http://bactra.org/weblog/algae-2014-04.html#willrich ( )

Setting aside at page 97, something like a third of the way. It's sadly just not working for me - sadly because there's a Chinese-fantasy-fable feel to one thread of the story that I'd like to read more of, and I suspect Gaunt and Bone themselves are quite interesting. But the one storyline is also weighed with a lot of YA elements I dislike, and G&B's storyline isn't engaging me nor giving the characters a chance to shine. Plus the style of writing, while occasionally delightful, is overall less compelling that I'd like. Enthused as I am by the concept of a melding of eastern and western modes of storytelling, this isn't working for me in execution.

So: three stars because I think this is a case of mammoth "just not for me", rather than the work being flawed. ( )

The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich is a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre with poetic writing and a beautifully unique world (with cool dragons!). The characters Gaunt and Bone are well named to convey just how odd of a couple they are, but it is refreshing to see a committed couple starring as the main characters. Another unique twist in The Scroll Years is that Gaunt is actually pregnant for most of the story and yet still very kick-ass ;-). I honestly think a pregnant main character in a fantasy is a first for me!
Note: I received The Scroll of Years from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.



The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich (Gaunt and Bone #1)
Published by Pyr on Sept. 24th, 2013
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Length: 270 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher

Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone are a romantic couple and partners in crime. Persimmon is a poet from a well-to-do family, who found herself looking for adventure, while Imago is a thief in his ninth decade who is double-cursed, and his body has not aged in nearly seventy years. Together, their services and wanderlust have taken them into places better left unseen, and against odds best not spoken about. Now, they find themselves looking to get away, to the edge of the world, with Persimmon pregnant with their child, and the most feared duo of assassins hot on their trail. However, all is never what it seems, and a sordid adventure-complete with magic scrolls, gangs of thieves, and dragons both eastern and western-is at hand.

Strengths:
The writing of The Scroll of Years is of course ridiculously difficult to explain because it has such a poetic and beautiful tone to it. Gaunt is a poet, so whenever she or Bone (who she has trained to describe scouting results poetically) is speaking, the dialogue is just lovely. However, the whole book is written in a very classic bardic tone. Gah, it’s just really pretty okay?!
The Scroll of Years introduces TWO very cool fantasy worlds >.>. Two you ask? Well you’ll just have to see, but it is awesome.
Besides the fun of Gaunt and Bone, there are many secondary characters in The Scroll of Years that add comic relief, their own personal plot lines, and a broader view of the world. I enjoyed the focus shifting between many of these characters since it really conveys just how epic this series is going to be. Big things are brewing!
The plot of The Scroll of Years is of course delightfully complicated, with quite a few different groups with complicated motives. I enjoyed the greyness that is introduced because of these vying goals, where I as the reader couldn’t actually decide which group was “good/correct” and which was “bad/wrong” in their desired outcomes. I look forward to finding out more about each of the factions introduced!

Weaknesses:
So there is a short story at the end of the edition of The Scroll of Years that I read which is actually a prequel short story. I really really would have preferred it be before the main text since it puts a lot of background into context. I honestly felt like I was missing something during part of The Scroll of Years and it was explained in the short story. Do yourself a favor and flip to the back to read that first!
The Scroll of Years has lovely writing, but that ended up making some sentences rather awkward to the point that I was pretty sure there was a typo or two because I just couldn’t sort out what the sentence was supposed to say.
Also due to the poetic writing tone of The Scroll of Years, I felt strangely removed from the characters and their plights at times. Instead of feeling like Gaunt is the big sister I never realized I was missing (how I feel about most adult female characters >.>), she’s still just a character in a book to me. It’s a bit difficult for me to sort out why this is exactly, but I think it has to do with the particular tone of the writing. I’m really curious as to whether any of you who have read the Scroll of Years got a similar feeling!

Summary:
The Scroll of Years is an excellently fresh fantasy that dives into a new world with charming characters and beautiful writing. I can tell this series is going to be a fan favorite (it kind of already is, I’m so behind, haha), and I’m excited to see where it goes. I do definitely recommend reading the prequel short story first so that you can better understand references, but I still really enjoyed The Scroll of Years! ( )

The Scroll of Years will capture readers with it’s beautiful literary writing style and witty characters. Have you ever wanted to read a fantasy set in an Eastern / Asian culture inspired setting? I know I always love it when I come across a fantasy book that has unexpected splashes of Asian cultures rather than the typical western cultures that I see so frequently. Thankfully with this book you get a wonderful mix of both because Gaunt and Bone are on the run from the West into the East.

They must have pissed off someone in high places because there are some pretty wicked assassins after this couple and they’ve got to stay several steps ahead especially considering Persimmon Gaunt is pregnant! I don’t even remember the last time where I read a book where one of the lead characters is pregnant! It made for some interesting situations.

It took me 43 pages to get sucked into The Scroll of Years - mostly because the writing style is something I had to adjust to. But once the teenage characters Next-One-A-Boy and Flybait come on the seen I was hooked. Next-One-A-Boy is most definitely a girl and she doesn’t want anyone to forget it. Resourceful and determined, she left home and doesn’t ever plan on going back. So how does a young girl survive on her own? Why by joining up with the local bandits of course!

Nor did she believe in flying-carpet fairies, goldfish people, love and justice, and other stories for babies. She did believe in magic, however, just as she believed in corruption and unfairness and all other things that could have you eating mud or becoming it. – pg 43

Now, Flybait was really the one that stole my heart. He was scrappy, just a touch bit of a coward but definitely all heart. I never knew what was going to come out of this kids mouth!

“Sorry, Flybait,” said a big man with an axe.

“Hey, don’t worry, Feng,” said Flybait. “Mind if I scream and raise a fuss?”

“I don’t mind,” said the big man, “as long as you hold still.” – pg 116

Really it was Next-One-A-Boy and Flybait that had me loving this book more than anything. I think perhaps its because I felt we got to know them throughout the story whereas with Guant and Bone I think we were expected to be acquainted with them already. This might in part be due to Gaunt and Bone originally being the leads in several short stories by this author before debuting in here in their first novel.

Regardless, when you threw this group together this book was an amazing combination of heartache, discovery, life lessons and hope. Oh yes and did I mention funny?

Soon two screaming thieves were charging the bandits with an axe bigger than either of them. The weapon had not been designed as a pole arm, but it was in such a manner that Bone and Flybait rushed the knot of foes. Distracted by the wulin woman leaping from stalactite to stalactite, the outlaws were unprepared for an attack of such poetic stupidity. – pg 117

Definitely give The Scroll of Years a try – its a short read weighing in at less than 300 pages but still hefty enough in quality content to satisfy even the most voracious fantasy reader. ( )

I've been reading Chris Willrich's short fiction for years, and I particularly enjoy his Gaunt and Bone stories. Their lyricism and whimsy seem to fill a void in a fantasy fiction landscape marked by dark, gritty realism. I love dark, gritty realism, but I can only take so much.

I've long been hoping that some gutsy publisher would buck the trend and print a compilation of Willrich's Gaunt and Bone tales to sprinkle some dreamlike fable amidst our worldly fantasy fiction. Instead, this Gaunt and Bone novel arrives. Even better. The fantasy fiction shelves need to be stocked with more books like this one.

Willrich injects The Scroll of Years with the same gorgeous prose of his short fiction but still manages to move the story along at a steady clip. It rises to a pulse-pounding pace in delightfully entertaining moments of action and at times slows to a trickle to allow the reader to ponder a bit of philosophy. But it never stalls. The landscape--described in precise, exquisite detail--is a character in itself (literally and figuratively) the dialogue is witty and insightful. Through all of this, Willrich weaves his signature threads of antithesis and paradox. There's enough depth and beauty here to make subsequent readings just as entertaining as the first.

He packs this all into about 260 pages, which is impressive, but this may have detracted from the overall story a bit only because it prevents the inclusion of more background about the characters. Gaunt and Bone, and some of the secondary characters as well, have fascinating pasts that readers can only glimpse. This is at once tantalizing and frustrating. Readers well acquainted with Gaunt and Bone will not be deterred, but those meeting the characters for the first time may miss out a little on what makes them so compelling.

I do hope this absence will urge them to read the next installment, The Silk Map, to learn more. I've already pre-ordered my copy (and I'm still holding out hope for that Gaunt and Bone short story compilation). ( )