Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

 The Bestiary by Nicholas Christoper: Book Review 

This is a Chimera of a book - Read on to understand what I mean

For me there are two kinds of fantasy books. The first kind is the book you read because its just a lot of fun. You know, there is a grand adventure, damsels in distress, knights and dragons and of course a big and exciting new world to explore. Big, in this type of novel, means epic on a grand scale.

The second type of fantasy book, for me, is the meaning of life type. This is the kind of book that is really big in a different way. You travel along with the main character in his or her quest to figure out the meaning of things. His is a strange world with strange creatures (very  Kafkaesque) and of course, he can never really figure any ultimate answers to the big questions (classic Kafka), he can only come up with his solutions. The real joy is in the questing. So big, in this type of novel, means big questions and a big search to answer them.

Upon first impression this book fits into neither one of these categories. Let me explain. It is a book about a man who develops an obsession with finding a book that may or may not exist. It’s called the Caravan Bestiary. It is said to be an encyclopedia of the beasts that were denied entry onto Noah’s Ark.

There are no massive battles and there is no grand search for the meaning of life. It is just one man trying to figure out something about himself. And well, when you stop to think about it, you have to admit that it really doesn’t get much bigger than that. When it comes down to it this is all we really can do; try to figure out our little place. So this book fits very well into my second category of fantasy.

And this obsession does get even bigger because it is wrapped in a deeper meaning.

The main character has a real love for the creatures of the earth both past, present, mythical or not. It adds a really nice dimension to this book. His quest becomes a “If I could just accomplish one little thing that really means something” quality.

And this reverence and love for the beasts of the earth makes a transition to you the reader. You start to really get a sense of the beauty of the creatures of the earth and you feel it.

While reading you are going to realize that this book itself creates a new entry into the Bestiary. It is a Chimera of sorts. The front of this new Chimera is a lamb and the back is a lion. - The lamb is a fun fantasy story about the chase for a mythical book. The Lion is the passion for the mystery and the beauty of all the creatures on this earth whether they be mythical or not.

It is an enjoyable and thought provoking book and I recommend you give it a try if you are looking for something more than just fantasy. And it comes with an extra little bonus. It has a glossary of Mythical creatures appended to it which is just wonderful.

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The Caravan Bestiary is not a real book, it is a creation of the authors mind so if you want to do some sleuthing you are going to be out of luck but here are some links and books you might find interesting.

LINKS

• Author’s Homepage: NicholasChristopher.com
• Pre-order the book at Amazon.com - The Bestiary
• Dave’s Mythical Creatures (website)

BOOKS

• The True Story of Noah’s Ark (with audio CD and pull-out spread)
• Treasury of Fantastic and Mythological Creatures: 1,087 Renderings from Historic Sources (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

Popularity: 11% [?]

One of the big problems with fantasy and epic fantasy is cookie cutter syndrome. If you read epic fantasy you know exactly what I mean. Take any hundred epic fantasy books, switch the names of the characters and the creatures and you can’t tell them apart. Write eight door-stoppers in a series and voila! you got yourself an epic fantasy main stream profit machine. You can almost hear Joseph Campbell and JRR clucking at the lack of real originality.

And this is something that I lament about often. But this rut is something we as readers, and me in particular, afflict on ourselves.  Yet it isn’t wholly true. There are some really wonderful  ”not so typical” fantasy books out there. And Curse of the Lyrestone is one of these books. Let me explain why.

I am a moderatey big guy. six foot two, two hundred plus pounds; martial artist and ex military. From that you can probably guess what kind of epic fantasy I read! Yup, for me, when a Dark lord rears his ugly head and wants to ruin a beautiful world I am reaching for my axe and heading straight for his lair. Gather up some brave men and let’s go! Battles along the way? Darn Right! And a lot of them! Battle scars? Bah! Mere flesh wounds!

Now this takes me to the book Curse of the Lyrestone and the story of Ainsley who is a ten year old she-elf. Her parents are killed and she is burdened with a piece of the lyrestone that is strapped to her wrist. The lyrestone drains all magic from an elf so it can be controlled and sold into slavery. And this is what happens to Ainsley; she is drained of her magic and sold into slavery. But this is only where the story begins.

Now, knowing what you know about me, and what I like, you can see why it took me several weeks to get around to giving this book a try. It just isn’t what I usually read.

But… once I started reading it I literally couldn’t put it down. It is downright remarkable. I found myself very much empathizing with Ainsley and her plight and this book turned into one of those books that I dreaded finishing. You know how that goes. As you get toward the end of a book that is just so good you start to slow down so you can savor it. You spread out the readings so you can remain in the remarkable world a bit longer.

I don’t know how the author (Susan Carpenter) did it but she cast a spell on me and I found myself oft glancing down at my wrist to see if maybe she had secretly attached a lyrestone to me!

The book is flawlessly written and has received the editors choice award from the publisher (iUniverse). If you are looking for some really great fantasy that is not so typical then I highly recommend you give this book a try. It is available at:

 Amazon.com Curse of the Lyrestone: A Kingdom of Zhavahn Novel

Or at the publisher iUniverse:Curse of the Lyrestone

Visit the authors book site at curseofthelyrestone.com

Popularity: 12% [?]