Jade Constantine
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Posted - 2008.07.10 16:37:00 -
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Edited by: Jade Constantine on 10/07/2008 16:39:39
 Originally by: Stitcher
Okay, well, time for my rebuttal to the above post.
Quote:
Here are some choice quotes from some people that may have actually finished a novel or two in their lifetime.
I consider myself to be extremely well-read. I have no idea exactly how many different books I have read in my time, but I would hazard that if it's not a four-figure number, it's a very high three-figure one. I have read outstanding novels ("Hyperion" by Dan Simmons) some terrible ones (A complete series of "Resident Evil" novelizations) some confusing ones (the Illuminatus! trilogy, also on my desk presently), some acclaimed ones that I didn't really enjoy all that much ("Neuromancer" by William Gibson) and some that I finished but can't actually remember anything about ("Winterbirth", by Brian Ruckley). I'm not limited to sci-fi/fantasy, either - I actually finished re-reading "Pride & Prejudice" a few days ago, and am currently about half-way through "Tomorrow when the War Began" by John Marsden.
Point is, I've finished a novel or two in my time, and you know what? I still think Empyrean Age is a damn good book. There were a few editing oversights (I counted at least two instances where "My lord" was accidentally printed as "Mr Lord" for example), but for the most part I found it to be well worth reading, and I'm currently itching to get my copy back from the people I lent it to so that I can read it for a third time.
Now, it could be that I'm just being a "fanboi", but I like to think I'm more level-headed than that. To be sure, there were flaws, but then again there is no such thing as a book without flaws.
What I read in Empyrean Age was a competently-written book that was entertaining all the way through, with occasional passages of inspired and powerful writing. I'm not going to call it the best book I've ever read, but it's a long, LONG way from being anywhere near as bad as the people you quoted made it out to be.
Let's face it, the EVE community contains within its ranks some highly unpleasant, curmudgeonly ****ers, and in my opinion every last one of those quoted comments is entirely undeserved. It won't go down in history as the book that descended to Earth upon a pillar of light and led us all to the promised land, but in my opinion it's still a damn fine read, and I'll definitely be buying any more books that TonyG feels like writing.
My only request is that Tony should find himself a slightly more diligent editor.
This really. I mean lets be sensible - its Tony's first book, its ridiculous to compare it to the masterworks of Dan Simmons or Iain M Banks or Frank Herbert or something. But it IS a very good example of how to write franchised fiction bringing a game-world alive and does represent something pretty positive for the future of CCP if they can publish more books and encourage other authors besides Tony to produce for the Eve setting. As a science fiction setting Eve comes across pretty well on the page and though yep, there are elements that would be difficult for non-eve players to understand and pick up I think on balance its definitely the sort of thing that can interest people excited by science fiction and could well encourage them to give Eve online a try.
I've also read some terrible books in my time  Back at university I read just about every Battletech book ever written and a lot of trashy science fiction and fantasy and can certainly say that Tony's book is far better than the average first novel of people writing for IP settings. It tells a good story, it keeps you reading, sure the editing is subpar but importantly it does enrich the universe of eve online and it helped remind me why i love the background of this game so much.
Star Fraction | Dare to Dream!
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