Two Great Books
I often read two books in parallel, which is not to say simultaneously. I’ll read from one for a few days, and then read from the other for a few days. It helps me feel like I’m covering more ground or something.
As a result of this strategy, I finished reading two great books yesterday: Tad Williams’ “The War of the Flowers” and “The Price of the Stars” by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.
I’ve actually been reading “War of the Flowers” for about two months now-books don’t usually take so long for me to read, but we had a baby when I was about half through it. I finished it, though, and I’m glad I did-it was definately one of Williams’ best books.
It deals with a man named Theo Vilmos, who finds himself caught up in a deadly game of interspecies politics when he is swept into the realm of Faerie. However, this version of Faerie is like something out of a horror film—modern, dirty, and oppressive. It’s a gripping read from start to finish, with a pretty spectacular ending.
My one complaint is the language he uses, and I don’t mean Greek. He drops the F-bomb several times, unecessarily. For that reason alone I will not purchase the book, although if I could get an electronic copy of it that I could edit I would happily bleep out the foul language and print all umpteen-hundred pages of it. There was also an extremely predictable sex “scene”, though it wasn’t very explicit.
“Price of the Stars” was the first book in a trilogy, though it stands on its own very well. It feels like a cross between “Star Wars” and “Mission Impossible”, very intense and fast-paced. It deals with a woman’s quest for vengeance against her mother’s murderers, in a galaxy recently ravaged by war against the “Magelords”, a group of magic-wielding outsiders. Immensely enjoyable.
My next two books to read are “New Spring: the Novel” by Robert Jordan and “Crystal City” by Orson Scott Card, two of my favorite authors.
