>> "it still kind of feels like the chronicle of a large high school. (And even Tolkien, may I be forgiven, falls pray to this.)"
I was going to puckishly suggest that for comments like this there is no forgiveness... but on reflection, dang it, I think you're right. Luthien knows Morgoth knows Sauron knows Gandalf. Narratively, there's a lot of good that comes from this, but it definitely doesn't strike the effect of a huge world, where it's actually shocking when people know each other.
I know of Correria's reputation solely in the context of gun porn, so I suppose it's good to see he can write without that facet.
But I took the opportunity to click through to you posts on Sanderson and Card; you mentioned not liking the non-Enderverse (or perhaps non-Ender's Game) books of Card, and I wonder if you've ever read his Memory of Earth series? I enjoyed it as a young sci-fi fan, never suspected it was such a close allegory to the Book of Mormon and I'd be curious your take if you've read it.
I have a weird relationship to Card. Ender's Game is right up at the top of the pile for me. And some of his other books, Speaker for the Dead, Worthing Saga, are good but flawed.
But much of his stuff is him repackaging Mormon Theology (the Alvin Maker series is LDS Church history) and for some reason that always felt a little bit like cheating, or at the very least unoriginal. And that was enough of an excuse for me to avoid it. But if you enjoyed it maybe I'll check it out.
I should point out in case it's unclear that I'm not Mormon. I stayed away from his short story collection that seemed to be about Mormon settlers (not from prejudice, just wasn't interested) but picked up Memory of Earth on the strength of the not-inaccurate cover art. I found it moving for reasons I may explain elsewhere at some point.
>> "it still kind of feels like the chronicle of a large high school. (And even Tolkien, may I be forgiven, falls pray to this.)"
I was going to puckishly suggest that for comments like this there is no forgiveness... but on reflection, dang it, I think you're right. Luthien knows Morgoth knows Sauron knows Gandalf. Narratively, there's a lot of good that comes from this, but it definitely doesn't strike the effect of a huge world, where it's actually shocking when people know each other.
I know of Correria's reputation solely in the context of gun porn, so I suppose it's good to see he can write without that facet.
But I took the opportunity to click through to you posts on Sanderson and Card; you mentioned not liking the non-Enderverse (or perhaps non-Ender's Game) books of Card, and I wonder if you've ever read his Memory of Earth series? I enjoyed it as a young sci-fi fan, never suspected it was such a close allegory to the Book of Mormon and I'd be curious your take if you've read it.
I have a weird relationship to Card. Ender's Game is right up at the top of the pile for me. And some of his other books, Speaker for the Dead, Worthing Saga, are good but flawed.
But much of his stuff is him repackaging Mormon Theology (the Alvin Maker series is LDS Church history) and for some reason that always felt a little bit like cheating, or at the very least unoriginal. And that was enough of an excuse for me to avoid it. But if you enjoyed it maybe I'll check it out.
I should point out in case it's unclear that I'm not Mormon. I stayed away from his short story collection that seemed to be about Mormon settlers (not from prejudice, just wasn't interested) but picked up Memory of Earth on the strength of the not-inaccurate cover art. I found it moving for reasons I may explain elsewhere at some point.