MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

taosaur · 08-18-2019, 03:05 AM

I'm still on Max Gladstone, well into the third published Craft Sequence book. The series goes 3, 2, 5, 4, 1, with numbering prominent in the titles, prompting the author to publish a blog post, "This is how I numbered my books and I'm sorry." Each of these books is wildly different so far, but all set in a crypto-20th-century world where magic displaces science in literally killing the gods of the old world. So far book one (er, three) was most engaging as far as characters, being kind of a "small town girl moves to NYC" type of story with solid bad guys and solid "grey" guys. Book two was set in a crypto-LA with some pretty cool world building and all grey guys, no bad guys, which is probably appropriate for crypto-LA. It's almost a "Barton Fink" type story of a writer learning how to live in LA. Book three seems to be set in crypto-Hawaii with a Dickensian urchin's tale (folding in a character from book one-slash-three) alternating with an almost Hemingway vibe from the trans co-protagonist.

Some might see some of Gladstone's characters as political, but I suspect it's more that Gladstone is "writing what he knows," and these are people he knows.

So far, I'd rate Empress of Forever as most engaging, followed by the first (numbered three) Craft book, followed by the third (numbered five) Craft book I'm still reading, followed by the second (numbered two, believe it or not!) Craft book. The narrator on the second book was adequate at best, with fairly frequent mistakes on homonyms and stresses, but the first (numbered three) was solid, and the third (numbered five) is the same brilliant narrator as Empress of Forever, Natalie Naudus.

08-18-2019, 03:05 AM	#2625
taosaur intelligent posterior Posts: 1,562 Karma: 21295618 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ohiopolis Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Samsung S8, Lenovo Tab 3 Pro	I'm still on Max Gladstone, well into the third published Craft Sequence book. The series goes 3, 2, 5, 4, 1, with numbering prominent in the titles, prompting the author to publish a blog post, "This is how I numbered my books and I'm sorry." Each of these books is wildly different so far, but all set in a crypto-20th-century world where magic displaces science in literally killing the gods of the old world. So far book one (er, three) was most engaging as far as characters, being kind of a "small town girl moves to NYC" type of story with solid bad guys and solid "grey" guys. Book two was set in a crypto-LA with some pretty cool world building and all grey guys, no bad guys, which is probably appropriate for crypto-LA. It's almost a "Barton Fink" type story of a writer learning how to live in LA. Book three seems to be set in crypto-Hawaii with a Dickensian urchin's tale (folding in a character from book one-slash-three) alternating with an almost Hemingway vibe from the trans co-protagonist. Some might see some of Gladstone's characters as political, but I suspect it's more that Gladstone is "writing what he knows," and these are people he knows. So far, I'd rate Empress of Forever as most engaging, followed by the first (numbered three) Craft book, followed by the third (numbered five) Craft book I'm still reading, followed by the second (numbered two, believe it or not!) Craft book. The narrator on the second book was adequate at best, with fairly frequent mistakes on homonyms and stresses, but the first (numbered three) was solid, and the third (numbered five) is the same brilliant narrator as Empress of Forever, Natalie Naudus.