Patti Smith's Horses
Book
Described, variously, as the perfect fusion of poetry and garage band rock and roll (the original...
Romantic Things: A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud
Book
Our thoughts are shaped as much by what things make of us as by what we make of them. In Romantic...
Afterland: Poems
Book
Afterland is a powerful, essential collection of poetry that recounts with devastating detail the...
Poetry
Selected Poems
Book
Intense verbal music with a jazz feeling; invention against the grain of expectation; intelligence...
The Collected Poems of Barbara Guest
Barbara Guest, Peter Gizzi and Hadley Guest
Book
One of the most notable members of the New York School-and its best-known woman-Barbara Guest began...
Brand New Ancients
Book
Kate Tempest is one of the most exciting and innovative performers to have emerged in spoken-word...
Major Works
Book
Tennyson was acclaimed in his own day as the chief poetic voice of his age, and he remains one of...
Black Rainbow: How Words Healed Me: My Journey Through Depression
Book
Black Rainbow is the powerful first-person story of one woman's struggle with depression and how she...
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Siege of Abythos in Books
Nov 7, 2017
Tharok's attempts to unite the orc-like kragh tribes and invade the human world continue, meanwhile Lady Iskra seeks to rescue her son and take revenge on the Ascendant's empire.
This book covers a lot more political debate and intrigue than the previous two, with prolonged discussion of who should be invaded, and what should be done thereafter. While this is very much a necessity in such an epic tale I felt it was somewhat laboured at times.
I very nearly gave up on this book at one point - where the portly magister Audsley (who has three demons lurking in his soul) was seeking to inveigle his way into the upper echelons of the empire, most of this storytelling centred around the colour of robes to wear, the type and colour of paper to use in sending letters and reciting poetry. Again this was very much laboured but bearable, until it looked like we were heading for what can only be described as a poetry battle, where Audsley (coached by one of his demons) was set to take on a senior government official's poetry representative in a battle of wits to see how would curry favour in the empire.
That's right: a poetry battle.
Think Philip Larkin in 8 Mile.
Will the real Slim Shakespeare please stand up.
Kanye Wordsworth.
NWA (Novelists with Assonance)
At this point I very nearly gave up. Thankfully, so did Audsley and the contest ended abruptly as he refused to let his demon take control of him. Phew. Disaster avoided. If this had been allowed to continue it would have made Tom Bombadil look like a critical plot point.
Other than Audsley's chapters (which in the previous book had been a highlight) the book does roll along at a reasonable pace and there is just about enough action to keep the interest, particularly in the last 100 or so pages.
All in all, a good read and a turning point for the series as a whole, but a lot of nonsense could have been removed, (Edgar Allan) Poe Shizzle.
