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The Aether Universe #2
The House of Storms
To save her only son from consumption, Alice Meynell, the great grandmistress of the Telegraphers Guild, makes a bargain with her former lover, a changeling in the land of Einfell, in exchange for a cure, a pact that that could have painful repercussions for her son when he is forced to choose between duty and love.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
21 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
About the author
Ian R. MacLeod
174 books126 followersIan R. MacLeod is the acclaimed writer of challenging and innovative speculative and fantastic fiction. His most recent novel, Wake Up and Dream, won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, while his previous works have won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the World Fantasy Award, and have been translated into many languages. His short story, “Snodgrass,” was developed for television in the United Kingdom as part of the Sky Arts series Playhouse Presents. MacLeod grew up in the West Midlands region of England, studied law, and spent time working and dreaming in the civil service before moving on to teaching and house-husbandry. He lives with his wife in the riverside town of Bewdley.
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December 20, 2016
Well, this was a pleasant surprise.
I recently read McLeod's "The Light Ages" and was . . . not overly impressed by it. I didn't hate it but I didn't find it as exciting as perhaps I should have. In doing the review for that novel I noticed that he had written a sequel to it and while I normally like reading follow ups from authors to see if their styles change or develop with time, being my response to "The Light Ages" was so tepid I figured I'd never have any reason to see anything else by McLeod, or if by some weird chance I did it was probably so far buried in my piles that I wouldn't get to it for years and I could get back to reviewing what people really want me to write at great length about . . . giant foreign novels from the perspective of someone completely lacking in any critical insight or background of the country's literature he's writing about.
Fortunately we can thank my twenty-something's self's habit of stacking books in piles so close together that I can't see what's coming until I'm literally on top of it. Thus I learned that I had apparently bought the sequel to "The Light Ages" not long after the first book (in hardcover no less! I'm so extravagant). Needless to say, the prospect didn't quite fill me with giddy anticipation as I prepared myself to buckle in for another round of weirdly fantasyless fantasy along with a plot that almost completely wastes the prose talents of the person writing it. I guess I could have skipped it and moved onto something I was slightly more enthusiastic about but if you thought that was a real option then you clearly don't know me very well.
But as it turns out its like McLeod read my review and went back in time to warn his past self what my complaints would be and did his best to fix them in the sequel. Set in the same setting as "The Light Ages" but maybe about a hundred years later (other than some new technology it doesn't seem that much different but does allow him to jettison the cast of that novel, which was probably the first big benefit) we follow the travails of greatgrandguildmistress Alice Meynell, who has come from a less than illustrious background but done what all people in Dickens' novels everywhere have done . . . climb up the social ladder like a hyperactive firefighter and then use that newfound prestige to eradicate all references to her past life, all the while consolidating her position like a toddler constantly telling you "Mine!", even when it comes to the clothes you're wearing. It doesn't hurt that we find out fairly soon that Alice for one reason or another is a complete sociopath and probably would have fit in quite well in an alternate universe "The Talented Mrs Ripley".
She's come out to the west of England, Invercombe specifically, with her very sick son Ralph in the hopes that the sea air or medicine based around hope and amputations or even vague magical means might cure him (he seems to have a very tough version of tuberculosis, although it seems to give him lungs worse than a coal miners) and before long we find out its the third option (huzzah!) which happens just in time for him to meet the fetching daughter of one of the local working class families that's been given a job as the hired help. Cue a couple scenes of learning about the joys of walking barefoot on the beach and its pretty clear love is in the air. But will Mother Dearest go for it?
I don't think it will come as a surprise that for Madame Ambition the answer is a most definite "no" but what I find interesting is that the book doesn't make that the sole focus. Unlike the first book where the working class versus the upper class conflict was kind of hammered in our face along with the "this is a society about to change!" theme that didn't at times seem to be very obvious, this time out he chooses to focus more on the characters and allow the world to sort of adjust to them. And he has better characters this time out. Alice is delightful as a woman pretty much willing to do anything to get her way (including straight up murder) and her obsession with maintaining her looks gives her a vibe somewhere between Dorian Grey without the painting and that lady who bathed in the blood of virgins to look young. Unfortunately for Alice, we know what happened to both those people and it didn't involve getting what they wanted so you can be fairly well assured that its not going to end in peaches and roses for her either.
But focusing on her desperately clawing antics gives us something to latch onto while the book lingers on the somewhat charming romance between the recovered Ralph and Marion Price, his lady love. McLeod writes smitten well and he captures the joy of young love as well as Ralph's reveling in not being sick anymore. The arc of their relationship takes up the first part of the book before real life gets in the way, though not before whittling down the cast with a couple more additions to the body count.
The second part of the book seems to be what throws everyone off and I can see their concerns even if it didn't bother me all that much. It jumps ahead a couple years into the midst of a war that has been sparked between East and West England that MacLeod attempts to create as a parallel with the American Civil War by injecting the notion of slavery into the mix as the cause. In the interim Ralph has become a reluctant general and Marion has become some kind of weird cross between Florence Nightingale and Joan of Arc, with her name spread throughout the land as legendary and used as a rallying cry.
I didn't mind these parts as much, maybe because my deadened soul enjoys reading about the ravages of fantasy war or because MacLeod has gotten me so swept up in events I didn't care as much that he didn't explore some of his own themes (bringing in slavery as a concern was probably a mistake because its a heavy enough theme to take over the novel and if it doesn't it can feel like you're blowing it off). He becomes a bit more inventive with the magic this time out, as war does what wars always do, which is make everyone needlessly destructive in increasingly creative ways. So while in the first part you mostly had magic telephones here you have magical creatures and other weapons, giving you the Civil War by way of World War One.
I still think it tries to hit too many targets at once, between the romance (and the possible fruits of that romance) and the crazy murder mom and the war and slavery and Mighty Nurse and theories of evolution and let's not forget the strange results of too much exposure to the aether that powers magic (though two books in and I'm still not entirely sure how magic works in this world . . . wasn't it running out in the last book, or has it been replaced with the magic of electricity now?) running around as well and you have a mix that should be a complete mess. And it nearly is, only salvaged by MacLeod's still amazingly good prose (he's immersive without being showy and able to conjure a mood without going overboard for the most part) and characters that I actually give a crap about this time. Stripped of the literally dour pixie dreamgirl plot that I felt hamstrung the last book, we're given people who at least feel like actual people (and in the case of a Alice, a genuine psychopath). Even if I don't totally buy Marion's conversion into The Nurse to End All Nurses, I still had an affection for the character herself, her losses and desires. The romance feels much more grounded this time, and its absence from the later portions of the book give it a welcome melancholy that feels utterly British. When Ralph and Marion run into each other at a later point, there's a palpable ache and regret in the meeting, the weight of all that's gone before weighed against a memory of what they once had.
All that more than balances out the stuff that didn't quite work with me. The changeling stuff was odd but I don't feel quite as unearthly as MacLeod wanted it to be and I'm still not sold on how radically magic has transformed his world (when its even in evidence). But he crafts far better characters this time out and as their little dramas play out across the book, from the Price family, to the weird Alice-Ralph-Marion triangle, to the people they all meet later, even the staff of the castle dreaming of retiring to better places, and the quiet pulse of their lives more than makes up for what the plot doesn't cover since it gives you a better sense of a world in flux than any history book will, in all its confusion and pain (I can never tell who's winning the war at any given moment) and scarce, bright joys, but mostly in conveying what the slow erosion of time does to these people, making them older and maybe wiser in the raw, exposed places. Its history that interests them, but not the possibilities of a hundred years from now borne by people they'll never meet but the history of ourselves we try to directly launch in those we have following us, that we see grow for as long as we can before pushing them away from the shore into the dark waters and out of sight, leaving us standing at the beach listening to the waves and hoping that it'll eventually turn out okay, even if we'll never really know.
I recently read McLeod's "The Light Ages" and was . . . not overly impressed by it. I didn't hate it but I didn't find it as exciting as perhaps I should have. In doing the review for that novel I noticed that he had written a sequel to it and while I normally like reading follow ups from authors to see if their styles change or develop with time, being my response to "The Light Ages" was so tepid I figured I'd never have any reason to see anything else by McLeod, or if by some weird chance I did it was probably so far buried in my piles that I wouldn't get to it for years and I could get back to reviewing what people really want me to write at great length about . . . giant foreign novels from the perspective of someone completely lacking in any critical insight or background of the country's literature he's writing about.
Fortunately we can thank my twenty-something's self's habit of stacking books in piles so close together that I can't see what's coming until I'm literally on top of it. Thus I learned that I had apparently bought the sequel to "The Light Ages" not long after the first book (in hardcover no less! I'm so extravagant). Needless to say, the prospect didn't quite fill me with giddy anticipation as I prepared myself to buckle in for another round of weirdly fantasyless fantasy along with a plot that almost completely wastes the prose talents of the person writing it. I guess I could have skipped it and moved onto something I was slightly more enthusiastic about but if you thought that was a real option then you clearly don't know me very well.
But as it turns out its like McLeod read my review and went back in time to warn his past self what my complaints would be and did his best to fix them in the sequel. Set in the same setting as "The Light Ages" but maybe about a hundred years later (other than some new technology it doesn't seem that much different but does allow him to jettison the cast of that novel, which was probably the first big benefit) we follow the travails of greatgrandguildmistress Alice Meynell, who has come from a less than illustrious background but done what all people in Dickens' novels everywhere have done . . . climb up the social ladder like a hyperactive firefighter and then use that newfound prestige to eradicate all references to her past life, all the while consolidating her position like a toddler constantly telling you "Mine!", even when it comes to the clothes you're wearing. It doesn't hurt that we find out fairly soon that Alice for one reason or another is a complete sociopath and probably would have fit in quite well in an alternate universe "The Talented Mrs Ripley".
She's come out to the west of England, Invercombe specifically, with her very sick son Ralph in the hopes that the sea air or medicine based around hope and amputations or even vague magical means might cure him (he seems to have a very tough version of tuberculosis, although it seems to give him lungs worse than a coal miners) and before long we find out its the third option (huzzah!) which happens just in time for him to meet the fetching daughter of one of the local working class families that's been given a job as the hired help. Cue a couple scenes of learning about the joys of walking barefoot on the beach and its pretty clear love is in the air. But will Mother Dearest go for it?
I don't think it will come as a surprise that for Madame Ambition the answer is a most definite "no" but what I find interesting is that the book doesn't make that the sole focus. Unlike the first book where the working class versus the upper class conflict was kind of hammered in our face along with the "this is a society about to change!" theme that didn't at times seem to be very obvious, this time out he chooses to focus more on the characters and allow the world to sort of adjust to them. And he has better characters this time out. Alice is delightful as a woman pretty much willing to do anything to get her way (including straight up murder) and her obsession with maintaining her looks gives her a vibe somewhere between Dorian Grey without the painting and that lady who bathed in the blood of virgins to look young. Unfortunately for Alice, we know what happened to both those people and it didn't involve getting what they wanted so you can be fairly well assured that its not going to end in peaches and roses for her either.
But focusing on her desperately clawing antics gives us something to latch onto while the book lingers on the somewhat charming romance between the recovered Ralph and Marion Price, his lady love. McLeod writes smitten well and he captures the joy of young love as well as Ralph's reveling in not being sick anymore. The arc of their relationship takes up the first part of the book before real life gets in the way, though not before whittling down the cast with a couple more additions to the body count.
The second part of the book seems to be what throws everyone off and I can see their concerns even if it didn't bother me all that much. It jumps ahead a couple years into the midst of a war that has been sparked between East and West England that MacLeod attempts to create as a parallel with the American Civil War by injecting the notion of slavery into the mix as the cause. In the interim Ralph has become a reluctant general and Marion has become some kind of weird cross between Florence Nightingale and Joan of Arc, with her name spread throughout the land as legendary and used as a rallying cry.
I didn't mind these parts as much, maybe because my deadened soul enjoys reading about the ravages of fantasy war or because MacLeod has gotten me so swept up in events I didn't care as much that he didn't explore some of his own themes (bringing in slavery as a concern was probably a mistake because its a heavy enough theme to take over the novel and if it doesn't it can feel like you're blowing it off). He becomes a bit more inventive with the magic this time out, as war does what wars always do, which is make everyone needlessly destructive in increasingly creative ways. So while in the first part you mostly had magic telephones here you have magical creatures and other weapons, giving you the Civil War by way of World War One.
I still think it tries to hit too many targets at once, between the romance (and the possible fruits of that romance) and the crazy murder mom and the war and slavery and Mighty Nurse and theories of evolution and let's not forget the strange results of too much exposure to the aether that powers magic (though two books in and I'm still not entirely sure how magic works in this world . . . wasn't it running out in the last book, or has it been replaced with the magic of electricity now?) running around as well and you have a mix that should be a complete mess. And it nearly is, only salvaged by MacLeod's still amazingly good prose (he's immersive without being showy and able to conjure a mood without going overboard for the most part) and characters that I actually give a crap about this time. Stripped of the literally dour pixie dreamgirl plot that I felt hamstrung the last book, we're given people who at least feel like actual people (and in the case of a Alice, a genuine psychopath). Even if I don't totally buy Marion's conversion into The Nurse to End All Nurses, I still had an affection for the character herself, her losses and desires. The romance feels much more grounded this time, and its absence from the later portions of the book give it a welcome melancholy that feels utterly British. When Ralph and Marion run into each other at a later point, there's a palpable ache and regret in the meeting, the weight of all that's gone before weighed against a memory of what they once had.
All that more than balances out the stuff that didn't quite work with me. The changeling stuff was odd but I don't feel quite as unearthly as MacLeod wanted it to be and I'm still not sold on how radically magic has transformed his world (when its even in evidence). But he crafts far better characters this time out and as their little dramas play out across the book, from the Price family, to the weird Alice-Ralph-Marion triangle, to the people they all meet later, even the staff of the castle dreaming of retiring to better places, and the quiet pulse of their lives more than makes up for what the plot doesn't cover since it gives you a better sense of a world in flux than any history book will, in all its confusion and pain (I can never tell who's winning the war at any given moment) and scarce, bright joys, but mostly in conveying what the slow erosion of time does to these people, making them older and maybe wiser in the raw, exposed places. Its history that interests them, but not the possibilities of a hundred years from now borne by people they'll never meet but the history of ourselves we try to directly launch in those we have following us, that we see grow for as long as we can before pushing them away from the shore into the dark waters and out of sight, leaving us standing at the beach listening to the waves and hoping that it'll eventually turn out okay, even if we'll never really know.
January 11, 2009
The summary on the back of this book promised much, and the story had a good, strong start. But into part two, it felt clumsy, disjointed and never quite delivered this punch I felt I was promised. I found the whole thing very underwhelming. I wasn't given that intangible small something to make me care about Marion and what happens to her or even feel any kind of emotion for Ralph. The language in which the Chosen Ones were written was a bit convoluted and hard to follow at times and too much description and not enough dialogue over all. It really felt like the author was almost there, but wasn't sure what to do to take it up that tiny bit to the next level. By the time I realized I wasn't getting anything good, I was more than halfway through and decided to finish. I wouldn't call it total crap, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone either.
April 19, 2013
The book started out strong but failed to deliver in the end. I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters. Some of the plot developments were unlikely and felt forced, as though the author had a specific ending in mind and sacrificed believability in the middle of the book to get all the characters in position for the grand finale.
Also, did anyone else notice the egregious grammar errors and typos? I don't blame the author here. That reflects poorly on the editor and publisher. It was enough to pull me out of the story at times. Poor form.
Also, did anyone else notice the egregious grammar errors and typos? I don't blame the author here. That reflects poorly on the editor and publisher. It was enough to pull me out of the story at times. Poor form.
August 8, 2010
This book was recommended to me as belonging to the New Weird genre. Honestly, it seems more steampunk to me, what with its "aether" dependent technology and general Victorian aura. Wriggly definitions aside, it starts off strong and then lags from the halfway point on.
Despite that, I did enjoy the undercurrent of family tragedy that feels almost fairy-tale like at times. Unfortunately, it's never brought to the surface, and we're left with an "epic" tale that drags.
Despite that, I did enjoy the undercurrent of family tragedy that feels almost fairy-tale like at times. Unfortunately, it's never brought to the surface, and we're left with an "epic" tale that drags.
May 19, 2013
I just couldn't wrap my head around this. Not quite steampunk, not quite fantasy, not quite gothic but with elements of all three that just did not add up to a whole for me. Still, it got its share of really good reviews. If you're curious, here's a free copy. Go ahead and try it since you have nothing to lose!
June 14, 2011
Ledwie obróciłam ostatnią stronicę „Domu Burz”, zadałam sobie najistotniejsze pytanie – co tak właściwie sprawia, że uwielbiam pióro MacLeoda? Rzadko zdarza się, bym zachwyciła się równie mocno kolejną książką pisarza, który pierwszym swym dziełem wywarł na mnie tak niesamowite wrażenie. Ian R. MacLeod jest jednym z nielicznych, którym się ta sztuka udała. A jako że za punkt honoru obrałam sobie zrecenzowanie wszystkich pozycji z serii Uczta Wyobraźni, najwyższa pora, by przyjrzeć się bliżej „Domowi Burz”, książce osadzonej w tym samym uniwersum, co recenzowane wcześniej „Wieki światła”.
W poprzedniej powieści byliśmy świadkami rewolucji, która w XIX-wiecznej Anglii rozpoczęła tytułowy wiek światła. Od tamtej pory minęło jednak kilka dekad, a społeczeństwo gotowe jest na kolejne zmiany. A przynajmniej tak zakładają ci, od których te zmiany faktycznie zależą – czyli brytyjska arystokracja. Akcja koncentruje się wokół knowań Alice Meynell, Arcycechmistrzyni Cechu Telegrafistów, która staje się siłą sprawczą wszystkich działań. Napędzana chęcią doprowadzenia swego rodu do bogactwa i władzy, ale też pobudkami o osobistym wymiarze, jak choćby troską o nieubłaganie przemijającą urodę i walką z chorobą jedynego syna, rozdaje karty, decyduje o upadku cechów i losach osób związanych z jej bliskimi. Można więc spodziewać się, że także podczas wyniszczającej wojny, ogarniającej podzielone w kwestii niewolnictwa – na wzór secesyjnych Stanów Zjednoczonych – wschód i zachód Anglii, będzie chciała odegrać niebagatelną rolę.
Akcja toczy się wielowątkowo na przestrzeni kilku lat. Prócz historii Alice śledzimy też młodość i dorosłe życie jej syna Ralpha, perypetie Marion Price, początkowo służącej w posiadłości Meynellów, a następnie niezwykle ważnej postaci podczas zmagań wojennych, a wreszcie losy Klade’a – odmieńca, zamieszkującego tajemnicze Einfell, przypadkiem także wplątanego w działania armii. Wydarzenia, które początkowo mogą wydawać się niezwiązane ze sobą, ostatecznie zgrabnie się łączą, a za wszelkimi podejmowanymi decyzjami kryje się logika i prawdopodobieństwo psychologiczne skonstruowanych postaci.
MacLeod ponownie zniewala czytelnika kunsztem pisarskim. Jego wysublimowana proza, nierzadko zachwycająca swym liryzmem, wolna jest od wszelkich sztampowych porównań, nadużywanych epitetów i utartych połączeń wyrazowych. Podczas czytania „Domu Burz” rozkoszować można się nie tylko przekazywaną treścią, ale również formą. Jednakże to, co dla mnie jest ogromną zaletą, dla wielu innych może być wadą – akcja powieści nie tylko nie pędzi na łeb, na szyję, ale momentami wręcz wlecze się w żółwim tempie, by ustąpić miejsca opisom pogody czy krajobrazu albo kontemplacjom bohaterów. Retardacja narracji znudzi co bardziej niecierpliwych i zirytuje tych, którzy przedkładają treść nad wszystko inne, nie zwracając uwagi na styl.
W prozie MacLeoda uwielbiam także to, iż nie wyczuwa się w niej nachalnej fantastyki. Magia, tu pod postacią eteru, jest kopaliną, surowcem porównywalnym do węgla, przez co jego rola nie sprowadza się wyłącznie do tego, by bohaterowie mogli dysponować nadnaturalnymi mocami. Posiada za to, jak każdy zasób naturalny, znaczenie ekonomiczne. W powieści nie ma miejsca na typowe dla gatunku potyczki, szermiercze popisy albo zabójcze monstra. Pojawiają się co prawda odmieńcy skażeni eterem – jednakże w konfrontacji z innymi ludźmi to nie oni zasługują na miano potworów. Ponownie, niektórzy mogliby uznać to za wadę. „Domowi Burz” bliżej do XIX-wiecznych powieści angielskich czy amerykańskich niż do współczesnej fantastyki. Lojalnie uprzedzam więc tych, którzy mają ochotę na spotkanie ze smokami, elfami, magami czy dzielnymi wojownikami wymachującymi dwuręcznymi mieczami – tutaj ich nie znajdziecie.
Podsumowując, lektura „Domu Burz” to zaiste prawdziwa uczta. Niewiele powieści, które miałam okazję czytać, zapewnia doznania literackie na tak wysokim poziomie. Ogromna w tym także zasługa tłumacza, Wojciecha M. Próchniewicza. O ile przekłady błędne lub niezgrabne natychmiastowo krytykowane są przez odbiorców finalnych, o tyle te dobre zbyt często pozostają bez komentarza. Tym bardziej chcę więc podkreślić, jak ważne w przypadku wysoce lirycznej prozy jest oddanie słów autora, nie tylko na polu znaczeniowym, ale i składniowym czy stylistycznym – a z tymi wszystkimi aspektami tłumacz poradził sobie znakomicie, podobnie zresztą jak w „Wiekach światła”.
Sięgnięcie po książki MacLeoda polecam wszystkim, którzy w danej chwili mają ochotę na nieco wyciszenia, na kontemplację poszczególnych zdań, a także na intrygującą opowieść w niesztampowym świecie. Do lektury zachęcam także tych, których zdanie o szeroko pojętej fantastyce nie jest zbyt pochlebne, a wszystkie powieści z tego gatunku wrzucają do jednego wora. „Dom Burz” ma szansę udowodnić im, że mogą pokochać tego typu literaturę, czego szczerze życzę.
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W poprzedniej powieści byliśmy świadkami rewolucji, która w XIX-wiecznej Anglii rozpoczęła tytułowy wiek światła. Od tamtej pory minęło jednak kilka dekad, a społeczeństwo gotowe jest na kolejne zmiany. A przynajmniej tak zakładają ci, od których te zmiany faktycznie zależą – czyli brytyjska arystokracja. Akcja koncentruje się wokół knowań Alice Meynell, Arcycechmistrzyni Cechu Telegrafistów, która staje się siłą sprawczą wszystkich działań. Napędzana chęcią doprowadzenia swego rodu do bogactwa i władzy, ale też pobudkami o osobistym wymiarze, jak choćby troską o nieubłaganie przemijającą urodę i walką z chorobą jedynego syna, rozdaje karty, decyduje o upadku cechów i losach osób związanych z jej bliskimi. Można więc spodziewać się, że także podczas wyniszczającej wojny, ogarniającej podzielone w kwestii niewolnictwa – na wzór secesyjnych Stanów Zjednoczonych – wschód i zachód Anglii, będzie chciała odegrać niebagatelną rolę.
Akcja toczy się wielowątkowo na przestrzeni kilku lat. Prócz historii Alice śledzimy też młodość i dorosłe życie jej syna Ralpha, perypetie Marion Price, początkowo służącej w posiadłości Meynellów, a następnie niezwykle ważnej postaci podczas zmagań wojennych, a wreszcie losy Klade’a – odmieńca, zamieszkującego tajemnicze Einfell, przypadkiem także wplątanego w działania armii. Wydarzenia, które początkowo mogą wydawać się niezwiązane ze sobą, ostatecznie zgrabnie się łączą, a za wszelkimi podejmowanymi decyzjami kryje się logika i prawdopodobieństwo psychologiczne skonstruowanych postaci.
MacLeod ponownie zniewala czytelnika kunsztem pisarskim. Jego wysublimowana proza, nierzadko zachwycająca swym liryzmem, wolna jest od wszelkich sztampowych porównań, nadużywanych epitetów i utartych połączeń wyrazowych. Podczas czytania „Domu Burz” rozkoszować można się nie tylko przekazywaną treścią, ale również formą. Jednakże to, co dla mnie jest ogromną zaletą, dla wielu innych może być wadą – akcja powieści nie tylko nie pędzi na łeb, na szyję, ale momentami wręcz wlecze się w żółwim tempie, by ustąpić miejsca opisom pogody czy krajobrazu albo kontemplacjom bohaterów. Retardacja narracji znudzi co bardziej niecierpliwych i zirytuje tych, którzy przedkładają treść nad wszystko inne, nie zwracając uwagi na styl.
W prozie MacLeoda uwielbiam także to, iż nie wyczuwa się w niej nachalnej fantastyki. Magia, tu pod postacią eteru, jest kopaliną, surowcem porównywalnym do węgla, przez co jego rola nie sprowadza się wyłącznie do tego, by bohaterowie mogli dysponować nadnaturalnymi mocami. Posiada za to, jak każdy zasób naturalny, znaczenie ekonomiczne. W powieści nie ma miejsca na typowe dla gatunku potyczki, szermiercze popisy albo zabójcze monstra. Pojawiają się co prawda odmieńcy skażeni eterem – jednakże w konfrontacji z innymi ludźmi to nie oni zasługują na miano potworów. Ponownie, niektórzy mogliby uznać to za wadę. „Domowi Burz” bliżej do XIX-wiecznych powieści angielskich czy amerykańskich niż do współczesnej fantastyki. Lojalnie uprzedzam więc tych, którzy mają ochotę na spotkanie ze smokami, elfami, magami czy dzielnymi wojownikami wymachującymi dwuręcznymi mieczami – tutaj ich nie znajdziecie.
Podsumowując, lektura „Domu Burz” to zaiste prawdziwa uczta. Niewiele powieści, które miałam okazję czytać, zapewnia doznania literackie na tak wysokim poziomie. Ogromna w tym także zasługa tłumacza, Wojciecha M. Próchniewicza. O ile przekłady błędne lub niezgrabne natychmiastowo krytykowane są przez odbiorców finalnych, o tyle te dobre zbyt często pozostają bez komentarza. Tym bardziej chcę więc podkreślić, jak ważne w przypadku wysoce lirycznej prozy jest oddanie słów autora, nie tylko na polu znaczeniowym, ale i składniowym czy stylistycznym – a z tymi wszystkimi aspektami tłumacz poradził sobie znakomicie, podobnie zresztą jak w „Wiekach światła”.
Sięgnięcie po książki MacLeoda polecam wszystkim, którzy w danej chwili mają ochotę na nieco wyciszenia, na kontemplację poszczególnych zdań, a także na intrygującą opowieść w niesztampowym świecie. Do lektury zachęcam także tych, których zdanie o szeroko pojętej fantastyce nie jest zbyt pochlebne, a wszystkie powieści z tego gatunku wrzucają do jednego wora. „Dom Burz” ma szansę udowodnić im, że mogą pokochać tego typu literaturę, czego szczerze życzę.
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December 1, 2022
I wanted to like this book more than I ended up liking it. I quite enjoyed the Aether universe described here, with magical teleporting telephones and spells underlying everything, but got overwhelmed (as the characters all did) with the never-ending turbulence in this book. The war just dragged on and on, until I was ready to just give up myself.
To be sure, there is a lot of beautiful, beautiful writing here. but where I was immersed in the universe of "The Light Ages," in this story, I just wanted to escape that universe (much like every character in the book). So maybe it's form reflecting function; an ongoing theme in these books is the desire for ultimate knowledge and for understanding the beyond, and the fact that none of that is possible in this life.
I thought the character of Alice was fascinating in her ruthlessness, but Marion ended up being more weakly-drawn as a character than I had hoped--she started out strong, but then kind of...dissipated. So the ending lacked much emotional impact for me. Ralph was more clearly-drawn, although his path was one of regression from youthful ideals toward disillusionment. Again, perhaps this is part of the theme; everyone ended up losing their youthful ambition and drive and forgetting what their goals were as they aged.
And Klade was a bit too strange for me to relate to at all, although he didn't start out that way. Another reviewer has mentioned the treatment of Klade's point of view as reminiscent of, but not as well-realized as "The Sound and the Fury" and I agree. But, since I love Faulkner but think "The Sound and the Fury" is immensely overrated, you can imagine that this is not exactly a selling point for me.
Also, in my Kindle edition, there were horrendous typos that undercut the beautiful writing.
To be sure, there is a lot of beautiful, beautiful writing here. but where I was immersed in the universe of "The Light Ages," in this story, I just wanted to escape that universe (much like every character in the book). So maybe it's form reflecting function; an ongoing theme in these books is the desire for ultimate knowledge and for understanding the beyond, and the fact that none of that is possible in this life.
I thought the character of Alice was fascinating in her ruthlessness, but Marion ended up being more weakly-drawn as a character than I had hoped--she started out strong, but then kind of...dissipated. So the ending lacked much emotional impact for me. Ralph was more clearly-drawn, although his path was one of regression from youthful ideals toward disillusionment. Again, perhaps this is part of the theme; everyone ended up losing their youthful ambition and drive and forgetting what their goals were as they aged.
And Klade was a bit too strange for me to relate to at all, although he didn't start out that way. Another reviewer has mentioned the treatment of Klade's point of view as reminiscent of, but not as well-realized as "The Sound and the Fury" and I agree. But, since I love Faulkner but think "The Sound and the Fury" is immensely overrated, you can imagine that this is not exactly a selling point for me.
Also, in my Kindle edition, there were horrendous typos that undercut the beautiful writing.
April 11, 2019
I’m torn between 3 and 4 stars. This was definitely better than The Light Ages. I almost didn’t read this, except other reviews said it was better...and in many ways, it was.
It’s about 100 years after the first book and great guildmistress Alice has been traveling all over England and Europe in search of a place to help heal her only son Ralph when she finally decides to stay at Invercombe. Invercombe has always been rumored to be haunted, built by faeries, and the home of both very strong magic and a weathertop that helps control not just the gardens, but the channel and Einfell—where the Chosen Ones live.
As civil war breaks out across England, Alice, Ralph, and Marion find that Invercombe is where they have to go back to.
I found myself lost a few times in this book, just as the previous book, due to the lack of explanations and the author’s troublesome habit of switching from one character to another in mid paragraph or chapter with no explanation or lead in. The ending was a little disappointing with its overall wrap up as well.
It’s about 100 years after the first book and great guildmistress Alice has been traveling all over England and Europe in search of a place to help heal her only son Ralph when she finally decides to stay at Invercombe. Invercombe has always been rumored to be haunted, built by faeries, and the home of both very strong magic and a weathertop that helps control not just the gardens, but the channel and Einfell—where the Chosen Ones live.
As civil war breaks out across England, Alice, Ralph, and Marion find that Invercombe is where they have to go back to.
I found myself lost a few times in this book, just as the previous book, due to the lack of explanations and the author’s troublesome habit of switching from one character to another in mid paragraph or chapter with no explanation or lead in. The ending was a little disappointing with its overall wrap up as well.
November 6, 2019
20% into it and I'm considering giving up.
I did like The Light Ages and was expecting something similar. But it isn't. It's damn boring. Alice is greatgrandmistress in the same steampunk universe, and a despicable human being at it. She casually murders a woman from her inglorious past for having recognized her.
She's also a mother and her son, Ralph, is sick. Then he gets well.
Up until this point, Alice is the only character and she's unpleasant. The story is a drag and there's hardly anything else to note.
I did like The Light Ages and was expecting something similar. But it isn't. It's damn boring. Alice is greatgrandmistress in the same steampunk universe, and a despicable human being at it. She casually murders a woman from her inglorious past for having recognized her.
She's also a mother and her son, Ralph, is sick. Then he gets well.
Up until this point, Alice is the only character and she's unpleasant. The story is a drag and there's hardly anything else to note.
June 23, 2024
This book disappointed me. Maybe I just like happy stories, but I like a lot of tragic stories too. I just like the tragedy to have a point. this world is a very grim one, and to me, it seems the characters do not become better because of their suffering, they all just slowly degrade. There's no one to really root for. It was a battle to finish this book.
September 12, 2024
I have been back in forth and I now believe that I liked this book better than "The Light Ages" and that, in my mind, is because the ending is better in this one. MacLeod did an outstanding job of building on the Aether Universe England and really expanded its scope and detail. It was also satisfying to learn more about what happened with the "Changelings" and Einfell.
The characters were unique and well thought out, and there were several surprises sprinkled throughout and I was was truly not expecting the abrupt change between parts 1 and 2. I really enjoyed how the triangle of Alice, Ralph, and Marion came full circle and each character received a realistic conclusion to their story. I do have to say that I completely disliked the "Klade" character. While the main 3 characters had their flaws for sure, they also had redeeming qualities that made you sympathize with them at points throughout the story. Klade had zero, yet had one particularly disturbing scene that I wished had never been in the book. That alone is enough to decrease my rating..
The book wove several complex themes throughout the story but never completely explored or focused on one for long enough to make much of an impact.
Macleod's writing is extremely descriptive and thorough and I was able to easily develop a picture in my mind of the scenes, landscapes, and the interactions the characters had with each other and their surroundings. I found myself reading through parts of the books too fast, because I was eager to see what unexpected turn the plot was about to take.
Although I am a big fantasy guy, I am glad I read through these two books filled with "realistic magic".
The characters were unique and well thought out, and there were several surprises sprinkled throughout and I was was truly not expecting the abrupt change between parts 1 and 2. I really enjoyed how the triangle of Alice, Ralph, and Marion came full circle and each character received a realistic conclusion to their story. I do have to say that I completely disliked the "Klade" character. While the main 3 characters had their flaws for sure, they also had redeeming qualities that made you sympathize with them at points throughout the story. Klade had zero, yet had one particularly disturbing scene that I wished had never been in the book. That alone is enough to decrease my rating..
The book wove several complex themes throughout the story but never completely explored or focused on one for long enough to make much of an impact.
Macleod's writing is extremely descriptive and thorough and I was able to easily develop a picture in my mind of the scenes, landscapes, and the interactions the characters had with each other and their surroundings. I found myself reading through parts of the books too fast, because I was eager to see what unexpected turn the plot was about to take.
Although I am a big fantasy guy, I am glad I read through these two books filled with "realistic magic".
April 6, 2022
Návrat do MacLeodova světa byl fajn, i když Světlověk hodnotím o kousek líp. Začátek (víc orientovaný na vztahy) byl zajímavý, popisy války pro mě v druhé půlce už trochu ztrácely, ale četby nelituju.
April 18, 2018
nadal nie wie i czym to właściwie było
April 22, 2020
Couldn't get into it. Wasn't my type of read
February 27, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in November 2006.
The follow-up to the wonderful The Light Ages, The House of Storms revisits the same world a century or so later.
The plot describes the machinations of Guildsmistress Alice Meynell, whose pursuit of personal power at any cost eventually leads to a terrible civil war between the east and west of England. This is not the confrontation between king and parliament which happened in the real world, which is now remote enough that it has been romanticised, but a horrific, draining conflict clearly modelled on the Western Front in the First World War.
One of the typical plots of the fantasy genre - which reflects the appeal it has to the adolescent audience - is the underhand "bad guy" adult being opposed and beaten by young teens. The House of Storms looks as though it might follow this storyline, as the first part of the novel describes a love affair between Alice's son Ralph and one of the maids at the house of the title, Invercombe near Bristol where Ralph travels to recuperate from an illness. However (to return to the point), MacLeod decides to reveal the unlikelihood of the standard plot, as Alice easily defeats their plans to flee to the Fortunate Isles; it is only realistic for experience and duplicity to overcome naivety. This leads straight to the strange second part, much of which is told from the point of view of a new character. He is a boy growing up in Einfell, the sanctuary for those whose humanity has been destroyed by over-exposure to aether, the raw material of magic. This was for me reminiscent of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, though not quite at the level acheived in that classic novel.
While The House of Storms is clearly a cleverly conceived and well written fantasy novel, it is not really as readable as The Light Ages. For this, the easy victory given Alice Meynell already mentioned is partly to blame, for it exposes the insipidity of Ralph and Marion as characters with whom the reader is meant to identity: the other main characters are too ruthless (Alice) or strange (Klade). It invites re-reading, though, and doing so is rewarding. The first time through, though, I found it hard to spend more than five minutes reading the novel without putting it down and taking a break. If you want a cute and fluffy, easy read, then The House of Storms is not for you; but for those who want something deeper, especially those who enjoyed The Light Ages, it is well worth making the effort.
The follow-up to the wonderful The Light Ages, The House of Storms revisits the same world a century or so later.
The plot describes the machinations of Guildsmistress Alice Meynell, whose pursuit of personal power at any cost eventually leads to a terrible civil war between the east and west of England. This is not the confrontation between king and parliament which happened in the real world, which is now remote enough that it has been romanticised, but a horrific, draining conflict clearly modelled on the Western Front in the First World War.
One of the typical plots of the fantasy genre - which reflects the appeal it has to the adolescent audience - is the underhand "bad guy" adult being opposed and beaten by young teens. The House of Storms looks as though it might follow this storyline, as the first part of the novel describes a love affair between Alice's son Ralph and one of the maids at the house of the title, Invercombe near Bristol where Ralph travels to recuperate from an illness. However (to return to the point), MacLeod decides to reveal the unlikelihood of the standard plot, as Alice easily defeats their plans to flee to the Fortunate Isles; it is only realistic for experience and duplicity to overcome naivety. This leads straight to the strange second part, much of which is told from the point of view of a new character. He is a boy growing up in Einfell, the sanctuary for those whose humanity has been destroyed by over-exposure to aether, the raw material of magic. This was for me reminiscent of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, though not quite at the level acheived in that classic novel.
While The House of Storms is clearly a cleverly conceived and well written fantasy novel, it is not really as readable as The Light Ages. For this, the easy victory given Alice Meynell already mentioned is partly to blame, for it exposes the insipidity of Ralph and Marion as characters with whom the reader is meant to identity: the other main characters are too ruthless (Alice) or strange (Klade). It invites re-reading, though, and doing so is rewarding. The first time through, though, I found it hard to spend more than five minutes reading the novel without putting it down and taking a break. If you want a cute and fluffy, easy read, then The House of Storms is not for you; but for those who want something deeper, especially those who enjoyed The Light Ages, it is well worth making the effort.
March 6, 2010
This is dragged on and on. The first part of the book would've been okay as a stand alone novel, not brilliant, but okay. Then came the second part seen from the POV of the son of the protags from the first part. Who's "special" and really, really slow and not particularly interesting to read. MacLeod just throws in too many damned themes. Is it industrialization? Femme Fatales? Coming of age? Abolition? The civil war is moved from the US to the UK, and the US is referred to as "Thule" whereas the rest of the universe says Thule is north, and so Scandinavia or Iceland. There's even a seriously fucked up Oedipus complex in there. And can I say how much I hate it when writers (mostly male, but some female too) add a rape for no particular reason? So, Special Snowflake rapes another Chosen, and then when she buggers off to fade away thinks "maybe it's for the best" and then proceeds to feel sorry for himself for being a rapist. 200 pages and a lot of other stuff later, he comes upon her again, says sorry and she says no biggie and vanishes again, whereupon we wait another 40 pages only for him to force himself upon his mother. So what, pray tell did that add to the plot? Bugger all, except making the third protag very unlikeable, and it had no impact on the rest of the plot either, and there was plenty of plot element even before the BooHooFeelBadForMeI'mARapist crap was added.
Off to BookCrossing this goes. I'd recommend the Light Ages before House of Storms for those who wish to read MacLeod.
Off to BookCrossing this goes. I'd recommend the Light Ages before House of Storms for those who wish to read MacLeod.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2015
Having read "The Light Ages" I'm not sure what I expected from this book, because really the authors penchant for writing books populated by flat characters (that no one cares about) in which somehow (despite rather a lot of things going on, war/social upheaval/etc) nothing happens, had already been established.
The beginning showed promise, and as with the first book there are lots of interesting gemlike ideas scattered throughout and so I endured, expecting it to develop somehow (because surely he'd learnt his lesson the second time round). But just when things were getting interesting everything came to a grinding halt and it became clear that the mildly diverting beginning was all just overblown backstory for the main (non)event.
After several awkward leaps forward in time following an entirely new person (that I cared about even less that the first lot) the story followed a ragged group of infinitely bland and somewhat delirious characters through the blasted, nightmarish and incomprehensible landscape of war torn England as they did, well... very little.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about these books is the potential, because somewhere within all that blandness there is an excellent world with huge possibilities. But alas, what little good there is inevitably gets lost along the way, leaving us with a final product that renders itself entirely pointless before ever it reaches the final page.
The beginning showed promise, and as with the first book there are lots of interesting gemlike ideas scattered throughout and so I endured, expecting it to develop somehow (because surely he'd learnt his lesson the second time round). But just when things were getting interesting everything came to a grinding halt and it became clear that the mildly diverting beginning was all just overblown backstory for the main (non)event.
After several awkward leaps forward in time following an entirely new person (that I cared about even less that the first lot) the story followed a ragged group of infinitely bland and somewhat delirious characters through the blasted, nightmarish and incomprehensible landscape of war torn England as they did, well... very little.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about these books is the potential, because somewhere within all that blandness there is an excellent world with huge possibilities. But alas, what little good there is inevitably gets lost along the way, leaving us with a final product that renders itself entirely pointless before ever it reaches the final page.
October 6, 2015
The story begins with Alice Meynell's desperate search for a cure for her dying son. For some unknown reason, the plot devolves into a story about a Class(Civil) war.
In the plot the topic of Eugenics is brought up along with a perversion of Darwin's theory.
While MacLeod does draw inspiration from Lewis Carroll's: "Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass," his story lacks the creativity of the source material.
In the plot the topic of Eugenics is brought up along with a perversion of Darwin's theory.
While MacLeod does draw inspiration from Lewis Carroll's: "Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass," his story lacks the creativity of the source material.
March 24, 2016
The story begins as Alice Meynell desperately searches for a cure for her dying son. For some unknown reason the plot devolves into a story about a Class(Civil) war.
In the plat the topic of Eugenics is brought up with a perversion of Darwin's theory.
While there are elements of Lewis Carroll's: "Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass," they are not well done.
In the plat the topic of Eugenics is brought up with a perversion of Darwin's theory.
While there are elements of Lewis Carroll's: "Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass," they are not well done.
April 3, 2007
MacLeod is one of the best writers in sci-fi/fantasy today, and his Victorian steam-fantasy work is brilliant. For some reason, however, this follow up to "The Age of Light" didn't grip me in the same way as the first novel.
November 28, 2015
Appealed to me less than its predecessor, partly because the beginning focused so much on Alice Meynell, who was a stereotypical manipulative social climbing woman, albeit with a more interesting agenda in the very end.
January 24, 2011
I really can't decide what I think of this book. In some ways, it was quite engrossing, in other ways, I find myself going "why did I just spend all this time on this book where nothing really happens?"
April 30, 2011
This is a book I thought I would love but only liked. The imagery was lovely, the story vastly intriguing until the writer suddenly took a tea break and never quite recaptured the pace. Despite the slight derailment, the story was enjoyable.
I still recommend the book as a good read.
I still recommend the book as a good read.
July 25, 2020
Rarely has a book stayed with me for so long ( I read this about 6 yrs ago), but this book has stuck in my mind. It is so hard to describe what it is about, but it is magical and spiritual and ethereal. Well recommended.
July 26, 2007
the story just gets better. classic, Dickensian, dark fairy/alternate reality, morality, tale. this is a beautiful book.
January 10, 2008
Ugh. Know when to leave well enough alone, I say.
http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/bo...
http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/bo...
March 31, 2009
Another very satisfying "aethereal" tale from Ian MacLeod
August 17, 2013
An interesting book, but the narrative was too disjointed and the plot overall more underwhelming than it should have been. Not at all bad, but imminently a forgettable story.
March 13, 2016
Loved the first book, but this was not a worthy sequel. Nearly everything about it feels forced. The language is still beautiful, but the basic psycho drama is very predictable.
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