I have finished reading Scott Oden's Memnon, and it was about time!
The veredict? It's very good. Scott has a way of conveying the meaning and feeling of a scene that fills all your senses, you can imagine the whole, re-create it in your mind in full color, sound, smell, and timing.
He's also pretty good at feeling the characters, they look really credible and consistent, you can walk along them and they won't disappoint you, either in dialog or in thoughts or actions. Additionally his prose is rich but not pedant (although I'll have to consult the dictionary for some obscure words), and the reading flows painlessly as worlds unfold before your eyes. I have felt a perceptible improvement over Men of Bronze, which was very good.
I wish I'd be able to write half as crafty as he does!
Things to improve? Yeah, of course. As neo-pagan, I feel a bit nose-shrugged everytime I read such an anachronistic use of the term heathen as Scott uses it... x-D
Anyway, a cool book, the story of an extraordinary man told with dignity and passion, I can only applaud and take my hat off... At thy feet, Sire!
On other bussiness, I have gotten my pawns on a copy of A. T. Olmstead's History of the Persian Empire, it has some really interesting chatpers, and the book looks pretty good, I'll try to put it to a good use on Inaros... :)
I have found Pierre Briant's From Darius to Alexander in French, I have to read it on the Library, and it's 2 volumes... I'll have to unrust my langue d'öil if I want to be able to benefit... Voilà!, another reason to learn languages, uh?
Lastly, as NaNoWriMo approaches, I am honing my skills, probably to tack the last of the book, and maybe the first revision? (or maybe I'll wait for Nanoedmo in March).
Now that I have finished the book, I will try to write again, while reading the other books on the stack, which is already a parasang tall!
Kallisti!
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tempvs fvgit et verba volant sed scripta manent... abovt history, writing, classics, and historical fiction
2 comments:
I'm glad you liked it, David . . . even though I dropped the 'H' word :) I'm extremely proud of it, probably far more than I should be. But, a second book reassures an author that the first book wasn't just some weird fluke, that perhaps they actually *can* write. Then the third book comes along and destroys everything, but that's a story for another time ;)
Get back to work on The Libyan, my friend! We're eager to read it . . .
Thanks, again!
Scott,
you have powerful reasons to be very proud of your work, therefore, be it without fear! :-)
As for the third book, just keep pushing, I'm sure it will come along nicely and better than ever!
As for Inaros, I'll try to push it through the end, yeah... As for reading it, however, we'll have to wait until (a) it's translated to English or (b) I do the translation myself (ugh) for everyone's (doubtful) benefit... :-P
Anyway, I won't move ahead of the present, and will push it to the end first.
thanks a lot for the book(s), for the great hours of reading and learning, and for the encouragement! :)
cheers!
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