I had a chance to look around a book store a while back (before seeing Raiders, now that I think about it), and did some browsing there. I eventually picked up a new one called Libriomancer, by Jim Hines (of whome I'd never heard). The title caught my eye, especially when, browsing the flap, it seemed a well-chosen one.
I got around to reading it a couple of weeks ago, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was compared to Butcher's Dresden books, not completely unjustly, but this is not as good as those. This one I was able to put down.
But it had a very interesting magic system (actually, one fairly fully fleshed out with references to at least one other) based on using books. The idea is that a book made popular enough reaches into the Jungian subconscious, and gets some influence over reality. The main character, Isaac Vainio, is a librarian in Michigan's Upper Peninsula who is an outcast in the magic-using society (oddly named in a mix of middle high german and latin). Being a librarian gives him lots of volumes out of which to pull his power, but he's currently forbidden except in cases of self-defense.
And the book starts, of course, when that self-defense becomes necessary. Insert obligatory twilight reference here, if you want (incidentally, I was quite surprised and mildly horrified when, that same night, I saw that the store had an entire section on 'Teen Paranormal Romance'. Hopefully, Fifty Shades of Gray wasn't in it; I hadn't heard of the book at the time, so I didn't check).
The outcast part is the strongest parallel to the Dresden books, in fact, except that there is a much better reason for Isaac to be so than was the case for Dresden.
What was good about it? Well, the magic was very cleverly done, and well used. The characters are believable and enjoyable, and the threats are very interesting. I really liked how many different styles of vampires there are, and how that was explained. And Isaac managed some pretty cool stuff over the course of the book (particularly towards the end). Oh, and there were lots of literary references, especially to sci-fi and fantasy novels (some of which, admittedly, went over my head, but others were very well done).
The only part I didn't like was that the main thrust of what the bad guy did didn't seem possible, given the explanations given. In particular, it was explained that the power came about by being widespread. But the bad guy's book somehow managed to be sufficiently wide-spread to give him power while being unknown to librarians. That doesn't seem possible, and was given no more than a hand-waving explanation.
But that was a very minor point.
I am curious to know how far in advance Hines has the books plotted out. In some axes, he got a lot further than I would have thought reasonable for one book. But the main enemy is only introduced to the point of showing that they exist. So that part's intriguing.
Anyway, I'm very curious to see where it goes, and looking forward to the next volume.
Showing posts with label magic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magic. Show all posts
20121120
20120711
Breaker, breaker...
I've managed to find time to (re)read several books lately. Something in the middle of watching Aladdin with my daughter made me want to re-read Judith Tarr's excellent Alamut. And my son playing with my copy got me to re-read Lawrence Watt-Evans' nearly-as-excellent The Misenchanted Sword (the cover on that page, btw, is absolutely terrible. Unforgiveably so, since the printing I have, from 1985, is quite good). I also recently managed to squeeze in Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker, and found it very interesting.
And it's the latter that I want to talk about here. I can't remember what originally got me interested in it. It wasn't finding out that Sanderson was the one who'd be finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, because I remember making that connection well after I'd bought the book. Perhaps it was seeing the book in the bookstore some time ago. Or maybe seeing it in Amazon's recommendations.
In any event, it centers around two adjacent countries that were, several hundred years previously, one kingdom. But a rift driven by magic split them, as the kings were driven out of Hallendren, and took a portion of the country with them (which became Idris, also known as the Highlands). Hallendren then developed a very strange governmental system. But the two countries have managed a peaceful, if suspicious, existence since then.
As the book starts, war is threatening to break out between them. So the book follows some of the most prominent people who are trying to incite or prevent that war. The two main proxies for following it are daughters of the king Dedelin (I chuckled at one of them being named Siri), who have very different perspectives. One is locked in the main palace of Hallendren, while the other is wandering T'Telir, the capital of Hallendren. The third proxy is one of the 'gods' of Hallendren.
The book is not really the sort of thing I generally go for, insofar as much of it is trying to figure out what is actually going on. And there were several things that surprised me quite a bit (although the biggest mystery to the characters seemed quite obvious to me).
One of those big surprises is that the first character introduced disappeared for at least half the book after that introduction. That made for several interesting situations.
The other big thing about the book, of note, was how magic worked. All of it is driven by Breath, which is intimately linked with color. Everyone is born with one Breath, which doesn't allow doing much. But Breath can be given, and with possession of large numbers of Breaths come innate abilities (a table at in an appendix lists them, although that table rather irritated me through a bizarre combination of omniscience and declaimed lack of knowledge). But, aside from the abilities that come just from having Breath, people can also use it to animate objects for specific tasks.
I'm not going to get more specific here, because specifics of that (or, more specifically, lack of character knowledge of those specifics) drive some of the plot, but I did find the magic itself quite interesting.
The other big thing, that was never well explained, was that sometimes people could Return from the dead. These people come back with some number of the innate abilities of Breath, despite still only having one. But these Returned are worshipped as gods in the larger country, and charged with ruling it. There are other important things about them, but those might spoil parts of the story.
Overall, I liked the book quite a bit. I was a little disappointed in the ending, as I would have liked to have seen a bit more about Siri. And my other slight disappointment was that I would have liked to get a bit more explanation (or, perhaps more to the point, more accurate explanation) on why Returned come back. The only explanation given definitely wasn't right, as it couldn't explain some of the Returned who appeared in the book. But those were very minor issues; I'll probably look for other books by Sanderson.
And it's the latter that I want to talk about here. I can't remember what originally got me interested in it. It wasn't finding out that Sanderson was the one who'd be finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, because I remember making that connection well after I'd bought the book. Perhaps it was seeing the book in the bookstore some time ago. Or maybe seeing it in Amazon's recommendations.
In any event, it centers around two adjacent countries that were, several hundred years previously, one kingdom. But a rift driven by magic split them, as the kings were driven out of Hallendren, and took a portion of the country with them (which became Idris, also known as the Highlands). Hallendren then developed a very strange governmental system. But the two countries have managed a peaceful, if suspicious, existence since then.
As the book starts, war is threatening to break out between them. So the book follows some of the most prominent people who are trying to incite or prevent that war. The two main proxies for following it are daughters of the king Dedelin (I chuckled at one of them being named Siri), who have very different perspectives. One is locked in the main palace of Hallendren, while the other is wandering T'Telir, the capital of Hallendren. The third proxy is one of the 'gods' of Hallendren.
The book is not really the sort of thing I generally go for, insofar as much of it is trying to figure out what is actually going on. And there were several things that surprised me quite a bit (although the biggest mystery to the characters seemed quite obvious to me).
One of those big surprises is that the first character introduced disappeared for at least half the book after that introduction. That made for several interesting situations.
The other big thing about the book, of note, was how magic worked. All of it is driven by Breath, which is intimately linked with color. Everyone is born with one Breath, which doesn't allow doing much. But Breath can be given, and with possession of large numbers of Breaths come innate abilities (a table at in an appendix lists them, although that table rather irritated me through a bizarre combination of omniscience and declaimed lack of knowledge). But, aside from the abilities that come just from having Breath, people can also use it to animate objects for specific tasks.
I'm not going to get more specific here, because specifics of that (or, more specifically, lack of character knowledge of those specifics) drive some of the plot, but I did find the magic itself quite interesting.
The other big thing, that was never well explained, was that sometimes people could Return from the dead. These people come back with some number of the innate abilities of Breath, despite still only having one. But these Returned are worshipped as gods in the larger country, and charged with ruling it. There are other important things about them, but those might spoil parts of the story.
Overall, I liked the book quite a bit. I was a little disappointed in the ending, as I would have liked to have seen a bit more about Siri. And my other slight disappointment was that I would have liked to get a bit more explanation (or, perhaps more to the point, more accurate explanation) on why Returned come back. The only explanation given definitely wasn't right, as it couldn't explain some of the Returned who appeared in the book. But those were very minor issues; I'll probably look for other books by Sanderson.
20101009
The Times, They Are a-Changin'
Finally read Butcher's latest Dresden novel a few nights ago. Took me two nights to get through this one; I just avoided falling asleep from staying up too late the first night, in order to read it. So I finished it the next night.
I ended up mostly enjoying. I thought the relationship with Susan was handled very well; the choppiness was very appropriate.
The daughter, though, I kind of wonder about. I would probably be willing to do the kinds of things he was willing to do for her, if my daughter was threatened, but then I've been able to watch her grow up (well, inasmuch as she has grown up, when she's barely two years old :). Of course, I did not grow up as an orphan, so I don't get the motivation from that end that Harry has. But I've got to say, I don't know if I could live with myself, doing what he did to end things. Well, I could see myself, if pushed, doing the other things he did to save her. What he did at the end, though? I don't think that would ever even occur to me, even in such dire circumstances, let alone follow through with it. I don't know that I'd go so far as to call him an evil person after that, but it was certainly an evil act.
Getting back to the main plot, this one felt a lot different. For one thing, Harry found a lot more friends than usual. For another, he made a compromise of the type he'd been avoiding for a long time. And finally, he's kind of been cut loose in a way, and tied down tightly in another.
It's probably just as well that he's basically been removed from the Yellow Pages. That hasn't been a factor in the plot in quite a while, so it was just as well to be gone. I'm thinking the home isn't quite as gone as it appears, though. The summoning circle down there never got used, so I'm thinking that needs to come up again somehow.
And, of course, the Winter Court will now be constantly in the foreground, rather than regularly in the background. I'm very curious to see where that goes.
Of course, the biggest question remaining will be the giant cliffhanger at the end. Who did it (I'm guessing Gentleman Johnnie), and how will Harry pull a Houdini? Regardless of the answer, that definitely caught me off-guard. I can't wait for the next one.
Meantime, I'm slowly working my way through the Codex Alera. Which is good, but definitely not as good as the Dresden books.
I ended up mostly enjoying. I thought the relationship with Susan was handled very well; the choppiness was very appropriate.
The daughter, though, I kind of wonder about. I would probably be willing to do the kinds of things he was willing to do for her, if my daughter was threatened, but then I've been able to watch her grow up (well, inasmuch as she has grown up, when she's barely two years old :). Of course, I did not grow up as an orphan, so I don't get the motivation from that end that Harry has. But I've got to say, I don't know if I could live with myself, doing what he did to end things. Well, I could see myself, if pushed, doing the other things he did to save her. What he did at the end, though? I don't think that would ever even occur to me, even in such dire circumstances, let alone follow through with it. I don't know that I'd go so far as to call him an evil person after that, but it was certainly an evil act.
Getting back to the main plot, this one felt a lot different. For one thing, Harry found a lot more friends than usual. For another, he made a compromise of the type he'd been avoiding for a long time. And finally, he's kind of been cut loose in a way, and tied down tightly in another.
It's probably just as well that he's basically been removed from the Yellow Pages. That hasn't been a factor in the plot in quite a while, so it was just as well to be gone. I'm thinking the home isn't quite as gone as it appears, though. The summoning circle down there never got used, so I'm thinking that needs to come up again somehow.
And, of course, the Winter Court will now be constantly in the foreground, rather than regularly in the background. I'm very curious to see where that goes.
Of course, the biggest question remaining will be the giant cliffhanger at the end. Who did it (I'm guessing Gentleman Johnnie), and how will Harry pull a Houdini? Regardless of the answer, that definitely caught me off-guard. I can't wait for the next one.
Meantime, I'm slowly working my way through the Codex Alera. Which is good, but definitely not as good as the Dresden books.
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