For all its fearsome size, this is a very good fantasy novel. It's almost worthy of the term "epic", but it's more readable than your average "epic" novel. The world that Clarke creates is solid and believable - a world once governed by magic, but now lacking its former vital force - a world to which magic will be restored according to an ancient and little-know prophecy which is inexorably played out through the pages of the book.
It's exciting. It's tragic. It's even slightly political - Scotland wins its independence! All the characters are very real and sympathetic people (with the possible exception of the one real villain, the gentleman with thistle-down hair) and the story of their intertwined fortunes makes for a terrific read.
Unfortunately I have nothing bad to say about the novel, which makes for something of a dull post, doesn't it? It was a great book and I enjoyed it, and that's all.
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
3 comments:
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I struggled a bit for the first 200 pages, but I found it really picked up after that, and since then I've been recommending it to a lot of people. What a strange, dense, wordy book -like a rich fruitcake.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice the ending was something of a reversal of the 'Lord of the Rings' cliche? Ie magic coming back into the world rather than leaving it. I liked that.
ReplyDeleteHey, no I didn't. That's very cool. And rather confirms my suspicion that she set out to prove that she's the next Tolkein, and ended by having impressively overshot the mark ;)
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