Acacia

Aug 23, 2007 Peggy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I was asked to review this book, I was less than enthusiastic. I’ve been reading genre fiction for a long time, and there are things I’d decided I was done with. Topping that list was “High Fantasy Quest Novels,” followed almost immediately by “Book 1 of a Brand New Series” (with a special amount of “done” leftover for “Book 1’s in Excess of 500 Pages”). Still, the book was sent to me by someone I trust, so I decided to give it a go.

She always was the smart one.

David Anthony Durham has pu...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Phil Tucker rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was genuinely excited to read this novel. So much so that it was one of the first Kindle novels I purchased, and it was with pleasure that I planned to lose myself in Durham's incredibly long novel. The first few pages started off well: assassin on the go--great. Descriptions of how he moves through different climes, adapting his clothing and style to each one so as to blend in. Great. And then...? He arrives in his destination city, and suddenly we spin away from him, and begin to follow a ho...more I was genuinely excited to read this novel. So much so that it was one of the first Kindle novels I purchased, and it was with pleasure that I planned to lose myself in Durham's incredibly long novel. The first few pages started off well: assassin on the go--great. Descriptions of how he moves through different climes, adapting his clothing and style to each one so as to blend in. Great. And then...? He arrives in his destination city, and suddenly we spin away from him, and begin to follow a host of other characters. Only a few hundred pages later does the assassin re-appear. Not so great.

However, it need not have been a problem if Durham had kept my attention. Don't get me wrong--he does an excellent job of fleshing out an intriguing fantasy world. Sure, you have your standard frozen wastes up north from which the peril to the empire shall come, but still, it was a job well done, with different cultures, an incredibly interesting drug trade problem, and plenty of attention to detail to customs, traditions and more.

However... the characters felt wooden. In the style of George Martin the story focuses on a group of brothers and sisters, and follows their adventures as their family and lives of privilege are sundered. My problem was that the protagonists simply weren't that interesting or unique to hold my attention. If this were the first time that I were reading a door-stopper tale of fantasy about a group of kids then sure, it would have worked, but after Martin's treatment of the Starks you need more then just a rehash.

Where the novel really lost me however was when the bad guys from the North made their big appearance. They felt two dimensional, as if Durham were working too hard to make them seem cool, dangerous, and vicious, and as a result they lacked depth and failed to interest me. When the empire fell I didn't really care too much, since I didn't buy into the bad guys, and when the kids scattered I only decided to keep on reading due to having invested so much time in the novel already.

Flash forward five years or so in the novel's time line, and the kids are all grown up and radically changed. One has become the most daring of pirates, the other a hardened desert warrior, the next the high priestess of a sea cult, etc. The problem was that they changed so radically that I lost my connection to them--it was as if I were being introduced to a whole new cast of characters, and their extreme roles destroyed my suspension of disbelief all over again. With nobody left to follow of interest, I stopped reading.

So, Acacia: a beautifully realized world, a great sense of history, myth, diverse cultures and traditions, but peopled with wooden characters, two dimensional villains and unable to hold my attention after the first few hundred pages.
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Feb 28, 2008 jane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I should have quit reading this one. I kept trying to give it a chance and wondering where it would go. I didn't like the world enough or care about the characters enough to have it be worth the time. Good people are killed off. Realistic I suppose and highly developed but depressing. A long book and it will be a long series, Robert Jordan or George RR Martin like, but I don't need it to be a part of my life. Not recommended.

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Mar 10, 2013 Outis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, epic-fantasy, drugs

Legs on a snake.
This is probably the closest thing I've read to a modern epic fantasy, played straight. But what use do we have for old-fashioned epic antics in modern fantasy? Nevermind what people often call "epic fantasy" these days. I'm talking about antics which wouldn't be out of place in songs about Charlemagne or something.
But here Charlemagne's crew isn't hacking down infidel hordes. The antagonists make sense and treachery prevails. The author works (too) hard to paint his characters a...more Legs on a snake.
This is probably the closest thing I've read to a modern epic fantasy, played straight. But what use do we have for old-fashioned epic antics in modern fantasy? Nevermind what people often call "epic fantasy" these days. I'm talking about antics which wouldn't be out of place in songs about Charlemagne or something.
But here Charlemagne's crew isn't hacking down infidel hordes. The antagonists make sense and treachery prevails. The author works (too) hard to paint his characters as real people, with psychological conflicts that go beyond the usual martial fare (loyalty, pride, honor, courage). The setting makes internal sense too and modern themes such as exploitation are brought up. There are fighting women and weeping men. So why throw in utterly preposterous macho antics? Why is so much of what the main characters do (even the antagonists, to a lesser degree) totally over the top? And I'm not just talking about the combat scenes, though these are the worst. I don't get it.
Something else I don't get is Acacia's intended audience. There are things which say "adult" to me but there's also a whole lot of childish stuff.
I reckon Durham could write some pretty good mythological epics in this setting (which has its own solid mythology). I can figure the likes of Hauchmeinish and Tinhadin standing tall and doing all sorts of over-the-top stuff in the vein of the our ancient and medieval epics. Versimilitude wouldn't be such an issue. But it was my main problem with his halfway modern Acacia. Chapters of internally sensible stuff are interspersed with material with respect to which there's no way I can suspend disbelief.

Epic fantasies are usually conservative (see Tolkien) or worse so my curiosity was piqued when I read people describing Acacia as "progressive". Reviewers wrote that "systemic societal problems" or "economics" were addressed.
But this isn't what I found in the book, merely an acknowledgement that there is such a thing as social and economic concerns and that's it's not all about military strength and values. The use of children to generate social pathos was somewhat disturbing by the way... is exploitation OK when it happens to adults?
I also found what could be flippantly called divine right vanguardism. Acacia's politics are thoroughly top-down. The plebs have no agency and you only get to see their lives through the aristocratic gaze. A handful of people are empowered by their birth to lead the masses to struggle for their emancipation.
Sometimes the heroes don't even bother leading the masses and simply proceed to emancipate them. It seems Durham didn't get the "you can't blow up a social relationship" memo.
Such politics are right at home in epic fantasy considering the reactionary core of the genre. In this sort of fantasy, magic justifies the power of those who would otherwise rule merely by the virtue of other people's fear or consent. Give such leaders extraordinary magical powers or simply extraordinary abilities and heroic invulnerability and you've introduced an external reason for people to accept their leadership (same as state religions). All manner of anti-democratic practices and institutions are justified in this fashion. In Acacia, magic even justifies patriarchy.

So why did I bother finishing this long book?
It doesn't feel that long to begin with. As in Dune for instance, lots happens and lots of strange background stuff is hinted at. The structure is appropriate to the breadth of the story and the writing is effective so reading Acacia it isn't a chore.
And there are things which make it worth reading. First, the intriguing world with its East India Co, its unknown lands and its aforementioned mythology.
As you've probably read elsewhere, Acacia is a tropefest and in some ways quite derivative. But Durham keeps pulling nice surprises out of his hat anyway.
Also, the three Mein brothers are great tragic heroes and the Tunishnevre is an awesome concept. I was rooting for their emancipation the whole time.
There's gratification peppered throughout the book like the demise of that most grating prince which came out of left field (not much of a spoiler: there's a few princes in there). I was hoping he'd die in a spectacular way but I didn't expect it would actually happen. That was almost as good as Ned at the Sept of Baelor! And it was of course not the only satisfying death, just the most fiery.
I'm usually disappointed by the endings of this sort of book but by the third part I had come to take the author's craft for granted and wasn't surprised when the final twists turned out to be worth having sticked with the book.

Even if Acacia isn't really my thing, I've got to admit it's definitely a cut above the likes of Tolkien.
It's not in Herbert's league but I guess it could please the more patient and perverted among the many who can't seem to get enough violent wish-fulfillment fantasies featuring good-hearted aristocrats and their gifted brats.(less)

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Feb 13, 2010 Jeffrey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: George RR Martin fans and fans of hugely drawn worlds

Shelves: read-in-2009, fantasy

This huge 750 page paperback is the first volume in the fantasy world created by the author. It contains impressive worldbuilding, history, magic of a sort and religion, but in some ways the huge worldbuilding and the effort of the author to cram so much into this first volume is, to my mind a real downfall.

The novel can be divided into three separate parts. The first 200 pages of the novel, which are devoted to explaining the world, the use of a drug called Mist to enslave hundreds of people i...more This huge 750 page paperback is the first volume in the fantasy world created by the author. It contains impressive worldbuilding, history, magic of a sort and religion, but in some ways the huge worldbuilding and the effort of the author to cram so much into this first volume is, to my mind a real downfall.

The novel can be divided into three separate parts. The first 200 pages of the novel, which are devoted to explaining the world, the use of a drug called Mist to enslave hundreds of people in the populous and the use of slave labor and sale of children to appease foreign adversaries, and also to set the stage for the attack by the Mein, is frightfully long and really just forces one at times to skim the book. The worldbuilding is impressive, but given the thrust of the story, that is that it starts on the first page with the journey of an assassin and yet takes over 200 pages for the Assassin to strike is difficul

The next 300 pages are much better as the author splits time between the children of the king of Acacia who are all forced into new lives -- Spratling is a pirate ship captain, Mena is a Priestess of the Vuma, who learns to be a great swordswoman, Aliver, is a warrior and Corinn lives in the taken palace controlled by Hamish the ruler of the Mein, and also two others from Acacia, Thaddeus Clegg, the prime Minister and a General, plus Hamish the ruler of the Mein.

The last 250 pages is consumed with Aliver's journey to meet with the Santoth's, a group of vile sorcerers who have been trapped for hundreds of years by Aliver's ancestor and the attempt by the Acacians both in the field with Aliver and by Corinn to take back control of the country.
This was also well done as we can see how Corinn becomes powerful and seizes control of a special book in a diabolical way. I liked this part less than the middle but it was still very good.

I have the second volume out of the library right now but I think I need a break from this world -- rather than rushing right into the next volume, which I think in a way is very telling.

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Oct 14, 2007 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of George R.R. Martin and epic fantasy in general

Shelves: fantasy

So I finally finished this book. I can't believe how long it took me. Slow to start, but great 100 pages in.

Ok so to the characters. I liked these characters. The interesting thing about them is that i liked the secondary characters of Leeka Alain and Thadeus alot more than the 4 heirs to the books title throne. Why? Because they were great figures, yet they were also flawed. One man betrayed his most beloved friend and that friends children, because of something said friend's father did. He re...more So I finally finished this book. I can't believe how long it took me. Slow to start, but great 100 pages in.

Ok so to the characters. I liked these characters. The interesting thing about them is that i liked the secondary characters of Leeka Alain and Thadeus alot more than the 4 heirs to the books title throne. Why? Because they were great figures, yet they were also flawed. One man betrayed his most beloved friend and that friends children, because of something said friend's father did. He regrets it, and spends the rest of the book redeeming himself for this act. The other is a fallen general who struggles to avenge his nation and soveriegn, only to have the struggle crush his spirit and hope. Then he becomes a drug addict, and spends the rest of the book reclaiming all of himself that he had lost. Don't get me wrong. The kids are interesting and believable orphaned heirs to the throne. They are even interesting in the mythic/archtypal roles they play. Badasses are badasses, but flawed badasses are cooler is all I'm saying. I also liked that the antagonists of this story are very morally gray. They aren't evil, they are an oppressed people who just want revenge on the empire that oppressed them for so long. Though they do get a little dirt on their morals when they then maintain said empires corrupt practices. Still, the badasses are badasses rule applies and so they are also very entertaining as well as being real. So characters are a solid 4 stars.

The setting is really unique. Its 5 stars all the way. In many peoples fantasy I can see obvious broad cultural/ethnological stereotypes used. This isn't bad, its just using what common popular historical info people have in their heads. Tap into what people already have in their heads to some degree and they will keep coming back for more. Interestingly enough in this book, the world is just different enough that I can't easilly say "oh that part is from Rome History" or "Thats like mixed up Arthurian legend"..etc. Yet the setting is just enough like our own view of ancient history, as to whisper similarities in our unconcious' ear. The Acacians to me have the flavor of several different Imperial cultures, pieced together into a wholey unique feel. The same can be said for the Meinish. I want to call them Goths, or Huns, or even something else I'm not entirely familiar with. Which in the end is what they are. They make a logical sense as a people, but I can't point a finger at any one group that I know of (maybe there is one I don't know of) and say, "there, that is who the Meinish are based on". The Talayan cultures definitely feel African in nature, but that a cheese I ate definetly tasted like a French Cheese. Which one?, theres like a 1000!. I like this about the book though. It wasn't like I was reading epic fantasy that copies the broad and semi-broad strokes of all the other epic fantasy authors out there. Oh and I just have to mention that the Shipping League and their sea platforms are awesome! So 5 stars for setting.

Finally we come to the actual plot. This is the first book, so it is setting up much larger things. So I cut it a little slack, but still the orphaned children finding their destiny and coming home to collect, is classic. I don't mind it so much myself, but I can't give a huge amount of credit for using what could be called a cliche plotline. So I'm going with 3 stars, and hoping the next ones plot is a bit more out of left field.

Over all I must say that if you like George R.R. Martin style epic fantasy, you will probably like this. It could of stood to have a bit more developed spycraft/intrique (I find it hard to believe that an Imperial dynasty that has lasted for 22 generations unbroken, would not have a well developed intelligence network. Hang on untill page 100, it starts slow but by the end it will be worth it.(less)

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Jan 17, 2012 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Joyless.

That's what it boils down to. There's nothing wrong with the writing. Or the world building. Or the character development, for the most part. I really wanted to like this, and it is well done, except for the fact that in 700+ pages I don't once remember smiling, let alone laughing. None of the characters ever makes a real joke - one of them is supposed to be known for his sarcastic wit, and others jeer at misfortune, but that's all we get.

I understand it's a war, the empire falls, yadda...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, maps

Durham creates an entire world, complete with twenty-two generations of history. He does a good job. His main characters are three-dimensional enough to be believable. In fact, many supporting characters have that ring of authenticity. He sets up his tale well enough that the reader's mind as well as emotions are engaged. His mechanics (grammar, sentence structure, etc.) exceed most modern fantasy writers. He manages to develop a satisfactory conclusion for his first book while leaving enough un...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Derrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, re-read, 2010

Read February 2010-Unfinished
Read December 2010

February 2010 Review:
This story seemed like my thing. A kingdom about to undergo tumult, royal children spirited away, assassins, etc. But for whatever reason, I just couldn't get into it. I tried 5 times, and would read 5-10pages, and then lose interest. So I gave up. I would recommend it anyway, how weird is that?

December 2010 Review:
After having tried to read this [twice!] earlier this year, I had given up on this series. However, after some enco...more

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Jun 15, 2013 Kevin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Acacia is slow, either way too predictable or baseless in its unpredictability, and in general poorly written.

While the writer manages to create some vivid imagery he betrays the all important show don't tell rule. From the beginning there is page after page of info dumping. Way more than is reasonable, dialogue is altogether skipped, and summarized- further damning the characters to not being distinct and drawing you out of the moment.

Coinciding with this poor writing choice, is countless lazy...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Mdellar rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After three years of writing my own fantasy, I decided it was time to read someone else's Game of Thrones was two credits on Audible and I only had one, so I downloaded Acacia.

I should have gone with Mistborn or Discworld.

I genuinely wanted to like Acacia. I wanted my first trip into a fantasy world in more than five years to be a memorable one, and to Acacia's credit, it had some very interesting things going for it, such as the variety of cultures, the religions, and the human trafficking.

My f...more After three years of writing my own fantasy, I decided it was time to read someone else's Game of Thrones was two credits on Audible and I only had one, so I downloaded Acacia.

I should have gone with Mistborn or Discworld.

I genuinely wanted to like Acacia. I wanted my first trip into a fantasy world in more than five years to be a memorable one, and to Acacia's credit, it had some very interesting things going for it, such as the variety of cultures, the religions, and the human trafficking.

My first problem with the story was the info dumping. Yes, the world building was good, but honestly, so is Mistborn's. Mistborn manages it without info dumping. Why can't Acacia?

My second problem, I didn't want to acknowledge till the end. I really didn't like any of the characters, partially because of the apparent lack of any sort of humor or happiness or any sort of positive emotion anywhere in the world. So the chancellor loves the kids? Show me. Don't tell me. Come on. He never even gives them chocolate. Oh, and two characters have crazy sex. Kay. Great. These scenes felt like it was lust that drove the sex rather than love, which would be fine if I wasn't so desperate for positive emotions.

The story was apparently dark and depressing, but this is perhaps the strongest opinion I have about Acacia: I just didn't care. I'm a hundred pages into Game of Thrones and I care about nearly every viewpoint character--Ned and Arya and Jon Snow especially. In seven times that many pages, I didn't feel even a shred of liking for any of the characters in Acacia--though, like others, I almost liked Mena.

When then first big death happened off-screen, I didn't care. The dead character had screen time, but I didn't grow to like him in that time. This continued through the entire book. A viewpoint chapter with a certain character actually made me like that character less.

All the characters, while unlikable, were at least believable, with the notable exception of one thing Corinn does to another character about three quarters of the way through the story. You'll know it when you see it. In a story driven by character actions, it's commendable that there's only one unbelievable action taken, but it would have been a much bigger deal if I actually cared.

All in all, this story has some awesome ideas coupled with nice writing, but everything falls short of its potential because I just didn't care about a single character. Acacia is dark fantasy through and through--so dark that you'd think happiness didn't exist. That's a bad thing. Stories can be dark as they want, but if no one is, has been, or will be happy no matter what happens, then who cares?(less)

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Sep 24, 2012 David Dolnick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In short, this book is very comparable to Game of Thrones. It has a huge list of characters to get to know and is told from a multitude of perspectives. It is keen on demonstrating that everyone has their own motivations for the things they do and that the line between good and evil is not as defined as we like to think. In terms of the latter, the book likes to remind us that, as far as the villains usually see it, they are the ones who are good and the ones who have been wrong. This is the boo...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sometimes having perspective about fantasy is a bad thing. If you had given me this book prior to my education in the many fantasy classics, I would have read the first chapter and farted a bookmark and left it on the shelf to rot. However, I love the concepts and world-building of fantasy and most of the time turn a blind eye to the story. The Meinish and their Tunishnevre zombie ancestor worship army is a pretty interesting threat. The Numrek, the invincible cannibal retard-army from across th...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Maduck831 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-acacia-trilogy

read this back in 2007, adding it here because it's another series i'd like to finish...i think if i could i'd give this three and a half stars, but since i can't and a i plan on finishing the series it's not a three star book (and i must have liked it somewhat if i'm curious to see what happens)...read some reviews, etc. to refresh my memory, i have the second book and am curious to see what happens, as i remember it the "twist" at the end was kind of cool and the direction it's taken has me cu...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Cécile Cristofari rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy

I enjoyed this clever book, that did a lovely job of taking fantasy tropes and conventions, pretending to follow them, and then twisting them just enough to keep me on my toes. The setting does a great job of incorporating world economics, not as a little side-order for those really obsessed by world-building, but as a massively important force that shapes the destiny of the empire even more than military powers. The various regions that make up the empire are cleverly represented, with actual c...more I enjoyed this clever book, that did a lovely job of taking fantasy tropes and conventions, pretending to follow them, and then twisting them just enough to keep me on my toes. The setting does a great job of incorporating world economics, not as a little side-order for those really obsessed by world-building, but as a massively important force that shapes the destiny of the empire even more than military powers. The various regions that make up the empire are cleverly represented, with actual cultural differences that go beyond assigning different hair and eye colours to different people, and with an emphasis on their relationships, more or less strained, with the central power. The world, overall, is multi-faceted, nuanced and realistic. I also enjoyed the way the author acknowledged the influence on individual personalities and choices on world politics.

The world-building deserves a 4, but the problem I had with the story was that it was extremely slow, and sounded occasionally clumsy. I talking from a purely technical point of view here, but I'm not sure the multiple-viewpoint thing was always handled as well as it could have. There were many different viewpoint characters, and while I found them generally interesting and convincing, the problem was that their respective stories progressed in a constant parallel, which gave a slightly automatic feel to the novel as a whole. When I started getting the gist of it, I basically knew that once a fragment of the story had been told from the younger sister's point of view, the same fragment of the timeline would be seen again through the eyes of the brother, then of the old chancellor, etc. It took away some of the excitement, as there was little effect of surprise. Using this technique once or twice could have been really powerful, but using it all the time made it sound like an automatism, not a choice. As a result, I didn't enjoy the multiple points of view on the same events as much as I could have.

It's a real shame, because the novel is very long, and frankly, it could have lost one of two hundred pages out of its nine hundred (in my edition) without problem. However, the world-building is still extremely interesting, nuanced and intelligent, with a really fine view of how polotocs and history works. For that alone, I'd recommend reading this books. Just be prepared to find it a tad longish in place; it's still worth your time. (less)

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Aug 10, 2011 Danny Bennett rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Charaterization: There was only one character I thought was good and that was Mena. I really liked her cleverness and general "bad-assness." The best chapter in the book is the one with Mena and the arrogant traitor Larken. The other characters fell flat for me, they had there good moments, but as a whole didn't provide what I was hopeing for. Corinn especially, I found her boring for most of the book and didn't totally buy into her twist at the end.

Plot: The book is divided up into three books...more

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Jun 29, 2011 R.S. rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stopped-reading

I couldn't finish this book, and that very rarely happens to me. The first paragraphs start off describing an assassin, but then it takes well over 100 pages for that assassin to actually complete his mission. Slow paced does not even begin to describe the first third of this book. I tried to stick it out, and I made it over 200 pages in, but I can't go any farther.

There's some action, but most of the time it's told to the reader. For example a battle is described (told) to the reader because th...more

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Mar 17, 2011 Jacob added it · review of another edition

(Reposted from http://drying-ink.blogspot.com/2011/0... )
Acacia is a book that subverts all expectations with its twists. Whenever it seems to have fallen into a narrative track, be sure of one thing: it's waiting to surprise you with a new twist. Acacia is one of the best epic fantasies I've read in a good while, and I'll tell you why: its scale. I don't mean in terms of thousands-strong armies, or massive conflicts like in the Wheel of Time. I mean that the actual conflicts in Acacia are far l...more (Reposted from http://drying-ink.blogspot.com/2011/0... )
Acacia is a book that subverts all expectations with its twists. Whenever it seems to have fallen into a narrative track, be sure of one thing: it's waiting to surprise you with a new twist. Acacia is one of the best epic fantasies I've read in a good while, and I'll tell you why: its scale. I don't mean in terms of thousands-strong armies, or massive conflicts like in the Wheel of Time. I mean that the actual conflicts in Acacia are far larger and more difficult: the protagonists are the children of an empire whose wealth is founded on the trafficking of slaves, which they trade for a drug used to subjugate their people - the mist. Reform is sought, but with a rival nation - the Mein - invading, the League - who support slavery - in control of all shipping through the empire, and the hopeless addiction of most of their former subjects to the drug, their success seems impossible. That's just a brief, and very inaccurate summary, but the book's scale is just so epic and changeable that the actual plot is difficult to describe without spoilers.

The protagonists are also likeable and developed - they change realistically throughout their experiences, and although the coincidences in what happens to them seem a little... unlikely, I could put that aside. It is fiction, after all. The only character whose development/change seemed a bit forced to me is Corinn, near the end of the novel - in the course of about three pages, she changes considerably. I won't spoil it, though!

Another problem caused by the number of main characters is that there's more 'telling' than 'showing' in certain parts of the book, and there's a bit more infodumping than you'd like. Apart from these minor flaws, though, I can only say: read Acacia, you won't regret it. It's a fantsy with some real issues and difficulties, not just 'how many trollocs can Rand burn now?' Its only flaws are minor, and sympathetic characters on both sides of the conflict mean there are no easy resolutions here!

8.75/10

For anyone who likes their epic fantasies with a dusting of grit and dilemma (less)

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Mar 07, 2011 Knitography rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-other

I spent the first section of this book debating whether or not to finish it; on the one hand it didn't grab me and refuse to let go the way a compelling story should, but at the same time it seemed to have potential. That potential, combined with my dislike of leaving a book unfinished, kept me reading - but would my perseverance be rewarded?

Many people have criticized the author's choice to tell the story from the perspective of a rotating cast of characters rather than staying with one protago...more

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Nov 28, 2010 Tanabrus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, in-inglese

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Niente spoiler in questo post, tranquilli
Ho preso questo libro fidandomi del giudizio di Pat Rothfuss, che sul suo blog ne parlava benissimo. Non sapevo che fosse stato tradotto in italiano, visto che il titolo è scomparso. E inoltre Piemme editore ha deciso di spezzare il libro in due parti, I ribelli del mondo oscuro e Il guerriero del lago d’argento.
A parte i dubbi su dove si trovi questo mondo oscuro che compare solo nel titolo, o su cosa c’entri il lago d’argento, non posso fare a meno di...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Bookboy Brown rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

The assassin left the stronghold of Mein Tahalian by the great front gate, riding through a crack in the armored pine beams just wide enough to let him slip out. He departed at sunrise, dressed much as any soldier of the Mein. He wore a cloak of elk fur that wrapped his body completely. It even covered his legs and gave warmth to the large-hoofed mount beneath him. Over his torso he wore a breastplate of double thickness: two sheaves of iron pounded to the contours of his body, with a layer of o...more The assassin left the stronghold of Mein Tahalian by the great front gate, riding through a crack in the armored pine beams just wide enough to let him slip out. He departed at sunrise, dressed much as any soldier of the Mein. He wore a cloak of elk fur that wrapped his body completely. It even covered his legs and gave warmth to the large-hoofed mount beneath him. Over his torso he wore a breastplate of double thickness: two sheaves of iron pounded to the contours of his body, with a layer of otter fur pressed beneath them. He moved south through a snowy land frozen into gelid brilliance.

The War with the Mein, first book in the Acacia Trilogy, starts with an assassin setting off on his quest. We follow him through his journey to the capital, watching as the harsh winter of his homeland gives way to the brighter climes of the central part of the Akkadian Empire. Through this initial chapter, David Anthony Durham gives us an initial glance at the sprawling world he has created, as well as introducing us to the titular Mein who will form such a key part of this novel.

As a first book in a trilogy, The War with the Mein accomplishes everything it should. We are introduced to the world – a vast empire controlled by the Akkadians or Acacians, but which comprises an impressive number of other peoples as we will discover later in the book. We begin to learn about the magic system that Mr. Durham has developped, one that remains quite lowkey but which still leads to one aweinspiring scene later in the book. And we meet an array of characters, all of them interesting, most of them flawed, few of them what you could call heroic. In this, Mr. Durham can certainly be compared to the current king of character driven fantasy, Mr. George R.R Martin. And from reading The War with the Mein I would say that Mr. Durham could give Mr Martin a run for his money.

We have Leodan, king of this vast empire, a man who loves his children, but who is involved in a dark and loathsome deal with the devil. We have Hannish Mein, the ruler of the Mein, a man capable of great love and great cruelty, whose quest to fulfill the desires of his undead ancestors forms a major part of this first book. And of course we have Leodan’s children, the main characters of the book, whose lives form the spine of the story Mr Durham is telling.

In a nutshell, the story is told in three parts – the lead-up to Leodan’s assassination and the scattering of his children; the lives of his four children in the years following that assassination; and the gathering of those children with all of the consequences that gathering holds for the empire their father lost. Throughout, though, Mr Durham plays with our expectations, leading us down what seems a very familiar road only to throw a bag over our heads, spin us round five times, and then pull the rug out of from under our feet. The surprises might leave us reeling, but they make for an intriguing, exciting novel.

All in all, this is an accomplished first novel, one that tells an intriguing story but also sets up a fantastic world for us to explore in further volumes. Mr Durham has certainly set a high bar for the follow-up, The Other Lands, which I hope to read soon. His former historical novels obviously prepared him well for the world building he has done in this story, and the history of the Akkadian Empire resonates throughout. I for one can’t wait to dive back in.

4 weird stone monster magicians out of 5
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Oct 07, 2010 Audrey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So, I'm a HUGE fan of fantasy, but it's been an extraordinarily long time since I last read an epic fantasy like Acacia. To be honest, I think I've always been a little bit afraid of them - I mean, they tend to be SO long, and there are SO MANY other books that I want to read that I'm sort-of afraid to "waste" my time with such a lengthy book. But then, when I read one, I NEVER feel like it was time wasted.

Acacia, the beginning of the Acacia Trilogy was no exception to this. It was long, but it...more So, I'm a HUGE fan of fantasy, but it's been an extraordinarily long time since I last read an epic fantasy like Acacia. To be honest, I think I've always been a little bit afraid of them - I mean, they tend to be SO long, and there are SO MANY other books that I want to read that I'm sort-of afraid to "waste" my time with such a lengthy book. But then, when I read one, I NEVER feel like it was time wasted.

Acacia, the beginning of the Acacia Trilogy was no exception to this. It was long, but it was in no way time wasted. And it's funny - because of how extraordinarily engaging and awesome it was, I found that I read it more quickly than the typical shorter book that I read. Acacia was a true case of "I can't put this book down!"

Acacia is separated into three different books, and it almost seems as if each one of them should be reviewed separately despite the way they so easily flow one into the other.

In the first book, we learn about the Empire, how it was formed, and the horrrible evils of slavery and the Mist that are associated with the empire. Most importantly, we get to know the four Akaron children as children of the kind king, members of the Empire, and we begin to get to know the Mein. What was so interesting about this was that, while the Mein were so clearly supposed to be the bad guys and the Empire the good guys, it was really hard for me to pick anyone out as a real good guy or a real bad guy. Durham did a masterful job at allowing us to see how evil really is in the eye of the beholder. More than that, we saw how people can remain truly good while promoting and being a part of something extraordinarily evil.

In the second book, the Akaron children are all carted off to four different corners of the Empire, and while things don't go exactly as planned, they all find themselves in completely unique situations that allow them to mature into strong but very different people. The fact that they each grew up in a different race, surrounded by different beliefs and different cultures allowed the reader to really get a grasp for this world and the ways in which it parallels the world in which we live today. It also allowed him to continue with his theme of good versus evil. This second book was, by far, my favorite of the three. It was easily the most solid and most well written of the three, and I found it so exciting to get to learn about all these different cultures while still knowing that it was leading up to something big and exciting. It was interesting and fun to compare these fictional, fantasy worlds with those that we know today or have known in the past.

In the third book, well, I don't want to give too much away, but Durham ends us off with an absolute BANG! Things come to a climax with a boom, mixing the unexpected with the expected, the good with the evil, and ideals with treachery. It has you feeling utterly satisfied while still craving more, more, MORE!

The characters are extraordinarily well-developed, living, breathing beings, and this in no way takes away from the aliveness and realness of the worlds he created. No word was wasted, everything was beautifully described and played out. Durham has a way with words that, in the epic fantasy, had room to flourish. I've never read anything else by him, but I would say this is his genre. This book was great! And I am SO psyched to have the second one waiting. I would be much disturbed if I had to wait.(less)

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Oct 11, 2009 Mocha Girl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-sci-fi

Acacia: Book One: The War With the Mein is David Anthony Durham's "debut" of sorts into the fantasy genre. He creates a world rich with myths, legends, history, culture, and differing races striving to co-exist in Acacia, the designated center of the The Known World. This first book, The War With The Mein, opens with a Mein assassin journeying from the arctic ice lands of the North on a mission to avenge his people who felt they were denied their place as rulers of the The Known World and banish...more Acacia: Book One: The War With the Mein is David Anthony Durham's "debut" of sorts into the fantasy genre. He creates a world rich with myths, legends, history, culture, and differing races striving to co-exist in Acacia, the designated center of the The Known World. This first book, The War With The Mein, opens with a Mein assassin journeying from the arctic ice lands of the North on a mission to avenge his people who felt they were denied their place as rulers of the The Known World and banished to the ice lands centuries before. Upon the successful assassination of the King of Acacia; three of the four sheltered, pampered child heirs escape capture, scattered to differing parts of the kingdom under assumed identities. The Mein easily topple the sleeping Acacian capital and control the kingdom. Hanish Mein, handsome brother of the self-sacrificing assassin, occupies the palace and vows to capture the remaining Acacian heirs (preferably alive) to complete a blood oath to release the Mein's spiritual ancestors.

In the meantime, the heirs, separated during their flight from capture, mature in differing ways in disparate cultures over the next decade. The oldest son, Aliver, trains with the Talayans on the desert plains and enlists the aid of the mystical Santooth to avenge his father. The beautiful elder sister, Corinn, a prisoner in her own palace, becomes the concubine/lover of Hanish Mein. Third to the throne, Mena, is raised as a virginal priestess in a land that worships a sea Eagle and practices child sacrifice, and the youngest son, Dariel, is raised a swashbuckling pirate buccaneer.

Durham leans on his historical fiction background and blends a numerous, yet full bodied, cast filled with resonating histories, each contributing purposefully to the multi-layered plot and sub-plots. Much of the book establishes the complex histories, secrets, interrelationships of the Acacian people, their allies, enemies, and subjects. It also provides a detailed backdrop on the alliances, motives, and betrayals of court members and key figures with such deep conviction that initially, it is very difficult to sort the `good' from the `bad' guys.

I enjoyed the book and enjoyed how The Known World parallels reality in that there are multiple races that mimic reality. The reader will recognize a touch of ancient Nordic, African, and Arabian traditions and cultures that borrow from the Celtics and Aztecs. His creativity sparked in the creation of a feared group, The Leaguemen, a sea-faring group who specialize in the production and distribution of "the mist" and opiate-like drug that has stupefied most of Acacia into submission. The nations of Acacia struggle with slavery, war, greed, jealousy, drug addiction, and other social ills that have plagued mankind from creation. I am not sure if all of his "old" fans will embrace this novel; but there is no doubt that he will pick up new fans with this release. I'm looking forward to Book Two!
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Jun 17, 2011 Shane rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am midway through this book. This is not the sort of book I normally read -- it is a bit heavy on setting (which is expected given the title contains a 'place'), and the characters were not particularly compelling, even though they are more nuanced than I expected. There was a point where I was about to let this one go, but should make it through till the end, which is about 300 pages away.

I finished this book last night, and I have to say that it had a few twists and turns I did not see comin...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

David Anthony Durham, the author of three historical novels, envisions a fascinating, fully developed world in Acacia. He delves into great detail

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Aug 25, 2009 Adam rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this book. It's probably a 3.5 star book.

The book begins following a royal family in a typical fantasy world (roughly equivalent to the pre-Rennaisance or Rennaisance period). I was a little worried at this point, because it seems that all fantasy books involve the coming-of-age of kids, particularly royalty.

But I was pleasantly surprised at the twists and turns, the excellent characters, and the richness of the world. The book had great action, great intrigue, and complex and conflicted...more

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Apr 04, 2012 April rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am not usually big on the whole large scale fantasy war books... armies and kingdoms against each other in huge battles and intricate intrigue really isn't my thing. But. Once in a while a world idea appeals to me and the characters described catch my interest and I dive in. I was not disappointed. The story ran along a grand scale but stayed on a personal level throughout, giving you a lovely view of individual experience.

I enjoyed watching the royal children grow up in their individual circ...more

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Dec 02, 2008 Weylin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hated...yes, strong word....hated the way this book was written. I got mad at myself when I realized that I was reading this book just to read a book and that I wasn't enjoying it at all. Thank God I quit half way through and found a good book to read instead. Anyone interested in this book/series should save themselves the money and get "Winterbirth" instead (similar concept, but better in every aspect).

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Feb 01, 2013 victoria.p rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Probably more a 3.5 than a 3 but I'm deducting half a star because this book is far more interested in political machinations and power plays (and how power corrupts and how systems form rulers more than rulers can change systems) than it is in its characters. The world building is really fantastic and the plotting is strong (even if I knew where a number of things were going to go before they got there), and I really liked a number of the main characters, but there was too much time spent on ch...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Forgotten Realms Queen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: donated, high-fantasy, fantasy

In order to properly enjoy this book, you need to enjoy authors who relish taking their time to describe atmosphere, setting and characters, because this book can be a little wordy. And while I do enjoy thorough descriptions, I am also an impatient reader. I will start flipping pages to get to something that interests me more. Usually when I do this with a volume the size of Acacia, I wind up skipping most of the book and not really enjoying it.

That was not the case here however. I did skim thro...more

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Acacia: The War with the Mein (Acacia #1)

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