Finished up Mercadian Masques. It was alright. The first half of the book is really good, as we get to know both the mercantile Mercadians (and their behind the scenes goblin noble masters), their Cateran mercenaries, the pastoral Cho-Arrim, the seafaring Rishadans, and the merfolk race from Saprazzo. The second half though gets bogged down as the villain of the piece is revealed.
Two things work against the book: the first is that even though this is "book one" of the block it is also continued from the previous Weatherlight saga books. So I feel as if I am coming in late as far as who the characters are. Some of them get fleshed out quite nicely (Orim), others, not so much (Gerard, Sisay). This would have been easier reading had the characters been introduced better. Secondly, the second half of the book feels really rushed in certain respects because it has to tie back to the earlier Weatherlight stuff. One of the major mechanics and narrative aspects of the Mercadian Masques card set is the Ramosian rebellion. Essentially, all throughout the provinces and kingdoms of Mercadia there is a myth of the "Uniter," Ramos, and there is an insurgency which believes in the prophecy of his return. A LOT of White cards in MM were based around the Rebel mechanic. But the rebellion itself never is fleshed out as well as it should be, and instead is sort of just background noise in the second half. This was very disappointing to me, especially when one considers that there is a character in the story who could have been the perfect main character of the story, and focused more on the rebellion. So that was a bit of a letdown. I'll probably read the other two books in the cycle (Nemesis and Prophecy), but they form a cycle in name only, and are not realted beyond the time in which they occur. Up next is Doctor Who And The Cybermen, which is the adapation of the second Cybermen serial, The Moonbase. 6 chapters in and really enjoying it; I can really picture this as an early (Patrick Troughton) episode of the show. The Cybermen are very adept at sneaking around. On Jul 25, 10:24 am, Luke Jaconetti <[email protected]> wrote: > I just a few days ago finished reading "James Bond And Moonraker" by > Christopher Woods. This is the novelization of Woods' screenplay for > Moonraker, which is vastly different from Fleming's Moonraker (hence the > novelization). I really enjoyed this one. The novel lacks all of the > slapstick humor which ended up in the movie, and, ultimately, mars the > viewing experience. There is also an extra action setpiece which I will > describe in two words: > > Bond EVA. > > Your enjoyment will depend entirely on how much you can accept the story > for the movie version of Moonraker, whichi involves a nerve gas being > rained on the Earth from a space station. I dug it. > > I have now started reading Mercadian Masques by Francis LeBaron. It is a > Magic: The Gathering novel, the first in the (evidently loosely connected) > Masques trilogy. So far I am enjoying the story, mostly for the setting -- > Mercadia is a plane based on commerce and trade, and like the expansion > this novel is based on, there is a lot of wheeling and dealing and > bargainig and such going on. So far so good. > > > > On Tuesday, February 7, 2012 8:51:30 AM UTC-5, Luke Jaconetti wrote: > > The old thread timed out once again, so here's a new one. > > > I just finished reading Hereticus by Dan Abnett, the final volume of > > the Eisenhorn trilogy (and the Eisenhorn Omnibus) last night. This > > was an amazing series of books which I wholly recommend to anyone who > > will listen. > > > Next on the queue: How The West Was Won by Louis L'amour.- Hide quoted text > > - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en.
