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An island nation has vanished. Men of honor and magic have died unnatural deaths. Slaves flee in terror. . . . Are the silent gods beginning to speak? Or is another force at work in the Lands Vin? Laura Anne Gilman's critically acclaimed, Nebula Award-nominated Flesh and Fireintroduced a brilliantly imagined world where the grapevine--cultivated by the Vinearts who know the secrets of wine magic--holds together disparate lands. Now, confusion, violence, and terror are sweeping over the Lands Vin. And four people are at the center of a storm. Jerzy, Vineart apprentice and former slave, was sent by his master to investigate strange happenings--and found himself the target of betrayal. Now he must set out on his own journey, to find the source of the foul taint that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. By Jerzy's side are Ao, who lives for commerce and the art of the deal; Mahault, stoic and wise, risking death in flight from her homeland; and Kaïnam, once Named-Heir of an island principality, whose father has fallen into a magic-tangled madness that endangers them all. These four companions will travel far from the earth and the soul of the vine, sailing along coastlines aflame with fear, confronting sea creatures summoned by darkness, and following winds imbued with malice. Their journey will take them to the very limits of the Sin Washer's reach . . . and into a battle for the soul of the Lands Vin. For two millennia the Sin Washer's Commandment has kept these lands in order: Those of magic shall hold no power over men and those princes of power shall hold no magic. Now, that law has given way. And a hidden force seeks the havoc of revenge. An adventure through an unforgettable realm conjured by breathtaking imagination, Laura Anne Gilman's saga of the Vineart War is a "dramatic, authentic, and potent" (Publishers Weekly) literary delight.… (más)
In Weight of Stone: Book Two of the Vineart War, Laura Anne Gilman continues her Vineart War cycle with the adventures of Jerzy, Mahault, and Ao after they flee the danger at the court of Aleppan. Pursued by the Washers and fearful of the spreading taint, afraid to go ashore and afraid to stay at sea in their ill-supplied and small vessel, they are unsure what to do... and unfortunately it seems the author isn't so sure what to do with them either!
I know Gilman is developing a lot of things that will be important in later books, such as the culture of the Washers, the details of the religion, the motivations of the villains, the civilizations beyond the Lands Vin — but good world-building must always be incidental to the plot. And in this installment, the plot meanders all over the place. They leave the Berengia; they come back. They leave; they come back. Mahault goes away to join an elite female fighting force, the Solitaires, and then quits and comes back. This is pretty frustrating, especially in an audiobook where the pace of the story is already slower than if one is reading the printed book. I found myself becoming bored before it was halfway done.
And I've noticed Gilman's tendency to tell rather than show, to spell things out rather than rely on carefully layered prose and the reader's own intelligence to figure out the characters' motivations. Consider these examples I jotted down:
"'I'm sure the locals are completely honest,' he [Ao] went on, in the tone of voice that suggested that he believed anything but."
Good writing would not spell out Ao's tone of voice so obviously; instead, why not have him say that line with a roll of the eyes or some other indication that he's being sarcastic? That would be so much better than ponderously spelling it.
"Kainam did not take a step backwards, but he obviously wanted to."
You shouldn't have to tell the reader that Kainam wanted to step backwards; you should show it by his body language. Sometimes the tedious explanations of every character's thoughts and motives feel almost insulting, as if Gilman doesn't trust her readers to figure things out if she doesn't make it obvious. I noticed some issues with the writing in the first book, Flesh And Fire, but it didn't seem as blatant then as it does in this novel. And sadly, all this makes for a rather unstimulating read.
This unabridged 13-hour audiobook is read by Anne Flosnik (whose narration I am starting to have more of a taste for, I think) and is published by Tantor Media, 2010. I'm not sure I will be finishing the series; if the third book is like this one, there's little to miss. But fans who are deeply invested in the fate of Jerzy and the Lands Vin will no doubt be more forgiving in their estimation.
Thank you to SFSite.com for the opportunity to review this audiobook.( )
An island nation has vanished. Men of honor and magic have died unnatural deaths. Slaves flee in terror. . . . Are the silent gods beginning to speak? Or is another force at work in the Lands Vin? Laura Anne Gilman's critically acclaimed, Nebula Award-nominated Flesh and Fire introduced a brilliantly imagined world where the grapevine--cultivated by the Vinearts who know the secrets of wine magic--holds together disparate lands. Now, confusion, violence, and terror are sweeping over the Lands Vin. And four people are at the center of a storm. Jerzy, Vineart apprentice and former slave, was sent by his master to investigate strange happenings--and found himself the target of betrayal. Now he must set out on his own journey, to find the source of the foul taint that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. By Jerzy's side are Ao, who lives for commerce and the art of the deal; Mahault, stoic and wise, risking death in flight from her homeland; and Kaïnam, once Named-Heir of an island principality, whose father has fallen into a magic-tangled madness that endangers them all. These four companions will travel far from the earth and the soul of the vine, sailing along coastlines aflame with fear, confronting sea creatures summoned by darkness, and following winds imbued with malice. Their journey will take them to the very limits of the Sin Washer's reach . . . and into a battle for the soul of the Lands Vin. For two millennia the Sin Washer's Commandment has kept these lands in order: Those of magic shall hold no power over men and those princes of power shall hold no magic. Now, that law has given way. And a hidden force seeks the havoc of revenge. An adventure through an unforgettable realm conjured by breathtaking imagination, Laura Anne Gilman's saga of the Vineart War is a "dramatic, authentic, and potent" (Publishers Weekly) literary delight.
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(3.73)
2
I know Gilman is developing a lot of things that will be important in later books, such as the culture of the Washers, the details of the religion, the motivations of the villains, the civilizations beyond the Lands Vin — but good world-building must always be incidental to the plot. And in this installment, the plot meanders all over the place. They leave the Berengia; they come back. They leave; they come back. Mahault goes away to join an elite female fighting force, the Solitaires, and then quits and comes back. This is pretty frustrating, especially in an audiobook where the pace of the story is already slower than if one is reading the printed book. I found myself becoming bored before it was halfway done.
And I've noticed Gilman's tendency to tell rather than show, to spell things out rather than rely on carefully layered prose and the reader's own intelligence to figure out the characters' motivations. Consider these examples I jotted down:
"'I'm sure the locals are completely honest,' he [Ao] went on, in the tone of voice that suggested that he believed anything but."
Good writing would not spell out Ao's tone of voice so obviously; instead, why not have him say that line with a roll of the eyes or some other indication that he's being sarcastic? That would be so much better than ponderously spelling it.
"Kainam did not take a step backwards, but he obviously wanted to."
You shouldn't have to tell the reader that Kainam wanted to step backwards; you should show it by his body language. Sometimes the tedious explanations of every character's thoughts and motives feel almost insulting, as if Gilman doesn't trust her readers to figure things out if she doesn't make it obvious. I noticed some issues with the writing in the first book, Flesh And Fire, but it didn't seem as blatant then as it does in this novel. And sadly, all this makes for a rather unstimulating read.
This unabridged 13-hour audiobook is read by Anne Flosnik (whose narration I am starting to have more of a taste for, I think) and is published by Tantor Media, 2010. I'm not sure I will be finishing the series; if the third book is like this one, there's little to miss. But fans who are deeply invested in the fate of Jerzy and the Lands Vin will no doubt be more forgiving in their estimation.
Thank you to SFSite.com for the opportunity to review this audiobook. (