Joe Abercrombie coming to Canberra

Thanks John Boy, I’ll check him out.

My curiosity is piqued now. What’s a good Abercrombie novel to start with?

Joe Abercrombie is one of my favorite contempory writers. If you’re sick of stock standard hero characters that always make the right choice and always come out on top, his protagonists tend to have the complex moral ambiguities that means their path is never easy/straight forward. Good guys don’t always win, bad guys don’t always get what’s coming to them.
There’s also a fantastic passage in The Heroes where you get a point of view from a character in the midst of battle, only to have him killed and the narritive to be taken over by his killer, repeated 5 or six times. For me it was a great illustration of battles being fought by people who had whole lives, right up until that point, not just pawns created for the battle.
I know I’m gushing a bit, but I really got a kick out of these books.

johnboy said :

Sanderson is firmly in the crap pile for mine. Haven’t looked at the others.

Erikson, in particular, is very similar to Abercrombie. Lynch is funnier (not comedy fantasy, just lighter)

Hacketthead said :

I’m not a big fan of fantasy, but I’ve read a few of China Mieville’s and enjoyed them all. American Gods by Neil Gaiman is pretty good too.

Gaiman’s closer to literary fiction than balls out fantasy for my money, in that most of his works start in a world recognisably like ours.

I’m not a big fan of fantasy, but I’ve read a few of China Mieville’s and enjoyed them all. American Gods by Neil Gaiman is pretty good too.

a slightly incongruous visit to the Belconnen Mall.

…. Self-denial?

Coincidentally:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/30/ursula-k-le-guin-stories?newsfeed=true

And of course there’s the urban fantasy of China Miéville.

poetix said :

Ursula K. Le Guin is the most notable of exceptions.

Standing up to the modern generation I’d say she’s good and definitely not crap. But didn’t spring to mind.

Sanderson is firmly in the crap pile for mine. Haven’t looked at the others.