Ahira's Hangar

I've been seeing all of the same rumblings and hype, but haven't been able to bring myself to pay for the hardcover book yet. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell<i></i>

THE BRIAR KING by Greg Keyes...I've seen all sorts of fresh rumblings on ASOIAF and All Sci-Fi. com about this guy & this book saying it's supposed the next A Song of Fire and Ice...what's this all about y'all?:shrug And now Danlo looked in that direction, too. He remembered that snowy owls mate in the darkest part of deep winter, and so along with this beautiful white bird perched in a tree a hundred feet away, he turned to face the sea as he watched and waited.

Ahira, Ahira, he called out silently to the sky. Ahira, Ahira<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 1/1/06 6:21 am
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I read part of The Briar King at Borders. Decent stuff. Prior to that (1996) I read The Waterborn and Blackgod. Very good books. Sorry, but... better than Martin, imho. ________________
I wanna feel the metamorphosis and cleansing I've endured within my shadow. Change is coming. Now is my time. Listen to my muscle memory. Contemplate what I've been clinging to. -Tool, "Forty-Six & Two"<i></i>

From the dust jacket of Briar King:
Quote:Greg Keyes was born in Meridian, Mississippi, to a large storytelling family. He received a degree in anthropology from Mississippi State and the Univerity of Georgia before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of the Age of Unreason tetrology, as well as The Waterborn, the Backgod, and the Star Wars New Jedi order novels -- Edge of Victory I: Conquest and Edge of Victory II: Rebirth. He lives in Savannah, Georgia. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell<i></i>

I have read by Keyes The Waterborn, The Blackgod, and Newton's Cannon. I think the man has a real talent for plotting and world-building, but there is something in his writing style that comes off to me as boring and I didn't think all characters came off equally well. But it was really great to see in action the titular invention of Newton's Cannon in action...

By the way, does anyone know if Keyes is planning to continue Children of the Changeling? The Blackgod left the royalty/priesthood thread completely hanging and I thought it was among the most interesting parts of the book. <i></i>

From what I've heard he has been hard at work on the series that started with The Briar King, with the second book coming out sometime this winter...I think I heard Feb. 2004.

I started The Briar King this morning, and so far it seems to be a worthy read. The premise of the story (and these are not spoilers because it is the background of the world, not the current plot) is centered on the Lost Colony of today's North Carolina, England's first serious attempt to colonize what is today the USA. This colony was founded on the coast of today's North Carolina, seemed to be doing OK, marked the birth of the first baby, a little girl named Virginia Dare, then vanished mysteriously. In this book, that vanished colony, seemingly along with some neighboring Native Americans, was kidnapped to another world to become slaves to an alien race. Virginia Dare eventually becomes the Queen of the humans, and some sort of sorceress, and leads them in an uprising where they become the masters of the world, though their captors laid heavy curses upon them in their victory. The descendants of Virginia Dare become the hereditary rulers, hundreds (maybe a couple of thousands) of years go by, and then the real story begins, as evil legends seem to be creeping to life... Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

Well, I'm about halfway through, and if the rest of the series lives up to what I've read so far, it'll be a good one!

I have to say, that I prefer Martin, as his characters are just wonderful for me, and I really like character driven books...

But Keyes is a good writer, he is a good world builder, his plot seems to advance right along (my main complaint about Jordan and Goodkind is that their series plots stall out after a few books -- though I suppose we won't know that about Keyes until he gets further into his series).

His religion and mythos are well drawn...he does dip a bit into cliche -- the spoiled and willful princess, the evil counsilor to the King, the Ranger etc. -- but he still has plenty of time to redeem these particular characters and make them MORE than cliches...at this point, halfway through thr book, I would definately recommend it to people who like "high fantasy". Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

Oh, and rather than George RR Martin, I would compare Keyes and this book to Tad Williams and his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn... Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

Nearly done now, and there are definately a lot more parallels with Williams than with Martin. Enjoyable read. I am looking forward to book 2 in the series which is supposedly coming out in a few months. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

I read his star wars ones (and I have his new one ordered on amazon) they are quite good. I might buy Briar king

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Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam<i></i>

I'm glad that someone bumped this up.

I never did get to reading the second book.

But from what I understand:
this will be a four book series
the first two books have been released
the third book is due out this spring (2006)

The Briar King was solid fantasy and a pretty good read, but not earth changing. But it was definately good enough that I will probably read the rest of the series once it is completed. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Quote:the third book is due out this spring (2006)

The Blood Knight

I like the comparison above leaning more toward Williams. I liked The Briar King, but it's got some issues I have a review at FBS for specifics), mainly with a failure to grab me in what were intended to be high climatic scenes. It's good, but I'm not sure if I think it's good because of its quality, or the lack of quality overall within the epic fantasy sub-genre. I think of it as a seond tier series in the sub-genre (first tier: Martin, Bakker, Erikson, Kay with some eforts by others included), and comaprable with some real nice efforts by JV Jones (Sword of Shadows series) some works by Hobb, and The Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling. Worth reading? Definitely, but not if someone hasn't given Martin, Bakker, Erikson, and Kay a try yet.

I like the magic/faith sytem, I like the quasi-alternative history ties, but it's just left something to be desired that would prompt me to say it's anything more than decent. The Bodhisattva

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<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 1/1/06 3:29 pm
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My main complaint is that the characters were a bit cliched and flat to me (how many head strong and spoiled princesses does fantasy need anyway?)...but having read only the first book, he has plenty of time to develop the main characters a bit more.
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Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>

Never apologize for bumping up an old topic. It is a perfectly fine thing to do.

Kay would be Guy Guvriel Kay, a fine Canadian fantasy writer who has written many novels. He is probably best known for a trilogy called The Fionavar Tapestry, which I loved but a lot of fans (at least at the martin board) seem to not like because of the Arthurian elements. He also has another series out where he explores nations which feel like our Spain, Italy, etc. the Lions of Al-rassan is many peoples' favorite of those books (which I have not read but hope to someday).

His latest book is called Ysabel and is set in (or at least begins in) contemporary France, or so I understand.

Welcome to the Hangar, by the way. Welcome, welcome and true.