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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Akiil’s words brought the saama’an of the slaughtered goat unbidden to Kaden’s mind, and with it the chill, creeping fear pricking the skin between his shoulder blades. It was sloppy thinking, letting someone else’s words dictate the contents of his thought, and he dismissed both the image and the emotion."
"Hendran wrote, A choice between tactics and food is no choice at all. A soldier cannot live on tactics. He cannot improvise food."
I love few things more than a story that gets you into the mindset of a culture, and I love few ways of doing that more than aphorisms and metaphors and liturgy. Staveley's writing is dense with them, and it made this story delightful and deeply satisfying.
Have you read Anathem? Some people say it takes a while for the plot to get started. Personally I was disappointed because it eventually developed a plot and that distracted from learning more about the science monks. The Emperor's Blades isn't on that level of brilliance, but it manages to keep a plot going while deeply immersing us in two cultures, a monastery dedicated to extremist ego-annihilation and an island of fantasy-world special forces trainees.
It loses a star for extensive and unreflective use of two ugly tropes: (I do think there's a chance it will deal more thoughtfully with the first in later volumes).
"Hendran wrote, A choice between tactics and food is no choice at all. A soldier cannot live on tactics. He cannot improvise food."
I love few things more than a story that gets you into the mindset of a culture, and I love few ways of doing that more than aphorisms and metaphors and liturgy. Staveley's writing is dense with them, and it made this story delightful and deeply satisfying.
Have you read Anathem? Some people say it takes a while for the plot to get started. Personally I was disappointed because it eventually developed a plot and that distracted from learning more about the science monks. The Emperor's Blades isn't on that level of brilliance, but it manages to keep a plot going while deeply immersing us in two cultures, a monastery dedicated to extremist ego-annihilation and an island of fantasy-world special forces trainees.
It loses a star for extensive and unreflective use of two ugly tropes:
Spoiler
It puts the protagonists in extremely abusive environments and it just makes them badasses, instead of causing any discernible trauma. And it has only two female characters who get any development at all, and then straight-up fridges one of them
One major gripe I had was the over/unnecessary use of 'kent-kissing' and 'shael spawning'. Sometimes it felt like you couldn't go 1 page without 'kent-kissing' this or 'shael spawning' that.
Like other readers I felt that it was slow for the first 3 quaters of the book with almost all the plot progression and action occuring within the final quarter (100 pages).
Like other readers I felt that it was slow for the first 3 quaters of the book with almost all the plot progression and action occuring within the final quarter (100 pages).
This book was truly amazing. It caught my attention immediately and never let go. Staveley's ability to build a world both foreign and familiar is uncanny. I never had my eyes glass over when discussing the world's people, places or things. The stories of the gods, old and new, made perfect sense and yet kept an air of wonder.
I'll be starting the second novel shortly.
I'll be starting the second novel shortly.
I had such high expectations of this book..but it's shallow and boring. The two male main characters are sons of the emperor and heirs to the throne, but they are treated like Draco Malfoy treats Harry Potter. It just doesn't feel realistic. No one seems to do logical things in this book and It really really bothers me.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To vyzera, ze v poslednom case citam len debuty a na starych dobrych autorov zabudam. A ciastocne je to pravda. Na druhu stranu, tato moderna fantasy aku produkuju McClellan, Lawrence, Rothfuss ci prave Staveley mi skutocne sedi. Cisarovy Cepele (mimochodom vyherca niekolkych cien o najlepsi debut v roku 2014) je dalsia kniha od uplne noveho autora, pri ktorej je tazke uverit, ze toho uz nema za sebou podstatne viac.
Vyborne napisane, svizne a ustavicne striedanie PoV pomaha tomu aby sa citatel nemohol nudit ani na chvilku. Postavy su prevazne zaujimave, aj ked (hlavne v pripade dvoch hlavnych hrdinov) trochu tupe. Miestami sa mi zdalo, ze sa dej (a hlavne niektore zaporne postavy) dostali autorovi trochu mimo kontrolu a ten musel narychlo hasit poziar vecami, ktore vobec nemali byt potrebne.
A dostavame sa teda aj k negativam, kvoli ktorym som knihe nenaparil plne hodnotenie. Jednak mi pride, ze sa v tej knihe v podstate nic nestalo. Ano, postavy sa vyvijali pomerne uspokojivo, ale celu knihu som nedokazal potlacit pocit, ze toto cele je len uvod. A to ani na konci. Dalsia vec bola ta, ze 'obrovsky zvrat' na konci knihy bol velmi klisoidny a predpokladat sa dal uz od zaciatku poslednej kapitoly.
Ale vsehovsudy som velmi spokojny a tesim sa na dalsie diely. Ako opakujem, toto je viacmenej moj oblubeny zaner fantasy, takze aj ked Cisarovy Cepele nie su uplne najlepsim zastupcom, ja si zelam len viac a viac takychto debutov.
Vyborne napisane, svizne a ustavicne striedanie PoV pomaha tomu aby sa citatel nemohol nudit ani na chvilku. Postavy su prevazne zaujimave, aj ked (hlavne v pripade dvoch hlavnych hrdinov) trochu tupe. Miestami sa mi zdalo, ze sa dej (a hlavne niektore zaporne postavy) dostali autorovi trochu mimo kontrolu a ten musel narychlo hasit poziar vecami, ktore vobec nemali byt potrebne.
A dostavame sa teda aj k negativam, kvoli ktorym som knihe nenaparil plne hodnotenie. Jednak mi pride, ze sa v tej knihe v podstate nic nestalo. Ano, postavy sa vyvijali pomerne uspokojivo, ale celu knihu som nedokazal potlacit pocit, ze toto cele je len uvod. A to ani na konci. Dalsia vec bola ta, ze 'obrovsky zvrat' na konci knihy bol velmi klisoidny a predpokladat sa dal uz od zaciatku poslednej kapitoly.
Ale vsehovsudy som velmi spokojny a tesim sa na dalsie diely. Ako opakujem, toto je viacmenej moj oblubeny zaner fantasy, takze aj ked Cisarovy Cepele nie su uplne najlepsim zastupcom, ja si zelam len viac a viac takychto debutov.