Two more books came by mail this weekend.
The first, from the Science Fiction Book Club—The Bloody Crown of Conan, the second volume in Del Rey’s new collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian stories.
The second, from Mad Norwegian Press—Warlords of Utopia, Lance Parkin’s contribution to the Faction Paradox universe.
I’ve only glanced at The Bloody Crown, but I’ve read half of Warlords already.
Warlords has been an interesting read–timelines where Rome never fell battling timelines where Nazi Germany conquered the Earth. If you liked Sliders, this might be the book for you.
In other book news, the Waldenbooks near my house is closing up on Christmas Eve. Oh, the pain!
Published by Allyn
A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.
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By an amazing coincidence, I ordered Warlords and the second About Time book from Mad Norwegian not too long ago, and I’ll be ordering The Bloody Crown soon. I found it a little difficult getting into The Coming of Conan so long after my first burst of REH enthusiasm more than 25 years ago, but I’m looking forward to this one now.
Oh, goody– Warlords is finally, finally out. Now if I don’t get it for Christmas, that’s yet another expensive thing to buy in the New Year…
Steve
A few quick comments on Warlords of Utopia.
The “prologue” in the back of Of the City of the Saved… is very misleading. In fact, it’s best not to think about how it relates to the story Warlords tells.
I would say, of the three novels thus far, Warlords is the least tied into the Faction mythology. The narrator’s perspective on the novel’s events is such that a wider perspective isn’t really possible. It’s like Star Trek: Enterprise trying to explain the Temporal Cold War–it can’t, because the perspective on a trans-temporal war can’t be confined to a single front.
I’m curious what Warlords would have been like had it been published as a Doctor Who novel.
Warlords is a fast read, as with most all of Parkin’s work. In a few places a line reads as being out-of-place, as not fitting with the narrative voice, but overall I’m liking the book. I should have it finished shortly.