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Flesh and Spirit (Lighthouse #1)

by Carol Berg (Goodreads Author)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 1,364 ratings · 142 reviews

The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent years trying to escape the life ordained for him. His own mother predicted how he would meet his doom-and her divination is nearly fulfilled when he winds up half-dead, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure and possessing only a stolen book of maps.

Offered sanct...more

Paperback, 408 pages

Published May 1st 2007 by Roc Trade (first published January 2nd 2007)

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Mar 31, 2013 Jon added it

Recommended to Jon by: Janny Wurts

Shelves: fiction, fantasy, read-in-my-40s, starset-kingrise-poem, loved-it

4 stars.

Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book has been relocated to my blog and can be found in its entirety by following this link: http://bit.ly/XR43LP

Highly recommended for lovers of fantasy, adventure and apocalyptic fiction.

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Dec 18, 2012 Synesthesia rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is sort of a 3.5 I think. The author keeps making up weird words every few pages, but once you get into it Valen's story is interesting, and I feel a lot of sympathy over his desire for freedom and the ability to control his own fate.
Valen starts out as a magical drug addict and a bit of an opportunist hedonist, but when you realize what he's been through, you can't blame him. I wanted to take him out of the book and bake him some cookies, I felt so bad for him.

Oh, good. I added anot...more

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Mar 30, 2008 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Valen is a renegade socerer who's spent his whole life ignoring his past and heritage. He was born into a pureblood family of mapmakers, and his relationships with the members of his family have been bitter and violent. Pureblood families have magical talents; there are pureblood "bents" (abilities) for just about every skill imaginable, healing, music, divination...Valen's family are not only skilled mapmakers, but are able to track anyone or anything, and can detect routes and trails that no o...more Valen is a renegade socerer who's spent his whole life ignoring his past and heritage. He was born into a pureblood family of mapmakers, and his relationships with the members of his family have been bitter and violent. Pureblood families have magical talents; there are pureblood "bents" (abilities) for just about every skill imaginable, healing, music, divination...Valen's family are not only skilled mapmakers, but are able to track anyone or anything, and can detect routes and trails that no one else could ever find. Purebloods hold a uniquie niche in society; they are above clerics, civil servants, and the nobility, but yet spend their lives as bound servants. Purebloods contract themselves out, selling their abilities to the highest bidder. Not only would Valen have been confined to a life of servitude, but in order to preserve his family's bent and prevent contaminating his lines, he would have no choice about who he married, how many children he had, or any other aspect of his life. The Pureblood Registry would have mapped his entire life out for him, and Valen wanted none of it.

One winter, after being abandoned by his partner after he was injured robbing a mansion, he's found and taken in by a group of monks. Interestingly, one of the things Valen took from the mansion was a book of maps; the very same one his grandfather gave him years ago. Valen pawned it when he ran away, and finds it extremely odd to have found it again. The monks recognize the value of the book, and Valen realizes that it could be his ticket for a warm and well fed winter. They offer him sanctuary, which he accepts, of course. The only problem is, sanctuary is only good for two weeks, after which Valen must leave or take vows. Valen decides to take vows, although during the ceremony he surreptitiously changes the wording so that come spring he can run off (with the book, of course, so he can pawn or sell it again) without actually breaking them.

At first, Valen chafes under monastic life, but things in the monastary become very interesting when he accidentally stumbles onto a conspiracy, headed by the abbot, that involves forbidden magic, the Royal succession, and Valen's book of maps.

The Review:

I don't know about anyone else, but I've gotten pretty tired of saintly heroes, and Valen is anything but. He reminds me a bit of Seregil from Lynn Flewelling's Nighrunners, with his sardonic, irreverent attitude. But unlike Seregil, he doesn't serve some higher purpose, only his own ends. And, besides being a (likeable)rogue/theif/womanizer, Valen is also a drug addict. Ultimately, of course, his jaded, bitter nature starts to change, due to his eventual involvement in the conspiracy, but it's slow, believable change, not some about face, 180 degree turn from self serving to self sacrificing. And by the end of the book, I'd say the change still isn't really complete.

One final note: go ahead and get the sequel if you decide to get this. Believe me, I would have gone crazy if I couldn't have gone strait from book 1 to book 2--it has a cliff hanger ending. (less)

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Feb 14, 2011 Sandra aka Sleo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sandra aka Sleo by: Janny

Shelves: fantasy, ebook, favorites

This is the first Carol Berg book I've read and I am now a fan. The book was a little hard for me to get into, but it may have been a personal thing as I had just finished reading a terrible book that was poorly written and I was hesitant to plunge in again and be disappointed. The other part of my hesitation had to do with the strange terminology used, and the unfamiliar world I found myself in. Berg, however, weaves her world building into the story in such a subtle way that before long you fi...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

You know, I hate books which do this: just stop in the middle of the story. No conclusion, no climax, certainly no resolution.

Carol Berg gets better and better. This is a really well-written book, perhaps her best yet.

The main character is both compelling and flawed. Valen is almost human. You are dropped crashing into his world as disoriented as Valen and you thrash around trying to make sense of what's happening, stumbling from one crisis to another. Who do you trust? Who do you follow? Who i...more

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May 25, 2007 Danielle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-lesson-in-sexism, scifi-fantasy

I'm very disappointed with this book; the first time ever I've been disappointed with a Carol Berg book. Flesh and Spirit is filled with sexist references to women, and very, very few female characters. The female characters involved are either 2-dimensional recepticles for male lust, or petty and vindictive. It's extremely hard to truly empathize with a male character who expresses himself in words such as "faster than a whore can raise her dress." I found myself feeling not just insulted on a...more

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Jun 24, 2008 Izlinda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

One of the hardest books to get through. At least the first half. It was incredibly slow, plodding... It's a narrative from a racondeur, a person who flees their pureblood lifestyle, which is a double crime to the King and God. So the reader's plonked down in this world where there is some magic, lots of political intrigue and a really complicated world to get used to.

It's kind of sad only halfway through the book the action picks up and there is more characters added instead of lots of descrip...more

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Apr 09, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 2008

Valen is a recondeur, a spell-casting Pureblood with the bent for maps, paths, trails and directions who escaped his family and the Registry to live a free life. For twelve years he has done as he pleased, living precariously and not always honestly, a slave to the nivat seeds that ease the sickness in him. Now twenty-seven, Valen - a thief, drug addict, liar, womaniser, and untrustworthy coward even - literally can't read, and is unschooled in his magic because of his rebellious childhood. The...more Valen is a recondeur, a spell-casting Pureblood with the bent for maps, paths, trails and directions who escaped his family and the Registry to live a free life. For twelve years he has done as he pleased, living precariously and not always honestly, a slave to the nivat seeds that ease the sickness in him. Now twenty-seven, Valen - a thief, drug addict, liar, womaniser, and untrustworthy coward even - literally can't read, and is unschooled in his magic because of his rebellious childhood. The harsh treatment of his father and siblings didn't help form his character.

Abandoned by his comrade Boreus and left greviously wounded near an abbey, Valen takes the sanctuary the Abbot offers, as well as the food and dry clothes, and spins his lies to avoid detection. If found out, his own punishment will be dire, and anyone found guilty of aiding and abetting him would be executed.

He brings with him to the Abbey his grandfather's spelled book of maps, which the Abbot takes an unusual interest in. Caught in his web of lies, Valen is soon caught up in intrigue, politics and mystery but wants nothing to do with any of it. Still, he can't resist trying to unravel the secrets kept by the Cabal, and his first sighting of a Dane - one of the Danae, spirits of earth and trees, plants, rivers, lakes and mountains - affects him deeply. The monks of the abbey talk of the world's end, and as the dead King's three sons fight over the land, and the mad Harrowers burn fields and people alike, slowly Valen starts to believe in it himself.

---------------------------------

The story is narrated in the first person by Valen, which is not usual in a fantasy book - I think because it's harder to introduce a reader to an unfamiliar world when the narrator has no reason to lay down exposition and explanations where necessary. Yet because of Valen's pondering nature, Berg manages to weave in exposition etc. smoothly. The first half of the book is a bit slow, but then it picks up and gets really interesting. The plot is quite complex, the details numerous and easy to miss, so it took me a while to read. Valen is a great character: flawed, at times cowardly, yet perhaps because he's the Black Sheep and we share his thoughts and understand his fears, he's charismatic and attractive to me.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this novel is its build-up to an apocalypse that mirrors (figuratively at least) what's happening in our own world today: the land is dying, ravaged, rotting, while people go about their worldly desires and ambitions with no concern for the impact of their actions. The Harrowers are mad, making no sense as they wilfully destroy in the name of purifying - this, too, is scarily familiar. Their attraction to the lower classes, while the rich people give priceless offerings to the temples in hopes of appeasing the gods, is totally understandable. I loved the focus on the land, on the pulse of the earth and the Danae who feel betrayed and now hate humans, and it was interesting to read a pre-apocalyptic fantasy novel that wasn't centred around some powerful, corrupt magic-wielder who must be stopped: it is not one man or woman, but all men and women, who are causing ruination.

What is less understandable, and what made me struggle through the first half more so than the second, are Valen's descriptions of places, scenery and even events. I was often confused, unable to clearly picture what was going on, and in the end had to stop trying. So I have a lot of vague, unformed pictures in my head when I think on certain scenes.

It's hard to say more without giving things away, so I'll just say, for those who have read it, that the ending made me as angry and frustrated as Valen felt, and I felt sick at the thought of the precious book in the wrong hands, especially considering who Valen spelled it to reveal its secrets to.(less)

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Apr 20, 2010 Libby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-epic-and-series, read-in-2010

4.5 really - I’m waiting to finish my review until I read the second book since they are a duology. I want to be able to consider the work as a whole. However, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Well-written with great characters – I really connected with her characters on many levels. Also, Berg does not hold back in plot / character twists. It was enjoyable and painful at the same time. I don’t want to give anything away but I was pretty shocked at the end of this first book. Look...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Jaya rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: yes

Recommended to Jaya by: had previously read this author

Shelves: good, series, slashreaders

I slowly read this book over the past month and a bit. I would've read it much faster but real life happened. Carol Berg, is one of those authors that I have a hard time getting into but once I'm there... I can't put down and I've never quite figured out why.

I didn't have some of the same complaints with this book as I had with the last Berg series that I read. This one kept up its fast pace and didn't dilly dally around as much. At least not for me I think there is opportunity for some to argue...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Fran Jacobs rated it 5 of 5 stars

Valen is on the run. He has been for 12 years, avoiding his cruel and oppresive family and the life they, and the pure blood registry to whom he basically belongs because he happens to have been born pure blood, haved dictated for him. At the start of the book he is wounded, taken in by a monastry that happens to be nearby and then everything snowballs. He finds himself caught between the dead king's three sons, his family, the men of the monastry and their mysterious lighthouse, the harrowers w...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Uriah added it · review of another edition

The story of Magnus Valentia Cartamandua-Celestine begins so horrifically slow I almost threw it away. Then he begins recalling events between his dry, lengthy observations of the abbey in which he has taken refuge, and I stayed my hand, for which I am grateful. Sometime around page 150 or so, everything begins to fall into place and the story begins.

The bland, slow beginning is not the only fault in this book. The Narrator, Valen, seems to have Attention Deficit Disorder, for, even at the heigh...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Jo Anne B rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this adventurous tale. It had an awesome main character, Valen, plenty of action, mystery, wars, royalty, fantasy, and magic. Valen was the rebellious bad guy who was really a good guy. He tried to flee his family’s hold (the Pureblood Registry) and exert free will but he eventually has to come to terms with who he is and his destiny. He was endearing, humorous, and a hero that we can relate to because he is not a saint and he does have flaws. He does undergo a change in this bo...more I really enjoyed this adventurous tale. It had an awesome main character, Valen, plenty of action, mystery, wars, royalty, fantasy, and magic. Valen was the rebellious bad guy who was really a good guy. He tried to flee his family’s hold (the Pureblood Registry) and exert free will but he eventually has to come to terms with who he is and his destiny. He was endearing, humorous, and a hero that we can relate to because he is not a saint and he does have flaws. He does undergo a change in this book, one of selfishness to one of self-sacrifice. I couldn’t help feeling as if this book was meant for a 12 year old boy to read. The writing was above young adult but it was very PG rated, but then again most of the story takes place in a monastery where an injured Valen seeks refuge. But as Valen himself points out:

“This place seemed to nurture mysteries, lighthouses, savage murders, an intelligent abbot who welcomed vagabonds like me, and a spirit in the cloister garth who did not. Though abbots might be required to heed the winds of politics, their flocks of holy brothers sat outside of the stream of time and events, wrapped up in scholarship that spanned centuries and prayer and contemplation that spanned the boundaries of earth and heaven. So why, all of a sudden, did I feel as if I were being rushed down a dark alley by a gang of smiling jacklegs who would pick my pockets and plant a shiv in my spleen before dawn?”

There were hints of sex, romance, and violence but no details to offend anyone. I would have preferred there to have been more of those things but it made for an innocent, whole some tale.

The story is told by Valen and we get to hear his inner thoughts. I think this helped us form such a close bond to him throughout this story. You were rooting for him the whole time. Of course he had secrets that get revealed little by little. He is a “pureblood” who is pretty much coerced into demonstrating his knowledge of using Cartamandua maps (unbeknownst for most of the time that his own grandfather created them). He was cursed with the inability to read or write like typical cartographer’s such as his siblings, but he was taught from an early age how to decipher the symbols, shapes and colors on the map. Pureblood cartographers could use their bent (magic) to discover the locations of the hidden Danae, the protectors of the earth. The Danae have withdrawn from humankind, so the search is on to find them in order to save the future of humans on earth. There are plenty of conspiracies that Valen gets pulled into and he is forced to set things right.

There were many interesting characters in this book, most of them from the monastery. It was hard to tell which of them were good guys and who wasn’t. Valen did the best he could trying to keep his secrets hidden in the midst of all the others’ secrets as well. I liked the camaraderie Valen had with some of the Brothers including Brother Jullian and the bad guys were definitely mean bastards.

This book didn’t really have an ending because it left off in the middle of quite a bit of action where the second book picks up from. I very much look forward to reading what is in store for our Valen.
(less)

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Dec 30, 2010 Karissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Flesh and Spirit is the first book in the LIghthouse Duet by Carol Berg. Previous to this book I had read Rai-Kirah series by Carol Berg. I liked that series initially, although I wasn't completely pleased with the final book in the series. Still when I saw this new series I was intrigued. The art-work on the front of the book helped too, it is beautifully done :-)

This book starts with Valen being robbed by his traveling companion and left to die in the road in the freezing cold. Valen drags him...more Flesh and Spirit is the first book in the LIghthouse Duet by Carol Berg. Previous to this book I had read Rai-Kirah series by Carol Berg. I liked that series initially, although I wasn't completely pleased with the final book in the series. Still when I saw this new series I was intrigued. The art-work on the front of the book helped too, it is beautifully done :-)

This book starts with Valen being robbed by his traveling companion and left to die in the road in the freezing cold. Valen drags himself towards a monastery where he is sighted by a monk that serves as the monastery's lookout. The monks nurse Valen back to health and wish for him to take vows to become an initiate there. As time progresses Valen begins to wonder if more is taking place at this monastery than simple worship and charity. During his recovery the land of Navronne continues to be torn apart as the three sons of the dead king who fight for ruler-ship. Valen has his own secrets though, and as the monks place more and more trust in him, his secrets come back for a visit dragging him into even more dire circumstances.

The writing of this book itself is well done. The pacing of the book is horrible. One review on the book states that "Berg describes the difficult dirty work of ordinary live as beatifully as she conveys...." This is very true. The first 200-250 pages of the book go through Valen's day to day life at the monastery in slow, mind-numbing detail. Interesting facts about Valen and the monastery itself are very very slowly revealed. At times I felt like I was having to painstackingly pull facts of interest from this book, akin to pulling teeth. I had a hard time getting through the first part of this book. I told myself that, since I already owned the 2nd book in this duet, I would read at least the first 150 pages before giving up. Luckily there were enough interesting mysteries to pique my curiousity and hold me for another 50 pages or so.

Around page 300 in the book, the pacing picks up dramatically. Things happen crazily and rapidly, non-stop action from page to page. After the deliberate beginning, the rapid descent into darkness that the remainder of the book takes is almost shocking. As the book draws to a close, you realize that suddenly the book is over and nothing is resolved. Making this a very poor stand alone book. The book literally ends in the middle of things; leaving you hanging with no satisfaction gained from struggling through it.

In summary I thought the pacing was poor, the beginning grueling the get through, and the ending unsatisfying. This is not a nice book, the book is dark in detail and had a thick sense of hopelessness about it. Definitely not a book to lift your spirits. Still the mystery involved and Valen as a character are enough to make me want to read the 2nd book.

If you decide to read this book, buy the 2nd one at the same time because this is not a self-contained book.(less)

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Jun 19, 2010 Starfire rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked this one up because several people I know whose judgement I trust had read it and enjoyed it, but I think it's fair to say it's not really a "me-book".

The world is interesting and richly imagined, but it's also severely depressing. It's a broken world that was once beautiful, but has now been torn apart by war, famine and pestilence... and the main character, Valen, is somewhat similarly broken (and on that note, it took half the book for me to get the B5 references out of my system eve...more

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orannia It's interesting that what didn't work for you in this book, and with the main character, worked for me. I much prefer (and can relate to) broken char...more
Jun 20, 2010 01:19pm

Starfire orannia wrote: "It's interesting that what didn't work for you in this book, and with the main character, worked for me. I much prefer (and can relate...more
Jun 20, 2010 02:53pm

Nov 07, 2009 Andreea rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fantasy lovers

Shelves: 11th-grade, reviewed

One of my favorite Barnes and Noble rituals is walking up and down random aisles and picking up any book that sounds interesting. I often sit down with five books at once to skim. Usually, once I get through a chapter or two (or the first few lines even) I have put it back. But once in a blue moon, I pick up a book so amazing and powerful I wonder how I made it through my life so far without raeding it. Cal Leandros was one of these books. This book and its sequal are two others.

I picked up the...more One of my favorite Barnes and Noble rituals is walking up and down random aisles and picking up any book that sounds interesting. I often sit down with five books at once to skim. Usually, once I get through a chapter or two (or the first few lines even) I have put it back. But once in a blue moon, I pick up a book so amazing and powerful I wonder how I made it through my life so far without raeding it. Cal Leandros was one of these books. This book and its sequal are two others.

I picked up the second book one day (the first book wasn't on the shelf) and read through the first four chapters. I then put the book back, thought about the characters for a week and hunted libraries and bookstores until I finally got my hand on this book. I don't think I've ever read any book with a writing style as unique as this. The sentences are long and rich, but at the same time easy to understand. Sometimes there's so much information in one sentence that I have to read it over beacause it's just so beautiful and understandable. Such sentences should be impossible but they're not. The language is creative and diverse, and as mystical as the book itself it.

The characters usually make or break the book for me. In the first chapters of the second book, I was so completely fascinated by a particular character, that I turned every page in the first book with a missed heatbeat, waiting for him to show up. He didn't though, until the last few pages of this first book. By then he'd been mentioned so often that he was so real to me that I was actually just as terrified of meeting him as the main character was.

So many things happen in this book and they're all so amazing that I hardly know where to start describing. Valen is a runaway rebel pureblood, who is betrayed in the first pages of the book by a comrade. Coincidentally (or not, as we find out later), he is found by monks from a nearby monastary, as he lies in the mud with a book of odd maps, and addicted to a spell that turns pain to pleasure. Even the secrets of the mysterious monastary cannot disrupt the peace that Valen finds there, until his lies catch up to him.

After finishing this book and finally picking up the second one, whose writing I went gaga over, I decided I would read everything Carol Berg had written. I intend to honor that decision.(less)

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Feb 05, 2011 Carlotta rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fantasy

Quick Word:I adored Carol Berg’s previous novels and I have devoured every one. Yet, I spent a month attempting to read this one. The characterization and world building was decent, even solid. Yet my pleasure in a good novel must come from either brilliant plotting or enjoyable characterization. Valen was miserable to read about; he was a survivor (I’ll give him that) but he was also a compulsive liar, a drug addict, and lacking morals. There was a certain sense of… hopelessness… in his situati...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Eden Colenca rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took me awhile to get into this one but once I did, wow, was I hooked. I was not at all familiar with Berg's work prior to reading the first book in her Collegia Magica series, which I liked a lot. So while waiting for the second one to come out, I found these. Like all of Berg's stuff I have encountered thus far, the characters are incredible. I have never encountered a character like Valen, who is so unrepentant in his self-centered quest to look out for #1, and yet so engaging he's actuall...more

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Sep 09, 2010 MissM rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2010

I hate stories where the author plops you right into the middle of a world with made up words, made up religion, made up city/region/states?? and made up political issues that you have NO CLUE about whatsoever and just expects you to read along merrily without any idea about any of it.

Seriously, how about a map? Or a glossary if you insist on making up words. Or hell, how about a little backstory and explain things a tiny smidge. I'm like 100 pages in and I only have the vaguest concept about th...more

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Apr 09, 2010 Tess rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This is a very interesting fantasy world and Valen is a protagonist I connected with. I was a little bored with the plot line until about half-way through where there's a big reveal, but for the most part the story carries along at a steady pace. I didn't at first think I'd want to finish the series, but after we meet Valen's sister I decided I definitely am going to read the second, and last, book in this duet!

Now for the problems: It's a book about a man who can sense places and has a magic bo...more

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May 30, 2009 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm still adrift in the hypnotic air of this novel. I have never (hyperbole, surely) been so entertained and drawn through a novel by its twists, both of plot and character. I am entranced. I picked this novel up in my favorite used bookstore in Goleta the last time I was in town and I carried it with me all over California, across the States in a car to New York and across the Atlantic in a plane to Berlin and then Madrid and half-way back around the world to Mexico, to my home in Oaxaca before...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

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Sep 22, 2009 Patrick Burgess rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Old-fashioned Prose, Interesting Twists...

Honestly, I almost didn't make it past the first 50 or so pages. The prose is a bit long-winded and old-fashioned (think Lord of the Rings) which requires a little bit of mental reshuffling (people just don't think, speak, or write that way anymore; I mean, we've degenerated to the point where acronyms take the place of actual words - OMG). But there are glimmers, in the beginning, of something truly interesting and fantastical to come. It just takes a l...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Mar 29, 2011 Cherry Mischievous rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fromlibrary, favourites, i-ve-read, willreadthisauthoragain, alltimefavorites

I picked up this book because I've read this author's work before and she has one of the most compelling, colorful and wonderful "voice" I've ever encountered. She has a way of stringing words together which paints a vivid world in my head and seemingly makes the world of Valen come to life in technicolor for me. Character development is so good that I feel for Valen. Such that I got depressed during that really low moment in Valen's lowly existence about two thirds into the book. However this b...more

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May 25, 2012 Stuart rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Liz Katz, Mike Yacullo

Shelves: fantasy

Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg. I enjoyed this, but only after persevering through the first third of the book. Carol Berg has created an excellent world, where three sons of a dead king are vying for the empty throne. Each son has his bad points – in fact they seem to have no good points. One of the sons has allied himself with a cult called the “Harrowers, whose aim is to bring everything down to dirt and allow the world to start again. To this end they want to destroy any organization of any...more Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg. I enjoyed this, but only after persevering through the first third of the book. Carol Berg has created an excellent world, where three sons of a dead king are vying for the empty throne. Each son has his bad points – in fact they seem to have no good points. One of the sons has allied himself with a cult called the “Harrowers, whose aim is to bring everything down to dirt and allow the world to start again. To this end they want to destroy any organization of any kind including towns, farms, nobles and religions. A cult that carries the seeds of its own destruction, you would argue. Into this environment we are introduced to our “hero”, Valen, who has eschewed his in-born magical talents to live as an ordinary person, and thus become caught up in the wars. At the beginning of the book, he is being left for dead by his erstwhile comrade-in-arms, who is robbing him of all his hard earned loot. However, as it’s a first-person story, he does not actually succumb. He is in sight of a monastery, and the friendly monks bring him back to health, being interested in his last remaining possession, a book of maps created by his mad grandfather. It turns out that Valen has been uniquely trained to be a user of these maps, which no-one else can read.
The reason I had so much trouble getting into what is actually a great story is that the details of the environment are piled on top of each other and are confusing until you have got used to them. The three royal claimants are confusing, the terminology of distance is confusing and the very clothes people wear are new words. About a third of the way through, I seemed to settle down and join the world, just as a parallel world of spirits is introduced. And thus all the components are in place for a great book, then as the action gets going in earnest, it stops! I know it’s got a sequel, but why does there have to be no resolution at the end of part 1? GRRRRR! At least the other part(s) are available.
It is good, and I recommend it, but persevere through the first third.

Footnote: Having now read the second part of the pair, the two are well worth reading. As it says in the story, teneamus - persevere - it is well worth it.
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Aug 19, 2010 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, read-2010

This was a difficult book to make it through for me. I kept looking around the corner expecting to find something that just was never there. That being said, I never did stop and I was glad that I saw it through. I found it tough to bond or identify with the protagonist Valen as he is such a broken fictional character. I found the prose to be beautiful, Melanie Rawn comes to my mind as I read through this first novel, only here the politics are that of the monks and pure bloods, not that of King...more

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Jan 24, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Carol Berg has taken fairly standard elements of the fantasy genre (magic, medieval setting, otherworldly powers, battles for the throne) and has made an above-average novel out of them. She does a good job of depicting Valen's growing maturity and her world with its different religious systems is intriguing. Unfortunately, minor characters tend to be a bit interchangeable, and after a while I wished I had a map of Navronne (ironic, considering that Valen comes from a family of mapmakers) and ma...more

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Mar 06, 2010 Feliz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, favourites, comfort-reads

The two bookes "breath and bone" and "flesh and spirit" can't very well be revised separately since they're actually one single REAL long novel. But, nevertheless:
In a world that is faintly reminiscent of a mix of 14th/15th century Europe (France in particular)and the roman empire, there are purebood sorcerers and ordinary people.
Purebloods, although each gifted with particular bends for certain kinds of magic and considered very powerful, are very restraint in their personal life. They can ma...more The two bookes "breath and bone" and "flesh and spirit" can't very well be revised separately since they're actually one single REAL long novel. But, nevertheless:
In a world that is faintly reminiscent of a mix of 14th/15th century Europe (France in particular)and the roman empire, there are purebood sorcerers and ordinary people.
Purebloods, although each gifted with particular bends for certain kinds of magic and considered very powerful, are very restraint in their personal life. They can marry only within their class and only someone their parents choose. They are literally sold to employers without a say in what the employer will ask from them. They are living in a golden cage.
Valen Cartamandua is a recondeur, a pureblood who escaped his family's confinements. By keeping his head down, he managed to stay free for twelve years during which the world he lives in fell more and more apart. When the old king died, his three sons started a succesion war that tears the land apart. Valen, wounded in a battle, seeks shelter in a monastery where he decides to hide. As a means to do so, he pretends he wants to become a monk. But he can't hide from his destiny forever.

This book sucked me in immediately. The world is so fantastically detailed you can almost believe it existed somehow, somewhere. The use of magic, the approach to it is fresh and new. once again, Berg created a fascinating, unique species besides humans and sorcerers that peoples the world.
There are some minor niggles o the stoy, of course. For one, it's typical Berg in the fact that the biggest villain turns out to be the diametral opposite and there are a few other stereotypes. Also very typical for Berg, the woman the hero constantly fights with becomes his mate. But, honestly, who cares? Among Berg's masterful storytelling, wild imagination and delicious use of language, a few little cheats don't carry any weight.
An enthralling story, recommended for anyone who wants or needs thoroughly escape reality.(less)

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Feb 09, 2009 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I find it incredibly ironic that in a book where maps play such a large role, the book itself does not actually have any maps on the world where the story takes place. Would it be too much to ask to catch a glimpse of the famous maps that are featured in the book? In spite of this, the book itself is phenomenal - impossible to put down. Plenty of action, magic, intrigue, and surprising revelations. The main character, Valen, is a great unwilling and unwitting hero, caught up in events that he co...more

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About Carol Berg

Carol Berg is the author of the epic fantasy
The Books of the Rai-kirah, The Bridge of D'Arnath Quartet, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winning Lighthouse Duet - Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone - the standalone novel Song of the Beast , and the three novels of the Collegia Magica.

Berg holds a degree in mathematics from Rice University, and a degree in computer science from the University of Col...more

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Son of Avonar (The Bridge of D'Arnath, #1)

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“On my seventh birthday, my father swore, for the first of many times, that I would die facedown in a cesspool. On that same occasion, my mother, with all the accompanying mystery and elevated language appropriate for a prominent diviner, turned her cards, screamed delicately, and proclaimed that my doom was written in water and blood and ice. As for me, from about that time and for twenty years since, I had spat on my middle finger and slapped the rump of every aingerou I noticed, murmuring the sincerest, devoutest prayer that I might prove my parents' predictions wrong. Not so much that I feared the doom itself - doom is just the hind end of living, after all - but to see the two who birthed me confounded.” — 5 people liked it

“Loyalty never put blood back in a man's veins.” — 1 person liked it

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