Welcome to the first week of the Gentleman Bastards Read-along! Our first week in Camorr introduces us to the inimitable Locke Lamora, from his precocious childhood on Shades Hill to his current heist as garrista of the Gentleman Bastards. The world-building, history and plot set-up is fast and colourful in every sense. Can you smell the canals yet?
Category Archive: Read-Alongs
Lady Katherine is settling into her trousers and starting to take pride in her swordcraft, but she’s a long way from ready for the master who awaits her at Highcombe. And so am I, frankly. Welcome to #TPOTS week 2.
It’s the 10th year of Stainless Steel Droppings annual Once Upon a Time not-a-challenge: a celebration of fantasy, […]
So, yesterday’s ranting aside, a number of totally random thoughts on world-building and detail stay with me on this read of The Silmarillion.
I have loved The Silmarillion for far too long to be able to write a candid review, so I’m not going to try. Reading it adds texture and delight to reading The Lord of the Rings. And while it can be both turgid and erratic, it still makes me cry. However, I couldn’t get through it this time without gritting my teeth in a few places. Today I’m going to indulge some of my pet peeves.
Come along on an epic adventure! Flights (of fancy), accommodation (ethical) and food (for the imagination) included. Poison not guaranteed. All travel is at your own risk. Late nights, sore eyes, and an overwhelming desire to spend hours in the kitchen creating something wonderful may ensue. All belongings are the responsibility of the traveller; travel will not be reimbursed if limbs are lost to sharks, or hearts to thieves.
15 years have passed since Swordspoint. The Duchess is long dead (*sniff*). The Hill is little changed. And the Mad Duke will drop his lawsuits against his sister if she sends her daughter to Tremontaine House to learn the sword. Welcome to the second Riverside Read-along.
Tolkien is at least partly responsible for my ongoing love affair with detailed world-building. I’m the irritating beta reader who says things like ‘I love the characters, but how does the economy work?’. Middle-Earth is saturated in detail, its history embedded into its landscape; the stories studded with songs and legends. But I still have a few questions…
One of the many great joys of re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring is re-setting my memories from the films to the original text. Don’t get me wrong – I love the film (and Fellowship is by far my favourite), but there’s an awful lot of re-interpretation of character for cinematic purposes. Today I shall flail happily about spending time with some old friends.
In an unnamed city, the nobility literally look down on Riverside from the Hill. They love Richard St Vier, common swordsman, for his grace and his style. He kills with a single thrust to the heart. Welcome to a world of barbed wit, disguised malice and exquisite fencing.
Mirra is a magic-user in a village where magic is a man’s preserve. Fierce and independent, she is forced to leave her home when her secret is uncovered. Her travels – and those of her daughter Kindness – form a magical duology of self-discovery and self-worth.
The delightful Rinn proposed a month-long love-in for all things Middle-Earth (and designed the banner – thank you Rinn!). As I haven’t read The Lord of the Rings since that Jackson fellow made it easy not to, I decided to join her. And oh my. Yes, that’s right, this was my favourite world for years.
One of the wonderful things about being a bookworm online is that when someone gets excited about a book, we can all pile in and read along. Lovely Lynn of Little Lion Lynnet’s is our ringleader for this week’s discussion of The Path of Kindness (book two of The Tale of Yin). It’s a bumpy ride for Mirra’s daughter as she goes in search of her calling.
It’s the penultimate week of the Swordspoint read-along, and that kitten appears to have become a cat already. Other characters too are making giant leaps, some of them in inadvisable directions. It’s getting messy.
onemore.org 