Lamentation

[MattL86]

So there's this book clearance warehouse 15 minutes from my house, and every month or so there is a sale, big cardboard box of books for $30, as many as you can fit with the flaps closed flat. Anyway, I'm nearing the top of my box and I see this book on one of the tables called Lamentation by Ken Scholes. The book didn't ring a bell but I thought I remembered the name as a fairly recent debut, so I squeezed a spot in the box for it, thinking I'd probably never get to it. For some reason I picked this book up the other day, and I'm fairly shocked.

The book is good. It's really, really good IMO. It's the closest thing I've seen stylewise to Martin, with the varying POV characters, plot twists, and intrigue. How good is it? I'd say Scholes is light years ahead of Weeks or Brett, guys who got a lot more publicity for their first stuff, or at least more publicity that I was aware of. I'd say he is on the same level as Rothfuss, maybe a bit behind Abercrombie and Lynch, though those are favorites of mine.

Best part, forget the plot, the characters, everything. He writes damn well. He doesn't blubber on about amber sunrises or whatever and think his prose is good, it just is. He says something in one sentence and it is more powerful than most authors would achieve in paragraphs. I constantly find myself thinking he just worded something the exact perfect way. He's dark and gritty, but he doesn't have to describe what a dwarf's cock looks like to make you think he's dark and gritty. He doesn't even use any strong language if I think about it, but the atmosphere is there.

I realize there is this whole mixed technology aspect that might turn high fantasy purists off a bit, but I'm not such a fan of that either and it worked for me. And I confess to not having read the second book yet (which I guess has been out now for some time) so I don't know if the series went up in smoke, but I'd doubt it.

Anyway, this board is really well read so I'm sure a lot of you have read it, but I'm curious as to why Scholes is a very low profile name in a genre which I think he writes extremely well. Or am I the only one who feels this way about him?

[Deluge]

Actually, there was a lot of discussion of Scholes when Lamentation first came out, and again for Canticle. He's a good author, and I've really liked the plot. Rudolfo and Jin Li Tam are both Mary Sues, but I can live with that, and they certainly get more interesting in Canticle. Not my favorite series ever, but definitely a fun read.

[Procrastimancer]

Nah, you aren't the only one who likes Scholes. I am a fan, have been since I picked up Lamentation soon after its release. He has his own thread somewhere hereabouts, but I'm not going to go searching for it. I don't think I have seen too many negative reactions to his work, though there have been a few 'meh' reactions--most of which revolve around the first book's lackluster characterization and the second book's continuation (to a lesser extent) of it.

Canticle, I feel, is very much an improvement over Lamentation, so if you like Lamentation, you will enjoy it just as much. The grittiness is a strange aspect of the novel and I mentioned it in a review of mine:

What strikes me about this book, and this series, is the lack of grittiness, despite the rather dark nature of the story. Sex is mentioned, but never viewed. Murder and killing is often given only a cursory nod, except for the more poignant deaths. And, shockingly enough if the reader is coming from someone like Abercrombie or Lynch, free of cursing. That it manages to come across as dark and violent without resorting to such things is impressive, especially these days when grit and grime in fantasy seem to be popular. Because the book lacks these things, I believe that the series–at the moment–might serve as an appropriate introduction to the genre for the younger teens.

I also mentioned the power of his phrasing:

Once again, Scholes serves up a book with a prose that I find hard to describe. To give it a cursory glance, the prose seems simple, unadorned, a few steps above workmanlike, but there is something about it that makes it different. I may be alone in this, but I feel that Scholes knows the exact way to phrase something, the best words to use, to lend weight to his prose and to his story.

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The book is very good, a strong debut, but that does not mean it is going to take off. You can look in Daniel Abraham's direction, look at all the love he gets from this board and bloggers contrasted against sales so poor that Tor refuses to release a paperback version of the last book, for a clear picture of that. In Abraham's case, the general consensus seems to be that Tor failed to market him enough and set him up for a fail. In Scholes' case... I don't know. To be honest, I can't say I know anything about the state of marketing for the book. I do know that Tor seems to think the (beautiful) covers are the problem with the sales and have changed them mid-series to generic character portraits.

And really, their idea that it is the covers doing the book in might hold some weight. I have seen at least one negative reaction to the book based solely on the cover, which was remarked upon as not fitting a fantasy book and belonging in a museum rather than on a cover.

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Hmm. By the way, Scholes had a hand in short fiction before he ever released a novel and he is one of those authors, Neil Gaiman being the other, whose short fiction I actually prefer over their longer prose work. If you liked Lamentation and Canticle, then I suggest you track down a copy of his collection, published from Fairwood Press, Long Walks, Last Flights, and Other Strange Journeys. He also has another coming out in August: Diving Mimes, Weeping Czars, and Other Unusual Suspects.

[Myshkin]

I don't think Scholes' profile is anywhere near as low as you think it is. Here's the thread for him.

[MattL86]

Once again, Scholes serves up a book with a prose that I find hard to describe. To give it a cursory glance, the prose seems simple, unadorned, a few steps above workmanlike, but there is something about it that makes it different. I may be alone in this, but I feel that Scholes knows the exact way to phrase something, the best words to use, to lend weight to his prose and to his story.

Wow, that's pretty much the exact way I feel (and expressed above). Do you have a link to your whole review?

EDIT: Found it with a bit of looking. Good review ;)

Rudolfo and Jin Li Tam are both Mary Sues, but I can live with that, and they certainly get more interesting in Canticle

I see where you would feel that way, though I actually had no problems with those characters myself. Good to hear Canticle is a step up rather than down.

I do know that Tor seems to think the (beautiful) covers are the problem with the sales and have changed them mid-series to generic character portraits.

The cover is the thing that drew me to the book. For some odd reason I seem to be the exact opposite of public opinion when it comes to covers. I just looked up the cover to Canticle and it's awesome too. Oh well...

I don't think Scholes' profile is anywhere near as low as you think it is. Here's the thread for him.

Hmm, fair enough, though if you compare it to how many threads pop up for other authors, the point still has some weight I think.

[The Horse With No Name]

I'll risk the chance of embarassing myself, but as I'm no native speaker I really have no idea what you're talking about, so I'll just ask: What's a Mary Sue?

[Willie McBride]

I'll risk the chance of embarassing myself, but as I'm no native speaker I really have no idea what you're talking about, so I'll just ask: What's a Mary Sue?

It's code for "a character who is not a pathetic whiner, a contemptible failure, an amoral criminal or a remorseless psychopath."

In the same way "the book feels YA" means "there's less rape going on than in a middle-sized central African war."

[Calibandar]

I intend to pick uop Antiphon on publication in September right away, that's how good I think his writing is and how strong this series may be. Love the style, the blend of SF elements like metal birds and metal men in a ( somewhat) post apocalyptic epic Fantasy setting.

[Werthead]

The books do not have a UK publisher (or in many cases European ones) and a number of bloggers and people on the board are outside the States, so that's why there likely hasn't been a discussion level to match say Rothfuss or Lynch around the time of their debuts.

I should have all three books next week (copies of the first two plus an ARC of the third) courtesy of Tor US, and I'll likely make it a priority read.

[Jaxom 1974]

I loved loved loved the first one. As I mentioned in the other thread, I realyl got into the idea that there was a thick layered onion of a plot, even at the same time it wasn't that complicated at all. I've been waiting to pick up Canticle in MMPB, but waiting for that to hit the shelves is hard sometimes.

It isn't as often as I'd like where something new comes across my notice and I truly enjoy the experience of reading it...

[Renasko]

The books do not have a UK publisher

Hasn't prevented me from picking up a copy of his first book. Waiting for the second to come to paperback, currently.

I think he's great. Under-appreciated, to a point, I'd say.

[Deluge]

It's code for "a character who is not a pathetic whiner, a contemptible failure, an amoral criminal or a remorseless psychopath."

Sometimes these things can overlap with Mary Sue-ism. See: Richard Rahl.

[RedEyedGhost]

I would agree that he's "under-appreciated". He's created an extremely interesting world and he is a very skillful writer, but he doesn't get as much love or pub on this board (but like Wert said, he's not published in the UK) as less skilled authors. I can't wait for Antiphon - I will read it very shortly after it's published (although he hasn't been bumped to 'read immediately' status yet).

I'm upset that they switched cover styles; the first two are so much more impressive than the ridiculously standard cover for Antiphon.

[polishgenius]

I got the first one a while ago, and while it's well enough written, it's paced so quickly that it's actively distracting - there's no time to settle even a little bit before the next twist happens- so it kind of dropped by the wayside. I didn't get too far in, though I will probably finish it at some point, maybe over the summer.

[Werthead]

Book 1: Lamentation

The most powerful city of the Named Lands is Windwir, home of the Androfrancine Order and their attempts to rebuild the lost technology and wisdom of ancient times. Then Windwir is scoured from the face of the world by ancient sorcery, throwing the Named Lands into turmoil. The scattered remnants of the Androfrancine Order have become divided over the succession of the Pope, whilst Rudolfo, Lord of the Ninefold Forest Houses, falls into conflict with Sethbert, Overseer of the Entrolusian City States, over who is to blame for the disaster.

From the south, House Li Tam is manipulating events to its own ends, whilst in the north the enigmatic Marshfolk see the destruction of Windwir as a sign that their long exile may be coming to an end. Amongst the ruins of Windwir an old man and a young boy find their destinies united as they seek to bury the remains of the dead, and a mechanical lifeform is uncovered who holds the key to the secrets behind the disaster.

Lamentation is the first novel in The Psalms of Issak series, a five-volume sequence. The series is epic fantasy filtered through the Dying Earth subgenre with just a dash of the New Weird thrown in for good measure. The setting is a post-apocalyptic world where people imperfectly try to understand the science and sorcery of what came before.

Ken Scholes's debut novel is an effective first book. It is fairly short by genre standards (350 pages in length) and is well-paced. There are a lot of interesting ideas being worked on here, with the author skirting close to some deeper themes on religion, knowledge, power and responsibility, although the book's short length and fast pace means that these cannot be explored thoroughly. These flashes of extra depth hopefully hint at some more intriguing things to come in the latter four volumes.

As it stands, Lamentation is a solidly enjoyable fantasy novel. The prose is brisk and effective, the characters sympathetic and relatable even if some of them are a little on the thin side. The two central figures of Rudolfo and Jin Li Tam are not quite satisfyingly developed in the book and both come across as a little too perfect for comfort. Other characters such as Petronus, Neb and the metallic and titular Issak are far more interesting. Jin's father, who emerges as a figure of some importance, is also over-the-top in the psychohistorical levels of his forward planning and contingencies, which starts to become vaguely comical towards the end of the novel, eliminating tension as the next disastrous turn of events is defused by, once again, Jin's father having already foreseen it and worked out a counter decades previously.

In addition, the worldbuilding is somewhat lacking. Scholes's abilities with description are good, such as his evocation of Windwir's transformation from bustling city to a vast tomb, but he never really convincingly suggests that much of a world exists beyond the bubble the characters travel around in. This is not helped by the fact that the area on the maps is apparently traversable in just a few days yet stretches from a frozen waste in the north to tropical lands in the south.

What Scholes does have is a readable, page-turning style, some nice and unexpected plot twists, some solid and well-drawn characters and a nicely different, vaguely steampunk-influence setting to the standard epic fantasy template.

Lamentation (***½) is a flawed novel, but enough good points shine through to make reading on worthwhile. The book is available now in the USA but does not have a current UK publisher. It is available on import.

In short, an effective opening novel in the sequence and intriguing, but a little lacking compared to other recent fantasy debuts. Certainly tons of potential. Into Canticle now.

[Werthead]

Book 2: Canticle

Nine months have passed since the destruction of Windwir. The kingdom of the Ninefold Forest Houses has taken up the mantle of 'the light', the collected wisdom of ancient times, and built a new library to preserve the remnants of what was lost when Windwir fell. However, war and civil war wracks the Named Lands and House Li Tam has sailed into the southern ocean, following a hint that previous events are being orchestrated by a hidden power for their own, inscrutable ends.

Canticle is the second novel in The Psalms of Isaak series and the sequel to Lamentation, a reasonable debut novel which overcame its lack of depth and polish with fast, readable prose and good pacing. Canticle is a better book, making character motivations considerably more complex and murkier, expanding the world and scope of the story and adding some new factions previously only hinted at in the first volume.

It pains me to say it as it's such a cliche, but Canticle is also 'darker' than Lamentation, with one of the characters being captured by the shadowy enemy and undergoing particularly grim and unpleasent torture for what feels like half the book. The process adds to the character's development and is somewhat uncomfortable to read, contrasting the first volume's 'safe' feeling that occasionally tipped it too close to the 'bland' end of the spectrum for comfort, although Scholes always steered the story away from that fate.

Some of the issues with the first book remain, such as Jen and Rudolfo being less interesting than most of the remainder of the cast and some story developments feeling mechanical rather than organic. There's also a slight issue with repetitive story structure, with the plot once again hinging on everything our characters knowing turning out to be the result of a masterful secret agenda set in motion decades ago for shadowy purposes. The closing section of the book is also somewhat annoying for suffering from Lost syndrome, with characters resolutely refusing to ask people in the know just what the hell is going on, or if they do remember to do this getting needlessly enigmatic replies.

Still, Canticle is a more interesting read than its predecessor. Winters, a supporting character in the first book, becomes a key protagonist here and her journey very well-depicted despite over-familiarity (young female ruler having to overcome inexperience to become a plausible leader). There's also a host of new revelations which continue to show that the series is a post-apocalyptic science fantasy more in line with The Dying Earth and Nights of Villjamur than yet another MOR epic fantasy, which Scholes handles well.

Canticle (****) is an entertaining, effective fantasy novel which builds on the successful elements of Lamentation and eliminates some of its key weaknesses. It is available now in the USA and in the UK on import.

[murphy]

I'll risk the chance of embarassing myself, but as I'm no native speaker I really have no idea what you're talking about, so I'll just ask: What's a Mary Sue?

Check out the definition on Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

[Willie McBride]

I suggest also Scholes' short story "A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon" (you can find it at Tor.com: http://www.tor.com/stories/2009/02/a-weeping-czar-beholds-the-fallen-moon). It gives a bit of backstory and expands on some of the things mentioned in passing in the book.

Spoiler for both the short story and Canticle below.

I think that the blue-green light that Frederico sees in the sea at the end of the story, the soul of Amal Y’Zir, is the same blue-green light who surrounds Vlad Li Tam during the fight with his nephew.

[Werthead]

I suggest also Scholes' short story "A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon" (you can find it at Tor.com: http://www.tor.com/s...e-fallen-moon). It gives a bit of backstory and expands on some of the things mentioned in passing in the book.

Spoiler for both the short story and Canticle below.

I think that the blue-green light that Frederico sees in the sea at the end of the story, the soul of Amal Y'Zir, is the same blue-green light who surrounds Vlad Li Tam during the fight with his nephew.

Two-thirds of the way through Antiphon (which I keep forgetting isn't out yet) and:

No, I don't think it is :P

[Willie McBride]

Two-thirds of the way through Antiphon (which I keep forgetting isn't out yet) and:

No, I don't think it is :P

That's... that's... that's just not right. Ok. I said it. :)

Is is good? I read Lamentation and Canticle in HC because I got them from The Book Depository with a huge discount before the Euro decided to implode. I'm afraid this time I'll have to wait for the paperback. Unless Antiphon is unbelievably good.