Home : Ex Libris : 1 March 2006
ex libris reviews
1 March 2006
The importance of light can never be overstated.
Bryan Peterson
Contents
I'm still pursuing photography; if you'd like to see some of the
pictures, you should pay a visit to my
blog; from time to
time I post one or two. There are reviews of several more books on
photography this month as well.
-- Will Duquette
by Will Duquette

Golden Fool
By Robin Hobb
This, the sequel to Fool's Errand, is possibly my favorite
Hobb to date...possibly because Hobb's hero, FitzChivalry Farseer,
finally seems to be gaining some wisdom. The book advances the plot
tolerably well for the middle book of a series, and leaves me quite
curious to know how the story turns out.
One word of caution: there are some spoilers in this book for Hobb's
Liveship Traders trilogy, of which I'd only read the first volume
when I read Golden Fool; The Liveship Traders books
are still in print, and you probably should read them all before this one.

Ship of Magic
By Robin Hobb
This is the first volume of Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy, which
is set in the same world as the FitzChivalry Farseer books.
Between the Six Duchies and Jamaillia, far to the south, lies the Rain
Wilds and on their edge the Cursed Shore--a stretch of coast long avoided
by ships. To land there is to court madness; and the water from the
Rain Wild River sometimes runs with acid that will burn through a ship's
hull.
Some time in the past, a band of desperate emigrants from Jamaillia came
to the Rain Wild River, and endeavoured to settle there despite all of
the difficulties. Today their descendants live in Bingtown on Trader
Bay, near the mouth of the river; it said that anything that is can be
purchased in Bingtown. There are many mysteries in Bingtown, but the
greatest involves wizardwood, and the liveships that are constructed
from it. Such ships are always more nimble than normal ships, and after
generations of service such a ship actually comes to life and can assist
with its own sailing. Each liveship belongs to one of Bingtown's Old
Trader families; a liveship will only serve willingly if a member of
"their" family is on board.
The action centers on the liveship Vivacia, newly come to
awareness on the death of her third Captain, Ephron Vestrit. By rights
her third captain should have been one Althea Vestrit, Ephron's daughter;
but Althea's family judged her not ready and passed Vivacia
to Althea's sister, to be captained by Althea's sister's husband Kyle
Haven. Kyle is an experienced captain; but he's no Bingtowner and has no
appreciation for the odd creature that is a Bingtown liveship. Much
trouble will ensue from his foolishness. Trouble for him, trouble for
Althea, and trouble for his despised son, Wintrow, a priest-in-training,
who is forced to join Kyle on his voyage since Kyle is not of the blood
of the Vestrits and Vivacia requires such a one.
Outwards of the Cursed Shore lie the Pirate Isles, where those who are
unwelcome in any of Jamaillia, Bingtown, or Chalced scratch out an
existence preying on merchant shipping. One such, Kennit Raven,
is working to unite the Pirate Isles under his own rule. Kennit is a
shallow man, a foolish man, but an extremely lucky man--he will do
anything to see his ambitions realized, he will ride the moment like a
surfer no matter where it carries him. One of the pleasures of the book
is the increasing discrepancy between how Kennit really is, and how he is
perceived due to his actions.
In short, this is a complex book with a cast of thousands, lots of
complex relationships, and pots of action. I had to read it slowly; as
always, Hobb is extremely hard on her characters, and small doses
go down better. It's ultimately rewarding, though, and I'm curious to
see how it all plays out.

Ordermaster
By L.E. Modesitt, Jr
This, yet another installment in the ever-expanding saga of Recluce, is
the immediate sequel to Wellspring of Chaos, which I reviewed
last year.
It's a typical entry in the series: order wizard discovers his powers as he
fights (nearly single-handedly) an increasingly nasty series of battles
with chaos wizards, vanquishing all of them in his own peculiar style.
It is, alas, a well-worn formula. The book (with its predecessor) stands
out from the rest of the series in two ways: it's set in a part of the
world we've not seen before, and our hero's order magic is rather
different than that of any of Modesitt's previous heroes.
In short--it's an enjoyable enough tale if you've enjoyed the rest of the
series, but there are few surprises here.

Witch World
By Andre Norton
Recently my brother challenged me to give Andre Norton another try, as a
lot of her stuff is back in print. And I have, and I've been reasonably
surprised--there's more to her work than I had remembered. More
embarassingly, it's become clear that the reason I didn't like some of
her books on first attempt is that I was too young (and too impatient) to
appreciate them. Now, the series for which Norton is best known is her
"Witch World" series; my siblings had a number of books from the series,
including the present title, and though I had tried to read it several
times I never got very far. The blurb was interesting--a man from our
world, a fugitive, is transported to a strange land in another universe,
a land of magic and witches. But somehow the book itself never grabbed me.
Whilst visiting Portland last fall, with all of the riches of Powells
Books spread before me, I decided it was time to give
Witch World and its sequels another try.
Simon Tregarth, soldier of fortune, is being hunted by some men who have
betrayed him. Expecting to be taken at any time, he stops for one last
fine meal--and is contacted by a man who offers him a chance to escape,
forever. If he will but sit on an ancient stone, the Siege Perilous, it
will transport him to another world...and not to any world, but to the
world where he will best fit in. He arrives in a desolate location in
time to save a young women from the fangs of the Hounds of Alizon. She,
it develops, is one of the nameless witches of the land of Estcarp. He
adopts her land as his own, and devotes his skill at warcraft to
defending Estcarp from its many enemies.
There's more here than I remembered, and less than I had hoped. Norton
is a consummate storyteller, and writes with a spare and lean voice in
which every word tells. It's easy to see why I didn't like the book as a
kid; I was a voracious reader, but I see now that I wasn't a good
reader. I surfed along the top of the paragraphs, catching the gist of
the story and leaving behind everything that didn't advance the plot--or that
didn't fit my preconceptions of what the book was supposed to be about.
You can't read Norton like that; she doesn't tell you twice, and she
doesn't rub your nose in what's going on. You must read her prose
carefully, or you'll miss things.
That said, I found the book to be rather pedestrian--if it's better in
the small details than I remembered, it's by no means her best. Still,
I liked it well enough to return to Powells and pick up three more from
the series. More on those another time.

Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography
By Brenda Tharp
The difficulty in reviewing non-fiction books like this one is to
know how to describe the content more pithily than the title does. With
Tharp's book I must concede defeat; it really is about creative nature
and outdoor photography. Contrarily, books on photography are easier to
judge than most, as they are generally filled with the author's own
photographs; her credentials are evident on every page. By that measure,
Tharp writes whereof she knows.
The book is, I confess, a little too advanced for me. She writes for
users of the traditional film SLR camera, and assumes they are familiar
not only with basic photographic technique but also with the more
esoteric features of their cameras--as a result, this should not be your
first book about photography. On the other hand, she has a great deal to
say about composition and the use of light that applies equally well to
film and digital photography, and on that front I might have learned a
thing or two. It's a book I'll want to come back to when I've a little
more experience.
In the meantime, I still recommend Bryan Peterson's
Understanding Digital Photography, and also his
Understanding Exposure which I've been reading
simultaneously with this one. It covers some of the same ground, and
goes into much more detail about how to use your camera.
(Side note: I've been lucky in my choice of books--there are a lot of
duds out there, and somehow I've managed to spot some of the better ones.
A little research pays off.)

Understanding Exposure
By Bryan Peterson
This is the book that explains how to do the things that
Brenda Tharp takes for granted in
Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography. Peterson covers
generally the same range of topics here as he does in
Understanding Digital Photography, but he goes into
considerably more detail; I now understand the process of metering the
light far better than I did beforehand, for example. Peterson writes clearly
and engagingly, and as always his enthusiasm is infectious. Best of all,
the book is filled with delightful images--and for each he explains in
detail just how he set up, metered, and exposed each shot. This is
definitely a book I'm going to come back to again and again.
If you've got a digital camera, and you've any curiousity at all what you
can do with it, by all means get a copy of
Understanding Digital Photography. If you're like me, the book
will inspire you to go out and take all sorts of truly wretched pictures,
and probably some very good ones. Then, if you're still having fun, get
this book and keep shooting; it will take you to the next level.

Web of the Witch World
By Andre Norton
This is the second of the Norton's "Witch World" books, and it has
precisely the same strengths and flaws as its predecessor, being
essentially the second half of one complete story: the battle of the
people of Estcarp against men of Kolder. Like Simon Tregarth, our hero,
the men of Kolder are from another world; and like Tregarth, their
home world is one of science, indeed, one where science is greatly
advanced over that of Earth. Tregarth's knowledge of science gives him
an edge, and with the help of his wife, Jaelithe, and the mind powers
they share, the Kolder-men are eventually destroyed.
It's not a bad tale--certainly it kept me turning pages--but it feels
rather dated. The "super-science" of the Kolder-men hasn't worn well,
and their very name, "Kolder", i.e., "colder" is a little too obvious.
The result is a tale that seems plenty deep and satisfying as one reads
it, but appears much less substantial on later reflection. It's a tale
well-told, but there's something lacking. Or is there? I'm really not
sure. All I can say is, there's something of substance there while I'm
reading it, but it fades away with the dawn.

Year of the Unicorn
By Andre Norton
This is the third of Norton's "Witch World" novels, at least according to
one publication scheme, and it has an entirely different flavor than its
predecessors.
Across the ocean from Estcarp lie the dales of High Halleck. The
dalesmen have just concluded a war against the Hounds of Alizon,
Estcarp's neighbors and enemies; they have done so with the help of fell
warriors called the Were-Riders, and now it is time for repayment.
Thirteen virgins of the Dales must willingly go with the Were-Riders as
brides, never to return to High Halleck.
The story is told from the viewpoint of one of the
chosen thirteen, a young lady named Gillan. Gillan is an orphan of the
war; and it soon becomes clear that her parents were of Estcarp, for she
has strange powers (powers she wisely keeps hidden), and can see the
Were-Riders as they are, rather than as they seem. This leads her into
danger great danger.
The difference in tone between this book and its predecessors is vast.
The narration is first-person rather than third, with the result that our
immersion in Norton's world is enhanced. The tale is told purely as
a fantasy, rather than as an uncomfortable mixture of fantasy and
science fiction. Most important, Gillan's voice is much
richer than the flat, transparent third-person prose of the Simon
Tregarth books.
I don't know where these three books lie in Norton's overall output, but
it appears that between the second and third something clicked.

Mad Ship
By Robin Hobb
This is the second of Hobb's "Liveship Traders" trilogy, following
Ship of Magic. In that volume we discovered the city of
Bingtown, which perches on the Cursed Shore near the mouth of the Rain
Wild River. We also discovered the Bingtown "liveships", ships made of
rare wizardwood from up the Rain Wild River that with time actually come
to life and can speak and move for themselves. (The face of a liveship
is its figurehead, naturally.) We met a range of people,
including Althea Vestrit, who was cheated of command of the liveship
Vivacia and wishes to regain it; her nephew Wintrow,
priest-in-training, who is forced against his will to travel with
Vivacia; his sister, Malta, who is young, callow, melodramatic,
ignorant, and rash; and Kennit, a pirate captain who wishes to be a
pirate king.
We also met the mad liveship Paragon, who twice set out with a
full crew and returned later (years later, in one case) capsized and
empty. When he returned the second time, his face hewn with an axe
so that he could no longer see, his owners beached him. For many years,
Paragon has been chained above the high watermark so that he can
never float again.
Now Kennit has taken Vivacia, and Althea's only chance to recover
her is to restore mad Paragon to service. Meanwhile, war is
brewing with Chalced...and very odd things are happening far up the Rain
Wild River.
In general, I like this book rather better than its predecessor; we
actually begin to learn a few things about the origin of the liveships
and a number of other mysteries, and at this point in the story arc the
more childish of the principal characters have gained a pleasant taste
of maturity. I confess that I picked up the third book in the trilogy,
Ship of Destiny, no more than an hour after laying this one
down.
As a side note, the author's biography points out something I hadn't
previously noticed: Hobb has also written under the pen name "Megan
Lindholm", including one book (The Gypsy) with
Steven Brust

Learning To See Creatively
By Bryan Peterson
This book contain's Peterson's take on the subject of photographic
composition. It's considerably more freewheeling than Grill & Scanlon's
book on the subject, and covers the ground rather differently.
There was little in it that was surprising--the main points are
all touched on, though in less detail, in Peterson's other books,
Understanding Digital Photography and
Understanding Exposure. I enjoyed it, though, and I expect
to read it again later on, when I've more experience under my belt.
Have any comments? Want to recommend a book
or two? Think Will's seriously missed the point and
needs to be corrected? Like to correspond with one of the reviewers?
Write to us and let us know what you think! You can find the
e-mail addresses of most of our reviewers on our
Ex Libris Staff page.
Home : Ex Libris : 1 March 2006
Copyright © 2006, by William H. Duquette. All rights reserved.
|
|