Fantasy Archives - Page 2 of 4

The Compleat Enchanter – L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt

Published on April 6, 2008

Cover of The Compleat Enchanter

The Compleat Enchanter
L. Sprague de Camp

Fletcher Pratt
420 pages
published in 1975

J. R. R. Tolkien has such a hold on the fantasy genre still, both through writers following in his footsteps and through those consciously rebelling against his influence that it’s sometimes hard to remember that there was a fantasy genre before Lord of the Rings. There have always been fantasy writers, from the largely anonymous creators of myths, legends and fairy tales up to serious Victorian writers like Charles Kingsley and Christina Rossetti. And when science fiction was born from the American pulps of the 1920ties, fantasy was right there with it. In fact pulps like Weird Tales, devoted to weird or fantastic stories had existed long before the first dedicated science fiction magazine appeared.

Science fiction and fantasy then were even more intertwined than they are today, especially in the subgenre of socalled rationalised fantasy written by the writers working for John Campbell. As you know if you’re a proper science fiction fan, John Campbell was the editor who’s largely credited for lifting science fiction out from its pulp roots and he attempted to do the same for fantasy through the near-legendary magazine Unknown. The way Cambell and his writers approached fantasy was the same as how they dealt with science fiction, by giving fantasy an internal consistency, coherence and rationale, much less mood based than a lot of older fantasy. In Unknown‘s brand of fantasy there are rules to be discovered and experimented with. The Compleat Enchanter is one of the best known examples of this genre, with L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt having been regular contributors to Unknown for which they wrote the three stories that make up this book.

Lord of Chaos – Robert Jordan

Published on March 29, 2008

Cover of Lord of Chaos

Lord of Chaos
Robert Jordan
1035 pages
published in 1994

Lord of Chaos is the sixth book in Robert Jordan’s ever expanding Wheel of Time series. For me it’s the book in which the series’ flaws start to overwhelm its virtues. It starts with the cover, which is more suited to some fifth rate romance novel. Darrel K. Sweet never was a very good illustrator, though he inexplicably keeps getting assignments, but here he excelled himself in putting people that look nothing like the characters, in scenes that occur nowhere in the book, with anatomy that suggest they’re not quite human, or suffering from some severe physical disability.

The novel itself is not very good either; in my opinion its the worst entry in the series, the one where the series really went off the rails for a while. It’s also the longest in the series, which many fans think is not a coincidence. The rot actually set in with the previous novel, Fires of Heaven, but it’s fully visible here. The plot sprawled out of control in all directions, but without moving forward, more new viewpoint characters were introduced and worse of all, Lord of Chaos also saw the return of several supposedly defeated villains. The latter especially raised the spectre of a never ending series. Fortunately, Jordan managed to rein
himself in with the next books, but it was a close shave.

Vellum – Hal Duncan

Published on March 23, 2008

Cover of Vellum

Vellum
Hal Duncan
501 pages
published in 2005

It’s rare that you get to read a book about which you can genuinely say that you’ll either love it or hate it. Usually this phrase is just hype, an attempt to make a book seem more controversial than it really is. Most books just bimble along without evoking either great hatred or great love in their readers. Vellum however is not such a book. It is genuinely a book you’ll love or loathe becauses, depending on your feelings, it’s either an incredibly stylish tour de force remaking of the fantasy novel, or self indulgent bloated nonsense, with glitzy prose masking a story devoid of any meaning. Myself, I can find some sympathy for both readings.

Hal Duncan is a new author; Vellum his first published novel. He seems to fit in loosely with that generation of fantasy writers that includes China Miéville, Justina Robson, Jeff VanderMeer and Susanna Clarke. I must admit he only appeared on my radar last year, when his
name cropped up on various science fiction blogs, which is why when I saw this book in the library I took a gamble on it. A gamble that paid off, fortunately. Vellum is an ambitious book, both in the story it tells as in how it tells it, that almost manages to fulfill its ambitions.

The Prize in the Game – Jo Walton

Published on March 19, 2008

Cover of The Prize in the Game

The Prize in the Game
Jo Walton
341 pages
published in 2002

I’ve known Jo Walton a long time, from before she became a succesful novelist, when she was “just” one of the most interesting posters in various Usenet groups like rec.arts.sf.written and Rec.arts.sf.fandom. You could therefore say I wanted this novel to be good. Fortunately, having read one of her earlier novels, The King’s Peace, I knew it was very likely going to be. And I was right.

Which reminds me that The Prize in the Game is actually set in the same world as The King’s Peace and functions as a sort of prequel to it, showing the background story of some of the secondary characters. You don’t need to have read it to enjoy The Prize in the Game however; it completely stands on its own. The quickest way to describe The Prize in the Game is as a coming of age novel set in a fantasy version of Celtic Ireland, in which some of the viewpoint characters may not actually come of age. Be careful though to assume too much from this; the island of Tir Isarnagiri differs from the real or even mythological Ireland in important ways. No leprechauns here.

The Fires of Heaven – Robert Jordan

Published on February 1, 2008

Cover of The Fires of Heaven

The Fires of Heaven
Robert Jordan
989 pages
published in 1993

The Fires of Heaven is the fifth book in the Wheel of Time series, following on directly from The Shadow Rising. It’s the first book of the series not to star all three of the main protagonists, with the Perrin storyline in the Two Rivers left until the next book in the series. As such it’s another indication of how out of control the series has grown by this point, with only three out of the four (!) storylines from The Shadow Rising continued here, none of which come to a real conclusion here either.

However, this is still one of my favourite volumes in the series, as it shows Rand and Mat kicking some serious ass and while plotlines don’t conclude here, they do seem to progress, something missing in the next few volumes. Reading this only took me two days or so, which is testament to the way Jordan was able to keep your attention if you’re willing to be drawn in.