Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

In the world of Epic Fantasy there are two series of books that stand above all the rest as masterpieces. Lord of the Rings is one of those series. The Earthsea Series by Ursula K. LeGuin is the other. This is a review of the first book in the Earthsea series A Wizard of Earthsea.As far as fantasy novels go this is a bit counter to the norm. This book weighs in at less than two hundred pages which in today’s world is less than half the size of a typical fantasy book. Yet, it is extremely rich and textured with a beautiful story and remarkable themes. The basic setting for the story is a coming of age story about a young boy named Ged who goes off to wizard school to achieve his potential. Sounds rather familiar? Maybe so but this is where the familiarity ends.   The world in which we travel (Earthsea) is an archipelago of different islands and a lot of the story involves travel by boat from island to island and often times Ged travels in a small boat alone using magic to fill the small sail and propel him onward in his travels and his quest.The book is rich with mythological themes and ideas and one of the central themes is the naming of things.  Wizards in Earthsea understand that if you know the true name of a thing you can control it and much of their time is spent learning the true names of things. This skill is critical when Ged, in his little sailboat, faces his first dragon.  The book also covers some importance of controlling power, the dangers of pride, and the importance of facing yourself and all your flaws truthfully.

But I really love the older print version of the books that I have. The cover is just so beautiful. It evokes that magical feeling. In this first book we see a dragon coiled around an island. It’s a scene from the book. (The Illustrator is Ruth Robbins) And sometimes you can snag copies of this version on amazon.com too. 

I am continuing with my  quest to get up to date on many of the big blockbuster epic fantasy series. In an earlier post Here I reviewed the first book in Raymond Feist’s Riftwar Saga. This post is a review of the second book in the series.

This book is the second book in Feist’s Riftwar Saga (the first book is Magician: Apprentice) and in this book we see not only the transformation of our main character from apprentice to master but we also see this same transformation in Feist’s writing.  The tone, texture, and richness of this novel is significantly different than the first book.  In this book Feist builds us a big world and takes us for a grand adventure. He opens up two worlds for us and introduces us to a lot of new characters and a very big story.  In this volume Feist also goes from Apprentice to Master.

There are four books in this series. The first is Magician: Apprentice, the second is Magician: Master, the third is Silverthorn and the final book is A Darkness at Sethanon.  This is the current version but there is an earlier version that combines the first two volumes and it is simply entitled: Magician. This single version of the first two novels is uncommon. As Feist’s writing gained in popularity the publishers split up that first book into two volumes and reprinted them.

The Basic Premise of the series

The plotline of the series of books is that a rift is opened up between two worlds and through this rift people and things can pass. A warrior empire is using this rift to conquer the world of our main characters which is called Midkemia and the main characters are Pug (a magician in training) and Tomas (an aspiring warrior). The setting is very much high medieval period with kings, castles, dwarves, elves, magicians, and much of the expected epic fantasy fare.

This second book begins about four years after the second book and one of the unique things about it is that we spend a fair amount of time on the other world which is named Kelewan. That world too is also very much high medieval Europe but of course with its own customs and idiosyncrasies. One thing of note is that horses are totally alien to their world which creates some nice side developments in the story.

I approached this shifting to the other world with some trepidation because, after all, they are the bad guys and I don’t really want to get to know them! But, it works extremely well and this shifting gives us some really good (and necessary) developments in the story.

Overall perception and analysis

This book is substantially different than the first one. We go from a pretty straight-forward epic fantasy theme to something that is significantly more textured and rich.  It feels like there might have been four years of Feist’s writing skill development between the first and second book.  The first book was more about introducing us to the characters and the story and this second book takes a bigger and more ambitious look by introducing us to the two worlds involved. It’s ambitious and it works well.  There are some outstanding dramatic scenes and events that really leave an impression.

A Mild Criticism

This book deals with two worlds. And each world is complete with its own politics, empires, barons, blood lines, warlords, and all the requisite political maneuverings for power and wealth. This political infighting means that it gets a bit complex at times. A lot of different characters are introduced and sometimes this gets to be a bit too complicated for my taste.  

Conclusion

Something really great about this book is that it and the first magician book can be read as a satisfying single work without having to continue through more books in the series. This book brings about a conclusion to the story begun in book one.  And, one of the things that I like best about this book is that once we come to our dramatic conclusion we don’t find our characters sitting under a tree and living happily ever after. There is another forty or so pages that draw us further into some interesting developments which of course draw us into the next novel.

If you are looking for a new world to explore and a new series to sink your teeth into the Riftwar books are an excellent choice.  There are currently over twenty books that take place in the Riftwar series and the latest book was released in early 2008 (Wrath of a Mad God). And a new series begins with the release of Rides a Dread Legion in early 2009.

This book is available on Amazon.com Magician: Master (Riftwar Saga)

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If you like epic fantasy I have a whole site devoted to the subject. There are lots of listings, book recommendations and a whole lot of other stuff like finding a book by the name of the hero.

The Fantasy Guide

The new series based on the Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth books is moving forward nicely and there has been some additional information about it. I have also put together a webpage on my fantasy site where you can learn more about the show, the books, and the cast. (Legend of the Seeker information page)

The 2 hour premiere will be airing on ABC on November 1, 2008 and here is a video trailer:

[quicktime]http://www.castlefiction.com/blogimages/legendoftheseeker_320×180.mov[/quicktime]

About the book and series: I have returned to the beginning of the series and I am currently reading Wizards First Rule. I will be posting my review of the book soon. It feels great to return to the adventures of Richard Cypher and Kahlan Amnell:)

Wizards First Rule is available on Amazon.com - Wizard’s First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1)

I have been doing some more work on labyrinths and mazes and it got me to thinking about a book.

The name of the book is “The Tombs of Atuan” by Ursula K. LeGuin. It is the second volume in the Wizard of Earthsea Trilogy. Anyway, I read it many years ago and I don’t remember a whole lot of it except that much of the book revolves around this big network of caves (labyrinth) under the Priestess convent and temple.

One of the remarkable things about it is that I remember they had a long history (hundreds of years) of going down into the labyrinth always in total darkness and they had to memorize certain paths by touching and following the walls, and counting turns and intersections. Lights were totally forbidden so they always went down there in utter darkness. And of course there is a reason for that! This adds a whole second dimension to the mystery of a labyrinth.

Anyhoo, This is a remarkable book both for children and adults and it has a magical feel to it. LeGuin is one of the best fantasy writers ever. The cover version in this post is a scan of my book and that is out of print but there is a newer version available on amazon.com The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2) The version of the book that I have is complete with drawings and even a drawing of the labyrinth which is really neat.

I cannot recommend this series of books any higher. It is light reading yet quite remarkable. If you are looking for some fantasy to read you should get this series of books. But you should start with the first book in the series:A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1)

I am going to be reading and doing reviews of this series of books and will either post to this blog or put it on my fantasy guide website

Odd thing about the whole labyrinth kick that I have been on lately because I have been working my way through my third novel and have been wrestling with a variety of plot points and what not and well its serendipitious because now I am pretty sure there will be a labyrinth in it! it fits perfectly - coincidence or cosmic alliance? Dunno

There is just something about a labyrinth that I find fascinating, as you probably do too.