Obdormio.com

SRE ‘08 (I’m tempted to make a logo) continues unabatedly, although not really, since I pretty much took a break while I was in London. Bought plenty of books, there though, so the momentum isn’t entirely lost.

Shortly before leaving, I finished reading The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie.

The Blade Itself tells the story of several characters scattered across the lands known as the circle of the world (of which we are never given a map, by the way, so impressions are slightly sketchy). The powerful nation known as the Union is surrounded by enemies. The scattered clans in the north have been united under a single king, who intends to conquer the Union’s northern provinces. While all of the Union’s attention is turned north, the previously defeated Gurkish empire moves again in the south, and a war on two fronts looms. In this unstable climate, we follow the lives of several people, destined to cross paths, including a Norse warrior, an escaped slave from the southern lands, a Union soldier, a high-born swordsman, an irate old wizard and, my personal favourite, a tortured torturer of the Union Inquisition.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and you really feel that as the end approaches. This is just the overture, the build up, throwing us only hints of the bigger story to follow. It made me feel slightly cheated at the end, as I realised that nothing much had really happened, in the way of big and epic events as the last page came to a close. Then I realised this meant that I had been completely captivated by smaller and mundane events all along, which surely bodes well for the bigger things to follow.

This was indeed a captivating read. Abercrombie knows how to craft characters, the book is brimming with people you want to know more about. As I’ve already said, my personal favourite was the torture victim turned torturer, Inquisitor Glokta, whose story seemed to be much more aside from all the others. I hope he will continue to play a big part in the story to follow.

When it comes to the world building, Abercrombie is also clearly competent. The mythology of this world is fascinating, and the clear references to geography and scenery conjure up vivid images. He clearly has his world mapped out, so it is frustrating that we don’t get to peek at this map, to get a clearer idea of how all these parties are situated in relation to each other.

The style of writing is, as the cover quotes boast, brutal and unpretentious. There’s lots of pain and violence, and lots and lots of dark, dark humour. The whole story feels cynical and cold at times, but never to such a degree that it stops being good.

As I said, this is merely the overture. The smaller stories of the individuals are all brought together in the end and given some closure, but the real story is just beginning. I have already started on the next book in the series, and can’t wait to see what happens next. This book is highly recommended.

Continuing my Summer Reading Extravaganza ‘08, I recently finished The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke.

The City and the Stars is the story of humanity’s last city, and the one man who wants nothing more than to leave it. The city, Diaspar, is a huge, enclosed environment, where the last vestiges of mankind has retreated after leaving the stars. Maintained by incredible and infallible machines, Diaspar has stood for a billion years, its immortal inhabitants living life after life, with periods of rest in the great memory banks of the city in between. Outside of the great barriers Earth has died, become nothing but a giant desert. Safe in the city, humans have lost their natural curiosity and cannot bear the thought of leaving the safety of their city. So it goes on, in stasis, until a man who has never lived before is suddenly brought forth by the computers, without the mental barriers, who goes about attempting to leave.

This story was a good enough read, but it never truly gripped me. Mankind has apparently edited out all the traits it found undesirable, so the characters all seem to be paragons of patience and understanding. While this is all well and good from the perspective of future society, it makes it harder to identify properly with most of them. The only flaw they seem to have retained is fear.

Clarke is masterful when it comes to describing the society of the future, however. The insights into the structure and machinery behind the city is inspired. I did at one point think that the insistence on the infallibility of the computers and machines was a bit too much, especially as the expectation was never reversed by a breakdown, but that’s nitpicking. The glimpses into the great forgotten past are the most interesting of all. As Alvin, the main character, finally gets out and about and stumbles over the remains of galactic civilisation, we are at Clarke’s greatest strength; the incomprehensible artefacts that clearly have much story behind them, but whose true purpose are never revealed to us. No one but Clarke can write mystery like this so masterfully, and I could easily get lost in the speculation.

Of course, this is also the most frustrating part of Clarke’s writing, knowing that the answers I so want will not come.

Overall, it is a good book, especially if your tastes lean towards the “science” part of science fiction. Clarke is a artisan at world building, but the characters leave something to be wanted.

Continuing with my post-exam reading frenzy (hurrah for hyperbole), I have just finished The Dreaming Void, by Peter F. Hamilton.

The Dreaming Void takes us back to the Intersolar Commonwealth from Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. Well over a millennium has passed, and much is different. The monocultural Commonwealth we knew is no more, it has shattered into a myriad of worlds, many of which are only loosely affiliated with each other. On one of these worlds, a movement known as Living Dream is planning a pilgrimage to the mysterious Void, an artificial universe at the centre of the galaxy, which is slowly eating the surrounding stars. Living Dream believes the Void contains paradise, most others believe touching it is certain death. What’s worse, the pilgrimage might set of a massive expansion phase, devouring the whole galaxy.

It took me a chapter or so to get into this story. Hamilton mercilessly throws us into the middle of his world, and often takes a long, long time to explain exactly what all these acronyms and technologies and organisations actually are. As a result I felt quite disorientated for a while. Once I started getting my bearings however, there was nothing but enjoyment ahead. Hamilton is a superb writer who crafts an intriguing world filled with interesting characters, whose stories run parallel, interweaving and complimenting each other. We even get to see some of the characters from Pandora’s Star again, with a few glaring omissions. Ozzie is missed, but he is at least mentioned, unlike the SI, which is alluded to only in a single sentence in the appendix. Apparently, we will get to see more of it in the sequel though.

Interspersed with the main storyline we are also told the story from Inigo’s dreams. I enjoyed this story almost more than the main storyline, it was more reminiscent of a classic fantasy story than the science fiction which is so prevalent in the rest. This story is apparently also getting more focus in the sequel, a fact which has me salivating in anticipation.

The only thing that really bothers me is the ending. Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained didn’t feel like two books in a series, it felt like one book split into two volumes. This might be Hamilton’s M.O., as The Dreaming Void ends on a cliffhanger as well. Nothing is really resolved. I strongly suspect that when the entire trilogy is out, it can be read as one work to great enjoyment, but reaching the end of the first third leaves mostly frustration. There is a pay-off of sorts for one of the books main plot lines, but it barely has time to register, and certainly no time to explain itself, before something explodes and the book ends.

Despite this, the book is very enjoyable. Hamilton has conjured up not just one, but two deep and interesting worlds to immerse yourself in, filled with people you want to see more of. Frequent references are made to the events of Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained, but I think you could still follow the story fine without having read them. It is a book I enjoyed immensely, and I am greatly looking forward to the sequels.

A couple of weeks ago, I bough a bunch of books on one of those evil sales. Now that exams are over, I finally have time to read again, though it’s remarkable how all that drive to read and write I felt during the revision period dissipated once the exam was over. Nevertheless, I have recently finished the first of these books, Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart.

This book chronicles the experiences of Isherwood Williams, who returns home from a research trip in the mountains to find that humanity has all but died out from a mysterious disease. Banding together with a few other survivors, he tries to survive in the ruins of civilization, while dreaming of one day rebuilding it.

I quite enjoyed this book. While I was not overly fond of the main character, as I found him a bit too arrogant and inefficient, the story as a whole was quite interesting. I should admit that my ambivalence towards Ish might come from being hit a bit too close to home, though.

I particularly enjoyed the little segments on what happened to the things Man left behind, the plants and animals and constructions. Especially in the first segment of the book, these observations on how the natural world would change without people there to keep it in the mould we’ve built for it, were much more fascinating than Ish himself. Possibly, the author thought so too, as the first part of the book is mostly Ish driving around to observe the effects of the calamity, rather than taking any active part in events.

In the second segment, when Ish and some other survivors have banded together to form their little tribe, these little asides become rarer, but it doesn’t matter much, as the formation of the new society becomes the interesting part. The books characters aren’t really all that much to shout about, many of them can be described in a single word, and several of them never get any more characteristics beyond a name. At this point, the story is much more about the character of the emerging society than of its individual members. It is really only Ish and his wife who are more than background, yet it is the background that is interesting, the rites and customs that emerge in the little tribe, like the New Year ritual they develop. As the survivors age, the tribe becomes numerically dominated by their children, who never knew the old world, and who have original ways of seeing the past. The reverence they have for Ish’s hammer, which has acted as a sort of safety blanket for him, was a touch I really liked.

Overall, I wish we had seen more of the culture and mythology of the tribe, especially in the third part of the book, when Ish is old and dying as the last of the Americans, and the tribe consists entirely of people who have never known any life but the one they lead. Since Ish is the focus point, and at this point in the story, apparently senile, we get only fleeting glimpses. I would dearly have loved to see the story continue beyond where it ended, to have a look at the new world when the old was truly gone.

Overall, this story is enjoyable chiefly for its plot, rather than its characters. The plot is very interesting, and while the characters might not be the most developed personalities, they do not detract from the enjoyment. It was well worth the read.

It’s been two weeks, so I guess it’s time to face it: Uru is gone, for now at least (hope springs eternal…). I don’t really have time for extended mourning due to imminent exams, but I finally took the time to hang up the Journey Cloth I bought before Christmas. If I can’t have the real thing, at least I can have a reminder. Courtesy of my seldom used camera, here are a couple of shots of how it turned out:

My desk, with the Journey Cloth hanging over it. It was actually good to get something on that wall, it’s been a bit bare.

Here’s a close-up of the cloth. It’s very cool, just the way you’d imagine they would look if the game were real. The hand print even glows in the dark, but it can sadly not be activated by touching it.

For those wanting their own Journey Cloths, look here.

This digital Elfquest thing has got me pondering reading order (I suspect my imminent exams also have something to do with my dwelling on these thoughts; the alternative is just to horrible to contemplate!), what is the best way to read through the entire story?

Elfquest has been published in several different series, some of them running concurrently, telling simultaneous stories, but with crossovers, which makes it hard to put one ahead of the other. There is also no guarantee that any given issue does not take place before the previous one, with the series like Hidden Years and the other flashbacks. And when they switched to anthology-publishing, I get the impression that chronology varied even more, though I haven’t read these myself yet, so I’m not sure (and this makes planning a reading order even harder, of course.)

How, then, to read it in an order which minimizes spoilers for future issues, but retains a certain chronology? I’ve pondered, studied timelines and mapped it out, and put together this list. Since I don’t know exactly the contents of all the series (and boy, is there a balancing act to reading time lines and avoiding spoilers as best you can!) so it might not be quite right, which is why I’m putting it up here to hopefully get comments from people more knowledgeable than I.

The first three series are easy enough, they’re a story alone, and only after these did the publications split into concurrent runs, so the list begins:

• All of the original Elfquest.
• All of Siege at Blue Mountain.
• All of Kings of the Broken Wheel.

After this is where it gets tricky. Here’s what I have so far:

• Hidden Years #1-3.
• New Blood #11 and #12.
• Hidden Years #8, then #5-7, #9 and #4.
• All of Kahvi.
• Hidden Years #9.5-22
• New Blood #14-35.
• All of Shards.
• Hidden Years #23-29.
• All of Blood of Ten Chiefs.
• All of Two-Spear.

Two-Spear in particular, I am unsure of, it is possible it should come before Kahvi, in which case Blood of Ten Chiefs should probably follow it as well, to maintain the thematic link. If that is the case, both of them should go before Hidden Years entirely, along with the Wolfrider!-stories.

Which brings me to the next segment, where it really gets messy, since we’re now in the anthology years.

• The Wolfrider!-stories found in Volume 2 #19, #21, #23, #25, #27, #29, #31 and #33.
• The Dreamtime-stories found in Volume 2 #4-7, #9-13, #15, #16 and #18.
• The Wild Hunt-stories found in Metamorphosis* and in Volume 2 #1-7, #10-12, #14, #15, #18, #20-30, #32 and #33.
• The Fire-Eye-stories found in Metamorphosis and in Volume 2 #1-7, #9-14, #16, #17 an #19-22.
• The Wavedancers issue, as well as the Wavedancers-stories found in Metamorphosis and in Volume 2 #1, #2, #5, #21, #23, #24, #27, #28, #30 and #31.
• The Rogue’s Curse stories found in Metamorphosis and in Volume 2 #1, #3, #8-10, #12, #13, #15-17, #20, #22, #24-26 and #28-30.
• All of The Rebels.
• All of Jink.
• The FutureQuest-stories found in Metamorphosis and in Volume 2 #10, #11, #13-15, #17, #19, #20 and #22.

And then finally all the Worldpool “what if?”-stories:

• New Blood #1-10.
• The Worldpool-stories in Volume 2 #2-4, #9-27 and #31.

And that’s the list. If anybody has comments, please share them! Now I need dinner.

^{* I have not been able to determine whether Metamorphosis and Volume 2 #1 is the same thing, or if Metamorphosis was a special. If you know, please tell me!}

I’ve twittered about this, but I feel it’s worth a post of its own as well: Warp Graphics is making the entire run of ElfQuest available for free on the web. As a long-time ElfQuest fan, this is the kind of news that makes me go “squeee!” My collection has significant holes in it, so I’m really looking forward to seing what I’ve missed.

I suppose this is another interesting development in the business of webcomics, what with another established publisher moving its stuff online, interesting to some, anyway. It’s also clearly a marketing strategy to drum up interest for future publications. It’s already working. After reading what is up there now, I ran through my whole collection again over Easter, and today I went out and bought “the Discovery”, so good thinking, Warp, I guess.

In July, I wrote:

I somehow suspect that I’ll be more tempted to blog once school starts again and I have other things to do.

And, man, I wasn’t tempted at all! It seems that it is only when the holidays draw near an end, and the prospect of going back to classes and ridiculously large lists of curriculum rears its ugly, ugly head, that the bug bites me. But meh, I’ve made no promises, so I make no apologies.

Since I can’t seem to muster the will to write full length blog posts very often, I think I’ll try compensating with lots of tiny ones. Enter Twitter. Putting these tweets in the main post area would be a sure way to offend my own sensibilities, so I’ve gotten myself one of these fancy-pants plugins, and you should now be seeing a neat little list in the sidebar to the right.

With a bit of luck, this is so easy that I’ll get addicted to spewing text again, and eventually end up with stuff that won’t fit in a tweet, resulting in more proper posts. Tricking myself like this is a delicate process,though, so don’t mess it up by telling me what I’m up to!