River of the World

Selling Water By the River #2

by Chaz Brenchley

His homeland oppressed for more than twenty years after the events of Bridge of Dreams, Issel of the Sudain uses his magical ability to manipulate water as part of a plan to free his people, an endeavor in which he is aided by a Marasai general's daughter who possesses her own vendetta against the regime. Reprint.

Genres: Fantasy

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 3, 2007

About the author

Chaz Brenchley has been making a living as a writer since he was eighteen. He is the author of nine thrillers, most recently Shelter, and two major fantasy series: The Books of Outremer, based on the world of the Crusades, and Selling Water by the River, set in an alternate Ottoman Istanbul. A winner of the British Fantasy Award, he has also published three books for children and more than 500 short stories in various genres. His time as Crimewriter-in-Residence at the St Peter's Riverside Sculpture Project in Sunderland resulted in the collection Blood Waters. He is a prizewinning ex-poet, and has been writer in residence at the University of Northumbria, as well as tutoring their MA in Creative Writing. His novel Dead of Light is currently in development with an independent film company; Shelter has been optioned by Granada TV. He was Northern Writer of the Year 2000, and lives in Newcastle upon Tyne with a quantum cat and a famous teddy bear.

Also known as author Daniel Fox.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

AS good as the first one... really they are two volumes of a single book, rather than two books in a series. The ending is satisfying and yet not, with a rearrangement of the status quo that addresses the deepest conflicts in the story, and yet does not resolve the conflicts within the protagonist character.

My only feminist concerns in this series are that the female characters, despite being complex and somewhat powerful, tend to fall into a few familiar and disappointing categories: A harem girl, a witch, and a manipulative mother-in-law. These women trade on their sexuality, their ruthlessness and their magic, respectively, and though the female protagonist is brave and loyal, she doesn't have a whole lot else to recommend her.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book's plot never really grabbed me but it was well enough written that I finished reading it. This is a second book in a series of least two books and perhaps if I had read the first book I might have appreciated this book more.

[Liviu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concluding tale of the Sund/Maras duology features the same wonderful writing style of Mr. Brenchley and it is more interesting since things happen, though it's quite predictable too at least if you read enough fantasy.

Not as good as the Outremer series - better written perhaps, but lacking the sweep, interesting characters and world building of that one - I read these two books mostly for the wonderful prose than anything else.

[Dryad86 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I strongly recommend reading both books back to back. It was over a year since I read the first and many of the details were faded. Often the author gives nudges/clues (all too often that is an annoying thing), but in this case they were completely lacking. So, most of the novel I spent trying to remember the context ('Who was that guy? Wasn't there something about that...?)

I probably would have produced more stars if I hadn't encountered that trouble.