Sunday, September 02, 2007

Slings and Arrows and fantasy heists

Way too wired for sleep on Friday night, I watch Season 3 of Slings & Arrows. The final performance of Lear in the series makes me cry, and you see maybe five minutes of it. Damn. Ultimately I don't find the third series as enjoyable as the first two, but it's still the best show about life performance I've ever seen. The fact William Hutt plays a dying actor doing Lear, so close to his own death ... again -- damn.

To decompress, reading The Lies of Locke Lamora. The reviews on this are strong, and deservedly so. I don't read a lot of fantasy literature -- make that "practically none -- but the tone of this thing is a delight. Think Medici Venice with some magic, a few molten glass towers, and now add a genuinely engaging heist story in the middle of it. That's right, it's really a dead solidly plotted con/crime story that happens to be set in a fantasy novel. No "thous", "forsooths", or fucking elves. Just a lightning-fast story of cutpurses, false priests, spies, rebels, and complicated financial scams set in one of the most fully, grittily realized "other places" I've read in a while. Mieville meets Thomas Crown, with slightly fewer bug-faced aliens and giant rib cages. Definitely recommended.

49 comments:

Xactiphyn said...

I've never read a novel with fucking elves. I've come to believe all elves are celebrate.

Geoff Thorne said...

Try JHEREG, John.

You may love it.

Anonymous said...

The second book is not quite as strong, but still an entertaining read.

Anonymous said...

"The Whims of Creation" (Simon Hawke) has fucking elves. Or at least one. I haven't finished it yet. It was kind of startling.

Might need to check this out. Crime heists are always a draw for me - especially if they've got some gimmick attached.

Alex Epstein said...

I second that emotion on Stephen Brust's JHEREG series.

And I admire any writer who makes his walking around money playing poker.

Tom Hilton said...

We recently Netflixed Season 1 of Slings & Arrows, and fell in love with it. We're sort of stalling on getting seasons 2 & 3, because...well, 6 episodes apiece, 12 total, and then that's all there is. At which point, waahhhh.

Unknown said...

I read JHEREG, but it was a litte too dragon-y for my taste. I did dig a couple of the books in the series.

Geoff Thorne said...

Too... too... dragon-y?

You can never have too many dragons, John.

What have those Canadian bastards DONE to you?

Unknown said...

Had watched (and loved) S&A seasons 1 & 2 on your recommendation. Was eagerly waiting for Season 3 to show up on Netflix, and now I see it has. Hooray! I love the six-episode seasons, too -- they're brief and delicious. Like television tapas!

Doc Nebula said...

JHEREG is good, but I will note, it has elves in it, you just don't find out they're elves until a few books in.

And they're pretty cool, for elves.

If you tried JHEREG, I would recommend another Brust book, TO REIGN IN HELL, which is a very cool look at Lucifer's rebellion and fall.

Also, ASTONISHING ADVENTURES first issue is out, and I have a story in it, not that anyone cares about THAT.

Kathleen said...

how funny - I just finished Locke Lamora.
I read a lot of fantasy and I definitely recommend it.

Jerome Comeau said...

Scott Lynch is a really talented writer in many respects, and his novel is quite impressive. Especially since he's a lawyer in real life (as well as a game designer, but that hardly ever pays all the bills).

Anonymous said...

Especially since he's a lawyer in real life (as well as a game designer, but that hardly ever pays all the bills).

Ah...are you sure you have the right Scott Lynch? Because the one who wrote that book is not these things.

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of slings and arrows, and have added it to the ol' Netflix queue.

How about a thread of other contemporary comedy choices for Netflix? I found the League Of Gentlemen series (not the Sean Connery movie, the BBC series) to be just amazing. Other suggestions?

Unknown said...

The Season 3 DVDs also have extended Lear sequences included in the extras for those of us who are like "Goddamn I want to see the REST"--though I haven't yet watched the extras myself, since I foolishly lent out my copy of that season once I'd finished watching the actual episodes, and I don't think I'll be seeing it again for a while...

Anonymous said...

I would recommend another Brust book, GO ABOUT THE LUST... You do get a link for it on web design company to download, which is a very cool look at Trazoa's rise ti the thorn...

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