3/13/2023 0 Comments Tad williams otherland goodreadsIt would be unfair to say that Josiah is bad at self-promotion. Josiah Bancroft has been standing in a tinder-dry forest for three years waving his stick around gamely. You can go and 'like' my review on Goodreads, if you like. With Fitz however I find that none of the enchantment has been lost and that it's not habit that keeps me following his story - it's because it's as strong and compelling as ever it was and a privilege to walk the pages with him. The lead character in my first trilogy, Jorg Ancrath, burned very bright and that intensity couldn't be sustained over a long series. It can be an uncomfortable reading experience to fall out of love with a character, to grow bored with them. I've said in the past that I wanted to be careful not to wear out my characters' welcome. A powerful, passionate book that takes #1 spot on my reading list this year. Hobb works her magic though and I felt gripped throughout. It's more subtle than that, a more reflective and slower-paced tale. This isn't a high adrenaline book, though there's plenty of tension. Sections of the story that I can't describe for fear of spoilers hit particularly strong chords with me and were very moving, but whatever individual experience you bring to the book it's going to play on your heartstrings. Like a piece of music it builds on themes, reflects earlier melodies, improvises around them, and plays an old refrain. The story that we see unfold has echoes the story that has gone before. It builds on the history we have with these characters and exploits it. This is a book that wouldn't be possible without the groundwork laid before. Two decades is long enough to see substantial changes in the readers, the characters, and the writer herself. Many readers will have literally grown up with Fitz and the Fool, some others may have grown old with them. So, having found where the review moved to, I've copied the relevant section here for safe(r) keeping. ![]() I may violently disagree with OSC's recent political/social declarations (or at least what I have seen reported about them - and I am the first to acknowledge that people can wildly misrepresent you in order to further their own agendas, having had it done to me), but I remain a big fan of his work, and when the author of Ender's Game (which blew me away when I read it 20 years ago) praises your work, you want to keep those words. Which is why, having found that my link to Orson Scott Card's review of the Broken Empire had gone dead, I was worried it was gone forever. I've been on the internet since 1992, and believe me, it forgets. In others it's just that websites go dead, information is lost, even the Wayback Machine loses its grip. In some cases people erase their own tracks and attempt to rewrite history. ![]() ![]() As Yeats had it, things fall apart, the centre cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. They say the internet is forever, and that what you put out there will haunt your descendants for generations, rather like plastic bags thrown in the sea.īut they lie.
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