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David Zindell's Neverness, A Requiem for Homo Sapiens and all things Science Fiction and Fantasy
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 Post subject: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 3:43 am 
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Lady Scryer
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This new book by Tad Williams has a release date of May 6, 2003. It is supposed to be a stand alone contemporary fantasy set at least in part in northern California... <i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 12:56 pm 
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cool - thanks Duchess!!! Cripple but free; I was blind all the time I was learning to see<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 7:17 pm 
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Cool. I'm glad it's a stand-alone. I waited forever for Williams to finish SM&T, and then I had to wait for the rest of Otherland to come out 'cause I finally started when the third book came out, which I thought was the last.

Someday I'll have to get around to reading Tailchaser's Song.

Whatever happened with the online thing he was doing? I couldn't get into it. ________________
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>


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 Post subject: Re: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2003 4:37 pm 
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Actually, when I first heard that this book was coming out in the spring, I had heard that it was the first book in a trilogy. I was sort of surprised when Amazon had it listed as a stand alone. I am glad about it, though. No long waits in between books like I am enduring right now with ASOIAF. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2003 3:03 am 
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I'm at work (slow night) so i'm not sure whether or not this will work, but I've attempted to copy a bit of description from Williams's British publisher's website:

Williams Revealed
We've managed to sneak this stunning work-in-progress image of Tad Williams' new stand-alone novel, The War of the Flowers , out from under the noses of our design team. We've also swiped the cover blurb:
In the great city, in the dimly lit office of a mighty tower, two deadly creatures meet. A dark bargain is struck, and the master of the House of Hellebore gives an order: 'War is coming. The child must die.' In our own world, a young man discovers a manuscript written by his great uncle. It seems to be a novel - a strange fairy tale of fantastic creatures and magical realms. But it is written as a diary ... as if the events were real ... as if his uncle had sought and found another world. Or as if another world had found him ...
Sounds great, huh?! The book is scheduled for publication in May of this year.


There is also a picture of the British cover, which looks great!
The US cover will not be the same as the British one...

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2003 8:42 pm 
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Duchess - you ROCK!!!

That is really a tasty little blurb, I must say.
Can't wait for May!!! Cripple but free; I was blind all the time I was learning to see<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Sun May 18, 2003 11:00 pm 
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I saw it at Borders, its a huge hardcover!!
It appears to be a man from our world who gets mixed up in a war between warring groups of fairies! 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>


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 Post subject: Re: war of the flowers
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2003 4:25 am 
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Thanks for the update Duchess!
Syl, Duchess started a "Shadowmarch" thread, but here is the link:

www.shadowmarch.com

It has the first 5 chaps - I only have had time to rread the prologue, but it sounds good.

Cripple but free; I was blind all the time I was learning to see<i>Edited by: Earthblood at: 2/24/04 6:24 am
</i>


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 Post subject: The War of the Flowers: an independant review
PostPosted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 6:18 pm 
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Reviewed by Hilary Williamson from doubleloon.com

Quote:There is a strong vein of horror running through Tad Williams' War of the Flowers. It opens on a hellebore and a cold figure manipulating events, like a spider at the center of a palatial web. He speaks to the 'Remover of Inconvenient Obstacles' about a coming war and a child who must not live.

An abrupt juxtaposition sends us to San Francisco in the human world, where misfit musician Theo Vilmos learns of his girlfriend's sudden miscarriage and soon afterwards loses his mother to cancer. Dealing with her effects, he finds a book written by his great uncle Eamonn Dowd that speaks of a strange journey to a world of Faerie. And that world soon comes after him, when the plotting of misnamed Flowers (cruel Faerie aristos) sends a Frankenstein monster lurching into Theo's world to bring him back to theirs. Why is mortal Theo important to them and who or what is their 'Terrible Child'?

Theo is saved by a small tough-talking sprite named Applecore, who opens a window to 'a colorless void that crashed like ocean waves and sparkled like stars.' But don't start to imagine a typical 'Storybook Land'. This Faerie, searching for a new source of power after the loss of its King and Queen in the Second Gigantine War, has developed a new technology, powered by sacrifice. Applecore, 'a miniature John LeCarré out of a box of Cracker Jacks', guides Theo through a morass of plots and counterplots, revolution and betrayal. He finds Eamonn's book rather 'like someone gave me a manual on lion-taming to read, but didn't warn me I was about to be smothered with gravy and parachuted into the African veldt.'

On a train ride with both the monster and local constables in pursuit, Theo is helped on a whim by teenage (only a hundred) Flower Poppy Thornapple, 'a glamorous Goth princess'. Soon he finds himself in the middle of a horrendous Faerie War, that begins with a 9/11 like attack on a Flower tower home (an Author's Note at the beginning explains that this was outlined in January 2000). There are wild goblins out of a surreal Wild West, flaming dragons used in contravention of prior treaties, kamikaze fairy attacks, and brave resistance fighters led by a small goblin named Mud Bug Button. Theo is at sea, 'missing a place where I know the rules ... where I'm not always having to guess.'

Of course, there are revelations about Theo's background, about Eamonn Dowd and about the Terrible Child. Our hero meets the bad guys in the usual unequal confrontation, but music, 'a secret language' to Theo, ultimately saves him and two worlds from devastation and reminds him of what he is and where he wants to be. The tale ends happily ever after, 'One day at a time.' Though the action sometimes moves slowly through Williams' complex Faerie world, he's given us an impressive feat of imagination and a great read.
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: 7/19/03 12:27 pm
</i>


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 Post subject: Re: The War of the Flowers: an idependant review
PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 2:34 pm 
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I think at some point I will have to read this.
Williams has such a nice way with words, and the plot really does sound interesting. 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>


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 Post subject: Re: The War of the Flowers: an idependant review
PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2003 11:24 pm 
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The plot reminds me of the Spellsinger (Alan Dean Foster?)books, though I imagine this is probably a shade more serious. ________________
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>


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 Post subject: Re: The War of the Flowers: an idependant review
PostPosted: Thu Aug 14, 2003 5:27 am 
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The beautiful new backdrop for this forum is the British cover of this book, by the way. 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>


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 Post subject: Re: The War of the Flowers: an idependant review
PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:20 pm 
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Y'know, I really enjoyed this book. It is, in many ways, a typical stranger-in-a-strange-land story. It's pretty humorous at times, and it's paced well enough to keep you reading through a rather bulky book (it's Williams, though, so it's to be expected). It's also really easy to read (I'm reading it in between Wolfe, so it seems that way, anyway), so it makes for a good book to kill a long car trip or something with. It also helped that I could completely identify with the main character. ________________
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>


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 Post subject: Re: The War of the Flowers: an idependant review
PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 1:46 am 
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Thanks, Syl. I like Williams, and this book sounds pretty promising from what you just said. I think I'll have to read it. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell

******************************************************

Perhaps I'll come for you myself some night. You ought to see me...my fur is white now, pale as snow,but the stature, the majesty, the power, those have not left me...We are the direwolves, the nightmares who haunt your racial memories, the dark shapes circling endlessly beyond the light of your fires.~George R.R. Martin<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: The War of the Flowers: an idependant review
PostPosted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 3:55 am 
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Thanks for the encouraging review syl. Its already on "the list"
The background looks cool too Duchess & Danlo - thanks Cripple but free; I was blind all the time I was learning to see<i></i>


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