Snare is an epic Science fiction novel with some fun and strange twists...basically the decendants of Islamic fundamentalists, and the decendants of scientists whose ancestors arrived on the planet Snare over 800 years ago by accident , are constantly battling the alien natives, and sometimes each other and no one really knows why, or why they must follow strange and bizzarre customs. Through an epic journey into intrigue, war, and adventure, one of the books' heros Ammadin, who is a Spirit Rider/Healer goes on a Spirit Quest to ultimately find out the real truth of the story of how they all arrived there.
Snare was a fun, well written and easy read that kept me wanting to go back to for more adventure to see what was around the next corner/adventure.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn
On a recommendation from a friend, I picked up Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince, the first in a series. The story is classic fantasy, centering around the politics and family drama of several royal clans as they vie for power and peace.
Rohan, the young prince of the desert, is generally considered bookish and shy, but the reserved scholar actually has an ingenious plan to secure his country's peace, in spite of some rather dangerous neighbors. He also knows a secret about the desert dragons, a secret that just might change the balance of power. But complicating matters considerably is the arrival of his betrothed, a witch. When the prince and his fiancee fall in love at first sight, it will take all their wits - and will - to pretend otherwise, because the prince's plan rests on fooling the world that he plans to marry someone else.
The story is remarkably well-written (having read enough very incomprehensible prose passing under a fantasy publisher's label, I can say this is sadly an exception rather than a rule with fantasy), containing vivid, motivated characters, complicated and yet realistic events, and a fully realized system of magic.
My only complaint would be that this fantasy is very...well, unfantastical - for a fantasy. Sure it's set in another world and with magic and dragons, but it reads like historical fiction. Everything felt - to me - rather scientific. There is not really a higher plane or even much philosophizing - just politics. (This is unfortunate because fantasy is made for philosophizing. Just look at Harry Potter.) For myself, I like fantasy - and books in general - to have a certain sort of seinsucht to them - just a little something more.
But if you like your fantasy gritty, realistic, and mightily historical, then Dragon Prince is a great place to start.
Rohan, the young prince of the desert, is generally considered bookish and shy, but the reserved scholar actually has an ingenious plan to secure his country's peace, in spite of some rather dangerous neighbors. He also knows a secret about the desert dragons, a secret that just might change the balance of power. But complicating matters considerably is the arrival of his betrothed, a witch. When the prince and his fiancee fall in love at first sight, it will take all their wits - and will - to pretend otherwise, because the prince's plan rests on fooling the world that he plans to marry someone else.
The story is remarkably well-written (having read enough very incomprehensible prose passing under a fantasy publisher's label, I can say this is sadly an exception rather than a rule with fantasy), containing vivid, motivated characters, complicated and yet realistic events, and a fully realized system of magic.
My only complaint would be that this fantasy is very...well, unfantastical - for a fantasy. Sure it's set in another world and with magic and dragons, but it reads like historical fiction. Everything felt - to me - rather scientific. There is not really a higher plane or even much philosophizing - just politics. (This is unfortunate because fantasy is made for philosophizing. Just look at Harry Potter.) For myself, I like fantasy - and books in general - to have a certain sort of seinsucht to them - just a little something more.
But if you like your fantasy gritty, realistic, and mightily historical, then Dragon Prince is a great place to start.
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