Tag Archives: elves

Book Review of House of Stone, by Vaughn R. Demont

I borrowed a copy of Vaughn R. Demont‘s House of Stone. Thanks L!

Description from Goodreads:

A modern knight, a noble quest, and a magical sword. What could go wrong?

Welcome to the City, where gods run nightclubs, goblins hire out as mercs, sorcerers work their magic, the Fae hold court over every neighborhood…and humanity is blissfully ignorant of it all.

For minor Fae noble Richard Stone, life is going well. He has a decent fiefdom (okay, it’s a slum), a budding acting career (okay, so it’s porn), and one of only five magical swords in the City. An arranged marriage is barely a blip on his worry meter—until his family blade loses its magic. The shame of it puts his noble standing in jeopardy.

To regain his status, Richard needs help. Fortunately, his new bride is a sidhe knight and his servant Simaron has, er, his back. Together they embark on a quest to find the demon who slew his father, investigate a conspiracy that goes to the highest echelons of Fae nobility, and discover a secret family legacy that could ruin his House.

All while keeping up appearances to a society that demands perfection. And they say a noble’s life is easy…

Review:
I have been entertained. Honestly, there are times that’s the highest praise a book can garner and now is one of those times. From the first page to the last, Richard amused me with his irreverent narrative, ignoble commentary, and ironic observations. This is without mentioning his capacitous ability for internal and emotional growth. I enjoyed him when he was a shiftless cad in the beginning and when he was a noble hero at the end.

However, I also found this same personal growth problematic, in that it largely invalidated he and Sim’s pre-established love. Richard changes so much from the beginning to the end as to be almost a new man. Sim is shown to be a lot more (and different) that Richard ever knew. I ask then, how they were to have known one another enough to love beyond their lust? They were not yet (or yet known to be) the men they would love the other for being. It felt a little hollow to me.

I also thought that Richard (and to a lesser degree, Rem) were the only wholly fleshed out characters. The rest were likeable enough (or unlikeable when appropriate), but I never felt I knew them particularly well.

Regardless of my few irritants here and there, I was happy throughout. Demont shows a real talent for timing and dramatic disclosures. I especially appreciated that he could drop a verbal bombshell or subtle joke and leave the reader to furrow out the meaning. Something is lost in a joke if the punchline has to be explained to you. I also was pulled in by the idea of elves being the stuff of dreams. I’ll definitely be seeking out more of Demont’s writing.

As an aside (and personal niggle), if you’re going to describe a sword in a book and then have, presumably, that sword on the cover, they should match. That’s not the Azure Blade as described in the book and I’m annoyed by the discrepancy.

Aside number two: If you follow this link to Mr. Demont’s webpage, you see that he’s crowdsourcing to go to a conference. Wouldn’t it be nice to reward a good writer for his skill and his willingness to put a request out that doesn’t come with any type of expectation. No, ‘I’m asking (read demanding) so the universe (you) must provide,’ but rather a polite ‘would anyone be willing to help.’ Anyone? I’d love to see this guy provided for by a host of strangers. It’d be a great way to let him know his writing it appreciated.

Book Review of The Last Dark Elf, by David Lee Kirkland

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I snagged a (presumably) used paperback copy of David Lee Kirkland‘s The Last Dark Elf, from Goodwill (.70¢). The book only has one other review. It’s on Amazon, from another woman here in Saint Louis. So I kind of wonder if I just picked up her copy. Sorry, that sort of supposition amuses me.

Description from Goodreads:
The Last Dark Elf is a contemporary fantasy, set primarily near D.C and St. Louis. An Irish immigrant named Scully unwittingly befriends the last surviving dark elf–a character bent on entangling Scully in the ancient war of the elves over the face of magic in the world.

Review:
I thought this was an all right read, maybe not right up my alley but still pretty good. It basically focuses on an ‘honourable man’ and his attempt to reorient his understanding of what is good or evil when his clearly defined worldview is upended by the sudden appearance of magic and mythical creatures. It was often thought provoking, but also I thought occasionally over simplified.

The main character is a devout Catholic, as are his two closest confidants (one is his priest). So for much of the book, what is ‘good’ or ‘evil’ is very Biblically-based. There is no real room for alternative faiths here. By the end of the book, Scully had been forced to face the fact that his belief system wasn’t all encompassing, but neither he nor anyone else in the book ever ventured away from the Christian worldview (at all).

Thus, what could have, in other circumstances, led to deep discussions on the subjective nature of belief or the one-sided tendency to pigeonhole only some as spiritually virtuous or even the danger of valuing dogmatic labels over the importance of human (or other) actions, came across as simple reiterations of what is or isn’t good for the theoretical soul. It was, in my opinion, a real lost opportunity.

HOWEVER, I came into reading this book with very little idea of what it was about or even what genre it fell into. There is a very real possibility that the adherence to Christian/Catholic doctrine and the emphasis on the tenets deeming the soul above all worth was intentional on the author’s part.

I actually liked Scully’s Catholicism. It wasn’t at all preachy, but it gave his character a little depth. Especially since honour, loyalty, duty and maybe belief were sub-themes of the book. However, Father Pisarski and the general tone of the book did take on a very religious feel on occasion. Not quite proselytising, but it made the book feel like I should classify it as Christian Fantasy (with capitals). It was a bit off putting, especially since at least one of the characters happily sitting down to pray with the good father, was an elf and decidedly not Christian. But, maybe that was the intent all along. Perhaps this was written to be just that, Christian Fantasy, and I’m just slow on the uptake.

The story itself is an interesting one. It has a very straightforward narration style. It’s told in a very linear fashion. It really is just a litany of things that happen to the main character. He does this, then this happens, then someone says this, and then they go here and do that, etc. No big twists or unexpected reveals, but an entertaining journey none-the-less. And honestly, though I occasionally wanted to gag at his self-congratulatory nature I did admire Scully’s dedication to doing what he deemed the ‘right thing.’

I did kind of sense a contradiction in this same courageous tendency to stick by his moral guns, though. Sometimes accepting that you’ve been wrong and being willing to change and grow takes a lot more strength of will than simply staying the course. Scully is portrayed as having accepted the dual nature of good and evil that magic and the mystical creatures epitomise, without compromising his faith. However, I can’t actually see this as possible.

While Scully is shown to struggle with the challenge of accepting the new view of reality and maintaining adherence to his Catholic beliefs, the reader is never fully aware of how he balanced them in the end. I never saw that they did. More specifically, accepting the neutral nature of creatures traditionally seen as evil could alienate him from his soul’s ‘true path,’ that Father Pisarski was always harping on about.

The writing was very readable. The main character’s Irish verbiage and word order made it feel formal though. Words are swapped around and there is a notable lack of contractions. As an example, here’s the first two sentences of the book: “Always good it is to see an old friend at Flanagans, the finest of all the Irish pubs gracing Washington, D.C. More than just good—and close to wonderful it is—when he owes you a bit of money and appears after a long absence.”

I didn’t hate this, it jut took a few pages to get used to. But I did have to wonder if he would really have such a strong Irish lilt if he’d lived in D.C. long enough to have been an alter-boy there, which is something he references when talking about Father Pisarski (who wasn’t Irish, so couldn’t be from the old country). Seems he’d sound more American and drop fewer Yodaisms if he’d been here since childhood. But, not a big issue for me.

I also happened to like the way Scully is (or becomes) aware of subtle meanings of things. Elves are apparently the masters of not-quite-lying, but not being wholly honest either. It was fun to follow Scully as he ferreted meanings out. But I appreciated that the reader wasn’t hit over the head with the meanings of things, as if too stupid to figure them out for themselves.

All in all, I enjoyed the book well enough. I think someone who shared the characters (and probably the author’s) beliefs would get a lot more out of it. But it still wasn’t a bad read.

Book Review of C.S. Marks’ Elfhunter & The Fire King

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A representative of C.S. Marks sent me a copy of Elfhunter (Tales of Alterra, The World That Is #1) for review.

Description from Goodreads:
This is the tale of Gorgon Elfhunter, a monstrous, mysterious creature who has sworn to destroy all the Elves of Alterra—until none remain. It is the story of Wood-elven heroine Gaelen Taldin, who has sworn to rid her world of the Elfhunter even as she is hunted by him. The conflict between them creates a tangled web that blurs the line between Light and Darkness, love and obsession, free will and fate. Filled with moments both tender and terrifying, thrilling yet thought-provoking, it is a timeless epic fantasy suitable for readers of all ages. Join the Company of Elves, dwarves, mortal men, and delightfully intelligent horses. Come to Alterra—the “World that Is”.

Review:
Elfhunter will likely appeal to most Tolkien fans. It would be almost impossible to miss the similarities between the two. I read Tolkien when I was younger and I loved his writing, his stories, and the way he could just reach in and snatch the breath from my chest with the seemingly simplest of prose. I enjoyed Marks’ writing, but it’s not Tolkien.

I have to be honest. There is a small part of me who whats to lay my head back, close my eyes, and just relish the fact that I finally finished this book. I would have gotten far more enjoyment out of it if it had ended 200 pages before it did. Now, that isn’t to say that I didn’t like the book. For the most part I did. There are some really fine characters here and a truly epic journey against a notable foe. I just thought that it was way too long. There are whole passages dedicated to what the horses are doing, for example. I’ll grant you that they are very charismatic and anthropomorphised horses, but I just don’t care what the horses are doing when their people/elves aren’t on them. I just don’t. Everything from clothing, to environs, to emotions is described in excruciating detail. The result is that the book moves at an agonisingly slow pace. Patience is a must for this one.

On the flip side of all of that detail is the fact that Marks in able to create a very detailed world. The elves, humans (who aren’t called humans BTW) and dwarfs all have fairly established societies. Granted, none of these venture far from the pre-established fantasy tropes. The elves are tall and graceful. They sing marvellously and live forever. The dwarfs are short and squat, grow beards, carry axes and tend toward mining and forging. The men are rough horsemen of noble heart. Nothing new in any of that. But Marks does a very good job of bring these societies to life.

I did struggle with the writing style a little bit. There isn’t anything ostensibly wrong with it, but I saw another reader refer to it as ‘uncomfortable.’ I know exactly what he meant. I wouldn’t have used that particular adjective, but the writing is stiff, almost formal. There are a lot of ‘he did this, for she had…” type of sentences. To a certain extent this fits the story. If focuses on elves,who are known to be aristocratic and, well, formal. But 500 pages later I really, really wanted to be able to relax with these characters and their language was prohibitive. Kind of like sitting down to tea with some prim English gentleman and then slurping the dregs of your soda through your straw–just not done. It grated on me eventually. I will concede that it was consistent and well edited though.

Most infuriating of all, however, is that after 500+ pages it ended with a ‘Meh.’ I needed a sweeping, grand finale to make it worth all the time invested. Instead there is the emotional equivalent of ‘oh well, better luck next time.’ It is definitely not a satisfying ending. I realise, of course, that this is the first in a series, so in a way it isn’t the end. But still…

All in all I’m of two minds here. I did enjoy the story. I could pick it to death, sure. There are plenty of small things bothering me. Like the annoying way things kept creeping up from the elves long histories. Things like: ‘Oh yea, BTW she’s had her true love already. Didn’t you know?’ The youngest is over 1,000 years old so there is a lot of uncovered life that popped up from time to time. I never felt like I really knew them. But that’s a small matter. I can over look it and other small grievances enough to say with some certainty I enjoyed the story. On the other hand, I found finishing it a chore and it would be dishonest to say otherwise. I think this is a strong case of finding the right reader for the right book.

On a side note, of no real importance to anyone: I MUCH prefer the new cover (above) to the old one (right). In the new one she looks like a strong, aggressive 1,000 year old elf that no-one with half a mind would mess with. In this old one she looks like a frightened child. The two convey completely different messages and the new one is a vast improvement, as well as a more accurate portrayal of the character. I’m just sayin’.

As I was reading Elfhunter I noticed The Fire King on the KDP list and grabbed it. It is a novella based in the same world as the novel.

Description from Goodreads:
From the creator of the beloved ELFHUNTER Series comes a tale of fate and faith, of the perils of pride, and of the power of love itself — as a King is forced to confront that which he has long denied–that which is in us all. The Shadow has come to Alterra: a force of such power and terror that none may stand against it. It has but one purpose: to lure Aincor to his doom.

Review:
The legend of Aincor was referenced more than once in Elfhunter and it was really interesting getting to read his story. I also really appreciated the little bit of history provided. I would almost suggest readers start here with The Fire King for just that reason.

I’m not a huge fan of novellas. They’re just glorified short stories as far as I’m concerned. I know that might be a little condescending considering I just complained about Elfhunter being too long, but there is just so little time for character development and I felt it here. The narration is almost entirely in the fashion of a storyteller. I.E. the reader is told what happens, what is felt, what is said and very little is experienced first hand. This did enable Marks to relay a lot of information in a short word count, but there is a reason such narrative styles are largely reserved for spoken tales. I knew, because I had been informed, that the king was prideful, etc but I had no sense of him as a man.

Be that as it may, it’s a fun little read and worth picking up. I enjoyed Aincor’s story. If you like the type of legends one might hear told around the campfire this is the book for you. It was really quite predictable. Between the tidbits given in the previous book and the basic set up of the plot it isn’t hard to figure out what will happen. But I’ve found that sometimes knowing where a story is going lets you feel a little closer to it.