Two reviews
In case you happen to be new around these parts, I do occasionally commit the fiction.
Arts of Dark and Light Book 1, A THRONE OF BONES:
I'll never forget reading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy one childhood summer. I was hooked on fantasy novels and read many series over the years. Eventually it started to get repetitive and I stopped reading the genre. After a long break, I read AsoIaF and found them interesting in that they were something different in the realm of fantasy stories. Although AsoIaF is a bit meandering and exhausting at times.
I have to say, A Throne of Bones really took it up a notch. The writing style has a nice precision to it, which I found refreshing. The battle scenes are the best I've ever read. I felt immersed in the battles from a strategic and tactical point of view. I wouldn't have thought it until I read it, but Romans, Vikings, and a French monarchy set in a world with magic, elves, orcs, and such works flawlessly. The story has an excellent pace and never meanders.
This is a gem, and now I can't wait to read A Sea of Skulls.
Thanks for a great book. So when is the mini-series?
Arts of Dark and Light Book 2, A SEA OF SKULLS:
Why did it take me so long to find Vox Day? What a great storyteller this man is, a grand master of multiverse chess.
After Summa Elvetica, I was hooked on this universe that Vox Day graciously shared with us all, the fantasy world of Tolkien creatures, the nobility and callousness of the Roman Republic and the grace and liveliness of the church as it might have been. It is a powerful mix, skillfully woven with terrific battle sequences and complex characters. In another review of his work, I mentioned the breadcrumb trails he leaves us in the past, in the characters and their relationships, in the objects that go from hand to hand and place to place. Day is the Master, with a deep understanding of the details of back stories and future lives of all the inhabitants and the reader is at his mercy, racing through the adventure at break neck speed.
There are no one-dimensional characters here. The prologue features a disturbing attack from the victims point of view and many chapters later, the same attack is remembered from the attackers point of view. We hear and see real human pain, but much later, we watch the orc trying to nurse his burned body back to use through his pain and fear. We see the humanity of a once enslaved dwarf and the inhumanity of ambitious men.
I've read some comments about this book that complain that it is nothing but filler material. I completely disagree. There is no great resolution offered in Book 2, but these characters matter more to me now, they have had their story lines filled out and are moving on to their great moment. Civilizations must fall in Book 3, but those Civilizations are fully fleshed now. The pieces are all on the board.
And the Grand Master of this universe will soon show us his great game.
Arts of Dark and Light Book 1, A THRONE OF BONES:
I'll never forget reading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy one childhood summer. I was hooked on fantasy novels and read many series over the years. Eventually it started to get repetitive and I stopped reading the genre. After a long break, I read AsoIaF and found them interesting in that they were something different in the realm of fantasy stories. Although AsoIaF is a bit meandering and exhausting at times.
I have to say, A Throne of Bones really took it up a notch. The writing style has a nice precision to it, which I found refreshing. The battle scenes are the best I've ever read. I felt immersed in the battles from a strategic and tactical point of view. I wouldn't have thought it until I read it, but Romans, Vikings, and a French monarchy set in a world with magic, elves, orcs, and such works flawlessly. The story has an excellent pace and never meanders.
This is a gem, and now I can't wait to read A Sea of Skulls.
Thanks for a great book. So when is the mini-series?
Arts of Dark and Light Book 2, A SEA OF SKULLS:
Why did it take me so long to find Vox Day? What a great storyteller this man is, a grand master of multiverse chess.
After Summa Elvetica, I was hooked on this universe that Vox Day graciously shared with us all, the fantasy world of Tolkien creatures, the nobility and callousness of the Roman Republic and the grace and liveliness of the church as it might have been. It is a powerful mix, skillfully woven with terrific battle sequences and complex characters. In another review of his work, I mentioned the breadcrumb trails he leaves us in the past, in the characters and their relationships, in the objects that go from hand to hand and place to place. Day is the Master, with a deep understanding of the details of back stories and future lives of all the inhabitants and the reader is at his mercy, racing through the adventure at break neck speed.
There are no one-dimensional characters here. The prologue features a disturbing attack from the victims point of view and many chapters later, the same attack is remembered from the attackers point of view. We hear and see real human pain, but much later, we watch the orc trying to nurse his burned body back to use through his pain and fear. We see the humanity of a once enslaved dwarf and the inhumanity of ambitious men.
I've read some comments about this book that complain that it is nothing but filler material. I completely disagree. There is no great resolution offered in Book 2, but these characters matter more to me now, they have had their story lines filled out and are moving on to their great moment. Civilizations must fall in Book 3, but those Civilizations are fully fleshed now. The pieces are all on the board.
And the Grand Master of this universe will soon show us his great game.
Labels: Book Review
22 Comments:
ETA on a print version of book 2?
I agree! I will be re-reading both books before the release of the final part of Sea of Skulls. This series is in my top 3 for epic fantasy.
What about the full version of book two for Amazon purchasers is that still happening or did I miss a post?
Yep, I just purchased "A Throne of Bones" a few days ago.
I enjoy them. Wish you had more time to continue writing in this world.
Vox, are there any plans for an audio version of A Throne of Bones or a Sea of Skulls?
I read Throne of Bones in just a few days, it was that captivating; the hardcover is a huge tome, a bookend really. Read the Sea of Skulls ebook even faster, though I wanted more of the Dwarves story, which I hope there is more of when the Sea of Skulls hardcover comes out. I bought the Autumnlands graphic novel compendiums after reading a review on Castalia blog (they are decent), which made me think that a Selenoth graphic novel series would be pretty sweet.
Will there be a dead tree version? I only read dead tree editions.
+1
What order should I read these -
The Last Witchking
A Magic Broken
A Throne of Bones
A Sea of Skulls
I know the last two go together, but are the other books part of the same story ?
Vox,
Have you read The Hidden Truth, by Hans G Schantz?
It's kind of Doctorow's Little Brother if he'd been a woke red pill ... but better.
Oh, everyone commits the fiction now and again, but at least you do it in books clearly marked as such. Our enemies label their fictions as political philosophy, social justice and economic theory.
Were-Puppy:
The order you list is probably best. You could switch the first two no problem, they're independent stories that both tie into the big books (TOB and SOS).
I bought the first edition hardcover AtoB in 2012. I'm around halfway through now. I never read LotR, and was never into fantasy in general, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it has been a great read. The world is fleshed-out nicely. Well-developed characters. The women seem real, not just men with breasts as I was so used to in Sci-Fi.
Vox, if you don't mind, why is Summa Elvetica not counted as the first book?
By the way, don’t lose faith in Trump. If you thought the campaign was dirty, the governance is worse with the jew plants in the government – like Payul Ryan stopping the Wall.
They want you to lose faith.
But look at his executive orders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_executive_actions_by_Donald_Trump
With the exception of the the delay in the fidiuciary rule for retirees and maybe the national parks, the rest is very good stuff.
And bannon, spicer and conway are somehow still there in exchange for an abandoned airstrip.
They were hardly going to greet him with open arms our yuan dynasty foreign overlords.
Keep the faith. I’m very aware that Trump is one of us. We have no idea what the high IQ psychopaths are doing. It could be much much worse.
....
Remember the birther stuff? – that was his 20 year butler….http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/05/donald-trump-butler-obama-lynching.
He’s most decidedly behind enemy lines now our Trumpy.
Vox, if you don't mind, why is Summa Elvetica not counted as the first book?
It is, technically. But it usually works better for people who read epic fantasy to start with ATOB.
Is Sea of Skulls the full version of the book now? I must have missed the announcement; I thought it was still waiting on the "second half."
I mean, I'm behind, so I'm not in any hurry, but if it's done and ready to go, I'll go ahead and order it now anyway.
Were-Puppy wrote:What order should I read these -
The Last Witchking
A Magic Broken
A Throne of Bones
A Sea of Skulls
I read, in order:
AToB
Summa Elvetica (which has all those stories +more)
SoS
That worked well for me.
@Gaiseric
No it's not complete. I believe Vox has said his target is the end of the year.
Can confirm. VD's fiction is top tier.
@11 Thanks for the kind words about The Hidden Truth, Resident Moron. VD let me advertise it on his Alpha Game Blog, but I don't believe he's read it. My book is on sale this week for $2.99, or free through Kindle Unlimited.
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Truth-Science-Fiction-Techno-Thriller-ebook/dp/B01FVGG8WQ
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