Reading Recommendation: Canticle, by Ken Scholes

November 2nd 2009 at 2:54 pm

I finished Canticle at the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, sitting in my twelfth-story room while morning light washed the night out of the sky.   This is book two of  The Psalms of Isaak, which is planned to be five books (the first book is Lamentation).

This series is an engaging for me as the George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire.”  The books are a little shorter and are coming out more regularly, and so I feel like there’s a chance of an epic fantasy series that will begin well and end both well and on schedule.  That’s my hope for this after being disappointed waiting for the next Song of Ice and Fire book and after the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series was interrupted (I am grateful the talented Brandon Sanderson is finishing them, but I haven’t read his book yet).  Yes, I am a fan of big fat fantasy, especially the broad and deep epic variety that has a theme and a story and interesting people on all sides of its conflicts.

I want to be careful of spoilers for either book, but the Named Lands are rich with both history and promise, and the novel is told through the eyes of many and varied protagonists, and the plot left the paths I thought it was walking often enough to please me immensely.

If you haven’t started the series, a taste is available in the story “A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon” up on Tor.com.  To read more about Ken and his work, go by www.kenscholes.com.

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3 Responses so far

  1. 1. Simon Bisson on Nov 2nd, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    I just finished the first volume and found it to be a delightfully baroque piece, reminiscent of Vance and of Moorcock – but wholly its own thing.

    Excellent stuff.

  2. 2. brenda on Nov 2nd, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    Well, and I actually found Canticle to be even better than Lamentation. It is amazing to me that these are Ken’s first two novels.

  3. 3. Cari on Nov 7th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    If you’re looking for new books along the lines of Brandon Sanderson’s, “Servant of a Dark God” is great. It’s the first book in a trilogy by John Brown and is crazy good. This is actually his first book, which is really surprising because it is so well done. I seriously couldn’t put it down. It’s very well written and is a fresh take on the fantasy genre. You should check it out at http://johndbrown.com/novels/

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Books

Wings of Creation by Brenda Cooper

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Available November 10th, 2009 from Tor Books.

Reading the Wind by Brenda Cooper

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Audio promo:

"Brenda Cooper's newest novel is a feast of character and concept. She depicts the devastation of war on microcosmic and macrocosmic levels, and even more so, the driving motives of young men and women caught in deadly conflict. Cooper is a master explorer of the interaction of society and individuals. She probes the psychology of her genetically enhanced characters with both rare depth and fidelity to scientific plausibility. Moral conundrums drive the plot in this unforgettable narrative. Don't miss this compelling work by a major new talent." - Mary A. Turzillo, An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl.

"Brenda Cooper tells a tale of a powerful brother and sister in a fight for their lives, offering insights along the way into the nature of courage and the hunger for community that burns in every human being. This is a lively book, full of colorful images and a memorable cast of human and animal characters, a worthy successor to The Silver Ship and the Sea." - Louise Marley

Available in July, 2008, from Tor Books.

The Silver Ship and the Sea by Brenda Cooper

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Audio promo:

"The first solo novel by Larry Niven's Building Harlequin's Moon (2005) coauthor portrays the thoroughly convincing human colonial society on Fremont, a dangerous planet rife with vicious predators, frequent earthquakes, and falling meteors....Distinctive characterizations, well-limned interrelationships, and the vividly realized Fremont contribute to an exciting coming-of-age story with a strong message about the evils of prejudice." - Sally Estes, Copyright American Library Association.

Mass Market Paperback, July 2008.
Included by Booklist as a "Best Adult Book for Young Adults."

Building Harlequin's Moon by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven

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"Fans of both hard and softer, psychological SF will welcome veteran Niven and newcome Cooper's well-written tale of a 60,000 year layover in space, in which physical challenges of world building are matched by the social challenges of collaboration among disparate groups." - Publisher's Weekly

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