A Quick Update Before I Board the Plane
Hey everyone,
Tomorrow I’ll be boarding a Qantas flight and travelling to Perth to visit my parents. 
Leana’s meeting me in Perth later on the evening that I arrive (Wednesday), and I’ll be in Perth (well, Bunbury, where my parents live) for practically the whole of February.
I will try to blog regularly while I’m there, but it may not be as regularly as every week-day. I should have a review of Michael Sullivan’s The Emerald Storm for you for Thursday, though, so keep an eye out for that.
I’ll also be taking books with – I’m still busy with Rod Rees’ The Demi-Monde: Winter, Alex J Cavanaugh’s CassaStar, and Jon Sprunk ‘s Shadow’s Son, and I should be finishing those while I’m in Australia; I’ll be taking along Stephen Zimmer’s Crown of Vengeance, Brian Libby’s Gold and Glory and F. Allen Farnham’s Black Hawks from a Black Sky, and my eReader is already loaded with SL Grey’s The Mall.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get enough reading done – I’m also revising the first draft of my novel, and I’ll probably be travelling around with my parents and brothers and Leana while I’m there, so if I don’t blog regularly you know why.
Until my next post,
Be EPIC!
Un:Bound Video Editions
I am utterly and completely jealous. There, I’ve said it!
Yes, the Un:Bound Video Editons have been around for some time now, but I’ve only just started watching them because I’ve only recently upgraded the ADSL line to a 4meg line.
Anyway, if you haven’t seen these videos yet, go on and watch them! They are informative, feature excellent (and fitting) music, and celebrate SFFHUF – what could be better? To my mind, the Video Editions are a completely professional production, and I’m going to spend the rest of this evening catching up because I’m utterly hooked!
The first episode features some great people that I’ve only even corresponded with on Twitter and via email, and you also get a peek into the offices at Tor (Julie, Chloe, you have no idea how jealous I am of that awesome wall) as well as OtherWorlds 2010; you even get to see some magic tricks! Had a good laugh at those, I’ll admit. 
Check out this link over at Un:Bound to get the low-down on everyone who’s involved in bringing the Video Editions to us. I think you’ll agree that they all do an incredible job!
Here are the links you’ll need:
Do go through and have a look, and when you’re done, head over the Un:Bound Video Editions blog and check out the out-takes (I love out-takes), behind-the-scenes vids and even vids that showcase how the animations you saw in the first episode were done.
I’m actually sad that it’s taken this long for me to check out the Video Edition, but I’m so glad that I did!
So, congrats to Adele, Vincent, Alasdair, Lee and Kat for an awesome show!
Be EPIC!
2010 Citizen Book Prize Winner: The Serialized ‘The Discoveries of Whispish’ by Justin Germ
Hey guys and girls, my good friend, Justin Germishuys, is promoting his novel (which won the 2010 The Citizen Book Prize) with the help of The Citizen newspaper.
Check out the details over at Justin Germ’s Scriptorium, but what you can expect, starting today, is a serialization of Justin’s novel, The Discoveries of Whispish – and not only do you get to read the novel that won the prize, but you get to see Justin’s illustrations – the first is a dragon.
So head on out to your corner cafe or supermarket and pick up a copy of today’s The Citizen and check out the CitiVibe section and get ready for a couple of laughs as you fall into this charming tale; you can also check out the first part of the serialization on The Citizen’s website – here’s the link.
There’ll be a new piece to read every Thursday and if you miss it, you can catch up over at Justin’s blog; either way, you’ve got some great reading ahead of you.
Be EPIC!
A Quick Update: What I’m Reading
Hey guys and girls,
I’ve got nothing really special for you today – mainly because I’m really tired and want to just relax; but I actually won’t be able to, anyway.
I finished writing my first novel on the 18th and have re-writes to work through, so will be busy with that tonight, too. (nope, no publisher or even an agent… yet.)
Anyway, what I’m reading and thoughts so far:
The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees – absolutely incredible so far; the worldbuilding alone in the novel is on par with the likes of Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, Steven Erikson… Amazing concepts, great characters, really enjoying it!
Shadow’s Son by Jon Sprunk – what a sneaky bloody book! When I began I was lulled into thinking that this would be a book with a small focus but hell, excellent characters and a great world, reads without practically any effort.
CassaStar by Alex J Cavanaugh – excellent book so far, though there are wayyy too many exclamation marks for my liking. Great SF with a military focus.
The Emerald Storm by Michael Sullivan – what can I say? Damn good all the way through.
I should have a review of The Emerald Storm up next week – I’m flying to Perth on Tuesday evening but will be blogging from Oz, so don’t worry. The rest of the reviews should follow on shortly after that, and then I’ll be getting stuck into Stephen Zimmer‘s Crown of Vengeance, Brian Libby‘s Gold and Glory, Black Hawks from a Black Sun by F. Allen Farnham and The Mall by S.L. Grey.
Until tomorrow,
Be EPIC!
SA Spotlight: The Mall, Deadlands & BFSA Nominations
Hey guys and girls, I thought that I would point your attention to two distinctly South African genre books that’ll be hitting the shelves soon – and in a BIG way!
I’ve spoken about The Mall before, but since I’ll be diving into it soon (hehehe the perks, you know, of being a reviewer!), and since you’ll be able to pre-order your copies here in SA soon, too, it’s time for another spotlight. It’s written by two South African authors (Louis Greenberg and Sarah Lotz) under the pseudonym S.L. Grey, and will be coming from Corvus Books in June – SA release-date to be announced as soon as I get the info.
Here’s some info about the book, just to, you know, make you pound the desk (or your lap) in excitement and / or dread:
Dan works at a bookstore in a deadly dull shopping mall where nothing ever happens. He’s an angsty emo-kid who sells mid-list books to mid-list people for the minimum wage. He hates his job.
Rhoda has dragged her babysitting charge to the mall so she can meet her dealer and score some coke. Now the kid’s run off, and she has two hours to find him. She hates her life.
Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her search, but as they explore the neon-lit corridors behind the mall, disturbing text messages lure them into the bowels of the building, where old mannequins are stored in grave-like piles and raw sewage drips off the ceiling. The only escape is down, and before long Dan and Rhoda are trapped in a service lift listening to head-splitting musak. Worst of all, the lift’s not stopping at the bottom floor.
Plummeting into the earth, Dan and Rhoda enter a sinister underworld that mirrors their worst fears. Forced to complete a series of twisted tasks to find their way out, they finally emerge into the brightly lit food court, sick with relief at the banal sight of people shopping and eating. But something feels different. Why are the shoppers all pumped full of silicone? Why are the shop assistants chained to their counters? And why is McDonald’s selling lumps of bleeding meat?
Just when they think they’ve made it back to the mall, they realise their nightmare has only just begun…
Sounds utterly creepy and cool, and the descriptions of the environments put me in mind of the incredible stuff that Clive Barker comes up with – really looking forward to being grossed out, creeped out and shocked to hell with this book!
You can pre-order your copies here (Amazon UK), and as soon as it’s listed at Exclusive Books I’ll let you know. (If you don’t want to wait -and who the hell would- you can get your Kindle-edition right now!)
Next up, a zombie-apocalypse tale for YA fans set in Cape Town – yep, after you read this book you’ll probably never see the Mother City in the same way again! I present to you – Deadlands:
I’ve already been to a cool as hell and incredibly cutting-edge Cape Town in Lauren Beukes’ Moxyland, so I’m really looking forward to getting my paws on this one – zombies South African style? Hell yes! (And that’s not all…!)
Deadlands is written by Lily Herne and will be coming to us from Penguin Books SA on the 1st of March; here’s another small blurb to whet your appetite even more:
Ten years after Cape Town was destroyed in the War with the living dead, zombies ramble free in Cape Town’s suburbs (known as the Deadlands), and the remaining living are either in fenced in on farms or in urban shantytowns.
The living are watched over by the mysteriously robed Guardians, a race of humanoid figures who appeared at the end of the War and who keep the living dead at bay, albeit for a steep price. Every year the Guardians stage a human Lottery and select five aspiring teenagers to be whisked out of the enclave for a secret purpose. To be one of the chosen five is a highly sought after and prestigious accolade.
No one (yet) knows why it is that the Guardians prize teenage bodies so highly, how they control the zombies or what they look like under the robes that cover their bodies…
Two very cool books on the way!
Finally, and this is the coolest news I’ve heard in a *very* long time, Lauren Beukes‘ Zoo City has been nominated (twice) for a BFSA award! For those who don’t know, the BFSA is the British Science Fiction Association, a highly respected organization that trumpets what they consider to be the best.
Zoo City was nominated for the Best Novel and the guy who did (and does) Lauren’s SA & UK covers, Joey HiFi, was nominated as Best Artist. Awesome news! I’m really damned happy that a homegrown, completely South African novel has hit this level – not only is it a massive compliment for Lauren and Joey, but it’s also a WAKE UP CALL to all the writers out here: write your books already!
Here’s that crazy-cool (yet chilling) artwork:
Congrats to both Lauren and Joey – let’s bend our thoughts on them winning those awards!
Be EPIC!
Catching up with The Riyria Revelations
Hey Guys and Girls, I thought it was passed time to give you an update of what’s been happening with Michael, Robin and the Riyria series. Robin sent out an update on Goodreads a couple of weeks ago and I thought I’d spread the word:
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#1 – Sales of Wintertide have been GREAT with matching reviews to match. We are “almost done” and it looks like the series will end with a bang. Since the release of book #4 Michael has been averaging about 1,000 books a month – not too shabby for a new author from a small publisher…but since Wintertide the sales were 2,500 (october), 7,500 (November), and 10,500 (December) !! Thanks so much for all the support.
#2 Percepliquis editing is coming along very nicely. We’ve done several rounds of edits (most of the major edges are filed off) and we are just tweaking wording at this point – so that is going along nicely.
#3 There is a Fantasy Book Club Series which reads a whold series end to end. The last one was Janny Wurtz (a great writer and nice person btw) and now they are picking a new series – The Riyria Revelations was nominated!! Yeah ! – so please go out and vote as I’m sure it will do a lot to introduce some new people to the series as a whole. Here is a link
#4 – Just a reminder. Avempartha was picked for the January read by Fantasy Book Critic – Stop on by and chat with others and ask some questions of Michael – he’ll be there all month long. You can join in the discussion here
#5 The Emerald Storm was nominated in the 2010 goodreads Choice Awared for Fantasy – I’m still boggled by this – considering the HUGE names he was up against. I have no illusions of winning- Sanderson will walk away with I predict – but for those that voted – thanks and I just wanted to say that this is truly a case where it is an honor just to be nominated. If you are curious to see the other 15 nominess you can here
#6 Speaking of Honors…Iceberg Ink (a great fantasy review site by the wasy voted The Crown Conspiracy the Best Read of 2010! Well technically he called it a tie with Suzzane Collin’s Hunger Games – but in his review he said it beat that book so I’m calling it a “win” for the home team. If you’ve not read his reviews you might want to check them out. Here is a link to that page.
#7 Another big honor was that The Emerald Storm and Wintertide both made Fantasy Book Critic’s Top 25 Novels of 2010 list. Again if you want to see the full list here is a link
#8 A contact we have “in the business” pitched Michael’s book for a movie deal to the owner/founder of the production company that put out “The Mummy Series” and a whole host of other movies. They passed but said they might revisit depending on sales. I’m still pretty impressed it got in front of someone at “that level”. The person “shopping it around” is still on the hunt.
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Pretty damn cool news all round, eh? I was especially intrigued with the news about the book (presumably The Crown Conspiracy) being shopped around movie-wise! It would definitely make a pretty damned cool movie! And here I have to admit that I let Robin know who I thought would be cool for the roles of Royce and Hadrian – in my defence, I was a bit drunk at the time (I told Robin I’d had a long day), and even though they aren’t the best choices by a long shot I thought it was pretty damned funny.
Hadrian – Bruce Willis
Royce - Steve Buscemi
See, I told you, hilarious choices! 
Anyway, forgetting about that, erm, Michael shared some awesome news and posted these:
I don’t think I need to tell you how awesome this news is – for an independently published author to get foreign rights for his work is HUGE! Michael and Robin both are showing the publishing world what can be done and not needing the big marketing spends and having the big print runs that the established houses have. Massive congrats to them! And bloody well deserved!
I’m also very pleased that the Czech publishers have decided to keep the cover art – Michael creates the cover art himself and it’s a real compliment that the covers are being kept, albeit slightly modified (which I also like – gives me the feeling of looking through a keyhole at the world that Michael created). Also, replicating the designs that are unique to each book is pretty damn cool, definitely adds to the Czech-branding of the series.
I’ll have my (long awaited) review of The Emerald Storm coming in some time next week, and then I’m going to get started on Wintertide (yes, Robin, send it through already!! ).
Be EPIC!
Review: The Wheel of Time Book 13 – Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
Where The Gatherin Storm was a studied read, methodically building up the storyline and the pace until the final climax, Towers of Midnight is a frenetic charge toward Tarmon Gai’don, and this could be seen as both a blessing and a curse for the novel.
I’m not doing to set the scene for you – if you are reading this review and don’t know what The Wheel of Time is, then too bad. I’m jumping in and offering you my opinion. And this review will have spoilers!!!
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First thing: The prologue was a real head-spinner for me. I alternated between amazement and shock while reading it, due to what happens.
Having Graendal escape Rand’s bailfiring of her hideaway was brilliant, I really did not see that coming, and the way she was written -with that edge of panic and utter fear- really held my attention.
The Borderland’s scene was as effective, if not more, than the Farmer’s scene in The Gathering Storm’s prologue – here we have the actual beginning of the Last Battle, and the way the characters were handled here was poignant and respectful; these men knew what they had to be about and knew what would happen to them.
Padan Fain’s section really made me happy – he is definitely one of the most terrible characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and his scene stayed with me up to the end of the book. To be honest, I didn’t even think about why he didn’t reappear (or maybe he did, and I missed it, like I missed something else), because the rest of the book had gripped me utterly and completely, but now I’m wondering if he won’t burst into the spotlight again at Rand’s meeting with Egwene (which is sure to open A Memory of Light)…
Lan’s scene was the weakest, in my opinion; as soon as I read it I knew where it was going, and that made his denials more and more irritating. The man wants to travel into lost Malkier and take on the Shadow on his *own*? Dude, you can’t even channel! Anyway…
Rand’s chapters were absolutely incredible, even though they were few. He was, once again, my favourite character. Here we’ve got a guy -who has to save the damn universe- having gone through being reviled, feared, manipulated, wounded, contending with the crazy (and mostly irritating) women in his life, and practically losing his mind, passes through all these trials and becomes who he was meant to be – calm, self-assured, conscious of the mistakes he has made (Cadsuane), determined, and still able to feel love and gratitude. The scene with Egwene in the White Tower sent tsunamis of thrills down my spine – it’s never been more evident to me just how far Rand has come as a character than in that scene. Hell, I was thinking, “What the hell are you doing, are you insane?” and he goes and completely controls the situation, showing the Aes Sedai that he is the Dragon Reborn once and for all. I cheered and cheered and cheered when he walked out of there and kept on saying to myself, “Dude, you absolutely ROCK.” The rest of scenes were consistently awesome – taking charge, trying to give attention to what he had overlooked, moving towards his destiny. Sounds lame when I put it that way, I know, but this movement was never really apparent for me in the previous novels (say, from Winter’s Heart onwards). I’m going to be cheering him all the way to the blood on the rocks.
Egwene, on the other hand, irritated me as never before. It didn’t have anything to do with Brandon’s writing of her, though; she irritated me because a) of keeping Gawyn on a bloody string the whole time (seriously, WTF), and b) not trusting in the bloody Dragon Reborn to know what he’s doing. I did get chills when she (finally) bonded Gawyn, and I was very happy for them.
Gawn, Morgase, Galad: Galad was excellent, easily one of the best characters in the book – he went through more characterization in one book than in all the preceding novels and it didn’t seem rushed or forced to me at all. Perhaps that’s because I didn’t really give his threads much notice -fine, the dude sees everything in black and white, let’s move along already- but I really enjoyed him working through the evidence of Perrin’s crimes, having to deal with Bornhald and Byar (shaking my head at these two, that’s all I’ll give to them), and then coming to trust Perrin.
Gawyn and Morgase, on the other hand, irritate the living hell out of me. They are, without a doubt, two of the most selfish characters I’ve ever come across. Morgase is such a bad mother that she would rather be a serving woman than even try to get in contact with her children (and I’m sorry, the whole argument of “Elayn can’t have me interfering while she’s on the Lion Throne” is a load of crap. How many times did she even worry about her children? Not bloody enough. Bad, bad mother. Thinking more about being a cougar than letting her own children know that she’s alive. Gawyn… Fine. Thinking that someone killed my mother and then knowing that I’d have to put up with him because he has to save the universe is one thing; but always thinking about killing him? Did he not get the memo or something? Rand is the Dragon Reborn – your little worries just do not matter. Anyway, rant over. For now. (He’d better do something useful in A Memory of Light – or die falling down a toilet; either wouldn’t really matter to me).
Mat: he definitely was the old Mat we all love, so big kudos to Brandon there. The whole “I can look at her, only look, because I’m married now” thing got a bit old after a while, but Mat was joking, fearless, utterly without regard for what anyone thought, and downright fun. The ending of the gholam thread was cool (also, finally) and the movement towards the Tower of Gengei was great, although I have to admit that the actual rescuing of Moiraine was wayyy too anti-climactic for my tastes. Yes, it was awesome going back to the Snakes and the Foxes, and the (finally) reveal of Jain Farstrider was one of those awesome-soundtrack-in-the-background moments, but on the whole I think it was the weakest climax in the book. Having Moiraine back is going to be crazy-good for A Memory of Light, but her and Thom just falling into each other’s eyes (yes, I knew it was coming, how obvious it was) was just too damned quick. It was, without a doubt, one of the most unlikely love stories in the entire series and it was officially revealed so quickly that I was left wondering, “Are you serious?” We finally have Mat giving up ‘half the light of the world’, though, and that makes me think that if Moiraine dies before Rand opens the Bore, the world is stuffed no matter what Rand does. She is obviously incredibly central to sealing away the Dark One.
Now I come to what were my favourite threads in the novel: Perrin and Aviendha.
Aviendha gave us what I consider to be the most intense and thoughtful thread of the entire series. Not only did she actually begin to wonder what was left for the Aiel as a people, but she kicked tradition on its ass by taking the greatest risk any female channeler has ever taken by breaking the rules. The scenes of her living through Rand’s descendants was, in my opinion, utter and terrible brilliance. I never thought that we would get a glimpse of the future after the sealing of the Bore, and to get that glimpse while also meeting Rand’s (many) children… DAMNED COOL. She now has this massive weight, the weight of her entire nation, on her shoulders, and I absolutely cannot wait to see how she not only deals with her realizations through A Memory of Light, but does this fighting in the Last Battle. Definitely one of my most-anticipated threads for the final volume.
And then finally Perrin: Up to this book I couldn’t stand him. Many people think of Rand as the uber-Emo, but Perrin took that crown and cried over it long before Rand even vibrated in that direction. I’m re-reading the series (finished Lords of Chaos again not too long ago), and the march towards Malden may just be a thread that I will completely skip – that way I’ll not have to lurch through Perrin and Morgase again. BUT. In this book, Perrin was excellent. He finally goes up against Slayer (wonder what he’ll be doing in the Last Battle – methinks Lan will have a fine old time with him), embraces who he is, kicks ass in the Wolf Dream, and gives us the first (and incredible) forging-a-weapon-with-the-Power scene. I had gooseflesh that entire scene. And when I saw this cover I had gooseflesh all over again. Perrin became not only the best general (my opinion) in that world, but also one of my favourite characters again. RJ, Brandon, you redeemed him for me. THANK YOU. And not only was Perrin redeemed, he was also central to some of the best WoT scenes I’ve ever read – witnessing Rand on Dragonmount (I wouldn’t want to be there, at that time, even if I could channel), and (my absolute favourite scene ever) standing with Egwene and nullifying BALEFIRE.
So, while Towers of Midnight really and truly kicked ass because of the events throughout the book, it also (and here you might think I’m weird) sucked:
The pacing of the book was a bit off – way too much jumping around. Rodel’s thread needed to happen more often – taking as long as it did between scenes sucked away any interest I had in seeing one of the best generals in the world do his thing. I’ve mentioned the climax – I think Mat’s thread would have worked better if it ended before Perrin’s. And the mistakes – when Tam leaves Perrin, Perrin lets him even though he doesn’t know why; but later on, Perrin suddenly knows why Tam left. WTF? Also (and this is my biggest problem), did the copy editors not do their jobs? This book was absolutely riddled with typos – so much so that every mistake was like a blow to the head. Come on, people; you don’t slip up like this on what will prove to be one of the biggest titles in the history of fantasy. You just don’t. But you did. Please, no typos in A Memory of Light. That would be a crime of massive proportions. 
My second-biggest problem – the (non) reveal of Asmodean’s killer. Come on. RJ and Brandon: you leave us wondering and hanging and waiting for the reveal and then stick it in the damned glossary?! Not cool. But surprising as hell, I’ll give you guys that.
All in all, Towers of Midnight was an excellent book, marred (but not excessively so) by pacing issues, the mistake regarding Tam, and a massive amount of typos. It brought some cool threads to a close, nicely paving the way for the final volume, and even began what will probably turn out to be some very cool threads that may just carry over until after the sealing of the Bore. Event-wise it’s the best Wheel of Time book I’ve read, that’s for sure. I’m gonna go ahead and say this – I think we can expect the same jumping around through events with A Memory of Light; and that scares me a bit. There’s just so much that still needs to happen, not even considering about Caemlyn being attacked. I do look forward to it, though, and will once again drop everything I’m reading to dive into it when it’s released. Towers of Midnight has left me in absolutely no doubt that the Last battle has started, Rand is ready to do what he was born to do, and that we’re in for one hell of a wild ride with A Memory of Light.
8 / 10
If you don’t yet have your copy, what the hell’s up with that? Seriously, order your copies here for Amazon US and here for Amazon UK; those in South Africa can just click the link (the book’s cover) to the right and order from Exclusive Books. Head on over to Brandon’s site here, and don’t forget to check out the best Wheel of Time site on the internet – Dragonmount.
Tor.com have also created Wheel of Time-centric portals, run by Jennifer Liang; damned good person to be in charge of them. Wheel of Time on Facebook; Wheel of Time on Twitter.
Be EPIC!
News: Star Wars and Nolan’s 3rd Batman Movie
Just saw this news:
The cover of Paul Kemp‘s third (counting from Crosscurrent and including Deceived) Star Wars novel, Riptide, has been revealed. Riptide is the sequel to Paul’s Expanded Universe debut, Crosscurrent, which I reviewed here. Here’s the cover:
Er… I’ll have to be completely honest and say that this cover just doesn’t do it for me. Not only is it a complete departure from Crosscurrent’s cover, but it also just doesn’t look like Jaden to me (meaning, the Jaden in Jedi Academy).
But, I’m seriously looking forward to this book! It’ll become available on July 26th, and you can pre-order your copies here (Amazon US) and here (Amazon UK). (Thanks to EU Cantina, where I saw the post; head on over to their site to read Riptide’s blurb) Paul will also be writing a dulogy set in the EU, check out the news here.
Next up, news about The Dark Knight Rises:
“Batman has found a nemesis for his next cinematic adventure – and it looks like a love interest, too.”
The love-interest? Anne Hathaway, who’ll be portraying (YES!) Selina Kyle – Catwoman! (well, that’s who Selina is, so it’s a no-brainer). Very chuffed with this – I think Anne will be able to pull off Selina damn well and it’ll be great to see her in an excellent action movie again.
Other news, and potentially bigger: BANE. You read that right. Check out this post for all the details.
And can I just say that I would give my left kidney for a ticket to the premiere? (including air-fares and accomodation?)
Be EPIC!
Review: Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
Gates of Fire is right up there with the handful of Best Novels I’ve Ever Read. Why? I’ll try and give you my reasons.
Gates of Fire is the story of the 300 and their stand at the Hot Gates against the massed multi-nation army of the God-King Xerxes. Sound familiar? Here’s the thing (and I never thought I would say this) – it is familiar, unfortunately, because of Zack Snyder’s 300. Unfortunately? Yep, you read that right.
I say unfortunately because 300 was so awesome when it came out that most people haven’t even heard of Gates of Fire, never mind actually read the book. And that’s a damn shame.
Here’s why I love the book:
The way Steven approached the story: Gates of Fire is told from the perspective of a historian, part of Xerxes’ massive train of humanity that travelled to Hellas, who is recording the story of a survivor of the Battle of Thermopylae. A survivor? Well, yes, a survivor. (Read the book – it does make sense; the chance of there being a survivor is possible, as I’m sure you’ll agree once you’ve read the book) The tale unfolds as if we are reading an ancient document, a scroll, upon which the words of this survivor were recorded by the historian.
This allows for certain things – one is that the type of language used in the book is formal and intentional; after all, a historian will be more highly educated than a Spartan Peer and it will be practically impossible for the historian to write in any other way. And as the historian is relating what the survivor related to him he naturally would have corrected the survivor’s grammar, etc. Steven brought in the humour and tension and humanity through the survivor’s words and made it seem as if the historian just wasn’t able to record the words in any other way. It’s extremely difficult for me to try and explain this, (as you’ve probably noticed with my rambling) but the best way to describe it is as if the historian got caught up in the tale, as if he began living the tale (as all good story-tellers manage to do with those listening to or reading the story), and so his own perceptions of the Spartans and the battle (didn’t change) became more informed.
The second thing is that Steven doesn’t focus the story on the Spartans. Sure, the novel is about their absolutelybloodyepic battle against the massed nations of the Persian Empire, but it doesn’t focus on them. Instead, Steven uses someone who isn’t a Spartan to tell the tale, so that as this person get’s to know and understand the Spartans, so does the reader. Steven also jumps around in the timeline -he’s allowed to, since everyone knows how the Battle of Thermopylae ended- and gives us excellent snapshots of the Spartan way of life, the Spartan people, and the characters we know from 300, including (and I mention these because you’ll remember them) Leonidas and Dienekes (he’s the man who made the quip about ‘fighting in the shade’ in 300).
And no scene is wasted – everything you read, from the early life of the narrator, the insane but very important Spartan training regimen, the philosophical debates and previous battles, is important. Everything sets you up for the climactic, indeed, fuckin’ apocalyptic, Battle of Thermopylae.
Steven doesn’t just do his research; he does his research: It’s completely and utterly apparent. I learned more about warfare and the psychology of warfare and warriors than I did from any other source. This isn’t just the retelling of an ancient last stand against impossible odds – in Gates of Fire you’ll learn how the city states that made up ancient Greece operated, just how and why the Helot’s were part of Spartan society, just what the agoge (also mentioned in 300) was and how it prepared a Spartan warrior, you’ll learn about the gear they may have used and how they used it, parables they told, you’ll learn what kind of food they ate, what they believed in, etc There’s so much in this novel that it’s one of those books that requires a re-read every couple of years, and I completely understand why the Battle of Thermopylae is such an important event in the history of humanity (not even to mention the importance that Gates of Fire itself has attained: Gates of Fire is on the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ Reading list. It is taught at West Point and Annapolis and at the Marine Corps Basic School at Quantico and the Virginia Military Institute – taken from this article.)
The battle(s) are INCREDIBLE: There is a scene, early on in the novel, where the Spartans are engaged in a battle (not Thermopylae), and at one point the warriors, after having formed their lines and hoisted their shields into position, bring their spears into position; that scene gave me such an attack of gooseflesh that just thinking about it brings the gooseflesh back. And that’s only one scene, and not even the actual Battle, yet. (by the way, the only author that, in my opinion, has managed to come close to elliciting such a reaction from me is Paul Kearney in The Ten Thousand.) Everything you’ve ever thought you might experience in a battle -the massive tension, the fear, the single-mindedness, the brutality, the camaraderie, and every single blow, is in this novel. If I only ever read battles as written by Steven Pressfield, I’ll die a happy man.
The characterization is achingly brilliant: whether it’s Persians, Spartans (husbands, wives, warriors) Helots, Acadians, Thebans, Thesbians, etc Steven brings a clear and ringing humanity to the large cast that populate this novel. Some of the best scenes involve (and here I’ll surprise you) two women of Sparta – these scenes served to really bring that gut-punch to the novel, that sense of breathlessness that you have after witnessing something indelible and incredible. You see, there’s so much focus on the warriors that one doesn’t stop to think about their wives (and in case you didn’t know, the 300 Peers who fought and died at Thermopylae were chosen because, basically, they had wives and sons to carry on their name, and to become the warriors that Sparta would need in the face of the Persian onslaught). What must that do to you, knowing, as you watch your husband or oldest son or bother, marching off to stand against an invader but to stand for you? Gates of Fire gives you the fodder to answer that question for yourself.
I s’pose I could go on and on, but I don’t want to. Hopefully I’ve given you reason enough to order this novel or to buy it as soon as your eyes fall upon it. This is a book that deserves to be read, and re-read, and re-read. One of the biggest reasons? You know what happens, and it still breaks you.
Absolutely, incredibly enthralling, and definitely one of my all-time favourite novels.
10 / 10
For more info about Steven and his work, check out his website here; to order your copies of Gates of Fire click here for Amazon US, here for Amazon UK, and here for South Africa.
For a taste of what you can expect, read this excerpt of Gates of Fire. It’s a scene from the agoge, and the least of what it explains is ‘fucking the tree’.
And if you still don’t think this is worth a read, check out Adam Whitehead’s review on The Wertzone.
Be EPIC!
P.S. If anyone knows Ridley Scott, pass on a copy of the novel to him, would you? And then force him to read it, even if he stops making movies for the time it takes him to read it. After the excellence that was / remains Black Hawk Down, Ridley is the absolute *perfect* man to make Gates of Fire into the best fuckin’ movie *ever*.
John Jarrold’s Corner: Agency Client’s Titles for Jan / Feb
Hey everyone, hope you had (or are having) an epic Monday!
Thanks to John I’ve got a preliminary breakdown of the novels of his agency-clients that will be hitting the shelves this month and in February; excellent stuff to look forward to! Publication dates may change, though I’ll let you know as soon as I do.
JANUARY
Thirteen Years Later by Jasper Kent – already available, so get your copies here!
Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling – UK, (Debut) Already available, Order your copies here, reviewed here!
The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees – UK, (Debut) Already available, order your copies here. Reading it at the moment and it’s great!
FEBRUARY
The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett – UK, Pre-order your copies here (releasing 1 Feb)
Thirteen Years Later by Jasper Kent (US Publication – Pyr) – Pre-order your copies here (releases 8 Feb)
Secrets of the Fire Sea by Stephen Hunt – UK, Pre-order your copies here (releases 3 Feb)
King of the Crags by Stephen Deas – UK, Pre-order your copies here (releasing 10 Feb), US, Pre-order your copies here (releasing 1 Feb)
The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas – US, Pre-order your copies here, releasing 1 Feb)
The Bitter Seed of Magic by Suzanne McLeod – UK, Pre-order your copies here (releasing 17 Feb)
Some exciting stuff to look forward to, huh? If you don’t see something that tugs at you then something is definitely wrong!
Next month I’ll bring you March and April’s titles, and the awesomeness just carries on.
Be EPIC!
