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| Posted By : Jack Windsword - 4/16/2008 12:36 PM | | I'm down.
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| Posted By : Lyn - 4/16/2008 1:24 PM | Okay, Jack, does that mean you'll read it? Since I asked if anyone was "up" for it, you said you were "down." lol Well, regardless - or irregardless (which did not get a red-underline like the word okay did, hmm, something's wrong with this automatic spell check that firefox browser uses) - I'm going to read CW's novel (book one: Wizard's Bane) 5 or 6 chptrs at a time and post some thoughts here in this thread. She might not like my interaction - I tend to get a little snarky and talk back to the author at times! lol But there you have it. See you Saturday. 
Lyn from ResAliens
Own a copy of Strange Worlds of Lunacy - Galaxy's Silliest Antho today! |
| Posted By : Nathan Jerpe - 4/16/2008 4:57 PM | | I'm interested, although I'd be more interested if we waited a couple of weeks to start? I'm still kinda worn out from the Ouroboros read...
(Edit: on second thought don't let me hold you up! I can always post a thread or two back if I get behind)
http://roguelikefiction.com |
| Posted By : Lyn - 4/16/2008 6:27 PM | No prob, Nathan. Read when you can. I'll start next week and post some reactions by Sat April 26. That still puts us close to finishing the book just after the end of May. Here's a possible reading/discussion schedule based on about 80 pages a week:
by Apr 26, chapters 1-6, pages 1-84
by May 3, chpts 7-11, pgs 85-172
by May 10, chpts 12-15, pgs 173-260
by May 17, chpts 16-20, pgs 261-342
by May 24, chpts 21-25, pgs 343-418
by May 31, chpts 26-30, pgs 419-501
by June 7, chpts 31-35, pgs 502-583 (end)
Of course, I have no idea where the actual "story breaks" occur - so if chapter 7 just begs to be read before it's scheduled to appear, then go with the flow.
Next question - should all the discussion be here in this thread? (and it may just be me posting my thoughts, lol) Or should we break it up by section like you all did with Ouroboros? Personally, I'm inclined to keep it in this thread, unless there's strong opinions. At any rate, see you back here next week!
Lyn from ResAliens
Own a copy of Strange Worlds of Lunacy - Galaxy's Silliest Antho today! |
| Posted By : Lyn - 4/16/2008 7:48 PM | About a month ago in Crystalwizard's thread, MysticWino said...
I just finished Wizard's Bane. It's a good read. Excellent world building via story-telling versus info-dump! Kudos.
Lyn from ResAliens
Own a copy of Strange Worlds of Lunacy - Galaxy's Silliest Antho today! |
| Posted By : Lyn - 4/26/2008 6:10 PM | April 26, 2008 - Lyn's Comments on Wizard’s Bane – Book One of the Sojourn Chronicles
(And I’m going to pretend I don’t know the author. Yeah, rots of ruck with that! lol)
Formatting issues:
Some of these may already be resolved but the PDF version I downloaded from eBookGiant had a few formatting issues.
First, picayune as it may be, an ebook does not need blank pages at the beginning – it should start with an illo or the title and leave no blank pages for computer readers to scroll through. Following the big house tradition of blank, blank, title, blank, copyright is needless, imo. In fact, ebooks should really be laid out landscape instead of portrait, but that’s another issue.
Again, no big deal, but I would eliminate the three blank pages (two are roman numeral numbered and one is blank) after the ToC. Plus, the Table of Contents should be separate from the acknowledgments. Then I noticed that Chapter Ten is missing (in the ToC, not the book) and was probably overlooked because Chpt 10 starts a third of the way down on page 146. So the proofer needed to catch that (and I think it happened one other place as well).
As for the break between paragraphs and no tab indent for paragraphs, that wasn’t bad – and for reading it on a computer screen was actually helpful.
Lyn from ResAliens
Own a copy of Strange Worlds of Lunacy - Galaxy's Silliest Antho today! |
| Posted By : Lyn - 4/26/2008 6:11 PM | Discuss Chapters 1 to 6
Initial impressions:
I liked the opening hook – strange occurrence in a strange city. As per the discussion elsewhere, I wasn’t too concerned that it was unnamed, but I did have trouble deciding how large the town was – a city implies one size, but the presence of a single town drunk implies another. So I settled on a European style earth village from the 1400s in my mind. And so when “Dale” showed up I figured he was from the future with such a nondescript name. (I’m still getting used to the protag’s name; I personally don’t like it, but I’m not the author.) Kheri is a good name and spelling, adds to the fantasy style setting.
The story telling is fairly solid overall – the characters get some development by way of dialog and the story moves predictably to the farm where I’m expecting something to happen – and it does. So that’s good if basic plotting: Introduction, set up, new character (the aunt), then crisis. I enjoy the no nonsense approach to getting into the story. It’s interesting, well written, and has me guessing already (which is a good thing – in good books I’m always trying to anticipate what’s going to happen next – in bad books I don’t care or already know, lol).
Couple of mistakes already though. Three or four miles wouldn’t be a couple hours walk – in that age of walking everywhere it would be less than an hour (I walk 15 min miles). So the time line is off a bit already, as they arrive after sun up. (Cows, btw, are milked before sunrise). Then, Dale not knowing what chickens are is a bit unbelievable. He knows what farm is, he knows what pigs are (his earlier reflection upon arrival in the garbage-strewn ally of the village), so he’d know chickens. Makes for a cute scenario, but threw me out of the story for a moment.
More later...
Lyn from ResAliens
Own a copy of Strange Worlds of Lunacy - Galaxy's Silliest Antho today! |
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