Alright y'all crazy kids, it's time for my newest post, and this one's a whopper. I've been rather busy reading-wise these past few weeks and have chalked up no less than five books! And five for me in a few weeks is quite an accomplishment, I'll tell you what. But rather than writing about them all in one massive post whose sizeness would dissuade anyone from reading it, I'll just break them up into separate chunks spread out over a few days. So let's get started with the first one, my obvious favorite...
Iron Council by China Mieville - This is the third book set in the world of Bas-Lag, which you should be familiar with if you read my first post about Mieville's books. And if you didn't read it, you're a very bad person who will never be happy and I don't want to know you.
The story takes place twenty years after the events of Perdido Street Station, in which the city of
A simple setup, but the story becomes much more layered and epic as it progresses. By the end I found myself very invested in the story and caring deeply what would happen next. Spoiler: It ends on a very sad note, and yet a glimmer of hope manages to shines through the grim conclusion, like a flashlight aimed into a pool of molasses.
One complaint I have with the fantasy genre (and you all know I have many complaints with the fantasy genre, because my name's Luke Kitchen) is that it seems, in order to maintain the reader's interest, the author will randomly introduce some character or plot point that has absolutely no meaning whatsoever but to provide a fun little distraction so no one realizes the story is running out of steam. Case in point, Tom Bombadil. What the hell was that guy, anyway? A metaphor for environmentalism? Some opium-induced nightmare of Tolkien's brought to life? Even as a kid I thought he was pointless, and that's saying something considering I read Goosebumps religiously.
Where was I? Lost my train of thought there... oh yeah. Needless, retarded plot points. Mieville never uses them. He rocks. I want to be the mother of his children.
Speaking of me having the schoolgirl hots for China Mieville, China Mieville is one of the greatest living writers in my opinion, and this book only reinforced that opinion. The characters are all well-rounded and thought out, never succumbing to the typical sci-fi/fantasy trope of becoming caricatures; the dialogue is actually good, another rarity for fantasy; the battles (and there are many) are suitably epic and marvelously detailed; and the imagination on display is quite wonderful - there's all sorts of magic and spellcasters and kooky creatures and high-flying machines and robots and bog monsters and man-eating trees and so on. Just when you think there couldn't possibly be anything more amazing and fantastic than a giant made out of earth and dirt who rips a parasite-controlled superman in half, creatures made entirely of the flesh and muscles of horses pop up. And don't even get me started on the light golem.
Point is, if you're looking for an excellent, enthralling, and... energizing fantasy story, then look no further than any one of the books in the Bas-Lag trilogy. You'll be hooked like I am and never look back. Plus, look at this guy!
"I crap awesomeness." -
If that's not the picture of sexiness, what is? And I don't mean that in a gay way, just in a hey-man-I-wanted-to-say-that-you're-looking-okay way.
1 comment:
Why can't a heterosexual guy tell a heterosexual guy that he thinks his booty's fly? Not all the time, obviously, just when he's got a problem with his self-esteem.
I look forward to more of your posts, brudda.
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