Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The weirder it got, the more I liked it. [b:The Pastel City|304253|The Pastel City|M. John Harrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1294861479s/304253.jpg|295293], from 1971, is lovely, a bit like a missing link from [a:Michael Moorcock|16939|Michael Moorcock|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1424079041p2/16939.jpg] to [a:China Miéville|33918|China Miéville|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1243988363p2/33918.jpg]. But each of the novels after that is less high fantasy and more just weird, until [b:In Viriconium|38323110|In Viriconium (Unicorn)|M. John Harrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517512888s/38323110.jpg|1558008] which feels more like a lost modern novel, more Kafka or [a:Flann O'Brien|15248|Flann O'Brien|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1356027168p2/15248.jpg] than what usually gets called 'fantasy,' characters behaving more like Rimbaud than any of the thousand faces the hero supposedly normally wears. ... nine months after finishing this, I started on Camus' The Plague which also has an artist running around. I suspect that was also an influence in In Viriconium.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As a compilation, it’s an uneven read. The Pastel City is a decent, rather conventional epic (science) fantasy; A Storm of Wings its impressive-if-overwrought sequel; In Viriconium is a swerve to a completely different kind of novel and my favorite of the lot; and Viriconium Nights is an occasionally beautiful, often inscrutable batch of short stories. Looking back afterwards, however, I was struck by how well the whole batch cohered. By reducing the setting to its bare essentials - the city, the wastes, a series of recurring images and character archetypes - and outright abandoning (even deliberately attacking) the notion of continuity, the latter half of the book reframes the former: it’s less a sudden turn to the avant-garde and more a revelation of the subversive streak that was there all along. I'm willing to bet that reading the British edition would have enhanced the experience: there, Harrison has placed the short stories as links between the novels, rather than in a great lump at the end.
I didn’t necessarily love Viriconium, and it’s almost been more enjoyable as a post factum thought exercise than a read. Still, I think I’ll find my way back to Viriconium eventually: I can’t shake the feeling that on reappraisal I’ll find this initial rating insane.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is an omnibus edition of three novels and one short story collection. The original books are quite different from one another, and the collection does not feel like a unified work, even though in this edition the short stories are interspersed with the novels. Overall it was not an easy collection to read, but I'm glad I did.
THE PASTEL CITY is a fairly conventional fantasy quest novel, albeit an absolutely beautifully written one. The distant future setting is portrayed not as ruined so much as polluted, with vast swamps and deserts made of the industrial wastes of dead civilisations.
A STORM OF WINGS is also a fantasy quest story, in which the city must be defended from insect invaders, but the story is overwhelmed by one conceit, that reality is largely determined by perceptions, and the clash of perception between humans and insects causes reality to break down. The protagonists wander, barely sane, through grotesque, mutating landscapes, and it sometimes feels as if the author is using the reality-warping conceit as an excuse to delay explaining to the reader what is going on.
IN VIRICONIUM is the only novel set mainly inside the city, and its plot feels less important than the picture it paints of the setting.
The short stories vary in style and I'm not sure I understood all of them. For the most part they feel more similar to IN VIRICONIUM than to the other two novels.
THE PASTEL CITY is a fairly conventional fantasy quest novel, albeit an absolutely beautifully written one. The distant future setting is portrayed not as ruined so much as polluted, with vast swamps and deserts made of the industrial wastes of dead civilisations.
A STORM OF WINGS is also a fantasy quest story, in which the city must be defended from insect invaders, but the story is overwhelmed by one conceit, that reality is largely determined by perceptions, and the clash of perception between humans and insects causes reality to break down. The protagonists wander, barely sane, through grotesque, mutating landscapes, and it sometimes feels as if the author is using the reality-warping conceit as an excuse to delay explaining to the reader what is going on.
IN VIRICONIUM is the only novel set mainly inside the city, and its plot feels less important than the picture it paints of the setting.
The short stories vary in style and I'm not sure I understood all of them. For the most part they feel more similar to IN VIRICONIUM than to the other two novels.
I was on a dark fantasy kick for a few weeks. I like the first story in this one a lot.
Probably one of THE best fantasy books ever written. Period.
DNF nach 200 Seiten
Während die erste Geschichte noch aufgrund ihrer Seltsamkeit interessant war, konnten die nächsten zwei Geschichten mich überhaupt nicht begeistern. Das Buch beginnt nach der ersten geschichte in die Richtung von 0815-Fantasy-Geschichten abzudriften, wenn auch mit recht guten Twists
Für mich drehte sich außerdem viel zu wenig um Viriconium, die titelgebende Stadt. Ich hatte ursprünglich den Eindruck, das Buch würde eine genaue Beschreibung der Eigenheiten von Viriconium und ihrer sonderbaren Gestalten liefern. Dem war, zumindest in der zweiten und dritten Geschichte, absolut nicht so.
Leider ist Viriconium für mich ein eher unbeeindruckendes Buch. Schade, denn die erste Geschichte legt eine spannende Grundlage und der Schreibstil ist insgesamt auch gut.
Während die erste Geschichte noch aufgrund ihrer Seltsamkeit interessant war, konnten die nächsten zwei Geschichten mich überhaupt nicht begeistern. Das Buch beginnt nach der ersten geschichte in die Richtung von 0815-Fantasy-Geschichten abzudriften, wenn auch mit recht guten Twists
Für mich drehte sich außerdem viel zu wenig um Viriconium, die titelgebende Stadt. Ich hatte ursprünglich den Eindruck, das Buch würde eine genaue Beschreibung der Eigenheiten von Viriconium und ihrer sonderbaren Gestalten liefern. Dem war, zumindest in der zweiten und dritten Geschichte, absolut nicht so.
Leider ist Viriconium für mich ein eher unbeeindruckendes Buch. Schade, denn die erste Geschichte legt eine spannende Grundlage und der Schreibstil ist insgesamt auch gut.
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Truly spectacular and strange science fantasy!
The Pale City is wonderful, but A Storm of Wings is a poetic fever dream of sheer brilliance, which makes all the really great stuff that follows feel a little disappointing. But, this is all bloody brilliant and the first big work I've read the text of in many, many years due to my conditions, which was tough, but absolutely worth it!
The Pale City is wonderful, but A Storm of Wings is a poetic fever dream of sheer brilliance, which makes all the really great stuff that follows feel a little disappointing. But, this is all bloody brilliant and the first big work I've read the text of in many, many years due to my conditions, which was tough, but absolutely worth it!