Comments on: The Big Idea: Matthew Stover

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:22:40 +0000

I read Blade of Tyshalle before Heroes Die, too. It works well as a stand alone. Afterward, I approached Heroes Die like a ‘prequel’ – getting the backstory of the characters I was introduced to in Blade.

By: Nic

Nic — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:41:02 +0000

Okay, firstly I have to admit I love the comment that “His books dropkick me in EVERY NEURON I OWN.” I’m stealing that one for myself.

Secondly, CBK basically ruined an entire day for me. I sat down in the morning, and I did not get up again until I had finished the book. Well, except to pee. And get more beer, since it seemed almost like a requisite companion for the book. (Matthew Stover, you rock my world. :D)

By: ruzkin

ruzkin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:27:35 +0000

Thanks for the recommendation John. 10 copies incoming!

By: JBWilliams

JBWilliams — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:32:05 +0000

Chiming in with the other Stover partisans and Cainists:

Reading Heroes Die was one of the first trips I took outside the compulsive consumption in my past of Robert Jordan/Terry Goodkind/epic-fantasy-doorstoppers. Along with Blade of Tyshalle, it remains one of the key points of reference in my quest for intelligent, multi-layered, genre-bending speculative fiction, as well as a reminder to always be open to new authors.

There are few books I’ve read more than once–there are so many to read and I have a tendency to remember the details of a story that affected me for a very long time–but I’ve been in thrall to HD and BoT several times each. I’ve found something new to appreciate each time.

By: Nargel

Nargel — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:09:55 +0000

Read the first two books and definately enjoyed them both. That said, it looks like I’ll be grumbling for a while. Since my industry, construction, has crashed and burned in my state, I’ll simply have to wait and grumble for a year or so untill it hits paperback. On the good side, I have the good news that in a year or so, I will have Good Stuff waiting for me in the store. Guarenteed.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:05:00 +0000

Further praise for Stover, and Caine.

His books dropkick me in EVERY NEURON I OWN.

By: The Fighter

The Fighter — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:54:17 +0000

I tend to get not so much hand-sold as “people just buy me potentially shitty books for gifts”-sold. I got into more than a few authors by someone giving me a book that looked like ass, then turned out to be fairly nifty.

Which is why I’m looking to buy everyone in my family copies of CBK. Then they will have no choice.

By: Dreamline

Dreamline — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:18:15 +0000

Handselling… thats how I became a victim of the Old Mans War novels! Darn you to heck- guy who works for Barnes and Noble; darn you, and your little handselling too.

By: Brian Gibbons

Brian Gibbons — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:22:20 +0000

I first encountered Stover’s writing with _Blade of Tyshalle_, which I thought was masterfully done, as I found the idea of starting a book after the generic epic fantasy quest was done and showing the repercussions on the survivors, just taking the epic fantasy quest as off-screen background, was an amazing idea.

I was thus slightly disappointed to learn that Blade was actually a sequel, though I have to at least give the book credit for being so self-contained as to not require the reader to be familiar with the first book.

By: Claire

Claire — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:08:44 +0000

Handselling always works on me… and the most fun thing in my opinion is to pay it forward. I’m not sure everyone else in my chain of recommendations cares that “It was my ex-boyfriend who first introduced me to this author…” but at least with this one I’ll be able to say “It was Scalzi…”