I made another blog.
I've made a few in the past.
I tried giving them themes that I will write about but whenever I had the urge to write it was like "Well, why would I post a post about comics on a gaming blog?" Or my movie blog. Whatever.
So I decided to make a blog (doesn't blog sound like a sub-human race in a fantasy novel? "Hark! The blog are amassing Hollow Hill! Call the Watch!") about nothing and everything.
Anything I want to write about. About nothing in particular. Impressive, yes? Took me all of three seconds to think of.
Today's blog is about a book I just read (and currently devouring the sequel), called the Warded Man by Peter V. Brett,
Here's what I like about TWM:
1. Writing that doesn't distract from the story.
What I mean by that is that the writing isn't super good or bad, but it's good enough that you don't notice it and you can just enjoy the story for what it is. He doesn't use huge words to show us how smart he is or dumb down the language in the hope of finding a bigger audience, he simply writes to communicate his story and I really appreciate it. He's very good at showing and not telling, as well. In fact, I can't think of a single info-dump in the book, which is a feat for fantasy. Tolkien info-dumped on occasion.
Now an example of what I mean by super-good writing and how it can effect my enjoyment of a book would be the Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb. Hobb is a very good writer. Like, damn. She's got the technique down and can spin a web of characters that have real reactions, create worlds that make sense so you don't ask why people hate this or that, etc. The only reason I read through the second and most of the third book of the Soldier Son trilogy was because of her superb writing, and I regret every minute of it.
One review on Amazon for Forest Mage said it best: "This book should be called 'A Diary of a Depressed Fat Man.'" The entire second book was basically the protagonist bitching about how fat he was and internal monologues that went on for CHAPTERS. But I soldiered on (see what I did there?) because while the storyline itself was boring me to tears her writing was so good that I couldn't help but marvel at it. That being said, the trilogy could have been written into one goddamned book, or maybe a novella, for how much ACTUAL STORY was available in the damned books.
When the third book only got slightly more active I decided I had other books to read and promptly went looking for Jim Butcher's new book, which isn't out on the Kindle yet (fist shaking) and settled on the Warded Man because, hey, why not?
2. All the main characters are interesting and not copies of one another.
I will tell you a secret. I HATE it when authors switch perspectives. Hate it like a flesh eating virus on my cash and prizes. They get me all involved in this dude here, and he's having a tough time but it's starting to look up and--wait, who the hell is this guy? I DON'T CARE ABOUT HIM I WANT TO GO BACK HE WAS JUST ABOUT TO FIGURE OUT SOMETHING COOL AND NOW I HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THIS D-BAG AS HE FIGURES OUT WHICH HOLE TO PISS OUT OF.
But Peter did it well. He spent a lot of time with each character before jumping to the next, filling out their lives and giving them a personality and it seemed to me that he waited until AFTER something important had happened before switching perspectives. One of my pet peeves with multiple protagonists in stories is watching that axe about to fall on someone you love and then ZIP, we're watching another guy and screaming at the book because we want to know if our favorite hero died or not. Or you just skip to the next chapter with your favorite character in it.
I tried doing that with the George R.R. Martin books, but he switches characters almost every damn chapter you get these huge holes in the story. And garuanteed if you like a character at all he will horribly rape them, kill them or paralyze them. Or all of the above.
Also, each character had different set of motives, behavior, beliefs and way of dealing with the world around them. Like, you know, PEOPLE. I'm tired of shit like:
Protag #1: I seek vengeance because they killed my children.
Protag #2: I seek revenge because they killed my wife.
Protag #3: I seek payback because they killed my goat... I mean, my parents.
3. Main character has a BA in bad-assery.
I'm a guy, so I like it when the main hero can be rushed by a bunch of guys and take out a good chunk of them before going down. I'm not talking about a Gary Stu (though I am known to like those as well from time to time), but just being a bad-ass to the point where even completely outnumbered he still makes them pay for everything they take from him.
The Warded Man's Main character? Total Bad-Ass.
4. Good action scenes, but not used to progress the story.
A bunch of fantasy characters, Fightscene and Plot sit at a table in a club, tossing a brew every now and again. The conversation is sparse in the loud, thumping bass beat, the occasional anecdote exchanged. They came here to try and get Plot out of his shell, but nothing they have tried so far has been able to move him.
Fightscene checked his watch and cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, guys, I gotta get going and I'm Plot's ride, so..."
Main Character looks crestfallen. "But Plot has hardly moved all night!"
Fightscene rubbed his face. "Well, maybe if you threw down with a couple of the patrons..."
Love Interest rolled her eyes. "You always suggest that."
Fightscene threw his hands into the air. "Then YOU give Plot a ride home! It's always up to me to grow the balls to make something happen with this group, and you do nothing but bitch and whine the whole time while I have to drive across town to drop his lazy ass home!" Fightscene threw a glance at Plot. "No offense."
Plot made a "whatever" gesture and tilted his drink back, taking a long pull.
Antagonist drained the last of his Whiskey at that point, looked between Love Interest and Main Character for a moment. He shot to his feet and screamed "YOU TOOK HER FROM ME!" Antagonist threw his hands around Main Character's throat and began to strangle him.
Plot perked up and began to watch the goings on, even jumping in as the fight grew to include a large portion of the crowd. Fightscene acted as a referee of sorts, separating those that got too carried away.
It seemed he always had to keep an eye on Plot in a fight. Whenever he went things just went bad to worse to apeshit. A woman went into labor(who the hell goes clubbing eight months pregnant?), a car crashed through the wall, the sprinklers went off, fire was set to the bar (AFTER the sprinklers went off), someone upset a before-now-undiscovered bee-hive, etc. etc.
But no matter how hard he tried it was always Main Character who dragged Plot out and dusted him off.
5. Good world-building.
Not much to add.
And that about wraps it up. I'll post a doodle I did a few weeks ago later when I get home. Or not. I dunno. Pants.
-McK
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