Cynthia Sally Haggard's Blog: Cynthia Sally's Blog, page 21

THE DARKEST ROAD (Fionavar Tapestry #3) by Guy Gavriel Kay, narrated by Simon Vance

The third (and last) volume of the FIONAVAR TAPESTRY.

Given everything that has gone before, it is not surprising that our five college men and women from Toronto and their friends from Fionavar spend a great deal of time in this volume preparing for war against the Dark Forces led by the Unraveler and his underlings. This volume did not work as well for me as the other two did. There seemed to be way too many speeches and dramatic moments that palled because we kept experiencing them. One of the Amazon reviewers remarked that author Guy Gavriel Kay needed a better editor, and I have to agree.

Perhaps another reason why I was feeling a bit bored is because my favorite character Prince Dia made only a few appearances. How I missed his wit & charm! Instead, I had to wade through the dire earnestness and grimness of the other characters, emotions that while understandable (everyone believed the world was going to end) nevertheless came to be a bit much in this over-long novel. Four stars.

Click here to get your copy of THE DARKEST ROAD

It’s not too late to grab your FREE copy…promos ends today!

Book Funnel Promos (including this one) are running THIS MONTH! Grab your copy while you have time by clicking one of the buttons below.

FAREWELL MY LIFE: What would you do if your sister became engaged to a mysterious suitor? Drink in a dark historical about a hidden murderer mostly set in 1920s Berlin.

Get your free copy of “FAREWELL MY LIFE” here!

A SURPRISING CURE: What if your wife returned home with a much younger man? Enjoy a tale set during the labor unrest in Bristol, England during 1889 and 1890.

get your free copy of “A surprising cure” here!

THE NON-AFFAIR: What if the crush you develop for your professor is never quite returned? Enjoy a tale set in a small college town in the USA during the early 1960s.

get your free copy of “the non-affair” here!

LADY OF SPADES: What if your father’s death forces you to consider marrying a violent thug? Enjoy a tale set in the Middle Ages, when this kind of “choice” was all too common for teenaged girls.

Get your free copy of “Lady of spades” here!

THE WANDERING FIRE (Fionavar Tapestry #2) by Guy Gavriel Kay, narrated by Simon Vance

In order to appreciate this volume, it is REALLY IMPORTANT to read (experience) the first volume first. So if you are reading this review and haven’t had a chance to experience THE SUMMER TREE, you should drop everything and get it, before continuing.

The second volume of the FIONAVAR TAPESTRY

Unlike THE SUMMER TREE, it is not clear what THE WANDERING FIRE actually refers to, not that it matters much, as this volume picks up from where the first one left off. The first novel ended in May. This one starts six months later in November. The outcome of some truly terrible things that happened in the first volume has to be settled at the beginning of the second, which leads to a slow start as we are back in 1980s Toronto with our five college students, waiting for Kimberley Ford (the Seer) to have the right kind of dream that will enable her to tell them how to get back to Fionavar. Once certain matters have been dealt with (am not saying more so as not to spoil for the uninitiated) the friends set off on a 747 to London, so that they can go to Stonehenge. From there, Kimberley gets them to Fionavar.

But Fionavar is a tenser, darker place than before, an everlasting winter causing starvation and misery as packs of wolves and other unspeakable creatures roam around at the bidding of the Unraveller, an evil mage. Naturally, our five college friends are bound to fight this menace in their various ways.

This is also a truly remarkable volume, displaying Guy Gavriel Kay’s many gifts with poetical prose, clever plot twists, and characters we really care about. (My favorite is Prince Diarmuid, the younger “frivolous” son of the High King.) However, as with the first volume, the writing bears marks of an author finding his way. There are too many times when characters (especially mages) start making long speeches about arcane histories peopled with characters whose names are complex even as the point of their stories remains unclear. But if you love fantasy novels, you should try this one, which is particularly well-suited to teens. Five Stars.

Click here to get your copy of THE WANDERING FIRE

THE SUMMER TREE (Fionavar Tapestry #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay, narrated by Simon Vance

THE SILMARILLION, J.R.R. Tolkein’s unpublished work that Guy Gavriel Kay helped Christopher Tolkein publish.

What an amazing novel! THE SUMMER TREE, the debut novel of author Guy Gavriel Kay, blew into the historical fantasy world in 1984. Echoes of Tolkein are aplenty in this novel, not surprising as Kay helped Christopher Tolkein edit his father’s unpublished work when he was but a 20-year-old student at the University of Toronto.

THE SUMMER TREE, the first volume in the Fionavar Trilogy.

THE SUMMER TREE opens at the University of Toronto when five fellow students and friends decide to go to a lecture given by famous academic Lorenzo Marcus. However, Marcus is not quite what he seems, and thus the engine of the story is set in motion.

Although this is a spectacular debut, you can tell that it is an early work by an author still finding his craft. There are too many times where one of the characters stops the action dead in order to make a flowery speech about people with long unmemorable names in a fictional past which frankly doesn’t seem to have much bearing on the story. As one of the Amazon reviewers said, Kay’s work has gotten a lot better. This is true, but for those of us who enjoy fantasy portal mysteries, you should give yourselves permission to enjoy this one. Five stars.

Click here to get your copy of THE SUMMER TREE

Promos in May (courtesy of BookFunnel)

Book Funnel Promos (including this one) are running THIS MONTH! Grab your copy while you have time by clicking one of the buttons below.

FAREWELL MY LIFE: What would you do if your sister became engaged to a mysterious suitor? Drink in a dark historical about a hidden murderer mostly set in 1920s Berlin.

Get your free copy of “FAREWELL MY LIFE” here!

A SURPRISING CURE: What if your wife returned home with a much younger man? Enjoy a tale set during the labor unrest in Bristol, England during 1889 and 1890.

get your free copy of “A surprising cure” here!

THE NON-AFFAIR: What if the crush you develop for your professor is never quite returned? Enjoy a tale set in a small college town in the USA during the early 1960s.

get your free copy of “the non-affair” here!

LADY OF SPADES: What if your father’s death forces you to consider marrying a violent thug? Enjoy a tale set in the Middle Ages, when this kind of “choice” was all too common for teenaged girls.

Get your free copy of “Lady of spades” here!

FOR ME, FATE WOVE THIS Book 8 of the Ceridwen Saga by Octavia Randolph narrated by Nano Nagle

The first novel in the Ceridwen Series about the younger generation.

This novel is the third of three about the younger generation, the sons and daughters of Ceridwen, Sidroc, Gyric, Godwin, and Aelfwin.

The first of these three (SILVER HAMMER, GOLDEN CROSS) ends with the Siege of Four Stones, home of Hrald, son of Sidroc & Aelfwin, and Ashild, daughter of Yrling & Aelfwin. Just as things are building to a climax, with the nun Sparrow/Bova holding the door against the invading Danish marauders, the novel stops.

The second novel in the Ceridwen series about the younger generation.

WILDSWEPT picks up a day or so later when the victorious young Jarl of Four Stones, Hrald, and his sister Ashild (who killed a Dane with a spear) are recovering. This volume doesn’t end, just pauses.

Now we have FOR ME FATE WOVE THIS, which takes up where WILDSWEPT left off, but this time we are in for a much rougher ride.

It occurs to me as I type this review that WILDSWEPT would have been a much better title for Volume 8 of the Ceridwen Circle, while FOR ME FATE WOVE THIS might have been better for Volume 7, as Volume 7 is a quiet interlude before the storms that await us in Volume 8.

The third novel in the Ceridwen series about the younger generation.

To be frank, I don’t know what FOR ME FATE WOVE THIS refers to. It could be Ceridwen, who continues her charmed life with Sidroc (the love of her life) whose peaceful tranquillity in Gotland is about to be shattered. It seems to me (reading between the lines) that these three volumes HAMMER, WILDSWEPT, and FATE are setting up the eventual return of Ceridwen to Anglia (England), which presumably we will witness in Volume 9.

But the “me” of the title could refer to other characters. It could refer to Hrald, or Aelfwin, or Cedric who each suffer unspeakable loss & tragedy. Or it could refer to Ashild.

Whoever it was, I would have preferred to have been given a clue!

The reason why so many love this volume is because the tension is ratcheted up several notches, making the emotions of the characters more intense. As I have said previously, author  Octavia Randolph is superlative when it comes to depicting the world of the 9th Century, and she also allows emotions to unspool on the page, hooking the reader in. But as with WILDSWEPT, I felt the pacing was lacking. It didn’t help that this volume didn’t really begin, just slid into place where WILDSWEPT broke off.  Four stars.

Click here to get your copy of FOR ME FATE WOVE THIS

WILDSWEPT: Book 7 of the Circle of Ceridwen Saga by Octavia Randolph, narrated by Nano Nagle

Instead of being in the foreground of WILDSWEPT, as one might expect, the war formed a slightly edgy backdrop to a story about the relationships that the heirs to Ceridwen, Sidroc, Godwin, and Gyric – 16-year-old Edwin, Jarl of Kilton, his elder (half) brother Ceric (in his early twenties) and 18-year-old Hrald (Harald), Jarl of Four Stones, – are forging amongst themselves and their young women.

Hrald’s elder sister, Ashild, is the protagonist of this volume. At 20 years old, she has beauty, presence, and more importantly ambition. It is her ambition that drives this story. Instead of meekly going to her destiny of being peace-weaver-wife to Ceric of Kilton (who rather desperately wants her to marry him), Ashild insists on staying at her girlhood home of Four Stones. Why? Because she (not-so-secretly) wishes to be Jarl of Four Stones herself. This decision is even more surprising given that she is expecting Ceric’s child.

At this point, I wondered about the reactions of those around her. Ashild tells her family about her condition, and they are so nice to her. I understand why her mother, a gentle woman, would be supporting and loving.

But her brother? Her uncle?

No way. Not in 1891, not in 1791, not in 1691, or 1591, or 1491, and certainly not in 891. Women were treated with the greatest contempt and if they didn’t like the future chosen for them by their men, were forced (physically abused) to make them obey. After all, Book 1 of the Circle of Ceridwen opens with Ashild’s mother Elfwyn being sold against her will in marriage as part of a peace treaty with a marauding Viking war chief.

No one had much sympathy for Elfwyn, who was wed to a violent thug at age 16, despite her gentle nature. Her wedding night must have been traumatic and terrifying. Ashild is made of much tougher material and her intended already adores her. So why aren’t the men of her family demanding that she go to Kilton immediately, as it will benefit everyone?

And this is where the story lost me because it seems perfectly obvious that of course Ashild will go to Kilton and wed Ceric, and this whole thing about her shilly-shallying about her destiny is way too modern for ninth-century England, and not that interesting.

And then there is Dagmar, daughter of a Viking King, and suitable in every way to be bride to Hrald of Four Stones. Except that her father left her nothing. Which is a problem as the whole point of these dynastic marriages is the gold and treasure that the brides bring to enrich their new husband’s family. Attractive and poised as she is, can Hrald really afford to marry someone who has literally nothing?

But Hrald is such a pleasant young man, and so besotted with Dagmar (as we are told repeatedly.) His mother (Elfwyn) is so gentle, his men are respectful. Only his uncle has misgivings, but even he doesn’t carry on. In short, there is no doubt that Hrald will marry Dagmar. But we have to wait until the next volume to find out what really happens.

Five stars for the sensuous prose, wonderful characters, and marvelous descriptions. One star for plot, storyline, and pacing.

Click here to get your copy of WILDSWEPT

Award-Winning Author Promo ENDS today!

What is a thing? Enjoy this tale of Ontology.

Get your free copy of Shades of Unreality here!

Escape into History promo ENDS today!

A tale about my 5 times grandmother set in 1809 during the Napoleonic wars.

Get your free copy of “the end of childhood” here

Octavia Randolph’s THE CIRCLE OF CERIDWEN series, narrated by Nano Nagle.

The first volume in the series

Fifteen-year-old Ceridwen faces a plight common to most girls of her age: the unpalatable choice between taking a man she finds repulsive as a husband, or taking the veil and living a life she may not be called to.  Like most people of that time, her parents are dead. She has lost her uncle some years before. She has been brought up by the local prior, who wants her off his hands now that she has grown up.

As none of the options suits Ceridwen, she bravely decides to leave. So, what does a young woman of 15 take with her when she decides to travel out into the unknown in the year 871?

She takes a mare, 40 pieces of silver, a comb, a wax writing tablet, a shift (chemise), 2 pairs of woolen stockings, a woolen gown, a cloak, a small bronze cooking pot, food bags of barley & rye, turnips & cabbage, a few pastries and loaves, a leathern flask with a stopper, a tinderbox with iron and flint, a cow-skin for a groundsheet, and two blankets.

The fourth volume in the series, this one has the most arresting cover IMHO.

Thus, Ceridwen makes her journey from Wessex, the home of the Anglo-Saxons, towards Jorvik (York), the home of the Vikings, looking for work as a spinner, housekeeper, or maiden to some great lady.

What could possibly go wrong?

I loved this series because it brought the time of Alfred the Great so vividly to life. It brought us back to the struggles between Christianity and Paganism, between the Anglo-Saxons settled in England and the Vikings who appeared in their longships every spring to raid, pillage, and take young women and boys for hostages. Through all six volumes: THE CIRCLE OF CERIDWEN (#1), CERIDWEN OF KILTON (#2), THE CLAIMING (#3), THE HALL OF TYR (#4), TINDR (#5), and SILVER HAMMER, GOLDEN CROSS (#6) Nano Nagle’s voice ebbs and flows, pronouncing everything flawlessly, as we leave Ceridwen’s village in the Midlands for her great Adventure of Life.

Five Stars. #circleofceridwen #nanonagle #octaviarandolph #800sengland

Click here to enjoy THE CIRCLE OF CERIDWEN