[Coco with marshmallows]

So i'm a couple hundred pages into this, enjoying it a lot, some great characters, but......

there are quite a lot of spelling mistakes, and i find it quite jarring.

Especially for a book i spent £15 on

some have been grammatical (using "so" instead of "do" for instance)
But i just had "theory was entirely wromg" at the bottom of page 194 and it irked me enough to start this topic.

I have the TPB, anyone got a hardcover or kindle version who could check if you also have these errors?

I'm finding it particularly annoying as i'm REALLY enjoying the book, getting thoroughly engrossed in it, then BAM - another f***ing error.

For something from a large scale publisher (Victor Gollanz) I'm finding this apparent cock up in the editing process rather annoying. You half expect it (but hope it doesn't happen) from small scale publishers, but come on guys.... its the 21st century.

[polishgenius]

I have an epub version which I don't recall any mistakes in, though I didn't get anywhere near as far as you before I got bored with it. Just something about the writing sat wrong with me. Plus it's trying to be funny I think and it's just not.

A quick scan of page 194 doesn't show that particular sentence though, so I guess the pagecounts set up differently. But still, saw no obvious errors there either.

[Coco with marshmallows]

hmmmm.... well, i don't get the humour thing you mention at all. different strokes for different folks i guess. Either that or I genuinely don't have a sense of humour.

[Hinter]

Just ordered it from Amazon (for only £8.99) so I'll let you know...

[Coco with marshmallows]

Leaving aside the editing issues (which largely faded away not many pages after that) i really enjoyed this. Its a classic medieval style fantasy with an appealingly cynical streak. Looking forward to the follow up. I'd say 8 dismembered corpses out of 10. Its not earth shakingly great, just a good solid read.

[Malbolge]

Just popped on here to see if there was any mention of this book. I picked it up just before Christmas, and made it my treat to myself... read it over Christmas and New Year, and absolutely loved it. I also noticed the typos/spelling errors throughout... at first I dismissed/ignored them, as it was things like using 1 s for a name that had 2 s' previously, or adding/dropping an e from the end of a name. I thought this was maybe just showing differences between characters, and how they spelled this town's name or similar. Then there was a little more, and I thought it might have been down to ignorance/illiteracy of characters and the current POV... getting there/their mixed up, stuff like that. Then, I thought that maybe, just maybe, it was some sort of secret code, a grimoire or cypher hidden in the text. Then I realised that no, it's just badly edited. Which is a terrible shame, because the book is so brilliantly written and so much fun.

It was terrific... a well paced, rollicking, action packed novel, a great book by itself but also a wonderful introduction to the world and the planned series (the Traitor Son Cycle, 5 books planned/outlined). "Meaty" would be how I'd describe it. The plot is complicated enough that there's plenty to chew on and think on, but not so convoluted that it ever gets tiresome... but, you still know a 2nd read through is going to show you something more. It does have a wonderful streak of darkness and cynicism and humour but, somewhat refreshingly, the darkness doesn't cloud the entire story... there are genuine moments of love and beauty in there (the characters of the King and Queen being a great example of this). It has a glorious cast of characters, well written, well rounded, believable... Along with the Red Knight himself, Bad Tom was stand out for me ("I have a magic sword, I wanna go try it on something!"). There's the subversion of the tropes and standards of fantasy that we come to expect from modern fantasy... the main antagonist is like an evil Treebeard for example. Good dialogue ("Lachlan for Aa!" is my new catchphrase, and the scene were Bad Tom breaks into tears and professes his love is just wonderful... I read it 3 times, laughing, crying, then doing both at the same time), great action/fighting scenes, well thought out 'Magic system', even some lovely little illustrations at the start of chapters. I think this book really deserves some attention... if you like some Abercrombie, Erikson, Glen Cook type fantasy, then please do yourself a favour and give this book a look. You'll also be doing me a favour, because I really want to see this series and this author continue.

For those who don't know and are interested, Miles Cameron is actually the pseudonym of one Christian Cameron, a noted (Canadian) author of historical fiction, Medieval Historian, former US Army Officer, and re-enactor (both military and non-military). While his previous books have been History with fiction thrown in, this is Fantasy fiction heavily informed by Historical knowledge... It's set in an analogue of our world, where the Arthurian vision of Chivalry exists, along with all those things (Dragons and Boglins and Trolls) that the Knights of fable fought against. It's an exploration of Hermeticism, the connections between Christianity and Chivalry, the struggle and opposition between Man and Nature. Similar to the Malazan world being so informed by Erikson and Esselmont's knowledge of archaeology, history and anthropology, this is heavily informed by Cameron's knowledge of history, craft, economics, armour, fencing, warfare and military organisation. It's the sort of book in which people don't put on helmets... they have their Squires/Valets manoeuvre the aventail of their bascinets over their gorget and so on... but, it doesn't get bogged down in pages and pages of dry descriptions of things like that, it's all weaved so well into the storytelling and the action. Cameron has also stated that he owes a terrific debt to Erikson, and that he considers the MBotF the 2nd best fantasy series ever (behind LOTR), and the greatest example of plotting in a book series ever. I have a feeling that it was the MBotF that influenced/inspired Cameron to make the switch from Historical fiction to Fantasy, and I have high hopes for the whole series story because of this.

Anyway... if you are at all interested, it's out in the US in 2 weeks time, and available in the UK just now. There's a website for the series as a whole, with some good stuff on it... the essay on Story/World is well worth a read, and there are some additional chapters exclusively on there.

http://www.traitorson.com/

I'd give it 8 1/2 dead Wyverns out of 10. Would have been 9 or 9 1/2 if not for the poor editing, but please don't let that detract from any interest you may have.

[Coco with marshmallows]

That's interesting.

I've read the Tyrant series, never would have picked up the connection if I hadn't been told it, there's a definite change in writing style there.

For the better, I should add.

[Malbolge]

I am fairly certain that the two are one and the same... I've heard the rumour that it's a pseudonym from a few people, and the similarities between the two authors' biographies are too much to be coincidence (both hold degrees in Medieval History, both former US Navy Officers, both in Intelligence, both re-enactors, both fencers, both Canadian). Christian Cameron has also used a pseudonym before, Gordon Kent. I haven't read any of his other stuff, although I might look at the first book of his Chivalry series, The Ill Made Knight, which is published at the end of May. About 14th Century English Mercenaries in Italy. If the writing is as good as The Red Knight, it might be worth a read.

http://www.amazon.co...7605299&sr=8-16

[polishgenius]

Malbolge, on 08 January 2013 - 12:40 AM, said:

I am fairly certain that the two are one and the same... I've heard the rumour that it's a pseudonym from a few people, and the similarities between the two authors' biographies are too much to be coincidence (both hold degrees in Medieval History, both former US Navy Officers, both in Intelligence, both re-enactors, both fencers, both Canadian). Christian Cameron has also used a pseudonym before, Gordon Kent.

It's all lies. It's KJ Parker.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Bumping this as i'm currently on a re-read in anticipation of reading book 2, which i bought the other week.

Just to say, the book is better than i remembered, and the spelling mistakes irked me less this time around

Also:

Spoiler

The whole thing is an interesting take on the Arthurian legend (in my mind)

Red Knight = Mordred "sired of incest and hate" by the king and his sister (or such is my take based on what i'm reading - could be wrong i suppose)

And yes, Bad Tom is a cracking character.

[Stalker]

I'm not sure if the kindle version is better edited or if I just skimmed over the mistakes / didn't care, but I really don't remember seeing any errors. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the first and can't wait for book two to release here in the US.

[Pig Iron]

Kindle version was fine. Book 2 is great too and widens the scope. The main storyline has a strong Black Company flavour ...

[Dragnipurake]

Really enjoyed the book. Read it in ebook format a while ago and I don't recall noticing many errors. The book is nice and long and goes on and on. The storytelling reminded me also of Glen Cook, and GRRMartin and strangely enough, Robert Jordan as well. Interestingly, Miles Cameron speaks very highly of SE in his blurb at the end of the book.

[Coco with marshmallows]

heartily enjoyed number 2,

looking forward to number 3

[Macros]

Just bought the red knight yesterday evening, solid so far, about 100 pages in.

its not earth shattering good, his roots are clear in his descriptions, but its a page turner. A few likeable characters and things I want to follow going on, which is all that's needed really.
will finish before I judge completely

[Macros]

Finished on the train yesterday.
picked up the pace about a third of the way in and it didn't really take the foot off the pedal.

I had initially thought this was one hell of a debut novel, but now I've read the thread, its not his debut

editing problems must have been sorted for paperback, I didn't notice too much wrong.
love bad tom, sauce and the red knight, French twat is a suitable cartoon villan, that almost redeems himself, loved the switch back to a stonewalled arsehole.

will be buying book 2 for sure, interesting to see how the emperor thread will tie in with what's happened, will know after book two if he's got the legs for five, but its a rich setting with plenty of stuff set up and referenced to broaden the scope of the story.

[Malbolge]

Macros, on 11 March 2014 - 07:11 AM, said:

its not earth shattering good, his roots are clear in his descriptions, but its a page turner.

This is generally my attitude to the two books thus far. They're good fun, nothing too heavy or high-brow (though that shouldn't be held against them), they can be dark in places, and they can be gritty in parts, but they do have a certain innocence to them... I'd almost describe them as "romps". I had a bit of a lightbulb moment when reading the two books this year, as to why they felt a bit different to what I usually read... The lack of Grim. They're like a mix of Arthurian Chivalry with Tudor era technology and politics, with a heavy dose of Eastern Christian Esoterics, but the characters aren't all dour, world weary killers, or smirking cut-throats, or cynical arseholes... they laugh and love and tell jokes, and are generally quite positive and optimistic. Don't get me wrong, I quite like The Grim (I'm 100 pages shy of finishing Joe Abercrombie's Red Country for the 2nd time, after rereading the 5 prior books for the 3rd time, and loving it), but I also like variety, and it's quite refreshing to see something like this. There is darkness and cynicism to it, but it doesn't permeate the whole work.

I reread the Red Knight, and got The Fell Sword on release day, and ploughed my way through them both last month. The Fell Sword was a good one, but I felt it lacked a little of the "tightness" that Red Knight had, though I think that's because, whereas Red Knight had all of its threads coming together (though not necessarily being resolved) at Lissen Carak, Fell Sword keeps running with all of those threads (and more), even though they're all going in different directions now, and it feels more like part of the series, rather than the self contained first book. Again, that shouldn't be held against it (Fell Sword), I think Miles/Christian has 5 books planned, and the story set out already, and we will get the continuation... it just left a lot of threads hanging, beside the main Red Knight/Morea storyline, and we have to wait for the next instalment now.

Definitely worth a read though, especially if you enjoyed The Red Knight.

[Macros]

That's good news, I'll be wasting my life with the stick of truth for a week but will definitely pick up book 2 after that

[Jahdu]

Picked this up at the local book store the other day... I kept on seeing it there but had other books that I wanted
to read first. This time I gave in to temptation and bought it and agree with most of the views here. A good solid
read with some very good characters. Will definitely be reading the 2nd in the series.

[polishgenius]

Yeah, I should note after my earlier criticism that after giving it a rest for a time I gave it another go quite recently and while it still took a while to get into, I ended up really liking it.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 17 September 2014 - 01:55 PM