19 September 2012

Palimpsest


In essence, Palimpsest is a book reading a bit like poetry about a mythical sexually-transmitted city (yeah, you read it right!), and how four ordinary strangers happen upon, and are therefore affected by, it. Or, well, technically, how it happens upon them. You see, everyone who gains access to Palimpsest has tattooed, in some part of their body,  a map representing an area of the city they can visit without help. To visit other areas, however, one must have sex with people who have the place one wishes to mapped on  their skin. It doesn't help matters that the city is incredibly addicting, often being described as more real than the waking world, and far more beautiful. Thus, the city often indirectly (and its citizens often directly) wrecks the lives of all those who find it.

9 September 2012

Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #I)

Gardens of the Moon cover

You know, in attempting to figure how to begin writing a review for such a beast as this, I think I've come to realize how much of a flawed masterpiece it really is. Or at least why people could refer to it as such.

Gardens of the Moon introduces us to the Malazan Empire. It throws us in the middle of their conquest of the city of Pale, a continent away, moments away from setting sight to the one last Free city, Darujhistan. It introduces us to a host of characters who are for or against these conquests, who hail from the empire, from the free cities, or from somewhere else. Who have agendas, planned betrayals, or seek survival. Even gods and ascendants  have a vested interest somewhere along the highway, and some are more than happy to personally join the fray.

6 September 2012

Wings of Wrath (The Magister Trilogy, #2)

[Wings+of+Wrath]

Wings of Wrath starts off a very little while after the end of Feast of Souls. By now, the story is mostly plot-driven as almost everyone´s business has been overtaken by the Souleater menace:  Kamala still needing to hide from the magisters, as well as Siderea´s continuing storyline are basically the only concessions done to character initiative, and even that is dubious, as for the most part Kamala´s hiding is irrelevant and never really comes to the fore. (Her hiding from Rhys is another issue entirely, and also felt a bit plot-forced) 

Its not that I have anything against plot-driven stories (I would have scarce Fantasy to read, if that were the case), but that, for the most part, FoS had me excited about following Kamala´s story and character in a more profound way than it was later delivered. My own fault for perhaps having preconceived expectations, granted, but it just seems like I can´t let go.

4 September 2012

Feast of Souls (The Magister Trilogy, #I)

portada
Me pregunto si hacer una reseña en español de un libro leído y originalmente escrito en ingles realmente tiene mucho sentido...  Bueno, demasiado tarde para eso, supongo que pueden tratar esta entrada como una especie de... experimento. Lo cual es, en mas de un sentido. 

A lo que vinimos: Feast of Souls (En español vendría a significar algo así como "Festín de Almas") es una historia de high fantasy que toma lugar en un mundo de corte mas o menos medieval-renacentista que ya una vez fue sumergido en las tinieblas por culpa de unas criaturas a las que se refieren comúnmente con el apodo de  "come-almas". Al comenzar la historia, los come-almas no son mas que una leyenda inquietante del pasado para la mayoría, pero todo esta a punto de cambiar...