Liz Williams

[rune]

I managed to pick up a copy of The Poison Master from a 2nd hand shop I've come across this author's name when search for other info, but not read any of her books.

Anyone read The Poison Master or any of her other stand alone books?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I just started reading The Poison Master (ordered it from Amazon and it took over a month to get here). Too soon to tell what I think of it.

 

[Rane Longfox]

I've read "The Poison Master", and as I said in the May reading thread, I had mixed feelings about it. The stroyline is very good, and the characters are intruiging and realistic, but considering the settings in whcih the story takes place, Williams fails to create a level of claustrophobia equivalent to writers such as Mieville and Vandermeer, when it would really add to the book.

Certainly worth a read though

 

[rune]

Thanks for the feedback I'll have to post my thoughts when I get to read it The Poison Master. I hope it's an enjoyable read as she's only written a few books that may be relatively easy to get my hands on

And of course I always like to find less known authors.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I just finished reading The Poison Master. It took me a while to feel much involvement with the characters or the story (this may have been due to things that were happening to me personally, and not a reflection on the book) but by the end I was pretty thoroughly engaged.

It's an interesting combination of science fiction and fantasy, but I'm still trying to figure out if the marriage entirely works for me.

Certainly anyone looking for something a bit unusual should take a look.

 

[rune]

I'm a 1/4 way through Poison Master and also finding it difficult to engage with. I dont think the sci-fi / fantasy mix is blending as well as I thought it would. Comes over a little confusing at times.

 

[Ailanna]

I'm surprised that people are having trouble getting into The Poison Master. I picked it up on a whim at the library and pretty much read straight through it in an afternoon. I thought it was awesome, both characters and setting(s). Liz Williams comes up with such interesting ideas! The worldbuilding was particularly impressive, I thought, and I like the inclusion of bits of Elizabethan alchemy and lore.

I love the ending. Ambiguous, but hopeful. It reminded me a bit of Vivian Vande Velde's bittersweet endings, actually, although their writing is otherwise nothing alike, and it's just a nice change from uncomplicated happy endings.

 

[rune]

I didnt enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped. I just didnt think the blending of sci-fi and fantasy was as smooth as it could have been And the character storylines didnt make up for this problem.

 

[Jay]

I haven't read Posion Master and was thinking about picking it up. I have read, and enjoyed very greatly her Nine Layers of Sky, which I do highly recommend, anyone check that out yet as well? I think its exceptional.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Overall I did like the book, just thought it started slow and felt the science fiction and fantasy elements could have been better integrated somehow, and I wasn't personally fond of the way she combined alchemy with Native American shamanism, because to me they don't seem compatible. A little too New Age, I guess, while I prefer a more historical slant on magic.

But she did some unusual things with the book, and for that alone The Poison Master is worth looking at.

 

[Ailanna]

I haven't liked Liz Williams's other books as well as I liked The Poison Master. I keep reading them when they come out, but none of the others strike my fancy. Empire of Bones was interesting, but oddly unsatisfying, and I just didn't really like the setting of Nine Layers of Sky. That I liked The Poison Master so much probably has something to do with my interest in poisons...enigmatic male characters...

Yes, yes, I can be very predictable, I know!