I've been taking a break from review books, and historical fiction in general, and have spent the past two evenings engrossed in Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion - an epic fantasy novel that was sitting neglected in my TBR pile for about five years. (That didn't stop me from buying both of the sequels when they came out. I haven't read them yet either.)
The endorsements on the back cover intrigue me, for Robert Jordan, Jean Auel, Mary Jo Putney, Harry Turtledove, Jo Beverley, and Dennis L. McKiernan all contributed glowing commentary. Prominent names in a few different fields. Which goes to show the publisher's expectations for the novel's success, as well as its cross-genre appeal.
Meanwhile, my editor's asked me and a bunch of other authors to select our favorite 2006 novel for the year-end update of Reader's Advisor Online (a database containing the electronic versions of my book and others in the same series). I haven't yet decided what I'll pick. There are so many titles I haven't read that picking a favorite is somewhat arbitrary. But I'll come up with one or two, I'm sure, and will try to post a Top 10 (or more) list here sometime before the end of the year. There are still 27 more days left of December, after all...
Did you like the Chalion book? I liked some of McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan novels but havent't tackled her Fantasy so far. And praise by Jordan and Auel rather puts me off - if it was not one of those 'one hand washes the other' business things.
ReplyDeleteI'm about 2/3 through, and enjoying it a lot, though it started out slow and a little confusing. It's all making better sense now. Her style isn't anything like either Jordan's or Auel's, so if you don't like them, I wouldn't worry. It's a serious epic yet very funny in places, which I really like. I've never read any of her SF, so can't compare.
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