Abner Marsh an ugly, wart faced fat Steamboat captain is lickin his wounds after a major winter storm destroys all of his boats except for a little steamboat that wouldn't sustain Ferve River Packets (delivery company) very well. Marsh's dreams sunk with his ships when the storm hit; the dream of racing the 'Eclipse', the fastest boat on the river. Suddenly a stranger named Joshua York meets him in St. Louis and offers him money, money for half his company. Marsh doesn't bite though as he is an honest as he is fat and ugly. He tells York how it is and refuses to cheat him. However, Joshua York doesn't just offer him money, he also offers Marsh his dream back, the grandest steamboat that will have sailed on the Mississippi River and fast enough to beat the Eclipse. Marsh accepts and his boat the 'Fevre Dream' is built and it is even grander than what Marsh could have imagined. However, when Joshua York refuses to come out during the day and makes unscheduled stops that takes up valuable delivering time, Marsh's crew are muttering among themselves and Marsh has questions of his own.
GRRM does an excellent job in character building and you can really imagine an ugly, fat steamboat captain. Having used a real life setting made life easier for GRRM but that doesn't discount the amount of work that was invested in getting accurate historical details. He doesn't just describe the setting well but also of the lesser characters and the steamboats they use. Not very scary when it comes to horror books but that made me enjoy the book more. I was sad when it was coming to an end as there was no other way to end the story in my minds eye. I can see a sequel to this book but GRRM will need to finish A Song of Ice and Fire first, and perhaps Martin's best book outside of that series.
"Interview With A Vampire meets Buffy: The Vampire Slayer"
3 comments:
Hey cool review of your latest book. I see you've stumbled upon Best Fantasy Books too! I'm putting together a site a website that helps people select books as 'gifts' for other people (www.mynovelgift.com), but I was curious - if you had to give any fantasy book as a GIFT, perhaps to a friend, which would be the top 3 you would choose?
Hey, glad you liked my review. There will be more shortly. I am also reviewing for bestfantasybooks.com so def will be more reviews, and perhaps I will do some authors in the spotlight. (follow my blog so you don't miss out on anything!)
As for your question that is a tough one because within fantasy there is such a genre within a genre. Then you have series or stand alones? I am a big fan of authors these days there is so much quality writing that if I was going to give some gifts for people I would get some new(ish) authors.
1) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. This book has everything, you can't beat it. It is a must for all fantasy readers imo. But beware it is not a book to read while you have 5 mins spare. Not only because it entices you to read it, but the characters are so complex and there is so much happening you won't have time for it to sink in.
2) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I think this book can very simple yet very elegant. A mystery/fantasy book which isn't all about the hero being able to defeat everything in his path with his fists. Laughs, action and plot twists! Also self-contained!
3) Temeraire by Naomi Novik. Set during the Napoleon war except with aerial combat....Dragons!
4) Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. First person narrative. You will fall in love with Fitzchivalry Farseer. You can't have chivalry without Fitz!
Yeah I know, there are 4 books here, but I wanted a range of Fantasy books. As you can see all of them are series, but Lies can be standalone and so can Temeraire. By no means do I think all of these are the creme of the crop but these should all be enjoyable well liked reads.
I loved Fevre Dream. I'm not a big fan of vampire fiction, but Martin is able to add new life to the genre by not treading down the road of tired cliches. Instead, he creates an engaging plot with wonderful characters that help drive the action to an amazing climax.
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