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I’ve chosen to review these two books as one because it’s become extremely difficult to separate them in my mind. Actually, even separating them from the first book is hard, but I already reviewed that one.
As the Saxons encroach upon British lands, Derfel and Arthur look to Merlin and the gods for help as they devise battle strategies and struggle with the constant feuding of the British lords. An unexpected betrayal leads to unfortunate consequences in this struggle for survival.
I really enjoyed these books. I liked Cornwell’s different take on the Arthurian legend. He uses many of the typical elements, but in interesting and different ways. For example,
(if you’ve read other Arthurian literature, this is not a spoiler, but if you haven’t, stop reading now! Go read some and then come back!)
the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere is handled in a way that I hadn’t expected, and the woman Guinevere reminds me the most of is actually Eleanor of Aquitaine. That may be partly because I’m reading Devil’s Brood by Sharon Kay Penman and Eleanor is in my head right now, but they’re both defiant women who deserve more authority than they are allowed because of their gender. Guinevere is a great character here. It’s easy to both hate her and love her, as Derfel does. Speaking of our narrator, he’s very endearing and I think I like him the best out of the three Cornwell main characters I’ve read about so far. He’s wonderful and his emotions really come out of the page; he’s fully fleshed out and probably too modern, but I love hearing these events through his voice. Arthur is a superb hero while as always a flawed man. Here, it’s easy to care about him, as it should be.
Again, Cornwell excels at what he does: his battles are exciting and intense and the book is at times full of testorone induced warring. Perhaps I’ve got too much because I love to read about these battles. Cornwell makes no effort to stay in line with history since we know so very little, but I think that actually made these books better because they are so full of imagination. These are all legends anyway and it’s hard to follow history when you’re not even sure Arthur existed or that these battles actually happened. His plots race along and these books never slow down. I love the twists in the traditional characters. It felt like I was reading something new that I could connect with stories more than a thousand years old.
In my opinion, this series is brilliantly done. If you like historical fiction, Arthurian legend, or just a great tale, this trilogy is for you. Give the first book 100 pages and you won’t look back. I never did. Buy The Winter King , Enemy of God , or Excalibur on Amazon.
 At the end of The Crystal Cave, Merlin has succeeded in getting Uther and Ygraine to conceive a child at the correct time. In The Hollow Hills, Arthur is born and immediately hidden away to protect him in case he is required to become the king. Merlin already knows that he will, and so Arthur’s childhood is spent in training to become a knight and thus a king, even though he is ignorant of his origins.
This book went a bit too slowly for my tastes. Merlin spends a lot of time elsewhere, gazing in on Arthur from afar. As a consequence, a lot of it wasn’t particularly exciting and didn’t become so until Arthur was about 11, when he and Merlin get acquainted for the first time. It’s much more interesting to watch Arthur grow through Merlin’s eyes rather than reading pages and pages about Merlin’s travels. Stewart’s writing isn’t quite good enough to make it entertaining.
I did enjoy the relationship between Arthur and Merlin and Arthur’s believable growth into adulthood. It was nice to see the legend come together through different means, and put into a historical context that I hadn’t encountered in Arthurian fiction previously. I think Stewart did a decent job of making it conceivable – at least in this book she doesn’t call on armies of thirty thousand. Perhaps she did some research in between.
I’m not sure I’d recommend this series to anyone who isn’t interested in the Arthurian legend. I don’t think it stands on its own very well, but I like to read different variations of the legend, so it was a pleasurable read for me. Buy this book on Amazon.
 I hated this book when I first read it. Really did not like it. This was about six years ago, when I acquired this book along with the next two in the series. Then Stephen King went and finished the Dark Tower series and everyone was talking about it. I resisted. Well, I decided that resisting is over, and I went in for a reread. This was not my first attempt at a reread. See, I am convinced that if everything thinks something of King’s is brilliant, I must too, and obviously I was just missing something the first time. The second time was a flop and I found my bookmark halfway through. This time, I read it again, and I didn’t hate it nearly as much, to my delight.
In brief, the book follows Roland, the gunslinger, across the desert in search of the man in black. In typical Stephen King fashion, there is gore, blood, eerie zombie creatures, and other trademarks of the horror genre. On the other hand, there are flashbacks to a medieval-type atmosphere, Roland’s origins. It goes without saying that these were my favorite part of the book.
On the whole, not really much happens. There is a lot of walking and following. There are some exciting moments, but mostly this one is dull. I’ve heard that the next ones pick up the pace. I’m looking forward to discovering that they actually do. After I climb down from my mountain of ARCs, that is. The style is fairly typical King, gritty and tense. The characterizations aren’t there yet. Roland is still a shadowy sketch. I hope he’s fleshed out soon. So I wouldn’t quite recommend this book yet, although you can check it out on Amazon. I’d probably steer you in the direction of It or The Stand if you were looking for King.
So, have you read the Dark Tower series? Is it worth persevering?
 I chose to read this book when I realized that I was reading a lot less fantasy than I used to. It’s probably just a reading phase, but I thought I’d introduce some variety I actually enjoyed. Besides that, it was six months old, and for a book I actually wanted to read, that’s too long to wait.
Indevan-Dal, casually known as Inda, is the second son of a prince and thus acts as the protector of his brother, the heir’s, future estate, and his destiny is to stay there as his brother rides off to war and glory. He is still a young boy, but he is already betrothed and his future wife, Tdor, has grown up with his family, as is the tradition. At least, he thinks his life is set, until an unusual call is put out, to send the second sons to the King’s Academy. There, Inda’s unusual leadership capabilities and the treacheries of the royal court ensure that his future is not at all what he had expected.
I definitely enjoyed this book. It was good, solid fantasy with a lot of politics involved, but they were easily understood and I always enjoy that. Sometimes it’s difficult when an adult fantasy holds as its focus a young boy, but Sherwood Smith does a good job here and Inda is believable – I think we’ve all met kids and adults who are just natural leaders. His friendships are genuine and the characterizations are good for a fantasy novel. The plot goes along swiftly, and although it does get slightly predictable around the end, I was never bored and I never felt it dragged. I think that for other readers, the bits at the Academy may seem slow, but I have always loved the school atmosphere (even in Robin Hobb’s Soldier Son trilogy!), so I really liked those parts. Smith’s writing is fine and the book is definitely absorbing. I finished reading very excited for the next in the trilogy, which I do happen to have (yay!). I’m only holding back because the third is out in hardcover and I can’t afford it yet. I’ll be reading and reviewing it soon, though.
So, I would definitely recommend this to a fantasy fan. Great politics, plot, and characters – everything that is important. I don’t think it transcends its genre, but it’s wonderful for what it is. Buy this book on Amazon.
 Arthurian legend is a favorite subject of mine. I took a class on it close to three years ago and having the history has made all subsequent reading much more enjoyable. This book is the first in a trilogy which I think is about Merlin. This book certainly is. It goes into his childhood and his background as the bastard of a Welsh princess, Niniane, who will tell no one who his father is. Merlin discovers that he has some magical skills as well as foresight occasionally, and for these reasons he is almost never afraid because he knows that it is not yet his time to die. Eventually, he is ostracized from his home and joins the Roman king of Britain, Ambrosius, as he goes to conquer the proud tyrant Vortigern.
I like that Stewart tried vaguely to fit this into the confines of history while making it fantasy. Makes it a bit more interesting, although if anyone actually believes that the Saxons could muster an army of thirty thousand, I’m sorry, it just didn’t happen. I didn’t let that affect me too much, though, as I tried to consider this primarily a work of fantasy, which it really is. Magic happens and often around Merlin, and sometimes he prophesizes without knowing what he’s saying, which adds some small amounts of mystery. The plot is interesting and keeps moving, no dull moments that I noticed. Stewart’s writing is serviceable for the tale she’s telling. You can also see the beginnings of the proper Arthurian legend by the end, which makes me look forward to the next book so that I can continue the story.
After reading this book, I definitely wanted to read the next one, and I’ve grown very attached to Merlin. Even though he is a bit detached as a person from most of the other characters, watching him grow up has fostered that feeling in me at least. I’ll be looking for the rest of the trilogy. Buy this book on Amazon.
I find Jacqueline Carey’s work to be addicting and intoxicating, particularly her Kushiel’s Legacy series. KUSHIEL’S MERCY is no exception to this rule, considering I received it yesterday (early, considering it is due out June 12th!) and read most of it in an hours-long marathon read overnight. It is impossible to put down.
Imriel and Sidonie’s love for each other has finally become public, but for it to acknowledged by the Queen of Terre d’Ange, Sidonie’s mother Ysandre, Imriel must find his mother and bring her to justice for the crimes she committed in Carey’s first trilogy. Imriel takes on this challenge to win his love, only to be confronted with even more insurmountable obstacles that endanger everything he holds dear.
This is a fabulous book. It is well-plotted, never a dull moment, events popping up that I never would have expected. As I mentioned, I literally could not put it down until I was done. Carey’s writing remains spectacular and her character development proceeds at a running pace. Imriel’s development is absolutely stunning, considering where he came from in KUSHIEL’S SCION, and she has done a wonderful job here as well. Princess Sidonie comes into her own, providing us with another of her very strong females, though she and Phedre are vastly different. Carey excels at creating characters to fall in love with – not only that, but who fall in love (and make love, though it’s never the focal point here) with each other in believable and wondrous ways.
This is a journey to treasure and a book I will read over and over again. I am sad that Carey will be turning away from these characters to set another story generations later in Terre d’Ange, but I will recommend these books whole-heartedly.
I’m not sure why, but all the fantasy I have read lately has disappointed me, with the exception of Kushiel’s Justice. Black Sun Rising is also a disappointment, unfortunately. At the same time, however, I did like it and I would like to read the next book in the trilogy. Part of the problem with this book is that it jumped in without really showing me the relationships I was supposed to care about. I got a hint of a beginning relationship between Damian and Ciani, when all of a sudden he loves her and spends a lot of time regretting the path that she inevitably takes. I can see how relationships develop afterwards, but a large part of the emotional basis is missing and it just bugged me while I was reading. It probably didn’t help that Ciani annoyed me and I couldn’t figure out exactly what drew everyone to her
In terms of plot, the book moves very quickly and at times in unexpected ways. The novel is certainly fantasy, but it has a few hints of sci-fi – it’s clear that their civilization was once much more scientific than it is now. It remains interesting throughout and never drags, which is great in a book of fairly typical fantasy length. I enjoyed the story and I thought the world-building was fairly effective and interesting. Most of all, I liked the way the book ended. It wrapped up the main threads of the story but left a clever epilogue to show us that the story goes on and hook us in. So we don’t have to read more to find out what happens, but we want to.
In the end I’d probably call this fairly solid fantasy. It has potential to build on the relationships and the world to become something great, though. I’ll keep reading.
What a wonderful book. Imriel realizes he is devastatingly attracted to Sidonie, Queen Ysandre’s oldest daughter and heir. As the two begin a torrid affair, Imriel struggles with his identity yet further as he is forced to marry the Queen’s niece and comes to some realizations that develop his character much, much further.
This is a great book. I was never bored, and sometimes the Kushiel books do drag if not much is happening. Imriel’s development is believable and progresses exactly how I would have hoped. He’s turned into a great character and even better, Carey has given him his own voice, very distinct from Phedre’s. Imriel has become a very admirable man. Phedre and Joscelin remain on the sidelines of the book, yet still retain hints of their former greatness and splendor. Plot develops apace and even in unexpected ways. Carey’s writing remains beautiful and exactly to my taste, although I do admit that some people would call it on the purple side of things.
All in all, a terrific absorbing book, so good that I’ve already preordered Kushiel’s Mercy.
I tried to suspend expectations for this new book by Guy Gavriel Kay. And I did like it. It just doesn’t approach the brilliance of his historical fantasy, unfortunately. It felt like a book by another author, and only occasionally did I feel glimpses of the Kay I know and adore.
That’s not to say it’s a bad book. The action gets moving, fast. It feels more like a YA novel, in that sense. The main character, Ned, is just as clueless as the reader, although I did guess one of the secrets well before Ned figured it out. It didn’t matter much except to take away some of the impact of the ending. Part of the novel is about his growth as a person, which is probably another reason it felt like a YA novel. Lots of magic involved. There is also a lot of relationship growth, which normally I enjoy, but not as much here. To be honest, I think it was the narrator that I wasn’t particularly fond of – I didn’t dislike Ned, I just found it difficult to relate to him. A lot of the modern speech just jarred, things like jpegs and hotmail seemed strangely out of place.
I did like it though. It definitely held my attention and I actively wanted to get back to it. I appreciated the integration of history in the narrative, including it in the fantasy. It’s just that this book is missing something, something like wider relevance or commentary on a universal condition, which Kay normally includes. Perhaps he’s trying to tell us something about growing up and understanding and family relationships, but it fell short for me, and the book feels like it was merely enjoyable, not significant. He could have done something better with all that history than throw out a never-ending love story capturing the eternal discord between Romans and Germans.
If I am missing it, someone please let me know! Otherwise, I almost definitely will be recommending Kay’s other work well before this one.
I tried hard to like this book. I really did. Everyone keeps telling me how wonderful Erikson is and how he’s breaking all this ground in fantasy, and everyone also said that this book was easier to understand than the first. Well, it is, I’m happy to say that, but it still doesn’t make it good. There is just too much going on, and ordinarily I love books with too much going on, but this one just doesn’t pull it off. It makes everything confusing and rushed and constantly leaves off characters after a few pages with a cliffhanger ending, forcing the reader to wait fifty pages for their next little scene, by which point I’ve already lost the feeling of suspense and just get irritated.
This is a book about war and not much else. Everything is a struggle. I suspect this is why Erikson is often compared to George R.R. Martin, because he does similar things, but Martin does it better, still managing to engage the reader in his story even as you know the viewpoint character is likely to be killed at any time. With Martin, the overall struggle is understood. Half the time it’s impossible to figure out why Erikson’s characters are at war, except that they are.
I do have MEMORIES OF ICE, so I will be reading that as I’m interested to see what happened to the characters in the first volume, but afterwards I really doubt I will be continuing with the series. What a shame, because I was really hoping to discover a new author to love.
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