WayneLigon
Adventurer
jdavis said:
Huh? Like what?
Why have all the fanesy books i've read on recommendation from enworld sucked?
- Thread starter Olive
- Start date
Huh? Like what?
Henry
Autoexreginated
As it is often said, there is no accounting for taste. One of my favorite book series of all time was the Cross-Time Engineer Series by Leo Frankowski.
However, most people who read it come away with the impression that it is sexist, misogynistic tripe. To each their own.
I liked the series for four reasons:
However, the five books are RIFE with midieval values on women, society, conflict between peoples, and the main character's take on all of them from a 20th century perspective. It is not for everyone.
However, most people who read it come away with the impression that it is sexist, misogynistic tripe. To each their own.
I liked the series for four reasons:
- It deals with time travel, which I am a sucker for.
- It takes a "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" approach by dealing directly with the Engineering problems the traveller faced.
- The female characters in the series start out relatively one-sided and weak, but pretty much end up running the show by the end of the series. Several of the chapters of the books are even told from the point of view of the female characters, and the last book is actually told from the POV of a VERY important female character.
- The juxtaposition of a 20th century Polish socialist with 13th century nascent-capitalistic Poles is marvelous reading. If Poland is to stand a GHOST of a chance resisting the irresistable Mongol Horde, the main character has to go through the part of Marx that he hates the most - pushing the people through an industrial revolution by using capitalism as its incentive. The book doesn't focus on politics or economy, but focuses on a man doing something he rampantly doesn't believe in - to save his hide, and the half-million or so people who depend on him.
However, the five books are RIFE with midieval values on women, society, conflict between peoples, and the main character's take on all of them from a 20th century perspective. It is not for everyone.
Henry said:
That's because there are. There also some of most flat-out entertaining books I've ever read {1st 4...anyway}.
My first introduction was to them was one on a trip to Baltimore back in college. I was picking a good friend up from Hopkins for the weekend. So I get there down there, from central Jersey, after a long day of classes myself, perfectly ready to let my friend drive us back. Except he's engrossed in The Cross-Time Engineer. After failing miserably to guilt him into driving, we reach a compromise; he drives, I read the book to him.
After about 10 minutes of reading aloud, fighting off motion sickness, and general groussing, I realized I was hooked.
jdavis
First Post
WayneLigon said:
That came out sounding worse than I wanted, but I read the first 3 books when I was 12 and didn't catch alot of what was going on behind the scenes. her books remind me of Anne Rice's books that way, there is alot of sexuality just floating around. Needless to say, even the parts I did get were a little much for a 12 year old. And I agree that the last book or two were way off in left field.
Yeah, aren't they? Frankowski's vision of things can be pretty scary, in some ways. But Lord the man can keep you hooked on an engineering problem! And I HATE engineering!A few additional recommendations
Like anyone asked, I know. So I'm limiting these to those I haven't noticed anyone mentioning, or should be re-emphasized:
Garth Nix: Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen (the latter just released). Sort of YA but very interesting.
Philip Pullman: The Golden Compass (that's Northern Lights, I think, to the folks in the UK), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Again, some consider them YA, but they're very good.
Barry Hughart: Bridge of Birds, Eight Skilled Gentlemen, and The Story of the Stone. Recently re-released in a handy omnibus edition. Ancient Chinese-flavored fantasy. Excellent.
Dianne Wynne Jones: Just about anything, although she went through a rather "dark" phase that reflects a bit oddly in her work (examples of this would be Fire and Hemlock and Time of the Ghost). Most recently I read Cart and Cwidder, which has about the best depiction of a family of D&D3e bards I could imagine. As an added bonus, Howl's Moving Castle is being adapted into a movie by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli!
I'll stop here for now.
-- Pazu
Like anyone asked, I know.
So I'm limiting these to those I haven't noticed anyone mentioning, or should be re-emphasized:Garth Nix: Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen (the latter just released). Sort of YA but very interesting.
Philip Pullman: The Golden Compass (that's Northern Lights, I think, to the folks in the UK), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Again, some consider them YA, but they're very good.
Barry Hughart: Bridge of Birds, Eight Skilled Gentlemen, and The Story of the Stone. Recently re-released in a handy omnibus edition. Ancient Chinese-flavored fantasy. Excellent.
Dianne Wynne Jones: Just about anything, although she went through a rather "dark" phase that reflects a bit oddly in her work (examples of this would be Fire and Hemlock and Time of the Ghost). Most recently I read Cart and Cwidder, which has about the best depiction of a family of D&D3e bards I could imagine.
As an added bonus, Howl's Moving Castle is being adapted into a movie by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli!I'll stop here for now.
-- Pazu
Sulimo
First Post
Re: Re: Re: Olive...
I missed getting Carse, but I have a couple of the others. The setting of the novels is indeed that of the campaign that Feist was involved in and published a few bits for (although it is teaked abit). The novels are just set 500 years before that of the game world.
For years Ray and co have talked about publishing Midkemia as a gaming world again, but they's rather use their homebrew system rather than shoehorn it into 3e.
Yep. The current series 'Conclave of Shadows' is the series that follows on from the Serpentwar. Only the first book is out so far...its called Talon of the Silver Hawk. I havent read it though as I generally wait for the paperbacks.
Mallus said:
I missed getting Carse, but I have a couple of the others. The setting of the novels is indeed that of the campaign that Feist was involved in and published a few bits for (although it is teaked abit). The novels are just set 500 years before that of the game world.
For years Ray and co have talked about publishing Midkemia as a gaming world again, but they's rather use their homebrew system rather than shoehorn it into 3e.
Yep. The current series 'Conclave of Shadows' is the series that follows on from the Serpentwar. Only the first book is out so far...its called Talon of the Silver Hawk. I havent read it though as I generally wait for the paperbacks.
Lady Mer said:
Best place for info is www.nausicaa.net. Or you could sign on to the Studio Ghibli mailing list (I think the info is at the nausicaa.net site). I think the Diana Wynne Jones website (www.dianawynnejones.com, I think) also has some information.
Haoru no Ugoku Shiro has been in the pipeline for a couple of years, actually; there was a brief snag when the original director(?), Mamoru Hosoda, couldn't come up with a treatment that the Studio Ghibli folks liked. I believe that subsequently, Miyazaki announced that he himself would be taking the reigns.
(No disrespect intended to Hosoda-san, whose work I also enjoy.)It seems like a perfect match to me. The protagonist in Howl's Moving Castle is a classic Ghibli girl.
I just hope they can make Howl over-the-top enough.Have you read the sequel, Castle in the Air?
-- Pazu (a classic Ghibli guy)
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