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Mountain Made of Light #1
The Mountain Made of Light
In the Peruvian Andes seeking a haven for himself and an opportunity to make his name as an anthropologist, Jesse O'Keefe finds an entire civilization descended from the Incas and locked in the past
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 4, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 4, 2024
Categorizing this book as a fantasy does it a disservice. I would label it as fantastical historical fiction, or revisionist history. Our MC, Jesse, goes into the Andes in South America to do some soul searching after World War 1. He finds this hidden society in the mountains, basically untouched by technology and isolated for the past several hundred years. He unlocks some kind of prophecy, and he and wordpathguide (translator) Aeslu and bringer (storyteller) Norroi head off to find the promised land of the mountain people. They are joined by another European mountaineer named Forster, and hyjinks ensue. (Think basically the Disney movie Atlantis, with few more sinister twists and a lot more prophecy.)
I really wanted to like this story. The writing was decent, I liked the setup, and I was game for the prophecy. Unfortunately, the narrative got repetitive fast. They would hike through the woods for days looking for this holy mountain. Find another city. Talk to the natives. Get imprisoned. Escape. Look for the mountain. Rinse, repeat. Of course, Aeslu and Norroi don't explain to Jesse and Forster the entire prophecy and backstory at once, because that would be too easy. Everything is secret for some reason. Let's toss in a healthy dose of miscommunication and an obvious red herring too, why not? (It's entirely obvious from page one who the Man of Knowledge is, I'm not sure what the author was trying to do here.) For the first third of the book, Jesse is the narrator. Then, without warning, it switches to Aeslu. And then it swaps back and forth without indication of who is speaking, so you spend half the page trying to decipher who is speaking and what they know, versus what they think the other knows. It's exhausting. This book could have actually been chopped down by half, and instead of a trilogy, it could have easily been a duology.
It's not all bad. The story was different and fun, and I was hanging on to see if they actually did find the mountain of light or not, and if Aeslu would figure out which man was who in terms of the prophecy. It read quickly, and before I knew it, I had read 30 or 40 pages.
I don't think I'll be continuing on with the trilogy, but I might sneak a peak at the last book just to see how it wraps up.
Overall, it's good, a little slow, but could be better.
I really wanted to like this story. The writing was decent, I liked the setup, and I was game for the prophecy. Unfortunately, the narrative got repetitive fast. They would hike through the woods for days looking for this holy mountain. Find another city. Talk to the natives. Get imprisoned. Escape. Look for the mountain. Rinse, repeat. Of course, Aeslu and Norroi don't explain to Jesse and Forster the entire prophecy and backstory at once, because that would be too easy. Everything is secret for some reason. Let's toss in a healthy dose of miscommunication and an obvious red herring too, why not? (It's entirely obvious from page one who the Man of Knowledge is, I'm not sure what the author was trying to do here.) For the first third of the book, Jesse is the narrator. Then, without warning, it switches to Aeslu. And then it swaps back and forth without indication of who is speaking, so you spend half the page trying to decipher who is speaking and what they know, versus what they think the other knows. It's exhausting. This book could have actually been chopped down by half, and instead of a trilogy, it could have easily been a duology.
It's not all bad. The story was different and fun, and I was hanging on to see if they actually did find the mountain of light or not, and if Aeslu would figure out which man was who in terms of the prophecy. It read quickly, and before I knew it, I had read 30 or 40 pages.
I don't think I'll be continuing on with the trilogy, but I might sneak a peak at the last book just to see how it wraps up.
Overall, it's good, a little slow, but could be better.
November 15, 2017
This is a stunningly beautiful and mystical book about a man searching for peace after World War I. He is an anthropologist studying a culture of indigenous people in the Andes -- and they are studying him for spiritual reasons of their own.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews