2006-12-28
Burning Tower
Author: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
As usual, reading a good Niven/Pournelle novel reminds me just what good writing is all about. Burning Tower is the sequel to The Burning City which I read a year or two again. The characters have changed to the descendants of the originals, although not much time has passed. Whandall Feathersnake's story and the story of Tep's Town are over. While we start in Tep's Town and Lordshills, this story hits the road and doesn't come back. It's sufficiently separate from the first entry in this fictional world that I think a person could read this book first and The Burning City second without losing too much enjoyment. Surprisingly, the sequel stands up to the original.
The only problem I had with the story was the false ending about 3/4 of the way through. I don't mind the device sometimes, but I didn't feel like the conflict of the last 100 pages was set up far enough in advance. I understand the basic idea -- the story begins with Sandry realizing he needs to get married soon and so it shouldn't end until he does -- but that didn't stop the pages following the Battle at Sunfall from feeling like an exceptionally long epilogue before the need to escape Aztlan was presented.
This fault doesn't override the deep characters, the sturdiness of most of the plot, or the well-paced storytelling. If that's nothing less than we expect from these frequent collaborators then it only proves why the masters stand out from the crowd. Like almost anything with their two names on it, Burning Tower is highly recommended fantasy.
Here at the end of 2006 I'm a little disappointed that I've logged only 48 books, less than one per week. The end of the year has been particularly slow. Still, this list has served its purpose. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it or not. If it comes to be February 2007 and this is still the latest update, rest assured that I've read a book since then and simply haven't put it up here.
As usual, reading a good Niven/Pournelle novel reminds me just what good writing is all about. Burning Tower is the sequel to The Burning City which I read a year or two again. The characters have changed to the descendants of the originals, although not much time has passed. Whandall Feathersnake's story and the story of Tep's Town are over. While we start in Tep's Town and Lordshills, this story hits the road and doesn't come back. It's sufficiently separate from the first entry in this fictional world that I think a person could read this book first and The Burning City second without losing too much enjoyment. Surprisingly, the sequel stands up to the original.
The only problem I had with the story was the false ending about 3/4 of the way through. I don't mind the device sometimes, but I didn't feel like the conflict of the last 100 pages was set up far enough in advance. I understand the basic idea -- the story begins with Sandry realizing he needs to get married soon and so it shouldn't end until he does -- but that didn't stop the pages following the Battle at Sunfall from feeling like an exceptionally long epilogue before the need to escape Aztlan was presented.
This fault doesn't override the deep characters, the sturdiness of most of the plot, or the well-paced storytelling. If that's nothing less than we expect from these frequent collaborators then it only proves why the masters stand out from the crowd. Like almost anything with their two names on it, Burning Tower is highly recommended fantasy.
Here at the end of 2006 I'm a little disappointed that I've logged only 48 books, less than one per week. The end of the year has been particularly slow. Still, this list has served its purpose. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it or not. If it comes to be February 2007 and this is still the latest update, rest assured that I've read a book since then and simply haven't put it up here.
