What do you think?
Rate this book
The Spiral #1
Chase the Morning
During a nostalgic visit to the docksides of his youth, Steve, an unassuming import/export agent, steps into another universe, where buccaneers, demigods, and mythic heroes mingle. Reprint.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
13 people are currently reading
394 people want to read
About the author
Michael Scott Rohan
38 books81 followersMichael Scott Rohan (born 1951 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish fantasy and science fiction author and writer on opera.
He had a number of short stories published before his first books, the science fiction novel Run to the Stars and the non-fiction First Byte. He then collaborated with Allan J. Scott on the nonfiction The Hammer and The Cross (an account of Christianity arriving in Viking lands, not to be confused with Harry Harrison's similarly themed novel trilogy of the same name) and the fantasy novels The Ice King and A Spell of Empire.
Rohan is best known for the Ice Age-set trilogy The Winter of the World. He also wrote the Spiral novels, in which our world is the Hub, or Core, of a spiral of mythic and legendary versions of familiar cities, countries and continents.
In the "Author's Note" to The Lord of Middle Air, Rohan asserts that he and Walter Scott have a common ancestor in Michael Scot, who is a character in the novel.
[copied and adapted from en.wikipedia.org]
He had a number of short stories published before his first books, the science fiction novel Run to the Stars and the non-fiction First Byte. He then collaborated with Allan J. Scott on the nonfiction The Hammer and The Cross (an account of Christianity arriving in Viking lands, not to be confused with Harry Harrison's similarly themed novel trilogy of the same name) and the fantasy novels The Ice King and A Spell of Empire.
Rohan is best known for the Ice Age-set trilogy The Winter of the World. He also wrote the Spiral novels, in which our world is the Hub, or Core, of a spiral of mythic and legendary versions of familiar cities, countries and continents.
In the "Author's Note" to The Lord of Middle Air, Rohan asserts that he and Walter Scott have a common ancestor in Michael Scot, who is a character in the novel.
[copied and adapted from en.wikipedia.org]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
April 5, 2013
I have loved this book for a fairly long time now, but have not re-read it in a rather long time, leading to some sweating over the possibility of the Suck Fairy waving her wand. Fortunately, overall that was an unnecessary concern...
The Good
This is still a rollicking fun adventure story. Pirates! Evil! Rescues! Fights! Sailing ships!!
I still adore the concept of ships that can set off at dawn or dusk into the cloud archipelago, and that places exist in both the Core and the Rim. That is, places exist in what we understand as the 'real' world, but those places with long histories especially of trade and contact with the exotic, and thus I guess have a firm grip on the imagination, can exist... outside of the mundane. And this applies to imaginary places as well as real - so Prester John gets a mention, and there's one rather awesome place I remember from one of the later books too. Rohan goes so far as to discuss and explain why this Rim world uses old-fashioned weapons, too, which shows that he's put a deal of thought into it.
I like the characters, mostly. I still love Mall - apparently based somewhat on a real woman attested by occasional mentions in historical records - I love that she is fierce and independent and a superb fighter and a passionate friend. Jyp is still amusing, although seemed a bit... shallower this time around? That is, not as well-rounded as I seem to recall. Maybe he gets more interesting in the later books. And Le Stryge, a rather unpleasant magicky type, is magnificent. If chaotic neutral is allowed to swing towards evil and then towards good, that's him.
And then there's Stephen, our Point of View. I was intrigued to discover that I found him more interesting this time around, and not because I found him any deeper - exactly the opposite. There is less to him, especially initially, and that is indeed the point of the entire book. He's hollow. He's forced other people out of his life, he's marginalised meaningful human contact, to progress his career - and he's made to confront that as the story progresses. And while Stephen is an extreme example, I think it's fair to say that Scott is taking a shot at a whole section of society who have sacrificed love, family, imagination and dreams on the altar of Getting Ahead.
The Bad, or at least The Less Good
There are two aspects that left me somewhat uncomfortable. One to do with gender/sexuality, the other to do with race.
In the first few chapters, Stephen is presented as almost Mad Men-esque in his approach to women. His descriptions of them are physical, and while not entirely callous he does call his secretary 'girl' and his gaze lingers long on boobs. However, this is not entirely approved by the narrative. In fact, his approach to sex and love is very definitely seen as part of his nature as nearing hollow-man status, and this disappoints a number of characters whom the story sets up as moral compasses. So that's an interesting take. Additionally, there is a moment where a female character has a lesbian smooch and Stephen is aghast, and clearly suggests this is not a normal thing to do. Now, it does get written off as shock, this-isn't-really-real, but one of the other characters has no adverse reaction to the kiss, and in fact makes Stephen feel pretty small and pathetic for the way he reacted. So, not entirely positive, but also not entirely negative. Which is better than entirely negative, I suppose?
Also, one of the women is damsel'd pretty early on. On the other hand, there's Mall.
The racial aspect comes in with the voodoo aspect. There's always an issue when a white writer uses a non-white religious/magical/ etc system to their own ends, especially when those ends are not entirely good. Now, Rohan does suggest through the story that the original positive aspects of the African/Carib beliefs have been twisted beyond recognition, and by a colonial desiring power at that, but there is no denying that this book essentially sets up Haitian voodoo as the Big Evil to be combatted. I'm not sure how to grapple with that, except that it made me somewhat uncomfortable to read such appropriation - even when Rohan shows every sign, here and elsewhere, of appropriating other religious systems just as wholesale, to his own ends. So at least he's not limiting himself to non-whites? Also, voodoo is shown not to be entirely evil, which I guess is also something of a redeeming feature. Not entirely, but a little bit.
I still like it. I will read the sequels at some point in the near future. Hooray.
The Good
This is still a rollicking fun adventure story. Pirates! Evil! Rescues! Fights! Sailing ships!!
I still adore the concept of ships that can set off at dawn or dusk into the cloud archipelago, and that places exist in both the Core and the Rim. That is, places exist in what we understand as the 'real' world, but those places with long histories especially of trade and contact with the exotic, and thus I guess have a firm grip on the imagination, can exist... outside of the mundane. And this applies to imaginary places as well as real - so Prester John gets a mention, and there's one rather awesome place I remember from one of the later books too. Rohan goes so far as to discuss and explain why this Rim world uses old-fashioned weapons, too, which shows that he's put a deal of thought into it.
I like the characters, mostly. I still love Mall - apparently based somewhat on a real woman attested by occasional mentions in historical records - I love that she is fierce and independent and a superb fighter and a passionate friend. Jyp is still amusing, although seemed a bit... shallower this time around? That is, not as well-rounded as I seem to recall. Maybe he gets more interesting in the later books. And Le Stryge, a rather unpleasant magicky type, is magnificent. If chaotic neutral is allowed to swing towards evil and then towards good, that's him.
And then there's Stephen, our Point of View. I was intrigued to discover that I found him more interesting this time around, and not because I found him any deeper - exactly the opposite. There is less to him, especially initially, and that is indeed the point of the entire book. He's hollow. He's forced other people out of his life, he's marginalised meaningful human contact, to progress his career - and he's made to confront that as the story progresses. And while Stephen is an extreme example, I think it's fair to say that Scott is taking a shot at a whole section of society who have sacrificed love, family, imagination and dreams on the altar of Getting Ahead.
The Bad, or at least The Less Good
There are two aspects that left me somewhat uncomfortable. One to do with gender/sexuality, the other to do with race.
In the first few chapters, Stephen is presented as almost Mad Men-esque in his approach to women. His descriptions of them are physical, and while not entirely callous he does call his secretary 'girl' and his gaze lingers long on boobs. However, this is not entirely approved by the narrative. In fact, his approach to sex and love is very definitely seen as part of his nature as nearing hollow-man status, and this disappoints a number of characters whom the story sets up as moral compasses. So that's an interesting take. Additionally, there is a moment where a female character has a lesbian smooch and Stephen is aghast, and clearly suggests this is not a normal thing to do. Now, it does get written off as shock, this-isn't-really-real, but one of the other characters has no adverse reaction to the kiss, and in fact makes Stephen feel pretty small and pathetic for the way he reacted. So, not entirely positive, but also not entirely negative. Which is better than entirely negative, I suppose?
Also, one of the women is damsel'd pretty early on. On the other hand, there's Mall.
The racial aspect comes in with the voodoo aspect. There's always an issue when a white writer uses a non-white religious/magical/ etc system to their own ends, especially when those ends are not entirely good. Now, Rohan does suggest through the story that the original positive aspects of the African/Carib beliefs have been twisted beyond recognition, and by a colonial desiring power at that, but there is no denying that this book essentially sets up Haitian voodoo as the Big Evil to be combatted. I'm not sure how to grapple with that, except that it made me somewhat uncomfortable to read such appropriation - even when Rohan shows every sign, here and elsewhere, of appropriating other religious systems just as wholesale, to his own ends. So at least he's not limiting himself to non-whites? Also, voodoo is shown not to be entirely evil, which I guess is also something of a redeeming feature. Not entirely, but a little bit.
I still like it. I will read the sequels at some point in the near future. Hooray.
August 16, 2010
I liked it for the atmosphere, and the idea that is at the base of it – that at the edges of our world exist everything else, and you can find it by turning another street, and that ships are sailing into the sky to go to strange places where time and space bleed together.
April 3, 2011
Wonderful novel about a hapless middle-management type who finds himself inexplicably transported from modern Britain to an alternate world Caribbean full of pirates, voodoo, adventure and romance.
March 22, 2018
A fun novel, recommended to me by Bob Gore, who knew that I liked pirates (especially as seen in Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides). Bob said that Chase the Morning wasn’t as good, and he was right, but it was still worth reading, and worth examining to discover why it isn’t as good.
First off, the story. Steve’s a hollow young urban professional in some modern European city in which the residents speak English, visit pubs, drive nifty sports cars fast, and engage in shipping and receiving. Steve decides to chase a whim one night and finds himself rescuing a diminutive fellow from the intent of three dark fiends. No fantasy involved however. The diminutive fellow is just a short guy, and the fiends are simple muggers. Wrong. These people were using swords. Steve tries to shrug off the incident, although it is the most exciting thing that has happened to him in quite a long time. And he can’t quite forget it, and finds himself again down by the shipyard. In no time, he finds himself involved completely, as he again saves the short guy’s life, watches some kind of voodoo creature escape from a bail of hay, and then has his secretary abducted by the fiends (the “wolves”).
It’s not On Stranger Tides or A.A. Attanasio’s Wyvern. There is a real sense of two different worlds colliding in Chase the Morning, rather than some alternate world (On Stranger Tides) or some new world that strangely resembles our own, but is consistent within itself (Wyvern). Chase the Morning is a fantasy novel in which someone from the real world finds fantastical things happening to them. This can be okay, except most readers are so familiar with the genre (which ranges from C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia,” to Stephen R. Donaldson’s “Thomas Covenant”), that the new author should know what’s been done. Rohan seems somewhat attune to the genre, but I think it’s obvious that he missed the Donaldson books in particular, and that his work suffers from it. In fact, trying to compare Chase the Morning with Lord Foul’s Bain better brings out the problems with Rohan’s book than trying to compare it with Powers, in which the only things really shared there is an idea of a milieu. That’s because Steve is supposed to be an anti-hero, like Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant. It’s tough to write a story in which your main protagonist is an anti-hero, because a reader’s first inclination is to identify with the protagonist of the story, especially in a field like fantasy, where the hero is often a thinly veiled wish fulfillment character of the reader (see Orson Scott Card’s widely successful “Ender” books for the clearest recent example of the same). Covenant works because he is an intensely unlikeable character; he is often so intensely unliked that readers can’t make it through the first part of Lord Foul’s Bain because they can’t, and don’t want to try to, understand Covenant. Donaldson overcomes the problem by allowing minor characters to become personifications of the reader: the mother of the girl he rapes in the third chapter (and who knows of his atrocity) takes Covenant to the lords not because of what he could mean to “the Land” but because she hopes that they will be able to punish him (which she is unable to do because of his “power”) or because she hopes that something good can become of his evil deed (that the lords can use him to save the Land). This is complex stuff for a fantasy novel.
Rohan’s Steve, on the other hand, is a likable character. Oh, sure, he’s described as hollow, but I think most readers wouldn’t necessarily find that a damning description. Steve’s unlikable traits are always described (told) to the reader; when the action gets going, Steve’s always doing the heroic thing (shown). The reader translates this as Steve’s the hero, so when the plot rolls around to using the fact that Steve’s a dweeb who is worthless as a human, the reader’s inclination is to say, “What?” So Chase the Morning is a flawed book. Rohan is someone with potential, though, because he realized that without the anti-hero idea, his novel was just another rehash of the same ol’ dropping the modern character in the fantasy world. That is, Rohan is at least trying to go beyond formula, and while he fails, one should applaud the effort.
First off, the story. Steve’s a hollow young urban professional in some modern European city in which the residents speak English, visit pubs, drive nifty sports cars fast, and engage in shipping and receiving. Steve decides to chase a whim one night and finds himself rescuing a diminutive fellow from the intent of three dark fiends. No fantasy involved however. The diminutive fellow is just a short guy, and the fiends are simple muggers. Wrong. These people were using swords. Steve tries to shrug off the incident, although it is the most exciting thing that has happened to him in quite a long time. And he can’t quite forget it, and finds himself again down by the shipyard. In no time, he finds himself involved completely, as he again saves the short guy’s life, watches some kind of voodoo creature escape from a bail of hay, and then has his secretary abducted by the fiends (the “wolves”).
It’s not On Stranger Tides or A.A. Attanasio’s Wyvern. There is a real sense of two different worlds colliding in Chase the Morning, rather than some alternate world (On Stranger Tides) or some new world that strangely resembles our own, but is consistent within itself (Wyvern). Chase the Morning is a fantasy novel in which someone from the real world finds fantastical things happening to them. This can be okay, except most readers are so familiar with the genre (which ranges from C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia,” to Stephen R. Donaldson’s “Thomas Covenant”), that the new author should know what’s been done. Rohan seems somewhat attune to the genre, but I think it’s obvious that he missed the Donaldson books in particular, and that his work suffers from it. In fact, trying to compare Chase the Morning with Lord Foul’s Bain better brings out the problems with Rohan’s book than trying to compare it with Powers, in which the only things really shared there is an idea of a milieu. That’s because Steve is supposed to be an anti-hero, like Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant. It’s tough to write a story in which your main protagonist is an anti-hero, because a reader’s first inclination is to identify with the protagonist of the story, especially in a field like fantasy, where the hero is often a thinly veiled wish fulfillment character of the reader (see Orson Scott Card’s widely successful “Ender” books for the clearest recent example of the same). Covenant works because he is an intensely unlikeable character; he is often so intensely unliked that readers can’t make it through the first part of Lord Foul’s Bain because they can’t, and don’t want to try to, understand Covenant. Donaldson overcomes the problem by allowing minor characters to become personifications of the reader: the mother of the girl he rapes in the third chapter (and who knows of his atrocity) takes Covenant to the lords not because of what he could mean to “the Land” but because she hopes that they will be able to punish him (which she is unable to do because of his “power”) or because she hopes that something good can become of his evil deed (that the lords can use him to save the Land). This is complex stuff for a fantasy novel.
Rohan’s Steve, on the other hand, is a likable character. Oh, sure, he’s described as hollow, but I think most readers wouldn’t necessarily find that a damning description. Steve’s unlikable traits are always described (told) to the reader; when the action gets going, Steve’s always doing the heroic thing (shown). The reader translates this as Steve’s the hero, so when the plot rolls around to using the fact that Steve’s a dweeb who is worthless as a human, the reader’s inclination is to say, “What?” So Chase the Morning is a flawed book. Rohan is someone with potential, though, because he realized that without the anti-hero idea, his novel was just another rehash of the same ol’ dropping the modern character in the fantasy world. That is, Rohan is at least trying to go beyond formula, and while he fails, one should applaud the effort.
November 6, 2024
I do not know what is wrong with this book - the story is interesting, but there are so many uninteresting details...
I would give 3.5 but for the idea is good
I would give 3.5 but for the idea is good
June 20, 2018
Michael Scott Rohan has a gift for evocative text. He paints vivid pictures with his words, and that's one of the real strengths of this book. The other is Mad Mall, who is great fun as a character. It's not a book without flaws, though. I can certainly see what he was going for with his 80s yuppie protagonist, but understanding that didn't make me warm to the man all that much more - especially in some moments where the racial and gender attitudes of that era come through. Also, the prose can sometimes cross the line from vivid to florid. Still, a good solid read overall and I would definitely check out a Netflix series based on it.
June 22, 2016
Great Read.
I read this book ages ago and I was glad to find it again. It had the same hold on me as the first time I read it and I am looking forward very much to read I g the next on in the series.
I read this book ages ago and I was glad to find it again. It had the same hold on me as the first time I read it and I am looking forward very much to read I g the next on in the series.
September 2, 2019
While perfectly enjoyable, this came as somewhat of a disappointment to me. I really wanted to really like, but instead I just enjoyed it. Better than OK, it comes nowhere near the excellence that is Rohan's work on the Winter of the World trilogy, which I have to admit, I did not fall in love with the first time I read it. Unusually, I found myself wanting to give this book a full five stars because of previous reading experiences, but ended up steadily shaving off a few points here and there, than my usual feeling of starting from a more neutral position and adding mental points.
So, what were the problems? I think I did not really fall for the central setting for one thing. Even as a child, I was never really in love with settings which blended our own world with a fantastical one, such as Narnia, but preferred wholly separate settings, such as Middle Earth. Not quite like this, here Chase the Morning is probably closer to something I consider to be Urban Fantasy - that is fantasy taking place in our world. While there is an element of that to the setting, most of the action takes place in the 'other world', though it is really just our own. However, as the book went on, I definitely became more taken with the concept of the Core and the Spiral.
I think I was a bit disappointed too by the language. Again, probably from comparison with his other work. Here I felt that while Rohan's prose was fine, it was not excellent. Clearly he was going for a different style. However, at times I did feel the pace was rather slow and without an interesting world to explore, or beautiful writing to admire, I really just felt like skipping over bits of monologuing to get to where something was happening. At times even some of the more exciting scenes suffered this way too...
In the end though, I am glad that I did not. There were some pretty interesting ideas in the book - though nothing that I felt I had not come across in some form or another before, and more to the point in books written before this one was published and perhaps influences on Rohan - and in the final few chapters some of these ideas come into full bloom.
Where this book really stands out, I think, is in the author's exploration of the central character. Initially rather odd, as the main protagonist is some kind of merchant banker who could virtually have stepped out of the 60's, and presumed presence in the 90's was only able to be deduced by the presence of computers in his office. However, as we move through the book, we see the character wrestling with his own issues - none of them massively sympathy inducing to the average reader, I would guess, but humanising. However, like any good book, the journey is essential, and it is only on arriving that we can understand how that journey has changed us, and it is the main character's understanding which is the main point to the book. Rohan deals with this well, and in a way which not only took me, if not by surprise then rather, in a way I did not see coming.
While not in a hurry, I am curious to read the second part of this and see if it grows on me... at some point.
So, what were the problems? I think I did not really fall for the central setting for one thing. Even as a child, I was never really in love with settings which blended our own world with a fantastical one, such as Narnia, but preferred wholly separate settings, such as Middle Earth. Not quite like this, here Chase the Morning is probably closer to something I consider to be Urban Fantasy - that is fantasy taking place in our world. While there is an element of that to the setting, most of the action takes place in the 'other world', though it is really just our own. However, as the book went on, I definitely became more taken with the concept of the Core and the Spiral.
I think I was a bit disappointed too by the language. Again, probably from comparison with his other work. Here I felt that while Rohan's prose was fine, it was not excellent. Clearly he was going for a different style. However, at times I did feel the pace was rather slow and without an interesting world to explore, or beautiful writing to admire, I really just felt like skipping over bits of monologuing to get to where something was happening. At times even some of the more exciting scenes suffered this way too...
In the end though, I am glad that I did not. There were some pretty interesting ideas in the book - though nothing that I felt I had not come across in some form or another before, and more to the point in books written before this one was published and perhaps influences on Rohan - and in the final few chapters some of these ideas come into full bloom.
Where this book really stands out, I think, is in the author's exploration of the central character. Initially rather odd, as the main protagonist is some kind of merchant banker who could virtually have stepped out of the 60's, and presumed presence in the 90's was only able to be deduced by the presence of computers in his office. However, as we move through the book, we see the character wrestling with his own issues - none of them massively sympathy inducing to the average reader, I would guess, but humanising. However, like any good book, the journey is essential, and it is only on arriving that we can understand how that journey has changed us, and it is the main character's understanding which is the main point to the book. Rohan deals with this well, and in a way which not only took me, if not by surprise then rather, in a way I did not see coming.
While not in a hurry, I am curious to read the second part of this and see if it grows on me... at some point.
December 21, 2020
Have you ever felt, with a sense verging on a conviction, that if you just took a different turning or went down another street, that you could simply walk right out of this world? Do you suspect that some among the lost and the disappeared, those who go and never come back, are some who did exactly that? Have you felt the shift of the world's scenery and thought that, for a moment, you glimpsed the other scenes upon other stages?
I have. I don't know if Michael Scott Rohan did to, before his death (now, he knows the truth of what he perhaps glimpsed), but Chase the Morning is predicated on just this happening to its hero, Steve, a yuppie shipping agent: the hollow man of the 1980s when greed was good. Steve stumbles out of this world and into another, and then the other world comes after him in this one, and he has no choice but to follow, out of the Core and into the Rim, sailing into the cloud archipelago of the worlds of deep history and deeper imagination that exist in parallel to our own mundane reality. What's more, the Rim is a world of pirates and adventure and dark magic and mystery. If you get to step out of our world directly into another, Rohan's would be one of the most adventuresome to visit. It's a gripping, vivid read, made better by Rohan's excellent prose and well-written characters, none more so than Steve, the slowly filling hollow-man protagonist.
I wonder where Michael Scott Rohan is wandering now. I hope he has visited the Rim and found there adventure beyond any even he imagined.
I have. I don't know if Michael Scott Rohan did to, before his death (now, he knows the truth of what he perhaps glimpsed), but Chase the Morning is predicated on just this happening to its hero, Steve, a yuppie shipping agent: the hollow man of the 1980s when greed was good. Steve stumbles out of this world and into another, and then the other world comes after him in this one, and he has no choice but to follow, out of the Core and into the Rim, sailing into the cloud archipelago of the worlds of deep history and deeper imagination that exist in parallel to our own mundane reality. What's more, the Rim is a world of pirates and adventure and dark magic and mystery. If you get to step out of our world directly into another, Rohan's would be one of the most adventuresome to visit. It's a gripping, vivid read, made better by Rohan's excellent prose and well-written characters, none more so than Steve, the slowly filling hollow-man protagonist.
I wonder where Michael Scott Rohan is wandering now. I hope he has visited the Rim and found there adventure beyond any even he imagined.
February 6, 2021
Enchanted by the seafaring fantasy world that sets anchor in the local seaside port when you least expect. Fascinating concept of the honing of traits across travails in this cloudy land of archipelagos (travels by ship of course) where myths prove to be real, solid and sinister. Not all who travel here have minds brave enough to acknowledge the realities of this world, but those who have are powered up, either for good or for evil, over time. Brilliantly demonstrated in the finale in the third book in the series. One of my favorite re-reads.
I do not acknowledge traditional literary scales of judgement, but only what I save in my re-read box! I have read a lot though, and this qualifies, but may not be to everyone's taste.
Those who enjoy this may also like (maybe even more) the adventures of Harry Dresden, wizard, in Chicago (it grows on you after the first book), Thomas Covenant the unbeliever (fight past the painful first chapters), the Narnia books, their grown up rip-off "the Magicians" and Mark Chadbourns "Age of misrule" books; maybe even the "Mythago wood" books that are fascinating but a little harder to digest (i.e. not in my re-read box).
I do not acknowledge traditional literary scales of judgement, but only what I save in my re-read box! I have read a lot though, and this qualifies, but may not be to everyone's taste.
Those who enjoy this may also like (maybe even more) the adventures of Harry Dresden, wizard, in Chicago (it grows on you after the first book), Thomas Covenant the unbeliever (fight past the painful first chapters), the Narnia books, their grown up rip-off "the Magicians" and Mark Chadbourns "Age of misrule" books; maybe even the "Mythago wood" books that are fascinating but a little harder to digest (i.e. not in my re-read box).
March 12, 2020
A pretty confusing read, but really creative. I'm interested to see how the second book picks up from here. I except most of the same characters.
Want to read
April 29, 20232P
August 5, 2023
Unusual, vivid & enjoyable pirate story
December 9, 2023
The start of an unusual but interesting series
Want to read
February 1, 2026book_id:136
February 10, 2012
This book (and the two others in the trilogy) have a lot to answer for - especially in the eyes of my parents. I loved this book from the first time I read it - despite the first person narration - due to the brilliant characters and writing style. The plot, featuring as it does, pirates, voodoo and a variety of locations will probably feel more familiar to people post POTC than it did to 17 yr old me. I loved the way in which our lead character - essentially a corporate shell by choice - is dragged slowly but steadily into a world far stranger than he realised where time and space is fluid and voodoo gods exist. Some sequences have never left my mind - notably one involving a New Orleans graveyard.
Why did this book raise the ire of my parents? It was the book that introduced me (more broadly) to Goethe and Dante - especially in later works - which in turn led to me chucking away the chance to read medicine at University for a degree in German literature (with a module in classics).
Why did this book raise the ire of my parents? It was the book that introduced me (more broadly) to Goethe and Dante - especially in later works - which in turn led to me chucking away the chance to read medicine at University for a degree in German literature (with a module in classics).
December 6, 2010
This is a beautiful book but it's not for teens. And not because it's boring or complicated, nothing like that, it's about the identification with the main character. I really felt like I was akin to Steve, where life is perfect by the normal standards but you remember those childhood days when everything was surprising and on summer days the time felt like goo and eyes were sparkling with wonder.
What is this book about? Pirates? Yes, formally speaking. But for me it was mostly about feeling alive, sense of adventure and nostalgia.
On top of that, story is fascinating, prose is vivid and you can't go to sleep before finishing the book. What more do you need from a book?
What is this book about? Pirates? Yes, formally speaking. But for me it was mostly about feeling alive, sense of adventure and nostalgia.
On top of that, story is fascinating, prose is vivid and you can't go to sleep before finishing the book. What more do you need from a book?
July 3, 2012
Brilliant book (first of a trilogy, with some associated shorts). This is a nice approach to a parallel worlds scenario, with the earth we know at the centre of The Spiral - and things getting wierder the further from the centre you get, with much of the action for this first one set in the days of sail - Nelson's Navy rather than Tea Clippers. A limited amount of credible magic, principally Voodoo, and a lot of nice twists on obscure bits of folklore. Michael Scot Rohan has found his strength!
April 26, 2016
Can not say i hated it but i surly didn't like it that much. The author's use of old and made up language makes this book hard to read. If the author had not resorted to this tactic and stuck with plain English the book would definitely be much more enjoyable. The story it self though was interesting what one can make of it that is. It is quite confusing, and leaves one shaking their head thinking "Wtf". 2 stars.. Because like i said ..I didn't hate it.. But i didn't like it all that much. So it was "Ok" I will not though be reading the rest of the books in this series
August 25, 2025
I have to confess, this is not the first time I’ve read this book. Or the second….it’s maybe the fourth time, since I bought this copy in 1990.
Whilst the physical book is a little tired and dog eared, the metaphysical book is still radiantly fresh, and just as exciting to read as that lucky day that I first stumbled across it. So now I’m re-reading The Gates of Noon, and doing my best not to remember anything of the plot.
I’ve loved this story for a long time. I hope you will too.
Whilst the physical book is a little tired and dog eared, the metaphysical book is still radiantly fresh, and just as exciting to read as that lucky day that I first stumbled across it. So now I’m re-reading The Gates of Noon, and doing my best not to remember anything of the plot.
I’ve loved this story for a long time. I hope you will too.
didnotfinish
November 5, 2013I stopped about 2/3 of the way through - I just didn't care whether the rescue was successful or if the main went home or stayed or what was about to happen on the next page. Just, meh. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for it.
February 21, 2016
Very good book. Pirates, loas, zombies, magic, sailing ship battles, a demon, Wolves, and a businessman named Steve -- there's something for almost everyone. The battle between magicians was fascinating and different than any I'd read before.
June 6, 2012
Been a while since I've read this book, it's a long time favourite. But reading it now the "real world" sections feel terribly dated whilst the fantasy section is as strong as ever. It's a strange contrast.
October 27, 2015
Clear writing, great characters, superb dialogues, brilliant magic and more than that - a work that ponders with the 'emptiness' we feel, stuck in a rut of salary-rent/mortgage-date-love-children life, against a backdrop of a swashbuckling adventure story. Absolutely loved it.
March 16, 2016
Slow, flowery prose. I genuinely didn't care about any of the characters or what happened to them. The central plot was a quest to rescue a character we'd barely met, launched upon by an apathetic office drone. Combine that with 40+ pages per chapter, and it felt like a chore for the most part.
February 17, 2011
Readable for holidays
September 30, 2011
Once in a while I like a good fantasy book, and this one I really enjoyed. The concept of an alternate universe sort of blended into ours was a cool concept, and fun to read.
June 19, 2012
A favorite, I've read it several times.
January 13, 2022
Das Buch hat mich sofort in seinen Bann gezogen. Die Idee, dass alte Orte eine Verbindung in die Vergangenheit behalten, fand und finde ich immer noch großartig.
April 27, 2015
Baah!...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews