60 pages into Gardens of the Moon…
…and I don’t know WHAT the fuck is going on.
Seriously.
This may be the densest first chunk of fantasy I have ever read. So much name and location dropping. So much subtext in conversations that I feel like I should understand and know is being shoved between the lines & have a clue about what the hell is going on but I don’t. People speak very strangely…have reactions that just confuse me… but I can tell there are bones under there but wtf? It feels like I stumbled in in the middle of the second act in an experimental play where the acts aren’t sequenced anyway so you have no real idea of what act it actually is.
I think I saw another blog somewhere mention that there was some kind of introduction from the author stating that it was supposed be like that… but my version lacks anything of the sort. Although, the cast list that sits before the prose starts is *kind* of a clue. The thing is huge. As big as the WoT cast, but thrown at you all at once in one book. I guess, not through it yet :).
This is not to say that I’m daunted. I’m intrigued. Anything this intentionally dense must be protecting a treasure… or something!
I’ve seen these books in the stores for years, and always wanted to want to read them, but could never quite get there. I’ve had them recommended to me a couple times over the years, but it was this post from M @ Three Yellow Plums that pushed me over the edge. I love seeing people excited about a book – there’s just something good and contagious about it.
One of the problems with being so late to jump on the boat is that I get stuck with these new photo-like covers. HATE. I think I’ve posted before about the photo-realistic (or actual photos!) fantasy and sci-fi covers…so not my thing. I like good, old fashioned (even cheesy) fantasy art. The original cover is to the right. Yeah, it IS cheesy. But it at least looks like a fantasy cover. The one above? Not so much. Could be a new Twilight book for all I know…
Also, the back cover copy does these books no favors. There’s just something about it that made me go “bleh, generic fantasy” every time I picked it up and debated cracking it.
Second also, knowing that the series was based off a GURPS campaign always threw me. I’m always fighting against the analytical number crunching demons in my head to NOT try and convert everything in a fantasy novel into numbers & Monster Manual entries… but *knowing* that some of these things may have started out that way makes it even harder.
But, now we’re in! Onward & upward & all that.
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