Nov 18, 2011 1:39 PM
The Fionovar Tapestry
Consider this a review of the whole trilogy, since I find very few differences amongst the books to write something different about each one of them.
The Fionovar Tapestry is in many ways an old-school type of fantasy adventure, in the likes of Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Its premise is about youths traveling from our world into a magical, where they are forced to take part in a war for the fate of the universe. What makes it a step more interesting though is that it is in overall far more brutal, sexual, and eventually less expectable than the classical formula. Although the key points are the same (an evil god trying to take over the world with orcs, and humans, dwarves and elves fight back) the way the parties are presented are far more complicating in terms of alliances, and there is a big chunk of erotic vibes throughout everybody’s behavior. This helps to have a less black & white situation, where nobody is pure good or evil. It also delves into their carnal desires, something very rare for the romantic writers of half a century ago.
This of course has its ups and downs as you keep reading, since you practically have a rather mature story being told in a fairy tale setting. The beginning of the story in particular was extremely awkward, since I had to stretch the disbelief factor extremely high in order to be convinced a few university students would be told out of the blue to follow a wizard and his dwarf assistant to a magical land. They accept and they go there, and they don’t mind it at all. Heck, they don’t even seem to bother the different way things work here. HEY THEY DON’T HAVE OUT FANCY TOILETS, OK? Afterwards though, things are indeed far more enjoyable for being multi-faced and hidden. All the different species have all sorts of internal conflicts, and there are lots of traitors lurking in the shadows. Even the Lord of Evil is not presented as a threat at first, since he is supposed to be defeated and be done with.
Another positive feature is how the author does not slow down the pacing with extreme detailed descriptions and mostly focuses on the characters and their desires. This turns the story from being good for making your mind traveling to magic lands to be equal good for looking inside the minds of everybody, and turning everything to more psychological and less cheesy for following the epic fantasy formula.
Some of the things I do not like in the genre though are still present and show their ugly face far too often. As usual, there is a lot of magic panacea throughout the story, which makes you think that all it takes is to have a god on your side or the aid of a powerful magical artifact. There are lots of broken powers which work as Deus ex machina and take away a lot of the otherwise good attempt at strategy and field tactics that would make the setting far more believable.
There is also this issue regarding the effects gods play in the lives of mortals. Although I loved how they couldn’t intervene directly but rather needed a mortal to sacrifice something important in order to gain their trust, at the same time I couldn’t understand if they even cared for the fate of the world in general. I mean they will definitely be destroyed if the Evil God wins the war yet they don’t seem to be able to do anything without some sort of tribute. The Evil God on the other hand can pretty much do as he pleases, with tribute or not.
I am also not so thrilled with how much he used Arthurian legends in order to flavor his secondary legends. Do you believe the Knights of the Round Table are presented as super champions of good that awaken every few centuries to battle evil? What the heck was that all about? How about using Stonehenge as a teleportation devise? These touches to existing legends may be cool for some, but I was sure not thrilled much since they are there for the sake of saving the author time in describing the past.
Despite the hit or miss of several elements in this trilogy, I still consider it a very good read for the genre, if you are fans of the classics and seek something a bit darker and psychological. It never reaches the insane world-building of Elrik, or the majestic descriptions of Middle Earth, or the Machiavellian interactions of Song of Fire and Ice, but it definitely is an interesting tale.
The Fionovar Tapestry is in many ways an old-school type of fantasy adventure, in the likes of Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Its premise is about youths traveling from our world into a magical, where they are forced to take part in a war for the fate of the universe. What makes it a step more interesting though is that it is in overall far more brutal, sexual, and eventually less expectable than the classical formula. Although the key points are the same (an evil god trying to take over the world with orcs, and humans, dwarves and elves fight back) the way the parties are presented are far more complicating in terms of alliances, and there is a big chunk of erotic vibes throughout everybody’s behavior. This helps to have a less black & white situation, where nobody is pure good or evil. It also delves into their carnal desires, something very rare for the romantic writers of half a century ago.
This of course has its ups and downs as you keep reading, since you practically have a rather mature story being told in a fairy tale setting. The beginning of the story in particular was extremely awkward, since I had to stretch the disbelief factor extremely high in order to be convinced a few university students would be told out of the blue to follow a wizard and his dwarf assistant to a magical land. They accept and they go there, and they don’t mind it at all. Heck, they don’t even seem to bother the different way things work here. HEY THEY DON’T HAVE OUT FANCY TOILETS, OK? Afterwards though, things are indeed far more enjoyable for being multi-faced and hidden. All the different species have all sorts of internal conflicts, and there are lots of traitors lurking in the shadows. Even the Lord of Evil is not presented as a threat at first, since he is supposed to be defeated and be done with.
Another positive feature is how the author does not slow down the pacing with extreme detailed descriptions and mostly focuses on the characters and their desires. This turns the story from being good for making your mind traveling to magic lands to be equal good for looking inside the minds of everybody, and turning everything to more psychological and less cheesy for following the epic fantasy formula.
Some of the things I do not like in the genre though are still present and show their ugly face far too often. As usual, there is a lot of magic panacea throughout the story, which makes you think that all it takes is to have a god on your side or the aid of a powerful magical artifact. There are lots of broken powers which work as Deus ex machina and take away a lot of the otherwise good attempt at strategy and field tactics that would make the setting far more believable.
There is also this issue regarding the effects gods play in the lives of mortals. Although I loved how they couldn’t intervene directly but rather needed a mortal to sacrifice something important in order to gain their trust, at the same time I couldn’t understand if they even cared for the fate of the world in general. I mean they will definitely be destroyed if the Evil God wins the war yet they don’t seem to be able to do anything without some sort of tribute. The Evil God on the other hand can pretty much do as he pleases, with tribute or not.
I am also not so thrilled with how much he used Arthurian legends in order to flavor his secondary legends. Do you believe the Knights of the Round Table are presented as super champions of good that awaken every few centuries to battle evil? What the heck was that all about? How about using Stonehenge as a teleportation devise? These touches to existing legends may be cool for some, but I was sure not thrilled much since they are there for the sake of saving the author time in describing the past.
Despite the hit or miss of several elements in this trilogy, I still consider it a very good read for the genre, if you are fans of the classics and seek something a bit darker and psychological. It never reaches the insane world-building of Elrik, or the majestic descriptions of Middle Earth, or the Machiavellian interactions of Song of Fire and Ice, but it definitely is an interesting tale.
Posted by
Deactivated101
| Nov 18, 2011 1:39 PM |
Add a comment