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The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron


AncalagonTheBlack

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Just started reading this today and am at chapter 5 at the moment,really liking it so far.This is a fantasy debut although the author is not a debut novelist as he has already published many historical fiction books under the name Christian Cameron.

 

Only thing i will say right now is that one of the characters is named Wilful Murder :lol:

 

More comments when i finish this doorstopper of a book! (Hardcover: 656 pages)

 

Anyone else read it yet ?

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am at chapter 9 now and there is a pitched battle going on ,multiple POV's which i usually dislike as in ASOIF but here they are much shorter and more tightly written,clearly the author's historical fiction background is showing,the battles so far have been realistic ,i can almost see myself in them lol ,this just might be better than Abercrombie!

i think i will be staying up late and finishing this by early morning today :D

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Early reviews have said this is pretty much a generic epic fantasy-by-the-numbers. I have it, but it's months down the reading list.

Which reviews exactly ?links please ?

i found only 4 reviews online so far,believe me i searched,all 4 were very positive -

http://www.theeloquentpage.co.uk/2012/10/25/the-red-knight-by-giles-cameron/

http://parmenionbooks.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/the-red-knight-review-miles-cameron/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13616278-the-red-knight

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Which reviews exactly ?links please ?

i found only 4 reviews online so far,believe me i searched,all 4 were very positive -

SFX were pretty scathing. But then, they also were about A Game of Thrones back in 1996, so perhaps that shouldn't be taken too much as read ;)

Starburst have also given it a positive review. I may move it up a few notches on the pile.

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SFX were pretty scathing. But then, they also were about A Game of Thrones back in 1996, so perhaps that shouldn't be taken too much as read ;)

SFX are normally pretty good but they're far, far more likely to be glowingly positive about a British book... they have some pretty counter-to-the-popular opinions on Malazan (okay, in fairness that's more mixed in general) and the Dresden Files too.

Edit: but the one you just linked from Starburst to isn't the one we're talking about. Rather bafflingly (especially since this one was initially not called by this title) there are two fantasy debuts called The Red Knight this year.

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SFX were pretty scathing. But then, they also were about A Game of Thrones back in 1996, so perhaps that shouldn't be taken too much as read ;)

Starburst have also given it a positive review. I may move it up a few notches on the pile.

Adam,the Red Knight review at starburst is a different book (by K T Davies) :P

could not find the SFX review online .

I finished the book early today morning ,a satisfactory ending but an open one with hints of what is to come in the 2nd book (The Fell Sword),one of the better epic fantasy debuts i read this year.Looking forward to the 2nd book.

I also came across a mini essay by the author about the world this series is set in -

http://www.traitorson.com/the-world/

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just finished this and I thought it was pretty good. I suppose it does have a reasonably traditional fantasy outline but it's well written and I'm looking forward to the next book quite a lot.

One odd thing about it is that Cameron includes Christianity as the religion in a story set in another world. It doesn't seem to be designed to promote Christianity so far so I don't find it particularly off putting but I do wonder where he's going to go with it.

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One odd thing about it is that Cameron includes Christianity as the religion in a story set in another world. It doesn't seem to be designed to promote Christianity so far so I don't find it particularly off putting but I do wonder where he's going to go with it.

Essay linked above answers this question. Basically, it apparently is alternate Earth, not a separate world.

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I already had an ARC, but a finished copy showed up in the post, reinforcing the need to read this. However, Malice by John Gwynne showed up at the same time. Both look promising for epic fantasy debuts.

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I just finished this and I thought it was pretty good. I suppose it does have a reasonably traditional fantasy outline but it's well written and I'm looking forward to the next book quite a lot.

One odd thing about it is that Cameron includes Christianity as the religion in a story set in another world. It doesn't seem to be designed to promote Christianity so far so I don't find it particularly off putting but I do wonder where he's going to go with it.

I like that part of it, I think Cameron might have been trying to go for sort of a Cantebury Tales type vibe with the way he would jump between the viewpoints of different characters that would be present in that type of medieval society to establish some of his world building. I've only read about a quarter of the book so far though, so I could be totally wrong too.

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Started this, about three chapters in I must confess it's not impressing me enormously. Has shown some neat ideas so far but the writing isn't as witty as it wants to be and spends far too much time describing the weapons and armour and the like. Plus, while this may be explored later, there's a frankly weird (not ick strange, more real-people-don't-behave-like-this strange) take on sexual politics that at the moment doesn't seem consistent even within itself.

It certainly has none of the flair of an Abercrombie or Lawrence.

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  • 2 months later...

SFX were pretty scathing. But then, they also were about A Game of Thrones back in 1996, so perhaps that shouldn't be taken too much as read ;)

I've heard from reliable sources that the first UK print run of A Game of Throne was ridiculously small - something in the region of 1,600. It's amazing to think that SFX gave it a scathing review. By any objective measure, it's an excellent epic fantasy novel. Though perhaps the reviewer had their sensibilities offended by the paradigm shift towards gritty realism AGoT represented; I recall I had just read the Silmarillion when when I picked it up and the incest/bad language/underage sex didn't sit well with me at first. Took me a while to adapt. In fact, I almost posted a "I am highly offended" 1-star review on Amazon. Really glad I didn't do that now...

Back on topic, The Red Knight is high on my to-read list. A bit disappointed to read some of the early reviews are mixed.

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