Six Sentence Sunday #15

Once again, this six is taken from my 14,500 word short story, “Forged in Blood,” which is available on kindle from amazon. In this scene Atilen, who we met last week, is following Tara, a character who you may recognize from my previous Six Sentences. Of course Atilen doesn’t know her name yet.

My previous forays into the Six Sentence world have all included some dialogue so I thought I’d try one without any this time. I hope you like it.

If you’re interested in reading the entire piece just click on the cover image and it will take you to the amazon site.

The emergence of his target snapped him back to the here and now. The woman he was following stepped out of Jodah’s apartment and started walking along the quiet street. She was dressed in a deep red shirt beneath a fitted leather corset and tight-fitting leather breeches that hugged her dancer’s figure nicely. A dark headband kept her long red hair out of her eyes, and soft leather gloves covered her hands. Atilen had been following her for some time and knew that this woman had some martial training. The well-maintained sword strapped to her side was a warning to any would-be attacker that she was not a person to be trifled with.

You can find more Six Sentence writers here.

Review: The Way of Kings

This post will include my review of the book The Way of Kings Part One by Brandon Sanderson. It is the first in a The Stormlight Archive series, released in August 2010.

The text below is taken from the blurb on the back of the book.

Speak again the ancient oaths: Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destinantion. And return to men the shards they once bore. The Knights Radiant must stand again. Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Its terrifying and frequent tempests have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells and trees pull in branches. Cities are built only where the land offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trde kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war is about to swallow up a soldier, a brightlord and a young woman scholar.

I’m not sure if this should really be called a review since I’m going to spend the next few paragraphs shamelessly gushing over this book. Put simply I loved it.

The world building was excellent. It was familiar enough to allow me to picture the flora and fauna yet different enough for me to know it was an alien world. The various spren were well used to convey the sense of oddness in places where it might otherwise have appeared mundane. Precisely because of the way they influenced evolution and society the massive storms, called High-storms, were more than just window dressing. They felt as though they played a part in the narrative and contributed to the decisions of the characters.

The characters themselves were incredible. I found myself geniunely invested in all of them – yes that’s right, ALL of them. At no stage was I just reading through a change in location and point of view that I just wanted to get through so I could return to my favourite. I enjoyed each and every one of the point of view characters even those that appeared for just a single chapter shuch as Ishikk, and Nan-Balat.

The action was well described and sprinkled throughout the book. The descriptions of the shardbearers in battle put me in mind of the Iron Man movie where Tony Stark would wade through his enemies in his powered armour, impervious to almost all. Somehow the fact that most non-shard wielding enemies stood little chance against a shardbearer didn’t diminish the threat against them and the scenes didn’t come off as self indulgent. In fact there is a scene where three shardbearers take on a chasm-fiend and that was so well realised that it is possibly the best scene I’ve read in a long time.

I think I’ll stop here. I’m sure you get the sense that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can’t believe I waited so long to read it. The best part about the delay however is that the next book is already out so I can pick it up today and return to this amazing world.

Six Sentence Sunday #14

This six is taken from my 14,500 word short story, “Forged in Blood,” which is available on kindle from amazon. This scene takes place at the Purple Haze, an establishment akin to an opium den, where Atilen sabotaged his friend’s pipe while he was in a stupor a few hours earlier. Bran did not wake up happy.

If you’re interested in reading the entire piece just click on the cover image and it will take you to the amazon site.

“I’m awake, stop shaking me,” Atilen said, as he pushed the dwarf’s hands away. “Good.” Bran drew back his arm and slapped Atilen firmly across the face. “What was that for?” “You know exactly what it was for,” Bran said accusingly. “You blew out my pipe and now I’m awake in this cesspool.”

You can find more Six Sentence writers here.

Six Sentence Sunday #13

Well I’m up to the 13th one of these… hopefully nobody is feeling superstitious.

Once again this six is taken from my current WIP “The Grandfather’s Blades”. This week is a little scene between Craven, my main character, and Kazza, who runs a brothel in the city.

    “Thank you, it’d mean a lot to me, I know what it’s like to have your world turned upside down.”
    Kazza looked at him, an unusual expression on her face. “I never imagined you having a soft heart.”
    “But you have imagined me, eh?”
    She crossed her arms over her chest. “And we’re right back to being shallow.”

In my view this scene needs a some work. I am not really happy with the “unusual expression” phrase. So if any one of you can think of a more showing way of describing her expression I would absolutely value the input.

You can find more Six Sentence writers here.

Review: Shadows Lure

This post will include my review of the book Shadows Lure by Jon Sprunk. It is the second in a series that started with Shadow’s Son, released in June 2011.

The text below is taken from the blurb on the back of the book.

Danger lurks in the unforgiving Northlands, and a sinister magic lurks in the shadows waiting for its moment to strike. It’s the worst place to be searching for something, even for an assassin with no loyalties and even fewer scruples… In Othir, he was at the top of the food chain. An assassin beyond compare. A dark shadow in the night. But Caim left that life behind when he helped an empress claim her throne. Now, searching for the truth behind the murder and disappearance of his parents in the bitterly cold Northlands of his birth, Caim finds himself in a land in thrall to the Shadow. A wielder of the darkest kinds of blood magic imaginable holds his homeland in their iron fist, crushing all opposition beneath their tyrannous boot. Haunted by temptations from the Other Side, by turns in control of his magic and at the mercy of the Shadow, Caim becomes mired in a war he does not want to fight. But there are some things a son of the Shadow cannot ignore, and some battles from which he can’t run. If Caim is going to survive – and if he’s to uncover the truth about his own magic and his parent’s death – then he is going to have to fight. But will his strength and skill be enough? Can anyone resist the Shadow’s Lure… ?

This was a very enjoyable book to read. In some ways you could say that I would be biased in favour of it given my own fondness for having an assassin as the main character. That may be the reason I first picked up the series, it is certainly not the reason I kept reading it. Caim – the main protaganist – might have been an assassin in book one, but in this novel he is a young man who is in search for answers about his past. And it is a difficult search where he becomes an often unwilling participant in a poorly resourced rebellion.

There were a few times in the book where I question his reasons for getting involved but I nothing he did felt completely out of character and I think the Caim in book two did the things he did because he’s grown since the Caim in book one. Such personal growth has made him less self centred which makes him more willing to get involved.

My other criticism, which is minor, is that Caim spends the bulk of this book carrying one injury or another. He gets mauled by a bear in the opening pages and his opponents (and wounds) get worse from there. While there is a lot of reference to the cuts, gouges and bruises they don’t seem to hinder him to any serious extent during any of his numerous combats. There were a couple of times where I found myself thinking that his body should be a mass gore by now and yet he just kept on going.

Perhaps the shadow magic sustains and heals him without him (or us) being aware of it. I know we can’t have a hero that needs a lie down and a cup of tea after every fight after, but I would have like to see more consideration given to the vast array of injuries he’d received throughout the storyline.

The Josey storyline was more difficult for me to wrap my head around. I wasn’t really clear why the people were turning against the very same empress that just a few short months ago they were bleeding to put on the throne. I can understand that the depose rulers – the True Church – were upset at being ousted and that any established religion is going to have a lot of backing and clout among the people but it still didn’t feel quite right to me. Motivation issues aside I was very pleased by how it was handled and never found myself wishing the storyline would focus more on Caim and skip Josey entirely.

The other thing I enjoyed was that the character of Kit was better fleshed out – excuse the pun. She still remains something of an enigma. Why is she there? How did she end up with Caim? What is her purpose? These questions remain largely unanswered but perhaps that’s what book three will tell us.

In all Shadow’s Lure was good. I thought it was better than the first one and I liked that one a lot. My expectations are high and I am really looking forward to book three.

Six Sentence Sunday #12

Another six taken from my current WIP “The Grandfather’s Blades”. Given the feedback from last week I thought I’d share the creepy undertaker’s creepy plan.

“I will soon have an army of zombies at my command.”
Realisation dawned. “You mean…”
“Yes, each of these rooms holds up to a dozen animated corpses.”
“You’re mad! Nobody can control that many undead, you’ll kill thousands of innocent people.”

You can find more Six Sentence writers here.

Six Sentence Sunday #11

Another six taken from my current WIP “The Grandfather’s Blades”. I’ve returned to Tara for this installment. I hope you like it.

    “Thank you for indulging me.”
    Tara’s jaw tightened as she entered the stone building. “I trust this indulgence stems more from actual need than a desire to be dramatic, Czarik.”
    The undertaker let out a series of quick gasps, then licked his lips as he bared his teeth.
    Is he laughing? Tara wasn’t sure what to make of his response.
    “I may be accused of perhaps the merest hint of melodrama, but let me assure you, what I am about to show you requires the utmost discretion.”

You can find more Six Sentence writers here.