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jaceyRachel Neumeier: Lord of the Changing Winds
The Griffin Mage, Book One
Orbit, 2010
I bought this on the recommendation of the manager at Bakka in Toronto, in fact I broke my own rule and bought both the first and second in the Griffin Mage trilogy because of such a strong recommendation. Unfortunately I wish I'd stuck at one. Maybe that's the problem of having someone rave about a book (or two) it sets up expectations and then when the book doesn't quite hit the mark, the disappointment quotient is amplified.
I'm still trying to work out why this didn't hit the mark. It's well written, the concept is original and the griffins are fabulous – in all senses of the word – but... I don't think I connected with any of the human characters and as a result I found it a slow read.
Kes is the main character, a quiet village girl who doesn't quite fit in. Then one day the griffins come down from the mountains, bringing their hot desert winds and their desperate need for a healer who is more than human, or who can be made so. Kes goes with them, unaware that she will never be able to go back and over the course of the book she's changed completely – so completely that she ceases to have human emotions.
Through her healing magic she also affects Lord Bertaud, the King of Feierabiand's right-hand-man until a dose of griffin magic begins to change the way he sees the world.
The physical conflict is between Casmantium and Feierabiand with the Griffins first as pawns and then as movers and shakers in the conflict. The plot works and the conclusion is satisfactory, but as I say, there was a disconnect for me. Maybe it was that the main character became increasingly non-human and I felt as though I'd lost my point of reference for the non-human griffins.
One other beef – which is just a personal thing really. The griffins are drawn as very different from humans and their culture is very different. Neumeier achieves this brilliantly and never slips into humanising them, but part of that difference is in their name-scheme. They have eye-boggling names like: Opailikiita Sehanaka Kiistaike and Riihaikuse Aranuurai Kimiistariu and their whole name is often used. Even if shortened it will only be to Opailikiita. I like names that I can conceivably pronounce and throughout thew course of the whole book I stumbled over these like little speedbumps.
I have the second book in the trilogy: 'Land of the Burning Sands' but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to read it yet.
The Griffin Mage, Book One
Orbit, 2010
I bought this on the recommendation of the manager at Bakka in Toronto, in fact I broke my own rule and bought both the first and second in the Griffin Mage trilogy because of such a strong recommendation. Unfortunately I wish I'd stuck at one. Maybe that's the problem of having someone rave about a book (or two) it sets up expectations and then when the book doesn't quite hit the mark, the disappointment quotient is amplified.
I'm still trying to work out why this didn't hit the mark. It's well written, the concept is original and the griffins are fabulous – in all senses of the word – but... I don't think I connected with any of the human characters and as a result I found it a slow read.
Kes is the main character, a quiet village girl who doesn't quite fit in. Then one day the griffins come down from the mountains, bringing their hot desert winds and their desperate need for a healer who is more than human, or who can be made so. Kes goes with them, unaware that she will never be able to go back and over the course of the book she's changed completely – so completely that she ceases to have human emotions.
Through her healing magic she also affects Lord Bertaud, the King of Feierabiand's right-hand-man until a dose of griffin magic begins to change the way he sees the world.
The physical conflict is between Casmantium and Feierabiand with the Griffins first as pawns and then as movers and shakers in the conflict. The plot works and the conclusion is satisfactory, but as I say, there was a disconnect for me. Maybe it was that the main character became increasingly non-human and I felt as though I'd lost my point of reference for the non-human griffins.
One other beef – which is just a personal thing really. The griffins are drawn as very different from humans and their culture is very different. Neumeier achieves this brilliantly and never slips into humanising them, but part of that difference is in their name-scheme. They have eye-boggling names like: Opailikiita Sehanaka Kiistaike and Riihaikuse Aranuurai Kimiistariu and their whole name is often used. Even if shortened it will only be to Opailikiita. I like names that I can conceivably pronounce and throughout thew course of the whole book I stumbled over these like little speedbumps.
I have the second book in the trilogy: 'Land of the Burning Sands' but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to read it yet.
