Two questions regarding authors
1)Every so often when it gets slow and I run out of sites that are probably okay to be looking at on desk, I remember that I keep meaning to start reading the Dresden Files. For some reason this branch can't keep Storm Front in. Whenever I check, there's like six holds on it. Meanwhile the second, fourth, and eighth books in the series are right there on the shelf ten yards away. Does it matter terribly much in which order I read them?

2) I just reread Dave Duncan's Great Game trilogy after giving up on it as a teenager. It was a decent read, but also contained a whole lot of OH JOHN RINGO NO-style treatment of women and minorities. I'm looking at an old Library Journal that has a review of a novel of his about alchemists in an alternate Renaissance Venice. They say it's pretty good and I have a secret weakness for fantasy Venice. On the other hand, I'll pass if it's full of the same creepy "Hooray white people! British colonial-style oppression of native peoples is awesome!" and "Rape bad! But interesting! But bad!" moments that those were. Anybody read much Duncan? Does he commonly throw those sort of icky scenes and attitudes into his stories?

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	mercorir 2009-02-10 02:43 am UTC (link)
	Any other fantasy Venice books you'd recommend? I read the Stravaganza series (and hey, I didn't realise there was another one out now!) and enjoyed them, and now I'm on the hunt for more fantasy Venice. :D (Reply to this)(Thread)

	_goblin_ 2009-02-10 03:41 am UTC (link)
	Tanith Lee has The Secret Books of Venus. I've only read A Bed of Earth; the book has a bit of an unsatisfying ending, but beautiful writing and an awesomely creepy scene featuring a possessed flamingo. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	*This was no flamingo! It was evil manifest.* mercorir 2009-02-10 03:00 pm UTC (link)
	A possessed flamingo? I am intrigued! I wonder if my library has it? (Reply to this)(Parent)

anonyrat
2009-02-10 03:52 am UTC (link)

I really liked the Dark Reflections trilogy by Kai Meyer.

The first book, The Water Mirror, opens with two young orphans being sent as apprentices to a magic mirror maker in Venice, which is one of the few places on earth which has not yet been conquered by the Egyptian's seemingly invincible army of the dead -- thanks largely to the protection of Venice's powerful guardian god, the Flowing Queen.

The other books, The Stone Light and The Glass Word, aren't set 100% in Venice, but they're still there.

Best fantasy I've read in ages, YA or no. Full of really striking imagery and unusual elements of the fantastic.

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	mercorir 2009-02-10 02:57 pm UTC (link)
	Ooh, they sounds great! makes note (Reply to this)(Parent)

	marumae 2009-02-13 12:57 am UTC (link)
	I read the Water Mirror, my god, the mermaids? Totally creepy the way the author writes them and the Stone Lion? Awesome, I second this recommendation. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sgaana 2009-02-10 04:37 am UTC (link)
	Lies of Locke Lamora. It's not actually Venice, but you sure can see the marks where the serial numbers were filed off. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brown_betty 2009-02-10 05:03 am UTC (link)
	Although it's kinda gory, and not great for women. A friend counted, and discovered that there is not a single line of dialogue delivered by a woman until page 127. But I found it fun enough to read that that I was willing to overlook that. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sgaana
2009-02-10 05:12 am UTC (link)

*nods* Yeah, gory, definitely. And I would say that of the women it does have, they're pretty great. (Although, I eventually decided that I was just irritated by the Sabetha thing.)

I've had the sequel for months but can't decide if I want to read it. I'm sure I will eventually, but... I was really annoyed when I found out that this guy has a seven-volume epic all planned out. I suppose it's better that he's planned it than not (...Jordan, paging Robert Jordan...), but I find something really dispiriting about the idea that one will be getting no real resolution for six more boos. The first one, it was not short, and I also have to wonder if he will succumb to the usual Sequel Bloat that so many authors do. Mostly, while I on balance enjoyed the first one, I'm not yet sure that I want to spend *that* long in that world, if you know what I mean.

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	brown_betty 2009-02-10 05:20 am UTC (link)
	I've only got to the second one, Red Seas etc., and it's a lot better with re: women, but that's partly because the first one set such a low standard. But it's mostly neglect rather than, you know, Frank Miller-esque shenanigans. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	keleri 2009-02-10 09:18 pm UTC (link)
	I find something really dispiriting about the idea that one will be getting no real resolution for six more books. This. I got discouraged reading the sequel about halfway through because I knew, I just KNEW things weren't going to turn out that well, because we need to get through 5 more books from here. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mercorir 2009-02-10 03:01 pm UTC (link)
	I keep thinking about reading it, but I haven't got around to it yet. adds to list (Reply to this)(Parent)

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