Fantasy Aficionados discussion

Led by Lucinda!

For anyone wanting an introduction to Django Wexler's world, here is a free prequel story to "The Thousand Names":

The Penitent Damned

The prequel is stand-alone and takes place just before the events of "The Thousand Names".

The book sounds interesting but at the moment it costs too much on UK kindle. So I might open the thread at a future date, when the price drops and if I remember!

Thanks for the prequel link! I might have to push starting this to the middle of the month.

Library copy is in for me!

I suppose I could join a library, so like my kindle...

By amazing coincidence I got this book at the library before seeing the polls for November books, so I held off on reading it for a little bit.
The summary is interesting, if a little vague. It seems like this book could go in a lot of different directions.

Just started this. Loved the prologue

I am a third of the way through the book and I am really enjoying it. Wexler's world is amazing and I have enough vivid description to make it come alive in my mind's eye. There are two characters that I care about: Captain Marcus d’Ivoire and Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich. At this point, I am trusting Wexler to treat them with care and respect I think they deserve, lol.

I am not so enamored with Winter Ihernglass, the female soldier in disguise. So far, the fact that she is a "she" is irrelevant. The role of "out-of-place ranker who rises through field promotions" could have been played by the educated third son of a poor but noble family. There is no reason for Winter to be a woman. (I am not a big fan of plot contrivances and the "hidden female", like the "hidden pregnancy", are my least favorite.)

I LOVE Wexler's battles. The Ridge battle on the road to Ashe-Katarion was wonderfully crafted. It very much reminded me of the historic Battle of Rorke's Drift (Anglo-Zulu war, 1879). I like military history, so the attention to detail and "correctness" in Wexler's action sequences are the icing on my military fantasy cake.

So far, this read gets my highest stamp of approval:

^true that, although that's what I did with Mistborn. I started Thousand Names. I liked the first chapter, and am hoping that it was worth my time to try and learn about all these different factions. I get annoyed with POV shifting, especially when there isn't continuity between the changes in POV and plot line. The writer also does that very annoying thing of referring to people by titles as well as first and last names, which is irritating when I'm trying to get grounded in a fantasy world. The scene with the death magic (in the first pages) was interesting. I like the promise that there is magic, because so far, it seems military fantasy.

I know it's early. So far, it shows promise, but we'll see. :)

About a third of a way through now too.

Haven't read a lot of military fantasy, so it's a bit of change of pace from what I'm used to.
So far the three main characters are interesting enough, even if we know next to nothing about Vhalnich and I am compelled to read the name Ihernglass in a silly accent.

I'm fine with undercover women. I guess I haven't seen enough of it in modern fantasy books to be sick of it yet. Although I'm not yet entirely sure why she chose to join the army versus a large list of other things it seems like she could have done once escaping 'the prison'. But at least this way one of the main characters is a woman instead of them all being men. Of course some of the female side characters may yet become more major players

I'm kind of curious how obvious magic use is, since it seems like Vhalnich may have been using magic at a couple points, but it's hard to tell. I'd like to see more info and use of magic in general

I'm also largely unfamiliar with military fantasy. I finished, and have a mixed set of feelings about it.

Agree, Dragonsteel--the woman in disguise was a nice way to integrate a main female character, especially as Wexler seems to want to write military fantasy.

I found the amount of magic unsatisfying for what I look for in fantasy.

Dragonsteel wrote: "I'm kind of curious how obvious magic use is, since it seems like Vhalnich may have been using magic at a couple points, but it's hard to tell. I'd like to see more info and use of magic in general "

This is where the prequel story fits in nicely. It offers a small glimpse of what is going on back home in Vordan.

I think Wexler did a fantastic job of keeping this tale focused on the desert campaign and that small corner of the Empire. It reminded me of the way Kipling's stories focused on how British Imperialism was experienced by those who were "under rule" and "had to rule" in the far distant outposts.

Well finished just last night. May read the prequel thing now since I have somewhat mixed feelings.
I liked it well enough, he's really good at writing action, but I have mixed feelings about Jen Alhundt and Colonel Janus. And I guess the ending in general.
P.S. Can we talk about major spoilers now?

Oh sure. I never bothered to start another thread since it seemed so few people were reading it. You don't have to mark them.



PEOPLE! HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. DON'T READ DOWN-THREAD. ;)

Did that do it?

I have mixed feelings as well.
My review: http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/1...

Specifically--not my style of fantasy. That said, I think Wexler is a good writer--for not being my style, he did a fair job of keeping me interested. I think the different types of skirmishes helped.

I also think characters felt reasonably well done, but lacked the moral complexity I would have hoped for. The Captain had his with his friend, but both he and Winter were a little single-note with their Achilles' heels. Especially with The Mother-priestess, it could have been very complex. And the ending was interesting, but different from the rest of the book, like most of the fantasy was thrown in at the end.
Still, good writing. Good world-building.

Yeah, the end confrontation was very different from the rest of the book. I think they should have had magic or something with the first confrontation with Mother and it would have been less of a change. In fact even without that I really wish there had been a magical confrontation there and I don't really understand why there wasn't. I mean jesus, Vhalnich was threatening to torture information out of them. Why didn't they do something?

Also, we still don't know what Feor's magic actually does, the only time she actually does magic is when she saves Bobby, and I'm not entirely sure that counts, since it's so different from what we learn about how magic works at the end. And why doesn't she know what's going to happen with Bobby? Like she's obviously expected to do that ritual with somebody eventually, and she has absolutely no idea what's going to actually happen if it takes? That seems kind of sketchy to me.

BTW, I think I should mention--Wexler wins the 'gracious author' award. He 'liked' my 3 star review and didn't even argue with me :)

Dragonsteel, you are right, we don't know very much about the magic, except that it can transcend death somewhat. I don't mind waiting to find out more details--it was just odd that after the first chapter, Feor's magic (and healing) was the only magic we saw until the final confrontation. Even the 'magic' of the Masked tribal leader was explained. I don't mind having the system built in bits and pieces (I don't need a Sanderson, in other words), but I do prefer that it's use relatively consistent. If they used it on interrogating the follower in chapter one, why did not one use it for other larger issues? Or was it just to point out that there were bad guys overseas who had an agenda?

I guess for me I find it a little frustrating when a character doesn't explain things that they know to other characters for no apparent reason other than to keep the reader in the dark. Like Feor, there is a language barrier, but it seemed to me like she never tried very hard to explain magic or what exactly she did to Bobby. And maybe Winter and Bobby didn't know the right questions to ask but it seemed like they should have tried harder to get answers from Feor. So... I guess it really bugs me because it seems like we should know more about the magic but for artificial reasons we don't

This is "my kind of Fantasy"...it left me, like the legionaires, in the dark and curious about a foreign magic. And I liked the feeling of being one of the outsiders in a strange land far from home.

Feor and her people live with their magic and religion. The Vordanai do not; in fact, the Concordant actively pursues and persecutes those that use "demon magic". This would make the native population a bit reluctant to talk too much about that which would get them killed. I found her silence in the camp of a foreign military force to be appropriate.

I didn't find Feor's silence inappropriate, Lucinda. More that in context of the entire book, particularly the magic-filled ending, the magical influence was lacking.

I got a late start on this one, but I'll be back to post comments as I get through it this week. :)

Yeah, I guess I can see that. Really I guess I'm just a Sanderson kinda gal, I like my magic systems to be explained in detail.
The end confrontation was really cool, with the creepy statues and the zombies and the assassin vs super powered mage fight. Although Jen was seriously hamming it up. I was like woah girl, all you need is an evil laugh now

Carol. [Only Unicorns and Rainbows] wrote: "I didn't find Feor's silence inappropriate, Lucinda. More that in context of the entire book, particularly the magic-filled ending, the magical influence was lacking."

From years of being the lone surviving Rogue in far too many D&D campaigns, I live by the motto "Rogues Good, Mages Bad" - lol, I *love* it when the magic users get marginalized!