Reading 2009: Band Of Gypsys
Jan. 23rd, 2009 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cdave*) The DFC.
In a recent Mezolith (prehistoric myths) a pregnant woman eats the forbidden flesh of a raven, and gives birth to a dead baby. It's wrapped in the ravens wings, and "buried" in tree. It comes back to life eats insects and grows for years, before being discovered and brought back to the tribe. But she rejects them, and goes and lives with the ravens on a near by cliff. She is now a powerful shaman.
This is a kids comic remember.
3) Band Of Gypsys by Gwyneth_Jones
Wikipedia sums it up. "Unlike previous episodes, Band Of Gypsys can’t easily be read as a stand alone."
Having enjoyed Gwyneth Jones being interviewed at the BSFA last year, I picked up one of her books. Fortunately it wasn't in that ghastly trade paperback size, so fitted in my coat pocket. I've been reading it on the tube ride home.
The cover blurb had one bit of praise for Bold As Love, but no indication that this was part of a sequence, so gave no thought to the fact that it may be. About halfway through it became clear that the history was actually from another book, not just background. I should have looked up to see if this was the case, and read synopsis of the others but I don't usually do that, so I stuck with it.
{aside: I love Alistair Reynolds future history, and read most of it in the wrong order. But this doesn't matter. He writes so they can be read in any order (I asked him at a signing). If I'd gone and read synopsis, it would have spoiled the rest.}
The book consists almost entirely of three lovers being stuck somewhere on their own, not doing much, out of the flow of events, while hinting at the exiting things that happened in past books, and may happen in the next book.
My impressions on a first reading:
They start off in exile in a Paris studio flat. Return to England to take up the presidency. Given that the current government hate him, and apart from one comment about him doing some paper work, he doesn't seem to wield any power as president, it seems odd that he'd go back, and that they'd be bothered about him coming back. There they find that Ax's family has been taken hostage / put under house arrest (in a stately home) by the government without the family actually noticing it. So they free them with the help of a milita, in the one bit of action in the novel.
Then they hold a gig (using the one bit of technology or magic in the book), which mainly seems to be an excuse to catch up with what the rest of their mates are up to. But since I hadn't read the previous books, I had no connection to this lot, and they don't really seem to do anything in this one, so that fell a bit flat. It's about this point where the idea that rather have been reading the prequel turned into the realisation there was a prequel!
Then Ax and Sage get accused using magic in parliament. For something they did in a previous book which has cropped up on a video. This is punishable by death. All looks bleak until Fiorinda steps up and says "I was there too", so you'll have to accuse me too. Which they can't because the public love her. At no point are we actually shown the public's opinion on relative merits of the trio. But we've been told now. You can't pick on the people's princess. (Show don't tell!)
About this point we find out that Sage has achieved a Zen Master state in the past which is capable of all sorts of whizzy stuff. He doesn't achieve it again in this book. Fiorinda is the daughter of an evil wizard, and is probably capable of whizzy magic herself (at a cost). She doesn't use it in this book. And Ax used to be known as Aoxomoxoa, and had a reputation for violence. Which he has now sworn off.
Next up the trio get kidnapped, and put under house arrest (in a stately home). Where once a week they are forced to be the guests stars at a televised government run nightclub. After a while Sage gets let out on day release, promptly gets kidnapped by the government again (no joined up thinking there) and tortured. When he gets back they decide to escape by agreeing a plan by the Scottish government.
They get rescued, driven half way to Scotland, then dumped out of the van. And spend the remainder of the novel living in an abandoned farm house living off the land and whatever they can nick off the local farmers.
Turns out the Chinese have invaded Cornwall which spooked the Scots. They then proceed to take over Britian, and execute some of the nastier government officials, but none of the trio's mates (who have popped up in Buckingham palace).
The End.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that all the fossil fuels in the world have disappeared (in a magical equivalent of an A bomb test) just before the start of the book, and the rest of the world has placed Europe under an information blackout to prevent a computer virus spreading. Interesting ideas, but neither of these things seem ot have been explored in any depth. They don't seem to have had much of an impact on the plot. And we don't really got to see what impact they've had on the world, beyond Joe Public being poorer and more into environmental issues.
That's a it of a longer rant than I meant to write. Ah well.
In short I didn't like it. Possibly because it demanded knowledge of previous books in the series I hadn't read. But mostly because nothing particularly interesting happens in it.
In a recent Mezolith (prehistoric myths) a pregnant woman eats the forbidden flesh of a raven, and gives birth to a dead baby. It's wrapped in the ravens wings, and "buried" in tree. It comes back to life eats insects and grows for years, before being discovered and brought back to the tribe. But she rejects them, and goes and lives with the ravens on a near by cliff. She is now a powerful shaman.
This is a kids comic remember.
3) Band Of Gypsys by Gwyneth_Jones
Wikipedia sums it up. "Unlike previous episodes, Band Of Gypsys can’t easily be read as a stand alone."
Having enjoyed Gwyneth Jones being interviewed at the BSFA last year, I picked up one of her books. Fortunately it wasn't in that ghastly trade paperback size, so fitted in my coat pocket. I've been reading it on the tube ride home.
The cover blurb had one bit of praise for Bold As Love, but no indication that this was part of a sequence, so gave no thought to the fact that it may be. About halfway through it became clear that the history was actually from another book, not just background. I should have looked up to see if this was the case, and read synopsis of the others but I don't usually do that, so I stuck with it.
{aside: I love Alistair Reynolds future history, and read most of it in the wrong order. But this doesn't matter. He writes so they can be read in any order (I asked him at a signing). If I'd gone and read synopsis, it would have spoiled the rest.}
The book consists almost entirely of three lovers being stuck somewhere on their own, not doing much, out of the flow of events, while hinting at the exiting things that happened in past books, and may happen in the next book.
My impressions on a first reading:
They start off in exile in a Paris studio flat. Return to England to take up the presidency. Given that the current government hate him, and apart from one comment about him doing some paper work, he doesn't seem to wield any power as president, it seems odd that he'd go back, and that they'd be bothered about him coming back. There they find that Ax's family has been taken hostage / put under house arrest (in a stately home) by the government without the family actually noticing it. So they free them with the help of a milita, in the one bit of action in the novel.
Then they hold a gig (using the one bit of technology or magic in the book), which mainly seems to be an excuse to catch up with what the rest of their mates are up to. But since I hadn't read the previous books, I had no connection to this lot, and they don't really seem to do anything in this one, so that fell a bit flat. It's about this point where the idea that rather have been reading the prequel turned into the realisation there was a prequel!
Then Ax and Sage get accused using magic in parliament. For something they did in a previous book which has cropped up on a video. This is punishable by death. All looks bleak until Fiorinda steps up and says "I was there too", so you'll have to accuse me too. Which they can't because the public love her. At no point are we actually shown the public's opinion on relative merits of the trio. But we've been told now. You can't pick on the people's princess. (Show don't tell!)
About this point we find out that Sage has achieved a Zen Master state in the past which is capable of all sorts of whizzy stuff. He doesn't achieve it again in this book. Fiorinda is the daughter of an evil wizard, and is probably capable of whizzy magic herself (at a cost). She doesn't use it in this book. And Ax used to be known as Aoxomoxoa, and had a reputation for violence. Which he has now sworn off.
Next up the trio get kidnapped, and put under house arrest (in a stately home). Where once a week they are forced to be the guests stars at a televised government run nightclub. After a while Sage gets let out on day release, promptly gets kidnapped by the government again (no joined up thinking there) and tortured. When he gets back they decide to escape by agreeing a plan by the Scottish government.
They get rescued, driven half way to Scotland, then dumped out of the van. And spend the remainder of the novel living in an abandoned farm house living off the land and whatever they can nick off the local farmers.
Turns out the Chinese have invaded Cornwall which spooked the Scots. They then proceed to take over Britian, and execute some of the nastier government officials, but none of the trio's mates (who have popped up in Buckingham palace).
The End.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that all the fossil fuels in the world have disappeared (in a magical equivalent of an A bomb test) just before the start of the book, and the rest of the world has placed Europe under an information blackout to prevent a computer virus spreading. Interesting ideas, but neither of these things seem ot have been explored in any depth. They don't seem to have had much of an impact on the plot. And we don't really got to see what impact they've had on the world, beyond Joe Public being poorer and more into environmental issues.
That's a it of a longer rant than I meant to write. Ah well.
In short I didn't like it. Possibly because it demanded knowledge of previous books in the series I hadn't read. But mostly because nothing particularly interesting happens in it.
