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| 3 out of 5 stars |
This book reminds me in many ways of Gardens of the Moon. As the reader, you are plunged directly into the action and into a world consisting of myriad tribes, races, religions, and gods. There is no hand-holding, you must pick clues up as you go. There is plenty of fighting and smiting, but somehow this novel seemed more contemplative to me. Nevertheless, there is still a Holy War going on. Like Erikson's Malazan saga, everyone's motives are murky—perhaps a realistic detail, but frustrating to me as a reader. Why do they want this fight? What's the desired result? Neither series answers these questions for me.
As in so many fantasy worlds, many of the names don't trip easily off the tongue. This author shows a predilection for umlauts and circumflexes that I'm not sure how I'm to interpret. Not too important in the grand scheme of things, but it crossed my mind whenever I encountered one of these names, yanking me out of the story.
Perhaps it's from the steady stream of this kind of fantasy that I've read over the last few years in pursuit of this reading list, but I'm becoming pretty weary of globe-spanning battles. I keep thinking that there must be a plotline more interesting than war. When I figure it out, I will let you know.
Book number 423 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
I'm with you on being tired of war being the dramatic backdrop of so many fantasy and science fiction stories. It is just like mystery writers who almost always need a murder to write a mystery story about. I think it's laziness. But maybe it's what readers want. I suppose publishers should know...
ReplyDeleteCharles, I think you're on to something. Because this formula sells, very few authors are looking for something else. So I guess we're in the minority, wanting something different?
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