What do You think about Blade Of Tyshalle (2002)?
„Острието на Тишал“, книга 2 от култовата поредица на Матю Стоувър, отново ни пренася в Отвъдие – един свят на магия, храбри битки и фантастични създания. Спомняте си Каин, Острието на Тишал, страховит убиец на владетели и благородници, злодеи и герои, който в родния си свят е суперзвездата Хари Майкълсън. Преди шест години Ма’елКот – бог на Отвъдие – задържа Палас Рил в безмилостната си хватка и Каин се закле да я спаси. Сега Хари Майкълсън е единственият човек, който стои между бездушните корпоративни господари на Земята и зелените хълмове на Отвъдие.Матю Удринг Стоувър е автор на първокласна фентъзи и фантастична литература, известен и като страстен почитател на бойните изкуства. Поредицата „Отвъдие“ без съмнение е върхът в оригиналното му творчество. Сам той определя „Героите умират“, първата книга от серията, като „къс яростно забавление и размисъл върху жестоките развлечения на човечеството – и като концепция, и като културна мания“. С „Острието на Тишал“ забавлението продължава – все така яростно, ефектно и неустоимо.
—Jacqueline Wagenstein
The second book of Matthew Stover's "Caine" series, "Blade of Tyshalle" is equally as entertaining and well-written as "Heroes Die". This time around Hari must deal with an even more potent array of foes, both old and new, who have conspired to completely, and I do mean COMPLETELY ruin his life and those of the ones he loves. Their collective goal is to break Caine and make him suffer to the point of despair before killing him. If they were dealing with an ordinary man they might be justified in thinking they'd succeed -- but this is Caine. Never one to surrender, he begins fighting back with a ferocity that is both breath-taking and satisfying. Recommended.
—Roger Eschbacher
5 Stars“AND EACH HAD his own role to play: the crooked knight defended the part-time goddess; the part-time goddess served the land; the acolytes of dust and ashes fed their master’s hunger.The dark angel made war.He answered the call of the crooked knight; he used the part-time goddess to work his will; he named the god of dust and ashes his enemy.”Blade of Tyshalle is one freaking awesome dark fantasy read that continues the story of the hero Caine/Hari, that some may deem the baddest ass good guy of all time. This book is better than the first by leaps and bounds even though I am sure that the first will always be more popular. This is a deeply complex, philosophical, and thought provoking piece of head decapitating, throat cutting, and major ass kicking. It takes place immediately following the events of Heores Die. I will not summarize the plot as many others already have done a much better job than I would.Why I loved it so much:1.tStover is not afraid to take things up the proverbial shit creek. This novel gets dark and dirty fast, real fast. Caine and the many other POV’s all suffer to one degree or another. Then Stover tightens the screws and they all suffer more…a lot more. The fact that at one point during this book that Caine comments that lying face down in his own shit is probably the happiest that he has been in years sums up how bad.2.tThe plot is very deep, a bit complex, and all twisted together. It made for a very exciting read that the amazing action scenes were complimented so very well by such a complex plot “net” that continued to tighten around the characters of this book.3.tCaine is easily one of my favorite characters all time for his brutality, for his outlook on life, and now thanks to this book, for the character of the man that he is. Stover fleshes out the details in Hari/Caine, giving the reader a tremendous amount of character development and backstories. Hari develops personal relationships with several characters in this book that make this read so enjoyable.4.tHari & Ma’elKoth … enough said.5.tThere are so many amazing side characters in this book, and awesome alternate POV’s that all come together in the end.6.tThere are some really bad baddies in this book.7.tStover’s writing style and action sequences are top notch in the fantasy industry and I rank him on par with Joe Abercrombie.8.tI love the whole Overworld / Earth / Studio relationship.9.tI felt like I was reading about the “Bloody Nine” again as there are so many laugh out loud one liners that add to the fun of this series. A deep and funny philosophy from this book.““And you can call a turd a sandwich, but it still tastes like shit, hey?””10.tEvery chapter ends with a great fairytale like telling of the story:“The crooked knight did not lose hope; he turned to various guides for help and direction. His first guide was Youthful Dream. Later, he turned to Friendship, then Duty, and finally Reason, but each left him more lost than had the one before.So the crooked knight gave himself up for dead, and simply sat.He would be sitting there still, but for a breeze that came upon him then: a breeze that smelled of wide-open spaces, of limitless skies and bright sun, of ice and high mountains.It was the wind from the dark angel’s wings.”11.tMuch of this book is philosophical and theological debate from the characters. This will turn many off but to me it is what made this book so great. There are a lot of very heavy themes weighing down on the main storyline, from god and religion, to destiny and choice, finally to the meaning of life and death. Kris sums up most of the book and most of what Caine is all about and Caine realizes this:“Each of us is the sum of our scars.Because if any of it had been any different, I never would have gotten the chance to be Caine.”Slight spoiler from Heroes Die:““What if it’s Hari Michaelson who is the fictional character? What if the middle-aged paraplegic is just a role that Caine plays, so that he can get along on Earth?””I will finish this by saying that much of this book strongly reminded me of book 3 in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series Hero of Ages. The deep philosophical themes and religious overtones are on par with each other and make for a terrific read. Caine and the entire Overworld series is much more than simply gratuitous violence from a man that is really hard to kill. I loved this book, it is a must read for ALL fantasy lovers that are not squeamish…
—Jason
