Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings

Legends told of how the evil God Torak had coveted the power of the Orb of Aldur, until defeated in a final battle. But prophecy spoke of a time when he would awake and again seek dominance over all the world. Now the Orb had been stolen by a priest of Torak, and that time was at hand.

The master Sorcerer Belgarath and his daughter Polgara were on the trail of the Orb, seeking to regain it before the final disaster. And with them went Garion, a simple farm boy only months before, but now in the focus of the struggle. He had never believed in sorcery and wanted no part of it. Yet with every league they travelled, the power grew in him, forcing him to acts of wizardry he could not accept.

Thus continues Book Two of the Belgariad.

I really really like the David Eddings books, and they were where I properly started out reading in the fantasy genre, back when I was thirteen or so. I adore them and have read them time and again. However, Queen of Sorcery is far from the strongest entry in the Belgariad, and this time during my re-read it was very hard to prevent myself seeing the many faults. I still love the whole series, but struggle with this particular book.

One problem I have is the character of Garion. With all the (many, many, many) clues that are dropped we know already that he is destined for greatness. Even if it wasn't prophesied, the fact that he is distantly related to Polgara and Belgarath should mean that he is something out of the ordinary. And yet this clever boy (it is pointed out a number of times in the text that he has a great deal of intelligence) is completely oblivious to what might be coming to pass. I really struggle to comprehend how this could be.

Sticking with Garion for now, Eddings (in this book) employs the tactic of "tell, don't show". We are told that Garion is seeking vengeance for the murder of his parents. And then the matter is dropped entirely until he meets said murderer and then Eddings reminds us that Garion is mightily annoyed at this person. That sense of hatred should have been carried through the novel in a better manner and shown through Garion's actions.

Other than Garion, the other characters irritated me more than pleased me in this outing. Barak and Silk are very interesting and entertaining characters. Silk, in particular, is a complicated little fellow - and I could have stood to see much more character development, and motivations for their following Belgarath (apart from being told to!) Instead we are introduced to yet more characters who seem to have absolutely no reason to be on-page at all, such as Lelldorin. He turns up, he shoots a few arrows, he tells Garion about a plot to kill the king, and then he is left behind with a near-fatal injury. Why? And the trip across Arendia seemed futile, including a scene in the Arendish throne-room that felt incredibly repetitive after a *very* similar scene in book one of the series, in the Cherek throne-room.

Speaking of Arendia and Cherek - isn't it useful for the reader that you can completely recognise where a character is from by their appearances and foibles? Chereks all have bristling beards, drink ale and hold grudges (dwarves, anyone?), while the Algar are all brilliant horsemen, with flowing scalp locks. And so it continues across every race of man. This just seemed far too lazy on the part of the world-builder - it makes a novel far more interesting when race is not so heavily defined.

The story itself suffers somewhat from middle book syndrome - we are still gathering characters together, and discovering the overall arc of the plot. There is a lot of travelogue-style fiction - namely, wandering around from place to place and having episodic adventures.

And we have the PROPHECY and the VOICE. Neither of these plot points were in Pawn of Prophecy at all (despite the title) and it feels as though Eddings felt they would be good additions to the overall story. I know this isn't so, thanks to reading The Rivan Codex, a novel where Eddings describes how long it took him to develop the world and story, but it reads as such. Suddenly we hear about the prophecy about Torak rising again, and the Tolnedran princess who will marry the returned Rivan King.

As a personal preference I find prophecy to be a very tired device (maybe it wasn't when the Belgariad was written, but it just creates such innate plot problems). It takes away all freewill from the characters and is essentially one big deus ex machina if the author gets into any problems - "oh, that happened because the prophecy said it needed to..." Add to this the 'dry voice' that speaks in Garion's mind - "don't mind me, I've always been here, I can show you how to use the magic you never knew you had etc etc." Again, a very cliched manner of moving the plot along - need to explain to a dense boy what is going on? Use the mysterious internal voice that is never adequately explained....

So, rather scathing all round. The thing is, this book is essential reading in the quintology that makes up The Belgariad. You can't really skip it, unless you've read these books before. And, well, it's Eddings - the prose is still smooth and very readable, the dialogue is still amusing and sometimes very touching. I LOVE Eddings. But this one, I'm afraid, was a wee bit of a struggle.

Boys for Beginners Blog Tour: Welcoming Lil Chase!

Today I am so pleased to be part of the blog tour for Boys for Beginners by Lil Chase. I'm thrilled to welcome Lil Chase to Floor to Ceiling Books, and she has written a fantastic guest post. Without any further ado...

Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?

When I tell someone that I’m a writer this is the conversation that usually follows:

Them: Wow! That’s great. What’s the book called?

Me: Boys For Beginners

Them: Love the title!

Me: Thanks.
(I didn’t come up with the title. A friend suggested it. In return, I bought her an orchid.)

Them: What’s it about?

Me: It’s a funny story about a tomboy who tries to become a girlie girl to impress a boy… but gets it wrong a lot.

Them: (Polite laugh.)
How did you come up with the idea?

Me: Erm… I stole it from a little girl.

Before you judge me, that little girl was me.

I started writing Boys for Beginners when I was 10. Back then I had called it Gwynnie Goes Girlie (a Ronseal title, but not quite as stand out as B4B). I’d never forgotten the concept so I mentioned it to my agent and she told me to get writing. But before I could get writing I had to get researching… which meant a trip to my parents’ attic.

I knew where I’d put it, in a colourful folder with Velcro seal. I knew what that first page would look like: the title, chapter one heading, three quarters of a page of pencil written text, then a picture of Gwynnie, drawn by me… I just had to pray that my parents hadn’t thrown it out.

They hadn’t.

What was surprising about the manuscript – other than the crude drawings and the even cruder spelling – was how well structured it was:

1. I introduced the protagonist Gwynnie and her best friend Paul.

2. I introduce the antagonist – Jenny, the girliest girl in school. Paul starts to fall for Jenny and Gwynnie doesn’t understand how he could like her.

3. I introduce the threat – The headmaster says they’re implementing a school uniform. Which means that Gwynnie will have to wear a skirt!

4. I introduced the goal – the arrival of the hunky boy.

5. Only after all that did I give any backstory – Gwynnie goes home and we see that she has a father and a brother but her mother died when she was little. Now we realise why Gwynnie is a tomboy – she doesn’t know how to be a girl.

Armed with the ingredients from Little Lil – my ten year old self – I started writing. The process was made so much easier because I knew these characters: Gwynnie was based on my best friend Kate… who is still by best friend. Paul was based on Paul, a good friend at the time and we’ve met up again recently. Jenny was… I know who Jenny was but I’m not telling. I took the characters from that original manuscript and adapted them: Gwynnie has become less like Kate and more like me, with the experiences I had when I was a teenager. Paul has become less like Paul and more like another best friend Tom. Jenny has become more like me too: she says all the nasty things I sometimes think but never dare to say out loud.

I would love to be able to go back in time and tell Little Lil that the book she started writing would one day be on bookshelves… and available to download (‘What’s a download?’ she’d ask).

But now I need to write a second book, and Little Lil is not around to plagiarise from so I am left with coming up with the second book on my own. Tricky.

Here are some of the ways I do it.

Keep a notebook
I have a notebook on me at all times in case a flash of inspiration hits me. But it’s one thing to have the note book, it’s another to get it out and write in it.

Eavesdrop
While commuting I pretend to read, but really I’m listening. Being a writer is often about taking in the world around us, that way the writing feels more authentic.

Magazines
The idea for my second novel came to be when reading Bliss Magazine. The banner along the top read: ‘In this issue: Boys… Cringes… Pets… Friends… Secrets…’ A list off things tween girls are interested in.

Travel
Whenever I’m feeling really blocked I try to get out. Much as I love my house, bed, local coffee shop, nearby park, friends and family, sometimes I need to see something I’ve never seen before.

Support networks
In my day job I work with a team of editors, most of whom are writers in their free time. We talk about our books a lot (like the friend who came up with the new title). It’s like Weight Watchers for writers, with everyone bemoaning how little writing they’ve done and helping each other to tackle that flabby second act.

Where do you get your ideas from? Have you got a novel way to inspire your novel? How do you unblock that writer’s block? Please, share your tips.

Please do leave comments for Lil with your suggestions!

And, in the meantime, Boys for Beginners is out now, so go and pick up a copy!

Thanks for dropping by, Lil.

Far From Home by Na'ima B Robert

Katie and Tariro are worlds apart but their lives are linked by a terrible secret, gradually revealed in this compelling and dramatic story of two girls grappling with the complexities of adolescence, family and a painful colonial legacy.

Some books are powerful - thanks to the prose, the story or the subject matter. Far From Home is powerful because of all three. It describes the sharp and terrible events in what used to be Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe. It shows the rise of Robert Mugabe to power. It manages to portray both sides of a conflict that tore a country apart and was a dark period in world history.

First we meet Tariro, and gain an insight into the lives of the Karanga people. She is a bright and charming young girl, in love with the brave and handsome Nhamo. Her whole life is in front of her - but then the white settlers arrive and steal all of that life away from her.

The second part of the novel shows Katie, a pampered daughter of one of the white settler families. She has been brought up to consider black people beneath her, and is forced to confront those prejudices when her uncle takes her into his home - the uncle that has taken a black woman to wife.

There is a connection between Tariro and Katie that brings the two story lines colliding together, and is fitting and neat.

Robert's prose is stark, clean and elegant. It details the sometimes shocking events with quiet dignity and helps to evoke feelings for both Tariro and Katie, despite the fact that they are on opposing sides of the tale.

The characters are brilliantly written, and it is simply awesome to see two female protagonists take centre stage.

Robert clearly writes from the heart and has a great deal of experience in the subject matter. She manages to convey a complex political situation with direct language and a lot of sympathy.

This, as I say, is a powerful book. It is very well written. But it is not fun or light. It is challenging, thought-provoking and has enormous depth.

Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones

This will be a little review to suit a little book. A little book, but one that contains bag-fulls of charm, magic, mayhem and talking cats. Earwig is an orphan who was left on the steps of St Morwald's Home for Children. She has managed to entwine the inhabitants of the Children's Home round her little finger, and all now do her bidding. So she is beyond dismayed when Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to the Home and choose Earwig to take home with them. Bella Yaga is a witch and determines that she is going to use Earwig as a second set of hands. Earwig is just as determined that she won't be used for that - and sparks certainly fly.

Diana Wynne Jones is sorely missed - an author who mixed mundane and magical to produce stories of great delight. I equate Diana Wynne Jones with Roald Dahl - someone who knew how to entertain children, not talk down to them, and introduced both darkness and humour to their tales.

Accompanying the text of Earwig and the Witch are atmospheric illustrations from the pen of Marion Lindsay - cute and eerie, all at once.

As I said above, I was utterly charmed by this novel and think that anyone who has enjoyed a Diana Wynne Jones in the past will love this dark little gem.

A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must... and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty. The old gods have no power in the south, Stark's family is split, and there is treachery at court. Worse, a vengeance-mad boy has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities beyond the sea. Heir of the mad Dragon King deposed by Robert, he claims the Iron Throne.

I first read A Game of Thrones back in 2000, and since then I think I have read it a further five times. I would not re-read a book that I did not love and yet this time around the experience reading A Game of Thrones was a bitter one.

I still loved it. Yet, at the same time, I hated it. For what is held up to be the epitome of epic fantasy, A Game of Thrones felt much more like horror. Dark scenes set to shock, the dead walking, and points in the story where you wanted to wish it all away and quit reading. A Game of Thrones takes a strong stomach to read - and a will of steel.

In the dictionary, the definition of 'grim' should show A Game of Thrones. It is relentlessly dark, grim and terrifying. There is little to cheer about, little to laugh about.

I compared, in my mind, A Game of Thrones to Gardens of the Moon - both are very dark and gritty epic fantasy, but Gardens of the Moon shows real flashes of mordant humour. In later books, Erikson explores slapstick comedy, outright belly-laughs, exchanges between characters that cause chuckles. If you look for it, the Malazan series has laughs-aplenty, which help to break up the tragedy and grim darkness of the rest of the books. A Game of Thrones does not. I searched for the humour. I was told that Tyrion Lannister would provide humour, and perhaps Arya Stark. But there was nothing that made me laugh - and all too much that made me cry.

Also, when a novel tells a tale from multiple viewpoints, it lives and dies by the choice of those viewpoints. Some of them I raced through, gulped up compulsively and was desperate to read more. Some of the viewpoints I plodded through and wished would end. Catelyn Stark was one of the latter. I know people say she is a formidable female protagonist, but I disliked her manipulation and her crazy actions against Tyrion Lannister. She was so blinkered and failed, for me, as a major character. Her sister, however, was worse - Lysa Stark deserved booting from the Moon Door.

By far my favourite parts of the book involved Jon Snow on the Wall as part of the Night Watch. The Others were suitably creepy and nasty, with those starry blue eyes, and I just wanted to know more and more and MORE about what was happening beyond the wall. The feeling of foreboding I had during the entire novel intensified incredibly when I thought about the vast expanse of the wall left unguarded.

Martin is a very clever writer. The use of different viewpoints kept the pace of the novel moving at an incredible speed, because the reader wants to continue reading to find out what happens to favourite characters. I did find the constant cliffhanger endings very artificial, however, and it seemed as though Martin did not trust the quality of his prose or characters to keep the reader turning the pages.

He is also clever in giving us characters on both sides of the conflict within the Seven Kingdoms who we end up liking best. For me, I like Jon, Ned, Arya and Tyrion. I have a grudging admiration for Jaime. I do NOT like Sansa, Catelyn, Cersei or Joffrey. It means that the reader is able to understand why some actions might come to pass, and how this conflict escalated into an inevitable war. It is fitting that A Game of Thrones is based somewhat upon the War of the Roses, another conflict where there were good and honourable people to be found on both sides.

I still like A Game of Thrones - but I no longer love it the way I used to. I need more than the horror that I am presented with here. I need less of the darkness and more of the humour and light. I'm not saying I'm solely a David Eddings girl, where no one is allowed to die, good always wins out and the bad guys can be recognised by their black armour. But neither do I fall right at the other end of the spectrum, inhabited by GRRM and others of his ilk. Unrelenting grim is not my style, and I found myself more depressed and horror struck by the events of A Game of Thrones than joyful. I want to know how the story ends. I will read more. But I shall ensure that I have a VERY light book lined up to read immediately afterwards!

A Trip to Alnwick Castle - The Poison Diaries

Alnwick (pronounced A-Nick) Castle has been the home of the Percy family for over seven hundred years. It is a castle in Northumberland and traditionally protected the rest of England from the naughty marauding Scots. And last week I spent two days in Alnwick Castle enjoying the hospitality of the Duchess of Northumberland, with a group of bloggers and competition winners.

Alnwick Castle

This dream trip came about thanks to the publication of Nightshade, the second novel in The Poison Diaries series. The Duchess of Northumberland conceived the original idea, and Maryrose Wood has written the two novels so far. They are dark fantasy novels, telling the sweet but doomed romance between Jessamine and Weed. Alnwick Castle and Hulne Abbey are absolutely integral parts of the novels, and so the Duchess of Northumberland wanted people to see this part of the story brought to life.

The cottage in Hulne Abbey where Jessamine and her father lived

That was how I ended up on a train at nine o’clock on Wednesday 27th July, embarking on a seven hour journey to the north of England. Over the course of the train journey I read the first Poison Diaries novel and rather fell in love with Weed, it has to be said. On arrival at Alnmouth Station a group of VERY excited bloggers were shepherded onto three minibuses and we headed for the castle.

The Duchess of Northumberland

The first part of our trip involved a minibus tour through the castle grounds to reach Hulne Abbey. This has never been opened to the public before and it was thoroughly beautiful. The grounds are extensive, comprising river and forests and open grassland. I spent most of this trip staring out of windows and trying to decide which of the many awesome panoramas to take a picture of.

One of the many stunning views in the castle grounds

Hulne Abbey, as I say, is key to the tale of Jessamine and Weed, and we spent a good half an hour wandering around the Abbey and marvelling at the little cottage which is where Jessamine lived in the novel. The Duchess of Northumberland was on hand to answer any and all the questions we had about the book, the characters, and the poisons described.

A pack of interested bloggers listening to the Duchess speak

After that it was back to the castle and possibly my most favourite and jaw-dropping moment of the entire day. We were ushered into the State Rooms for high tea – and it was just AMAZING. The long table was set with silver, there was a roaring fire in the huge feature fireplace, ancestors of the current Percy family stared down at us from beautiful portraits on the wall. I cannot express how much this thrilled and delighted me. And the food! Delicate cucumber sandwiches with the crusts removed, lavender biscuits, tiny cupcakes with glittery icing. I don’t think I have ever experienced anything quite as unique as this.

High Tea

Once we had been pampered with tea and delicious cakes, we headed to the immense library for a candlelit reading of the first chapter of Nightshade. All I can say is a) I want a library like that one day and b) I’m SO glad we were given advance copies of Nightshade because the first chapter sounded really good! We were allowed to spend some time wandering the library after the reading, although a sharp eye was kept on us bloggers considering the number of books around!

The reading in the library

Some of the books on herbal lore, poisons and recipes had been taken down from the shelves and opened so that we could see the books that Jessamine’s father, Thomas Luxton, would have been eager to own and read.

A very ancient book

After all this excitement we went back to our rooms (which were Spartan, to say the least, but who could pass up an opportunity to stay in the ACTUAL CASTLE) and got ready for the evening meal. I have to say, it was utterly surreal wandering around the grounds of a castle when the public have vanished for the day – it just helped to emphasise how special this trip was.

We played Spot the Hedwig!

The evening meal was held in a treehouse restaurant, which looked utterly beautiful all lit up with fairylights. The meal was themed around poisons and the idea of “kill or cure”, and the place settings were gorgeous. I loved the food and there were lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ when the pudding was brought through with hidden dry ice making smoke drift out from the dishes.

The Treehouse Restaurant

Finally we had our candlelit tour of the Poison Garden, led by the aforementioned Thomas Luxton (a gentleman dressed to look the part, with a truly frightening knowledge of how to kill people!) It was eerie wandering through the garden, watching the candles flicker in the wind and knowing that the plants being talked about are utterly deadly.

Our evening meal place settings

After a VERY long day we wandered back through the grounds in the dark, and us bloggers spent a blissful hour or so talking books in the deserted castle courtyard. Very cool.

The Poison Garden by candlelight

The next door dawned bright and early, and we had breakfast Harry Potter-style on long tables in a large castle dining room. Then it was a tour through the underground tunnels that were used by servants to bring the food from the kitchen to the main part of the castle without having to head out into the snow and inclement weather. Those tunnels were VERY creepy – especially when we were told about the possible ghosts – and I was glad to head back out into the sunshine.

Finally, we had another walk through the Poison Garden in the daylight, and then were able to get our various Poison Diaries books signed by the Duchess before heading to a rather lovely form of transport to take us back to the train station.

Surreal, huh?!

It was a long way to go, and a lot of travel, but this truly was a unique and brilliant opportunity, something that I shall never be able to do again. I drank in the sights and sounds and tastes, and left feeling incredibly privileged. I would like to extend my thanks to the Duchess of Northumberland for opening her home to us, and for being so enthused about the idea of crazy bloggers talking to her about The Poison Diaries. I’d also like to thank the Kdot team who worked tirelessly before and during the event to ensure that we had the very best time.

Y’all, it was awesome. I shall never forget it.

Spec Fic Reading Challenge: August Review Link Up!

Welcome to everyone who signed up for the Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge!

This is the post where you can link up your reviews posted on your blogs in August 2011 to be in with a chance of winning the prize pack.

The prize pack this month consists of: A book of your choice from The Book Depository!

All of the reviews you post to Mr Linky below will equate to an entry into the prize draw.

Below is the link widget. Please make sure that your link goes directly to your review and not to your main homepage. Thanks! (This is not the post to use to sign up for the challenge. If you want to do that, please go HERE!)

Good luck to you all, and I look forward to seeing your reviews for August!

July Wrap Up!

We had a healthy 50 or so reviews in July - it's nice to see that people are remaining enthused, even in the event that they have completed the challenge and are just reading along to see how many speculative fiction books they can read in 2011. Reviews have dropped a little the last few months though and I'd be really interested to hear why. Is it that you are tackling different genres? Does your reading slow down during the summer months a little, because you're getting out and doing things? Is there anything I can do to make the Challenge more interesting?

This month's prize pack is a copy of Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper and I'm pleased to say that the winner is:

Bibliotropic

This was for the review of Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban. Please take the time to go and check out Ria's review!

Ria, please contact me at magemanda AT gmail DOT com with your postal address so that I can send out your prize *smiles*

The Link Up for August will be up shortly, so happy reading everyone - and don't forget to have a link at some of the great books and authors that other members of the challenge are reading and reviewing each month.

July Retrospective

A Look Back on July

July has been a great month. I've torn through a huge number of books, I've discovered the joys and pitfalls of reading self-published work, and I've been on the dream blogger's away trip. The weather has been utterly abysmal here in the UK (which might have contributed to the massive amounts of reading that I've been able to get through) and I'm hoping for more from August. I'm now six weeks away from the family holiday to Florida and I am jumping around at the idea that it's now so close. Simply can't wait! My brother and I went (with Mark from My Favourite Books) to Thorpe Park this month to practice riding super scary rollercoasters, and it was a brilliant day out. I've also been watching tons of cricket - the Tests between England and India have been just awesome - but August brings back the return of Premiership football. More to get excited about. I also receive a PHONECALL, which needs capital letters - it could be the most amazing thing ever, but I'm currently in limbo waiting to hear more. Good times. Exciting times.

Reading

Somehow I managed to get through 12 books during July. Some of them were quite slender tomes, but, honestly, I'm not quite sure how I managed it! Would be nice to know how, since I'd love to replicate the effort in August *grins* I think I am just about on target to hit 100 books by the end of the year.

46) Must Be Love by Cathy Woodman
47) Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
48) The Sweetest Thing by Cathy Woodman
49) Fulgrim by Graham McNeill
50) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
51) The Fire Inside by Raymond Rose (self-published)
52) The Double-Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood
53) Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton
54) Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees
55) Romanitas by Sophia McDougall
56) David by Mary Hoffman
57) The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

- 7 books by women, 5 by men
- 2 chick lit novels, 1 epic fantasy, 1 science fiction/tie-in worl, 1 superhero thriller, 3 YA (within that, 1 dark fantasy, 1 urban fantasy, 1 historical), 1 historical crime novel, 1 alternate history/science fiction, 1 that defies all classification. Huh, it's been a mixed up month!
- 5 of these were from my own shelves and 7 were review copies.

Best Book of July

Actually, there are a few choices. I had a great reading month, with some really awesome books. I could choose The Double-Edged Sword or Fulgrim, but, I think, this month really belongs to:

Pages Covered

A stonking 5,516 pages covered this month, with some large books lifting that total up - and my total for 2011 so far is now 27,085, which seems like a real achievement actually. That is a LOT of pages! Longest novel completed in July was Memories of Ice by a *long* way, while the shortest was The Poison Diaries, which is a very quick little read.

Places Visited

Many *grins* - from London to Talyton St George, from Genabackis to a small island near Wales. I definitely wouldn't want to be a slave in the modern day Rome of Romanitas - but I wouldn't mind staying in one of the plush villas of the aristocracy!

Plans for August

Not a lot, if I'm honest. Just more reading, and more Tor work, and more self-published work. In July I started re-reading a couple of series to review for the blog (Anita Blake and A Song of Ice and Fire) so it would be great to carry these on, and get up to date. We'll see!

Over To You

How did your July go? What did you read? What did you get up to? Spill!

Massive Summer Giveaway Winners!

I am really pleased to announce the winners of my massive summer giveaway. Thanks to the hundreds of people who entered, and I hope the winners really enjoy the books coming their way!

Set 1

Jo Jones

Set 2

Holly Green

Set 3

Catherine Owen

Set 4

Asha Hartland

Set 5

Clare Finning

Set 6

Liz Fullam

I have emailed all the winners.

Big congratulations to them, and commiserations to all those who didn't win.