At first glance, this is a very traditional fantasy story about a magic
ring which slips away from its evil owner at a critical moment, and
finds its way into the hands of the most unlikely person imaginable.
There’s a benign wizard acting as mentor and guide, there’s an evil
wizard spreading darkness over the land, with the help of some evil
minions, and there’s a collection of good guys uniting to defeat evil.
You might think you’ve read something with a plot not a million miles
from this one before. But not so fast; this book is proof of the theory
that even the oldest and most overworked tale can be infused with new
life in the hands of a good storyteller.
The plot isn’t really as
unoriginal as I made out. Tabitha is the teenage girl who ends up with
the magic ring, but she uses it to sing the Lifesong, the music that
(somehow) triggers or even transcends the magic in this world. Ashley is
an apprentice Lifegifter (or mage) who finds himself with the
convenient ability to read thoughts. Garyll is the Swordmaster (chief
warrior and law enforcer), and also love interest for Tabitha. The
Riddler is the good wizard, there to help Tabitha. Kirjath Arkell is one
of the minions. And although there are good guys and bad guys, things
aren’t at all as clearcut as is usual in this type of fantasy.
The
worldbuilding has been quite carefully done. The setting, Eyri, is
rather small, being no more than two to three days riding from one side
to the other, but there’s a reason behind that, and hopefully a later
installment will see the story expand into the outside world. One
grumble: there is a point where some of these external places are
mentioned, with a string of incomprehensible names like Lûk and Jho-down
and lots more, in the worst kind of infodump. Fortunately this is
brief. The setting is the usual pre-industrial-revolution affair - a
rather idyllic and twee collection of villages filled with more or less
honest, upright citizens. The author has made efforts to avoid the
standard generic fantasy template for his settlements, so each one has
some distinguishing characteristic. Russel, for instance, is an artists’
colony, with houses built on stilts. While these distinctions seem a
little artificial, it’s better than every place being the same as all
the others.
The magic system is very nice. There are three
‘axes’ of magic: the axis of darkness and light, that of energy and
matter, and that of order and chaos. I liked the way that it’s necessary
to keep the opposing forces in balance, which leads to some very
elegant methods of keeping the heroine and the villain apart until the
right moment. The Lightgifters (mages who use the magic of light to heal
and uplift the spirits) call upon sprites to power their spells, which
are charged each morning by a communal song. There are also Darkcasters,
who control a dark equivalent to sprites, known as motes, and spread
gloom and despair. This all works rather nicely.
The characters
fall neatly onto the good or bad side of the equation, and although
sometimes it’s not immediately clear which side a character is on,
ultimately it’s a black or white distinction, there really aren’t too
many shades of grey here. What’s even more depressing is that so many of
the characters are quite passive. Tabitha and Ashley, the two youngest,
are essentially pushed around by circumstance and the machinations of
other characters, and when it appears as if they might drift into the
wrong place or make a mistake, someone more competent comes along to
rescue them. If that fails, then they just happen to realise what they
ought to do - Tabitha by way of her magic ring, and Ashley by virtue of
his oh-so-convenient ability to hear thoughts, although not all
thoughts, you understand, just certain key thoughts. Even Garyll the
Swordmaster with his named sword (Felltang, since you ask) who strides
around fearlessly as the epitome of well-honed manly virtue, imparts
backbone into his weaker subordinates, and accosts the bad guys in stern
brook-no-nonsense tones, is pushed here and there by the schemes and
devices of others. Meanwhile Kirjath the evil minion and his boss the
Big Bad are running rings round everyone, and the Riddler - well, OK,
the Riddler is actually interesting. He has a certain complexity, for a
start, and isn’t a straightforwardly good or bad character, although he
does tend to turn up at crucial moments to rescue poor Tabitha from yet
another tricky situation.
The romance - no, on second thoughts,
don’t get me started on the romance. Putting Garyll of the Manly Virtues
together with Tabitha the Meek and throwing in a few burning glances
and shivering touches does not a romance make. I’d rather an author skip
that part of the story altogether than make such a ham-fisted effort,
especially since a large part of it is just about motivation. Tabitha’s
in danger, so Garyll must ride heroically to her rescue or Sacrifice All
for her sake. But there is one interesting aspect in the apparent
equating of sex with the dark side. The good guys go for romantic
dinners and in moments of excitement hold hands or exchange chaste
kisses. Even thinking about sex pushes them over to the dark side
(apparently). Then they make very questionable decisions because they’re
in love. The bad guys, on the other hand, indulge in wildly passionate
sex while casting spells of extraordinary power (which sounds like a lot
more fun, actually). But maybe I’m just overthinking this.
I
liked the writing style, and although there are a lot of point of view
characters, the author uses them to good effect to drive the story
forward. I enjoyed the little 'riddle' at the start of every chapter,
too. But this is a huge book. I’m a fast reader but it took me forever
to get through it. In a sense, this is a strong point, because the story
is detailed enough to sustain it, and there's very little filler. There
are a few places where scenes dragged on a bit too long, and some
questionable motivations, where the plot was pushing characters along,
but most of it felt necessary. Nevertheless, I found myself tiring of it
more than once, especially during the more horrifically graphic torture
scenes or the multitude of depressing
oh-no-the-bad-guys-are-too-powerful moments.
There was one major
irritant to me and that was Tabitha’s complete inability to work out
what she needed to do. I wouldn’t say she was stupid, exactly, just
very, very slow on the uptake. Even when the Riddler led her step by
step, she never seemed to make the necessary jump until it was
blindingly obvious. It was quite painful sometimes. I enjoy a story
where the author drops enough clues for the reader to work things out a
moment or two before the protagonist does, but not when it happens ten
chapters before and I find myself muttering: ‘Come on, it’s so
obvious!’. I wanted to slap her upside the head sometimes.
The
ending was suitably dramatic, and the last few chapters flew by with all
the usual swings and reversals, one or two not terribly surprising
reveals, and a satisfying, if slightly overwrought, conclusion at both
the overarching plot level and the human level. For those who like a
straightforward traditional fantasy, with clearcut heroes and villains, a
battle between good and evil, and a young innocent discovering amazing
powers, this is an excellent example. It's very well written, with a
large cast of characters who are well drawn and memorable, and a clever
and elegant magic system (and bonus points for the very ingenious use of
mathematical principles; any author combining magic with möbius bands
has my vote). I found it just a little too predictable for my taste, and
I look for a bit more complexity in my characters, but that's personal
preference, and the solid ending and neat magic system make it a good
four stars.
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