Kevin's Watch

Fist and Faith wrote:Um... What??? I'm doing the exact same thing! There was just too much going on for me to go on. I needed a much better understanding of it before I felt safe going on. I'm less than a hundred pages from the end of my second run through MoI. I'll begin my 2nd HoC reading tomorrow or Monday. Then move on to MT.

Has it helped? I'm halfway thru GOTM and i think a re-read is going to improve the series a hell of a lot.The mistake i made was reading these first four novels over a four year span, too much going on to remember from book to book.

Well, a little different for me. I read them in about a month and a half. By far the fastest I've ever read that many pages. Still, there's so much going on, particularly so many characters, that I couldn't keep it all in. The second reading is SOOOOOOOOOOO great!!!

You two need to get a room!

Somebody sounds jealous!!

Bugg off!

I love this series, even though I was very disappointed by the third book. I think it shows great promise, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.

This is a deep, thoughtful, intelligent series. Brushing up on the Crusades may help a bit. And brushing up on Nietzsche will help a lot. Maybe that's why people tend not to like it: it requires such a commitment from the reader. I think it is actually deeper philosophically than the Chronicles. And I think the reason for that is because Bakker intentionally made his series allegorical, whereas Donaldson is following the "logic" of the story, with some Deep Truths thrown in along the way. It makes a huge difference. Donaldson's work has more heart; Bakker's work has more mind.

However, even if you don't get all the Crusades parallels and the Nietzsche points, the characters are great--and Bakker really has considerable skill in portraying them. Khellus is the perfect character, in my mind (at least until book 3). His particular brand of "badassness" is exactly what I've been looking for in a fantasy work, probably since the late 70s when I saw my first Jedi. It's not just that he can do extraordinary feats of physical prowess, but that his mind is so penetrating, so acute, so trained, that we've truly never seen anything like him. And it's one thing to attempt such a character, but to pull it off!! Bakker is a genius. I'm extremely jealous.

I've got a few complaints, a lot more praise, in the other Bakker threads. Check 'em out. We've had some good discussions on this that might give you some hope, Waddley.

Given what you liked about this work, I suspect you'd have an interest in his (near-future sci-fi) psychological thriller, Neuropath, out this year (May, I believe). It's supposed to be a real (pardon the language) mindf*ck.

Great news Murrin. I'll be looking to get it the day it is released. Any pre-release reviews for it yet?

Brinn wrote:Great news Murrin. I'll be looking to get it the day it is released. Any pre-release reviews for it yet?

Last time I checked there was no US release date on this yet; you might have to get it from the UK...

That might be right; I know he had trouble finding a publisher for it.

As for reviews, there were a few comments from advance readers and so on back in 2006, but no reviews yet.

Trouble finding a publisher!?! Man, the troubles that established authors have really depresses me. How is a new author supposed to make it if Donaldson and Bakker still have difficulties? Crap.

The book sounds good, though. I love a good mindf*ck.

Malik23 wrote:Trouble finding a publisher!?! Man, the troubles that established authors have really depresses me. How is a new author supposed to make it if Donaldson and Bakker still have difficulties? Crap.

Write derivative crap?

Well, I think the subject matter was the problem in this case, so it doesn't really say anything about the market generally.