well written book with a clear story in mind and characters that make you want to keep reading, The writing style is reminiscent of Shakespeare's dialogue and wordy phrases, A lot of lead up to small action, but still an enjoyable book! This is the second time I've read this, as well as Fortress in the Eye of Time.
I loved Fortress in the Eye of Time so freakin' much that this book was a disappointment by contrast, and I couldn't bring myself to finish the series.
Now that I've had a year and a half to marinate in my fangirl love for the first book, I was far more able to enjoy this one the second time around, hence the bump from three to five.
Granted, this is not an easy book to read, Honestly, it'd be a lie to say I knew what was going onof the time, There's a lot of complicated religious and political drama, and a lot of long names of people, places, and horses, Cherryh has a fondness for using the letters S and Y in great abundance, And there was a lot of time wasted on things that don't really, . . matter Yes, packing up and moving takes a lot of work, Got it.
That being said, I love Tristen, He's enough to carry the rest, I love anticipating what he will do next, since you never really know what to expect, I love his brotherhood with Cefwyn and Uwen, I love that he still takes the time to feed the pigeons when there's so much strife ensuing around him, There's really no fantasy character or otherwise that I can compare him tohe's so unique,
Cefwyn gets it, and he appreciates their friendship, So many times I was frustrated for him and the difficult political decisions he had to make, Sometimes, I'd wish that he would just say f you to everyone and go about his business with Tristen at his side, but he can't, which just lends to the maddening tension.
One of my favorite conversations, between Idrys and Cefwyn, about Tristen:
Cefwyn: "Neither ambition, nor selfwill, nor greed for land, None of these things move him, Idrys, He is the best man I ever knew, "
"He is not a man," Idrys countered him, "As m'lord king may well remember, "
"A man in all points but birth, "
"Oh, aye, a birth, . . that small matter. "
"Damn you, I say, "
C. J. Is amazing this story will get you hooked
Tristen is finally coming into his own and learning the ways of the world, He now has his own home to manage and to rule, . . this book does drag at some points but well worth the read, Second read Aug,A really great followup albeit with misleading cover art to the first book! You might want to read the hardcopy, which I had previously read and warranted the four.
The kindle version with its myriad of errors is two, At best!! This novel continues the story of Tristen and Cefwyn as Cefwyn attempts to cement his power as the new king and Tristen continues to explore what his purpose as Maryl's shaping may be.
Tristen is much less the innocent in this book, compared to the last, and while this is a necessary step for the continued development of the character, it caused the book to lose much of the lyricism that I so loved about the first book.
Tristen is no longer staring at leaves and rhapsodizing about them, which surprisingly, was a shame, At the same time, the complexities in the relationships between the characters increases in compelling and believable ways, Initially I felt that Cherryh was a bit off stride as she portrayed the intricacies of court politics, Perhaps this was intentional, but as Tristen chaffed at the confinement of the court life, I the reader chaffed at the pace of the book, However about a third of the way int he rhythm picks up and I was again swept up in the story,
A lot less happens in this story than the first as well, There wasn't a surprising shift in any of the characters, but rather this book felt more like an interlude and a setup for what is I assume to come in the next book.
I would still highly recommend this and it's definitely a high four, but not quite the level of the first, I'm looking forward to sitelinkFortress of Owls Still a very good series,although not quite theof the earlier book in the series Fortress in the Eye of Time.
For some reason the author decided to try to repeat the formula of the first book and revert to having Tristen lost in deep innocent thought on everything from pigeons to the nature of gods for the first half of the book.
edit. This is the onlystar in the series, but you need to read it in order to understand what is going on in the next book, . it gets better
While this was a welcome slow intro to the world Cherryh was building in first book, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to repeat this in the second.
Luckily Cherryh breaks it up a bit with some political intrigue and machinations of the church to assert its authority, . but even then I am just not enamored with the character of Cefwyn the King, Like many of Cherryh's characters, he wallows in family drama and introspection,
The second half of the book picks up separating Cefwyn from Tristen, . . and we see the Tristen I was expecting after the climax in the first book, More Royal intrigue but dealt with by Tristen with a combination of magic and compassion and intelligence more in line with a creature who is capable of absorbing knowledge at a frenetic pace and has been studying and observing a king at work.
We also get more glimpses into the nature of what Tristen might actually be, .
and what the nature of ' the gray place' is in this book, I like that continuing mystery,
Magic is too often ' explained' with rules and dice rolls to fantasy readers, as if it were merely an alternate science with clear rules anyone can figure out given study.
Mystery is an essential ingredient in Magic, As some stage magicians have been quoted as saying " If you know the trick, it isn't magic anymore" This series is great for atmosphere, but not so much for pacing.
There was very little plot in this book, though I enjoyed the feel of it as I slowly made my way through it, The first book is definitely much better overall! More coherent plot that the first book in this series, I find Cherryh's prose to be a bit hard to follow when I first start one of her books, but once I get into it, the prose flows right along.
Tristen continues to be a puzzle to himself and to the reader, and Cefwyn needs to decide whether to be himself or his father or grandfather, Just when he seems to have come to a decision, events push him to react differently,
The little things in the book were so effectiveTristen's return to the garden near the end of the book, for example, or the recurring role of pigeons.
Looking forward to the next book, I'm totally hooked on the world Cherryh has conjured, This series needs to be a movie or on HBO or something, Watch out, GRRM, CJ's coming for ya, Still the repetition of narratives is boring, Nevertheless I found this book more engaging than the previous one, I continue with the third installmente, The books in this series are reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow paced with briefflurriesofhurriedactivity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, but are quite good reads if you can stand the pacing, The story of the second book of the Fortress series really hits its stride a lot better than the first, The first book is slow to start and can be a little plodding, There was far less of that in this book and the characters felt more fleshed out and the plot is better paced, I really enjoyed this book, I feel like it had less of the passive voice than the first one, which is a marked improvement, There was more humor and presence and less summarizing, I would genuinely recommend this book to fans of dark fantasy and it has political intrigue for DAYS, It had periods of moving the action forward, but a whole lot of verbage that didn't seem to accomplish anything, I liked the first book, I hope the third is better,
Much better than the first in the series, the plot had more movement, This book really had me lost for a bit, it got very slow and hard to parse through about mid way in the book, I swear randomly it got exciting and interesting again and I couldnt put it down, But when it felt a slog to read I couldnt even pretend to want to read it,
However, I did enjoy it and enjoyed the political intrigue and Tristen becoming MORE than a naive Other, Narrower in breadth and perspective, Fortress if Eagles focuses on Cefwyn's consolidation of power, his appointment of Tristen to be Lord of Amefel, and the court intrigue that surrounds the two of them.
Warring religions, hatred of wizards and sorcery, duplicitous nobles all make for an interesting read with a smidge less awesomeness, We must get to know Tristen as he changes with the acquisition of knowledge and loss of innocence, Much shorter than Eye of Time, one wonders if the publisher forced breaking up the story into smaller segments, Nevertheless, the story continues, very intriguing indeed, and it's now onward to Fortress of Owls and wonder if Tristen's old friend Owl will return, Tristen is both more and less than a man, A summoning, a shaping, he was brought to life by a wizard, to serve a king yet to be crowned,
Now the wizard is dead: a united Ylesuin, and a peace this land has never known, Cefwyn needs his only friend, this young man of mysterious origins who is more brother than vassal, He relies on Tristen, and trusts him though he knows not why, as he plans the war that will bring his dream to pass, . . or bring ruin upon them all,
The eagerly awaited sequel to her acclaimed Fortress in the Eye of Time, C, J. Cherryh's newest high fantasy triumph is an epic saga of destiny and intrigue in a magical world as wondrous, and as real, as our own, A good follow on to the first book deliberate, measured pace with brief heart racing action and tension, I still struggled with the names and political plots, never certain I have thoroughly comprehended everything though, quite helpfully, the prologue of the next book explains it all in a much simplified way.
This review may contain spoilers for the preceding book,
In many ways, sitelinkFortress in the Eye of Time didn't need a sequel, Tristen's purpose was ostensibly fulfilled, the conflict finished, Although the ending left openings for more stories, it didn't beg for continuation, Still, the future of the kingdoms Ylesuin and Elwynor was not so neatly decided, and it is to them that Cherryh turned her pen,
He had watched Cefwyn, in utmost weariness and at any hour, gather himself up and attend what duty wanted attending, and now he knew Cefwyn had given him what neither Mauryl nor Emuin could give him: the model of a lord of men.
Cefwyn may be king, but he's inherited a tangle of baronies and alliances illdisposed to his Southern inclinations, much less his potentially wizardous confidants, His upcoming marriage to Ninévrisë is a scandal to both his subjects and the religious authorities of the Quinalt, each of which jockey to undermine the alliance and enforce their own will and norms on Cefwyn's rule.
Meanwhile Tristan, distrusted for his origins, approaches his first winter of life with trepidation, Despite all the growingup he did in , . . Eye of Time, he's still very young, and it shows, I enjoy it, though. It's not really a backsliding in maturity, so much as continued growth, If I'd been brought fullformed into the world and gone through everything Tristen has in the space ofmonths or so, I wouldn't hold up nearly as well,
This is an interlude book, laying groundwork for the plots to come, but unlike many 'middle books' it carries forward on its own momentum, There's little magic here, saving Tristen's own nature, but no shortage of intrigue, as Tristen and Cefwyn each grow into the men they must become, Plots, power, battle and weddings, . . and none of it at all tedious! There's humor, of a dry and sometimes dark sort, woven in among the secrets and lies of court life, Cefwyn's wit has a razor's edge, though it turns readily to terrible Marhannan temper, And bescandled outrage has a way of looking ridiculous on many characters, xD
The laughter tapers, though, as the pages turn, and the stakes grow everhigher, What starts amusing turns to dangerous, and war is on the horizon,
All told, this is a fitting continuation, and I look forward to reading more of the Fortress books, When I picked up Fortress in the Eye of Time at the library a few months ago, I fell in love with Cherryh all over again, This is the sequel to that first novel, I am going back to the library tomorrow to get the third one in the series, A word of warning: if you have not read the first one yet, dont get into the series before you do, This series clearly is one that you have to read in order in order to properly appreciate whats going on as well as to appreciate development of the characters.
And now a word of advice: you definitely want to read this series! Oh, I can think of half a dozen of my acquaintances who would pick up the first book because I said that and then put it down after a few pages, or a few chapters, or even more, shaking their heads and saying I have lost it.
Let such people go read the kinds of things they like! Cherryh writes descriptive prose that reads like poetry, and I love it and her, I am not going to quote from her book the only way to really enjoy its full flavor is to read it yourself, and I would be hardpressed to pick out any specific passage no matter how much length was allowed without thinking that there were others in the book that were even better.
This novel is about a place that never was but ought to have been, about people who never were but really should be, The book continues the story of Tristen as he learns to live in human society and develops greater understanding of what he himself is, but so far he knows no more than we do.
I am not going to spoil any of the story by telling you anything that happens to him or that he does whatever little aspect I chose to write about would be such a small part of Cherryhs whole that you simply would not get the full flavor.
I noticed in this book, As I have in others of Cherryhs work, that she seems to have a real understanding of what it is like to be part of a large army, Her descriptions of what it is like to assemble several military companies and get them on the move seems achingly true, Indeed, her descriptions of all of the diverse facets of this complex culture that she has created come across so vividly and so realistically that they seem incredibly real.
That is more than I can say for her publisher, in this case Harper Prism, To begin with, the painstakingly detailed cover illustration is completely false: the scene that it depicts never happens in the book, In fact, it could never happen, because unless my sense of perspective is completely shot it shows an armored rider on his armored horse making an impossible leap onto stones at the side of the river with the back end of the horse not there! Or else the house is about to become impaled on the large rock it is sleeping over.
There are other things wrong the foremost rider must be Tristen, since he would not be carrying the banner that the second rider carries on the other hand, the second rider appears to be wearing a crown, which suggests that he is King Cefwyn who also would not be carrying a banner, particularly when it appears to be Tristens banner finally, bringing up the rear on a third horse is a beautiful young lady with a dress gown this presumably is Ninevrise, who would never be out riding astride a horse in that dress, much less as part of an armored band.
On top of that, there is a page preceding the title page I am at a complete loss as to what to name it containing four shot paragraphs that presumably represent an introduction to the book except that the things described in the introduction never happened! Finally, I went out of my gourd standing in the library aisle with this book and Fortress of Owls the sequel to this one in each hand, trying with great difficulty to figure out which came
first in sequence.
I very nearly chose the other to takehome possibly I liked its cover illustration better, until I finally found on the back cover of this book the statement that it was the sequel to Fortress in the Eye of Time why on earth dont publishers make it easy for readers to find the relationships between books Arggh!
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