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Lamentation (The Psalms of Isaak #1)

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 · rating details · 1,470 ratings · 211 reviews

An ancient weapon has completelydestroyed the city of Windwir. From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising. He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands.

Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city – he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he wa...more

Paperback, 432 pages

Published September 1st 2009 by Tor Fantasy (first published February 17th 2009)

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Jul 15, 2011 Terence rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Insomniacs?

Shelves: sf-fantasy

A deeply heartfelt "meh."

I started reading this Easter Day (2011) because I had finished The Mammoth Cheese - two thumbs up! waaaay up! - and wanted to mentally vegetate for a bit.

There's nothing particularly memorable about Ken Scholes' debut novel nor anything particularly awful about it. It's just another title among the myriad that crowd the SF/Fantasy shelves at any bookstore.

As with any book, there's almost certainly an audience out there to whom Lamentation speaks or for whom a character...more

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May 29, 2013 Zachary Jernigan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the more surprisingly uninteresting modern works of modern fantasy I've read. I was disappointed for many reasons, but the writing of the one female character alone was enough to make me see a little red. (I mean, seriously? Her breasts jiggle as she fights? And she -- apparently a badass, hardened spy/fighter -- falls in love with a man in the space of a few chapters? Oh, that is the case, then? Okay.)

Obviously, this book appealed to a great many readers -- it even has a blurb from David...more

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May 10, 2013 Matt Brady rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Many thousands of years into the future, on an Earth scarred and fractured by multiple apocalypses, stands Windwir, greatest city of the Named Lands. Home to a powerful order of scholar-priests, Windwir gathers knowledge of the old world destroyed two millennia ago according the precepts of their mythological founder. But when Windwir itself is destroyed in a matter of minutes, the light of knowledge threatens to gutter, and all of the Named Lands, a civilisation built from the ruins of near-ext...more Many thousands of years into the future, on an Earth scarred and fractured by multiple apocalypses, stands Windwir, greatest city of the Named Lands. Home to a powerful order of scholar-priests, Windwir gathers knowledge of the old world destroyed two millennia ago according the precepts of their mythological founder. But when Windwir itself is destroyed in a matter of minutes, the light of knowledge threatens to gutter, and all of the Named Lands, a civilisation built from the ruins of near-extinction, are dragged into war.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with Lamentation at all. I can’t say it’s a bad book, and it certainly has it’s virtues. The plot rockets along at a really fast pace, and the world is somewhat intriguing. The magic(k) system is cool. The writing is very clear and easy to understand, something a lot of fantasy often struggles with. There’s plenty of action. But it all feels a little too simple. There isn’t any depth here, not with the characters, not with the setting, not with anything. Scholes typically delivers the information he wants the reader to know – this character is smart, that one is evil, this battle happened – and then moves on to the next thing. A perfect example of this is the Ninefold Forest Houses, a group of disparate towns united under one ruler. What are the names of these towns? The ninth manor. The seventh manor. And so on. That alone isn’t something that I’d get hung up on, but there’s a similar lack of ambition throughout the novel. Nothing really sticks, everything is broad strokes. It was never a chore to read, but it never once grabbed my attention, either.

Also this book committed a cardinal sin for me – CRYING ROBOTS. There’s a crying robot in this book. They call him/it a “mechoservitor” but it’s a robot. And it cries. A lot. There are few sci-fi concepts that annoy me more than emo goddamn robots. Give me killer robots. Give me smartass robots. Give me prissy English butler robots. Give me anything other than crying robots. I really, really, really hate crying robots. Especially when they cry as much as this one. You have a robot and out of all the cool awesome shit it could do, you have it act like a whiney teenager? Goddamit.

I’d be willing to check out the next book and see if there’s any improvement, because there is some promise here and because I’ve really enjoyed Scholes short fiction, but Lamentation itself was a bit of a disappointment.
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Jul 27, 2010 Monica rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is one of those stories that told a story rather than shown it. I bought it upon the recommendation of Fantasy giant Orson Scott Card but now I am severely doubting his taste. The narrative took on a daring task to begin with an apocalypse that was seemingly far too big and ambitious for the author to handle. I wasn't convinced that a civilization was going to waste here. Just random props people screaming, and oh, ash and bones. Thus opened a book that had consistently been written lousily...more

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Mar 18, 2009 C.S. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This was a great book. Very fast paced with some very interesting characters and story lines. It did suffer from a few first novel issues but they were small and didn't bother me that much.

I liked that the book ended with the completion of a story line and the hint of the future mystery. I have always felt that series books should do that. I hate feeling like I go to the end of the book with no resolution what so ever.

I also thought Scholes did a very nice job of laying out his world. Giving us...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Beth Cato rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: in, 2009, fantasy

Ken Scholes's debut novel is a stunning work of epic fantasy. The action begins from the very first page as the mighty city of Windwir, home of the greatest library in the world, is utterly destroyed. The high pillar of smoke draws key characters to the point of destruction - some to celebrate, others to grieve, others to prepare for war. The pace of the book is quick and ruthless. Scholes' background is in short story writing, and it shows. The world-building is effective and doesn't drown in d...more

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Mar 27, 2009 Stefan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Well, the good news is that this novel actually got a bit better than I thought at first, but it's still not the earth-shattering genre-defining debut that the nice publicity folks at Tor make it out to be.

In terms of world-building, it reminded me a bit of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Fantasy-world that once had advanced technology but now has reverted to standard medievaloid status, aside from some remnants of those high-tech times still being around and/or being re-discovered. (I always tho...more Well, the good news is that this novel actually got a bit better than I thought at first, but it's still not the earth-shattering genre-defining debut that the nice publicity folks at Tor make it out to be.

In terms of world-building, it reminded me a bit of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Fantasy-world that once had advanced technology but now has reverted to standard medievaloid status, aside from some remnants of those high-tech times still being around and/or being re-discovered. (I always thought that was the most interesting thing about WoT, and that flashback scene in one of the books where you go back to the high times of the Aes Sedai was fantastic, but I still gave up in book 8.) In "Lamentation", a religious order acts as the keeper of the knowledge of those times, and in the first 5 pages or so, that order's central city gets completely obliterated by a magic spell that was originally designed by the order's rival, about 2000 years ago. Oh, and the moon is terraformed, which gets mentioned in passing but really piqued my interest.

So far, so good.

The aspect of this novel I really didn't like is, frankly, the characterization. To make another comparison, I felt like Scholes was going for Guy Gavriel Kay. There's a hero, tragic and glamourous and strong and romantic, a soldier of soldiers, loved by all his men, blahdeeblah. When GGK does this, you feel like you know that man. You admire him. You want to meet him and shake his hand. You know? He can make you care about his characters.

With Scholes, it feels more like they're... templates. He does everything right, and the characters say and do all the right things, but there's just no connection. I just didn't feel it. Not just with Rudolpho (the heroic soldier-king), but also with Neb-the-orphan-scholar) or Jin Li Tam, the nobleman's daughter (and consort of the cardboard-cut-out villain) who of course falls in love with Rudolpho. They're all recognizable and definitely have some depth, but just not the level of depth I was hoping for. This may be a case of overly high expectations (that's what you get for hyping this thing to pieces), but the end result is that I felt let down. Not that this makes any sense whatsoever, but I kept wishing Scholes had handed his world and story over to Kay.

So. A good story, set in an interesting world, peopled with characters I didn't give a damn about. It has a lot of potential, and I may actually read the next book (I believe there are 5 installments projected --- at least it's not another trilogy), but I just didn't feel satisfied after reading it. Maybe I'm just becoming jaded (ha). Anyway, I give it three stars. Also, you know what? Given that this is only his first novel, I think this guy could turn out something really good in the future. There's definite talent there.(less)

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Feb 21, 2012 Yune rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This sat on my shelf for a while; perhaps the title gave me the impression that it would be depressing. (Imagine that.) But I finally picked it up and was surprised to find an epic-esque fantasy tale with some intriguing world-building. There are frequently revolving POVs, but unlike some other fantasy authors, Scholes has a sense of restraint, choosing only a small handful of characters to tell the story, and they're fairly well-chosen, mostly likable. A sampling of roles: the king of a wanderi...more This sat on my shelf for a while; perhaps the title gave me the impression that it would be depressing. (Imagine that.) But I finally picked it up and was surprised to find an epic-esque fantasy tale with some intriguing world-building. There are frequently revolving POVs, but unlike some other fantasy authors, Scholes has a sense of restraint, choosing only a small handful of characters to tell the story, and they're fairly well-chosen, mostly likable. A sampling of roles: the king of a wandering army, a concubine with an assassin's skills, and an apprentice who uncovers a secret identity.

The destruction of a city and its great library kicks into gear a set of alliances between disparate peoples. (This made me raise my eyebrows; it seems a bit unlikely to encounter folks named Rudolfo, Jin Li Tam, and Neb in the same area, each from a distinct culture and yet able to interact so easily with each other.) There are religious trappings, but this book is really all about politics. However, our viewpoint characters seem to be fighting for the greater good even as they rally their troops for war, while a few power-hungry or weak-willed folk who painted as pretty much evil. This is a simplistic picture of morality for a book that's aiming for complexity.

You've also got some people who are apparently so good at manipulation that they can cause a death to shape a man for a role decades later. There's some handwaviness to this aspect, and I was ultimately unconvinced that these people really could be that clever. But if you want to make it through this book, you've got to just accept that strings are being pulled all the time, and to the desired effect.

I've got the sequel in hand and am curious how matters will progress. The fun part is that I can't tell whether everything is building up to a great heroic moment or a huge tragedy, and I find that ambivalence refreshing. May be worth a read for folks who are just on the cusp of getting weary of completely traditional fantasy.(less)

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Nov 18, 2011 Francis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fantasies are a lot of work.

First there all those strange names. Then you have to memorize the geography and the names of all the Kingdoms and their various Kings and Queens. Then there are the myths, legends, prophecies, histories, scrolls, sacred books and sayings to internalize. Then you have to deal with the religions, the good one as well as the bad ones, in order to understand why everybody does all the inexplicable stuff they do. Then you have to figure out how the elves, faeries, orcs, g...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Algernon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

A pleasant discovery for me. I delayed reading this series until the third book was out, and it seems the initial buzz has quieted down and the Psalms of Isaak is flying under the radar compared to Sanderson or Brent Weeks or Peter W Brett, who I think share a similar style and whose series I would rate a little below Scholes.

I apreciated the narrative flow and the clarity of the exposition. Good pacing and likable characters compensate for a certain lack of originality. Being mostly fantasy wit...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Jessica Strider rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Pros: three dimensional characters, political and personal intrigue

Cons: starts very character driven, which some readers will find slow

Rudolfo, Lord of the Ninefold Forest Houses, General of the Wandering Army, is touring his lands when the Desolation occurs. Little does he realize how his life was manipulated with this future act in mind.

Jim Li Tan, 42nd daughter of merchant and spy Lord Vlad Li Tam, is consort to Sethbert, Overseer of the Entrolusian City States. She has just seen him boast o...more

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Jul 18, 2010 Bradley rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Could not get into it. Read a review of this book that praised Scholes... Barnes and Noble rated it as Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel of the year for 2009. Based on that I thought, whoa, as a first novel, this must be stellar! I ran to the library to check it out... let me tell you, that it draws on tired themes of 'thick theory human nature' which are tired, but also - how many people in the future will dine on 'roast boar'? How many boars will be around in the future? Won't we kill off all...more

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May 17, 2010 Travis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Lamentation by Ken Scholes- This is the first book of The Psalms of Isaak series which will consist of five books. The second book is Canticle. At the time of this review, the other three book titles are unknown.

The city called Windwir was the heart of the world and held its knowledge, but now lies in a field of ash and desolation. The city's destruction could be seen for miles around. People come to investigate the disaster. Among them is a man named Rudolfo, the Lord of the Gypsy Scouts and of...more Lamentation by Ken Scholes- This is the first book of The Psalms of Isaak series which will consist of five books. The second book is Canticle. At the time of this review, the other three book titles are unknown.

The city called Windwir was the heart of the world and held its knowledge, but now lies in a field of ash and desolation. The city's destruction could be seen for miles around. People come to investigate the disaster. Among them is a man named Rudolfo, the Lord of the Gypsy Scouts and of the Ninefold Forest Houses, who seeing the smoke and comes rushing to the ruined city of knowledge. Elsewhere, an old fisherman by the name of Petronus, sees the smoke and goes to the city in which he once called home. The army of the city-states of the Entrolusion Delta were on their way to the city when their leader, Sethbert, calls his army to a halt when he sees the smoke and smiles at the destruction. Sethbert's consort, the lovely Jin Li Tam, sees the desolation and is utterly horrified by it and Sethbert's reaction to it. Finally, a young boy and his father make their way out of the city, when the boy, Neb, forgets an important letter and his father goes back to get it, when the city explodes. Neb's world is instantly turned inside out from losing everything he once knew. Who would cause this tragedy? What happens with the knowledge that is lost from Windwir's destruction?

Negatives:
1) Overwhelming Name Dropping. This is the biggest, most frustrating problem of the book. The reader is pretty much blindsided from all the unknown names, unfamiliar terms, and the references made. It really does bog the book and story down a lot, causing the reader to be taken out of the story. To make matter worse, most of these terms are never explained until later in the book. Even then they are hard to follow and the explanations were broad. It doesn't help that everything seemed to be repeated every other line, over and over again. Why not include a simple word or two describing who so-and-so is? It was painful, as a new reader to this world, to not know anything about everything mentioned. It wouldn't have been bad if there were explanations. As a mentioned before, it really takes the reader out of the story.
2) Awkward Sentences. A lot of the wording felt awkward in the beginning. Words didn't seem to fit right and some of the action and dialogue seemed forced. There were times when a character was doing one thing and they really never finished what was happening, or at least that's what it felt like. Really, it felt like whole sentences and paragraphs are forcibly shoved down the readers throat. It made it even harder to follow the action.
3) Pointless Descriptions. For some reason, food seemed like it was really important to the story. You have all these descriptions of wine and food that it seemed like the author was hungry when writing certain scenes. Not to mention, they were random. For example, you have one scene where characters are talking about something important , and a paragraph explaining the food that was before them is inserted during the conversation. It just felt pointless. Yes, we know characters have to eat, and a little information would be needed at times, but was there really a need to go into excruciating detail about the "chilled peach wine that was tart and sweet"?

Positives:
1) Characters. The characters were really well written throughout the story. The chapter setup is in a way that you have sections when a certain character is in the lead role and it really adds depth and an interesting look into each characters thoughts. Rudolfo was your ordinary "knight in shining armor" so to speak. However, he was ruthless and cunning. Jin Li Tam your average beauty, but with cunning and a perfect match to what Rudolfo is. Petronus, Isaak, and Neb were the better characters of the story. They each were deep, thoughtful and complete characters. You got a sense of hope and hopelessness that this characters felt throughout the story. Petronus in becoming something he doesn't want to be but is really forced to, Neb in his feelings of hurt and revenge along with finding something akin to love, and Isaak with the knowledge of what he has done but that it wasn't his fault. Overall, these characters really made you feel sorry and happy during certain times in the story.
2) Story. When not being taken out of the story, it was really good. It's not your average fantasy story. There isn't many action sequences or huge battles, instead it is more of a personal and political story. The concept is fairly original. You see how this destruction impacts the characters lives and the world around in a way that is fresh and new. Basically, the story is character driven and it works well. The whole mystery behind the disaster is really its center point as this characters slowly figure out who is manipulating who.
3) "Twist". There is a villain twist that I felt was really well done. Throughout the story you know who destroyed Windwir, Sethbert. No big spoiler here as he pretty much boasts about it from the beginning of the story. However, it's slowly reveled the someone else was pulling everyone's, and I mean everyone's strings. You can kind of guess how it is, but nonetheless, it's still somewhat of a shock. Even when this reveal happens, you find out that their reason for doing this is for "the greater good", so to speak. But then, later on, after you think you know what is happening, another bombshell drops.

Side Notes:
1) Things Left Unsaid. There really were a lot of things that were left unspoken and up to the reader to know what they were. I didn't know. I didn't understand what the purpose for leaving out some things that you would think you'd normally would be told, are left up in the air. It was just weird, but it didn't really have that big of an impact.
2) About the First 150 Pages. They were a chore to read through. Mostly because of all the name dropping and the awkward sentences. You really have to get past those pages to really start to like the story.
3) Cover Art. It's bland, generic. It's like something you'd see in a museum, look at it for a second and move on. It doesn't catch your eye, the colors are dull and blend into one another. It's boring, because it's just so generic.

Overall: 3/5

Final Thoughts:
This was a really hard book for me to read. I didn't have any background of the events and people named in the book so at first I really hated it. In fact, when I was in a bookstore and saw this book, all I felt were rage and utter disappointment in it. However, after the halfway point, the story really picked up a little and it did become more and more interesting. It was even hard to put down at times. If you can get past the first half of the book, then it's a wonderful story. If you can't, it really isn't for you.(less)

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Feb 24, 2010 Melissa Hayden rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This story to me is like the Whymer Mazes used as a meditation device by the Androfrancines. The maze circle that seems to never end and always turns back on to itself. I loved this story, there's always a mystery to figure out. Who and why did they destroy the city of Windwir, the home to the Androfrancines who protected the rest of the people in the world from the technology and dark pieces that could be used to destroy the world and only trickling out the small pieces of information they feel...more This story to me is like the Whymer Mazes used as a meditation device by the Androfrancines. The maze circle that seems to never end and always turns back on to itself. I loved this story, there's always a mystery to figure out. Who and why did they destroy the city of Windwir, the home to the Androfrancines who protected the rest of the people in the world from the technology and dark pieces that could be used to destroy the world and only trickling out the small pieces of information they feel the people of the world can handle.

There is talk of an ancient Wizard whom created the Seven Cacophonic Deaths, which no one is to know what the words are inorder to protect everyone and anyone from causing distruction.

However, the book starts right off with the distruction of Windwir and only one metal man from the city, being fully functional, seems to have somewhere in his memory some idea yet no idea as to what happened on that tragic day. Isaak is the name given to this metal man.

There are many creative secrets in this book, such as the letters with secret messages intertwined within, the tapping out of messages while talking to another person on their skin, and the wonderous magic of running so fast and not being seen either running or standing still. Then you have Isaak the metal man, who is powered by a constant steam source.

I loved the writing style of a view from each characters point of view. When I first say this was the writing style I was nervous that information would be lost in the translation. After I read through this book so far, I did start taking notes so I didn't forget all the wonderous details to help with the mystery, but found that I really liked the way the author wrote this with the point of views. I actually got more details from seeing and knowing what each character did.

Did the right man pay the price for the distruction of the city? Could he have weaved the web that you see in this book? The further you go in the book the more intricate the web becomes. The more I thought on the book after reading and trying to piece together information from through out the whole book I have a very my idea of what is going on. I am curious to read what really happens. I had a wonderful time piecing the pieces together and making the story go the way I think it may.(less)

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Feb 22, 2010 Ethan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lamentation is full of the kind of cliched artifice that gives mainstream fantasy such a bad rep. Sure, there's tons of intrigue, but it's all entirely contrived; for instance, nobles speak in a complex system of hand signals when they want to make sure they're not overheard, and yet you never have a reason to suspect anyone's ever eavesdropping on these people (in fact, the one time I can recall someone's hand signals being "overheard," it was by a sympathetic character who basically signed bac...more Lamentation is full of the kind of cliched artifice that gives mainstream fantasy such a bad rep. Sure, there's tons of intrigue, but it's all entirely contrived; for instance, nobles speak in a complex system of hand signals when they want to make sure they're not overheard, and yet you never have a reason to suspect anyone's ever eavesdropping on these people (in fact, the one time I can recall someone's hand signals being "overheard," it was by a sympathetic character who basically signed back, "fyi, I know whut u're sayin bout me!!" I hate that glib, cutesey shit).

The characters are all entirely predictable, as are most of the major plot movements. The good guys are entirely infalliable and badass-ified (to the point where Scholes goes so far as to point out that the main character gave his wife THREE ORGASMS on their wedding night...thanks for pandering to the middle schooler in all of us, Ken, but it's really not necessary), and the bad guys are utterly ineffective and inept. Don't expect anyone to show any kind of resourcefulness or cleverness. Not that the good guys have to work very hard to outwit their enemies - not only do they win every skirmish they're involved in, they literally massacre opposing forces, and maybe incur the loss of one life in the process. I fail to see what's interesting about this kind of writing.

Scholes has an irritating habit of ending 35% of his chapters by repeating an ominous/deep/thoughtful quote someone uttered a few paragraphs ago. This is supposed to imply that his characters are reflecting on what they've learned, but really it's just lazy and banal authorship.

The POV narrative is sloppy; at least twice I got the impression that Scholes switches from the POV of the chapter's character to the character their speaking with. Since everyone's motives and thoughts are entirely obvious (except to the villains, who are oblivious to pretty much everything), it doesn't really matter. There's no stylistic difference in Scholes' writing from character to character.

The few surprises in the plot come out of the blue, from sources outside of the main story (kind of like in daytime television, where Aunt Martha's presumably dead sister-in-law knocks on the door to claim her part of the family's forture), and then dropped or resolved before they can really add any level of excitement to the story. It bears repeating: one of the characters ever did anything that surprised me.

The one potentially interesting character (and this is a bit of a spoiler), is Vlad Li Tam, who uses his legions of children as human missiles, sacrificing them for his mysterious personal goals. Towards the end of the story we're supposed to see some depth to Vlad's character in that he supposedly grieves deeply for each of his fallen children. This effort is largely toothless, seeing as how Scholes didn't even bother NAMING any of the fallen children. They're treated as extras, and we're supposed to grieve for them (along with Vlad) as if they were leading characters.

If you want us to believe a character's grief, show us a relationship that is grief-worthy. If you want us to think a character is resourceful and clever, show us him or her doing something resourceful or clever. If you want us to respect the necessity of secret tongues and hand signals, show us why intrigue is a necessary part of life in this world. Ken Scholes seems to think that it's enough to just tell us these things all exist in his novel, but doesn't do the work of actually showing situations where they take place. There is a term for this: bad writing.

This fantasy of the gutless, unimaginative kind. If you're a fan of GRRM's nuanced and surprising characters, or RJ's detailed and imaginative cultures, you'll be disappointed. If you like your stories straightforward and with no teeth, give it a shot. Maybe I'm being over-critical, but I found myself rolling my eyes a lot throughout the story.(less)

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Dec 29, 2009 Neil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Orson Scott Card is perhaps a bit of a cheap date in the blurb department. This isn't better than the work of today's best fantasy writers as he implies, but it's good, and Scholes is a writer I will follow.

This is a multiple-narrator fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic world. An order of monks who have guarded the knowledge of the past are obliterated by a spell as the book opens, one of the nastier bits of that past knowledge (although the magic in this book may be science, it's not entirely cl...more

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Nov 27, 2009 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Summary: The becon of civilazation, a place of great learning and culture; the city of Winwir. In a flash it is swept form this earth- gone forever. The aftermath is seen via several key indivisuals, kings, a hermit, a survivor and firsthand witness to the devestation, and a consort. They all will have a part to play in what is to come; events that will change the named lands forever.

Like: The story of this book is evident from the tittle- a lament for Winwir. The story is told from several POVs...more

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Sep 21, 2009 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The audio version of this book was fantastic, but this may have been a case where the print version would have made things easier. You can flip back, in the print version, when things start falling into place. Or, when things get even more confusing. Both situations happened during this book.

If you're a fan of the political intrigue, twisty plot and twisty characters version of SF/Fantasy, this book will be right up your alley. How Scholes ever kept it all straight could probably be a book all i...more

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Apr 25, 2009 Alain rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sure I can make a coherent summary of what I learned from "Lamentation" or make some kind of critique of it. It all went by so fast. On the other hand, I suppose that could be a critique in itself: "It wasn't a memorable book because everything flew by, zoom!". One minute I was starting to read it and the other minute, about a week later, I had finished it. What happened? There were those guys galloping around and there was this heroine who kept being amazed at how her father was connivi...more

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May 24, 2013 John Hill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a really fun, though flawed read.

The premise of this novel is one set in a far, far future Earth, or at least hints are dropped that it is Earth, where magic (magik) co-exists alongside steampunk-esque technology.

The novel follows quite a large cast of characters who, while interesting, are pretty standard for fantasy. You have your cunning, rouge hero; beautiful formidable heroine; wise and powerful, yet conflicted older guide; insanely evil villain; shadowy puppet master; and orphan...more This was a really fun, though flawed read.

The premise of this novel is one set in a far, far future Earth, or at least hints are dropped that it is Earth, where magic (magik) co-exists alongside steampunk-esque technology.

The novel follows quite a large cast of characters who, while interesting, are pretty standard for fantasy. You have your cunning, rouge hero; beautiful formidable heroine; wise and powerful, yet conflicted older guide; insanely evil villain; shadowy puppet master; and orphan hero. Not much there that I didn't see coming.

The novel is largely character drive, so if that kind of writing bores you, I doubt you will be able to finish this novel. The action takes a while to get going, and even once it does, you aren't always inherently aware of the action.

In fact, a whole war that devastates a land is fought, yet because of the focus on characters, I was left feeling like the war was more of a couple of skirmishes. Think WWII described as though it was the first Gulf War.

Another aspect that could use some help would be the world building by Mr. Scholes. While massive in scale on climates (the setting ranges from prairies, to mountains, to tropical shores) characters are able, on horseback, to traverse from one side of the map to the other in a matter of days. It doesn't add up.

The characters, despite being somewhat archetypal, are one of this novel's high points. I really enjoyed following them especially the characters of Neb, Pertonus, and Vlad. Rudolfo and Jin are really a little bit too archetypal for me to feel any connection with, and while I was intrigued with Jin at the beginning of the novel, I felt her growth stall and she became a creature of her husband(Rudolfo) rather than her father (Vlad) instead of becoming her own creature.

The saving grace here, for me, was the premise. I was fascinated by the steampunk, magical fantasy, set in a far-future Earth, revolving around a conflict featuring an unknown doomsday weapon and the schism of a controlling church and religion. In fact, the only reason I plan on continuing reading this series to follow this story through the premise.

That and the hints at the world before the cataclysmic events that made the world unrecognizable. Guns even make an appearance as mystical cylindrical devices that shoot fire (aka hand cannons).

Not a whole lot of meat here in this first of the series, but it has a lot of potential and I going to continue to read the series to see where Mr. Scholes takes it. (less)

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Jan 24, 2010 Geoffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction

I read this book because Amazon's recommendation tool recommended it's sequel, Canticle. I was expecting a fun but un-original fantasy novel. I was very wrong.

This novel was fresh and fast-paced and full of interesting concepts. The total destruction of a city by magic paralleling a nuclear explosion as the starting point of the novel had me immediately drawn in. The mix of high tech, low tech and magic kept me drawn in - I spent a lot of my time wondering about the previous holocaust that destr...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, favorites, books-i-own

I'm surprised at some of the negative commentary listed below, as far as this book is concerned. Despite being hardly fair, a lot of it is downright inaccurate.

I really enjoyed this novel. I think that the last time I got so excited about a series was when I read A Game of Thrones. Something that other reviewers likely didn't appreciate was the fact that this is a story that tells itself, while the author just nudges it along. Yes, it is a very ambitious tale and yes, we only get to see little p...more I'm surprised at some of the negative commentary listed below, as far as this book is concerned. Despite being hardly fair, a lot of it is downright inaccurate.

I really enjoyed this novel. I think that the last time I got so excited about a series was when I read A Game of Thrones. Something that other reviewers likely didn't appreciate was the fact that this is a story that tells itself, while the author just nudges it along. Yes, it is a very ambitious tale and yes, we only get to see little parts of it via the numerous characters' point of view. That's what makes this a living, breathing world. Also, bear in mind that this is a kick off to a series and some loose threads will remain untied. The prose in this book is something else and really bolsters the pacing. This novel never really gets bogged down, but just keeps moving.

As far as the story itself is concerned. On the surface, it's about the destruction of a city. Not just any city too, but the seat of religion, albeit it somewhat science based, and knowledge in the Named Lands. Of course, political and religious turmoil erupts as fingers are pointed and countries prepare for war. Beneath the surface, however, there's a lot more going on. A labyrinth of conspiracies, treason, double crosses and triple crosses where nothing is quite as it seems. In the final paragraphs of the novel, Mr Scholes is still busily changing our perceptions about the key players (and introducing potential new ones).

Like the Shannara series (The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks), Tales of the Dying Earth (The Eyes of the Overworld, Jack Vance)and the Death Gate Cycle (Dragon Wing, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman), this is a fantasy based on a future earth, as opposed to a past, or historic, earth. Yet it remains a fantasy. And what a fantasy world it is!

I thought Lamentation was a marvelous book. I am relieved to say that my trust in the opinion of Orson Scott Card was affirmed by reading this. It goes without saying that the estimations of a renowned writer should carry more weight than those of the average goodreads user, although everybody is entitled to their opinion. This includes me and Mr Scott Card.

There it is. If you're looking for something fresh and exciting in a new series. This is the place to start looking.(less)

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May 29, 2009 Marin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was just about perfect summer reading: fast-paced, relatively uncomplicated, entertaining, and intriguing. It's fastasy I suppose, but the characters and sub-plots were thick and rich enough for me to overcome the boredom that I often feel for fantasy novels. It does use fantasy character roles for its main characters (Pope, gypsy, herb woman, etc.), but there's a fun twist in this world where a small group of scholars act as archeologists, uncovering technologies and writings from a m...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Maxx rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book had a lot of potential to be a great story, but the author just didn't cut it. I don't know (cuz i didn't research or care much) if this was his first book or not, but whoever his editor was, they sucked. There were so many words missing and just bad editing.

Anyhow, this is a story about a city that gets completely decimated by a spoken word. The story is basically about the people that have to then deal with the aftermath of the destroyed city, which wiped out basically a whole group...more

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Apr 19, 2010 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

Query: how can this book be “fresh” and “groundbreaking” when for decades people have been writing fantasy novels full of dueling penises and about 10% as many vaginas, all for sale?

If you’d asked me about this book anywhere in the first two thirds, I probably would have given it a grudging two stars for occasional world building interest. This is the start of an epic fantasy series about – well, I’m not honestly sure where it’s going, but this book is about the destruction of a library-city wit...more

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Apr 04, 2010 Jay Daze rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, fantasy, sf

This gets two stars from me cause it didn't convince me to read (or listen to) the next four books in the series. None of the characters were particularly compelling. They all suffered from high fantasy woodenness. Neb, the orphan boy is probably supposed to be the most sympathetic of the characters, but comes off as a whiner. These character deficits wouldn't matter if there was an interesting plot, but there weren't enough twists and turns to keep my interest. The city of Wind Wir? gets crispe...more This gets two stars from me cause it didn't convince me to read (or listen to) the next four books in the series. None of the characters were particularly compelling. They all suffered from high fantasy woodenness. Neb, the orphan boy is probably supposed to be the most sympathetic of the characters, but comes off as a whiner. These character deficits wouldn't matter if there was an interesting plot, but there weren't enough twists and turns to keep my interest. The city of Wind Wir? gets crisped by the baddie at the beginning of the book and then the good guys whack him down for the rest of the book. The anti-climatic final scene with the main baddie is at a trial. Perry Mason in the 1100s. Yes, there are hidden conspiracies and a greater evil, but those are back-loaded to the end of the book. Realistically an author has maybe fifty pages to hook a reader, I gave him 368 pages and Scholes still hadn't delivered for me.

That a man is shaped not only by his own choices, but the choices of those around him, to vaguely quote a character in the book, is a worthy theme, but it gets played out to a improbable lengths here with one character seemingly in complete control of another character's development and life course. This is the gimmick of an evil or not-so-good character being a genius seemingly in control of EVERYTHING that happens - there is no chance, no factors outside of this dude's control. I can buy magic and dragons and steam-punk robots, but this I just can't swallow. It's a symptom of an author who is being such a control freak that he squeezes the life out of his story.

Petronus (the wise old man, former Pope of the Androfrancine order) finishes his sermon with "...to dream in the Now." Which is kind of a groany little statement in itself. Much is made in the book of not looking back, of protecting the light, or on the other hand letting the light die, killing the light. Of using the light to read trashy sf stories late at night when you should be sleeping... I just couldn't make sense of all this talk. The monks in the book are protecting the light (knowledge from the old high tech civilization that blew itself up) but the light is also dangerous, so they are protecting the survivors from the light. Of course wouldn't some of this knowledge help improve the life of this medieval society? If it is at all like medieval Europe, the life expectancy must be pretty grim, there is probably a really high infant mortality rate. But the order is keeping the lid on this stuff or maybe just some of it? The problem is, how do you hold back the 'bad' knowledge and let the 'good' knowledge out? I don't know if this was really addressed. The issue of whether folks really want some paternalistic order holding back knowledge, presumably preventing fledgling scientists from redeveloping science isn't mentioned in this volume.

Then there is the group that wants to kill the light. Are they saying they want to flush all the knowledge? To they want to get rid of rationality as well? Go to some dream-ruled happy land with probably even less indoor plumbing and sanitation systems? A fantasy medieval world is fun to read about but I'd want to get my people to a better standard of living pretty quickly. Of course this is high fantasy so we're really only focusing on lords and ladies here. Me, I'd be peasant number four, the one with the nasty skin rash and a bad sounding cough.

The ideal of some characters by the end of this book is to not look to the past but to 'dream forward', but just what the heck does that mean? It is like some weird ass political slogan. Funnily, at the end of the book when there is talk about the tortures being put out of business this fantasy takes on a post-Bush, beginning-of-Obama kind of vibe. Perhaps reality will hit with volume two, but I'm not sticking around to find out. Especially after Rudolfo ends his final musing with "and he saw how a Lamentation could become a Hymn." (Don't know if the words were capitalized, they just sounded that way in the audio.) Scholes probably thought it was pretty clever getting the title of the current volume and the final volume in a neat little package. No, that is way way too cute and neat and precious. Stop it!

**I enjoyed Scholes' short story 'Summer in Paris, Light from the Sky' (which you can listen to at escapepod.org, it's #187). Any guy who can get you rooting for Hitler (in an alternate history) does have some saving graces.**
(less)

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Feb 21, 2012 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: apocalyptic, dystopic, fantasy, fiction

I'd never read any of Scholes' books before but found this to be pretty interesting. I was never quite sure if this was an alternate earth or if it was a futuristic earth after most of the population had been wiped out. It could be either really.

The story line itself was engaging and I found myself curious to know how things would turn out. There were some nice twists to the story toward the end that made it extra interesting. I enjoyed the characters, the various cultures presented throughout,...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Liviu rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2009, series_dropped

Interesting setup and clear writing talent as well as a good ending with the hook set for the next volume which I intend to read, though not as an asap. However there were 3 major things that just did not work for me.

1. The "main" - secret - plot, based on long term conspiracies, arranged chains of events and such. This kind of plot is always a minus for me since I just have a hard time believing that chance ain't going to screw up even the best long term plans

2. The writing style - it would hav...more

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Aug 30, 2010 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I only picked up this book because I saw that Orson Scott Card had raved about it. Now I have to wonder how much futuristic fantasy Card has read. This work clearly owes much to "A Canticle for Leibowitz," "Dune," "Star Wars," and other classics. It's originality lies in the way that it has combined bits and pieces of these works rather than in any innovation of its own. It begins well, providing just enough information about this new world and these new characters to capture the reader's intere...more

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Apr 16, 2009 Ami rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As I've listened to rather than read this book, please forgive any spelling errors in the names and such.

Lamentation starts out with the destruction of a city with its vast central library, survived only by a boy and a mechoservitor. The rest of the book basically deals with the burial of this action: coming to grips with it and starting anew.

I enjoyed the mix of magic and a future technology that was lost and being rediscovered through archeology. The added touch of politics with an order of mo...more

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About Ken Scholes

Ken Scholes grew up in a trailer outside a smallish logging town not far from the base of Mount Rainier in the Pacific Northwest.

Baptized into Story at a young age, he fed himself on Speed Racer, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and Marine Boy sprinkled with a generous dose of dinosaur picture books. One day, his parents brought home two science fiction books -- Trapped in Space by Jack Williamson...more Ken Scholes grew up in a trailer outside a smallish logging town not far from the base of Mount Rainier in the Pacific Northwest.

Baptized into Story at a young age, he fed himself on Speed Racer, Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and Marine Boy sprinkled with a generous dose of dinosaur picture books. One day, his parents brought home two science fiction books -- Trapped in Space by Jack Williamson and Runaway Robot by Lester Del Rey. He read them perched in a tree and found a New Kind of Story. It set him on a reading path that eventually swept across genres -- mysteries, westerns, science fiction, fantasy, sword and sorcery, thrillers, horror. Still, speculative fiction remained home base for Ken; he cites Bradbury and Burroughs, Howard, Moorcock and King as strong influences.

Now on a steady diet of books (and comic books), he still snacked on television programs like UFO, Star Trek, Star Blazers and Twilight Zone and a string of movies that culminated in the advent of Star Wars. Not long after, he discovered yet another venue for Story -- the role playing game Dungeons and Dragons. Only there, he was an active participant in the adventures he and his friends spun.

When he was thirteen, he read Bradbury's essay "How to Keep and Feed a Muse" and knew he had to be a writer. When he was fourteen, he started writing stories of his own and by fifteen, he had started his own Rejection Slip Collection. His English teacher took notice of his writing and helped Ken get into young author's conferences and workshops along with making sure he was exposed to writers like Kurt Vonnegut and Maya Angelou when they passed through the area.

After a long break away from writing, Ken returned to it after logging time as a sailor, soldier, preacher, musician, label gun repairman, retail manager and nonprofit director. He sold his first story to Talebones Magazine in 2000 and won the Writers of the Future contest in 2004. His quirky, offbeat fiction continues to show up in various magazines and anthologies like Polyphony 6, Weird Tales and Clarkesworld Magazine.

In 2006, his short story "Of Metal Men and Scarlet Thread and Dancing with the Sunrise" appeared in the August issue of Realms of Fantasy. Later that year, inspired by Allen Douglas's uncanny painting of Isaak and taunted by his friends and family to finally write a novel, Ken extended that story and Lamentation was born. Lamentation is the first in a five book series from Tor Books called The Psalms of Isaak.

Ken lives near Portland, Oregon, with his amazing wonder-wife Jen West Scholes and invites readers to contact him through the website or through his blog. When he's not writing, Ken loses himself in Story elsewhere or sings Paul Simon songs to his immoveable cats.

Contrary to popular belief, he no longer lives in a trailer.

In July 2009, Ken and Jen welcomed their twin daughters: Elizabeth Kathleen and Rachel Ann Scholes.(less)

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Quotes from Lamentation

“Part of me wants justice for this. Part of me wants to never cause harm to another.” — 11 people liked it

“Watch for the ones who leave your mouth hanging open. Study them, find out what they love and what they fear. Dig the treasure out of their soul and hold it to the light.' He leaned in even closer now, so that Neb could smell the wine on his breath. 'Then Be like them.” — 4 people liked it

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Lamentation (The Psalms of Isaak #1)

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