[Dragaera] Steven Erikson (was: Reading series)

[Konrad Gaertner]

Margaret Young wrote:
> Konrad Gaertner <kgaertner at tx.rr.com> 1/19/2009 10:37 PM 
>> Margaret Young wrote:
>>>
>>> Anyway, one of the joys of Brust to me is that his work continues to be
>>> a joy. Indeed I find myself reading at least as carefully the fifth or
>>> sixth time through as I did the first.
>>>
>>> Which in my mind is one of the things which distinguishes one level of
>>> writing from another.
>> 
>> That's why I'm reading (and re-reading) Steven Erikson; he's shown
>> himself to be better at keeping control of a huge, EPIC story than
>> Robert Jordan or George RR Martin managed.  (He's also a faster
>> writer.)

> I am not particulary familiar with Erikson's work — is his style
> similar to either Brust or Herbert?

It's been a while since I read Herbert (and I only read about 2 books 
of Dune), so I'm not sure how the style compares.  Erikson does have 
some similarities to Brust: he's also a follower of the Cool Stuff 
Theory of Literature, and his characters are very good at what they 
do.  But Erikson's series is a much bigger and melodramatic story 
than anything Brust would write; there's a throwaway line that this 
world /used/ to have four moons.

> Is he more charactger driven or does he focus on world creation?

Yes.  It'll be about 9,000 pages when finished, and none of it is
unnecessary padding.  Lots of characters, lots of nations and 
cultures, lots of ruins.  Some of the prologues are set hundreds of
thousands of years before the main events, and some of the POV
characters aren't mortal.


-- 
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - email: kgaertner at tx.rr.com
http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/
         Future Member of Ben Franklin's Undead Pixy Army