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kodermike's review against another edition
5.0
Barnes presents in The Garden of Stones a well developed, fully laid out world. The reader is catapulted into the conflict head first, and although those first few chapters are confusing, chaotic scenes of fighting between factions in a war we don't understand, it all makes sense soon enough.
At first, the cast of characters seems daunting. Names, species, factions, how will you keep it all straight? While Barnes' world is fully realized, it is a departure from the familiar. New nomenclatures are nothing new to fantasy readers, which is fortunate. But beneath the strange and new, the book really only focuses on three characters and those that orbit them. Indris, the warrior scholar and principal character. Corajidin, his rival in this book and all around mostly bad guy. Mari, daughter of Corajidin, torn between loyalty to her father and burgeoning feelings for Indris and the honor of her career.
All the while, Barnes paints a promise. There will be action, there will be intrigue, there will be cliff hangers that compel us to read further. I believe Barnes delivers on that promise in this book - the Garden of Stones was well worth the read.
Thanks to Amazon and Netgalley for the review copy of this book. It was provided in exchange for an honest review.
At first, the cast of characters seems daunting. Names, species, factions, how will you keep it all straight? While Barnes' world is fully realized, it is a departure from the familiar. New nomenclatures are nothing new to fantasy readers, which is fortunate. But beneath the strange and new, the book really only focuses on three characters and those that orbit them. Indris, the warrior scholar and principal character. Corajidin, his rival in this book and all around mostly bad guy. Mari, daughter of Corajidin, torn between loyalty to her father and burgeoning feelings for Indris and the honor of her career.
All the while, Barnes paints a promise. There will be action, there will be intrigue, there will be cliff hangers that compel us to read further. I believe Barnes delivers on that promise in this book - the Garden of Stones was well worth the read.
Thanks to Amazon and Netgalley for the review copy of this book. It was provided in exchange for an honest review.
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I could give this one more than three stars, as it had a lot of things liked. Especially the big amount of magic, fantastical elements, different kinds of creatures and imagination really had me hooked!
But sadly the story itself never really gripped me. While I liked the characters, I had a hard time focussing on the plot, and often caught myself drifting off, and having to go back a chapter and repeat it. This is something that rarely happens to me, and it is annoying as hell.
The plot was a bit slow, the names of things sometimes were to similar to easily tell them apart, and there was a lot of explaining that seemed to only expand the worldbuilding, without furthering plot or character building. Also there is a TON of politics in this one. I do like politics in fantasy, if they are smoothly embedded in the story - but if it feels like reading nonfiction, I start to drift off.
It felt like the author tried to put in way too much into the one book! So many characters, so many new ideas, so much politics, worldbuilding, so many subcultures, splinters of different magic users, and so on... I'm always told Gardens of the moon has a steep learning curve - if you think that you obviously haven't read garden of stones yet.
So if you like it complex, with a really epic world and a big cast - you should definitely give it a try and see how you like it.
If you want it fast paced and an easy read - this is not the one for you.
But sadly the story itself never really gripped me. While I liked the characters, I had a hard time focussing on the plot, and often caught myself drifting off, and having to go back a chapter and repeat it. This is something that rarely happens to me, and it is annoying as hell.
The plot was a bit slow, the names of things sometimes were to similar to easily tell them apart, and there was a lot of explaining that seemed to only expand the worldbuilding, without furthering plot or character building. Also there is a TON of politics in this one. I do like politics in fantasy, if they are smoothly embedded in the story - but if it feels like reading nonfiction, I start to drift off.
It felt like the author tried to put in way too much into the one book! So many characters, so many new ideas, so much politics, worldbuilding, so many subcultures, splinters of different magic users, and so on... I'm always told Gardens of the moon has a steep learning curve - if you think that you obviously haven't read garden of stones yet.
So if you like it complex, with a really epic world and a big cast - you should definitely give it a try and see how you like it.
If you want it fast paced and an easy read - this is not the one for you.
patremagne's review against another edition
3.0
I'd probably give it a 3.4.
http://abitterdraft.com/2014/06/the-garden-of-stones-by-mark-t-barnes.html
Thus far, reviews for Mark T. Barnes’s debut, The Garden of Stones have been very divided. Some praise its unique and exotic flair, others grew bored quickly. After a recent slew of favorable reviews, I decided to give it a shot since it was already on my Kindle and cost me nothing but time (although time is becoming increasingly more valuable for me). Upon finishing, I had mixed feelings about the novel as a whole, but there was enough in it to make me want to continue the series.
Corajidin is the rahn, or ruler, of the Great House of Erebus. Due to some mysterious illness, Corajidin’s insides are withering away, and with them, his life. His resident witch tells the dying rahn that he has seen visions of the future – a future where Corajidin will be Asrahn, essentially an elected high king, over the other rahns and the Avan people (a species, not a race) as a whole. Not content with rolling over in the face of this disease, Corajidin’s ambition instead grows monumentally, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes for these visions to come true. Alongside Corajidin, we see through the eyes of the warrior-mage Indris, member of the rival Great House of Nasarat, who stands in his way. Corajidin’s daughter, the incredibly indecisive Mari, also gets some facetime.
Possibly the biggest turn-off or turn-on, depending on one’s tastes, was the world of Ia itself. The first half of Barnes’s debut drowns you in new terms and people throughout, and it’s safe to say that a significant portion of the people who didn’t enjoy The Garden of Stones balked at being dropped right into such a detailed world. I’m personally a fan of worldbuilding, even in extensive amounts, but it obviously varies by case. Here, it almost seemed like Barnes approaches the reader thusly: “Hey, check out my sweet world. No seriously, look at it. LOOK AT IT!” he shouts as he smacks you in the face with pictures of it, leaving your nose a bloody wreck. I probably felt about the same I did when I first read Gardens of the Moon, the first in the Malazan series. There are so many cultures, races, people, and terms that Barnes saw fit to include a reference page on his site (and how necessary it is!). Be wary of the characters page though, as it is cumulative and displays deceased next to characters who have, of course, been killed. I believe the ones at the end of each book are safe to check out while reading, however. Some authors seem to think that making the names of characters and places impossible to pronounce is the way to create an original world. That’s simply untrue. R. Scott Bakker’s Prince of Nothing series is guilty of this (granted, I haven’t read it so I’m going on what bits I’ve read and heard) – Bakker’s work looks as though he grabbed a keyboard with umlauts and other foreign characters and began mashing it with his fists (though some of Barnes’s creations fall into the mashing category) – and in reality, it’s a poor disguise for a world that is so clearly a parallel of the Crusades.
I’m not knocking the borrowing or even the full usage of our world in fiction (as you can see, I love thinly veiled Earths). It’s a great foundation to build upon and it’s there for the taking. It’s when stories and worlds live under facades of uniqueness, like Bakker’s (again, from the outside, and also maybe slightly exaggerating), that it gets tiresome. Barnes blends various cultures that we know – there are flavors of several African regions as well as seemingly large influence from most of the East (I’m probably missing some, too), and they’re blended in a way that actually feels unique. This was partially marred by the repetition of full names of things, i.e. Great House of Nasarat where simply Nasarat would suffice, or Angothic Spirit Casque where even just Casque would work. It improved a bit as the story progressed, though.
The aesthetics of the world were very interesting. Most, if not all of the tech is powered by Ia’s magic, disentropy, also known as ahm. Machinations like Torque Spindles and Spirit Casques appear, the former able to create beings (essentially armies) in a manner of days/weeks, the latter able to trap one’s spirit, preventing the Awakening of an heir. Rahns are Awakened – they are connected to Ia – and they’re able to access the memories of their entire house line as well as being able to change the weather, see great distances, and some other stuff that makes them far more powerful than your average person. This affected my enjoyment a bit in that everyone seemed incredibly powerful, and not just rahns (in fact, I can’t remember one actually doing any of these things. Everyone was a master swordsman or a mage of some sort.
Mark Barnes’s debut, The Garden of Stones, is definitely a slow burn. I hate to use the term slog because it seems like a slap when a tap is what I really mean. Up to about the halfway point I was still focusing on all the new terms, and by the end I finally knew for the most part what most things meant. Many of the issues, especially the drowning in worldbuilding and occasionally too-purple prose, can be attributed to debut author syndrome. Garden is one of the only truly exotic novels I’ve read in some time, and without ambitious debuts, we wouldn’t be still reading many of our favorite authors. Count me in for The Obsidian Heart, as I’ve been told Mark firmly shakes off debut author syndrome.
http://abitterdraft.com/2014/06/the-garden-of-stones-by-mark-t-barnes.html
Thus far, reviews for Mark T. Barnes’s debut, The Garden of Stones have been very divided. Some praise its unique and exotic flair, others grew bored quickly. After a recent slew of favorable reviews, I decided to give it a shot since it was already on my Kindle and cost me nothing but time (although time is becoming increasingly more valuable for me). Upon finishing, I had mixed feelings about the novel as a whole, but there was enough in it to make me want to continue the series.
Corajidin is the rahn, or ruler, of the Great House of Erebus. Due to some mysterious illness, Corajidin’s insides are withering away, and with them, his life. His resident witch tells the dying rahn that he has seen visions of the future – a future where Corajidin will be Asrahn, essentially an elected high king, over the other rahns and the Avan people (a species, not a race) as a whole. Not content with rolling over in the face of this disease, Corajidin’s ambition instead grows monumentally, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes for these visions to come true. Alongside Corajidin, we see through the eyes of the warrior-mage Indris, member of the rival Great House of Nasarat, who stands in his way. Corajidin’s daughter, the incredibly indecisive Mari, also gets some facetime.
Possibly the biggest turn-off or turn-on, depending on one’s tastes, was the world of Ia itself. The first half of Barnes’s debut drowns you in new terms and people throughout, and it’s safe to say that a significant portion of the people who didn’t enjoy The Garden of Stones balked at being dropped right into such a detailed world. I’m personally a fan of worldbuilding, even in extensive amounts, but it obviously varies by case. Here, it almost seemed like Barnes approaches the reader thusly: “Hey, check out my sweet world. No seriously, look at it. LOOK AT IT!” he shouts as he smacks you in the face with pictures of it, leaving your nose a bloody wreck. I probably felt about the same I did when I first read Gardens of the Moon, the first in the Malazan series. There are so many cultures, races, people, and terms that Barnes saw fit to include a reference page on his site (and how necessary it is!). Be wary of the characters page though, as it is cumulative and displays deceased next to characters who have, of course, been killed. I believe the ones at the end of each book are safe to check out while reading, however. Some authors seem to think that making the names of characters and places impossible to pronounce is the way to create an original world. That’s simply untrue. R. Scott Bakker’s Prince of Nothing series is guilty of this (granted, I haven’t read it so I’m going on what bits I’ve read and heard) – Bakker’s work looks as though he grabbed a keyboard with umlauts and other foreign characters and began mashing it with his fists (though some of Barnes’s creations fall into the mashing category) – and in reality, it’s a poor disguise for a world that is so clearly a parallel of the Crusades.
I’m not knocking the borrowing or even the full usage of our world in fiction (as you can see, I love thinly veiled Earths). It’s a great foundation to build upon and it’s there for the taking. It’s when stories and worlds live under facades of uniqueness, like Bakker’s (again, from the outside, and also maybe slightly exaggerating), that it gets tiresome. Barnes blends various cultures that we know – there are flavors of several African regions as well as seemingly large influence from most of the East (I’m probably missing some, too), and they’re blended in a way that actually feels unique. This was partially marred by the repetition of full names of things, i.e. Great House of Nasarat where simply Nasarat would suffice, or Angothic Spirit Casque where even just Casque would work. It improved a bit as the story progressed, though.
The aesthetics of the world were very interesting. Most, if not all of the tech is powered by Ia’s magic, disentropy, also known as ahm. Machinations like Torque Spindles and Spirit Casques appear, the former able to create beings (essentially armies) in a manner of days/weeks, the latter able to trap one’s spirit, preventing the Awakening of an heir. Rahns are Awakened – they are connected to Ia – and they’re able to access the memories of their entire house line as well as being able to change the weather, see great distances, and some other stuff that makes them far more powerful than your average person. This affected my enjoyment a bit in that everyone seemed incredibly powerful, and not just rahns (in fact, I can’t remember one actually doing any of these things. Everyone was a master swordsman or a mage of some sort.
Mark Barnes’s debut, The Garden of Stones, is definitely a slow burn. I hate to use the term slog because it seems like a slap when a tap is what I really mean. Up to about the halfway point I was still focusing on all the new terms, and by the end I finally knew for the most part what most things meant. Many of the issues, especially the drowning in worldbuilding and occasionally too-purple prose, can be attributed to debut author syndrome. Garden is one of the only truly exotic novels I’ve read in some time, and without ambitious debuts, we wouldn’t be still reading many of our favorite authors. Count me in for The Obsidian Heart, as I’ve been told Mark firmly shakes off debut author syndrome.
qtpie's review against another edition
It just never gripped me. I wanted to love it but I simply don't care about the characters or the world. The magic system and counteractions to it are fascinating and well thought out but that wasn't enough to keep the pages turning for me.
warriorpickle's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't sure what to expect form this book, I just knew I was excited to read it. My buddy Ryan had dubbed it "A more accessible Malazan with Magitek." From that moment I was sold. With that being said there was nothing in this boom that struck me as Magitek, but maybe there in the sequels :)
This book was big and thought out. It is one of the most quotable books I have ever read. There is political intrigue and sweeping action scenes that keep you in the edge of your seat. There are characters that are studly beyond your expectations. And it was spectacular.
There is pretty much no magic to speak of. Almost in a Game of Thrones type way, even though you are living in a fantastical world. There are lion men and races you couldn't even think of. And there is "magic" by the name of disentropy. This, in my mind, was something between the cross of the life stream from Final Fantasy 7 and Stormlight from The Way of Kings. I don't fully understand it, but I was fully interested.
I have a couple of complaints about the book, but I'm only going to list one. Each chapter has a quote from some book or poem from the world we are living in. They were great overall. But as I was reading one night 2 chapters had the same exact quote with the only difference being who said it. This kind of thing pulls me out of the world that at that pint I had fully envisioned as real. Minor things like this pulled me out of the story. A good editor and a little sprucing up and this book is an easy 5*.
Overall I think this book was a blast. Well worth the read if you are looking for something exciting, intelligent, and a little bit darker. While confusing at times, with some of the weirdest names I've read in a book, it will enthrall anyone with a hankering (sorry, really wanted to use that word) for a darker low fantasy novel.
“By refusing the various calls we hear throughout our lives, we often condemn ourselves to later years of regret. We see them, those elders, bent under the weight of doubt: living their twilight years thinking might have, could have, or should have. Let me answer the calls which come to me, so perhaps I will look back at my life and say, I did.”
This book was big and thought out. It is one of the most quotable books I have ever read. There is political intrigue and sweeping action scenes that keep you in the edge of your seat. There are characters that are studly beyond your expectations. And it was spectacular.
“It is through art, music, and literature we truly understand a culture. Violence and war are nothing more than the voices of childish envy.”
There is pretty much no magic to speak of. Almost in a Game of Thrones type way, even though you are living in a fantastical world. There are lion men and races you couldn't even think of. And there is "magic" by the name of disentropy. This, in my mind, was something between the cross of the life stream from Final Fantasy 7 and Stormlight from The Way of Kings. I don't fully understand it, but I was fully interested.
“True friendship is a wonder rarely matched in nature for its beauty, or its rarity. Born of love, admiration, and affection, it is the place where wrongs are forgiven and we see with the heart, not the eyes.
I have a couple of complaints about the book, but I'm only going to list one. Each chapter has a quote from some book or poem from the world we are living in. They were great overall. But as I was reading one night 2 chapters had the same exact quote with the only difference being who said it. This kind of thing pulls me out of the world that at that pint I had fully envisioned as real. Minor things like this pulled me out of the story. A good editor and a little sprucing up and this book is an easy 5*.
‘It is almost a certainty that, when a person is most sure, they are often most mistaken."
Overall I think this book was a blast. Well worth the read if you are looking for something exciting, intelligent, and a little bit darker. While confusing at times, with some of the weirdest names I've read in a book, it will enthrall anyone with a hankering (sorry, really wanted to use that word) for a darker low fantasy novel.
seak's review against another edition
4.0
I was a little hesitant approaching The Garden of Stones by Mark T. Barnes in audiobook form as I'd heard it was a bit akin to Steven Erikson (more than Garden in the titles) where the reader is simply thrown into the action without much, if any explanation. It turns out my fears were not unfounded and yet I would still highly recommend this book.
I've noticed in reading books or listening to audiobooks, there are some books I have a harder time with given the medium through which I am experiencing them. I had the hardest time getting into Dune by Frank Herbert when I tried it in paperback because I kept feeling like I had to look up every single word I didn't understand and I quickly grew tired of it and gave up.
Later, I picked up the audiobook thinking I needed to at least finish this classic of the genre and not only did I do so, I loved the crap out of it. It's still one of my favorite books and I've been meaning to go back and read it in paperback again.
I know, this isn't a Dune review, but it illustrates the point that some books are more accessible if you just let go, trust that the author will lead you where you need to go, and leave your worries behind. You'll get it, even if it's tough. And audiobooks allow you to do so because you don't have that handy dandy glossary to look through. That's also not to say that all books and stories work this way.
With The Garden of Stones, I wonder if I would have stalled in my reading. I'm no stranger to being thrown into the action having survived (and thoroughly enjoyed!) Erikson's masterpiece, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, so that probably wouldn't have been a problem. I did, however, have a difficult time keeping a lot of the characters, names, and races straight through listening only. Had I had my eyes on this one, I probably would have enjoyed it even more than I already did.
I'm sure I missed a lot of the connections that were being made early on, but I did get my bearings by the end and quite enjoyed this world that Barnes has created. It's full of wonder and imagination, tons of creatures, and races that were well-crafted and constantly interesting. I enjoyed exploring each new thing in this world and many kudos to Barnes for that. The characters are also highly interesting, Barnes even plays with an Erikson-like main character who is supremely powerful and someone you really don't want to mess with. I love a good character like that and feel many shy away because it's easier to write about characters with many weaknesses.
In the competition between paper and audio, I really do think The Garden of Stones would probably work better in paper, though it's definitely enjoyable in audio.
Another hesitation I had when starting this audiobook is that it's read by Nick Podehl. The only experience I had with Podehl prior to this was his reading of Kemp's A Discourse in Steel. In Discourse, there's quite a bit of banter and it's overall a light-hearted piece with lots of jokes and humor even in the most deadly situations.
Hearing that same voice again brought back those memories of slapstick from Discourse, when Garden is actually a serious piece lightly sprinkled with humor if at all. It was about midway through the book when I realized that I no longer thought of Podehl that way, as the joke-telling, razzing narrator, but instead I heard him as the serious purveyor of piety. Okay, not that far, but suddenly I was sucked into Podehl's storytelling and the story itself. I think that says a lot about both Podehl's strengths as a narrator and the book's story as well.
4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)
I've noticed in reading books or listening to audiobooks, there are some books I have a harder time with given the medium through which I am experiencing them. I had the hardest time getting into Dune by Frank Herbert when I tried it in paperback because I kept feeling like I had to look up every single word I didn't understand and I quickly grew tired of it and gave up.
Later, I picked up the audiobook thinking I needed to at least finish this classic of the genre and not only did I do so, I loved the crap out of it. It's still one of my favorite books and I've been meaning to go back and read it in paperback again.
I know, this isn't a Dune review, but it illustrates the point that some books are more accessible if you just let go, trust that the author will lead you where you need to go, and leave your worries behind. You'll get it, even if it's tough. And audiobooks allow you to do so because you don't have that handy dandy glossary to look through. That's also not to say that all books and stories work this way.
With The Garden of Stones, I wonder if I would have stalled in my reading. I'm no stranger to being thrown into the action having survived (and thoroughly enjoyed!) Erikson's masterpiece, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, so that probably wouldn't have been a problem. I did, however, have a difficult time keeping a lot of the characters, names, and races straight through listening only. Had I had my eyes on this one, I probably would have enjoyed it even more than I already did.
I'm sure I missed a lot of the connections that were being made early on, but I did get my bearings by the end and quite enjoyed this world that Barnes has created. It's full of wonder and imagination, tons of creatures, and races that were well-crafted and constantly interesting. I enjoyed exploring each new thing in this world and many kudos to Barnes for that. The characters are also highly interesting, Barnes even plays with an Erikson-like main character who is supremely powerful and someone you really don't want to mess with. I love a good character like that and feel many shy away because it's easier to write about characters with many weaknesses.
In the competition between paper and audio, I really do think The Garden of Stones would probably work better in paper, though it's definitely enjoyable in audio.
Another hesitation I had when starting this audiobook is that it's read by Nick Podehl. The only experience I had with Podehl prior to this was his reading of Kemp's A Discourse in Steel. In Discourse, there's quite a bit of banter and it's overall a light-hearted piece with lots of jokes and humor even in the most deadly situations.
Hearing that same voice again brought back those memories of slapstick from Discourse, when Garden is actually a serious piece lightly sprinkled with humor if at all. It was about midway through the book when I realized that I no longer thought of Podehl that way, as the joke-telling, razzing narrator, but instead I heard him as the serious purveyor of piety. Okay, not that far, but suddenly I was sucked into Podehl's storytelling and the story itself. I think that says a lot about both Podehl's strengths as a narrator and the book's story as well.
4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)
ravencrantz's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, knowing that glossary was at the back would have helped me SO MUCH throughout this book. One of my main problems was remembering who everyone was and what they did. I'm still not 100% sure. So I'd definitely like to pick up a physical copy of this book because I think that will help me a lot.
Anyway, this was actually a fun read, it was just incredibly slow for me. Part of it was keeping up with everyone, but another part was it was just so dense. I do love the story and the world building is absolutely amazing, but I just have no idea who anyone is or what their roles are. I got that a Rahn was a pretty big deal, but it wasn't until I found the glossary at the end that I knew they were basically a King or Queen. I stumbled on a lot of the names and I think that contributed to me having trouble keeping track of who everyone was. That and the fact there are just so many people to keep track of.
I'm really interested in where the story is going. Despite taking a month and a half to finish, I did really enjoy the book I just wish it moved faster for me.
Anyway, this was actually a fun read, it was just incredibly slow for me. Part of it was keeping up with everyone, but another part was it was just so dense. I do love the story and the world building is absolutely amazing, but I just have no idea who anyone is or what their roles are. I got that a Rahn was a pretty big deal, but it wasn't until I found the glossary at the end that I knew they were basically a King or Queen. I stumbled on a lot of the names and I think that contributed to me having trouble keeping track of who everyone was. That and the fact there are just so many people to keep track of.
I'm really interested in where the story is going. Despite taking a month and a half to finish, I did really enjoy the book I just wish it moved faster for me.
vanahian's review against another edition
4.0
uhmmm
Vamos a darle 3.8
Un primer libro bastante introductorio en general.
La historia y los personajes prometen y el worldbuilding me ha gustado bastante.
Lleva un rollete a "malaz" en el sentido que entras en la historia in media res y hay cierta sensación de sufrir un aluvión de términos y nombres.
A mi personalmente eso no me agobia y me provoca interés por el mundo en sí.
A ver qué tal el segundo libro que tengo ganas que Idris se ponga serio de verdad, entre otras cosas.
Vamos a darle 3.8
Un primer libro bastante introductorio en general.
La historia y los personajes prometen y el worldbuilding me ha gustado bastante.
Lleva un rollete a "malaz" en el sentido que entras en la historia in media res y hay cierta sensación de sufrir un aluvión de términos y nombres.
A mi personalmente eso no me agobia y me provoca interés por el mundo en sí.
A ver qué tal el segundo libro que tengo ganas que Idris se ponga serio de verdad, entre otras cosas.
thiefofcamorr's review against another edition
Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
To be safe, I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
brewergnome's review against another edition
4.0
Nice opening. A creative, well thought out, foreign world. It doesn't "feel" as foreign sometimes as some (Sanderson's Way of Kings comes to mind) but still. The magic system is interesting but I'm not sure how well systematized it is. The mythology/cosmology overall, though, is very good, and the characters are compelling and interesting.