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The Rulers of Hylor #1
A Princess of the Chameln
When the Chameln are overrun by troops from a neighboring land, the orphaned heir of the ruling family Firn flees to another country where she acquires the strength to free her people.
275 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 1, 2018
The first of The Rulers of Hylor series, this is the only one I really loved. This is the story of exile and Wilder perfectly captures the lingering loss and loneliness of being unable to go home. This is what I call a “distance” book. Written more as if one were being told a legend around a campfire than with the “awful intimacy of I personal” that so often characterizes urban fantasy. (McKillip is another mistress of this style of writing.) If you don’t like that feeling of almost floating above a story as you read it, then this may not touch you as much as it did me. Oh yeah and it contains one of my favorite tropes, a woman in disguise.
April 5, 2022
The 1980s saw a burgeoning of fantasy literature of varying quality. Much of it was derivative tripe marketed to voracious but uncritical sword & sorcery fans. But among the flood of material were some real gems that offered nuanced characters in beautifully realized believably fantastic worlds. Cherry Wilder's Rulers of Hylor series, of which this book is the first installment, falls into that latter category of rare treasures.
A brief digression on the pitfalls of serial fantasy: Will this book tell a whole story? Will I know what is going on? Wilder handles this well. Each entry stands comfortably on its own, but each in turn fills out the whole without much repetitions. Characters return, larger themes emerge, and the three portraits Wilder paints for us emerge into a grander landscape than any book could carry alone.
As the introductory book, A Princess of the Chameln has a lot of the heavy lifting to do in establishing the lands of Hylor, and does so through our protagonist, a young woman whose sheltered life is disrupted by the intrigues and troubles faced by her homeland, an old kingdom pressed by younger and more expansionist lands.
Aidris am Firn is the heir of a royal line a thousand years old, daughter of one of two families which share the dual kingship that unites the two peoples who inhabit the Chameln Lands. When her parents are abruptly killed in a murky plot instigated by rival realms to the south, Aidris is sent into hiding, first at a country manor in her own kingdom, and later abroad to a rustic, peaceable land where she exists in safe anonymity, learning patience and the strength of character she will need to lead her people when the time comes to reclaim her homeland.
There is romance, and magic, and adventure, and battles, and of course Aidris will triumph and become queen. But somehow Wilder paces events so that it is the character of the young woman as she grows to maturity - brave, intelligent, resourceful, modest and patient - that holds the focus of this slow-cooker, slice-of-life tale.
Aidris is good company, alert & interested, and the reader learns of her world as she does. We learn politics and tangled family histories from a ground-level view, from someone forced by circumstance to consider them carefully. How Aidris spends her years of exile shapes her to better suit her future role, and if the pace is slow, it is rewarding.
Her insights and reflections also set up events of the subsequent books, which follow other members of her extended family, where we see her again through their eyes - a cameo appearance in the second book, a continuing presence in the third. Both follow male protagonists, but with plenty of well-realized women making impactful appearances as well.
This is not a book about a fairy ballerina in pink tulle with a glitter tiara. It is about a young woman choosing the best course to keep her trust with the role her birth has assigned her, with quiet strength, courage, intelligence, skill, and measured patience.
A brief digression on the pitfalls of serial fantasy: Will this book tell a whole story? Will I know what is going on? Wilder handles this well. Each entry stands comfortably on its own, but each in turn fills out the whole without much repetitions. Characters return, larger themes emerge, and the three portraits Wilder paints for us emerge into a grander landscape than any book could carry alone.
As the introductory book, A Princess of the Chameln has a lot of the heavy lifting to do in establishing the lands of Hylor, and does so through our protagonist, a young woman whose sheltered life is disrupted by the intrigues and troubles faced by her homeland, an old kingdom pressed by younger and more expansionist lands.
Aidris am Firn is the heir of a royal line a thousand years old, daughter of one of two families which share the dual kingship that unites the two peoples who inhabit the Chameln Lands. When her parents are abruptly killed in a murky plot instigated by rival realms to the south, Aidris is sent into hiding, first at a country manor in her own kingdom, and later abroad to a rustic, peaceable land where she exists in safe anonymity, learning patience and the strength of character she will need to lead her people when the time comes to reclaim her homeland.
There is romance, and magic, and adventure, and battles, and of course Aidris will triumph and become queen. But somehow Wilder paces events so that it is the character of the young woman as she grows to maturity - brave, intelligent, resourceful, modest and patient - that holds the focus of this slow-cooker, slice-of-life tale.
Aidris is good company, alert & interested, and the reader learns of her world as she does. We learn politics and tangled family histories from a ground-level view, from someone forced by circumstance to consider them carefully. How Aidris spends her years of exile shapes her to better suit her future role, and if the pace is slow, it is rewarding.
Her insights and reflections also set up events of the subsequent books, which follow other members of her extended family, where we see her again through their eyes - a cameo appearance in the second book, a continuing presence in the third. Both follow male protagonists, but with plenty of well-realized women making impactful appearances as well.
This is not a book about a fairy ballerina in pink tulle with a glitter tiara. It is about a young woman choosing the best course to keep her trust with the role her birth has assigned her, with quiet strength, courage, intelligence, skill, and measured patience.
November 9, 2008
BORRRRRing...
September 7, 2024
Not necessarily an easy breezy read, but a very rewarding one. Very moving at times.
Read
October 23, 2025First, they murdered her parents... Even as the King and Queen lay dying, the armies of the Mel'Nir swarm across the borders. And so Aidris, Princess and heir to the kingdom of Chameln, must flee her land or herself be killed... or worse, made the wedded slave of a barbarian king. Thus begin the adventures of a maiden born to rule who must first learn the arts of survival in a world where every man's hand seems raised against her. Only then can she control the Power that dwells within her and be ready when her people come to claim her as their Queen: ready to rule, ready to fight --- ready to die that her country may live free. For if she cannot or will not save them, then the people of Chameln will be slaves forever.
April 12, 2022
Remembering this is the Author's first book, it was slow reading. It was sometimes hard to follow transitions of the story. If you go by the span of time, it gives them all a good covering. However, this means the real meat of the story which only covers a year less coverage than the first 7 years. I don't think I'll be reading any of her other novels for a while. I have many others that I prefer.
February 17, 2017
2.5 stars. In a way I feel bad for not giving this a higher rating; it is not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination.
Aidris, the princess of the title, is the heir of the Firn, one of the two royal families that rule the wide plains of the Chameln people. When her parents are assassinated and the ruler from the other family dies, the plains are invaded by their neighbours, the warlike Mel'Nir and Aidris is forced to flee into exile to avoid death or capture. She becomes a kedran, a cavalry soldier, in a nearby realm and learns the ways of war, always preparing for the day when she can reclaim her birthright.
The story sounds perhaps a little clichéd, and to be fair it probably is, but this was written in the 1980s when the idea was perhaps not as hackneyed as it is now. And it is a well-written book; Cherry Wilder was clearly a skilled author. Her characters are well-drawn and the world-building in particular is very well done. I loved her descriptions of the life of the Chameln people -it had the feel of a real, working culture.
So why only two and a half stars? It had a choppy, episodic feel I couldn't take to; it was as thought the author had written a bunch of short stories about this character and then put them all together as a novel. I couldn't help feeling this would've worked far better as an anthology - we have a description of Aidris' life as a princess and her subsequent flight, and then several different stories as her adventures as a kedran before her return. It just didn't gel, and I found my attention wandering several times. I've read several other 'older' books in the genre that have a similar format, so maybe it was a more common practise back then, I don't know.
I feel bad because this really is a genuinely good book. If you wouldn't find the episodic nature off-putting then you could do worse than picking up a copy (particularly if you find the first edition with its gorgeous cover in a second hand book store!). Oh, and although it's the first of a trilogy it is a complete story in itself - you don't need to read book 2 to appreciate this well-written novel.
Aidris, the princess of the title, is the heir of the Firn, one of the two royal families that rule the wide plains of the Chameln people. When her parents are assassinated and the ruler from the other family dies, the plains are invaded by their neighbours, the warlike Mel'Nir and Aidris is forced to flee into exile to avoid death or capture. She becomes a kedran, a cavalry soldier, in a nearby realm and learns the ways of war, always preparing for the day when she can reclaim her birthright.
The story sounds perhaps a little clichéd, and to be fair it probably is, but this was written in the 1980s when the idea was perhaps not as hackneyed as it is now. And it is a well-written book; Cherry Wilder was clearly a skilled author. Her characters are well-drawn and the world-building in particular is very well done. I loved her descriptions of the life of the Chameln people -it had the feel of a real, working culture.
So why only two and a half stars? It had a choppy, episodic feel I couldn't take to; it was as thought the author had written a bunch of short stories about this character and then put them all together as a novel. I couldn't help feeling this would've worked far better as an anthology - we have a description of Aidris' life as a princess and her subsequent flight, and then several different stories as her adventures as a kedran before her return. It just didn't gel, and I found my attention wandering several times. I've read several other 'older' books in the genre that have a similar format, so maybe it was a more common practise back then, I don't know.
I feel bad because this really is a genuinely good book. If you wouldn't find the episodic nature off-putting then you could do worse than picking up a copy (particularly if you find the first edition with its gorgeous cover in a second hand book store!). Oh, and although it's the first of a trilogy it is a complete story in itself - you don't need to read book 2 to appreciate this well-written novel.
September 9, 2016
3.5 stars from Kate, read the full review at FANTASY LITERATURE
In A Princess of the Chameln, Cherry Wilder tells the story of Aidris Am Firn, whose parents, the king and queen of the Firn and one half of the rulership of the Chameln, are attacked in front of her. As her last living act, Aidris’s mother gives her a magical stone that will aid her in the future, and commands her not to let anyone else see it. Not long after, another assassination is attempted on her life and the life of her cousin, Sharn Am Zor, the prince who is destined to rule at Aidris’s side when they are grown. Aidris is sent to live with regent after regent, constantly on the run for her life, while she tries to seek out who poses a threat to her rule.
In some ways A Princess of the Chameln felt episodic rather than following one clearly-defined course of action. Aidris moves from location to location, learning new skills and hiding her identity, until she is finally able to announce her queenship when her closest friend and protector, Count Bajan, arrives to support her claim to the throne. One of my favorite parts of the book was Aidris’s training as a warrior, part of the Kedran, a group of female soldiers meant to protect a house. It seemed like one of the happiest and most carefree parts of her life, living among other women with no suspicion that she is royal....read the full review at FANTASY LITERATURE
In A Princess of the Chameln, Cherry Wilder tells the story of Aidris Am Firn, whose parents, the king and queen of the Firn and one half of the rulership of the Chameln, are attacked in front of her. As her last living act, Aidris’s mother gives her a magical stone that will aid her in the future, and commands her not to let anyone else see it. Not long after, another assassination is attempted on her life and the life of her cousin, Sharn Am Zor, the prince who is destined to rule at Aidris’s side when they are grown. Aidris is sent to live with regent after regent, constantly on the run for her life, while she tries to seek out who poses a threat to her rule.
In some ways A Princess of the Chameln felt episodic rather than following one clearly-defined course of action. Aidris moves from location to location, learning new skills and hiding her identity, until she is finally able to announce her queenship when her closest friend and protector, Count Bajan, arrives to support her claim to the throne. One of my favorite parts of the book was Aidris’s training as a warrior, part of the Kedran, a group of female soldiers meant to protect a house. It seemed like one of the happiest and most carefree parts of her life, living among other women with no suspicion that she is royal....read the full review at FANTASY LITERATURE
January 23, 2018
I reviewed this book a few years ago for the online magazine The Silver Petticoat Review. Here's an excerpt
"When I picked up this book, I definitely expected to experience some familiar aspects of fantasy and I hoped as well to encounter something new and imaginative. My expectations were not fulfilled. There were some typical fantasy elements indeed, but they didn’t hold my interest. I found myself struggling sometimes to continue following the story."
Read my full review at the site:A Warning About Venturing Into The Land of the Chameln
"When I picked up this book, I definitely expected to experience some familiar aspects of fantasy and I hoped as well to encounter something new and imaginative. My expectations were not fulfilled. There were some typical fantasy elements indeed, but they didn’t hold my interest. I found myself struggling sometimes to continue following the story."
Read my full review at the site:A Warning About Venturing Into The Land of the Chameln
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews