even with Kearney's background of general cruelty towards his cast I didn't see it coming it was just a pure gut punch, I had to read the last few pages again to make sure I wasn't just seeing things. All in all one of the great trilogies of fantasy.

[wolverine]

Adept Havelock, on 26 July 2012 - 08:19 AM, said:

I thought I'd dig up this old thread as I'd just finished the Kings of Morning, what a brilliant book to end a great series. I'll stick with my opinion that Kearney writes the best action scenes in fantasy, the battle between Corvus' forces and the High King's was simply epic. Unfortunately I've now read everything Paul has written which is sad, not as sad as the fact that one of the best writers in fantasy gets barely any sales of course.

If anyone wants to discuss the Corvus trilogy in depth I'd love too, as I've just read them all back to back. I especially love the fairly obvious historical parallels and the sheer torture of reading that last scene. Hell even with Kearney's background of general cruelty towards his cast I didn't see it coming it was just a pure gut punch, I had to read the last few pages again to make sure I wasn't just seeing things. All in all one of the great trilogies of fantasy.

I have only read the first one.  It seems like Crovus' origin is really not much of a mystery, even though I have only read the back cover to the second book.

EDIT:  Maybe it is not intended to be a mystery either.

Edited by wolverine, 26 July 2012 - 09:10 AM.

[Adept Havelock]

wolverine, on 26 July 2012 - 09:10 AM, said:

I have only read the first one.  It seems like Crovus' origin is really not much of a mystery, even though I have only read the back cover to the second book.

EDIT:  Maybe it is not intended to be a mystery either.

It's not supposed to be a mystery, Corvus' parentage and origin are mentioned in depth in books 2 and 3, but a lot of the actions take place between books.

[El Roboto Diablico]

So is this supposed Sea Beggars omnibus kaput? Haven't heard shit about it recently.

[Werthead]

El Roboto Diablico, on 26 July 2012 - 05:20 PM, said:

So is this supposed Sea Beggars omnibus kaput? Haven't heard shit about it recently.

Still on its way, AFAIK. Although much more likely to be released later in 2013 now.

[Jussi]

Rebellion/Solaris spring 2013 catalog doesn't include the Sea Beggars omnibus:

https://catalog.simo...efrom=&find=&a=

[Asathor]

Has there been a date set on the omnibus? Or are they still working out the editing rights?

I"ve read the Macht trilogy and I must say that I liked the first one best. Corvus is a very close second as it is actually just as good of the Ten Thousand but TTT was new for me. The way Kearney describes battles is sublime, you can just feel the arrows bouncing off your helmet and your feet sinking into the blooddrenched ground while you read. Kings of Morning was, imo, of a lesser quality. I found that the material was sort of used up and it became just more of the same. None the less the book was one of the best I've read lately.
Monarchies of God was good, though the entire Hawkwood part sort of left me wishing for more Corfe every time. The end was brilliant though with the third army arriving out of nowhere.

[Werthead]

There have been some vague dates mooted, but nothing final. This also happened with the Monarchies of God books, where several dates came and went with no appearance of the books in catalogues, then suddenly it all came together fairly quickly.

[wolverine]

So I am reading Corvus right now and I am to the point where we are just meeting him.  I read the 10 Thousand quite a while ago.  I was wondering:

Spoiler

  Who was his father.  I assume he is the child of the Kuf woman and the Macht soldier, but I don't remember which Macht soldier it was. Was it Jason?  And I remember her, the Kuf woman, being really pissed off/depressed at the end.  Was it because Jason died?  My memory is pretty foggy here.

Edited by wolverine, 11 November 2012 - 09:29 PM.

[Ouroboros]

Yeah, it was Jason.

[wolverine]

Adept Havelock, on 26 July 2012 - 09:25 AM, said:

It's not supposed to be a mystery, Corvus' parentage and origin are mentioned in depth in books 2 and 3, but a lot of the actions take place between books.

Well I am 250 pages in and Rictus is still trying to figure out who he could be.  Apparently Rictus is pretty dense.

[Migey]

Yeah, but you didn't have about... what was it, 20/30 years to forget about Jason did you?

Think about it. There really is very little reason for him to associate the two. Well there is, and the time gap is (obviously) right, but for him, it was so long ago that there isn't too much reason to make an immediate link...

[wolverine]

Migey, on 17 November 2012 - 07:21 PM, said:

Yeah, but you didn't have about... what was it, 20/30 years to forget about Jason did you?

Think about it. There really is very little reason for him to associate the two. Well there is, and the time gap is (obviously) right, but for him, it was so long ago that there isn't too much reason to make an immediate link...

But I don't think he has forgotten about Jason.  That is what makes it a stretch for me.  I can't recall for sure but I thought he knew the Kufr woman had or was having his baby?  How many half Kufr half Macht people could he even think of, then there is the armor...

Now if he did not know Jason had a baby with the Kufr woman it would make more sense.  That is the part I can't remember.  I actually think he has reflected once or twice in this book about how awesome Jason was.

EDIT:  it is not a big deal, it is just annoying me a little.

Edited by wolverine, 18 November 2012 - 03:46 PM.