The Conqueror's Shadow, now available!
- Thread starter Mouseferatu
- Start date
Desdichado
Hero
I just finished it last night. I posted a review on my blog, but I'll recap here.
Fun setting. Fun premise. I liked Corvis Rebaine as a character quite a bit. The plot was rock solid.
What I think didn't work quite as well was the tone, which seemed to clash with the theme. Everyone was a little too light-hearted; too easy going, for the events that were actually going on "on screen." It was hard to take the darkness seriously, even when fairly dark stuff was happening. Plus, the sarcasm really undercut the evil. Khanda felt more like Katherine Hepburn to Rebaine's Spencer Tracy rather than a soul-eating demon. And before Khanda came along and took all his lines, he was nearly indistinguishable from Davro in that regard.
And then, when we got the POV of Audriss and his camp, it was almost eerie how the only thing that really changed was the names.
Anyway... not an unfavorable review. I still enjoyed the book.
Fun setting. Fun premise. I liked Corvis Rebaine as a character quite a bit. The plot was rock solid.
What I think didn't work quite as well was the tone, which seemed to clash with the theme. Everyone was a little too light-hearted; too easy going, for the events that were actually going on "on screen." It was hard to take the darkness seriously, even when fairly dark stuff was happening. Plus, the sarcasm really undercut the evil. Khanda felt more like Katherine Hepburn to Rebaine's Spencer Tracy rather than a soul-eating demon. And before Khanda came along and took all his lines, he was nearly indistinguishable from Davro in that regard.
And then, when we got the POV of Audriss and his camp, it was almost eerie how the only thing that really changed was the names.
Anyway... not an unfavorable review. I still enjoyed the book.
Mouseferatu
Hero
I appreciate the thoughts, Hobo. And (as I may have mentioned in this thread; I don't recall and am too lazy to scroll) I don't entirely disagree with the "too much sarcastic humor" assessment.
There will almost always be some sarcastic humor to my main characters. Partly it's who I am as a writer, and partly it's a taste thing: I like intermixing humor with darker scenes, both in my writing and reading.
But that said, I've heard the same critique from other sources, and I agree, in retrospect, that I probalby overdid it in TCS. I've throttled it back some when writing the sequel, and some of my other subsequent books; it's still there, but it's not prevelent in quite so many of the characters.
There will almost always be some sarcastic humor to my main characters. Partly it's who I am as a writer, and partly it's a taste thing: I like intermixing humor with darker scenes, both in my writing and reading.
But that said, I've heard the same critique from other sources, and I agree, in retrospect, that I probalby overdid it in TCS. I've throttled it back some when writing the sequel, and some of my other subsequent books; it's still there, but it's not prevelent in quite so many of the characters.
Desdichado
Hero
It seems there's a real trick to mixing humor and darkness and making it work so the one doesn't undercut the other. Jim Butcher manages to do an excellent job of it, but before I read Jim Butcher, I couldn't even tell you someone who I thought tried it, much less managed to make it work.
Then again, maybe it's as simple as the fact that Butcher's dark, scary, horrific characters aren't the humorous ones; it's the mainly good first person narrative protagonist and other sidekick characters who interject a lot of the sarcasm.
:shrug:
Then again, maybe it's as simple as the fact that Butcher's dark, scary, horrific characters aren't the humorous ones; it's the mainly good first person narrative protagonist and other sidekick characters who interject a lot of the sarcasm.
:shrug:
Klaus
First Post
I think it's perfectly okay to have the sarcastic quips and all, just not from all the characters. Davro, for instance, never struck me as one who'd resort to sarcasm. That kind of finesse wasn't what I expected from the ogre. And since he's our reference for an ogre, I thought he'd be more... I dunno, blunt?
Mouseferatu
Hero
So if some of you have been waiting for the mass-market paperback printing, it's now available for preorder (here, among other places: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Conquerors-Shadow-Ari-Marmell/dp/0553593153/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0]Amazon.com: The Conqueror's Shadow (9780553593150): Ari Marmell: Books[/ame])
It's still some time before it'll be out in that format--December, to be precise--but you can order it now, should you wish to do so.
It's still some time before it'll be out in that format--December, to be precise--but you can order it now, should you wish to do so.
Mouseferatu
Hero
It better be good Mouse *shakes fist* That was $20 I spent...
Well, I'll make a deal with you. If you get the book, and don't like it, I promise to be very, very sorry.
Seriously, thanks for picking it up.
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
renau1g
First Post
It was in the featured New & Hot in Fantasy Fiction and the name drew my attention (as well as the cover, it's really well done).
P.S. Does Planeswalker: Agents of Artifice rely on knowing anything about Magic? I used to play and one of my favourite books when I was younger was Arena.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books...-item.html?ref=Search+Books:+%270061054240%27
P.S. Does Planeswalker: Agents of Artifice rely on knowing anything about Magic? I used to play and one of my favourite books when I was younger was Arena.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books...-item.html?ref=Search+Books:+%270061054240%27
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