Mark Charan NewtonReseñas

Add on a extra star if you a budding writer as there's lots of tips for writers between the stories.

My favourite stories were Misericordia by Rene Sears, Sharag's Shark by Daniel Beazley and The Halfwyrd's Burden by Richard Ford

hshafbfskjffjdfjfjf ugh just stayed up way too long to finish this, but that's what you do when your favorite character brushes with death about 2 dozen times

YOOOOOOOO THIS WAS GOOD. I FEEL LIKE THE SERIES WILL GET BETTER TOO.

Giving up at page 215 (of 429, so about halfway). It's part a shambles of ordinary writing; part the tedium of unravelling mysteries that are still mysterious, not compelling; and part that the world is so straight-up classical that I find myself yearning for some Falco, where at least ancient Rome is virulently alive, compellingly everyday, and no one ever says "OK"...

I'm also a bit perplexed that the gritty promise of the logline ("They'll kill to hide the truth... He'll kill to find it") seems to be in direct opposition to our "but why does there have to be violence?" hero. The dark spirits promised by the blurb have failed to manifest as anything other than a once-off rumour, and the political assassination likewise promised has also completely failed to loom with dire consequences. Instead, we have apparently ordinary actors, chatty and helpful senators, the re-emergence of a boringly ordinary childhood sweetheart tragedy, and a hero who is having trouble with the gossip about the murder victim because she didn't seem like a slut to him when he took one quick look at her bedroom.

I'm bored. I'm genuinely perplexed as to why I've seen so many excited reviews about this book. I have a stack of other books beckoning. Moving on.

Yeah, ditched it at page 166. Reasons, from the ones that caused most aggravation to the ones that are actually serious problems:
- Words used wrong. As in "mortification" at finding more stairs at the end of a long climb. (Look, I find my personal level of fitness embarrassing too, but that's not what he meant.)
- General uncomfortable language use. Scott Lynch once mentioned something about wanting to feel like the author really chose their words with care, but this was like feeling that he was sifting through a dictionary going, "Ooh, that one sounds so much better than what I had before, let's use it." It made clunky sentences because I had to process multiple uncommon words, but was also a problem because sometimes it made things ambiguous or unclear, and problematic in a book where he was also making words up completely. (Which is obviously not a sin in fantasy, but when you're not sure whether he's just using the word weirdly because it's a Thing or because he's Being Creative, it doesn't aid the story.)
- Telling. Whoa nelly, the telling. Classic telling, of the "look, there's a 'because' separating a character action from an explanation of that action" variety. There was a stepped-back-from-realist-narrative vibe about the book that I was prepared to go with, and thus wear a little telling, but it just got too much, and wasn't facilitating any really interesting cohesion of concepts.
- Where is this story even going? I was a third of the way through it without any real sense of a big and interesting story. There was a murder mystery (more like a police procedural without any particulars of the procedure) and a guy trying to sleep with anything in a skirt (...) and a military man running errands and getting attacked (for reasons that presumably go beyond the "need an action scene!"). There was an ice age coming. That might have been interesting, but no one really seemed that involved with it.
- Not a single character I cared about. Good lord, were these some macho unlikeable characters, from the grumpy old bastard cop to the self-doubting military hero to the remarkably uncharismatic womaniser. The prostitute with the magical art was a little interesting, but in isolation that just gave me a yen to re-read [b:The Etched City|944555|The Etched City|K.J. Bishop|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320551808s/944555.jpg|929493].

So why have I given it two stars? The world. Everything, from the looming (if slightly inexplicable) ice-age, through the techno-magical system, to the human-like races, and especially the Viking-without-the-kitsch setting, was really interesting. That felt fresh.

Shame about the rest.

This book seemed all over the place. It seemed to jump from one scene to another and the different plot lines didn't seem to fit together. There seemed to be important parts of the world, like the 2 races that were completely forgotten about, or things that were interesting but never explained like the banshees howling when people died. The characters were also completely forgettable. Not my thing at all.½

Irgendwo in einer Welt fernab unserer eigenen: Acht Königreiche haben sich zum Vispasianischen Staatenbund zusammengeschlossen. Lucan Drakenfeld aus dem Königreich Detrata ist Beamter des Sun Chamber, einer unabhängigen Ermittlungsbehörde, die über den einzelnen Staaten steht und den Frieden gewährleisten soll. Nach dem Tod seines Vaters kehrt er in seine Heimatstadt Tryum zurück. Hier erwarten ihn gleich große Herausforderungen. Die Schwester des Königs wird ermordet, ihre Leiche in einem verschlossenen Tempel aufgefunden. Drakenfeld und seine Assistentin Leana stechen in ein Wespennest, die junge Frau scheint zahlreiche Neider und Feinde gehabt zu haben. Sie müssen sich mit den mächtigsten Menschen des Landes anlegen, um den Täter zu finden.

Drakenfeld wurde als eine Mischung aus George R. R. Martins Lied von Eis und Feuer Saga und C. J. Sansoms historischer Kriminalromane beschrieben. Mich persönlich erinnerte das Buch allerdings an eine ganz andere Reihe, nämlich John Maddox Roberts SPQR-Romane über den antiken römischen Detektiv Decius Caecilius Metellus. Die Phantasiewelt Drakenfelds ist ganz klar vom alten Rom inspiriert. Es gibt einen Senat, dessen Mitglieder alles andere als moralisch einwandfrei agieren. Die Bewohner hängen einer Religion an, die an das antike Götterwesen erinnert. In der Stadt Tryum steht eine gewaltige Arena in der sportliche Wettkämpfe stattfinden. Und in ihrer Freizeit geben sich die Leute ungeniert Ausschweifungen hin. Es gibt Anhänger von Monarchie und Republik und Politiker und Militärs intrigieren, um die Macht im Staat an sich zu reißen.

Nur in diesem Fall stellt sich natürlich die Frage: Warum sich nicht gleich für einen richtigen historischen Roman entscheiden, zumal es Drakenfeld nie wirklich gelingt sich als eigenständige Fantasy-Welt zu emanzipieren. Wobei Fantasy-Fans hier ohnehin kaum Interessantes geboten wird, denn zumindest dieser Band kommt so gut wie vollständig ohne übernatürliche Geschehnisse aus. Keine Magie, keine Fabelwesen, nichts.

Der Autor schafft es durch den ungewöhnlichen Schauplatz dennoch das Interesse des Lesers zu wecken. Und obwohl die Geschehnisse nicht besonders eindringlich geschildert werden und die Figuren trotz allem etwas oberflächlich bleiben, war ich fast bis zum Finale von der Geschichte gefesselt. Der Stil wirkt zwar ein wenig holprig, manchmal hatte ich das Gefühl ein Jugendbuch in der Hand zu haben, aber es passiert so viel, das man kaum Zeit zum nachdenken hat, und deshalb gar nicht merkt, dass hier kaum irgend etwas wirkliches Gewicht hat.

Wie bei solchen Fantasy-Geschichten üblich muss zunächst ein gewisses Maß an "world-building" geleistet werden. Es ist schließlich notwendig zu wissen, was genau die Gesetze und Regeln dieser Welt sind, in der man sich befindet. Während der Autor sich aber anfangs jede Menge Zeit lässt um einen in diese von ihm geschaffene Welt einzuführen, geschieht am Ende alles sehr schnell, auf einen Schlag wird alles aufgeklärt, wobei gerade Detektiv Drakenfeld keine allzu gute Figur macht, da er eher zufällig über die Lösung stolpert. Überhaupt bleibt der junge Held als Ermittler eher blass. Brillante Schlüsse oder clevere Deduktionen sind hier rar gesät. Drakenfeld leidet darunter, dass sein Vater eine dominante, erfolgreiche Persönlichkeit war, und nun, nach dessen Tod muss er sich beweisen und aus dem Schatten seines Erzeugers treten. Außerdem wird er von beunruhigenden Ohnmachtsanfällen heimgesucht, eine mysteriöse Krankheit, gegen die es kein Heilmittel zu geben scheint. Besonders komplex ist seine Person trotz dieser Konflikte aber nicht.

Wenigstens ist seine Partnerin eine starke Figur, eine toughe Kampfamazone, die Drakenfeld immer wieder aus Gefahrsituationen befreien muss. Dieser ist nämlich kein herausragender Kämpfer, sondern ein ziemlicher Schluffi, der eher die schönen Seiten des Lebens schätzt. Glücklicherweise verzichtet der Autor darauf irgendeine romantische Beziehung zwischen den beiden anzudeuten. Sie sind einfach nur Kollegen und Freunde, die sich gegenseitig vertrauen und gemeinsam für eine gute Sache kämpfen.

Zumindest eines scheint Mark Charran Newton von Game of Thrones übernommen zu haben, und zwar dass er völlig unerwartet wichtige Figuren sterben lässt. Da den Charakteren aber wie gesagt die wirkliche Dreidimensionalität fehlt, berührt einen ihr Schicksal weniger, als es vermutlich vom Autor beabsichtigt war.

Leider schwächelt bei Drakenfeld gerade die Krimihandlung sehr. Das klassische unmögliche Verbrechen, welches zu Beginn präsentiert wird, macht zwar neugierig, die Auflösung könnte jedoch kaum trivialer und abgedroschener ausfallen.

Fazit: Gute Idee Fantasy und Krimi miteinander verbinden zu wollen, nur Drakenfeld bietet von beidem eigentlich zu wenig. Trotzdem ist es unterhaltsam zu lesen, aber doch zu seicht um längere Zeit im Gedächtnis haften zu bleiben. Mark Charran Newton hat seine Geschichte (wie könnte es auch anders sein) als Serie angelegt, hier bleibt also noch reichlich Luft nach oben.½

A satisfying, but not startling conclusion to an interesting fantasy series.  Its themes of displacement (due to war and encroaching ice) are not resolved, but this feels much more realistic, to end when there is a pause in the fighting, rather than tell us that fighting is not necessary any more.
I thought more time could have been spent on Rika and her changes, but otherwise it felt nicely, if not always neatly concluded.

Advertised as appealing to readers of CJ Sansom; Drakenfeld focuses on a somewhat pedantic, pedestrian narrator in the midst of tumultuous happenings. It's entertaining without really coming alive, we don't really see the action so much as hear about it second hand (perhaps a limitation of a first person narrative?)

A satisfying, but not startling conclusion to an interesting fantasy series. Its themes of displacement (due to war and encroaching ice) are not resolved, but this feels much more realistic, to end when there is a pause in the fighting, rather than tell us that fighting is not necessary any more.
I thought more time could have been spent on Rika and her changes, but otherwise it felt nicely, if not always neatly concluded.

Interesting, although a little confusing as the characters from book 2 disappeared...

Still a bit of a jumble, and sprinkled wit a few fantasy trope/clichés, but heading for an interesting series. Although I am hoping the the ship Exmachina isn't going to be a hint as to the plot.

I enjoyed this, but it did feel like a lot of stage setting was going on at times; so many people and races introduced; and it was a little hard to keep track of everyone at times... but it does have a sense of promise. A bit similar to the opening of the Malazan series.

Re-read as have 2nd & 3rd in series on TBR. A little more telling than showing of story than I remember

(Re-posted from http://theturnedbrain.blogspot.com)

So if you buy a book solely because the cover is beautiful, or because the title is intriguing, then you accept the risk that the book might be not so good. But when you buy a book because you've seen it mentioned all over the place and because the plot sounds like ten different kinds of awesome, then you're your expectations might be somewhat higher. And yet, sometimes, the spur of the moment book will be fantastic and the anticipated one, well, let's turn our attention to Nights of Villjamur.


A city scrambling to prepare for a fast approaching ice age, masses of desperate refugees pushing at its walls, is left leaderless when the emperor commits suicide. Someone, or something, is killing of important council members, and a dark cult is making a grab for power. Zombie like creatures are shambling around the countryside and a war is brewing. Seriously, all that stuff happens in this book. All that stuff and then some. A plot like that, you might say its a bit too ambitious, maybe a bit too much action and excitement for one average sized book. But you almost certainly wouldn't look at that and say it sounds boring.


I went into Nights of Villjamur expected to be challenged, and challenged I was. But it wasn't because the plot was so complex, the prose so twistedly weird, no, the challenge was to finish the damn thing. A challenge I failed.


The problem, well, one of the problems, is that Mark Charan Newton is all tell and no show. I can't think of one examples in the three quarters of the book I made it through where Newton actually shows something. It's all, 'Bob walked down the stairs, he was tired and also a little hungry. He passed John, who he didn't like because four years ago he cheated at a game of poker.' Obviously that's not a dirct quote, but seriously you could open it to any page and find a quote not much better.


This telling over showing is particularly evident when we look the character Brynd. He's commander of the elite night guard, an albino, and a closeted homosexual. Everyone mistrusts him because he's an albino. I know this not because we ever actually see anyone mistrusting him, but because he, you guessed it, tells us. Or other characters will think, 'here come Brynd, I don't trust him because of his freaky white skin.' Another book I read recently had a character who, like Brynd, was an outcast because of their genetics. I'm referring to Jant Shira, from the excellent Castle trilogy. Throughout this books we see other characters too unnerved to meet Jant's eyes, obviously highly uncomfortable in his presence. He obviously makes people nervous. No one ever acts like Brynd bothers them, they just tell us he does.


Or there's an evil council member dude who wants to take control of the city, and to do that he wants to start a war. So he goes to the head armorer and says, 'tell everyone this arrow was made in our enemy nation.' And the armorer is all like 'uh, no.' And then the councilor says, 'do it or
I'll beat the living shit out of you.' No, really, he's that subtle. And then later he thinks about how he's got to go do some more clever manipulating. Ah, excuse me? Straight up threats do not a master manipulator make...


The characters lack any real depth, and there's definitely no mystery to them. How can there be when they tell us everything? The telling is even worse when it's done in dialogue. 'How do you feel about your boss?' Asks character a. 'I used to like him but now I don't because he didn't promote me.' Who actually talks like that? It also feels like the characters interact only on a most superficial level. The emperor, for example, beat his wife and possibly also murdered her. And yet Brynd, his most trusted adviser, seems to have no opinion about it. Newton also has a some little writing quirks that he repeats a lot, most annoyingly in the dialogue of different characters, which makes them sound very similar. (Also, at one point some random character suddenly realises that he's never liked communal toilets. How do you suddenly realise something you've always known?)


Mostly I'm just really disappointed. This book had such crazy amounts of potential, and I felt like the character of Brynd in particular could have been pretty amazing. Could have been, would have been, but ultimately wasn't. Maybe the next books in this serious are better, but as I couldn't even finish this one I don't know if I'll ever find out.

When I purchase a novel, we make a pact. I'm willing to suspend disbelief and come on your journey as long as you show competency in the art of writing.

I found this book unreadable. In it's current state it shouldn't even be offered for sale. I feel really sorry for the author to have been so let down in editorial standards by his publisher. There is a blatant failing in basic grammar to the point where that's all I saw. Every few lines I'd be abruptly jarred by clanging syntax. There's misuse of commas, passive writing, dangling modifiers, odd paragraph breaks and sentences that simply don't make sense.

[quote]Like a hunter, Brynd stalked wide so as to keep outside of his target's range of vision, drew the dagger from inside his boot.[/quote]

What?

[quote]As a commander of the Night Guard he had sailed to the shore recently, following the Emperor's useless orders.[/quote]

huh?

[quote]If only he'd brought Nelum along, a man who could generate plots in his head with simplicity, but Nelum was back in Villjamur, because Brynd hadn't thought he'd need him.[/quote]

It's hard to stay in the story when all you want to do is hurl the book across the room.

Read-alike for Rothfuss and Harry Potter, only darker. The ice age is advancing and refugees come to Villjamur where the king lives. Wars and rebellions break out . Cults use artifacts to work magic and the evil ones are bringing the dead back to life. Dark, mysterious atmosphere, creative scary stuff, leaves lots of dangling threads for series. Smart, complex, fascinating. Author introduces two species very gradually.

Bit of a classic styled 'whodunit', slow in paces but overall a good story.

Newton is ambitious, certainly. He has some interesting ideas for characters and plot, and an intriguing setting in his ice-besieged city and Empire of islands. Unfortunately, he simply doesn't have the experience to pull it off - his style stutters, his characterisation falters, and he is unable to resist giving way to stereotype and predictability after a promising start. Don't believe the reviews that this was an amazing debut (it wasn't actually his first novel) or at the forefront of British fantasy (the bar is very high now as it was when this was first published, after all). Sadly, this was an also-ran, although it shows promise for his later work. That said, the execution is poor enough that I'm not sure I have the stomach to try his later work, which is a bit of a problem.

First Yule book of 2013 to be finished.
The prose is not top notch, it is a bit clean and down to fact, carrying the story but not evoking atmosphere as good as it could.
This is a book of excellent construction, interesting plot-lines with just enough recognition to create anticipation without becoming predictable. Tho some events and turns could have been a bit more original and the author could have had a little less survival rate of the main characters (I'm probably a bit damaged by GRRM).
But it is heroic Weird Fantasy in a a very interesting world, with a Epic tint. I really want to read the rest of the books as the characters are exemplary complex and interesting.
Had the prose been a notch better and the main cast a bit less heroic it would had get the fifth star easily, now it fell just short of that.

If you ever get the opportunity to check out Drakenfeld, I highly recommend doing so! Go ahead and pick up the book, take your time to admire that striking, gorgeous cover, and give the first chapter a whirl. For myself, I was irrevocably hooked by the third page. It's hard not to be intrigued by the opening scene, when the descriptions of a brutal, torturous act of punishment is at once juxtaposed by the eponymous main character's deep regret and compassion, especially since he was the one who so doggedly hunted down the condemned in the first place.

Indeed, Lucan Drakenfeld has his work cut out for him. As an officer of the Sun Chamber, the independent organization tasked with maintaining the peace and stability of the various kingdoms in the Royal Vispasian Union, he has traveled far and wide and acted as lawkeeper in many places across the land. Yet when news of his father's death reaches him at the start of this story, Drakenfeld is recalled to his childhood home of Tryum.

Unfortunately, our protagonist has scarcely settled into his new post when tragedy befalls Tryum's royal family. The king's sister Lacanta has been found murdered, and Drakenfeld is called in to investigate the case. But with the princess' body found inside an empty locked temple just minutes after she was last seen alive by numerous witnesses, the baffling circumstances around her death seem quite impossible. Furthermore, the rumors that she was struck down by sorcery and witchcraft certainly aren't helping one bit.

First of all, I was absolutely delighted to find a book like this! I'll admit, despite hearing it described as a "fantasy mystery", I had my doubts in the beginning, namely in the "Mystery" part of that combination. After all, I've read a lot fantasy in the past which have been lumped into this category (specifically, a lot of urban fantasy and paranormal) but only because they happen to contain a few elements of the genre like noir or crime. Don't get me wrong; I've been known to enjoy those kinds of books a lot as well, but it was still very exciting, the moment when I was reading Drakenfeld and realized that I was holding an actual bonafide whodunit murder mystery in my hands.

It only gets better. The book's fantasy setting is one rich with politics, religion and culture, with an atmosphere reminiscent of Ancient Rome. Mark Charan Newton's writing style is wonderful, bringing the world of Drakenfeld to life in a way that gives it an almost classical, literary feel. As a lover of epic and historical fantasy, I was in my comfort zone, even as the meat of the mystery plot unfolded.

But perhaps my biggest attraction to this book is the character of Lucan Drakenfeld himself. In a genre that has seen the rise of many anti-heroes and other darker, morally-ambiguous characters in recent years, I was actually a little taken aback to encounter someone like Drakenfeld. Put simply, our narrator is a good person. Not perfect, no; but he values life and law in equal measure. His code of honor, as I said, was something I was able to determine very early on, from his attitude towards crime and punishment in the opening scene. A genuine belief in the adherence to regulations combined with a respect for personal freedoms made him an intriguing character whom I knew I was going to love. Coming down from reading a lot of epic fantasy starring thieves, mercenaries and assassins as of late also made meeting Drakenfeld a refreshing change.

This is the first book I've ever read by Mark Charan Newton, but it certainly won't be my last. With its perfect blend of fantasy and mystery and an excellent cast of characters, Drakenfeld gave me one of the more unique reading experiences I've had this year, and I think those who enjoy both those genres will really like this one. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, definitely check this one out.

This book fulfils most of the hallmarks of epic fantasy: a positive throng of characters, a large amount of worldbuilding, lots of dire forebodings about a coming end of the world, super-evil evil characters, etc. I'm not a big epic fantasy fan. I find that when it is good, it is really, really good, but when it is bad... well, you get the picture. So if you are an epic fantasy fan, ignore my review and try this book. There are a lot of original ideas and epic potential here; it might be a good fit. Even better, try it on audio. The reader is fantastic. It seriously gained an entire star, possibly a star and a half from me, solely because of general reader awesomeness.

If I could pick one word to describe this book, it would be "incoherent." To get the idea, let my try to describe the characters and plot.

In a world with several different races and a large and imperialistic empire, an ice age is coming, and everyone is afraid about it. (Apparently an "ice age" means a few decades of bad weather, and no explanation is ever given as to how the people know to predict said ice age.) There are a bunch of sects of cultists who collect powerful relics (no explanation for said relics), a random banning of all but a few major religions (no explanations here, either), a power-hungry chancellor full of nefarious schemes to gain power, a sorcerer who is raising the dead (not a good explanation of why said sorcerer did so is really ever given), a bunch of mysterious murders by magic in the city (a ridiculously inadequate explanation for the method and motivation is given here. hover for spoiler), a quest for another world, and the arrival of a bunch of alien lobster-like monsters who apparently seek to invade and destroy (you guessed it...no explanation),... well, the number of elements to the plot just keep coming. All of these ideas are good by themselves, but to me, it felt like none of them were sufficiently well thought out or developed. The book just couldn't decide what it wanted to be: it has a few elements of political thriller, but the politics are made too black and white to fit this genre. We have a few battles, but no focus on the warrior characters. There are several elements of mystery and intrigue, but just as they start getting interesting, the narration swaps to the point of view of the villains and we find out the whys and wherefores. This left the plot as an jumbled muddle, a tangle of plot thread resolutions and introductions, and no coherent arc.

The biggest failing for me is one that goes hand in hand with the epic fantasy genre: a certain sense of grandeur and a tendency to take itself far too seriously. For example, I felt like the book tried very hard to be acute political satire, but it lacked subtlety and dimension. For instance, we have an evil leader who uses a vicious attack on a small set of soldiers to claim that a rival country has weapons of mass destruction--uh, powerful cultist relics--to justify an imperialism-driven attack upon them. This same leader uses fear to shut down the borders of the city and prevent refugees from entering (They're illegal aliens! They carry disease! They'll take away food and jobs!) and threats of potential terrorism to enforce a Patriot Act--uh, I mean, stronger search and seizure laws. He secretly wants to exterminate all the refugees...apparently for no better reason except that they look messy. Said leader is indisputably evil-evil; he murdered his own parents because they irritated him. It's all a one-sided characterization. Making a character that evil is lazy; anyone with him is automatically bad and anyone against him is automatically good. See what I mean about lacking subtlety and actual analysis? At the same time, the protagonists' attitude of let-the-refugees-all-die-during-the-ice-age-but-don't-outright-kill-them is...you guessed it... incoherent.

As is standard for epic fantasy, there are a *load* of characters, and the book bounces between the perspectives of well over a dozen of them. To name the major ones, we have a noble albino guard, a privileged princess, a thieving cassanova, a scarred prostitute, a dutiful member of the inquisition (which functions as police, among other things), an ancient cultist trying to find a secret to let him live for ever, an uber-evil chancellor, ... well, the list just keeps going. In my opinion, we get the plot from the perspectives of too many characters, even for epic fantasy. It seems to me to be a lazy way of plot exposition: rather than developing characters or figuring out how to really tell the story through the eyes of a limited set, just keep switching them to get to the action scenes. And unfortunately, characterization wasn't well done. All of the characters have very similar voices, and all sounded oddly artificial to me, rather like a 21st-century LARPer trying to stay in character. The audiobook was a saving grace here: the narrator managed, via intonation and accent, to inject a touch of personality into each of them. Even with this, the characters felt to me to be...you guessed it... incoherent. For example, our friendly lathario is perfectly happy to borrow someone's identity, act as a gigolo, and rob jewellery from his victims, ostensibly because he wants to help his mother live forever. And then suddenly he falls in *lurve*, forgets about his mother, and becomes a noble rescuing hero. It didn't feel like character development to me; he didn't go through any form of self-realization or dramatic event. It just felt like inconsistency. The same was true for all the other characters as well. The narration tends to fall into the "tell rather than show" zone when trying to get into the characters' heads, so all felt flat and impersonal to me.

Overall, I think the author has a bunch of creative ideas. Unfortunately, he tried to shoehorn them all into a single book at the expense of coherence and developed characters. If you really, really like epic fantasy and you're willing to be in this one for the long haul, take a look at this. In particular, check it out on audio. Despite the serious cliffhangers and unanswered questions (seriously, why are there random crustacean monsters running around?), I'm not planning on picking up the next book; however, I think the author has a lot of potential and will be worth watching out for as he develops his craft.

Book Review - Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton

Nights of Villjamur
Series: Legends of the Red Sun (Book 1)
Mark Charan Newton
Spectra (2011)
Trade Paperback
464 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0345520852

Murder, mystery, and magic ; a deadly combination, to be sure, but in the hands of Mark Charan Newton it becomes something altogether more entertaining then might be expected. And, while the prose, character development, and pace seem to lack perfect clarification the story itself is strong enough, the plot and characters creative enough, and the new concepts introduced intriguing enough to make this a better than average murder/mystery/fantasy. While I enjoyed the story a great deal there were some plot point, character development, and location problems that were somewhat disappointing. The strength of the back-story got lost in places – tell me more about Caveside, and the Garudas, and the banshees, and the coming ice age (winter/freeze) – and some of the characters’ actions were somewhat unexpected and sometimes illogical. For instance, during a visit with a prostitute, the last person to see one of the murder victims alive, an investigator dismisses a major murder scene clue (blue paint) even though he knows that she’s an artist. Another major plot flaw occurs when one characters’ anger over being overlooked for promotion forces him from the role of minor character to major antagonist. But we are told early on in the narrative that the position he envies have always been reserved for members of a particular race and he doesn’t qualify. The mid-story switch in character standpoint didn’t flow enough for me to overlook those failings. Now, with those flaws pointed out I must add that I was definitely entertained by Nights of Villjamur and while the faults are not quite glaring they may turn some readers off but they certainly did not distract me from the story. And, in the spirit of entertainment and in the telling of a good yarn I’d have to say that there are enough unique and creative ideas in the story to keep even the most jaded readers diverted. Fortunately for Mr. Newton, this first story in the cycle has enough fertile ground and potential to develop into a highly acclaimed series. Let’s hope he’s up to the task.

If you’re the type that enjoys dark fantasies filled with strange alien races, unpredictable magic, murder mystery, and light fantasy then Nights of Villjamur is certainly recommended for you.

3 ½ (4 for originality) out of 5 stars

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin½

A fantastic read from start to finish. This book is many things, a murder mystery, an attempt to stop an invasion, gang wars, cities, other dimensions, races and it does all of this without compromising on any of the elements.
This is straight off inspired from the Bas Lag novels of China Mieville and I couldn't escape the feeling that I had while reading Perdido Street Station.(Which is a good thing) .
There are vivid creatures at every turn but Mark Charan Newton doesn't bore with with details and the book never gets expository. Indeed its amazing how much he reveals through bits of conversation along with the biases and racism inherent in any city. He also has a taste for the Macabre and the deaths are truly terrifying when they happen. Also the author has a healthy fascination for Whisky.
Its a well written and a very accomplished novel and Mark Charan Newton can add me to his growing list of fans.

This was one of the worst books I've ever read. I couldn't even finish it because I felt like I couldn't justify the time wasted on continuing to read it. It's like bad wine: not worth the calories.

I think my impression of the book can best be summed up with the description 'not convincing'. It reads like a failed imitation of GRRM-style epic fantasy + political intrigue. The characters aren't convincing, the plot isn't convincing, even the vaunted city Villjamur isn't convincing. For a place that's supposed to be full of atmosphere, it doesn't really have any. Characters vacillate between naive and cunning, cruel and kind, from one scene to the next, with no appreciable consistency. The plot is so predictable that foreshadowing hardly seems necessary; even so, the foreshadowing is so heavy-handed, it feels like an anvil.

I was looking forward to trying out a new author, a new series, but my hopes have been badly misplaced.

Second of Mark Charan Newton's Legends of the Red Sun, City of Ruin continues the story of a distant future (perhaps alternate?) Earth begun in Nights of Villjamur. The plot threads left at the end of the first book are nicely tied up and the story seems to be moving toward a very good ending as the series continues.Newton's got a good ear for dialog and his characters are superb, with real change and growth through the book. I just can't figure out how he channels China Mieville so well - he's got an independent voice, but I'm left with the same feeling for his writing as I get from Perdido Street Station.

Recommended, but start with the first.½