More Books than Time

Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

The Thief – Megan Whalen Turner – Fantasy with a Touch of Greece

by 1 Comment

Author Megan Whalen Turner states she was inspired by Greece and used bits and pieces of Grecian history and geography to write The Thief.  These basic blocks plus good character development and an intriguing plot with unexpected twists made The Thief an imaginative fantasy while avoiding a retelling of Grecian myths.

The plot features Gen, a braggart and thief currently imprisoned in the King’s royal prison in Sounis, a smallish state south of Eddis and west of Attolia.  Gen made the mistake of bragging about stealing the king’s seal, then doing it and then getting caught, so he’s in chains and unable to escape.  We can tell from the get-go that there is a lot more to Gen than these bare facts – anyone who reads fantasies will recognize the noble-born-but-pretending-to-be-common character.  Turner doles out bits and pieces of hints to clue us into Gen’s real status but holds out the complete story until the end.

The king’s Magus retrieves Gen from jail to steal the Gift of Hamiathes, the stone that is the kingship symbol in Eddis.  The king of Suonis wants to Gift to force the queen of Eddis to marry him.  The magus has two younger men, Sophos and Ambiades and Sophos’ man Pol along on the journey to retrieve the Gift from its hiding spot.

So far this sounds like a normal quest fantasy, enlivened with humor and questions about Gen, and The Thief is a quest on the surface.  It is more.  The characters are well done, with betrayal, mystery, and a background of geopolitical reality that drives the magus on his hunt.  If the magus is right then the three countries must ally to keep themselves whole.  Turner left enough open to write several sequels but The Thief is a complete novel on its own.

Most of the libraries shelve The Thief under YA fantasy.  The book will appeal to teens but it has enough complexity and interesting characters that adults can enjoy it too.  It’s not long, about 220 pages, and a fast read without a ton of elaborate writing.  The small number of characters, about 12 altogether, keeps it easy to follow, no hunting back and forth to remember who is who.

Turner so vividly describes the terrain with cliffs, ravines, arid volcanic residues, olive groves that you feel you would recognize the country if you saw it.  A map would have been a plus.

Overall I enjoyed The Thief.  The tension between Gen and the magus, Gen and the two young nobles, and finally between Gen and the goddess make the book lively and the rich characters make it an enjoyable, satisfying read.  4 Stars.

 

Midnight Riot or Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch – Wizard vs. Revenant

by 2 Comments

One of the best lines in Rivers of London is Inspector Nightingale’s answer to Peter’s question about wizards:

“No.  Not like Harry Potter.”
“In what way?”
“I’m not a fictional character.”

Yes, magic is real; wizards are real; ghosts and vampires and revenants are real. Father Thames, the spirit of Thames upriver of London, is real as is his rival Mother Thames who handles everything from London to the sea.

My copy is titled Midnight Riot, apparently the UK version is named Rivers of London.  Don’t worry, it’s the same book and it’s good.

Plot Quickie

Peter Grant is nearly through with probationary status in London’s police and is ready for assignment to something – hopefully something more exciting than the you-are-making-a-valuable-contribution-Case-Progression-Unit where he would shuffle papers when he wasn’t creating papers.  Peter meets a ghost while checking the area where a man was murdered near Covent Garden.  Peter doesn’t believe in ghosts but comes back a few nights later to ask the ghost a question; that is when he meets Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the only wizard currently employed by London’s finest and in fact the only wizard in London (or possibly the only one in the UK at all).

Nightingale recruits Peter (anything to avoid Case Progression) to help him since at the moment Nightingale is feeling a bit worried about the lack of magical manpower and other problems are poking up that need a wizard’s attention.  We have a case of vampires, a brooding feud between the spirits of the Thames, and a spate of completely irrational, vicious attacks.

Peter works with his friend Leslie, a more successful copper of the standard variety, Nightingale, assorted detectives, Molly the vampiric housekeeper, the children of the warring Thames clans and assorted opera goers and tenors to solve the mystery of the attacks and return London to its more-or-less peaceful self.

Characters

Peter is great.  Midnight Riot is written first person with Peter the narrator so we see everything through his eyes.   Other people see Peter as easily distracted but from our viewpoint, riding along in his head, he makes perfect sense.  Peter makes intuitive jumps and he is curious about things that seem peripheral to others but are in fact quite important.

Peter is resourceful, as witness by his method to bring peace between the Thames’ families and smart.  He figures out who is harboring the spirit that is causing the distressing attacks and cruel murders and is able to time his final intervention to save the spirit’s host from bleeding to death.

We see Leslie through Peter’s eyes and her words and how she compares herself and Peter.  She is a little less finely developed than Peter but interesting and I’m looking forward to meeting her again in the next book.

Inspector Nightingale and his peers in the more mundane side of the London constabulary are interesting too and poke up just often enough to keep us interested.  Peter’s mum and father play bit roles and I’d enjoy knowing his unflappable mum.

Summary

Midnight Riot is the first in a series featuring our hero Peter Grant.   I enjoyed the tight plotting and character development and am picking up two more books from our interlibrary loan system tomorrow!

Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Excellent Fantasy for Adults, Magic vs. Malevolence

by 1 Comment

Uprooted by Naomi Novik is one of the best novels I’ve read in the past year.  It has the emotional depth that adults enjoy along with the straightforward story of good vs. evil, magic vs. despair with great characters.

Author Novik  sets Uprooted in the kingdom of Polnya, a standard late-medieval place threatened by the neighboring kingdom of Rosya on one side and the malevolent magic of the Wood on the other.  The Dragon, foremost wizard of Polnya, lives in the tower in the Spindle Valley to guard against the encroachment of the Wood.  When the Wood takes over people or animals they are corrupted, lost inside of themselves and a grave danger to everyone.

Characters

I loved Novik’s heroine, Agnieszka.  She has internal strength that even she doesn’t realize and she’s not afraid to put her life on the line for people, especially her friends.

The growing love affair between Agnieszka and the Dragon feels real.  When they work magic together they blend their hearts and work together intimately.  Agnieszka can see beneath the Dragon’s scowls and snide comments and she knows he loves beauty, whether in people, or things or magic.

Agnieszka’s magic is very different from the Dragon’s.  Hers is song and ad hoc, nothing formal while his is sharp, crisp, clean edged and powerful. They are stronger together than separate and the intimacy grows each time they combine magic.

I’m tired of books with girls who are strong in the sense of physically strong, or extra special strong in magic or whatever, standard kick-ass types.  I like reading books about people who are strong because they have strong characters.  Courage, determination, honor, love, cherishing people, generosity and stewardship are all qualities that make people strong, and Agnieszka and the Dragon have these.

Plot

The book begins when the Dragon selects Agnieszka to serve him for 10 years – but he forgets to tell her he selected her because she has magic.  Agnieszka and everyone else assumes he will choose her best friend, Kasia, and she can’t fathom why he took her.  After a couple days the Dragon begins teaching Agnieszka – but once more he doesn’t tell her that’s what he’s doing – and she hates it.  Doing magic the Dragon’s way leaves her exhausted.

Agnieszka realizes her magic is valuable when her home village summons the Dragon to stop corrupted cattle and wolves, but he has left to attend another monster.  She stumbles into the type of magic that she can do – ad hoc, more wandering and less of a highway – very powerful.  She and the Dragon begin working together in earnest.

The plot is excellent, fast moving, with lots of intrigue and blind alleys along the way.

Mood

Uprooted is excellent at conveying mood.  We feel Agnieszka’s fear and loathing early, then the ever-present threat of the Wood keeps a sense of worry and drives her and the Dragon to develop her skills. Novik does a great job with setting the Wood up as a dark, evil force that is just there, never goes away, never stops being a threat even when it is not overtly challenging.  We feel Agnieszka’s terror when she fights off the wolves, when she rescues Kasia, when she flees the capital with the royal children, when she and the Dragon fight the Wood together.

Then the Wood turns and becomes more a normal forest, still a bit scary with dangerous, hate-filled creatures, but not the malevolent entity it had been.  We feel lighter along with Agnieszka.

Uprooted isn’t all danger and fear.  It has love and even quiet humor.

Other Thoughts

Like many novels with younger characters, Uprooted is classified as YA Fiction.  It is not.  It is a novel for adults, one that older teens will love, but one that we older people will find richer and deeper.

Be aware there are 2 sex scenes.

Overall this is 5 stars.  Excellent book with deeply realistic characters and a memorable sense of mood and emotion.

Personal Note

Uprooted is going to stick with me a long, long time.  It spoke to something important.

Something about the relationship between Agnieszka and the Dragon reminded me of something I read long ago but cannot recall, perhaps something by Patricia McKillip.   I kept hearing an echo but cannot remember what it is an echo of, rather frustrating since I enjoyed whatever the earlier book was and would like to reread it.

The Shadow Throne, Book 3 of The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer Nielsen

by Leave a Comment

Jennifer Nielsen kept the same frantic pace with The Shadow Throne, the final book in her Ascendance trilogy as with the first two, but this third book felt flat, predictable and a bit silly.  Jaron, now the king of Carthya, knows that Avenia captured Imogen only to use her as a tool against him, yet he insists on going himself to free her.

Of course he gets captured, then tortured, which was the weakest and least readable part of the book.  King Vargan and his army commanders vacillate between wanting Jaron to cough up his military plans, or to force him to agree to bind his country to King Vargan of Avenia or, apparently they just wanted to hurt him.

Jaron acts like a clever thief, not like a king and the book is weaker for it.  Some of Jaron’s escapades are entertaining, as when he blows up the cannons sent to destroy his capital.  Some escapades reminded me of the nick-of-time rescues in the old Robin Hood television show.  He has an healed broken leg the whole time he’s prancing around Carthya and Avenia, dodging armies, rescuing friends, blowing up dams.

The characters didn’t seem important, more like pawns set up to fill the action.  I didn’t much like Jaron, he was a bit too selfish to be the real king he felt he was meant to be.  The ending where he somehow pulls a rescue out of the woodwork was fun reading but contrived.

I read The Shadow Throne right after finishing the second book, The Runaway King.  It was sort of like the feeling you get after eating a bunch of Halloween candy, yummy at the time but you really do know better.  I mostly enjoyed it even while recognizing the faults and despite getting bogged down in the very long section where Jaron is imprisoned.  (You can read my reviews of the The Runaway King here, and of The False Prince here.)

The Shadow Throne: Book 3 of The Ascendance Trilogy is the final book in the series, and wraps up the loose ends.  If you read the first two books you’ll want to read this just to find out what happens but be warned, it isn’t as good as the first two novels.

3 Stars

The Runaway King, Book 2 of The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer Nielsen

by 1 Comment

As the title notes, The Runaway King: Book 2 of the Ascendance Trilogy is the second book in the Ascendance series that features Sage, grown to take the throw under his rightful name, Jaron.  (See here for my review of the first book, The False Prince.)  Jaron is threatened within his kingdom of Carthya, by ambitious regents who seek to push him aside or use him as a puppet, and from the outside by King Vargan of Avenia, greedy to add Carthya to his rule.

Jaron suffers from extreme foot in mouth disease, incurable optimism, self confidence and unbelievable skills he honed for thievery, climbing, undoing chains and ropes, pick pocketing.  The book opens with an assassination attempt that leaves Jaron an ultimatum:  deliver himself to the pirates who already tried to kill him, or see his kingdom destroyed.  Jaron knows the pirates work closely with King Vargan.

King Vargan offers to take a spring in exchange for peace, such a good deal, otherwise known as tribute or appeasement.  Jaron’s father had made many such small-seeming concessions over his reign, leaving Vargan eager to take the rest.  Jaron refuses the deal.

From that point on the book moves at light speed, with Jaron joining the pirates under an assumed name, intending to turn the pirates into his men, his allies.  An audacious move, it nearly works.

Characters

Prince, then King Jaron, is both a cardboard creature and a person.  He is most stereotyped when acting as a thief, the bold challenger, the escape artist.  He is best developed when we see hints of his true nobility and kingship, as when he realizes that to give into Vargan once means giving him over all of Carthya, with timing the only question.

Love interest Imogen is a little more developed in The Runaway King than in The False Prince, but still a little weak.  It’s not clear why she and Jaron fall for each other.  Princess Amarinda is better drawn and an attractive character.  Jaron’s other friends and sometime foes are interesting but secondary.

Thoughts About The Runaway King

The Ascendance series is fantasy without a trace of magic.   You’ll find no wizards, no witches or sorcery.  Books like this, set in semi-medieval kingdoms with fast paced action, depend on the characters and the interesting plots.  Author Jennifer Nielsen does a good job with both, aligning the series to the older teen audience that enjoys plots and fun more than vampires and dystopian apocalypse.

I was restless and looking for something fun when I re-read my review for The False Prince and decided to check out the sequels from our local E library.  I’m glad I did as this was perfect for the evening.  Adults looking for a fast, enjoyable read that doesn’t challenge with a ton of mysterious magic or oddball names will enjoy this too.

4 Stars for adults, 5 for teens.

Sower of Dreams by Debra Holland, Classic Fantasy with Romantic Touch

by Leave a Comment

The cover of Sower of Dreams (The Gods’ Dream Trilogy Book 1) includes an Andre Norton quote endorsing the novel as “outstanding and well presented fantasy” and the author credits Norton’s Witchworld series as inspiring her book. How could I not read it?

Sower of Dreams does not disappoint.  It reminded me of some Andre Norton stories with the enigmatic and never explained portals that terminate in ruined cities on different worlds, and the mood was reminiscent of Norton’s work too, a combination of dreaming, fear, running, love and standing up finally for one’s self and one’s loves.

I enjoyed the simplicity of the character set.  We have major players Khan, exiled from earth to flee his murderous half brother, Daria, princess of Seagem, Thaddis, newly crowned king of ally Ocean’s Glory, Amir, envious half brother to Khan, plus assorted friends and family members.  I appreciate books where the characters have reasonably short, memorable names (as opposed to those with lots of consonants and apostrophes).

Characters and setting were well done as was the romance between Daria and Khan and the tension and fear as they seek ways to build a life together.  I wasn’t altogether pleased with how easily Daria rejected her “god” Yadarius or her father’s charge to be the queen.  Her actions fit the story (better than the alternatives), they just sounded a sour note in the background.

True to the Andre Norton spirit author Holland constructs lovable creatures, monkey bats Shad and Shir, who become friends with Khan and Daria.  Also true to the Norton spirit, the author presents both villains with an opportunity to choose the wise and moral path and both villains spurn the choice.

Also like Norton author Holland left some dangling pieces to use in follow up novels, whether separate series or sequels.  One is Khan’s earth friend Jasmine escapes via the mysterious portal in the middle of the earth desert to a foggy, shadowed land.  Another is the political fallout and restitution between Ocean’s Glory and Seagem once Thaddis’s soldier Boerk takes Thaddis back to Ocean’s Glory.  The last string is the missing Pasinea, a nasty lady whose “power is temporarily depleted”.

The book is not complex nor challenging, a gentle, enjoyable read with interesting characters and familiar mood.

As the title notes, Sower of Dreams is the first in a trilogy.  The excerpt for book two, Reaper of Dreams, shows us that Daria’s beloved oldest brother Indaran still lives, a prisoner of an evil “god”.  It would be interesting to see how Holland ties the Jasmine and Pasinea strings into the Indaran story.

Four stars if you are in the mood, three stars if  you want something a bit meatier.

The Phoenix Ring – Fantasy Novel by Alexander Brockman

by Leave a Comment

The Phoenix Ring (The Thunderheart Chronicles Book 1) uses the standard fantasy plot “Boy Discovers He Is a Wizard and Saves the World” and mixes in some fun elements and characters.  Aiden, the hero (who discovers he is a wizard) has help from Timothy, a normal wizard from a normal wizard family, and from Aaliyah, a magic-resistant amogh.  Aiden leaves home for the big city to join the King’s Rangers but gets recruited/forced into the wizards and sent to their school Fort Phoenix to learn wizardry.

Besides the character count and school background The Phoenix Ring is not much like Harry Potter.  Aiden is angry, as in furious, all the time, although we readers don’t see much to be angry about during much of it.  The anger helps fuel his magic and he is powerful.  He masters some elements of magic immediately and takes the Phoenix Ring that had been Marcus Thunderheart’s until Marcus left physical existence 63 years earlier when fighting Macommmer and his renegade wizards and dragons.  We then get a bit of whining, a trip, a few side trips and then conflict with the renegade Edwin.

Good Points

There are some fun plot twists and the book is an easy, extremely fast read (about 2 hours and that includes stopping for tea).

The subplot with Timothy and goblin Grogg is excellent and author Brockman could have done more with it.  The Phoenix Ring would have been richer and more complex and enjoyable had Brockman added more subplots like this one.

Bartemus and the other adult wizards appear sparingly during the novel which is a shame as they are interesting characters.

Not So Good Points

There is almost no transition between points of view and even between physical locations and times and this gets confusing and tiresome.  Even if the author didn’t want to say “meanwhile back at the ranch…” he could indicate a change in viewpoint by typography, a line of asterisks or similar.

Character development is spotty.  We don’t see why Aiden is so angry nor learn much about Timothy.  Aaliyah is a cipher.

The characters live in an interesting world and I’d like to see Brockman do more with the setting, the back story and the magic system.

Summary

As the title shows, The Phoenix Ring is the first book in a fantasy series.  I don’t expect I’ll buy the next books in the series as this was just a bit better than OK, a solid 3 stars.

Amazon lists this as for older teens, which is probably right.  As an adult I found the book a bit too slapdash and lacking in the rich detail and conflicts that make fantasy believable.

Paranormal Chaos – Third Book in an Interesting Series

by Leave a Comment

I started Paranormal Chaos (The Shifter Chronicles) one evening when I was pretty tired and not feeling much like a challenge.  The book starts with a chase scene, Marcus and side kick Steve the Minotaur, running for their lives from a herd of centaurs.  Once they escape we flash back to Marcus’ thoughts on being asked to take on the mission to keep the Minotaurs, and by extension the centaurs, in the treaty between paranormal and normal humans.

I almost quit at this point.  Marcus and the Council do not get along.  This sounded familiar, the Harry Dresden series, the Alex Verus series, but dressed up with Minotaurs and centaurs.  I decided to keep on for a few more pages and I’m glad I did.  The book is a solid read, entertaining with interesting flashes to Greek mythology and glimpses of Root’s excellent world building.

Somewhere around page 50 it dawned on me this was likely the most recent book in a series, but that in no way inhibited reading.  Paranormal Chaos has its own adventures that do not rely on the prior novels.

Plot Summary

The backstory is humans and magically-endowed humans signed the Reformation Treaty about 20 years before and invited all the non-human sentient magical creatures – centaurs, Minotaurs, elves, Bookworms and more – to sign on too.  Now the Minotaur leader sent notice to the Council they are withdrawing from the treaty.  Council sends Marcus Shifter to bring them back into the fold.  Steve convinces best friend Steve to help.

Since this is a fantasy novel Steve is revealed to be the son of the Minotaur leader, the Alpha, and her expected heir.  There are disagreements among the Minotaur around how they should engage with every other species.  The Alpha wants to be hands off, leave everyone alone; Steve wants to adapt to the modern world and engage as a normal person; a faction led by Makha wants to re-establish the human/Minotaur cooperative domination (and tyranny) described in ancient Minotaur books and art.

Steve and Marcus discover Makha’s plans and run back to alert the Council and other species of impending attacks.  There is a short, brutal war which ends with most species agreeing to try again.

Fantasy Roundabouts

Several events in Paranormal Chaos don’t make a ton of sense but they help build the story.

  • Minotaurs remain fascinated with labyrinths and their rite of adulthood requires passing a maze with hostile creatures and death traps and emerging alive.  It’s not clear where the creatures and traps come from; we don’t see much (any) Minotaur magic.
  • The Underground was a handy device that you need to accept as part of the story and not try to understand.  (It wasn’t any clearer after I read the previous three books.)
  • Not at all clear exactly how or why the centaurs and Minotaurs ended up in northern Canada.  Both creatures were originally from the Mediterranean; even if one figures they fled when Rome got organized and made it unpleasant it seems odd they would go to Canada.
  • The whole war didn’t make a ton of sense either.  Makha didn’t know much about humans or how we would react if a bunch of odd guys started attacking and killing folks.  Since Minotaurs live in the real world they would be vulnerable to conventional human weapons.  (Makha had his own fruitcake ideas.)

Fun Points

Loved the Bookworms!  Of all the creatures named they were the best.

The ending was excellent, true to people nature.  “Now we figure out how to patch our worlds together.  But this time we do it as friends.”  “We struggled to deal with the shock of how close we’d come to being defeated by Makha.  And how much we all had to lose.”  Even so the Elves declined to do more than show up to meetings and the Vampires didn’t do that.

Summary

Author Joshua Roots did a great job building a compelling story using bits and pieces of myth, standard fantasy-in-a-box tropes, interesting characters and enough magic to make it flow.  After I finished Paranormal Chaos I bought the first two books featuring Marcus Shifter and Steve, Undead Chaos and Summoned Chaos.  They were also excellent; in fact the second, Summoned Chaos, was my favorite of the three.  Highly recommend all three for fantasy lovers.

Note:  I received a free advanced E copy from NetGalley in expectation of an honest review.

 

Madness in Solidar – Imager Series – Resetting Priorities and Alliances

by Leave a Comment

Madness in Solidar: The Ninth Novel in the Bestselling Imager Portfolio (The Imager Portfolio) is a stand alone novel occurring 400 years after Quaeryt helped form the united kingdom of Solis and built the Imager Collegium in the 5 book Scholar series.  Unfortunately Quaeryt’s successors lacked his skill and drive (or ruthlessness) and the collegium has faded along with the unity of Solis overall.  Imagers are weak; training is not rigorous; the collegium takes golds from the Rex but provides little in return.  In Solis the Rex alternates between temper tantrums and unrealistic demands.  He lacks funds and demands a 20% tax increase and insists the collegium assassinate the High Holders from strongest to weakest until they agree.

Alastar, the new collegium Maitre, seeks a compromise while simultaneously battling his senior imagers to build up the curriculum, re-establish the collegium as a force and find alternative sources of funds.  No one wants a compromise and the senior imagers are conflicted with at least one actively against Alastar and his fellows.

It’s hard work to establish – or re-establish – foundations for any organization, and I admire Modesitt for building a book around the work.  Nonetheless, it’s not exciting. Alastar spends more than half the book meeting with people, realistic for any leader but nothing that makes enjoyable reading.

Best Points of Madness in Solidar

The plot is better in Madness than in Rex Regis or Antiagon Fire, the previous 2 Imager novels, with fewer pages spent describing long travel days.  There isn’t a lot of action but the story keeps moving.

The conflict feels more realistic, incohesion that turns into internal division that turns into treachery. Alastar has no good option when Rex Ryen demands a solution – his solution, his way – and threatens to destroy Alastar and the collegium unless they abet him in murder.  Alastar works to a solution, albeit not a happy one, that allows his imagers to survive and patches Solis together.

So-So Points

Like most Modesitt heroes, Alastar is decent, driven, hard working, agnostic, sensitive and individually powerful.  He doesn’t feel or read like a real person and I didn’t have an emotional connection to him or any of the other characters.

Rex Ryen and his family members are sketched out enough to be foils for Alastar, not fully developed characters.  However they respond consistently and there are no magic turnarounds where villains become good guys or vice versa.  The other imagers, High Holders and factors are likewise thin but sufficient.  The army commander is the weakest character, drawn so unlikable that I wonder why anyone would follow him.

Not Good Points

The worst part of the book is Modesitt’s interminable word play between characters.  It allows us to see how shiny bright and righteous Alastar is compared with the devious and greedy holders, but frankly, it’s boring.  After reading the last couple Modesitt books I’ve lost my tolerance for this stuff.

It’s also unbelievable.  I don’t know anyone who would talk that way.  “Acquiring some knowledge may be more costly than it is wise to purchase.”  This is one of the first sentences from the first High Holder Alastar sees.

Overall

Madness is a comedown from the first three Imager books, set several centuries later and from the excellent Scholar and Princeps yet such an improvement on the most recent few novels that I’m hoping Modesitt is back to creating novels full of plot with interesting characters, conflicts, setting, and with fewer verbal dances that show off the hero’s sterling qualities.

Overall I’d give Madness in Solidar a solid 3 stars and will read future books in the series.

My Favorite Fantasy – Borderlands Novels by Lorna Freeman

by 2 Comments

Have you ever felt you just had to re-read a favorite book?  I just finished re-reading (for the third or fourth time) the three Borderlands novels by Lorna Freeman, Covenants, The King’s Own and Shadows Past.  Once again the wonderful, complete characters, excellent plot, intricate back story and strong narrative writing kept me reading and once again I found more to enjoy with each book.

I will review each book separately in upcoming posts; let’s look at the three overall first.

Characters

Rabbit, otherwise known as Lieutenant Lord Rabbit ibn Chause eso Flavan, tells all three novels.  Rabbit is the son of Two Trees and Lark, formerly high born nobles from Iversterre who fled to the Border to become farmers and weavers and raise eight children in the land of the fae and magical.  Rabbit had been apprenticed to Magus Kareste, but fled in fear and came back to Iversterre to be hide, becoming a horse trooper in the Royal Army.

Lorna Freeman does an excellent job showing us Rabbit who is a most enjoyable young man.  He is courageous, loyal and intelligent, yet fears his magic and wants no part of politics, whether in Iversterre or the Border.  Rabbit matures through the three novels as he faces and reconciles to his magic and demands on his person and loyalties.

Laurel, the mountain cat Faena, is come to Iversterre to seek peace in the face of blatant smuggling and murder – and to seek Rabbit on behalf of the Border High Counsel.

Other key characters are well rounded:  Captain Suiden, Captain Javes, Enchanter Wyln, King Jusson, even minor figures like Ryson and Thadro and the assorted villains and other players in each novel

Not Really a Trilogy

You would enjoy these the most by reading in sequence but it isn’t truly necessary.  The individual plots stand alone and each has unique characters for the competing parts.

Covenants

Covenants is the longest and most complex of the three.  Rabbit and his troop are lost in the very familiar mountains they routinely patrol near the small northern town of Freston.  Even though they know the area they cannot find their way until Rabbit meets Laurel in a small dell.  Laurel shares cakes with Rabbit and gives him a red feather, signifying a meal covenant.  Suddenly the troop can see the town below and the way is clear.  This is the first magical mystery, but not the last.

Laurel turns out to be the ambassador from the Border High Counsel, sent to Iversterre in a final attempt to broker peace.  This is a surprise to the King of Iversterre, Jusson, and most of his government, since they did not realize there was a problem.

Covenants moves very fast.  It is over 500 pages long and complex and you may – like I did – find you see even more the second time through.  Lorna Freeman tells the story by dialogue and Rabbit’s thoughts and observations and the little vignettes build on one another.  Those vignettes are easy to read through and not see the significance until later.

The King’s Own

The King’s Own picks up after Rabbit and company return to Freston, where the king has stopped on his progress through the kingdom, a trip meant to reassure and bind the kingdom together.

Unfortunately the remnants of the plotters from Covenants also come to Freston, only this time they bring a demon.

The King’s Own is a little harder to follow than Covenants, partly because Rabbit himself is puzzled by the apparently senseless actions.  It also further develops the relationship between Rabbit and King Jusson, and brings in several stand-alone characters that are interesting, Chadde the peace keeper, Ranulf and Beollan the Marcher lords, doyen Dyfrig.  The plot is great but the characters keep us interested!

Shadows Past

Shadows Past marks the point where Rabbit realizes how serious is his situation.  He has sworn to the throne of Iversterre and to King Jusson personally, and Jusson has made Rabbit his heir.  Up to now Rabbit has been too busy fighting rebellions and demons to realize exactly what that means.

The crux of the book is about 2/3 of the way through when Rabbit is tempted to just leave, to get to the harbor and take the first ship away.  He gets as far as a couple of steps when he realizes what he is doing:  denying his oaths, denying his magic, denying his friends.

Shadows Past doesn’t have the intense plot threats and conflicts of the first two (although there are still plenty of both), instead Rabbit must fight through to what and who he is, remaining true to himself while remaining true to his oaths and loyalties.

Summary

I enjoyed all three books immensely. Covenants is outstanding, one of the very best fantasy books I’ve ever read.  The other two are excellent, and I found that re-reading them this week that I enjoyed them more than before and would rank them right up with Covenants.

Borderlands is hands down my favorite fantasy series.  According to Lorna Freeman’s page on Amazon, she intends to write a fourth book, The Reckoning Flames, but it apparently has not made it out to print.

Borderlands reminds me of the Ivory Series by Doris Egan.  There are many similarities:  one-and-done series that are enormously popular, well-written with engaging characters and settings, with authors that seemed to come out of nowhere.  I keep hoping we’ll see more books featuring Rabbit, Laurel and the rest.