How would you rank the books in the Man Who series?
Moderator: Seareach
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
You've got to be kidding! And deprive you of the experience? 
OK. This is no longer available on the net:
* * *
THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE
Stephen R. Donaldson
Forge, Nov 2001
Jan 2002 Review by Joy Calderwood
Mystery, Martial Arts
Stephen Donaldson has a genius for words, a ruthless and all-encompassing empathy, and a world class left hook to the reader’s solar plexus. That expressed, the fan begins to exercise self-control. Here we go.
In THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE, “Brew” Axbrewder is recovering from a serious wound and the end of a destructive relationship. Unemployed in an unfamiliar city, he takes a job as extra security, during a display of valuable antiques at a martial arts tournament. Brew is accustomed to win his fights with a combination of skill, bulk, and determination, so at first he looks on the contestants as toy fighters. Gradually he learns to respect them, and, believing that the murder of the Chief of Security is related to the antiques he guards, Brew accepts a position as security consultant for the martial arts center. Murder escalates to deadly riot, with Brew in the middle. Donaldson gives us the essential clue two thirds of the way through the book, but how the hell is Brew going to bring this killer down? Don’t worry, there is plenty of suspense to come.
It has been days since I read FOUGHT, but the characters are still keeping me close company. Discerning, empathic character development is one of Donaldson’s strongest points. Brew Axbrewder has been on a long journey about learning to trust himself, and as always with Brew, the author has caught his tone so perfectly you would think he had been there. Among the other people who insinuate themselves from FOUGHT into our own awareness is Brew’s former partner Ginny, also recovering from a maiming that has cost her self-confidence. Ginny’s boss, Marshall Viviter, charming but Brew’s natural rival, is very helpful to Brew, and Brew can’t figure out why. We meet Brew’s new boss, a developer who appears to have over-reached himself, and a curvaceous, intelligent insurance executive whose friendliness to Brew is completely unexpected. The head of the combined martial arts association is the dangerous Anson Sternway, a fighter so accomplished he awes most of his associates. Sternway’s divorce problems may be damaging his effectiveness. Each of the martial arts masters and several of their students are presented as unique individuals, though at first I almost had to take notes to keep their names and schools straight.
There is a good deal of introductory description of various schools of martial arts. The author has presented sufficient information to give a psychological basis for some of his suspects and troublemakers, but even that much is enough to make the pacing fail, in a lull between events. Some martial artists might take exception to the behavior of certain members of this fictional martial arts community. In his note Donaldson makes a special point of his disclaimer – the “not based on anyone I know” section – and he holds a black belt himself.
The previous three books of this series were very noir indeed. Brew Axbrewder is so well developed and true that we knew that but for the grace of God that could be us. There is an obvious spiritual change in the eleven years since the last Man Who book, and it most likely has to do with the author taking up the study of the Shotokan martial art form. His focus used to be on heroism: the despairing heroism of his Thomas Covenant series, the unconscious heroism of the Man Who series, and the awe-inspiring heroism of The Gap. Now he is reaching beyond, to redemption, and the heroism that is willing not to be alone. THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE is a spiritual journey that is effective partly because it happens so naturally.
With his writing Donaldson can hit like a hammer any time he chooses, because he has made the situations so real, the people so deep, and the words so right. In FOUGHT, his hammer blows have become delicate touches with the potency of a nerve block. They stem from the special talent he has always had for metaphors and single words that lay a situation bare. There is one writing flaw in this series: he overuses the word “murmured.” So the diamond is genuine.
Stephen R. Donaldson is a major name in the science fiction world, best seller and winner of multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Award for the first book in his beautifully written, heart-wrenching Thomas Covenant fantasy series. His hard science fiction series The Gap throws deeply complex characters into a five book long adrenaline ride, with plot twists that can leave a reader frozen in shock. Those eleven books would total genius even if you didn’t take into account his non-series writings.
Probably because of the connection of his name with science fiction, Donaldson’s publishers went to some lengths in the 1980s to hide the authorship of the first three books of this mystery series: THE MAN WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER, THE MAN WHO RISKED HIS PARTNER, and THE MAN WHO TRIED TO GET AWAY. There was even a misleading author bio at the backs of the books. It has only recently been publicly acknowledged who was behind the obscure pen name of Reed Stephens and a series that received very little public attention. Now with the disguise revealed and the increased popularity of noir mystery, they are being republished under the author’s own name.
Originally published on the Independent Reviews Site
Regrets for the clunky writing, but I find myself unable to rewrite it and still say the same things.
OK. This is no longer available on the net:
* * *
THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE
Stephen R. Donaldson
Forge, Nov 2001
Jan 2002 Review by Joy Calderwood
Mystery, Martial Arts
Stephen Donaldson has a genius for words, a ruthless and all-encompassing empathy, and a world class left hook to the reader’s solar plexus. That expressed, the fan begins to exercise self-control. Here we go.
In THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE, “Brew” Axbrewder is recovering from a serious wound and the end of a destructive relationship. Unemployed in an unfamiliar city, he takes a job as extra security, during a display of valuable antiques at a martial arts tournament. Brew is accustomed to win his fights with a combination of skill, bulk, and determination, so at first he looks on the contestants as toy fighters. Gradually he learns to respect them, and, believing that the murder of the Chief of Security is related to the antiques he guards, Brew accepts a position as security consultant for the martial arts center. Murder escalates to deadly riot, with Brew in the middle. Donaldson gives us the essential clue two thirds of the way through the book, but how the hell is Brew going to bring this killer down? Don’t worry, there is plenty of suspense to come.
It has been days since I read FOUGHT, but the characters are still keeping me close company. Discerning, empathic character development is one of Donaldson’s strongest points. Brew Axbrewder has been on a long journey about learning to trust himself, and as always with Brew, the author has caught his tone so perfectly you would think he had been there. Among the other people who insinuate themselves from FOUGHT into our own awareness is Brew’s former partner Ginny, also recovering from a maiming that has cost her self-confidence. Ginny’s boss, Marshall Viviter, charming but Brew’s natural rival, is very helpful to Brew, and Brew can’t figure out why. We meet Brew’s new boss, a developer who appears to have over-reached himself, and a curvaceous, intelligent insurance executive whose friendliness to Brew is completely unexpected. The head of the combined martial arts association is the dangerous Anson Sternway, a fighter so accomplished he awes most of his associates. Sternway’s divorce problems may be damaging his effectiveness. Each of the martial arts masters and several of their students are presented as unique individuals, though at first I almost had to take notes to keep their names and schools straight.
There is a good deal of introductory description of various schools of martial arts. The author has presented sufficient information to give a psychological basis for some of his suspects and troublemakers, but even that much is enough to make the pacing fail, in a lull between events. Some martial artists might take exception to the behavior of certain members of this fictional martial arts community. In his note Donaldson makes a special point of his disclaimer – the “not based on anyone I know” section – and he holds a black belt himself.
The previous three books of this series were very noir indeed. Brew Axbrewder is so well developed and true that we knew that but for the grace of God that could be us. There is an obvious spiritual change in the eleven years since the last Man Who book, and it most likely has to do with the author taking up the study of the Shotokan martial art form. His focus used to be on heroism: the despairing heroism of his Thomas Covenant series, the unconscious heroism of the Man Who series, and the awe-inspiring heroism of The Gap. Now he is reaching beyond, to redemption, and the heroism that is willing not to be alone. THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE is a spiritual journey that is effective partly because it happens so naturally.
With his writing Donaldson can hit like a hammer any time he chooses, because he has made the situations so real, the people so deep, and the words so right. In FOUGHT, his hammer blows have become delicate touches with the potency of a nerve block. They stem from the special talent he has always had for metaphors and single words that lay a situation bare. There is one writing flaw in this series: he overuses the word “murmured.” So the diamond is genuine.
Stephen R. Donaldson is a major name in the science fiction world, best seller and winner of multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Award for the first book in his beautifully written, heart-wrenching Thomas Covenant fantasy series. His hard science fiction series The Gap throws deeply complex characters into a five book long adrenaline ride, with plot twists that can leave a reader frozen in shock. Those eleven books would total genius even if you didn’t take into account his non-series writings.
Probably because of the connection of his name with science fiction, Donaldson’s publishers went to some lengths in the 1980s to hide the authorship of the first three books of this mystery series: THE MAN WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER, THE MAN WHO RISKED HIS PARTNER, and THE MAN WHO TRIED TO GET AWAY. There was even a misleading author bio at the backs of the books. It has only recently been publicly acknowledged who was behind the obscure pen name of Reed Stephens and a series that received very little public attention. Now with the disguise revealed and the increased popularity of noir mystery, they are being republished under the author’s own name.
Originally published on the Independent Reviews Site
Regrets for the clunky writing, but I find myself unable to rewrite it and still say the same things.
"The universe is made of stories, not atoms." -- Roger Penrose
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
This is it, Ryzel www.theindependentreviewssite.org
but the site has been neglected and the archive links no longer work. The page with the review of THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE on it couldn't be found when I just tried it. The issue was March 2002, the Book Reviews page.
That's why I started my own: the site above was fading away.
but the site has been neglected and the archive links no longer work. The page with the review of THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE on it couldn't be found when I just tried it. The issue was March 2002, the Book Reviews page.
That's why I started my own: the site above was fading away.
"The universe is made of stories, not atoms." -- Roger Penrose
-
Dragonlily
- Lord
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 4:39 pm
- Location: Aparanta
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
Darth, I just found this thread while googling. You might want to change the name of the thread -- it's bad advertising for MAN WHO.
OK, I strongly suggest you change the name of the thread. I do not want my review of MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE to be associated with this thread title!
OK, I strongly suggest you change the name of the thread. I do not want my review of MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE to be associated with this thread title!
"The universe is made of stories, not atoms." -- Roger Penrose