Author Topic: PC Spotlight 1: The Dragon’s Path  (Read 8845 times)

Ocicat

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on: May 28, 2011, 06:18:41 PM
PodCastle Spotlight: The Dragon’s Path

Welcome to a new feature we’re doing here at PodCastle: Spotlights! They’re not reviews, and not interviews. Rather, we’re inviting authors who have written for PodCastle to shine a spotlight on their books.

To kick things off, we’ve invited Daniel Abraham, author of “The Curandero and the Swede: A Tale from the 1001 American Nights,” “Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventure of the Emperor’s Vengeance”, and “The Cambist and Lord Iron” to talk to us about his new book The Dragon’s Path.

Enjoy!
« Last Edit: June 01, 2011, 08:25:20 PM by Ocicat »



Maplesugar

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Reply #1 on: May 31, 2011, 03:23:25 PM
Thank you for the spotlight- I hadn't realized that some of my favorite PodCastle stories were by the same author. ("The Curandero and the Swede" and "The Cambist and Lord Iron").
I will most assuredly look for "The Dragon's Path" at my library. (students are poor)

Further spotlights are most welcome. I listen to the RevCast Roundtable by RevolutionSF.org where they often discuss new books and interview authors- I think this is something that PodCastle would do a very good job with.

Thanks for all your hard work!



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Reply #2 on: May 31, 2011, 04:20:23 PM
Oh, yay! Glad you dug it, Maplesugar.

So...typically when story threads go up, Anna and I aren't really sure how much to participate. This being our first ever Spotlight, this sucker's different. We really would love to hear from everyone what you liked, what you didn't like, etc. We've already decided on the next few books we're doing, but we haven't recorded them yet, so there's still time! And please please please - feel free to ask us questions/talk about The Dragon's Path. It was really awesome of Daniel Abraham to be willing to do this for us.

I should also mention that any sound quality issues were my fault this time out, not Peter's, and it'll be better next time.


Talia

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Reply #3 on: May 31, 2011, 04:56:43 PM
I actually went out and bought  the book same day, as I too liked all of Abraham's stories run on the various 'casts. I really really enjoyed it, really engaging and readable, though I didn't think it was funny in the least, and Marcus didn't strike me as arrogant. Heh.

Would recommend for anyone who likes high fantasy. I found it vaguely comparable to Brandon Sanderson in style.



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Reply #4 on: May 31, 2011, 05:45:34 PM
Oh, Marcus is great. Totally cool, and exactly the kind of character you'd expect to have in this book. He really grounded a lot for me, and I wish there were more chapters featuring him.

Dawson is the one I thought was an arrogant jerk, and a bigot. And yet.

Some of the things we thought were funny (no spoilers): Marcus and Yardem's relationship and banter. And most of the things that involved the company (except that one thing that made me go Oh, shit). 

Also, some of it had to do with overall tone. I recently listened to A Game of Thrones, which is an awesome book, but I'd hesitate to call it fun. I mean, maybe it was the way the reader read that one (Roy Dotrice, who was great), but that book just depressed the hell out of me and made me feel all sorts of melancholy for a month. Great book, and all, but ouch. Abraham sited stuff like Firefly as an inspiration to this, and while messed up stuff happens both in Firefly and this book, they're both fun. And it made us laugh (in a good way - if any of that makes sense?)


Talia

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Reply #5 on: May 31, 2011, 06:01:00 PM
Gotcha. And yeah, it's not a GRIM book persay, despite.. certain spoilery bad things. And yeah, Marcus & Yardem's relationship is great.

Oh my bad. Yeah, Dawson's irritating, course he's supposed to be, he's the embodiment of a certain mindset. Yay classism.

I actually stayed up all night to read it. It was that good. Now he needs to hurry up with the sequel! :P



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Reply #6 on: May 31, 2011, 07:14:06 PM
I plan on trying this one when I next get the wanderlust for epic fantasy. Though I'm currently trying to dig myself out of A Song of Ice and Fire, so it may be a bit.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


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Reply #7 on: May 31, 2011, 07:50:45 PM
I really, really liked both the idea and execution of the spotlight. It was great hearing Anna and Dave interact with each other, they had a great chemistry as the hosts/reviewers, and I thought they achieved the perfect balance of teasting the book without giving anything that felt like a spoiler (though I didn't read it, so I may be wrong about that - I just doubt it).

If I were to nitpick one thing, though, it's that there were a few too many seconds of drums going on in the beginning. I don't mind the music choice, I just would have preferred a shorter clip of it before the actual content started.

As for the novel itself, the podcast definitely gotten me interested in reading it. But one major caveat is the fact that it's the first of five in a series. In a lot of longer fantasy series (i.e. anything above a trilogy), the first novel is mostly dedicated to setting the characters and events in motion. Great in itself, but unsatisfying (for me), as a place to end reading. I normally wait until there are 2-3 novels out in a series before starting to read it, so I can at least get to a point where some things are resolved, even if we are far from the final resolution. Is this going to be a problem for me here?



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Reply #8 on: May 31, 2011, 08:31:08 PM
I really, really liked both the idea and execution of the spotlight. It was great hearing Anna and Dave interact with each other, they had a great chemistry as the hosts/reviewers, and I thought they achieved the perfect balance of teasting the book without giving anything that felt like a spoiler (though I didn't read it, so I may be wrong about that - I just doubt it).

If I were to nitpick one thing, though, it's that there were a few too many seconds of drums going on in the beginning. I don't mind the music choice, I just would have preferred a shorter clip of it before the actual content started.

Thanks for the feedback!  :)

One of the things Anna and I liked about this format is that it's kind of like our slush discussions - so now everyone gets to hear how we discuss stories - what we dig about them (plot, characters, worldbuilding, etc.) and what we don't. Thankfully, there wasn't much we didn't like about this one :)

As for the novel itself, the podcast definitely gotten me interested in reading it. But one major caveat is the fact that it's the first of five in a series. In a lot of longer fantasy series (i.e. anything above a trilogy), the first novel is mostly dedicated to setting the characters and events in motion. Great in itself, but unsatisfying (for me), as a place to end reading. I normally wait until there are 2-3 novels out in a series before starting to read it, so I can at least get to a point where some things are resolved, even if we are far from the final resolution. Is this going to be a problem for me here?

I'd be interested to hear what other people thought of this.

Personally, it did feel very much to me like it's setting things up for the rest of the series. I'm not sure whether or not this series (The Dagger and The Coin series) will be three or five books, but while there's resolutions and all kinds of stuff going on, it did feel like the first book in a series to me. (Note: Not a bad thing, necessarily.)

FWIW, when I mentioned this to Anna, she said something like, "Yeah, but you can't say that a lot doesn't happen." And she's right.

I think plot-wise, lots of things get set up in the series. Character-wise, wow. Holy crap do these characters have some awesome stories and arcs. And I'd say they come out completely different characters than they were when they started this book. So in that regard, I found it satisfying.

Hope that helps, and like I said, I'd be curious to hear what other people think :)


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Reply #9 on: May 31, 2011, 08:36:33 PM
Personally, it did feel very much to me like it's setting things up for the rest of the series. I'm not sure whether or not this series (The Dagger and The Coin series) will be three or five books, but while there's resolutions and all kinds of stuff going on, it did feel like the first book in a series to me. (Note: Not a bad thing, necessarily.)

I think Daniel Abraham said in his section that it will be five books.



Talia

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Reply #10 on: May 31, 2011, 08:39:49 PM
Well, there was definitely some setting-up going on, and well I guess the very end is definitely a lead-in to the next book, but I thought the book did a good job of concluding at least several major plot points (regarding a couple of the main characters, anyway). It's not ALL setting-up, or so I felt. You got a good chunk of story in there too.



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Reply #11 on: May 31, 2011, 08:46:56 PM
I may wait for the second or third book, then, or maybe just for a less busy time in my life. When work stress is high (as it is now, towards the end of the academic year), I tend to prefer literature that does not leave me hanging.



Devoted135

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Reply #12 on: June 01, 2011, 03:25:11 PM
I really like this idea, and I thought that both the length and pacing were really well balanced for this sort of thing. :) I agree that the chemistry between Dave and Anna was great, right down to the "blooper" at the end! Also, put me in the "music was slightly too long but it's no biggee" category as well.

I agree with eytanz in that as soon as I heard it was the first of five I said to myself, "cool, I'll have to keep this in mind once more of them are published." But, there's not really any helping that since most fantasy seems to come in series form with few one-offs these days.



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Reply #13 on: June 01, 2011, 09:18:24 PM
I for one liked the whole concept of the podcast. though to be honest the echo-i-ness and the different sounding mics made me wonder if anna and dave were recording in the same spot or editing together the best of several conversations. I found it amusing and a nice refreshing break from the traffic I was stuck in. I liked the banter.

I also liked daniels bit talking about the book and his aspirations and the motivations behind the writing. I always find that sort of thing fascinating. I do believe that I will be looking for this book in the near future when I'm at the bookstore.

Overall it sounded like everyone had fun with this. IMO more pls.

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InfiniteMonkey

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Reply #14 on: June 03, 2011, 05:01:32 PM
I usually despise being "sold" something, but this actually worked. Got the sample from Kindle .. we'll see what happens. I have admit that I'm frugal enough that dangling the second digital book in my face makes it very tempting.    ;)



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Reply #15 on: June 03, 2011, 10:35:30 PM
So after years of lurking I'm stepping out of the shadow-world at last (ahoy, ye beings of visible virtuality!).

I also liked the idea of the Spotlight feature and look forward to future casts. Also, hopefully other authors can be reached and motivated to present their ideas like Mr Abraham did.

As for what this podcast did for my interest in the book, I have to say that it was the author's roll call of great short stories for PC (as laid out in the announcement for this cast) that originally made me think I would probably want to buy this book.

However, Abraham's description of the various creative/motivational ingredients that seemed to be important to his design of Dragon's Path sort of turned me off; I mean honestly, why would I want to read a novel in which the author attempts a mish-mash of inspirational items lifted from such disparate sources as Firefly or George R.R. Martin? Rather than stitch something together like that, my expectation for fantasy novels (which, given the generally dismal level one encounters...I'm sorry, I might as well admit it from the outset: I'm a curmudgeon and a severe armchair critic) usually lies in recognising an original voice and style, in addition to a story well told (i.e. intelligently laid out plot, character development, etc).

It was only after reading some of the reviews on the Amazon site for Dragon's Path that I thankfully began to realise that Abraham apparently didn't just simply throw stuff together like that and seems to have produced a rather interesting and original piece of work here, which I will probably want to get my paws on.

So, all in all a positive outcome.
I guess if there are any suggestions for future Spotlights it would be that Dave and Anna also subject their chosen authors to equal servings of praise and useful criticism. Thence will Spotlight acquire the undisputed status of useful review cast that PC so rightly deserves, and is well equipped, to offer.

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kibitzer

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Reply #16 on: June 04, 2011, 08:02:37 AM
So after years of lurking I'm stepping out of the shadow-world at last (ahoy, ye beings of visible virtuality!).

Ahoy, Salul! Thanks for de-cloaking, stick around and join in the fun!


danooli

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Reply #17 on: June 05, 2011, 04:54:22 AM
I am so excited by Podcastle lately  ;D  First The Alphabet Quartet and now this  :D

These spotlights seem like a GREAT idea!  I will most certainly be getting this book, and it's already going to bump a couple of other books in the "must read" queue.

Thank you Dave and Anna!  I really look forward to your next spotlight installment  ;D



danooli

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Reply #18 on: June 29, 2011, 11:15:30 PM
I thought I'd give an update that I'm on page 50 of 956 Nook pages, and I love it so far!  Dawsons chapter is beginning  ;D

Thanks again for the recommendation! I can't wait for the next one!



InfiniteMonkey

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Reply #19 on: June 30, 2011, 03:43:58 AM
I actually read the 4 or 5 chapters that one gets as an Kindle sample, and it stuck with me so much that I bought the book.

So there.



kibitzer

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Reply #20 on: July 01, 2011, 02:51:55 AM
After the reviews here I just now thought I'd check out the Kindle edition.

Amazon tells me: "This title is not available for customers from: Australia"

AAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!


Unblinking

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Reply #21 on: October 14, 2011, 02:15:04 PM
I recently listened to A Game of Thrones, which is an awesome book, but I'd hesitate to call it fun. I mean, maybe it was the way the reader read that one (Roy Dotrice, who was great), but that book just depressed the hell out of me and made me feel all sorts of melancholy for a month. Great book, and all, but ouch.

So far I haven't read any of Song of Ice and Fire series, but I did watch season 1 on HBO.  Assuming that the show is faithful to the book, yeah I wouldn't call it fun.  Riveting, certainly, but much of that came from a morbid fascination knowing that ANY character can die at ANY time.  I've been re-reading a bunch of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and the contrast is very stark.  Jordan was clearly very reluctant to ever kill off any beloved character, but Martin is willing to kill anyone indiscriminately, which does a great deal to keep the tension level high.

As for the novel itself, the podcast definitely gotten me interested in reading it. But one major caveat is the fact that it's the first of five in a series. In a lot of longer fantasy series (i.e. anything above a trilogy), the first novel is mostly dedicated to setting the characters and events in motion. Great in itself, but unsatisfying (for me), as a place to end reading. I normally wait until there are 2-3 novels out in a series before starting to read it, so I can at least get to a point where some things are resolved, even if we are far from the final resolution. Is this going to be a problem for me here?

I hear what you're saying.  My wife refuses to start any series that is not completed.  She did so with Harry Potter, and with the Dark Tower.  Because she hates to be left hanging in the middle, and she tends to forget what happened in the last book if too long a time has passed.  I never used to be that way, but I'm starting to see the advantage in that strategy, though it also has the downside that if too many people followed this strategy a full series would never be published because book 1's sales would always be terrible.

That being said, ideally each standalone book provides a full arc of its own while contributing elements to the larger arc.  I've seen this happen in some series, though certainly not every one.  I found Book 1 of Wheel of Time satisfying in this way, but other books in the series not so much (book 10 was particularly unsatisfying).  I bought a DVD collection a few years ago that had all the Uncanny X-Men comics on PDFs, and that was very interesting in this respect.  Each issue of the comic had to have its own arc, to justify its existence, but it was fascinating to see how the arcs were layered when the comic was at its pinnacle in the early 90s.  Each issue had an arc, which contributed usually to a longer arc of half a year, which contributed to a mega-arc that may last several years.  Bloody brilliant when it was done well.

I'd be interested to hear what other people thought of this.

Well, Escape Artists has certainly given a large sample of Abraham's work, but to me I get no clear feeling of whether I'm a fan or not.  When I like his work, I love it, as with Sir Hereword and Mr. Fitz.  When I dislike his work, I hate it, like The Curandero and the Swede.  So I have no feeling whatsoever on whether I might like this book or not.

As for the spotlight in general, I think it's a cool idea.  Brief interviews are a good thing, as well as brief discussions of the books.  But to me, there were two things that could've made it better:
1.  Discussion of positive and negatives.  I wasn't entirely sure if you guys were giving it an honest critique, or whether this was more of a paid advertisement where you feel obligated to make it sound great.  I don't have anything against advertising a genre book, but I'd like it better if I felt a clearer distinction about which one this was.  If it is an honest critique, I'd be interested in seeing some discussion of things you didn't like, even if they are minor things, to show that you thought about that, and that you're willing to say it.
2.  A sample of the writing.  Discussion of the book is great, and the author's blurb was great, but when it all comes down to it, those are all other people's opinions.  I would've found a sample of the writing to be helpful so that I can decide on my own whether it really intrigues me.  A first chapter, or another bit of the book (as long as it doesn't spoil major later events) would have been very helpful.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2011, 02:17:06 PM by Unblinking »



Sgarre1

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Reply #22 on: October 14, 2011, 03:35:53 PM
Quote
Each issue of the comic had to have its own arc, to justify its existence, but it was fascinating to see how the arcs were layered when the comic was at its pinnacle in the early 90s.

Ugh, different strokes I guess - that's around when I could stand it no more and quit reading...



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Reply #23 on: October 14, 2011, 04:10:56 PM
Quote
Each issue of the comic had to have its own arc, to justify its existence, but it was fascinating to see how the arcs were layered when the comic was at its pinnacle in the early 90s.

Ugh, different strokes I guess - that's around when I could stand it no more and quit reading...

I liked it until a few years after that when they added 3 other comic-book lines, and could never keep any storyline confined to just one of them.  It annoyed me because my collection was only Uncanny, not the other branching lines.  So it was like I got 1/3rd of every story, either a beginning a middle or an end, but never all three.  If I'd been reading them in RL, I would've been equally annoyed because I would've felt like I had to buy extra subscriptions just to get a single damned story.

Up until the point where they started spreading it out across the different titles, though, I thought that was where the quality was the best.



DKT

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Reply #24 on: October 14, 2011, 06:33:42 PM
I'd be interested to hear what other people thought of this.

Well, Escape Artists has certainly given a large sample of Abraham's work, but to me I get no clear feeling of whether I'm a fan or not.  When I like his work, I love it, as with Sir Hereword and Mr. Fitz.  When I dislike his work, I hate it, like The Curandero and the Swede.  So I have no feeling whatsoever on whether I might like this book or not.

Two clarifying points:

First, Garth Nix is actually the author of Sir Hereward and Mr. Fitz Go to War Again, not Daniel Abraham. Although now that I think about, I could see how you get ol' Hereward and Fitz mixed up with the Dragon's Path. The more of Abraham's stuff I read, the impressed I am by the diversity of his writing skills. I think it's fair to say, though, he's an author that's difficult to pin down. (The Cambist and Lord Iron, The Curandero and the Swede, Flat Diane, Balfour and Meriwether, Hurt Me...I'm probably missing something somewhere.)

Second, my question above was about whether or not The Dragon's Path satisfied readers as a standalone novel, as well as an introduction to a new series. Not that I'm unhappy for people to share their opinion on ways to improve these Spotlights, but just that I want to make clear the context :)

As for the spotlight in general, I think it's a cool idea.  Brief interviews are a good thing, as well as brief discussions of the books.  But to me, there were two things that could've made it better:
1.  Discussion of positive and negatives.  I wasn't entirely sure if you guys were giving it an honest critique, or whether this was more of a paid advertisement where you feel obligated to make it sound great.  I don't have anything against advertising a genre book, but I'd like it better if I felt a clearer distinction about which one this was.  If it is an honest critique, I'd be interested in seeing some discussion of things you didn't like, even if they are minor things, to show that you thought about that, and that you're willing to say it.
2.  A sample of the writing.  Discussion of the book is great, and the author's blurb was great, but when it all comes down to it, those are all other people's opinions.  I would've found a sample of the writing to be helpful so that I can decide on my own whether it really intrigues me.  A first chapter, or another bit of the book (as long as it doesn't spoil major later events) would have been very helpful.


Just to be clear: Anna and I get paid absolutely nothing to do these. Not from the publishers, and not from Escape Artists. So these are not advertisements, paid or otherwise.

The way we do the Spotlights is this: if an author we like has a book coming out we think a) we'd like to read, and b) the PodCastle audience might like to read, we ask if we can read the book, and feature it as a Spotlight. Our thought was, there are books out there by authors the PC audience likes, but the PC audience might not be aware of those books. (I think Abraham's a perfect example of this.) But yeah, that's why we call it a spotlight. It's most definitely not a review.

That being said, you can be sure if we read a book and didn't like it, we wouldn't feature it here. These take a lot of time for us to put together, and we don't want to spend that time on books that suck.

I agree that excerpts would be cool, but among other things, that equals more time for us (and both of us are kinda maxed out time-wise), and in most cases, the excerpts are out there in other forms. (Here's the first chapter of the Dragon's Path to read. I should've put that in the top post...) Additionally, we get into the quasi-murky waters of audio rights that are not non-exclusive and have generally already been sold elsewhere, or have some built-in exclusivity (this has happened).


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Reply #25 on: October 17, 2011, 01:50:17 PM
First, Garth Nix is actually the author of Sir Hereward and Mr. Fitz Go to War Again, not Daniel Abraham.

Oh, shoot, you're absolutely right!  I think I have a few short circuits in my associative memory.  You said "Balfour and Meriwether" and somehow I associated it with "Sir Hereward and Mr. Fitz".  Probably because of the similar structure of the titles with "name and name" which tend to get me odd associations that don't make a lot of sense.  And those two stories are ones that I liked, and ones which have similar tones in my mind.  For other examples of my short-circuited memory, for the longest time I confused "Vylar Kaftan" and "Lavie Tidhar" despite their names being quite dissimilar, and I just realized yesterday that I've been confusing "John Updike" with "Upton Sinclair".  Anyway, if I swapped in the proper title in the previous post, my opinion there would still stand, since I also very much enjoyed Balfour and Meriwether.


Second, my question above was about whether or not The Dragon's Path satisfied readers as a standalone novel, as well as an introduction to a new series. Not that I'm unhappy for people to share their opinion on ways to improve these Spotlights, but just that I want to make clear the context :)

Ach, another screwup on my part, I guess.  You HAD asked people's opinion about the spotlight, but I quoted the wrong post.  A more appropriate quote would be:

This being our first ever Spotlight, this sucker's different. We really would love to hear from everyone what you liked, what you didn't like, etc.



Just to be clear: Anna and I get paid absolutely nothing to do these. Not from the publishers, and not from Escape Artists. So these are not advertisements, paid or otherwise.

The way we do the Spotlights is this: if an author we like has a book coming out we think a) we'd like to read, and b) the PodCastle audience might like to read, we ask if we can read the book, and feature it as a Spotlight. Our thought was, there are books out there by authors the PC audience likes, but the PC audience might not be aware of those books. (I think Abraham's a perfect example of this.) But yeah, that's why we call it a spotlight. It's most definitely not a review.

I figured from what you said in the review that you hadn't gotten paid for it, which is good.  Good choice not reviewing books that suck, there are plenty of that kind of thing out on the blogosphere (is that still a word??).  But I still stand by what I said, which is that if there is only glowing things to say about it, it sounds a bit like an advertisement.  I'm not saying that a review with eviscerations and vivisections would be better, only that it would be more meaningful to me if there were some kind of counterpoint to glowing praise.  If it's not an advertisement and it's not a review, I find it a little hard for me to tell how to interpret it.


I agree that excerpts would be cool, but among other things, that equals more time for us (and both of us are kinda maxed out time-wise), and in most cases, the excerpts are out there in other forms. (Here's the first chapter of the Dragon's Path to read. I should've put that in the top post...) Additionally, we get into the quasi-murky waters of audio rights that are not non-exclusive and have generally already been sold elsewhere, or have some built-in exclusivity (this has happened).

Fair enough.  It was just a suggestion.   :)
« Last Edit: October 17, 2011, 02:03:46 PM by Unblinking »



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Reply #26 on: November 28, 2011, 03:42:34 PM
I enjoyed the Spotlight and I'll consider the book. So many good books out there...

I understand the legal limitations, but would like to second the call for a snippet of the work. It's worth asking the author if there's something that can be shared, particularly a portion that has been released as a teaser sample. I'm not looking for an audiobook, just a snippet. I consume podcasts away from my computer a preponderance of the time, so pointing to a web resource is less effective.

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Reply #27 on: June 16, 2012, 06:20:08 PM
FYI, the sequel to this is out! I'm psyched!


... If only I could remember what happened in book 1. :P

Time for a re-read!



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Reply #28 on: June 19, 2012, 08:41:35 PM
FYI, the sequel to this is out! I'm psyched!


... If only I could remember what happened in book 1. :P

Time for a re-read!

I decided to listen to the audio version before I dove into the sequel, and I'm really glad I did. I liked this book a lot when we ran the Spotlight, but now, I'm in totally love. Between this book and the King's Blood, Abraham has done an amazing job of drawing these characters. One of the things I really dig is how human they all are, and how, despite some of them being utter bastards due to either horrible classicist attitudes or having committed terrible atrocities, Abraham gives them these really human and even heartbreaking moments with their families and loved ones.

Not that all the characters are horrible people (though they are all flawed). And man, first chapter in the King's Blood that featured Marcus and Yardeem had me LOLing in bed.

So, yeah. Haven't finished book #2, but I can definitely say I'm an even bigger fan of these books than I was, and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up revisiting them a lot over the years.