Long Price Quartet or Acts of Caine

[Rhom]

Got the books via UPS this week. Three of them are new, but as I noted above, Blade of Tyshalle was used and listed in "fair" condition.

I think the seller and I may have a different definition of "fair." :lol: Its definitely readable, but it makes me wonder what kind of a barn did the previous owner use as a reading nook. :D

[Darth Richard II]

Oh dear God, I could write a book itself on the perils of buying used books online. I one listed as "good" once that had obviously been chewed on my a large dog, perhaps Zuul.

[shortstark]

I have not read Acts of Caine so I cannot address the OP, but I am one of those who is hyping Long Price.. I think it's vastly underrated..

this thred has prompted me to read Heroes Die, enjoyed it a lot and has started Blades of Tyshalle,

Still prefer Long Price, by a wide margin

[Brandon Stark]

I'm coming to the end of Blade of Tyshall and can really feel the book coming full circle after what felt like a muddled and middling first two acts (not to mention the whole thing being nearly derailed by some over-the-top villain moments). I enjoy the Caine books on a more visceral, bloody knuckles level than I did TLPQ, but the latter still ranks among my favorites for its style and emotional gut-punches.

[Altherion]

I was also prompted to read The Acts of Caine by this thread. I've finished all four of them. The first one is a good story which is relatively easy to understand, then they become progressively more weird (and perhaps somewhat darker) to the point where I need to re-read the fourth to make sure I understood what's going on. I prefer the Long Price, but Caine is also good.

[MisterOJ]

I was also prompted to read The Acts of Caine by this thread. I've finished all four of them. The first one is a good story which is relatively easy to understand, then they become progressively more weird (and perhaps somewhat darker) to the point where I need to re-read the fourth to make sure I understood what's going on. I prefer the Long Price, but Caine is also good.

I'm partway through the fourth one myself and yeah... fucking weird. I don't think I like it.

[aceluby]

Glad I stumbled onto this thread, looks like a couple series that I'm going to enjoy...

[Lyanna Stark]

I thought the fourth book was the weakest, although still very good. I like the way the characters were handled in the third book, but the whole war was handled really blandly. Obviously the series is about the characters rather than the action, but someone like Paul Kearney (or Stover himself, in the third Caine book) handles the requirements of showing a big conflict and making it feel real without skimping on characters or thematic elements, even on a tight pagecount. I found the smaller scale of the first two Long Price books or the much more slow-boiling conflict of the Dagger and the Coin books to be much more suited to Daniel's style.

Wha? The last book is the weakest of TLPQ? That's like disliking Catelyn Stark: a definite proof of having no soul!

[shortstark]

Real.. the last couple chapters of Price of Spring is required reading for me when I want to reminded that I am not a skin spy :-)

[Sword of Funny]

I feel obligated to chime in as I finished long price quartet last year and since have begun the acts of Caine.

I thought long price was intelligent, original, entertaining, moving, and satisfying. One of the finest completed fantasies I've ever read.

I quit acts of caine within the first 100 pages. It was cliched, juvenile, offensive, and I felt embarrassed for the author and his fans after slogging through as much as I did of it. I know I kind of felt embarrassed just to be reading it. I was happy to throw it in the trash.

There are a couple series frequently recommended on these forums that seem to me would've greatly appealed to me as a teenager. Acts of Caine is one of them. It oozes the teen angst.

[wolverine]

I feel obligated to chime in as I finished long price quartet last year and since have begun the acts of Caine.

I thought long price was intelligent, original, entertaining, moving, and satisfying. One of the finest completed fantasies I've ever read.

I quit acts of caine within the first 100 pages. It was cliched, juvenile, offensive, and I felt embarrassed for the author and his fans after slogging through as much as I did of it. I know I kind of felt embarrassed just to be reading it. I was happy to throw it in the trash.

There are a couple series frequently recommended on these forums that seem to me would've greatly appealed to me as a teenager. Acts of Caine is one of them. It oozes the teen angst.

Hmm...I thought it was original and a hell of a lot of fun (if you are talking about the first book). No need to feel embarrassed for me even though I am nowhere near my teens, nor do I gobble up oozing angst, but I still enjoyed the first two books in Acts of Caine.

Kind of wondering what else you like if this was so disgustingly juvenile, embarrassing, and offensive that you are bragging about throwing it away after 100 pages.

[peterbound]

I feel obligated to chime in as I finished long price quartet last year and since have begun the acts of Caine.

I thought long price was intelligent, original, entertaining, moving, and satisfying. One of the finest completed fantasies I've ever read.

I quit acts of caine within the first 100 pages. It was cliched, juvenile, offensive, and I felt embarrassed for the author and his fans after slogging through as much as I did of it. I know I kind of felt embarrassed just to be reading it. I was happy to throw it in the trash.

There are a couple series frequently recommended on these forums that seem to me would've greatly appealed to me as a teenager. Acts of Caine is one of them. It oozes the teen angst.

Not sure how seriously to take this post. Sword of funny doesn't really inspire a whole lot of 'serious' street cred.

All I can say is that you got some balls commenting on something after reading 100 pages of a book the size of AoC.

Is it angry? Yup? Is it vulgar? Yup. Is it beyond you? Yup.

As for anyone not reading based on SoF anti rec: don't listen to this knucklehead. He/she is way off.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

It may seem like a teen self insert violent hack and slash fantasy, but it clearly plays around with the idea and looks at the consequences like when

Minor Spoilers:

After a standard action prison break, Caine has to deal with the fact that dozens of guards are dead and many more are maimed and almost all of them had families whom they supported.

[Larry of the Lawn]

I feel obligated to chime in as I finished long price quartet last year and since have begun the acts of Caine.

I thought long price was intelligent, original, entertaining, moving, and satisfying. One of the finest completed fantasies I've ever read.

I quit acts of caine within the first 100 pages. It was cliched, juvenile, offensive, and I felt embarrassed for the author and his fans after slogging through as much as I did of it. I know I kind of felt embarrassed just to be reading it. I was happy to throw it in the trash.

There are a couple series frequently recommended on these forums that seem to me would've greatly appealed to me as a teenager. Acts of Caine is one of them. It oozes the teen angst.

Weird. I just started a Heroes die reread and was thinking about how it's awesome and self aware of the tropes it uses and then deconstructs and rebuilds. But then again there are other authors here that people whose opinions I respect love that I think are mediocre at best.

[Bjornbert]

Nice thread since I was considering exactly these two for my next read. Is anything else written by Stover worth reading?

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

I started Stover, got about I dunno, 2 chapters in and had a change of heart. Not that it was bad, just been hearing/seeing a lot of praise about LPQ. I'm loving it so far, and I'm only 3 chapters in, just found out who Itani really is. I'm having a little difficulty with the whole Poet/andat and how that all works, but I'm sure I'm just not far enough in yet. Truly I'm already engrossed in the story, and am really intrigued by the "Sad contract" and what will come about. Really enjoy Abraham's style of writing also.

[DaveSumm]

I'm having a little difficulty with the whole Poet/andat and how that all works, but I'm sure I'm just not far enough in yet.

It remains fairly fuzzy, you get more metaphysical discussions on the concept but the actual logistics of binding and enacting the andats is pretty vague. I think it suits it though, it wouldn't really hold up if you went into too much detail.

Just started book 4, really love the series. It's annoying you can't get them as four books (found the first on eBay but other than that I've only seen the 1&2, 3&4 omnibuses) seeing as it's a quartet.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

It remains fairly fuzzy, you get more metaphysical discussions on the concept but the actual logistics of binding and enacting the andats is pretty vague. I think it suits it though, it wouldn't really hold up if you went into too much detail.

Just started book 4, really love the series. It's annoying you can't get them as four books (found the first on eBay but other than that I've only seen the 1&2, 3&4 omnibuses) seeing as it's a quartet.

I bought mine as eBook through kindle, individually. As usual if I fall in love with the books I will then get the Hardcovers.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

It remains fairly fuzzy, you get more metaphysical discussions on the concept but the actual logistics of binding and enacting the andats is pretty vague. I think it suits it though, it wouldn't really hold up if you went into too much detail.

So I guess what I want to know is do the Poets create the andat? Or are they just handed down from Poet to Poet?

[williamjm]

So I guess what I want to know is do the Poets create the andat? Or are they just handed down from Poet to Poet?

I can't remember exactly when but I think will be explained soon in the book. A Poet will 'create' an andat, but when he dies another Poet can try to take over control of it - although if the andat ever becomes free no Poet could ever summon that andat again (and no future andat can ever have the same power).