50 in '11: #10
May. 22nd, 2011 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76So far behind; unless I read kiddie books to make up my count, I'm not going to make my goal, again, this year...
Title: Under Heaven
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Length: 573 pages
Overall, this was a very good book. Alternate history with just a touch of other/mysticism/magic tossed in, as is Kay's speciality, the book is based on the An Shi rebellion, which has the advantage of being from an area with whose history I was unfamiliar. Most of Kay's books, as well as Bujold's Chalion series, are familiar enough to me in the original European history that I can know what's going to happen ahead of time. Tang Dynasty China? Not so much.
Despite enjoying the book, however, it has one major flaw. Three quarters of it is build-up, then wham!, suddenly in the last quarter the rebellion is happening and you don't even get a look inside the head of its instigator. It really feels to me like it would have been better done as a duology like the Sarantium books, with the rebellion fleshed out into its own novel. As it is, it feels a bit rushed and glossed over in places; the epilogue, while nicely written, has a feeling of "and this is what happened to this person, and that person, and that other person." Summing up, rather than naturally allowing their stories to unfold to conclusion. In short, I wanted more time spent in/on this story.
Will I read it again? Yes. Do I recommend it? Yes.
Title: Under Heaven
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Length: 573 pages
Overall, this was a very good book. Alternate history with just a touch of other/mysticism/magic tossed in, as is Kay's speciality, the book is based on the An Shi rebellion, which has the advantage of being from an area with whose history I was unfamiliar. Most of Kay's books, as well as Bujold's Chalion series, are familiar enough to me in the original European history that I can know what's going to happen ahead of time. Tang Dynasty China? Not so much.
Despite enjoying the book, however, it has one major flaw. Three quarters of it is build-up, then wham!, suddenly in the last quarter the rebellion is happening and you don't even get a look inside the head of its instigator. It really feels to me like it would have been better done as a duology like the Sarantium books, with the rebellion fleshed out into its own novel. As it is, it feels a bit rushed and glossed over in places; the epilogue, while nicely written, has a feeling of "and this is what happened to this person, and that person, and that other person." Summing up, rather than naturally allowing their stories to unfold to conclusion. In short, I wanted more time spent in/on this story.
Will I read it again? Yes. Do I recommend it? Yes.
