MinDonner Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 As for you, MinDonner and Werthead, you guys owe me a drink for this, at the very least! Make that two, just for good measure! Patrick P. S. Min, I can't believe you immediately jumped into RSURS. You still have a brand new copy of Goodkind's Phantom that you haven't opened yet! Heh, being on the ARC list is pretty damn cool, and I shall certainly reward you with drinks should you ever find yourself on this side of the pond. As for Phantom, I was really going to read it, I was, but Soul of the Fire nearly killed me, and I think Phantom may be finding its way unread onto eBay sometime pretty soon... unless you want it back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcf Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Yeah Pat - I owe you a drink too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiseFool Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 hey, I'm willing to offer you a drink too Pat ! make that 2 actually if that's all it takes to read RSURS now instead of june, i'm even ready to give you my sister no, I don't have any sister, but that's not the point, don't try to change the subject ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Something I just noticed is that even allowing for the different typeface and spacing in an ARC, RSURS is nearly 150 pages longer than TLOLL, clocking in at the 650-page mark. I also think the UK edition (probably mapless again) may suffer from not having maps, as there's a fair bit of moving around and the layout of the main city is even more complex than Camorr. I recommend downloading the maps from Scott's website before reading. Coming up on 250 pages in and the book has developed a rather notable flaw. I'm hoping it's a deliberate stylistic choice which is subverted later in the novel. Other than that, the writing is actually significantly stronger than in LoLL: SPOILER: RSURSParticularly the Locke/Jean relationship, which is given much more depth and made more complex this time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 *le sigh* I got all kinds of access to good liquor, Pat, you know, should you ever need to send out more ARC info... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Coming up on 250 pages in and the book has developed a rather notable flaw. I'm hoping it's a deliberate stylistic choice which is subverted later in the novel. Other than that, the writing is actually significantly stronger than in LoLL: Care to elaborate? Or are you waiting to finish the novel to see if it pans out......or not? From the tone of what you wrote, it concerns plot/theme... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I'm hoping that the second book will be able to compensate not having some of the elements that made Locke Lamora so great. If you gave me the synopsis of both of these books , plus Mindonner's glowing review, I'd say that Lies seems like a much more interesting book to me personally. First book has the very cool city of Camorr and it's ancient history, the Bondmages, the Gray King etc. Here we get female pirate captains which I know I'll find nowhere near as interesting or credible. Pirates generally aren't my thing at all. Min's review made me see why she liked it so much but at the same time from the questions that have been answered about the book's contents I'm getting a " not as cool as" feeling. Disclaimer: just speculating, Lynch may of course surprise me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Cali, Tel Verrar is easily the match for Camorr in description and atmosphere, whilst being refreshingly different. The writing is actually superior to LoLL. I'm just waiting until the I finish book to see if the structural problem I noticed earlier is resolved. And the 'pirate part' of the book is not as dominant as perhaps the previews led us to believe: SPOILER: RSURSThey don't even get on the ship until nearly halfway through the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crannogman Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Say, annoying people who have read the book already, (hate you!) Any differences/improvements in Lynch' writing style in the second book? I liked LoLL as much as the next person, the dialogue, characters, story and plotting were great. But the descriptions tried too hard, and the prose there would never really flow. And sometimes it edged over into the purple a bit. (Fortunately, descriptive prose wasn't really where the book was at) Has Lynch improved any in this regard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat5150 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Let's just say that a lot of people on this board and elsewhere owe me a drink or two! So much so that I would probably get loaded for about a full week, should I ever meet all those people at the same time! Damn Bantam for not printing those ARCs when they were supposed to! Now I have to wait while those damned Brits get their hands on RSURS! At least I'm getting a Limited Edition Subpress TLOLL ARC! So I guess there is a silver lining somewhere in this. . . Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Say, annoying people who have read the book already, (hate you!) Any differences/improvements in Lynch' writing style in the second book? I liked LoLL as much as the next person, the dialogue, characters, story and plotting were great. But the descriptions tried too hard, and the prose there would never really flow. And sometimes it edged over into the purple a bit. (Fortunately, descriptive prose wasn't really where the book was at) Has Lynch improved any in this regard? I'd like to say "yes, of course!" but as I didn't actually notice those problems in the first book I can't sensibly comment - I've only read it the once and as I skim a bit, the prose has to be REALLY purple before it trips me up. All I can say is that I didn't notice any excess purple-ness this time either... Wert, what was the thing that you didn't like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronn Stone Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Let's just say that a lot of people on this board and elsewhere owe me a drink or two! So much so that I would probably get loaded for about a full week, should I ever meet all those people at the same time! I don't owe you anything and can't think of any remotely reasonable reason for a publisher to ever give me an ARC. But if you are ever out in the SF Bay Area, would love to get together to discuss books. BwB Bay Area chapter seldom needs much of an excuse to gather, even if usually just ends up being me and Lodengarl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gildor Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 All you people with advance copies .. wankers! you hear me, absolute wankers! *shakes fist* Did you have to get these books this early, we've all got to wait months! Months!!!! I love you all really This has probabaly been talked about, but out of curiosity, why are there now two totally different covers. I ask becasue I really like the US one, which is however out on the 31st of July, nearly a month after the UK version. Actually no, I like both, but I just don't see the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 If the UK edition has no map anyway I'd recommend the US edition anyway. Has a nicer feel to it as well IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastard of Godsgrace Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Ah, but American cover sort of sucks. I want this beautiful red cover, and besides it fits together with tLoLL HC cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaceBannon42 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I'm a sucker... I'll likely get both Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I want a nice, matching cover. UK for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gildor Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Oh fuck, what to choose!!! The flaming beauty of a fired ship against a matching set. *ponders* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I'd like to say "yes, of course!" but as I didn't actually notice those problems in the first book I can't sensibly comment - I've only read it the once and as I skim a bit, the prose has to be REALLY purple before it trips me up. All I can say is that I didn't notice any excess purple-ness this time either... Wert, what was the thing that you didn't like? SPOILER: RSURSThe story starts out exactly the same as LoLL. The Gentlemen Bastards are running a con. The con is much more complex and multi-sided than it first appears. Then complications ensure from an outside faction who can see through their disguises and manipulate them into doing their bidding through various extortionate means. Locke swears vengeance on the guy manipulating them. I'm reaching the bit where they actually get out to sea, where it appears the story goes in a totally different direction, but I have to say the repetition in the early part of the book is something that took the shine off for me. A shame as Lynch's prose is superior to the first book and the inventiveness of the city rivals, if not exceeds, that of Camorr. It's not a book-killer (and it's not as bad as Robert Jordan's self-plagarising, for example), but it will certainly affect my final score unless the second half of the book is monumentally more awesome. Here's hoping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crannogman Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Mindonner: I actually didn't really notice the first time I read LoLL either. It was such a wonderful fast paced story with such vivid characters that the descriptions didn't really register. But when re-reading it, I kept struggling with his descriptions. On further thought, they're not really purple.. it's more like, forced. It's like the author tries too hard to think of original and memorable descriptions, but they end up just not flowing. They do not give me a picture of what he's writing about, rather I have to read them more than once if I really want to know what he's talking about and even then the comparisons and similes he makes are stretched. Sometimes they're fairly clever, sometimes they make me smile, quite a few times they make me frown or wish he'd get it over with. And that is not good. Still, like I said, the book is easily carried by other aspects. It's easy not to notice this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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