Kevin's Watch

I started up SRD's new series last month. So far I've been enjoying it. The whole idea of magic + rifles is kinda cool. And I love that the pacing is so much better than the Last Chronicles. I'm waiting for some interesting characters though. So far everyone has been pretty boring, minus the prince.

Sad that there's so little discussion for the series here. I guess online book discussion is dead? Oh well, I guess the Watch had a pretty good 20 year run.

-jay

Don't sell us short, Jay.

Yes, discussion and dissection of earlier series is not as broadly participatory as it once was, but you will see a fair amount of commentary about The War Within, which the book totally deserves. There is lots of anticipation for The Last Repository and the culmination of the tale SRD is telling.

Meanwhile, Cord Hurn has relentlessly moved forward the long-stalled dissection of the Gap series, completing the chapters of Forbidden Knowledge and planning for the dissection of A Dark and Hungry God Arises.

Consider also how certain Watchers lurk in Facebook groups that draw SRD fans and those susceptible to SRD's themes, and guide those folks to visit here.

We are trying to keep it alive. Your positivity can help.

Sorry, good point. Not trying to be negative. Just my tongue-in-cheek humor.



-jay

After the way "negativity" was treated during the LC discussion, I have absolutely no intention of joining a discussion about this book here. You guys wanted lively participation? You shouldn't have chased away people who disagreed with you.

Jay can't even joke about this without being chastised about "negativity." The Positive Comments Only Police are too zealous in their enforcement and personal attacks for my taste.

Have fun talking to yourselves! I hope the series is good. I might give it a try someday, if I can find it in a bargain bin somewhere. I haven't read a single comment by anyone here that makes me want to rush out and buy it.

To be fair, it's people like you that make me never want to go in the Tank again. It's all relative.

-jay

So far I will say..Donaldson's other works are analogous to a machete' in that his style hacks thru the dense themes creating paths of understanding and enjoyment by and for the reader.Donaldson's style in The Great God's War so far, is analogous to a fish fillet knife,,leaner, thinner,sharper , and gets right to the bone quickly. The 7th is some of Donaldson's leanest writing.

I like Donaldson's style in TGGW. Perhaps theres a bit more dialogue and by that the importance of the Word as it is said comes to the fore front. Words trap characters and also liberate and etc etc in TGGW. The opening chapters of TWW is excellent example of communicating by words unsaid. The lean dialogue tells soooo much.On the surface everything seems okay but below the surface theres all sorts of difficulty.Theres some Art there.He demonstrates the value of " The Word" again later when the queen takes down Postern. The reader has to be a bit more focused perhaps but thats the price of having all the fat trimmed away.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books, as lurch mentioned the writing is quite pared down, and yet it is still unmistakably Donaldson.

I actually just started a re-read a few days ago, very interesting reading the 1st volume again having some idea in advance where it is leading.

Prince Bifalt is self-righteousness incarnate, he is also a provincial, small-minded and violent man.

And yet his indignation is very much justified in a lot of ways, too.

@kevinswatch if you are enjoying the 1st installment I predict you will be pretty thrilled with the 2nd.

As to the tyranny of positivity, I was one who was fairly negative about the LC but I didn't find my opinions were unfairly castigated - challenged certainly, but I'd hardly say my views were howled down.
People just had differing views on that story.

Also re-reading (well, re-listening to) the LC at the moment and I've found a bit more to enjoy the 2nd time around.

I will say that I enjoyed TWW more than SD, but that I liked both just fine.

SD felt like a novella. Not just in its limited length, but SRD writes his novellas in a different style from his novels, focusing on characters and dialogue and less on world-building. TWW expanded the scope and included some world-building, and was written in a more "novelly" style.

I'm looking forward to TLR (although I hope the title changes).

SleeplessOne wrote:...re-reading (well, re-listening to) the LC at the moment and I've found a bit more to enjoy the 2nd time around.

I did the exact same thing. Except, I got different results. My personal feeling was that the LC did not age better.

However, TGGW did. The second listen was even better than the first.

My primary impression with TGGW is that SRD's writing is maturing and becoming more sophisticated, if that can be imagined. Like lurch, I feel like he's cutting through the density by doing more with less. Or something. The style of writing in this series, though fantasy, is not like any of his other fantasy. Feels more direct, and it's damn refreshing to read. And despite these differences, it's still quintessential SRD!

One way this comes across to me is through the narrator's commentary, which is so subtle it at times is conveyed via one-word sentences. Which, when I encounter them, totally floor me and make me re-read the stretch that led to it.

I am about 2/3 the way through TWW, and I've decided that the pacing in this story is masterfully done. I had been feeling that the pace of the story was lagging -- the chapter on Prince Bifalt's Couring of Queen Estie to rather drag -- but near the end of Part 2, I have decided I was wrong in that assessment and that the plot is unfolding at the exact pace he needs it to, and that my proper absorption of the story requires.

Most simply, it's just grand that the man is still weaving tales for us, eh!

And I found the novella quality of SD reminded me of how The Real Story kicks off the Gap. Both those first books seem to be mainly just portals to the larger story, and the second books are longer and denser with more development of character and narrative all around.