Last night before the season finale of True Blood HBO aired the longest look to date of A Game of Thrones.
The Last Page is the most unexpectedly good novel I've read this year and is a remarkable debut from a daring author. Technology and High Fantasy come together to create a symphonic novel of a high order. This review is going to be kept short because the less you know about this book the bigger the impact it will have. I had some preconceived notions about what this book was and all of them turned out wrong except for thinking the story would be good and it somehow had Steampunk elements.
The story begins in a high class school where Caliph is studying in anticipation of becoming a ruler to his country because of succession. This is not another Harry Potter riff. Only the first part of the book takes place in the school and magic is just one small part of what they teach although intricate to the plot as it develops. The form of magic they teach is called Holomorphy and is seen as high magic mixed with mathematics giving it a light as a science albeit a dark one. The story actually gets much more exciting once Caliph leaves school and takes on the yoke of leadership while dealing with powers seeking to overthrow him. Sena especially comes alive on her journey.
"Forbidden by most governments, silenced through flames that had once danced on great piles of holomorphic lore, slowly, very slowly, holomorphy was being practiced again. Opportunist seeking an edge in business, politics--they had begun drawing blood."
The Last Page is filled to brim with new ideas and is a sumptuous baroque delight of horrors, wonders, and real people. More than once I had to sit back and absorb all that had just happened. The style does take a while to get used to as unusual words and even non-English fonts or glyphs are used for some words. This threw me for a while and even the footnotes didn't seem to help much, but it all adds to making this world more believable and absorbing. I could see this turning off some readers, but I can only suggest you persevere if this becomes a problem. Another issue was the map included didn't show enough of the land where a lot of the action takes place.
Caliph is at once a protagonist you want to root for while also a character one might like to take to the side to smack some sense into. Sena is the women every man wants and every women despises. Things come easily to her. Almost too easily as she has a taste for the forbidden and arcane. The relationships created are utterly convincing and whether I loved or hated a character I had to know where each and everyone of them ended up. Huso gives his characters a path and than sets it ablaze in the name of identifying what love is and what someone would do for the one they love. This is not Steampunk, but it does use the devices such as zeppelins as aesthetic in a world that feels very natural and sets an atmosphere unlike any Fantasy novel before. Huso has an immense talent for creating wonders and playing with language and emotions.
The Last Page is overflowing with poetic prose that beckons you further into this world and into the minds of the main characters. Sena stands as one of most beguiling and attractive characters that have come in ages. Caliph who's stuck playing a role foisted upon him shows unexpected ruthlessness and yet a tenderness as well. The Last Page is a remarkable debut that shouldn't be missed with a very satisfying climax. I give The Last Page 9 out of 10 hats. I urge my readers to discover what an unkind and wondrous world Huso has concocted. The Last Page is the first half of a duology with the follow-up Black Bottle scheduled for a 2011 release. Between Huso and Tregillis Tor is knocking me out with their stellar debuts this year.
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| Art by Vincent Chong |
Something of an outcry happened after Catherynne M. Valente first posted the cover to her new series with Night Shade for The Habitation of the Blessed. Accusations of white-washing the female character on the cover as well as a sloppy looking design job on the text and minimalization of Valente's name were just some of the issues raised. Not to mention those Andre The Giant hands hodl the book. The cover has now been redone and it corrects nearly all of its problems.
The Way of Kings is the first in a multi-volume Fantasy Epic from New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, now known best as the author chosen to finish out one of the most beloved series known to modern Fantasy, namely The Wheel of Time. However intimidating it must have been for Sanderson to take over WoT, he knowing only committed himself to two or three volumes, but with The Way of Kings he has already stated it will be at least ten volumes. Is this the first case of an author ever realizing from the start how long it may take to tell a story properly? If so Sanderson is in a class all of his own making.
Sanderson has given his fans exactly what they wanted: a book filled with a new magic system, a wondrous and violent world, and characters you'll grow to cherish like old friends. I managed to finish The Way of Kings over a few long days staying up well past midnight more than one night because it was that captivating. Sanderson clearly has been thinking about this world and its races for some time and his love of them shines through to the reader.
The Way of Kings is sprawling in every way that is good and epic to its utmost. The world-building is immense to say the least, but Sanderson smartly decides to focus on the characters while still slipping in facts about the world, history, and the cultures. At a few points the narrative turns into an info dump, but that feels like what is needed to flesh things out a bit more as the desire for more knowledge of this world and its deep mythology infects you.
War between the Alethi and Parshendi has been on-going after the Parshhendi killed the Alethi King Galivar. The two sides have been fighting daily to a stalemate for many years on the Shattered Plains, which is one of the most fractious battlefields found in Fantasy. The very land has been split like a puzzle with deep chasms separating one plateau from the next. In order to move troops from one plateau to the next movable bridges are needed. The swiftest bridges are carried by slaves known as bridgemen.
The Way of Kings is about the truth and how it becomes legend, which changes and gets reinterpreted with time. Heroes become heretics, the lawless become laws givers, and once great places become shattered. The world is known as Roshar, which suffers highstorms that are so violent and frequent that the very ground is eroded away and life on the planet has evolved to survive. Think land creatures that have shells and plants that close up. The flora and fauna were at first very difficult to picture, but some art strewn through the book helps visualization. These highstorms also somehow distribute energy known as Stormlight that is involved in the magic of the land, which I found to be a great concept.
The story is told from 4 main character points of view, well, really 3 and the son of another from time-to-time. There are also a couple sections known as "interludes" told from characters not involved in the main action. The inclusion of these sections puzzles me a little, but Sanderson is likely laying the groundwork for the introduction of characters in future volumes to tell the story from more points of view as the telling grows and action varies from region to region.
The two most prevalent characters are Kaladin and Dalinar. Kaladin is a fearsome warrior whose luck ran out after he pushed it a few too many times. His story splits between present day and flashbacks all the way to his childhood leading up to his fall from grace and eventual slave life as a bridgeman in the Shattered Plains. The divergent storylines never appear unnecessary, but Kaladin's back-story does go on too much. Sanderson hammers home just how much Kaladin suffers and what brought him to his bridgeman status, but does so to a degree I found a bit repetitive. Two or three flashbacks could have been eliminated and still had the same effect. Also, one flashback that was built over the course of half the book, which seemed to shape Kaladin so much from his early warrior years felt underwhelming when finally revealed. Kaladin's present story were the sections I most look forward to as his abilities shine even when covered in dirt and we get to see a broken man become whole again.
Dalinar a High Price of Alethkar is Uncle to the current King of the realm after his brother Gavliar was murdered. Much of what Dalinar does is driven by his need to do what is right, which is not always seen as what is best for him politically. Because of this he comes off a bit flat, but his action sequences were some of the most edge grabbing parts. Dalinar's scenes of prophetic/ecstatic visions don't make much sense at first, but when the last two comes they are humdingers. Dalinar is a Shardbearer like his son Adolin(another point of view at times). Both wear Shardplate and have a Shard blade, which are incredibly durable and enhance the wearer's strength and stamina and therefore make them the most formidable warriors around. (And yes all the capitalization do get tiresome after awhile.) The Shards are a relic from a time now gone into myth and are coveted by all. At first it seemed like the Shards were very rare, but as more pop-up their lustre is somewhat dimmed yet when they get involved in a melee things pick-up. There are promises of even great power and magic coming back into the land.
Shallan is the third main view and her storyline while the most sedate in comparison to the battle laden Kaladin and Dalnar was also the most intriguing and played out very much like a spy thriller. Her story takes place away from the Shattered Plains, but does involve some overall intrgue that will propel the series forward. She is trying to save her family by becoming an apprentice to Jasnah the sister to the King, but she clearly had a lot happen to her in the past most of which is only alluded to. Shallan grows so much in the pages that she became the character I wish I could speed ahead in the series in order to find out what is in store for her in the next volume as she will be in the thick of the march soon enough.
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