Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson’s new novel holds strong at number one, while R.A. Salvatore’s latest follows suit in the number two slot. Actually everything is the same as last week, except for A Touch of Dead being replaced by a book by Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich with a novel in the fantasy genre? Are we still on planet earth?
Mistborn has been getting quite a bit of publicity recently, and came highly recommended to me by a close friend who has recommended other gems in the past such as Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. With Brandon Sanderson co-authoring the final novels in the Wheel of Time series due to the passing of Robert Jordan, its no wonder his earlier works would fall under scrutiny. While not his first fantasy novel, Mistborn: The Last Empire, commonly referred to as just Mistborn, is the first novel in a trilogy of novels titled the Mistborn Trilogy. The subsequent books are The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. I feel this needs a little clarification, as from reading the book jacket and inside covers, it can be rather confusing as to the order of the novels. For instance, the inside cover of my paperback edition lists three books: Elantris, Mistborn and The Well of Ascension, making it look like Mistborn is the middle book in a trilogy. Also, the preview chapter at the end of the book is from The Hero of Ages, book three in the series, leading to more confusion. Maybe Tor should reevaluate for subsequent editions.
The novel takes place mainly in the city of Luthtadel and the lands surrounding it. Luthtadel is a city harshly divided into an upper and lower class; a government rules with an iron fist over the nobility and the lower class “skaa”. Sanderson deals masterfully with the theme of ruling governmental bodies, the politics both within that ruling body and their relationships with external parties. Mirroring this are the novel’s main themes of belief, trust, and hope that live in the spirit of the lower class. We find these themes recurring frequently throughout the novel. Here are a few samples:
“Belief isn’t simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief – what is faith – if you don’t continue in it after failure?”
“Once, maybe I would have thought you a fool, but…well, that’s kind of what trust is, isn’t it? A willful self-delusion? You have to shut out that voice that whispers about betrayal, and just hope that your friends aren’t going to hurt you.”
A good portion of the action in the novel takes place in the houses of the nobility, throwing balls which are attended by the nobility and overseen by the royal “obligators”. Other scenes include the palace of the Lord Ruler, the hideouts of the rebel skaa located throughout the city, and at night, when the entire city stays indoors and mist blankets the city.
The characters that make up Mistborn’s band of rebel skaa are unforgettable. Vin and Kelsier take center stage, with Marsh, Kelsier’s brother, and Kelsier’s assembled crew fleshing out the rest of the group. When the rest of Kelsier’s group is first introduced, I felt like I was reading a fantasy novel spiced with great characters from the world of comic books, each having their own special power. The difference with Sanderson’s Mistborn characters, and many of the characters I read about in my childhood in comics, are that Sanderson’s are believable. The system of magic created in Mistborn is unsurpassed in its impressive originality and astounding authenticity. It makes you feel like the 40-foot-high jumps and acrobatic maneuvers from games like Assassin’s Creed are real; they have real consequenses if the user of the magic does not know enough about it, or miscalculates to a small degree. It also has limits. If the user of the magic “burns” up his or her resource, they have no more. I won’t get into too much more detail, of which there is plenty, but suffice to say the magic system in Mistborn is a true gem.
Sanderson moves the plot of Mistborn along at a pace perfect for the unfolding story. While there are a lot of scenes that recur in a similar setting (the balls), there is always enough new story, whether its the character Vin learning about the politics taking place, or just plain action, the time spent in these pages is well worth it. The plot idea of a band of underground thieves working against the nobility brings Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora to mind, and the overarching theme of overthrowing an all-powerful being has definitely been done before.
Mistborn is an extremely satisfying stand-alone novel, even though its only the first in a trilogy. If you haven’t read any of Sanderson’s work, I would highly recommend you go out and pick up Mistborn. Action-packed, with great underlying themes and a rowdy bunch of characters with truly original powers, this is certainly not one to miss.
We’ve got a very healthy swath of reviews this week, maybe due to the fact that I spent the weekend in Serra do Cipo, so a few of these may reach back to before last weekend. Either way, you can’t lose with reviews of books by Scott Lynch, Ken Scholes, Janny Wurts, Dan Brown and plenty more. A pair of interviews with R.A. Salvatore and Andy Remic are featured, with Remic discussing his most recent novel Kell’s Legend.
Ever want to have your name featured in a fantasy novel? Patrick Rothfuss is giving fans this opportunity. Check out the link below for more details.
The Gathering Storm moves swiftly into the top spot, with R.A. Salvatore’s The Demon Awakens following closely behind. A new entry this week, Paradox I by Rosemary Laurey, rounds out the top three. A Touch of Dead and Full Moon Rising hang on in the four and five spots.
David Anthony Durham is making the rounds this week, interviewing on both The Dragon Page and If You’re Just Joining Us. S.L. Farrell’s most recent book, A Magic of Nightfall got a stellar review over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan got a decent amount of publicity this week, and Tor takes 30% off all their books for the rest of the month.
Rounding out the fantasy blogosphere this week is a hilarious article on generic stuff in fantasy novels, and GRRM lets us know that by the time he finishes book five of A Song of Ice and Fire, we’re probably all going to have nanobots swimming around in our bloodstream (read: its gonna be a while).
R.A. Salvatore’s The Demon Awakens holds strong in the number one slot for the second week straight, while the new Wheel of Time book, The Gathering Storm, co-authored by Brandon Sanderson premiers at number three, while the release date of the book is still more than two weeks away.
Plenty of quality reviews this week, including reviews of both books in Karen Miller’s Kingmaker, Kingbreaker series. I like to follow up my own reviews with reviews by others if possible, in order to give everyone a fair sampling of opinion. In addition to a few great reviews, of course we’ve got episode 5 of The Guild, which has to be my favorite so far in season 3. Pong? Frickin’ hilarious.
The Demon Awakens, a new R.A. Salvatore book independent of Wizards of the Coast and the Forgotten Realms saga premiers in the number one slot this week. The Time Traveler’s Wife gets knocked off, ending its twelve week reign in the top five. A Touch of Dead and Full Moon Rising move up a few spots, while An Echo in the Bone and According to Jane drop a few.
I really didn’t know what to expect leading up to reading The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller. I’d seen some recent publicity for The Prodigal Mage, and it seemed to be making a bit more noise than the first two Kingmaker, Kingbreaker books. I admittedly picked up the book on a whim, perusing the options at my local bookstore, and honestly chose the book by its cover. Probably the last time I’ll ever make that mistake. The Innocent Mage is as bland as a stale unsalted Saltine. I knew I was in trouble by the fifth sentence, which is usually the kiss of literary death:
Holding his breath, he slid out of his old, creaking bed and put his bare feet on the floor as lightly as the rising sun kissed the mouth of Restharven Harbor.
I don’t know about you, but I like my analogy to reference something that I’m familiar with, giving me a more clear picture of the idea the author is attempting to paint. Comparing the stealth with which a character leaves his bed with the mouth of a fictional body of water that hasn’t been described yet not only doesn’t improve my understanding, it actually makes it less clear. This is one example of the vast quantity of paper-thin attempts at quality writing in The Innocent Mage.
After about 50 pages or so of non-plot advancing description, dry dialog, and a general feeling that you want to go hang yourself, we’re presented with this gem:
I am Jervale’s Heir and I know. Asher is the Innocent Mage. The Final Days are coming. And I am the last living of Jervale’s descendants, born to guide our ignorant fisherman to victory…or fail, and doom our world to death and despair.
What’s that? You just threw up? That’s funny, I regurgitated a bit in my mouth the first time I read this too. Not only is it the same old story of good versus evil with the actions of the main character effecting the entire world, it is simply unreadable! This is dialog at its worst. People just don’t talk like this, it doesn’t feel natural, and it leads to rereading sections of a book that probably aren’t worth reading the first time.
Warning: spoilers to follow. Then again, it probably doesn’t matter since after this review you likely won’t be rushing out to pick up The Innocent Mage any time soon.
Just as Miller feels like she’s going to take the opportunity to advance the plot, or do something exciting with the characters, you find yourself slogging through an entire chapter of the characters crying over miniscule issues from previous chapters. There’s a beheading scene that makes the main character Asher queasy, and he whines about it for chapter upon chapter to follow. I compared this with the beheading from A Game of Thrones, seen randomly from the distance by the eyes of the daughter of the man being beheaded. Quick, meaningful, powerful, and classic. None of these qualities exist in Miller’s The Innocent Mage.
The rest of this 600+ page novel continues in the same dull fashion, with one of the high points coming when the all-powerful evil being takes over the body of the king’s mage. Unfortunately, this also is handled terribly. The narration switches to the viewpoint of the omniscient evil being. I don’t know about you, but my familiarity with the point of view of an omniscient being is pretty scarce. The way to play this would have been to have the evil being take over the mage, but view the oddities and transformation from the outside, rather than trying to give the reader an insight into the mind of an omniscient character, and failing miserably.
The novel concludes without resolving anything, and the author throws most of her main characters off a cliff. I’d recommend that if you come across a copy of The Innocent Mage, you do the same.
Its safe to say I’ll be avoiding anything by Karen Miller for the foreseeable future. I’m giving it two stars: one for the decent jousting scene about halfway through, and one for any aspiring author who wants to pick up a novel chock full of examples of what not to do.
The fantasy blogosphere is buzzing this week, with quality review after review, including books by Ken Scholes, Brandon Sanderson, Lev Grossman and more. This should give you plenty to do while you’re parked in front of the TV watching race for October baseball or week three NFL action.
by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
by R.A. Salvatore
by Rosemary Laurey
by Newt Gingrich
by Keri Arthur
by Charlaine Harris
by Diana Gabaldon
by Marilyn Brant
Fantasy Book News 