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Flight Over Fire #1
Fly by Night
Eleanor Knight is spoiled, bored, a stranger to commitment. Then, in another world, a desperate rite of magic sends a summoning, and in a whirling nightmare of hawkflight Eleanor is borne out of her indulgent unhappiness, and into another place.
On a wind-lashed coast of endless twilight the Cavers, worshippers of the Moon Goddess Astret, exist in an endless present where none can be born and none can die. Creativity is dead, relationships barren. The Cavers must despair or fight, defying the Sun God Lycias whose High priest Lefevre maintains the Stasis from Peraldonia, an ocean away and basking in ageless pleasure under the relentless brilliance of the summer skies.
The rite had been the Cavers' last chance to deal the Stasis a fatal blow; all they achieved was Eleanor who, disoriented and dismayed, wants no part of their problems. But the Moon Goddess will not be denied, and Eleanor sets reluctant foot on her own fated path. A path that will lead her on a dangerous journey southward, beset by the evils of Lefevre's imagining and by the Sun God's tempting deceptions. With her go the driven, tempestuous Caver Lukas Marling, the Peraldonian Phinian Blythe, who has lost everything at Lefevre's hands, and the magnificent, unknowable Arrarat, the sentient hawks who are the Cavers' only allies in their struggle to end the Stasis. But at the end it is to Eleanor, the outsider, that the final, heart-rending agony of choice will fall.
On a wind-lashed coast of endless twilight the Cavers, worshippers of the Moon Goddess Astret, exist in an endless present where none can be born and none can die. Creativity is dead, relationships barren. The Cavers must despair or fight, defying the Sun God Lycias whose High priest Lefevre maintains the Stasis from Peraldonia, an ocean away and basking in ageless pleasure under the relentless brilliance of the summer skies.
The rite had been the Cavers' last chance to deal the Stasis a fatal blow; all they achieved was Eleanor who, disoriented and dismayed, wants no part of their problems. But the Moon Goddess will not be denied, and Eleanor sets reluctant foot on her own fated path. A path that will lead her on a dangerous journey southward, beset by the evils of Lefevre's imagining and by the Sun God's tempting deceptions. With her go the driven, tempestuous Caver Lukas Marling, the Peraldonian Phinian Blythe, who has lost everything at Lefevre's hands, and the magnificent, unknowable Arrarat, the sentient hawks who are the Cavers' only allies in their struggle to end the Stasis. But at the end it is to Eleanor, the outsider, that the final, heart-rending agony of choice will fall.
- GenresFantasy
512 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1992
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 23, 2016
When I first read this book, a long, long time ago, it pretty much blew my mind, for two reasons: Firstly, it was the first non-conventional fantasy I read, at a time when most of the genre was dragons and wizards and quests and assorted Tolkien ripoffs. This was my first exposure to just how limitless the genre can really be, that there can be spacey-wacey, timey-wimey, interdimensional bizarre weird shit and it can still be awesome. It's somewhat weird that it's also a crossover fantasy, from that corny subgenre that was really popular for a while in the late 80s and early 90s where it seemed like every other fantasy book required a protagonist from our world crossing over into the fantasy realm to save the day. I think it's mostly a good thing they've since disappeared almost entirely (it's kind of a clunky premise, and most of them didn't do it that well), but to me, this book is still the exception to the rule. The trope was well-used here, and I never even felt like I had to suspend that much disbelief for it. This fantasy world is weird and beautiful and compelling, and I genuinely enjoyed slowly falling for it along with a POV character to whom it was all as new and strange as to the reader.
Secondly, this book's main character was the first non-likeable fantasy heroine I fell in love with, and laid the foundation for my marked preference for that type of female protagonist ever since. Eleanor Knight, in all her bitchy, selfish, snotty glory, remains the reason why I have so much love for the Katniss Everdeens, the Malta Vestrits, Mazikeens and Vorzhevas of their respective universes: the scratchy, determined, strong-willed, often uncharming leading ladies of fantasy and scifi who don't see the point of faking being someone they're not just to please other people. Eleanor was the first I encountered of their ilk, and she left a strong impression.
Both of these things have stood the test of time: It's still a highly unique and imaginative book (mind-linked giant hawks! creepy monsters! really fucking petty deities!); I still love its central premise and its more surreal aspects, and especially the way it tackles concepts like religion and destiny vs. free will, creativity vs. stagnation; and I still love how flawed, and often downright awful the main character is.
Sadly, there are other elements that don't stand up so well on rereading: more sexism than I noticed before , flaws in the writing, those odd moments when "surreal" and "imaginative" just topple over all the way into batshit insane territory (there are parts of this that MUST have been written on drugs).
Still, on the whole it held up, and I enjoyed rediscovering it. At times like this, having a brain like a sieve is really helpful, because I remember next to nothing about large parts of the trilogy, so I'm very much looking forward to diving into the rest.
Secondly, this book's main character was the first non-likeable fantasy heroine I fell in love with, and laid the foundation for my marked preference for that type of female protagonist ever since. Eleanor Knight, in all her bitchy, selfish, snotty glory, remains the reason why I have so much love for the Katniss Everdeens, the Malta Vestrits, Mazikeens and Vorzhevas of their respective universes: the scratchy, determined, strong-willed, often uncharming leading ladies of fantasy and scifi who don't see the point of faking being someone they're not just to please other people. Eleanor was the first I encountered of their ilk, and she left a strong impression.
Both of these things have stood the test of time: It's still a highly unique and imaginative book (mind-linked giant hawks! creepy monsters! really fucking petty deities!); I still love its central premise and its more surreal aspects, and especially the way it tackles concepts like religion and destiny vs. free will, creativity vs. stagnation; and I still love how flawed, and often downright awful the main character is.
Sadly, there are other elements that don't stand up so well on rereading: more sexism than I noticed before , flaws in the writing, those odd moments when "surreal" and "imaginative" just topple over all the way into batshit insane territory (there are parts of this that MUST have been written on drugs).
Still, on the whole it held up, and I enjoyed rediscovering it. At times like this, having a brain like a sieve is really helpful, because I remember next to nothing about large parts of the trilogy, so I'm very much looking forward to diving into the rest.
March 19, 2018
I've given this book, and its sequels, a slightly generous four stars because I admire the determination of the author to do something adventurous with a genre that, at the time it was written, was struggling to reach beyond the myths, legends and earlier works that formed its foundations. It gave us a fantasy world that was different but recognisable filled with people no better or worse than we are. It is a book about adults written for adults. I think it's fair to say that there is much more of a cynical edge than a blurred romanticism about this series. People do wrong things for the right reasons, achieve bad results from good intentions. There are no easy compromises or wholly happy endings. The series is not without its faults. Some plot lines seem curtailed or rushed to conclusion, some characters and relationships are not as fully realised as they could be, the women are more interesting and better written than the men, but overall the series has left a positive impression. Though not perfect I would certainly rate it highly among the more original and memorable fantasies I've read.
January 13, 2024
The world building was mostly good apart from tediously gendered. At first I thought the gendered nonsense was the whole point, because here and there a female character broke through the dominant narrative a little bit but over the very long, extremely slow moving book this was neutralised by some sort of internalised misogyny which was mild at first but layered over so many times it became more and more obvious.
The worst part was the romance. For starters the context of it was this essentialistic heterosexuality with the god/goddess men are the sun women are the moon nonsense which at first seems complex and nuanced (maybe) the imbalances seem like they might be part of the predicament but oh no! So then you have the protagonist (just barely a protagonist), Eleanor. She is portrayed as selfish, vain, shallow and childish. This point is laboured again and again. At first you think - maybe this is to show the contrast with the world she has come to...but not really.
She's in the context of the sour and barren (that word is even used) Nerissa and the childishly caring , beloved (dead) Karis. Later we get the completely vapid but supposedly beautiful Mariana. Eleanor is set up as being a "bad woman" one who is useless and will be punished/humiliated by the plot. I told myself I was being too cynical and paranoid and kept reading.
Enter Lukas, taciturn, grumpy, capable, self-sufficient, disapproving, kind of brutal but portrayed as somehow attractive to Eleanor. Ugh. It seems obvious what is going to happen. No. Lukas has a love interest. Phew. Lucky escape for Eleanor although she gets broody/jealous about it in a way that makes little sense. Eleanor's rival gets abruptly fried by the goddess for no good reason (dead wives abound in this book BTW). Lukas now hates Eleanor and blames her for it. She is sad because he is attractive (eye rolling from me as reader).
Later on he punches her in the face. She realises she deserved it. He realises she is attractive with a bruised face and they decide they are in forever love (without the relationship at any point having been good). UGH. DV portrayed as valid mating habits. Then she teaches him how to play chess and he is instantly much better at it than her. He goes hunting and gathering in their "eden" and she is making useless sandcastles and insisting she wants to be passive and decorate things. I have met women who want to be passive and spend their lives decorating things but in te book this is portrayed as "natural". Men are active, women are forced to choose when things happen to them.
More eye rolling. Also in the real world as I was reading that part and already horrified a real life celebrity woman was violently murdered by her husband. These stories are not innocent!
Some of the writing early on was good with desciptions of flight, magic and the giant birds. The giant birds became deus ex machina as the book progressed (which I admit is the role of giant birds in books generally - I am looking at you Tolkein). As the book became laboured pseudo-psychological stuff about reality, belief, gods, and heteronormativity I lost interest so I am not sure if the writing actually became less good and the descriptions less compelling or if just the terrible characters had lost me.
I tried to remind myself that this was written in 1990. What was I reading back then? Lord Foul's Bane and Dune and misogynist shit like that and as a female writer Jenny Jones must have had a hard time breaking into the genre...but also it was 1990 not 1960 as I kept thinking reading this (it's full of faux sexual liberation, meaning successful femininity is being as slutty as possible but knowing you are ultimately worthless and useless. Not to be confused with actual sexual agency that can say "yes" and "no" for reasons other than manipulation). Perhaps the 90s actually were like that. I didn't get out much!
IDK. Interesting to read to help me understand how far the genre has come and to put into context the works that are still like this. But I certainly won't be seeking out the rest in the series.
The worst part was the romance. For starters the context of it was this essentialistic heterosexuality with the god/goddess men are the sun women are the moon nonsense which at first seems complex and nuanced (maybe) the imbalances seem like they might be part of the predicament but oh no! So then you have the protagonist (just barely a protagonist), Eleanor. She is portrayed as selfish, vain, shallow and childish. This point is laboured again and again. At first you think - maybe this is to show the contrast with the world she has come to...but not really.
She's in the context of the sour and barren (that word is even used) Nerissa and the childishly caring , beloved (dead) Karis. Later we get the completely vapid but supposedly beautiful Mariana. Eleanor is set up as being a "bad woman" one who is useless and will be punished/humiliated by the plot. I told myself I was being too cynical and paranoid and kept reading.
Enter Lukas, taciturn, grumpy, capable, self-sufficient, disapproving, kind of brutal but portrayed as somehow attractive to Eleanor. Ugh. It seems obvious what is going to happen. No. Lukas has a love interest. Phew. Lucky escape for Eleanor although she gets broody/jealous about it in a way that makes little sense. Eleanor's rival gets abruptly fried by the goddess for no good reason (dead wives abound in this book BTW). Lukas now hates Eleanor and blames her for it. She is sad because he is attractive (eye rolling from me as reader).
Later on he punches her in the face. She realises she deserved it. He realises she is attractive with a bruised face and they decide they are in forever love (without the relationship at any point having been good). UGH. DV portrayed as valid mating habits. Then she teaches him how to play chess and he is instantly much better at it than her. He goes hunting and gathering in their "eden" and she is making useless sandcastles and insisting she wants to be passive and decorate things. I have met women who want to be passive and spend their lives decorating things but in te book this is portrayed as "natural". Men are active, women are forced to choose when things happen to them.
More eye rolling. Also in the real world as I was reading that part and already horrified a real life celebrity woman was violently murdered by her husband. These stories are not innocent!
Some of the writing early on was good with desciptions of flight, magic and the giant birds. The giant birds became deus ex machina as the book progressed (which I admit is the role of giant birds in books generally - I am looking at you Tolkein). As the book became laboured pseudo-psychological stuff about reality, belief, gods, and heteronormativity I lost interest so I am not sure if the writing actually became less good and the descriptions less compelling or if just the terrible characters had lost me.
I tried to remind myself that this was written in 1990. What was I reading back then? Lord Foul's Bane and Dune and misogynist shit like that and as a female writer Jenny Jones must have had a hard time breaking into the genre...but also it was 1990 not 1960 as I kept thinking reading this (it's full of faux sexual liberation, meaning successful femininity is being as slutty as possible but knowing you are ultimately worthless and useless. Not to be confused with actual sexual agency that can say "yes" and "no" for reasons other than manipulation). Perhaps the 90s actually were like that. I didn't get out much!
IDK. Interesting to read to help me understand how far the genre has come and to put into context the works that are still like this. But I certainly won't be seeking out the rest in the series.
April 25, 2024
Quite a few different storylines trying to converge together in this book and it kept swapping from one to the other... It was alright but all in all I wasn't a big fan and it didn't read like a book that was the start of a series more like something that could be read as a stand alone novel.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews