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Rhapsody: Child of Blood

(Symphony of Ages #1)

Elizabeth Haydon

3.95 · Rating details · 18,150 ratings · 537 reviews

The brilliant new saga is born ...

Rhapsody is a woman, a Singer of some talent, who is swept up into events of world-shattering import. On the run from an old romantic interest who won't take no for an answer, Rhapsody literally bumps into a couple of shady characters: half-breeds who come to her rescue in the nick of time. Only the rescue turns into an abduction, and Rhap ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 656 pages

Published June 15th 2000 by Tor Fantasy (first published September 4th 1999)

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3.95 ·

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· 18,150 ratings · 537 reviews

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Apr 15, 2011 Chris rated it did not like it

There are aspects of this book that are worth more than one star. Achmed, one of the book's central protagonists, is reasonably awesome. Grunthor is pretty likeable in a gruff ogre sort of way. But things would be far more tolerable without Rhapsody, the third in the company, the heroine supreme. When you feel that way about the book's/series' namesake, it reflects poorly on the author. The plot was just interesting enough to keep me reading (did it for Achmed), but I just kept getting punished There are aspects of this book that are worth more than one star. Achmed, one of the book's central protagonists, is reasonably awesome. Grunthor is pretty likeable in a gruff ogre sort of way. But things would be far more tolerable without Rhapsody, the third in the company, the heroine supreme. When you feel that way about the book's/series' namesake, it reflects poorly on the author. The plot was just interesting enough to keep me reading (did it for Achmed), but I just kept getting punished for my effort. Rhapsody is a fantasy classic, master of all trades (musician/healer/fighter/pyromancer/former-hooker/girl of prophecy). She left her family to chase a boy and ends up in the company of monster-men Achmed and Grunthor, and they embark on a grueling, duldrum, underground epic journey (where her beauty levels up from 60 to god-mode). Despite the dullness of this period, I dreaded the journey's end because it would mean Rhapsody interacting with humans again (shudders). See... every time Rhapsody meets a man, this happens:
Painfully lengthy description of Rhapsody's appearance->"weak trembling knees"->reaction in trousers->vague fantasy involving her hair
Repeat: this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME she meets ANYONE, including NPCs. She causes accidents in the streets, townspeople chase after her like a $100 bill on the wind, she starts wars. And ever so humbly and endearingly, she is totally oblivious. What a nitwit. She also has an irritating habit of adopting every stray child that comes her way.

Enough about Rhapsody; she's not worth it. Another issue I had with the book was the forgone opportunity. As the trio emerges in an unfamiliar place, they have no knowledge of who the baddies are. Gasp, what an opportunity to explore morality, trust, complexities of good and evil. But no. You can identify the villains as the ones sacrificing and violating small children. The easiest, most sympathetic targets. BORING. Plus I have issues with villains with the ultimate goal of destroying the world. Manipulating and controlling the world, sure. But destroying the known universe? What's the motivation? Lazy writing. There's a lot of lazy, repetitive, overly dramatic writing to be found. I nearly gave up on this book multiple times (which I never do), and rewarded with some decent Achmed-centered plot in the last 200 pages (but also had to suffer the stupidity of new characters like Jo and Ashe). The book ends with a cliffhanger but I have absolutely no compulsion to read any more Haydon.

...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ Rabid Reads-no-more rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I absolutely adore this series. The characters are great, the world-building is AMAZEBALLS, and even my dad likes it (and my dad hates everything except LOTR).

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Apr 20, 2008 Jocelyn No rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Romance-novel loving Faire-Goers.

Recommended to Jocelyn by: Amy

Shelves: fantasy

The good: This book is very well plotted - in fact the series is very well plotted. The overall story was gripping. I think I saw that the author is a musician, and used music theory to help structure the book. That's a pretty neat idea. The heroine consistently is the one moving the plot forward, and is clearly the hero, all men are rescued by her and not the other way around. Girl power! (Too bad she's such an idiot - which brings us to...).

The bad: The writing and characterization of the peop The good: This book is very well plotted - in fact the series is very well plotted. The overall story was gripping. I think I saw that the author is a musician, and used music theory to help structure the book. That's a pretty neat idea. The heroine consistently is the one moving the plot forward, and is clearly the hero, all men are rescued by her and not the other way around. Girl power! (Too bad she's such an idiot - which brings us to...).

The bad: The writing and characterization of the people in the book was pretty terrible. The main character and name-sake of this book is basically a 1970's romance novel heroine, thrown into a fantasy novel (which was pretty funny, ac-tually, once I figured that out). It was disorienting to have the main character, the one you're supposed to identify with, be so irritatingly perfect in a Harlequinne sort of way. Not to mention that every man who saw her instantly fell in love, and I don't care how hot you are, no woman is attractive to every man in the world (not to mention, where were all the gay people in this universe?). And the way the men reacted to Rhapsody (to a man - hah hah) was absurd. I can't think of a single one that didn't want to either possess her (ie, the bad guys) or fall in love with her (ie, the good guys) by the end of the series. The transitions in characterization were awkward at best and totally absent at worst. For instance, one character went from riding down children in the street (to the horror of our romance heroine - SAVE THE CHILDREN) to rescuing her from freezing to death with absolutely no exposition in between. It's like Rhapsody decided he was good and Tra-La! 'Twas so. These problems do get better as time goes on, and the third book is almost bearable, it's all still awfully annoying.

The Ugly: Oh, the word choices. Oh, the terrible dialog. In this land, if something is "very", it is always "more (fill in the blank) than you can imagine." There are no unused adjectives - why would there be a crown of gold when it could be a crown of purest gold? Etc, etc, ad nauseum. The descriptions... they go on for pages, my friends. I ended up skip-ping over loads of stuff and just reading the dialog (because I did want to know what happened, the bones of the story and the plotting are really good), and I noticed that this author has the same problem with scenes - every little detail of every little action is related. I've read some writing manuals that suggest coming up with a complete and through back-story for your characters but in addition to doing this, Ms. Hayden wrote it all down. In short, Hemingway would choke on these three books, and would glad of his impending death rather than finish the series.

In sum - it's a great plot, but if you have short patience with wordy authors, don't like being irritated with characters, have an aversion to fake Welsh, or dislike the word "lore" (oh, man, how I hate that word) pass this one by.

Please pardon me while I rinse my brain out with “The Sun Also Rises” and some Charles de Lint (whatever his faults, he’s never overly wordy). ...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Liz rated it did not like it

Shelves: bad-writing, hello-mary-sue, needs-an-editor-liek-whoa, wank-wank-wank, boring, craptastical, high-fantasy, i-ve-wiped-my-ass-with-better, romance-novel-crap, author-fail

I love sci-fi/fantasy and I was suckered in by many of the good reviews on Amazon. It did sound interesting, three people transported hundreds of years into the future, so I gave it a shot. I still can't believe I wasted two days on this book and the two following it. I curse the fact that I'm one of the sort of people that needs resolution, even if it means wading through three books of complete drivel.

Achmed and Grunthor were the only reasons I didn't use this book to start a bonfire. Those tw I love sci-fi/fantasy and I was suckered in by many of the good reviews on Amazon. It did sound interesting, three people transported hundreds of years into the future, so I gave it a shot. I still can't believe I wasted two days on this book and the two following it. I curse the fact that I'm one of the sort of people that needs resolution, even if it means wading through three books of complete drivel.

Achmed and Grunthor were the only reasons I didn't use this book to start a bonfire. Those two are actually interesting characters, even if they're turned into metaphorical eunuchs later on. I skipped pages to read more about them and to get away from Mary Sue--oh, sorry, I mean Rhapsody.

Let's talk about Rhapsody. How perfect does a character really need to be? This woman is blond, thin, beautiful beyond description, modest, magically talented, an expert swordswoman, loves all children -- excuse me while I go retch.

She started out fairly well, a former prostitute trying to escape from an over-attentive client, but it all went downhill after that. When she's "reborn" in the fire and becomes Ms. I'm So Perfect, she becomes utterly unbearable. Page after page is spent talking about her beauty and the affect it has on everyone around her -- which she, of course, has no knowledge of. I was grinding my teeth before I even made it a third of the way through the book.

The horror that is Rhapsody herself aside, this book has way too many other flaws for me to recommend it. How much of a history lesson do we really need? Personally, I was almost put to sleep every time a character felt the need to lecture us for pages on end about their world's history and politics. It's boring. In fact that pretty much sums up the majority of this book.

Even Achmed and Grunthor start to become a little worn by the end of the book. What made them fun is slowly stripped away by their mindless devotion to Rhapsody and their increasingly out-of-character behavior.

This book, the whole trilogy, actually, is little more than a romance novel wrapped in the thin disguise of a fantasy book. If that's your sort of thing and you don't mind nauseatingly perfect, sugarcoated heroines, then you'll probably like this. If, however, you're looking for an intelligent book with a believable plot, well-rounded characters and gripping dialogue, you'll want to look elsewhere. ...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Small Creek rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: no one with a pulse

Something else to go on that long list of awful things through which I put myself. Torturous volumes of Angel Sanctuary tops it, I think, but this has to come a close second.

Rhapsody is an awful Mary Sue and every sweet chime of her irresistible voice and sweeping charm was an affront to my very being. Why, then, did I put myself through four episodes before a) I couldn't take anymore and b) the school library ran out of copies? It was all for Achmed, my friends--one of the two likable character ...more

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Jul 09, 2010 Keiji Miashin rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I’m conflicted here.

I like this book.
But it’s a bad book.

The story, the basic premise and idea… They sound interesting.
I can’t tell you whether they actually are because, despite all pages in the book, the basic beginning force of the story isn’t explained. Not surprising really, as that’s most likely being saved for exploration further down the series. The plot contained in this particular book itself, the journey of Rhapsody, Achmed, and Grunthor, THAT part I did find quite enjoyable and would ...more

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Jul 07, 2016 Mimi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, vaginal-fantasy, high-fantasy, fantasy-romance

Not quite 3 stars but more than 2, and kind of a bore, really.

Neither the characters or the story or even the world itself was of any interest to me. Not even the time travel arc got to me, which is a big deal because I tend to like time travel elements (when they're done well and made sense). Overall though, I can't really say what it is exactly that didn't engage me, other than all those things I just listed. Hah. The writing alone wasn't bad, nor was it any good. The whole thing was rather b ...more

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Nov 13, 2007 Hack rated it liked it

while i really enjoyed the world set up in this book (enough that i am willing to read the sequel), there were some major problems. i liked the entire first half of the novel where Rhapsody was kidnapped and traveled through the root of the world and ended up in the future. the part that i started having problems with was firstly, Rhapsody, in her travels, is transformed into the most beautiful woman ever. this isn't as annoying as her total refusal (read denial) that this is the case. she think while i really enjoyed the world set up in this book (enough that i am willing to read the sequel), there were some major problems. i liked the entire first half of the novel where Rhapsody was kidnapped and traveled through the root of the world and ended up in the future. the part that i started having problems with was firstly, Rhapsody, in her travels, is transformed into the most beautiful woman ever. this isn't as annoying as her total refusal (read denial) that this is the case. she thinks that she looks freakish because everyone (male) keeps looking at her. this is interesting for a little while, but rapidly becomes obnoxious. the second problem with the character is her penchant for picking up stray children. i feel that this is in there to make the reader like the character, but it really just makes me want to strangle her. after a while, i want her to stop "adopting" kids into her family. on the plus side, the character of Achmed is a fascinating enigma. he is curt to the point of rudeness, but still has human moments. his face is disfigured, and this, too, is a mystery that is worth reading more of the trilogy to find out why.

overall, i really liked most of the supporting characters (with two noticeable exceptions). the two exceptions are another of Rhapsody's "adoptions", her "sister" and the other is Ashe, whom i have the feeling that the reader is supposed to like, despite his portrayal as socially inept. i find the character irritating and unrealistic (i know that word hardly applies in a fantasy novel, but the character seems to have really strange motivations). this may prove to be a problem since he may be shaping into the love interest (which would annoy me since i obviously prefer Achmed). also, the hood that covers the face of Achmed is interesting and intriguing, but the hood that covers Ashe is just irritating. perhaps it is a sign of an overused plot device. Achmed is still compelling enough that i will continue the trilogy, but i'm not sure that i'm in love with the main character or her apparent love interest. ...more

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Jun 13, 2015 Jana rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, 1-star

DNFed at page 49. A fourteen-year-old royal-born boy is sent one thousand years backward in time, is completely unfazed by this process, instantly falls in love with The Most Beautiful and Obviously Intelligent Girl Ever in the History of Ever, and obviously they're soulmates, so it's totally cool that they have lots of sex. Oh, did I mention that they meet and sleep together on the night before her fourteenth birthday? Gosh, how utterly romantic, and obviously the truest and most important love ...more

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May 13, 2019 Sotiris Karaiskos rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, high-fantasy

It is always nice to start a new series of high fantasy, to move again to a different fantastic world at the beginning of a long story and to know new people who will keep you company for too many pages. Of course, the new one in this genre is a relative concept but it does not matter. In the first book of the series we seem to have a beginning with the classic pattern of modern high fantasy, with a preface that seems to be totally irrelevant, a brief introduction to understand where we are and It is always nice to start a new series of high fantasy, to move again to a different fantastic world at the beginning of a long story and to know new people who will keep you company for too many pages. Of course, the new one in this genre is a relative concept but it does not matter. In the first book of the series we seem to have a beginning with the classic pattern of modern high fantasy, with a preface that seems to be totally irrelevant, a brief introduction to understand where we are and then a journey. On this journey we know better the main heroes and slowly the fantastic world where all these things are evolving that is facing a very great threat. The problem, however, is that this trip does not seem to have a very clear destination. In the beginning our heroes are moving towards an unknown purpose, some ideas are appearing in the middle of some disaster that threatens the world and have to deal with it but are abandoned quickly and eventually we end up in a completely different situation where only there we have more information. One other issue is the speed of this journey as the writer takes a lot of time to describe less important things, and for some very important developments that could fit into a whole book, she only devotes a few chapters. However, certainly the characters are not an issue, with first the protagonist of this story, the beautiful and emotional Rhapsody, are particularly special, with the author presenting them and evolving them in an ideal way, giving great weight to their relationship and the different feelings it causes. These characters are the main asset of the book and make the story interesting, making me overcome any weaknesses and ambiguities that exist in it and to want to move forward immediately to the next book.

Πάντα είναι ωραίο να ξεκινάς μία καινούργια σειρά υψηλής φαντασίας, να μεταφέρεσαι και ξανά σε ένα διαφορετικό φανταστικό κόσμο, στην αρχή μιας μεγάλης ιστορίας και να γνωρίζεις νέους ανθρώπους που θα σου κρατήσουν συντροφιά για πάρα πολλές σελίδες. Βέβαια το καινούργιο σε αυτό το είδος είναι μία έννοια σχετική αλλά δεν πειράζει. Στο πρώτο βιβλίο της σειράς φαίνεται ότι έχουμε μία αρχή με το κλασικό μοτίβο της υψηλής φαντασίας, με έναν πρόλογο που φαίνεται να είναι εντελώς άσχετος, μία σύντομη εισαγωγή για να καταλάβουμε που βρισκόμαστε και στη συνέχεια ένα ταξίδι. Σε αυτό το ταξίδι γνωρίζουμε καλύτερα τους βασικούς ήρωες και σιγά σιγά τον φανταστικό κόσμο όπου όλα αυτά εξελίσσονται που αντιμετωπίζει μία πολύ μεγάλη απειλή. Το πρόβλημα, όμως, είναι ότι αυτό το ταξίδι δεν φαίνεται να έχει πολύ ξεκάθαρο προορισμό. Στην αρχή οι ήρωες μας προχωράνε προς έναν άγνωστο σκοπό, κάπου στη μέση εμφανίζονται κάποιες ιδέες για κάποια καταστροφή που απειλεί τον κόσμο και πρέπει να την αντιμετωπίσουν οι οποίες εγκαταλείπονται γρήγορα και τελικά φτάνουμε σε μία εντελώς διαφορετική κατάσταση όπου μόνο εκεί υπάρχουν περισσότερες πληροφορίες. Ένα θέμα είναι και η ταχύτητα αυτού του ταξιδιού καθώς η συγγραφέας κάνει πολύ χρόνο να περιγράψει λιγότερο σημαντικά πράγματα ενώ για κάποιες πολύ σημαντικές εξελίξεις που θα μπορούσαν να χωρέσουν σε ολόκληρο βιβλίο αφιερώνει μόνο λίγα κεφάλαια. Πάντως σίγουρα θέμα δεν είναι οι χαρακτήρες, με πρώτη την πρωταγωνίστρια της ιστορίας, την όμορφη Rhapsody, είναι ιδιαίτερα ξεχωριστοί, με τη συγγραφέα να τους παρουσιάζει και να τους εξελίσσει με έναν ιδανικό τρόπο, δίδοντας μεγάλο βάρος στη μεταξύ τους σχέση και στα διαφορετικά συναισθήματα που αυτή προκαλεί. Αυτοί οι χαρακτήρες είναι νομίζω το κύριο προτέρημα του βιβλίου και κάνουν την ιστορία να έχει ενδιαφέρον, κάνοντας με να προσπεράσω όποιες αδυναμίες και ασάφειες υπάρχουν σε αυτήν και να θέλω να προχωρήσω άμεσα στη συνέχεια. ...more

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Dec 27, 2016 Nafiza marked it as zz-dnf

I read the first 20 pages and decided this is not for me. No doubt you will think me irresponsible for judging an almost 700 page book on the strength of the first 20 pages but I have often found that if it's mushy on page one, it's going to be extra mushy on page 101. So nope.

I mean, if you don't mind overblown melodramatic love confessions twenty minutes after one person has met another, you won't mind this book. But he calls his soul mate, his wife right after he meets her. Also, this book b ...more

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Aug 30, 2008 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-re-read, on-deck-next, 1990-1999, tolkienesque, fantasy

4.0 to 4.5 stars. A wonderful beginning to a great trilogy. Love the characters, especially Achmed and Grunthor. Great emotional resonance among the players and an excellent plot.

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Apr 09, 2009 Ariana Deralte rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: people with low standards for fantasy, people who like Mary-sues

Shelves: action-adventure, fantasy, ninja, youkai, magic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The more I consider this book, the more I find to dislike about it; things like its uneven, often glacial pacing, and its blatant Mary-sue. It shows moments of decent fantasy where you can fool yourself into thinking you're reading something good, but quickly descends back into mediocrity. It's one of those books where you like the plot and think interesting idea, but dislike (okay, hate) the execution.

The book starts out with a decent, if heavy handed deus ex machina of an opening. It goes down The more I consider this book, the more I find to dislike about it; things like its uneven, often glacial pacing, and its blatant Mary-sue. It shows moments of decent fantasy where you can fool yourself into thinking you're reading something good, but quickly descends back into mediocrity. It's one of those books where you like the plot and think interesting idea, but dislike (okay, hate) the execution.

The book starts out with a decent, if heavy handed deus ex machina of an opening. It goes downhill from there with an excruciatingly long, dull journey. I expected some sort of reward to the reader for being forced to read that. An exciting fight in a new time period, or the inevitable reveal of Rhapsody's soul mate (gag me). Instead I got even more travel, coupled with everyone falling in love with the heroine and an awful lot of talking interspersed with very few scenes of action. Also, the dreaded telling, not showing.

Rhapsody started out a decent character if a little unbelievable even then. The author uses her nightmares as shorthand for all the pain she's suffered, but her personality rarely, if ever shows signs of what the book says she's gone through. And if her character could have grown on you before the endless journey, it became repulsively perfect afterwards. An uncanny valley of a genuine person, if you will. She's overloaded with powers, always gets her way (so much so that Achmed, the only person who ever successfully stands against her, even acknowledges it as its own power that even works on him), is kind to children and cares for the sick and a million other things that just make her seem like an idealized, unreal heroine the author wishes she were. The hilarious thing about everyone singing her praises and the author portraying her as being so intelligent to have basically been granted a postgrad degree is that the actual heroine is largely rather stupid. She's childlike in her view of the world, which no one who's been through what she's been through would be, and comes off as... mentally challenged in regards to her self-image and people's opinions of her. It's one thing to not think you're pretty (though the fact that she considers herself hideous is crazy), it's another not to be able to interpret people's facial and body expressions and know that they like/love/desire you. I was left wondering if the author was deliberately presenting us with a mentally handicapped heroine.

Due to the way it was written, a lot of the passable jokes in this book fell flat. Even when I knew I should be laughing, I couldn't because the word choice and phrasing had messed up the joke's delivery. This problem with the writing haunted the book in other places and occasionally left me scratching my head in puzzlement (a character's mouth moved into a 'hidden smile' but since it was neither hidden from everyone's view, and his mouth moved, I'm at a loss to what the author was describing). The exposition, while obviously separate from the rest of the text at times, wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I've read Robert Jordan...

Achmed, while having the best characterization after Rhapsody, is only vaguely less of cypher to me now as he was at the beginning of the book. You couldn't help but like him for saying no to Rhapsody so many times (and for not killing her), but I don't think the author understood him any better than Rhapsody. Poor Grunthor, while occasionally breaking out of his cliché portrayal, is mostly ignored. Surely as one of the Three, we should at least know more about his life before and how he came to be with Achmed?

There are a million other little things that annoy me about the book (if Naming is such a great power that it can bring flowers back to life, why doesn't Rhapsody actually use the power for things other than silencing people and renaming them once or twice? Why must Rhapsody keep adopting copious numbers of children and siblings? Why doesn't Rhapsody notice all these erections men keep getting around her?), but I'll be here all day if I start to list them. ...more

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Dec 19, 2007 Jeff rated it it was amazing

Seldom do I find an author so astounding that I would deem them a word smith. Yet I must say that Elizabeth Haydon is a word smith of no small skill. Within the first few chapters I was enraptured by the tale unfolding, nearly throwing the book away in despair and defiance after a poignant moment. Yet I couldn't help but read on enthralled at the same time. There's a certain way an author lays out a tapestry on which you can see every detail.

The imagery of the world, the characters and everythi ...more

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Aug 06, 2009 Chris rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, ick-attack, romance, women-writers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 31, 2017 Carolyn F. rated it it was ok

Shelves: audible, audiobook, fantasy

Audiobook

First off (don't you love it when a paragraph begins with "First off"), I could not believe the amount of time they were inside the tree. It felt like centuries to me too. So there goes 1000 pages or so of the first chapter (or it felt like 1000 pages) and then after more walking outside of the tree with a battle here and there, there's a cliffhanger ending. What the frick! After listening to over 3000+ pages (as I said it felt like 3000+ pages). I have no idea why anybody would love th ...more

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Jan 09, 2011 The UHQ Nasanta rated it liked it

Shelves: genre-fantasy, read-books-2011, obtained-in-swap, series-0-connected-family, 1st-in-series, reviewed, read-books-2012

Second Review
Read: January 2, 2012 - January 13, 2012

2.5 - 3 stars

Second Review in progress

I reread this book for Romance Lovers for the Challenge-Impaired Group Series Read in order to refresh my memory to properly read Book 2.

Having been exposed to much of the story and knowing what to expect, this read went more smoothly for me. I was less impatient. I was able to get a better feeling for the world-building. I appreciated the mythology. I found the magic system as interesting and as flawed a ...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Erika rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, annoying-characters, characters-i-hate, definitely-not, hell-to-the-no, needs-more-editing, over-the-top-ridiculous, overly-flowery-descriptions, series, should-have-been-better

If you're anything like me, you'll occasionally end up finishing a book that contains characters you absolutely hate that put themselves in the most ridiculous and over the top unbelievable situations. Those characters that you'd like to enter the book just so you could punch/shake them because they're so annoyingly stupid. I like to call it hate reading. Well, this series was like that for me. I've forgotten hundreds of books over the years but not these, no. I'll never forget how anger inducin ...more

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Feb 04, 2015 Andy P rated it did not like it

The worst hunk of garbage I have ever had the displeasure of reading.

The character's were unlikable. The concern with purity was so extreme that it became fetishistic, and the main character going from attractive to so beautiful men couldn't control themselves around her is incredibly problematic.

The things this book says about the author are alarming.

I can honestly say I hate this book. It is the standard to which I set all other books that I don't like. My dislike is so powerful that when I ...more

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Feb 19, 2008 Gaijinmama rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, favorites

I've been addicted to the fantasy genre since before I could read chapter books by myself. Rhapsody is the sort of book that still keeps my attention even though I've passed my 40th birthday, enough that I am now on my fourth re-read.
I don't want to spoil the story for you, but the elements that hold my interest, in no particular order, are:
a butt-kicking female protagonist, weird creatures with a nasty, sarcastic sense of humor that would give Hugh Laurie's Dr. House a run for his money, time I've been addicted to the fantasy genre since before I could read chapter books by myself. Rhapsody is the sort of book that still keeps my attention even though I've passed my 40th birthday, enough that I am now on my fourth re-read.
I don't want to spoil the story for you, but the elements that hold my interest, in no particular order, are:
a butt-kicking female protagonist, weird creatures with a nasty, sarcastic sense of humor that would give Hugh Laurie's Dr. House a run for his money, time travel, magic, and a gorgeous, mysterious man who happens to be part dragon. Most importantly, however, is the fact that Haydon is a writer who can actually write! I'm an English teacher by training, and have a very low tolerance for lousy writing.
One warning. Haydon doesn't focus on the horrific, but she doesn't shy away from the dark side. I am not especially squeamish (I read vampire stories and murder mysteries
when I'm not reading fantasy or SF), but Rhapsody and every other book in the series has at least one passage that I found hard to handle. Again, horror isn't a major part of the story, but when Haydon does gross-and-scary, she **REALLY** does gross and scary. She doesn't emphasize or glory in it, but she does describe torture and abuse in a direct, graphic way that still gives me a few days of nightmares even though I've read this series several times. For this reason, I would be reluctant to recommend this series to a child younger than 15 or 16.

Next, I'll describe Haydon's dragons in a bit more detail, since they are so darned cool! Dragons in Haydon's world are not romanticized. They are as complex as all her other characters. In this first volume of the series, one dragon is the still-living stuff of legend. We don't actually get to meet her yet, but by the end of the book we know we're going to. The other dragon, whom we not only meet but get to see the world with his eyes, is actually inside a character who has a human form. This dual nature is a "source of constant struggle"(p. 435), a split-personality voice in his head that must be kept under control. It is sometimes humorous; for example, the dragon wants to count every peppercorn in the marketplace and sort them by colors. It is also sensual and exciting, as when the dragon "tastes" the object of its fascination and takes in every minute detail of her being, before she is even aware of it.

I love this series enough to be re-reading it for the fourth time. I promise: this book, and the other 5 books of the series, will not disappoint.
...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Kristy rated it did not like it

All of my original opinions from my status update still stand. I made it to page 50 and officially had to give up. I found myself skimming to try to block out some of the horrible cheesiness, and still I got tired of the taste of bile in the back of my throat from where I kept trying not to vomit from the totally false character interactions & the awful hyperbole.

I stole this from "Jocelyn Zombie's" review, because it was oh, so perfect that I couldn't have said it better myself:
"The Ugly: ...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-sci-fi, genre-fantasy, 2012-in-2012-group-challenge, challenge-chunkster, buddy-read, epic, genre-romance-time-travel, genre-shapeshifters, its-magic, reviewed-by-me

The primrose, usually the first flower of spring (from the Latin “prima”), represents enduring love. In the Language of Flowers, it means “I can't live without you.” It tells your significant other, “I am yours forever.”
description

★★★★ The world-building in this epic romantic-time-travel-fantasy is superior, the characters wonderful. Some people find Rhapsody, the heroine, to be too much of a “Mary Sue” – if that is even possible for someone with her back ground! I found her delightful and felt her losses. ...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Shannon rated it did not like it

I read the first fourty pages but this novel just didn't work for me.
The hero was time warped by some type of deity just before the fall of a previous civilization. So we then spend too much time as this character meets a potential love interest. To add to it, the meeting is flat, prosaic and predictable. Lastly, the mentalities are little too contemporary to fit into the equivalent of a medieval, agrarian culture without a special explanation.

My feeling is that this story would have prompted me ...more

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Aug 08, 2016 Shayna Ross rated it it was ok

This only gets two stars because Achmed and Grunthor are pretty cool characters. Otherwise, it would be a one star book for the atrocity that is Rhapsody.

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Sep 01, 2018 Sarah Mac rated it it was ok

Shelves: cover-me-grey, zzz-2018, read-regifted, comatose-plotline, dnf-rubbish-flounce-goodbye, drank-the-haterade, mary-sue-puke-bucket, reviewed, sheep-tsunami, uber-disappointing

DNF, some point after the Fire Incident...pg 220 or so? Whatever.

There comes a time with mediocre doorstoppers when you put the book down, stare at the wall, check the page count yet again, & say: "I don't give a rat's ass about this. So why am I still reading?"

Friends, I've reached that point with RHAPSODY.

There's just too much waffling tedium (ffs, it takes for-fucking-ever to get out of the stupid root system) to excite my curiosity & push forward. It's the worst kind of epic fanta ...more

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Mar 16, 2018 Kim rated it really liked it

won off of www.librarything.com

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Oct 21, 2011 Chris Cutler rated it it was ok

Recommended to Chris by: Christy

Someone spilled a very good story across 650 pages and left several dozen really incredible pieces soaking in puddles of soggy text. I agree with the reviewer who said Rhapsody is "a romance novel heroine, thrown into a fantasy novel." As much as my other complaints, the oft annoying and ever self-righteous heroine lost this book its third star.

I wish I had been able to like this book, because some of the ideas are truly great. Haydon's version of Naming magic and Time-slipping are appealing and Someone spilled a very good story across 650 pages and left several dozen really incredible pieces soaking in puddles of soggy text. I agree with the reviewer who said Rhapsody is "a romance novel heroine, thrown into a fantasy novel." As much as my other complaints, the oft annoying and ever self-righteous heroine lost this book its third star.

I wish I had been able to like this book, because some of the ideas are truly great. Haydon's version of Naming magic and Time-slipping are appealing and original adaptations of these genre staples. The Brother's blood-lore and Achmed's path-lore are ingenious and intriguing magics in themselves, and the transition from one to the other as the book progresses is laudable. I also liked the world that was built, in which elf- and orc-analogs are accompanied by a handful of other races, each with their own characteristics.

My very favorite part of the book is a beautiful metaphor of leaving doors open in a house, finally allowing Rhapsody to reach closure in her grieving. This is followed by the masterful and humorous chapter told through the eyes of a fire priest. In fact, Haydon's writing is best when it changes to 3rd person limited, a technique she should have use much more heavily (or exclusively) instead of the omniscient POV she usually adopts.

Unfortunately, there are three major problems. The most noticeable of these is redundancy. Not only is there a reminder on each page that Rhapsody is the most beautiful woman in creation, but every other element of the story and mythos are repeated at least three times just to make sure that the reader caught it and knows how things will work out.

The worst problem is (frequent) inconsistency. POV characters know (and later forget?) things they shouldn't. Magical abilities aren't used in situations when they should be. In one breath the characters speak with pride of their racial (non-human) heritage, yet in the next speak of non-humans as the outsiders. Passing time allows for the rise and fall of nations, but not for people to change or learn anything besides swordplay. Rhapsody's mood swings are often as incomprehensible as they are counterproductive to her development as a character.

The third problem, and the one that really gives the sense of having been spilled, is the way Hayden throws away lines or chapters chock-full of potential. The worst instance for me was when the above-mentioned doors metaphor had absolutely no bearing on Rhapsody as a character. We were promised a turning point, but this went unfulfilled. Throughout the book there are so many sentences crafted to hold meaning, but the story just admires the flowery words and moves on. Rarely is a skillful phrase actually used to do something other than ornament the page. And there is so much perfume added to the text that the actually pleasant scents get lost in a sticky muddle.

From reading the synopses for the next several books, it is clear that the imminent threat is always "unimaginable devastation" or "war unlike any the world has ever seen." I'm already bored. Please just make me care about the people.

All of that is a long way of saying that no, I won't be continuing this series. ...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller rated it really liked it

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.nikihawkes.com

Finishing Rhapsody was my first step towards rereading this epic series by Elizabeth Haydon. The fact that I'm doing a reread at all should say something about how much I liked this series, espeically considering how many unread ones I still have on my shelves (I don't usually pick up books I've already read more than once or twice a year... unless it's an audio). I had three motivations behind the reread: I really enjoyed it the first time aroun Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.nikihawkes.com

Finishing Rhapsody was my first step towards rereading this epic series by Elizabeth Haydon. The fact that I'm doing a reread at all should say something about how much I liked this series, espeically considering how many unread ones I still have on my shelves (I don't usually pick up books I've already read more than once or twice a year... unless it's an audio). I had three motivations behind the reread: I really enjoyed it the first time around (about ten years ago), I caught wind that the author is finally back to writing the series and wanted to get ready for the next release, and I felt compelled to figure out why I seldom recommended it even though I really liked it.

And what's not to like? This book is the gateway into an epic world filled with unique cultures and histories unlike anything I've ever read before. It lets us explore the world through the eyes of several brilliant, vibrant characters who are incredibly likable and memorable despite their flaws. My favorite character, Achmed isn't even human, but it's his personality and interactions with the main heroine, Rhapsody, makes him the most entertaining and endearing in my eyes (he doesn't even like her much, haha). Achmed, along with most of the characters, are so rounded that you don't even scratch the surface of the mysteries surrounding them in this first book. Learning more about them was my main motivation to keep reading this series, and I have to say it didn't disappoint!

So, why don't I recommend this book even though I've just sung its praises? Because the first hundred pages (excluding the prologue) are among the most confusing and boring-assed of any that I've ever read. If not for a single thread of hope and interests in what was to come, I'm not sure I would've made it through the first time (not much less the second). I just can't bring myself to suggest it's to people because a 100 page courtesy is too much to ask of a reader trying to find their next engaging book. It's a shame too, because this really is one of the most memorable, unique fantasies I've ever read and would love to share the story as a whole with more people.

Overall, if you have the motivation (and time) to suffer a long winded book (and series) for an epic payoff, then you could possibly get the same enjoyment out of it as I have. Otherwise, perhaps stick to the great fantasy novels that provide a more, shall we say immediate gratification.

Recommended Reading: For brave fantasy readers who aren't scared of long-winded authors. Also for those who don't mind sex, violence, and language, as there's a fair bit of all three. ...more

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May 09, 2013 Chris Pacheco rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Rhapsody by Haydon, Elizabeth was the CHIZ!
i seen bitch ass bitcheZ talk shit on this book goin on about it being carp
them chumpz iz WRONG
Rhapsody: Child of Blood gets the DADDYS seal of approval
and it simply ROXXX
and ima tell you why

1: Writing - this book my have a few granny porn elements to it but over all the story keeps you enthralled. from all the books ive read this book actually had me laughing out loud. the shit in is is fucking funny, and sometimes invitingly filthy, i loved it. the wh Rhapsody by Haydon, Elizabeth was the CHIZ!
i seen bitch ass bitcheZ talk shit on this book goin on about it being carp
them chumpz iz WRONG
Rhapsody: Child of Blood gets the DADDYS seal of approval
and it simply ROXXX
and ima tell you why

1: Writing - this book my have a few granny porn elements to it but over all the story keeps you enthralled. from all the books ive read this book actually had me laughing out loud. the shit in is is fucking funny, and sometimes invitingly filthy, i loved it. the whole time they wuz crawling through a damned tree for over 100 pages couldve been boring as chiz, but it keep throwing me bones along the way and so i followed along; treat after treat. E-Haydz roxxx. new favorite author.

2: Characters - Achmed is a lovable dick-headed asshole the whole way. theres no way you can dislike him or his antics. Grunthor is a personal favvv hes a lovable brute, with an unquenchable bloodlust. and a bitching lyricist to boot. then theres ol' Rhaps, what can i say, she's a woman. Rhapsody is burdened but her past loves of a one night stand, her family and home. while carrying this burden she seeks in this new life to fill the void left by crawling through a tree 2000 somethin' years into the future. so she can get kinda bitchy, mopey and, forlorn. Otherwise, shes bitchin as hell. So FUCKK the anti-Raps chump ass dick-lickin bitchez.

3: Story - This story is surprisingly fucking original as shit. iv never read nothing like it and it is MOST DEF awesome. R:COB is interesting, Funny as chiz, and it seems to be setting up a crazy fucking story thats about to unfold on mad bitcheZ.

overall R:COB roxxx theres little to no letdown besides maybe the 20 pages of granny porn. also, there no glossary or index of P,P&T's theres a lot going so E-Haydz does a purty good job at reminding yer ass whats going on and who is doing what and where they from, and where is that place. im hoping for a glossary in the last book i.e. LOTR
READ THIS SHIT im glad i did
THANX E-HAYDZ
...more

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Jan 14, 2015 Catherine rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish

This book was terrible. I didn't even finish it (though I was close to the end). It started off really rough, because I had no idea what was going on in the first page. Then even more confusion and some hearty distaste for a sex scene between two fourteen year olds (excuse me, the girl was a day shy of fourteen). I don't want to read about adults doing it, why would I want to read about children doing it?

When we finally got into the 'story', it ended up a mess of plot and crap I didn't care abou ...more

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About Elizabeth Haydon

Elizabeth Haydon

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Elizabeth Haydon (* 1965 in Michigan) is a fantasy author, whose 1999 debut, Rhapsody: Child of Blood, garnered comparisons with Goodkind, Jordan, and even Tolkien. She has written two fantasy series set within the same universe, The fantasy/romance/whodunit fusion called The Symphony of Ages and the young adult series The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme.

An herbalist, harpist, and madrigal singer, ...more