The Blinding Knife - Brent Weeks

This is the second book in Mr. Weeks' Lightbringer series. I've read his first Trilogy, The Night Angel Trilogy as well as the first book in this series, The Black Prism. Since I read them before the blog was really up and running, I've decided not to do fuzzy reviews about half remembered facts.

This makes the review a bit tricky since I do not want to spoil the first book too much, but I'll muddle through. It's also the reason I've left the blurb out.

Mr. Weeks is damn good at worldbuilding and magical systems. This is an indisputable fact. He spends quite a bit of time on the setting and the mechanics of his world, but he does this really well and it does not feel like some huge info dump. The countries, cities and overall world is well defined so that it's quite easy to keep up with what is happening where. I feel that being good at naming the places and countries is a massive help here.

The magical system is one of the stars of this series. There are certain people who are known as Drafters that can absorb certain colours, and then manifest this colours as magic. Each colour has it's own strengths and weaknesses of course, and the colour and usage of said colour is shown in the drafter's eyes. The more they use, the more their iris' fills up with their colour. Breaking the Halo leads to some unfortunate side effects, so there's a payment to the usage of power which always seems quite fair.

Then there's the Prism. He can Draft all colours and he's responsible for the balance of magic on the earth. Enter Gavin Guile, the current badass Prism. He's powerful enough to move mountains, but all in all he's a nice guy. He's witty and powerful, but he has his own demons he's struggling with. He's an easy character to like and quite fun to read. 

The Prism has a bastard, seeing as it seems that powerful people always comes with one for some reason. Kip is a chubby smartmouth little bugger and he irritated the hell out of me in Black Prism. He's a bit better in The Blinding Knife, and I'm sure Mr. Weeks did this on purpose to show character growth and accepting of responsibility, but hell he can complain. Self doubt is all well and good, but when he starts kicking some serious ass one would expect most of it to be replaced by some confidence and bravado. Kip is still quite young in the story, about 17 I think, and at that age most guys feel indestructible. Performing some heroic feat as he did should have honestly given him a massive ego boost that just does not show up.

The supporting cast is well written and fleshed out, and some of their stories seems very interesting. There are quite a bit of spadework done for the next book which is fine and expected.

The one major issue I had with this book, except for Kip complaining about everything, was the pacing. The story would go along at a good clip and then at some points it seems to derail or wobble a bit, which made it a chore to finish. The fight scenes could have been done better, but were pretty solid throughout the novel. The evil guys are quite proper evil, so that irked me. There were some attempts at giving them redeeming characteristics, but not really enough. They are bad men doing bad things, and as such it was quite one dimensional. 

It was a fun book, but not really my cup of tea. Things just really did not gel for me. There are some quite dumb decisions made just to advance the plot that left me wondering why the smart people in the story are so thick. The world and magic is wonderful, but the characters were just too irritating for me to like this book very much.

6/10

The Emperor's Knife - Mazarkis Williams

The Blurb: There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that attacks young and old, rich and poor alike. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until you die in agony, or become a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence, the Pattern Master. Anyone showing the tell-tale marks is put to death; that is Emperor Beyon's law...but now the pattern is running over the Emperor's own arms. His body servants have been executed, he ignores his wives, but he is doomed, for soon the pattern will reach his face. While Beyon's agents scour the land for a cure, Sarmin, the Emperor's only surviving brother, awaits his bride, Mesema, a windreader from the northern plains. Unused to the Imperial Court's stifling protocols and deadly intrigues, Mesema has no one to turn to but an ageing imperial assassin, the Emperor's Knife.

As long-planned conspiracies boil over into open violence, the invincible Pattern Master appears from the deep desert. Only three people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a young girl from the steppes who once saw a path in a pattern — a path that might save them all.

This book has been around for quite a while and recently I acquired a copy after hearing good things about the story on the internet. 

First off, not a big fan of the cover. There's websites dedicated to the million Hooded Man covers we see these days. This one is a little too generic for my tastes. The Imperial Assassin - Eyul - is portrayed as an older man, and the dude on the cover looks thirty to me. 

The world that Mr. Williams conjured up here is quite good and sadly under-explored in this book. Most of the story focuses and happens in the imperial palace and the surrounding city is rarely mentioned. I would have liked some diversification in the setting since the palace started to feel a little stifling and the surrounding city seemed very interesting.

The Emperor's brother is being kept captive like the Man in The Iron mask, but not to hide him but rather as a back up Emperor should something happen to Emperor Beyon. He's gone a bit insane as one is wont to do, but it seems he has some magical ability that helps him along. I cannot think that keeping him isolated in a room for years seemed like a good idea to anyone. He's Royal, so they could have secreted him in a Royal ranch or at least a wing of the palace. But that't just me.

The premise for the story is a unique one that should develop nicely in the following books. The bad guy - Pattern Master - can take over peoples bodies and basically zombify them. They sport pattern tattoos then as a part of the overall plan. I enjoyed this aspect immensely. I would have loved to read a bit more about the Pattern Master as well as the mechanics of the magical system used in the story since they seemed well developed in the background. I always say that I love character driven fantasy, but it needs to be supported by some world building and a little explanation.

I never really got into the pacing of the story, and it took me quite a while to finish. There are some definite well written parts, but I found some parts quite a muddle to get through. The Emperor's mother as well as Mesema irritated me quite a bit. The mother is plainly evil and Masema fell into her role too easily seeing as she was meant to be a barbarian horseperson. They rubbed me the wrong way. Tuvaini, the Grand Vizier is of course a power hungry ass, as the pointy hat decreed anyone who wears it to be. 

As a first novel, it wasn't too bad. But it was a little clumsy for my taste.

For the cool ideas more than anything else, I rate this book 6/10.

The Company - K.J. Parker

The Blurb: Hoping for a better life, five war veterans colonize an abandoned island. They take with them everything they could possibly need - food, clothes, tools, weapons, even wives. 

But an unanticipated discovery shatters their dream and replaces it with a very different one. The colonists feel sure that their friendship will keep them together. Only then do they begin to realize that they've brought with them rather more than they bargained for.

For one of them, it seems, has been hiding a terrible secret from the rest of the company. And when the truth begins to emerge, it soon becomes clear that the war is far from over. 

I bought this book at a book sale, based on the awesome cover and that I've heard K.J Parker's name mentioned a few times on forums I frequent. It's the first Parker novel that I've read.

The story is centred on A Company, companions in war. Kunessin, a retired general, returns home to convince his old company - Aidi, Muri, Kudei and Fly -  to join him in one more adventure. And by convince I mean order, since they all pack up and leave with him without too much of a worry.

A Company were Linebreakers. They charged ahead of their own Pikemen and smashed a hole in the enemy's formation. The expected lifespan of a Linebreaker is four battles at most. A Company survived years. They are legitimate war heroes, and as with any realistic war hero, they are scary as all hell. This is quite a cool set up, as it cements the Company as badassess, with Kunessin their undisputed leader.  I also like it if an author can come up with an idea that's almost believable and awesome. I'm almost sure that the Linebreaker as depicted here is total fantasy, but imagine how cool it would have been if they existed.

The guys buy a ship and sail out to colonise an island which General Kunessin kindly liberated from the navy. They all get married so that they have wives to drag along, they'll obviously need kids down the line, and they have a bunch of indentured workers to do all the heavy lifting. So pretty well thought out and set up, like a military occupation is meant to be. 

It is quite apparent that A company lives for each other. No one else matters, not even the new wives. As long as they are together and alive, the world is good. That is understandable, seeing their profession in the war and what they must have been through. Parker does manage to inject quite a bit of humour into the novel through this connection. Some of the interactions between the guys are priceless.

The wives and identured men do get enough page space to flesh them out as characters, and this was appreciated. It made the story more rounded.

The novel does drag a bit, but since it's mostly about the Company wanting to make a new life for themselves on the island and to please Kunessin, it's understandable. Farming is boring. It did make it a bit of a difficult read.

Throughout the whole novel we are told how brilliant the A Company is,  how they are the deadliest killers in the history of war, and they never get to show off their prowess. I guess Parker did this on purpose since they are retired and he seems a bit of a tease, and five guys alone against a battalion is not really that realistic. An extra flashback or two wouldn't have hurt the story.

The ending did feel muddled and rushed. I enjoyed the book, and I enjoyed Parker's writing ability enough to read his other books in the future, but the ending really disappointed me. It felt like he was up against the deadline and had to finish quickly, so he took quite the easy way out. It could really have been done better.

6/10

Hexed - Kevin Hearne

The Blurb: Atticus O'Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn't care much for witches. Still, he's able to "make nice" with the local coven  by signing a mutually beneficial non-aggression treaty-when suddenly the witch population in modern day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. The new girls are not just bad,  they're badasses with a dark history on the German Side of WWII.

With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants, blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence,  and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch-hunt. But aidded by his magical sword, his neighbor's rocket propelled grenade launcher, and his vapire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong druid to Hex.

So Atticus and his crew is back for some more adventuring and fun. I must admit that I liked Hounded so much that I went out as soon as I finished it to buy Hexed. 

This tale starts off a few weeks after the events in Hounded. I'll try not to spoil the first book by giving something away in this review. Promise.

An old enemy of Atticus has resurfaced. Or if at least not an actual enemy, a group who tried to kill him during WWII. That seems like enough reason to whup their asses.

We meet a few more gods, Atticus quotes Shakespeare and Lolcatz in the same sentence and I still love the dog Oberon. Even if he's a lot less in the forefront of this book. The rest of the Coven steps into the story a bit, each bringing a bit to the tale. The Morrigan does show why she deserves to be feared. I'll run like all hell if she was close to me. It wouldn't help, but a man must try something yes? Oh, and we meet the Virgin Mary, which was nice. And I must say, the final fight scene was done brilliantly.

This whole book was written in five months, and it shows a bit. The jokes and action isn't as smoothly done as in Hounded. A lot of the decision making seems to be thought out a bit clumsily. It moves the story forward as it should, but it doesn't fit well with the characters. 

The story is more than fun to read, but it could have been more elegant. If I haven't read Hounded, it would have received an eight from me. But since I know Mr. Hearne can do a better job, it's a 6 from me.

The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

                                                                                                                                                

The Blurb:

 In The Wise Man's Fear, Day Two of The Kingkiller Chronicle, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of his family, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived...until Kvothe.

In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

Patrick Rothfuss dazzled everyone with his debut novel published in 2007, The Name of the Wind. This is his second instalment in the series and one of the most anticipated books of 2011. The first one was pretty brilliant. The way that Mr. Rothfuss writes pulls you into the story, and the pages just fly by. His pacing, humour, and settings are masterfully crafted.

Kvothe is still a student at the University, struggling to make tuition each term and battling with Ambrose, the “rich kid” in the book that had everything handed to him. Their animosity gets out of hand a bit and Kvothe decides to take some time off from his studies until the dust settles. Denna is the one constant in his life, even if she is never around. And a bit slutty.

I’m glad that Rothfuss managed to get him out into the world, since there is only so much that can be said about student life. Yes, he gets expelled sometime in the future as mentioned in The Name of the Wind, but a less serious break was needed to move the story along. He still has to earn some of his reputation.

He gets a hand from his friend, Count Threpe, to travel to a distant land to help a king court a lady, saving the king form poisoning, hunting bandits and becoming one of his trusted advisors, even though he is only sixteen. Then he meets Felurian, the sex bot Fae who can steal a man’s sanity with her prowess. Except for Kvothe, of course. He’s the man.

It is about here in the book that I started rolling my eyes and wishing some serious bodily harm on Kvothe.

I understand that he has to enter the Fae realm, otherwise how is his friendship with Bast explained? Did he have to meet the sex-elf as a sixteen year old? And then trick her into letting him go? As a SIXTEEN year old? And of course he learns her pleasure secrets, so that he can basically make a woman orgasm with a look. (Insert me puking my guts out here).

Yes, I understand that it’s fantasy. I understand that there should be a reason for it beyond the sex education of a young man. Or at least I hope there is a better explanation. Otherwise, why not just use a hot prostitute? Or milkmaid?

The training with the Adem was just as brutal. Zen buggers with a life philosophy that helps them kick you in the neck faster than you can blink. Yawn. And Kvothe gets accepted and trains and he get the pretty girl. Again.

Now he can speak with his hands and slice you to pieces with a sword. Since he is awesome and spent two months with them. But it’s mostly the awesomeness. And the sex tricks he picked up of course.

Throughout the first and second books Kvothe brags about inventing rumours about himself, writing songs about his exploits and padding his experiences a bit to make the stories better, for the sole reason to stoke his reputation. That’s all well and good, but then he goes and achieves all of the above before he is eighteen? Not to judge, why invent anything, since the sun shines out of your ass anyways?

The breaks in the story shows Kvothe as a broken innkeeper who cannot use his sympathy or secret ninja training received from the Adem. The world is at war. That is well and good. It shows that the third book has to be a helluva lot better than this one.

My biggest problem with the book is that it’s been reading as a classic fantasy novel thus far. Good guy is good in everything, he gets the girl(s) and he is the smartest, best looking and most talented bugger to walk the earth. I do not like that type of fantasy. If I want that, I’d go and re read Eddings.

I’m not saying that Rothfuss should kill off half his characters to show that he is serious, but jeez. Making your one hero so heroic that he’s nauseating?

If all Edema Ruh are as arrogant as Kvothe, it would explain why no one likes them much.

My opinion: The writing is beautiful. Interaction between characters are well done, the world is explained enough so that you know what is going on, but not so much that Rothfuss can be accused of wordbuilding just for worldbuildings sake. I just hate Kvothe, which makes it hard to enjoy the book.

No one should be as good as that. Not even in fantasy.

6 out of 10.