curgoth | Entries tagged with robert holdstock

Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt: I read this book while in a messy headspace. As a result, I hit a
few spots where I'd just keep reading the same sentence over and over
again while my head spun. Nonetheless, it had a lot of useful stuff
in it.
Prime by Poppy Z. Brite: In my opinion, a better book than Liquor, the book Prime is
a sequel for. The plot seems less like an afterthought in this book,
though it's still feels much more about the characters than the plot.
Thankfully, Brite continues to provide really enjoyable characters.
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin: I hadn't read this book since I was a wee lad. It's still as
magical as I'd remembered it.
The Hollowing by Robert Holdstock: The third book in the Mythago Wood books. Of the three I've read
(there are, apparently five, though I've never seen the last two), I
still think I prefer Lavondyss, perhaps because I found I identified
more with Tallis Keeton than the protagonists of Mythago Wood or the
Hollowing. The Hollowing focuses a bit more on the mechanics of
Ryhope Wood, and that detracts from the magical feel that the earlier
two books have. Still an enjoyable read, but I'm kind of glad
Holdstock is writing more or less outside of the Ryhope Wood world
now.

Three more books;

Robert Holdstock's "Iron Grail" - book two of the Merlin Codex. It's like Mythago wood, but with a a developed world and story. If you like his work, you will like this. It's weird and mythic and wonderful.

Tim Powers' "Declare" - Cold War with monsters. Again, Powers is very Powers in this book. I enjoyed it quite a bit. After my last Powers spree I was concerned that his books were all too similar ( I had read Anubis Gate and Last Call, and burned out part way through Earthquake Weather) - Declare restores my faith in Powers. I just need to not take out ALL of his books at once.

John Betancourt's Chaos and Amber - Betancourt tries to salvage the first book by explainingthe gaps and holes. He doesn't do a terrible job, but it's clear that he's apeing Roger Zelazny's style, and doing so poorly - the glory of Zelazny is that he leaves gaping holes in his plots, and yet, makes it work by sheer force of wonder and mythic power. Betancourt misses the boat. He follows too closely to the original Amber books, in that I frequently found myself thinking "When Corwin did/said that, it wasn't just blind stupidity, and it was cool." Betancourt's plot still requires the characters to be brutally and uncharacteristically stupid to ensure the survival of the story.

Ookings of d00m