Count_Zero

The Mongolians are written in this book in a way that feels like it's consistent with the Wuxia novels that inspired the author, but also in ways that feels like they are ignoring internalized prejudices from those novels - the writers of those works had their own biases, possibly unexamined, about Mongolians as a people, or at least the history of those people, that put them into some of the same archetypes that white fantasy and science fiction writers are (justifiably) criticized for using when writing “Proud Warrior Race” characters and cultures.

It feels like the the author is reproducing those stereotypes from those works uncritically.

It's kind of weird listening to this book as an audiobook. Going from the sort of “Literary agent” structure that the Lord of the Rings was born from (J.R.R. Tolkien translating a book that he found in some archive somewhere), the Silmarillion feels like it should be structured in the form of something like Beowulf or the Odyssey - a legend originally told orally, transcribed into a more written form. Thus, this should be something that would be perfect for an audiobook.

However, rather than using any of the meters or rhyming verses that those earlier works (which clearly inspired Tolkien) used, instead the book is structured in a form that's probably closer to the Bible, particularly the King James version, with a mix of events told in the abstract, combined with individual moments told with more specific details, in a very floral style.

Having the book read as an audiobook does make it less dry, and easier to get through. However, there are moments where, as a reader, I have to basically stop the book after the book summarizes a big moment (such as an epic battle between two armies), and picture that battle in my mind's eye, before continuing with the book, whereas in the more specific moments, the story in the narration plays out at about the same pace that it does in my imagination.

I am glad I've finally read the Silmarillion, but it's not something I'm going to re-read again for a while, and even then, I'll probably stick to specific passages.

Really good book. I like how thought out the magic rules are for the setting, making them familiar to fans of, for example, the Harry Dresden novels, while still being their own thing. The mystery itself is also very well written, and incredibly enjoyable, with interesting characters and well done prose.

I've found the best Urban Fantasy novels are also great detective novels, except instead of ballistics, DNA testing, and the other tools of the science detectives trade that Sherlock Holmes & the like bust out, there's magic. The Peter Grant novels succeed at this fantastically. Aaronovitch creates excellent characters and riveting mysteries that really pull you in.