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The Book of the New Sun

by pkej
Posted to Diaries, Diary on Wed May 19, 2004 at 03:40:27 PM PST
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I've been buying a lot of the Fantasy Masterworks and Science Fiction Masterworks published by Millennium, and among those I've put the Book of the New Sun into the same stack as the Worm Orobous and a couple of other books: should have read them, but they're just not my cup of tea.

Until I was out of books to read again (picked a couple of poor choices from the library), so I opened it up. By chapter two I was ready to forego any meals and sleep until I had to drag my athropied body out of the reading chair.

The good news, for me, is that I have the second omnibus as well, so I'm just missing out on one or two novels in the first Urth saga. I've been known to flay people who think it is a good idea to start me on a series of books where the last book isn't published yet.

I've even been doing self-flaggelation for atoning for that time I started on the Gap Series by Sephen Donaldson before it was finished. The best authors are the dead ones, then you know when a story is truly finished.

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The Book of the New Sun | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
Dead Authors... (3.00/0) (#1)
by Martooni on Thu May 20, 2004 at 08:26:09 PM PST
The best authors are the dead ones, then you know when a story is truly finished.

Hear! Hear! (Though I hate to say it)

I know that whenever I'm looking for a nice long epic story (whether fantasy, sci-fi, or other), I make sure that the series has been completed before getting into it. I love the epic/serial style, but damnit, I want closure. There's nothing worse than waiting like I am now -- and please don't laugh -- for the next Harry Potter book (my dirty little mid-life-crisis-want-to-be-a-kid-again-so-bad secret).

I laughed (3.00/0) (#2)
by janra on Fri May 21, 2004 at 06:09:03 AM PST
because I understand exactly what you mean.

I don't like waiting for the next book in a series to come out either, but I got the HP books 1-4 for Christmas shortly after book 4 came out, and once I started I couldn't stop... much to the in-laws dismay. I read all 4 books in 5 days, when I should have been visiting with them :-)

At least the HP books have some kind of closure within each book. The school year ends, he's solved that year's crisis... you know there's another book coming, that there's more story coming, but you aren't left on a cliffhanger like some authors use to end each book.
--
Who needs to be big and burly when you can just apply physics?
[ Parent ]

But what about Book 5? (3.00/0) (#3)
by Martooni on Fri May 21, 2004 at 12:51:13 PM PST
I've been re-reading the series the past few days and should hit book 5 tomorrow. If I remember correctly, *that* one left quite a few loose ends hanging.

I love the way Rowling's writing keeps getting darker and darker with each new book, so I'm *really* looking forward to #6. I'm sure it'll be another one of those midnight book releases, so I'll have to remember to contact one of my ex-coworkers at B&N to hold me a copy -- damn grubby kids keep snatching'em all up before I can get there.

[ Parent ]

the loose ends (3.00/0) (#4)
by janra on Fri May 21, 2004 at 05:54:54 PM PST
As I recall, book 5's loose ends aren't much bigger than they were in any other book, they're just becoming more compelling as we progress through the story arc. Remember, we're 5/7 of the way through the larger story, which is the lead-up to the climax in most any story.

The "loose ends" at the end of book 6 will most likely drive everybody nuts because book 7 will be the climax of the overall story, as well as probably being the darkest 'episode' of them all.

Whatever else happens in the next two 'episodes', my bet is that for the overall story arc, book 6 will 'mobilize the army' now that the 'underground' has brought the problem to the attention of the world, and book 7 will have the showdown. I'm quite sure HP will win the showdown, but how, that's what I'm interested in... :-)

And I'm sure there will be some people who want Rowling to continue past the 7th book, but I hope not. Continuing a series because the market wants you to ... eck.
--
Who needs to be big and burly when you can just apply physics?
[ Parent ]

The Book of the New Sun | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
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