Der brennende Mann / Der Holzjunge

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #0.5

by Raymond E. Feist

Zwei absolute Superstars der fantastischen Erzählung, Raymond E. Feist & Tad Williams, ließen zwei ihrer fantastischen Kurzgeschichten als Comics adaptieren:

"Der Holzjunge" erzählt eine bitter-tragische Geschichte aus einem fernen Königreich und von der Liebe eines einfachen Knaben zu einer Edeldame als eine Geschichte von Verrat und Magie "Der brennende Mann" ist ähnlich und doch komplett anders. Es geht um die ewige, doch für viele unerfüllte Suche nach Glück und Liebe jenseits der Grenzen alles Irdischen.

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Magic, Epic Fantasy, Audiobook

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2005

About the author

Raymond E. Feist was born Raymond E. Gonzales III, but took his adoptive step-father's surname when his mother remarried Felix E. Feist. He graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honors in 1977 from the University of California at San Diego. During that year Feist had some ideas for a novel about a boy who would be a magician. He wrote the novel two years later, and it was published in 1982 by Doubleday. Feist currently lives in San Diego with his children, where he collects fine wine, DVDs, and books on a variety of topics of personal interest: wine, biographies, history, and, especially, the history of American Professional Football.

Reviews

[Emiliya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чудесна предистория.

[Johan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read The Burning Man, but I loved it. Instantly transported back to Osten Ard with familiar characters and familiar mood. Lovely.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

March 18, 2017: Read Burning Man.
A story told from an older woman's remembrances.

Her father died when she was a child and her bereft family moved into her grandfather's house. Her grandfather was disappointed that her father would not be Grand Thane, and tried to teach her brother all that was necessary to be Grand Thane when he grew up. Her mother was unhappy in the house, so when a foreigner came and made to move into the area, he also asked for her to marry him, from the grandfather, who gave his blessing.

The daughter went with them and the son stayed with the grandfather. A few years later, the mother died, after asking for a "dragon's claw", which the girl got. But her mother had died while she was away.

Later, when the girl was in her teens, she met a soldier who had been sent to help protect the girl's stepfather. The stepfather kept searching books and was troubled in his mind. He finally caught a witch and had her help him contact some of the Fairy Folk, because he had questions for them. The Burning Man was just such a Fairy Folk man, who had been burned by dragons at one point in his immortal life. A crisis makes the girl save her stepfather and she is now old and ready for death.

The soldier who was her lover had been told to kill the stepfather. He was about to do it after the talk with the Burning Man, but she killed her lover with the dragon's claw to save her stepfather. The questions the stepfather wanted to ask were along the lines of "Was Usires the Aedon, the Ransomer on which our church and religion was built actually God, or one of the Fair Folk? Maybe even half-immortal?!" Since the Burning Man wouldn't answer, her step-father had to wait until after death to get the answers to his questions.

March 19-20th, read The Wood Boy
The story begins with a military encampment stopping a young man who is pulling a sleigh. Two dead humans are on it. The commander of the camp requests the story from the young man, who says he is Dirk, the Wood Boy.

The castle and Lord Paul were captured by the Tsurani. Servants and military were unarmed, and Lord Paul gave his treasure to the Invaders. Lord Paul and his bodyguard were the only ones allowed to be armed. One night, the bodyguard got drunk and started challenging the Invaders. He was quickly replaced. The narrator was infatuated wroth Lord Paul's daughter. One night, every human was killed except the bodyguard, the daughter, and the Wood Boy. The bodyguard had tried to kill him, but an unfastened door and a dead fellow servant saved the Wood Boy. The Wood Boy went after the two runaways. After a struggle with the bodyguard, the girl attacked him and ran into the knife he still held.

The commander gave orders and, after the boy was gone from his tent, expressed his belief that the girl had dreamed up the scheme and was behind everything. He did not let the boy know, though, so as to preserve one last illusion of his love.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two really diverse tales from two huge names in the fantasy genre, from Feist we have the tale of The wood boy who sees a horrendous crime and also a small introduction to the Riftwar saga.
The burning man by Williams is a tale set around his Memory sorrow and thorn novels as a little side story.
It tells the tale of tortured and haunted King Sulis and his stepdaughter Breda.
Two wonderful tales that will appeal to any fantasy fan or just general fans of these authors.

[Meran · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, for each story
Both stories were re-written by Sean J. Jordan, and weren't done well.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Darkmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Burning Man
Author: Tad Williams
Novelette
Written in: 1998
World: "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn"
_____________________


Author
Tad Williams is an US fantasy and science-fiction author. Wrote nearly 20 Novels. He is the Author of "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn", "Otherland", "Shadowmarch", "Ordinary Farm" and "The Bobby Dollar Books" series.
His other Novels are:

Tailchaser's Song (1985)
Child of an Ancient City (1992, written with Nina Kiriki Hoffman)
Caliban's Hour (1994)
The War of the Flowers (2003)

I plan to read all of his nonseries - standalone novels. I already read "Child of an Ancient City", now it's time for "Caliban's Hour".

I'm still not sure what to think about this author. Even after reading two of his books, I'm not able to say if I'm interested in this author or not.
His novels are rather very different from each other, they vary in narration and worlds. But they have two things in common: the mysterious atmosphere and tragic touch.


Writing Style
"The Burning Man" is written in the first-person limited narration. I personally don't like this kind of narration cause it narrows my own knowledge of the happenings and hinders in becoming a better view in the ongoing situation. I this novel it becomes even more difficult to follow as the main character stands far from the events and don't understands and don't know plenty of things. Most of the book consists of the main character's speculations, perceptions and sentiments.





Main Character

The main character is an old woman telling the story of her youth. She doesn't sounds old throughout the story, though. It's more like she prepares herself to die and think about her life once again. She is filled with sentimental feelings and have some kind of an uneasy conscience, which makes her go through the most incredible and important events of her lifetime.

Events that changed her and left a huge mark on her life.




Story Summary

The Burning Man is an exciting and thought-provoking story about life and death, love and fear, and innocence and betrayal.



In the Land of Ost Ard there stands an old castle. Abandoned, empty... cursed. Or at least, so the legends tells.

Breda is about to live there. She is scared, but also excited as a child. But then, she just get used to this strange place, which she has to call home from now on.

Her life is filled with saddness. Her mother dies, and her new father - Lord Sulis, seems not to notice her at all. She is lonely, and left alone by everyone.

But then, one day she fells in love, and her life is filled with plenty of light, like never before.

But evil things are about to happen. Her father is plotting something, something very strange, that involves the burning man. Something bad is about to take place in the nearest future! Someone is about to die. Her love is in danger. Then her beloved follows her father into the very deapths of the ancient castle and the deapths of the soul to set the black fire.



(There was no reasonable summary to find anywhere, so I had to write it by myself.)




Opinion
The beauty of this short novel lies in the love story of this book.
I cant say much more about it though, cause it make the intergal part the climax.

It wasn't boring, even if nothing happened, all bcause of the mystery.

One would want to know what happens next all throughout the story, till the very end.

The story is overall sad and tragic, but somehow also very calm, distant and reserved, because of the main character's attitude.

Recommendation
I will still recommend it, though it wasn't as great as I expected it to be, considering the limited narration and this not so interesting story frame setting, but the story itself makes it worth reading.



RATING:

Story: 5.0 / 6

Writing Style: 3.9 / 6

Overall: 4.0 / 6



0 - Zero / You won't be able to read more than 5 sites anyway, so why bother to start reading it at all?

1 - Very Bad / Forget it

2 - Nothing new / a great book to fall asleep

3 - In the Middle / Can be Read

4 - Good / Worth Reading

5 - Very Good / Great

6 - Excellent / Masterpiece (Rare, very rare)

[Nighteye · Rating 3 out of 5]

it as ok, good adaptations of sad stories, but the styles didn't fit me as good sadly.

[Chip Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally, I think both Feist's Wood Boy and Williams' Burning Man are told better in the text version. While the art does add some definition to some parts of the story, and it is kind of nice to put faces and expressions to the names in the stories, I think it is obvious that these stories were not meant for the comic book format. By breaking up the writing into small bubbles, and relying on the artist for so much of the feel of the story, a lot of the original magic is lost. This is not to blame either the artists (who couldn't have done a better job in my opinion) or the writers. I just think it is hard to bring a novella such as those found in the Legends Anthology to the comic book format.

The Wood Boy is the tale of a small boy in the realm of Feist's Riftwar Saga that lives in a town taken by the Tsurani. As he learns to cope with living as a slave, and as he falls in love with his lord's daughter, the 'wood boy' begins to feel resigned to his fate under his new masters. When one of his only friends betrays his own and kidnaps(?) the lord's daughter, the boy finds himself setting out on a dangerous journey with nothing to loose and nowhere to go. The story ends as a promise for more to come.

In The Burning Man, a lonely girl named Breda is confused by nearly everything that has happened in her life. When she finds out that her cold acting stepfather has captured a witch and seems to be planning on hurting her, Breda goes stealth and witnesses her lover betraying his master. (Interesting both of these stories revolve around unexpected betrayals). This story is told in a narrative form with a much older Breda speaking to the reader of a time long past and includes much more text boxes providing some extra background and setting info.

Still a quick and fun read with really great art, but not a replacement for the original stories.

[David Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily one of the best fantasy series ever written. I have followed Pug, Tomas, and Jimmy the Hand through continued heroic deeds. With each new book Saga, Feist wraps his tale into the original history of his world. Not a graphic novel guy, but a great read none the less.

[Elspeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the Feist story. Seems quite short but a nice window into the world of a normal citizen dealing with the invasion. I stopped reading the second as the font is quite small and I wasn't drawn in right away. I may give it a go another time.

[Zaru · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is two short fantasy stories done as a comic book. And guess what, that's exactly what it feels and reads like. The stories themselves are good too. Well worth a read if you are in to fantasy, if you like comics too its perfect.

[Kristin Brenemen]

I haven't read this, but it's based off the short story from the Legends anthology - the story that got me into reading all of Feist's work as it is. Hah.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mine. :)

[Alicia]

The Wood Boy seemed to be a chapter out of the middle of a book - no beginning or end.

The Burning Man was a whole story - I liked it a lot.

The Dabel Brothers' graphic art is amazing!