What Are You Reading, Part 2

[Jit he/him]

I'm Reading His dark materials now. It was on the reading list when I was at school years ago but I never read it which is a shame as its a lot better then the film.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

The similarity to Poland is intentional, I believe. Naomi is Polish herself (though born in the US), and one of the things she wanted to do with Uprooted is to tell a fairy tale. I felt a little bit the same way, but I imagine all of or familiar with Slavic culture will. It doesn't really take away from the story.

 

Well, you didn't understand what I meant. I find the "statement" that this book is inspired by Polish culture laughable, not the Polish culture itself. Maybe I didn't put it correctly, so sorry for misunderstanding.

I am familiar with Slavic culture. Hell, I'm 100% Polish person, born in Poland, raised on Polish legends, fairy-tales and history. And I can say that Naomi is not familiar with any of it. She states that this book is based on Polish culture and Kingdom of Poland, but when I tried to read it I just felt... annoyed? Because it looks like the author maybe tried to do some research, but failed miserably. I'll put in the spoiler why I think so, because explanation is really long, and kind of off-topic.

I mean ok. Let's look at names: They are used in Poland (well, at least they are on the list of names we have here, but I've never heard some of them in actual use), so that fits. But basically none of them have anything to do with actual Polish culture, because most of these names are either fairly new in Poland, or were quite unpopular in the times of Kingdom of Poland, but they were really popular in all other countries (like "Agnieszka" for example). Especially "Prince Marek" made me laugh. I mean... it’s freaking Roman name, for God's sake, that wasn’t really used in this form except for modern days. Really not-Polish so far, but ok, Poland was always a country of mixed cultures and tolerance, so I guess it's... fine-ish? I just can't imagine a lot of Mareks running around in any place that's even vaguely inspired by "Kingdom of Poland" (see the word "Kingdom", which clearly states it's not modern Poland they mean). Actually there was a form of this name "Markusław" that was way more commonly used in the time period the book is apparently inspired with. Let's dig further.

There are barely any Slavic names. Let's talk about Wensa. This is not a Polish name, it's southern Slavic name. It was probably never used as a Polish name, and there are exactly 3 people in Poland named this way, according to records. Sure it is on the modern list of names used in Poland, but I've never heard of it in use. And using the Wesna names defies any reason to use it. This name is supposed to mean "spring", but in Poland we have different word for "spring" that was also used as a name at some point in history (nowadays it's not really used, since we don't like names that are the same as normal words, since the grammar of the Polish language makes them confusing, so there are just like 4 people with this name in Poland currently). Also, for whatever reason, there is a spelling mistake in that one name! (Why this one name only? I guess it's lack of attention or inconsequence of the author). Should be Wesna not Wensa.

And then there is this thing that names of characters are spelled the "Polish way" (like "Agnieszka" with "sz"), but names of places are spelled the "English way" (like "Olshanka", or "Nieshka" with "sh") and I just can't fathom WHY? If it's pronounced the same ("sz" and "sh"), spell it the same way, be consistent! What's the point of sticking Polish "sz" in one word (especially that it's obvious that no non-Polish reader is able to pronounce it without help), and then stick "sh" in other words, because "reasons". I don't get it. Either use Polish spelling everywhere (and add the pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book, as Kevin Hearne does, not the end) or nowhere, because mixing them up is pointless either way. Also if the author decided to spell the Polish names the Polish way, then why forget about Polish diacritic marks? For example: there is this name in the book, Ludmila, which has strong Slavic roots in most Slavic countries, just slightly varies in spelling. Ludmila, as it is, is a Slovak name. Ludmiła is a Polish name. The difference is just the diacritic mark.

Though I have to admit, that name of places are the actual names of some Polish small towns and villages, so it's really nice that the author bothered to look it up. Just the "English spelling" kills me, especially this "v" in "Dvernik", but that's not really a problem.

And then there is some stuff mixed in that is Slavic, and pretends to be Polish, but it's not, because Polish culture is different from eastern Slavic ones and from southern Slavic ones. There some stuff that's not Slavic in any possible way, even though it clearly pretends to be (as in "the author thinks it is") like the whole magic thing-y. Baba Jaga, typically Slavic character is mentioned, but ONLY her name is Slavic, and everything else about her is clearly western in this book.

EDIT: I'm still trying to understand why would Slavic ancient (ancient even in the book, right?) "witch" (or whatever "Jaga" is in this story) use lemon and rosemary as part of her magic, when both these plants are mediterranean. O.o No wonder Dragon is so confused with her magic.

And on top of all that, in "Acknowledgments" Novik states that "The name (Agnieszka) comes from a fairy tale that I demanded from my mother endlessly as a child called Agnieszka Skrawek Neiba (Agnieszka “Piece of the Sky”), the version by the wonderful Natalia Gałczyńska." (Another spelling mistake. Should be "Nieba" not "Neiba") and that "The heroine and her wandering yellow cow make a small cameo appearance here, and the roots of the Wood are planted in the wild, overgrown las of that story."

So basically the protagonist is from this fairy tale, antagonist is from this fairy tale, basically everything is from this fairy tale. Amazing, right!? Well, not so much. Because Agnieszka Skrawek Nieba is not a Polish fairy tale but... a FRENCH fairy tale! And French culture and fairy tales have nothing (absolutely nothing) to do and in common with Polish ones. What's more, mentioned Natalia Gałczyńska wrote actually the whole book of French fairy tales in Polish language. It is titled O wróżkach i czarodziejach, and was published in 1973, the same year Novik was born. So, Novik states (as per "about the author" in Uprooted) that she was "raised on Polish fairy tales", right? But if by "Polish fairy tales" she means "fairy tales from Natalia Gałczyńska's book" (and she clearly does mean them, at least as a part of fairy tales she was raised on), then she is gravely mistaken, because these are ALL French fairy tales, or at least were based on them.

At the end I want to add that as a Polish person I've never heard about Agnieszka Skrawek Nieba, before reading Uprooted. And here I've done better research for the sake of this comment than the author made before writing a book! A book! Shame.

I've read Kevin Hearne books. He made better job of researching Polish culture than Novik, even though he is not of polish ancestry, he doesn't claim he was raised on Polish culture and fairy tales, and the "Polish parts" were only really minor elements in only some of his books, as opposed to Novik and her "inspired by blabla" book. I mean... What she did is simply offensive. At least to me, I cannot speak for other (Polish) people.

There, I said it. I just don't see how a book can be any good when author completely doesn't pay attention to what she writes. If she can't do research, then she should stick to stuff she knows, or stop making claims that this or that book was based on this or that culture.

I know you people don't care, whether all this stuff is accurate, you just want an enjoyable book. But someone even on this forum said that a good book shouldn't be just an enjoyable read, but also should educate and make you think. And what this book is, is a twisted mix of half of European cultures and all the possible time periods in a very weird way, and claims that this weird uncomprehensible mix is Polish, and I just can't stand the thought that the readers are actually going to believe this stupid claim.

Also I still think that the characters are as flat as the floor in my flat. And there is just action, action, action in this book, nothing else. I don't know, I'll try read it further and see what happens, but even if the characters suddenly change into multidimensional full fledged people, it won't change anything from what I wrote in the "spoiler".

EDIT: Spelling mistakes everywhere.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[Argent he/him]

No, I think we are misunderstanding each other. To the best of my knowledge, Novik has never stated that Uprooted is supposed to represent anything Polish. She calls it a fairy tale, not a Polish story. So if there are similarities, it is I who believe they are intentional (because given how specific they are, they'd have to be), but the book overall is not meant to be a fantasy retelling of the history of Poland. The similarities are more for authenticity, I think, or to give it the right tone and mood. Like, for example, if a high fantasy book tells the story of a king who pulls a magic sword from a stone, gets a wizard to help him on his quest, and ultimately restores his kingdom to its former glory... it doesn't have to be a retelling of the Arthur myth, but it's obviously meant to remind people of it. 

 

Regardless, this is not a thread about Uprooted and I shouldn't try to convince you or anyone to read it. If it breaks the fourth wall too much for you, my barely cracked wall doesn't give me enough of a similar experience to relate properly. I suspect you are reading it with certain expectations, and when they are not met, you feel like the book is not doing what it's promising to do, but I could very well be wrong and the reason for the difference in our opinions could be just difference in tastes.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

No, I think we are misunderstanding each other. To the best of my knowledge, Novik has never stated that Uprooted is supposed to represent anything Polish. She calls it a fairy tale, not a Polish story. So if there are similarities, it is I who believe they are intentional (because given how specific they are, they'd have to be), but the book overall is not meant to be a fantasy retelling of the history of Poland. The similarities are more for authenticity, I think, or to give it the right tone and mood. Like, for example, if a high fantasy book tells the story of a king who pulls a magic sword from a stone, gets a wizard to help him on his quest, and ultimately restores his kingdom to its former glory... it doesn't have to be a retelling of the Arthur myth, but it's obviously meant to remind people of it. 

 

Regardless, this is not a thread about Uprooted and I shouldn't try to convince you or anyone to read it. If it breaks the fourth wall too much for you, my barely cracked wall doesn't give me enough of a similar experience to relate properly. I suspect you are reading it with certain expectations, and when they are not met, you feel like the book is not doing what it's promising to do, but I could very well be wrong and the reason for the difference in our opinions could be just difference in tastes.

Well, this is what I'm currently reading so it kind of matches the thread.

 

And well, she did state in the interview that it is inspired by Kingdom of Poland. And she does seem to think that Agnieszka Skrawek Nieba is a Polish fairy tale. And even Random House states it's based on Polish fairy tales. And most importantly: everyone reviewing this book on Goodreads and other websites is like "omg, Polish and Slavic culture, omg", so people do seem to think that is is all Polish culture. The descriptions of this book in various online shops also suggest so. And it's not. It all just creates one big misunderstanding. It bothers me. 

 

EDIT: Found this: 

"Uprooted takes place in a Poland that exists only in my own mind. It grew out of the fairy tales my mother read to me in Polish when I was a child, not older than my own daughter, before I was too old to really believe in forest fairies and mountains of glass." from here. What's positive about it is that the Glass Mountain is actually a Polish fairy tale, so maybe I can expect more similarity to Polish folklore later in the book.

 

And I don't mean that it needs to be exact retelling of Polish folklore. But if in your example author/publisher/everyone states that this book is based on the King Arthur's legend, and then suddenly there is William Wallace as one of Arthur's Knights, Henry VIII of England as Arthur-type-character's father and other mixes like this in almost equal amounts to King Arthur's legend (even though author/publisher only mentions the King Arthur as inspiration) and because of that readers start to think that all these people were actually part of story about King Arthur? is that really a good thing, to confuse people like that? 

 

But, yeah, let's finish here. I just asked about it, because I though that maybe there is something happening later in the book that is really what drawns people in, and that could convince me to try to continue this book with a little more enthusiasm. Guess, I'll try to find out on my own, and if I don't then fortunately my "to read" list is really long.

 

EDIT: I'm really sorry about going slightly off-topic with this whole discussion. I'm done now. 

Edited July 1, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[Left he/him]

I finally got Powdermage bk. 3 from the library today, as well as Men at Arms for my birthday. There's some other books I need to finish before I start either of them, but quite looking forward to those two.

[StormingTexan he/him]

I finished the 4th book in the Temeraire series. Think I may stop here as I have heard the series takes a downward then started Uprooted right away. Sorry to say I got about half way in to it and for some reason I just don't like it. I am thinking it may be the magic and I am spoiled by Sanderson's magic "systems" where this is more of a traditional wizard making potions and chanting spells (at least as far as I got). It is probably just me though and I loved books 1-4 of the Temeraire so it is not the author in general. I know a lot of people really like the book by the reviews I have seen. 

[Windrunner he/him]

I recently read The Emperor's Blades, which I had been looking forward to for some time. I read a preview for the book a couple years back, when it first came out and was intrigued. I only just got around to actually acquiring a copy. Unfortunately, my positive initial impression did not translate to an enjoyable total experience. My biggest problem with the book was the female point of view, Adare. Perhaps I've been lucky to only read authors that are decent with female perspectives, but this one was just terrible, in my opinion. Her characterization was flat, and there was lots of telling and no showing, along with what I feel are some overdone stereotypes. There were several other problems with the book, none of which I considered to be too egregious. I'd probably read the other two if I saw them in the library to see if it gets better, but I'm not rushing out to buy the next one.

Not sure what I'll try next, perhaps give Codex Alera a shot or maybe take one final crack at Discworld.

I finally got Powdermage bk. 3 from the library today, as well as Men at Arms for my birthday. There's some other books I need to finish before I start either of them, but quite looking forward to those two.

You'll have to tell me how you enjoy Autumn Republic. I loved the first two, but felt the third one did not meet my hopes. However, based on the reviews I've seen, I'm very much in the minority there, so I hope you enjoy it.

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Brandon Sanderson.

[StormingTexan he/him]

I agree I liked the last powder mage book the least but still worth a read really liked the series.

Just started listening to The Shadow of What was Lost. Michael Kramer is the narrator so it's already got that going for it. I like it so far.

[Argent he/him]

I recently read The Emperor's Blades, which I had been looking forward to for some time. I read a preview for the book a couple years back, when it first came out and was intrigued. I only just got around to actually acquiring a copy. Unfortunately, my positive initial impression did not translate to an enjoyable total experience. My biggest problem with the book was the female point of view, Adare. Perhaps I've been lucky to only read authors that are decent with female perspectives, but this one was just terrible, in my opinion. Her characterization was flat, and there was lots of telling and no showing, along with what I feel are some overdone stereotypes. There were several other problems with the book, none of which I considered to be too egregious. I'd probably read the other two if I saw them in the library to see if it gets better, but I'm not rushing out to buy the next one.

 

The second book in the series does a much better job at her, if you can / want to muscle through the first one.

 

As for myself, I am done with Wyrd Sisters (which I liked) and am reading Witches Abroad now.

[Left he/him]

Currently laughing my way through Men at Arms, and am coming to enjoy The Coming Anarchy.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

I'm currently reading The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett. I think it is comparable to the previous books in the series, however I can't really say for sure, since this is the first book in the series that I read in English so it in general sounds slightly different to me. 

[Winds Alight she/her]

Started "City of Thieves" by David Benioff today.

[Argent he/him]

I'm currently reading The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett. I think it is comparable to the previous books in the series, however I can't really say for sure, since this is the first book in the series that I read in English so it in general sounds slightly different to me. 

 

It is. I thought his writing was a little better, but his story (not the plot) was a little less interesting than before. But overall, pretty much the same.

[Jit he/him]

I going to start Among thieves by Douglas hulick tomorrow, and then price of valor by Django Wexler.

[nutellaspren she/her]

I just read Jumper by Steven Gould, was pretty fun

[Jit he/him]

I just finished Price of valor and I really enjoyed it. Not sure what to start next, I was thinking the greatcoats, the faithful and the fallen or the view from the mirror. Any advice?

[StormingTexan he/him]

I am almost done with The Shadows Of What Was Lost. Really impressed. I actually think any Sanderson fan would enjoy this book. There are a few issues being this was a debut novel not surprising but overall they are easily overlooked. They story and characters are great. I got this book because I wanted an audio book and narrators had ruined the last few so I picked this solely on the fact Michael Kramer was the narrator. I am pleased to find a new author I really like on my gamble.

Good thing I am almost finished with that because I received my pre-order of Armada Ernest Cline's second book and its burning a hole in my kindle app. Really looking forward to this I loved Ready Player One and hope this holds up to the same caliber.

[Left he/him]

I still haven't been able to get a copy of Armada!!!! The library did not enough copies, so I'm still waiting. I really enjoyed Ready Player One, so I can't wait to see what he's done in Armada.

[sanderfuss he/him]

The Shadow of what was lost

Interesting enough that'll I'll look forward to the next instalment.

Rereading the mistborn trilogy. Just because.

[Argent he/him]

Yeah, The Shadow of What Was Lost looks promising. The Goodreads synopsis made it sound just a tiny bit predictable (if the defeat of god-like oppressors is mentioned in a synopsis, they are guaranteed to come back, after all), but it's well rated. A friend of mine, who has similar taste in books, also decided to give it a shot, so there's also that. 

 

Now I just need to plow through the other two dozen Pratchett books I've got left...

[sanderfuss he/him]

I wouldn't say the Augurs where oppressors, and as for predictability I would disagree there. The flow of the story is different from what I'm used to. For me, there were parts, I wouldn't say we're exactly rushed or crammed with information but he could of been a bit more subtle in his story telling. Drawn the story out a little. I like the concept of the story, the characters and the magic system. With all that I think it had the potential to be an epic story. It'll be interesting to find out what others think.

I also think James may have been influenced a little by a certain GRRM for his world building.

[StormingTexan he/him]

I agree with all of the above. I think if this was written by a well known established author I'd be a little more critical. It's a debut though and a hell of a lot better debut than most in the fantasy genre I've read. Some stuff was predictable but let's be honest after you read enough what's not? I'm no where near as eloquent in my reviews as most I usually just judge a book by if I like it or not this one I liked and think the author has a lot of potential. I wouldn't say he rips off other authors but there is some obvious insperation in the book and to me that gives me almost a comfortable relatable apeal. It did follow very similar paths as other books but still felt original.

[Argent he/him]

Eh. I didn't exactly say the story would be predictable - obviously I haven't read it, I wouldn't know. But the moment I read this bit:

 

It has been twenty years since the end of the war. The dictatorial Augurs - once thought of almost as gods - were overthrown and wiped out during the conflict, their much-feared powers mysteriously failing them.

I knew something like 

 

But when Davian discovers he has the ability to wield the forbidden power of the Augurs, he sets into motion a chain of events that will change everything.

was coming. You don't mention enemies that have been defeated unless you plan on bringing them back somehow. It's how synopses work. This is not criticism, it's an observation - Elantris, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings all follow a similar pattern, and they are some of my favorite books.

[StormingTexan he/him]

I agree the synopsis pretty much spells that out. There is a pretty good twist to that though (although you will probably see it coming). Like I said if you like Sanderson (obviously we all do) I think you will like this too. It is not WoK caliber by any means but I think on par with Elantris.

 

 

 

About 6 chapters in to Armada looking really good so far! It is following the nostalgia porn route Ready Player One did. Some may say this is gratuitous and a cheap trick but I'm a geek at heart and like it.