Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley (Orbit Books)

I finally managed to finish this one and I put up my review over at FantasyBookSpot. Go take a look! (link below)

Some excerpts:

Winterbirth is the story of an ice-clad world that has been deserted by the Gods. An uneasy truce exists between the rulers (Thanes) of the True Bloods, the Haig blood ruled by Gryvan oc Haig and the Gyre blood, ruled by Ragnar oc Gyre. Then as autumn ends and winter approaches, the armies of the Black Road march down south from their exile beyond the Vale of Stones. These tidings of war and violence shake the Glas valley that is governed by the Lannis Haig blood on its very foundations. Orisian, nephew to the Thane of the Lannis Haig blood, is confronted with these assaults when forces of Black Road men and woodwights combined overrun his home, the castle of Kolgas. For his own safety and in order to preserve the Lannis bloodline he must flee. What fate falls to his father or his older sister is unknown to the young man. Together with his old master, Inurian (a na’kyrim) and his shield man Rothe he is compelled to discover what has truly happened..

And these were my parting thoughts on this novel:

So in short, Winterbirth is very solid, decent debut by Brian Ruckley. It offers extensive worldbuilding, good characterization of the main character and an interesting view of both sides of the conflict the novel is revolving around. Added as a bonus you get couple of nice maps, a timeline and list of characters. On the flipside, it is a not entirely original piece of work, the characterization other than that of the protagonist was rather weak and the pace was quite slow. Yet it was good enough to give the next novel, Bloodheir, which will be released in February 2008 a shot.

In the end I rated it 7/10.

Check out my full review: HERE

Let me know what you think of it!

The end is near

I am within hundred pages of finishing Winterbirth and it feels like it has taken me ages to get to this point. As a result of the inactivity my stats dropped big time, but I guess I deserved that because there was no new contennt to begin with. As I said last time, I will be posting this review over at FantasyBookSpot but I will provide you here with plenty of excerpts here to paint the broad picture of how I have perceived this novel.
In the meantime I bought The Warrior Prophet and the Thousandfold Thought on the lovely Book Depository (free delivery!) plus Dawn of Night and Midnight’s Mask thus completing the Erevis Cale trilogy by Paul S. Kemp. I will read that right after I finished Winterbirth and I promise you that it will be quicker reads because the expectation for these works is indeed very high. Can’t wait to start reading them. Both pairs will complete their respective trilogies, which is always a special thing. Even more in the face of the modern day’s gigantic epic works that seem to pop up like.. everywhere and just keep grinding on. Speaking of which, I just wanted to seize this opportunity to remember a man who has had an enormous impact on these epic fantasy works.

Rest in peace James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (Robert Jordan)

October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007

Quick notification

..that I am still alive. Yes I know it has been awful quiet here but sadly I don’t seem to be able to read much these days. My typical day would be waking up at 7 AM, going to school at 7.50 and arriving there at 8.20 AM, around 3-4 PM my school-day ends and after that I hurry to my tennis training, job at the local supermarket or whatever. Dinner at home, doing some homework and then.. I am just too tired to read many pages in a book.

I did finish reading “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” by Tucker Max which is supposedly a New York Times bestseller. It was great fun and hilarious at times. Synopsis of the book:

“My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole.

I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead.

But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way. I share my adventures with the world.”

I would recommend reading it to everyone who does not shy away from the more ‘vulgar’ themes of life. At the least you will have be able to stand NSFW language.

As for other readings, like I said I can’t seem to be able to read a lot so I am still ploughing my way through Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley. So far it have been a slow read and right now I am really hoping for it to pick up some pace, as it would quicken the read enormously. There have been some changes as well, some of you might know I am quite active over at the FantasyBookSpot board (Join now!) and now I have joined their ranks of AR’s (associate reviewers). This means that I will be doing reviews on FantasyBookSpot.com as well (in a somewhat similar fashion as Neth Space) when I read books that have not been reviewed there yet. Winterbirth is one of those. Apart from where the review is located, nothing much will change it is still the same ‘ol Gravel Pit style review. It is just at another website, but I do hope that will not stop you from reading my thoughts on books. Why there you ask? Well, as I pointed out some time ago, one of my goals of blogging and reviewing is to expose the works of authors that I think deserve the attention. The best reviews on FBS generate about 9000 page views while mine generate about 120 page views. So what would you think would be the better way to expose works to a general public? You got it right.

Don’t get me wrong, I am dedicated to this blog, I love ‘owning’ some small place in the blogosphere so I will keep updating here for sure. I will also let you when I put a review at FBS, so you can just sit on your lazy buts and click the link! What a service, eh? Of course, not every novel I pick up has not had its review on FBS yet, and those I will review here accordingly. For example, I just ordered the last two novels of the Prince of Nothing trilogy and I will post my thoughts on them here. Same goes for series that I have already started reviewing here. No need to worry!

And in other news, Orbit Books just put this really nice cover of the third Joe Pitt novel, “Half the Blood of Brooklyn”. Remember I reviewed the first on in the series, Already Dead, some time ago? Without further ado, I hereby present:

Lovely eh?!

Hugo Award Winners

The Hugo Award winners are in for this year, and were given out at Nippon on Saturday, September 1. Check them out below!

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Novel: Rainbow’s End by Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Nominations:

Eifelheim by Michael F. Flynn (Tor)

His Majecty’s Dragon/Temeraire by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Glasshouse by Charles Stross (Ace)

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Tor)

Blindsight by Peter Watts (Tor)

Novella: “A Billion Eves” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, October/November 2006)
Nominations:

“The Walls of the Universe” by Paul Melko (Asimov’s, April/May 2006)

“A Billion Eves” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, October/November 2006)

“Inclination” by William Shunn (Asimov’s April/May 2006)

“Lord Weary’s Empire” by Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s December 2006)

Julian: A Christmas Story by Robert Charles Wilson (PS Publishing)

Novelette: “The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald (Asimov’s, July 2006)
Nominations:

“Yellow Card Man” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Asimov’s December 2006)

“Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth” by Michael F. Flynn (Asimov’s October/November 2006)

“The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald (Asimov’s July 2006)

“All the Things You Are” by Mike Resnick (Jim Baen’s Universe October 2006)

“Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter” by Geoff Ryman (F&SF October/November 2006)

Short Story: “Impossible Dreams” by Timothy Pratt (Asimov’s July 2006)
Nominations:

“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” by Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things, William Morrow)

“Kin” by Bruce McAllister (Asimov’s February 2006)

“Impossible Dreams” by Timothy Pratt (Asimov’s July 2006)

“Eight Episodes” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s June 2006)

“The House Beyond Your Sky” by Benjamin Rosenbaum (Strange Horizons September 2006)

Non-fiction Book: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon edited by Julie Phillips (St. Martin’s Press)
Nominations:

About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews by Samuel R. Delany (Wesleyan University Press)

Heinlein’s Children: The Juveniles by Joseph T. Major (Advent)

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon edited by Julie Phillips (St. Martin’s Press)

Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio by John Picacio (MonkeyBrain Books )

Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches by Mike Resnick & Joe Siclari (ISFiC Press)

Professional Editor: Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books)
Nominations:

Lou Anders (Pyr)

James Patrick Baen (Baen Books)

Ginjer Buchanan (Ace Books/Roc)

David G. Hartwell (Tor Books)

Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books)

Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
Nominations:

Bob Eggleton

Donato Giancola

Stephan Martiniere

John Jude Palencar

John Picacio

Dramatic Presentation: Pan’s Labyrinth Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro. Directed by Guillermo del Toro (Picturehouse)
Nominations:

Children of Men Screenplay by Alfonso Cuaron & Timothy J. Sexton. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Universal Pictures)

Pan’s Labyrinth Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro. Directed by Guillermo del Toro (Picturehouse)

The Prestige Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan. Directed by Christopher Nolan. (Touchstone Pictures)

A Scanner Darkly Screenplay by Richard Linklater. Directed by Richard Linklater (Warner Independent Pictures)

V for Vendetta Screenplay by Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski. Directed by James McTeigue (Warner Brothers)

Short Dramatic Presentation Doctor Who “Girl in the Fireplace” Written by Steven Moffat. Directed by Euros Lyn (BBC Wales/BBC1)
Nominations:

Battlestar Galactica, “Downloaded” Writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle. Directed by Jeff Woolnough. (NBC Universal/British Sky)

Doctor Who, “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday” Written by Russell T. Davies. Directed by Graeme Harper. (BBC Wales/BBC1)

Doctor Who, “Girl in the Fireplace” Written by Steven Moffat. Directed by Euros Lyn. (BBC Wales/BBC1)

Doctor Who, “School Reunion” Written by Toby Whithouse. Directed by James Hawes. (BBC Wales/BBC1)

Stargate SG-1, “200″ Written by Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Carl Binder, Martin Gero, and Alan McCullough. Directed by Martin Wood. (Double Secret Productions/NBC Universal)

Semiprozine: Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
Nominations:

Ansible, edited by Dave Langford

Interzone, edited by Andy Cox

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, edited by Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link

Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi

The New York Review of Science Fiction, edited by Kathryn Cramer, David Hartwell & Kevin J. Maroney

Fanzine: Science Fiction Five-yearly edited by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan & Randy Byers
Nominations:

Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey & Mark Plummer

Challenger edited by Guy Lillian, III

The Drink Tank edited by Christopher J. Garcia

Plokta edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies & Mike Scott

Science Fiction Five-yearly edited by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan & Randy Byers

Fan Writer: Dave Langford
Nominations:

Chris Garcia

John Hertz

Dave Langford

John Scalzi

Steven H Silver

Fan Artist: Frank Wu
Nominations:

Brad W. Foster

Teddy Harvia

Sue Mason

Steve Stiles

Frank Wu

Campbell Award: Naomi Novik
Nominations:

Scott Lynch (1st year of eligibility)

Sarah Monette (2nd year of eligibility)

Naomi Novik (1st year of eligibility)

Brandon Sanderson (2nd year of eligibility)

Lawrence M. Schoen (2nd year of eligibility)

Source: AwardWeb

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No Blinsight, no Eifelheim, no Glasshouse?! Wow, what a surprise. What do you think, deserved winners?