The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/eye-world-robert-jordan
Reblogging to shout out to my favorite library … Kansas City Public Library. And a plug for the Wheel of Time Series as well.
Tag: fantasy
Book Review: Furies of Calderon by Butcher (3.5 Stars)
Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
Read in July 2010
The first half and the end (last chapter or two) reminded me strongly of young adult fantasy fiction. Only the core of the book dealt with mature adult choices and consequences. World building sacrificed to action for the most part. No one character grabbed me. Of the cast, Tavi and Isana rose to the top.
The burgeoning romance between Bernard and Amara stretched my belief. Why would a widower, a decade celibate, pine over a young teenager? Otherwise, Bernard proved to be a steady, upstanding, heroic figure for the plot.
I also became annoyed by video game-like healing and non-death. Basically, if you didn’t lose your head (think Highlander), you could survive even the most fatal of wounds, thanks to the water fury crafters. Without a real death threat for any of the main characters, I quickly became jaundiced to their fates.
Tavi, being fury-less, journeyed the farthest as a character, having the most obstacles to overcome by his wits, skills and strengths alone.
With respect to the Aleran Empire, which bears a shocking resemblance to the Roman Empire even down to the use of Latin names and words, I did not feel the political corruption at a visceral level, like I did in Gardens of the Moon or A Game of Thrones. The epic quality for this fantasy series didn’t manifest for me in this first volume of Codex Alera.
The vilest elements involved the backwater steadholder secretly torturing slaves right under the noses of his neighbors. I’m thankful Butcher restrained himself from showing or telling overmuch about Kord’s obsessions, leaving my imagination to fill in the horrifying blanks.
I may read the next volume, or not, depending on if it falls into my hands easily enough (like, say, through a swap or a mooch). I’m not compelled to follow Tavi through school at the Academy (yet another YA aspect I’m not fond of). The fate of another empire hinging on the seemingly untalented (magically speaking) young ‘chosen one’ lost it’s shine a couple of decades ago with Eddings’ Garion.
Book Review: The Diamond Throne by Eddings (5 Stars)
The Diamond Throne by David Eddings
Originally read in 1990 (but re-read many times since)
Besides Terry Brooks, David Eddings is the only fantasy genre author I can get my husband to read. Who could resist dialogue dripping with sarcasm and wit and satisfying action adventures? I read Eddings when I want a respite from deep-thinking convoluted epic fantasy. Eddings makes me laugh and always provides a rollicking romp through strange lands on a heroic quest to save the world. All very predictable but also very enjoyable.
The Diamond Throne has one of my all-time favorite characters – Sparhawk. He’s a curmudgeon of a knight who should have retired years ago but is too stubborn to stop. And no one else has the heart or gumption to tell him otherwise.
May 1, 2013 Update: I decided to relocate this review to my blog from GoodReads on this specific day because today, May Day, is my husband and I’s anniversary. This book was published and I read it at least two times before we celebrated our fifth year together. Twenty-seven years later, this series is still just about the only fantasy fiction I could get Terry to read. Sadly neither of us will ever read anything new from David Eddings again, since four years ago this June, he passed away.
Book Review: Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman (4 Stars)
Good Omens
by
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Read in May 2009
This was a hoot!
I thoroughly enjoyed this hilarious satire of Armageddon. The AntiChrist as an eleven-year-old boy with a Hellhound masquerading as a rat terrier mongrel. The Four Bikers of the Apocalypse easy riding to the End of the World. And it all started with the Serpent and the guardian Angel from the Garden of Eden. To top it all off, a 17th century witch named Agnes Nutter accurately predicted everything.
April 27, 2013 Alert: Good Omens is today’s Nook Daily deal at Barnes & Noble! Snatch your copy for just under two bucks today!
Book Review: The Mystery of Grace by de Lint (4 Stars)
The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint
Read in August 2010
I enjoyed this short novel, but found it hard to categorize since it crossed so many subgenres. Ghost, spirits or spiritwalkers, a smidgen of Native American shamanism, a pinch of paganism (Wiccans at the Witches’ Ball no less), Catholic saints, a peculiar Purgatory, existentialism, a dangerous delusional mother and a surprising touch of redemption wrapped in tattoos. Oh, and a brief romance kindled after the protagonist’s death. Trust me, it sounds strange (it is strange), but de Lint delivers.
Book Review: Storm Front by Butcher (3 Stars)
Read in August 2008
Harry Dresden is a wizard P.I. with more trouble than you can shake a wand at and a sarcastic wit to die for – literally.
A fun quick read through a nearly contemporary Chicago where sorcery and demons roil just under the civilized veneer.
I would have given this four stars, or at least three and a half, except for the first person point of view. It’s such a limiting perspective in my opinion, where I must rely on the narrator’s information and thoughts for the entire length of the novel.
And I had the entire ‘mystery’ figured out by the time he first met Monica at his office.
Book Review: Transformation by Berg (5 Stars)
Read in February 2013
An absolute five star masterpiece. I read the first half in one sitting and would have finished the second half sooner had work and sleep not gotten in the way. Looking forward to reading the other two books later this year.
The Beyond Reality Group at GoodReads read and discussed Transformation during February 2013. Click here to visit the discussion threads.
Book Review (Anthology): The Best of Robert E. Howard: Grim Lands (4 Stars)
The Best of Robert E. Howard
Grim Lands
(Volume 2)
Edited by Rusty Burke
Illustrated by Jim & Ruth Keegan
Read in December 2008
My personal favorites from this collection would be “By This Axe I Rule!” a Kull kingship tale; “Red Nails” a Conan tale where we meet Valeria and “The Bull Dog Breed” another gritty and humorous boxing exploit of Steve Costigan.
The collection also includes many Westerns, a pirate tale told mostly on land and a few much grimmer horror tales. His poetry is also interspersed among the stories.
I definitely recommend this anthology (both volumes actually) to anyone who enjoys epic tales, high adventure and grim determination.
Book Review (Anthology): The Best of Robert E. Howard: Crimson Shadows (4 Stars)
The Best of Robert E. Howard:
Crimson Shadows
(Volume 1)
Edited by Rusty Burke
Illustrated by Jim and Ruth Keegan
Read in November/December 2008
I was impressed with Robert E. Howard’s ability to captivate my interest and thrill me with his adventures. I especially liked his heroic battles (large and small-scale); they were some of the best and most riveting reading I’ve experienced in ages. He not only invented the sword and sorcery genre, he was the definitive master of it.
Some of my favorites include “The People of the Black Circle” (one of only two Conan stories included in this first volume of short stories); “The Fighten’st Pair” (the funniest tale I’ve read in years involving a boxer and his kidnapped dog); “The Worms of the Earth” (epic battle and struggle between Rome and the Picts); and, “The Grey God Passes.” “Sharp’s Gun Serenade” was also a hilarious romp through the Old West.
Howard’s poetry is dark and primeval most of the time, but a few poignant gems can be found like “The Song of the Last Briton”; “An Echo from the Iron Harp” and ending with the last poem, printed posthumously, the name of which escapes me.
I recommend this anthology to any fan of action adventure, sword and sorcery or pre-World War II pulp fiction that rises above the stigma that name implies.
Book Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Clarke (4 Stars)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Read in January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This novel was rich on many levels. It was fantasy, for it had magic and fairies, but it was also historical fiction, possibly even an alternate history of Britain during and shortly after the Napoleonic Wars. It’s pacing matched that of the times, sedate and thoughtful, rich in detail and characters.
Gilbert Norrell is a miserly magician of Yorkshire who hoards any and all books of magic he can get his hands on. His first act of magic in the novel actually results in the dissolution of a society of theoretical magicians in York for the sole purpose of making himself the only magician in Britain.
Jonathan Strange is an idle gentleman who stumbles upon his talent for magic and like a moth to the flame, flies to Mr. Norrell, the only source of magical information, and becomes his pupil. Their association lasts for several months until Strange surpasses Norrell in inventiveness and intuition and Norrell sends him to assist the army in Spain.
In Spain, Strange eventually becomes indispensable to Lord Wellington, initially by providing magic roads for the British Army to use which disappear back to a morass of mud just in time for the French Army to get bogged down in. Finally, Strange’s magic turns the tide of the Battle of Waterloo and thus ends the reign of Emperor Bounaparte.
Three background characters are pivotal to the story. The first is Emma Wintertowne, who eventually becomes Lady Pole after marrying Sir Walter Pole. But only after she is resurrected by Mr. Norrell with his second and most famous act of magic. But Norrell bargains away half of Emma’s life to the fairy he summoned to resurrect her, a fairy gentleman we know only as “the gentleman with the thistle-down hair.” This resurrection results in the enchantment and imprisonment of Lady Pole in the fairy hall of Lost-hope, doomed to dance and endless balls or participate in pointless processions.
The second supporting character also enchanted by the fairy gentleman is Sir Walter’s butler, a black man named Stephen Black. The fairy took a queer liking and attachment to Stephen and forced him to attend the same balls and processions that Lady Pole suffered. Both Lady Pole and Stephen were returned to the real world each morning, but they both suffered exhaustion and distraction from living a double life, which both were prevented from relating to others of their predicament.
The third enchanted and most tragic figure was Strange’s wife, Arabella. Because Arabella struck up a friendship with the ailing Lady Pole, she came into the sphere of the gentleman with the thistle-down hair. He immediately sought to enchant her permanently to the halls of Lost-hope. With Stephen’s reluctant assistance, he was able to pull Arabella into fairy, seemingly causing her to perish to her family and friends.
Strange was nearly mad with grief but was eventually persuaded to take a long holiday on the continent, where he met another English family, the Greysteels. It seemed he was on the path of a second marriage to Flora Greysteel, when he discovered a pathway to fairy, stumbling upon the hall of Lost-hope and learning of the fates of Lady Pole, Stephen and his wife, Arabella. The rest of the novel is Strange’s struggle to free the women. As we learn later, Stephen breaks his own and Arabella’s enchantments when the opportunity presents itself.
Two of the most interesting supporting characters were Mr. Childermass, Mr. Norrell’s strangely independent servant, and Vinculus, a seedy street sorcerer of London, run out of town by Mr. Norrell thanks to the efficient efforts of Mr. Childermass. Both of these characters provide some of the most colorful scenes and plots to the novel.
And in the background, every present in the sky, on the wind or sleeping in the stones, is the Raven King, a mythic being from Britain’s past, a king who reigned in Northern England, in fairy and in Hell. He is vital and instrumental in the return of English magic.
The ending was sad and somewhat tragic, but not unexpected.
If you enjoy historical fiction, especially of the early 19th century, you will enjoy this novel and savor it for many hours, especially curled up by the fire with a warm cup of tea.