Raven's Shadow: Blood Song

[Ser Wun Wun]

The author put a sample of Tower Lord up on his website: Link

One more month until Tower Lord comes out.

It's surprised me that I've not been able to find a single advance review for the book so far.

There's a couple reviews on Goodreads from people who got an ARC. Not very in depth, but the 2-3 I read seem to say it is good.

[Outtawack311]

Can someone give a quick summary of the differences between the revised and the original editions? I just finished one and am not sure which one..

[Ser Wun Wun]

A review of Tower Lord is finally out, it has some spoilers, including who the 4 POV characters are: http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.it/2014/06/tower-lord-by-anthony-ryan-reviewed-by.html?m=0

I'm surprised Lyrna is going to be a POV since part of her appeal in Blood Song was how mysterious and unpredictable she was. Was she the ruthless manipulator Vaelin assumed, or were her feelings real? I kind of figured that would be a question that would remain open until the end of the series, but now that we will be reading her thoughts we will know if Vaelin had her pegged right or not. The reviewer says she shines in the book at least.

The ending was compared to the epilogue in ASOS, so I'm not sure what to expect there...

Very excited for this one, only 4 more days!

[Mexal]

I'm pumped for this. I did a reread of Blood Song this past month and realized I loved it as much as I did the first time. It definitely holds up. Cannot wait.

[Corvinus85]

I finished my re-read of Blood Song just a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, I realized the new The Expanse book has been released, Cibola Burn, so I am reading that now.

[King Bob's Warhammer]

Finally started to read Blood Song. Enjoying it very much far.

[john]

YES! Looking forward to this. Not sure about the extra povs, multiple pov fantasies have a different feel to them. At least one of those povs is a pretty cool character though.

[Spockydog]

I have a feeling this series is going to end up being one my all time favourites. Vaelin is so utterly, utterly badass.

[Gaston de Foix]

I have a feeling this series is going to end up being one my all time favourites. Vaelin is so utterly, utterly badass.

For those eagerly awaiting those book, you can read the first 70 pages or so on amazon.com if you simply click the look inside button. It's a pretty awesome read.

[Mexal]

For those eagerly awaiting those book, you can read the first 70 pages or so on amazon.com if you simply click the look inside button. It's a pretty awesome read.

I read the opening framing and I'm already hooked. Tuesday!

[Gaston de Foix]

Can someone refresh my memory - why does Janus send Vaelin Al Sorna to invade the Alpiran Empire? I remember there was a threat against his family, but I don't remember what his actual motive was.

[Spockydog]

Can someone refresh my memory - why does Janus send Vaelin Al Sorna to invade the Alpiran Empire? I remember there was a threat against his family, but I don't remember what his actual motive was.

Didn't he tell Vaelin it was to secure the ports, and the accompanying trade? But I seem to remember that that was just a cover story for ... something else I can't remember. Or was it? It's been a while since I read it.

[Corvinus85]

Can someone refresh my memory - why does Janus send Vaelin Al Sorna to invade the Alpiran Empire? I remember there was a threat against his family, but I don't remember what his actual motive was.

Didn't he tell Vaelin it was to secure the ports, and the accompanying trade? But I seem to remember that that was just a cover story for ... something else I can't remember. Or was it? It's been a while since I read it.

Yes, the apparent reason was to secure the ports to ensure the continuing prosperity of the Unified Realm since the bluestone that was mined in the north was running out. This is not the official reason for the war, just what Janus tells Vaelin (the official being the spreading of the Faith blah blah blah)

Whether or not Janus had another reason, it was not revealed yet, and he died during Vaelin's captivity.

[End of Disc One]

So I've seen lots of praise for these books, but I keep seeing comparisons to Rothfuss, which puts me off. Is there anyone who didn't really like The Name of the Wind, but likes this series?

[End of Disc One]

But what`s the deal with all the reviews? Blood Song is practically the only book to have a full five-star rating both on Goodreads and Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404221632&sr=1-1&keywords=words+of+radiance

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17332218-words-of-radiance?from_search=true

More ratings and higher scores! Blood Song's scores are very remarkable too though.

[red snow]

http://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404221632&sr=1-1&keywords=words+of+radiance

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17332218-words-of-radiance?from_search=true

More ratings and higher scores! Blood Song's scores are very remarkable too though.

Yeah, I was deliberating over picking up "blood song" and was pretty shocked by how positive the reviews are. Guess I do need to check it out.

[Gaston de Foix]

So I've seen lots of praise for these books, but I keep seeing comparisons to Rothfuss, which puts me off. Is there anyone who didn't really like The Name of the Wind, but likes this series?

I am an admirer of Rothfuss' work, but there are certainly grounds to prefer Ryan: more direct action, a more prosaic (as opposed to poetic) writing style, and more overt fantasy elements and tropes: the dog, the sidekick, the love interest, the outstanding ability with a blade. There are flashes of brilliance to be sure, but it's the brilliance of a few years' hard work. The Kingkiller Chronicles are written by a monomaniac genius who has relentlessly refined his work again and again over a decade or so.

Okay, enough shillng. Worth reading Blood Song for sure.

[Mexal]

So I've seen lots of praise for these books, but I keep seeing comparisons to Rothfuss, which puts me off. Is there anyone who didn't really like The Name of the Wind, but likes this series?

Eh, I guess some of the themes are the same but the way he tells the story is a bit different. I liked both books but much prefer Blood Song as it was significantly less annoying than The Name of the Wind was.

I'm enjoying Tower Lord so far. I particularly like the expanded POVs and the expanded world.

[Faint]

So I've seen lots of praise for these books, but I keep seeing comparisons to Rothfuss, which puts me off. Is there anyone who didn't really like The Name of the Wind, but likes this series?

I do not think the two series particularly comparable beyond the fact that they both share a "school" setting but even that similarity is very misleading. In the first place, the school in A Raven's Shadow is nothing, and I mean nothing, like the school in The Kingkiller Chronicle. And, what is more, the school is abandoned as a setting halfway through the first book; it is a very minor thing in comparison to its equivalent in The Kingkiller Chronicle.

Almost everything else about the two series is different beyond the general similarities that all western fantasy works share.

[john]

Huh? It's similar because it shares the same framing where a scribe writes down the story of a great man who's had an interesting life. It's definitely influenced by Kingkiller.

I agree that the style is different though. Probably less annoying than Rothfuss if that's not your thing but otoh the standard fantasy tropes are presented a lot more straightforwardly than in the kingkiller books, which isn't to say there's not some cool original ideas in Blood Song but not as much as in Rothfuss' stuff, imo.