Black Sun Rising (The Coldfire Trilogy, Book 1)
by C.S. Friedmanpublished
September 6th 2005
(first published 1992)
by DAW Trade
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binding
Paperback, 496 pages
isbn
0756403146
(isbn13: 9780756403140)
description
The Coldfire trilogy tells a story of discovery and battle against evil on a planet where a force of nature exists that is capable of reshaping the wo...more
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Read in July, 2008
I finally made it to the end of this awful book, mostly by skipping about eighty pages in the latter half (figured out what I'd missed within five repetitive pages, and no need to slog through) and then skimming the rest.
All in all, this writer had a good idea, some fun character interplay potential and NO EDITING. As in, where was her EDITOR??? This could have been trimmed to less than half its dense, repetitive mass with such greater impact. Apparently this is part one of a trilogy -- t...more
All in all, this writer had a good idea, some fun character interplay potential and NO EDITING. As in, where was her EDITOR??? This could have been trimmed to less than half its dense, repetitive mass with such greater impact. Apparently this is part one of a trilogy -- t...more
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Read in August, 2007
I found the fantasy world that was created here to be very interesting, and the author certainly does like her anti-heroes, based on this book and the one other I've read by her so far. However, I felt that the backstory and some of the characters could have used more filling out. We've barely been introduced to our main characters when suddenly they are thrust into their Designated Quest, supposedly in part because of the deep feelings two of the characters apparently formed for each other vi...more
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Read in March, 2007
I'm not really sure what I didn't like about this book. The setting was amazing, the plot was interesting, the characters were... well, they weren't horrible, but I've read better. And that, I think, is where it lost me. I liked the characters well enough, but their problems didn't engage me. I wasn't particularly upset when one of the characters died, I wasn't particularly glad when they resolved some of their issues, and I wasn't particularly interested to find out what happened to them in...more
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Read in January, 2002
I rad this title in my time in the city. It covers the subsequent generations of a massive colonization effort by man. The world they came to however was home to a strange force that reacted in peculiar ways to the presence of the human mind. The result was that human fears became real, and human thought became influential upon the landscape. Two large changes came of this - doubt, or even the thought of doubt can cause advanced technology to fail is one of the more prominent. The second was tha...more
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Read in March, 2008
12000 years ago, a planet near the core of the galaxy was colonized by humans. Unfortunately, the planet exuded a force called fae that was capable of turning the settler's thoughts and nightmares into real life flesh and blood creatures. In order to gain some control over the fae, a sacrifice was required. The settlers agreed to sacrifice their most precious objects, all their technology.
12000 years later, the humans have eked out a small existence on the planet using no/little modern techn...more
12000 years later, the humans have eked out a small existence on the planet using no/little modern techn...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
SiFi - Fantasy readers
Twelve centuries ago the planet Erna was colonized by mankind what was a big mistake as it turned out later. First the colonists didn´t know about the many earth-quakes and the "fae", an energy which materializes human emotions to demons. The starship was destroyed as were all technical ressources and the descendants of survivors are living now in a world similar the middle-ages. Some people learned to manipulate the fae (the socerers) some special people know how to use the fae from ...more
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This series of books is the scifi/fantasy equivalent of Cheetos - cheesy and puffy and probably not very good for you - but I liked it.
Planetary colonists find that the neighborhood has a nasty streak in the form of a quasi-magical, nocturnal miasma called the fae that messes with their technology and literally scares them to death. Over the next few millenia, some people figure out how to manipulate it, but they're outcasts since the local church's hard line is that it's sinful to mess wit...more
Planetary colonists find that the neighborhood has a nasty streak in the form of a quasi-magical, nocturnal miasma called the fae that messes with their technology and literally scares them to death. Over the next few millenia, some people figure out how to manipulate it, but they're outcasts since the local church's hard line is that it's sinful to mess wit...more
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recommended to Tiffany by:
Todd Hendricks
recommends it for: anyone who likes fantasy
recommends it for: anyone who likes fantasy
The first book of the Coldfire Trilogy introduces the reader to the protaganist, Damian Kilcannon Vryce, who is a sort of Paladin, a holy warrior on the planet Erna. The planet is shaped by mysterious forces called The Fae, which can spawn demonic creatures and influence the environment. Damian is forced to team up with an unlikely companion- the evil Gerald Tarrant, and a native female- Hesseth- in order to save Erna from certain doom.
This was among the first fantasy books that I had ever...more
This was among the first fantasy books that I had ever...more
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This is by far the best series I have ever read. From the start I was a little mixed about the idea of mixing Sci-Fi with my fantasy -although they are my two favorite genre’s and Sci-Fi usually has fantasy mixed in I prefer it to be a one way street.
By the time Damian was in town and the Hunter was introduced I was completely convinced this lady has skills. I enjoyed everything from the basic background elements and the implied and actual politics, down to the actual physics of the magic....more
By the time Damian was in town and the Hunter was introduced I was completely convinced this lady has skills. I enjoyed everything from the basic background elements and the implied and actual politics, down to the actual physics of the magic....more
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This is by far the best series I have ever read. From the start I was a little mixed about the idea of mixing Sci-Fi with my fantasy -although they are my two favorite genre’s and Sci-Fi usually has fantasy mixed in I prefer it to be a one way street.
By the time Damian was in town and the Hunter was introduced I was completely convinced this lady has skills. I enjoyed everything from the basic background elements and the implied and actual politics, down to the actual physics of the magic....more
By the time Damian was in town and the Hunter was introduced I was completely convinced this lady has skills. I enjoyed everything from the basic background elements and the implied and actual politics, down to the actual physics of the magic....more
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Read in April, 2005
recommends it for:
scifi/fantasy fans
i first picked this book up in high school, randomly at the library. i couldn't put it down. i read it cover to cover, then again my senior year when i had discovered the other two parts of the series. a great book about an amazing world with engaging characters and everything fantasy readers love.
its a weird world where technology backfired so people are forced to ride horses and use swords and crossbows again, and magic is everywhere, but only certain people can manipulate it, and many of...more
its a weird world where technology backfired so people are forced to ride horses and use swords and crossbows again, and magic is everywhere, but only certain people can manipulate it, and many of...more
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recommends it for:
fantasy readers looking for something a bit different, but well written
I've read this book in its entirety twice. I will probably read it in its entirety again before reading the other two in the trilogy.
I haven't read the other two in the trilogy because this book was SO good, I'm afraid of a letdown. Seriously. I'm sure it's a matter of what I like as opposed to what other people like, so I'm not going to say that everyone should read this book, or that everyone's going to like this book, but it's definitely one of my favorites.
The characters are all...more
I haven't read the other two in the trilogy because this book was SO good, I'm afraid of a letdown. Seriously. I'm sure it's a matter of what I like as opposed to what other people like, so I'm not going to say that everyone should read this book, or that everyone's going to like this book, but it's definitely one of my favorites.
The characters are all...more
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recommends it for:
Fantasy fans
Loved this book due mostly to the characters. I wanted to see what became of them. I also really liked the idea of what happens thousands of years after humanity makes it to another planet.
The way the past figures into the future is also very interesting, because at first, other than learning that these human beings came from us, you wonder why we need to know that information.
Friedman somehow makes Gerald Tarrant who by all accounts is an evil person so likable that I ended up rooting f...more
The way the past figures into the future is also very interesting, because at first, other than learning that these human beings came from us, you wonder why we need to know that information.
Friedman somehow makes Gerald Tarrant who by all accounts is an evil person so likable that I ended up rooting f...more
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I love this series. This first book in particular is my favorite. I must have read it 20 times over the past several years. It's kind of like Tad Williams without all the Tolkienesque, rambling descriptions and a little less formal in style and approach.
I recommend it if you enjoy the whole organized religion vs. individual ideology thread, in particular. But whatever: it's a great book. If you don't read the trilogy (they're pretty long reads), this one is strong alone.
The rest o...more
I recommend it if you enjoy the whole organized religion vs. individual ideology thread, in particular. But whatever: it's a great book. If you don't read the trilogy (they're pretty long reads), this one is strong alone.
The rest o...more
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I'll be honest. I usually don't like women authors, call me chauvinist, call me sexist, I don't care. The fact is I hardly ever feel like the Male characters portrayed are worth reading about for a number of reasons. I find I can't identify with them. Its the Uncanny Valley, close but not close enough.
That being said, I found this series to be quite fulfilling, and very well written. She is a decent author who manages to find a way to describe her rather unique protaganist (while not co...more
That being said, I found this series to be quite fulfilling, and very well written. She is a decent author who manages to find a way to describe her rather unique protaganist (while not co...more
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This series is one of the rare "original ideas" in science fiction/fantasy. If you want to know what I mean, you should check it out, because it's too complex to describe here.
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Read in November, 2007
When fantasy and science-fiction meet, you get the Coldfire Trilogy. This first book might have stood alone except for a paragraph or two in the last chapter. Yeah, there were loose ends, but aren't there always. So the story might have ended except for those couple of paragraphs, but isn't it grand that they didn't.
Anyway, the story really picks up the concept of the dark hero. One of the main characters, the primary antagonist I would say, has pretty much 'sold his soul to the devil'. He is ...more
Anyway, the story really picks up the concept of the dark hero. One of the main characters, the primary antagonist I would say, has pretty much 'sold his soul to the devil'. He is ...more
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Read in August, 2008
I read this novel once in high school. I decided to read it again because of the good memories I had of it. I enjoyed reading it; it definately pulled me in and consumed me (I read it in about 4 days). However, I just didn't feel motivated to continue to the read the next novels in the trilogy. I was left feeling like I had enough. There were times when I was slightly put-off by the writing style of the author. At times it was a little repetitive and overwhelming. Even still I greatly enj...more
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Read in October, 2007
Celia Friedman has created an amazing world with a different take on the mixing fantasy with science-fiction angle and it works really well.
My first thoughts when starting reading it were of the movie Forbidden Planet and its "monsters of the id" but it's much more than that. After 1200 years marooned on a planet with natural forces that feed of of dreams and thoughts to create real nightmares, the surviving society i...more
My first thoughts when starting reading it were of the movie Forbidden Planet and its "monsters of the id" but it's much more than that. After 1200 years marooned on a planet with natural forces that feed of of dreams and thoughts to create real nightmares, the surviving society i...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
A good read for the winter months. Friedman paints a dark landscape with this gothic tale of Priests and Vampires. At one point I was going to give this book a four, however the magic was too Avatar (Earth, Air, Fire, Water). There were also to many coincidences and the phrase "there is no other alternative" appears every other chapter. Although there are alot of one liners in this novel, I am leaning toward reading the rest of the Coldfire Trilogy. However given the choice among femal...more
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