Wraeththu

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down.
Review: This book was given to me by a friend/security guard who, by chance, found it in an elevator in the building where I work. He gave it to me as a sarcastic joke (because of the length). I decided to give it a try and it ended up to be one of my all time favorite books. It was interesting, creative, and addicting. I didn't want to put it down. I'm reading it for the second time now, and plan on reading more of Storm Constantine's work. I hope all of her work is that wonderful, and I hope everyone keeps an open mind with it.

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Summary: We adore you Storm!
Review: I very much enjoyed this series, mostly because of the author's beautiful style of writing.

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Summary: One identity crisis after another
Review: When I bought this book/these books, I had never heard of Storm Constantine. I in fact bought it because I thought it was a pen name for Walter Jon Williams, who (among many other books) wrote a book called Metropolitan, whose main character is named Constantine. Further exacerbating this error is the fact that this trilogy volume contains no "About The Author" section. Talk about a glaring omission. On to the stories; Exquisite. Though occasionally the books do add needless and sometimes dull details, the continuing story is engaging enough to keep me needing to ration chapters out to myself so that I can find time to eat. In fact I've read it twice now since buying it about a week ago (Okay, so I'm a quick reader.) As in most other Sci-Fi/Fantasy books I've truly enjoyed, it's the scope of the thing that awes me; The ability to convincingly generate enough data to even piece together a story like this without glaring errors is astounding. My final complaint about this book is the poor quality of the proofreading; In nearly every chapter I caught an error (at LEAST one!) that should have been obvious to a skilled proofreader. However, since this is not actually a fault in the story, it will not affect my rating (though it did affect my enjoyment of the read. Come on, Orb books!)

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: A densely realized, richly detailed fantasy epic. It's introspective and character-driven like Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series, but with a postmodern twist. Absolutely mind-blowing.

Rating:
Summary: PU!
Review: Although I have not finished the three book set, the first book is a tedious read. The main character is evolving from human (?) into some other pseudo-vampirish-hermaphrodite life form. I kept reading with the hope I would find some redeeming value in this dribble. So far, no luck. How does this stuff get published? Worst money I have spent in recent memory!

Rating:
Summary: A complex challenging masterpiece!
Review: Wraeththu combines the spirits of male and female into one supreme body. This novel is challenging, captivating and in parts extremely disturbing. The ideas it presents are both easy to believe and to fear. A definate masterpiece, i thouroughly enjoyed this book!

Rating:
Summary: Just kidding
Review: I acctually loved this book (five stars). I read it while I was stationed in Korea, and it provided a great escape from an all-to-often bad environment. Great book!

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Summary: I loved this series.
Review: It had good concise plotting and some interesting dramatic surprises throughout the entire series.Iwould rate the third book in the series as the strongest and the first one as the weakest.

Rating:
Summary: A classic story spun with new threads
Review: Other reviews have touched on the plot; I won't repeat that. The story relayed in the Wraeththu novels is simple -- love and growth. The backdrop is the decayed shell of human civilization, from which a new strain is rising; a mutation, a change. The trappings are the black tatters and filigree and kohl and chain born from the 80's goth scene -- androgynous but entirely sexual, lines between genders and skins blurred, distinctions made elsewhere. Sex is holy and an integral part of the culture; it is food, it fuels magic, and it is made cheap only when performed without desire.
Like Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Adams (Watership Down), and Williams (Tailchaser's Song) before her, Constantine has created not just a story but a culture with its own mythos, its own language, its own prejudices and castes. Breathing life into a new kind of culture is a task often attempted but rarely achieved; Constantine does more than succeed in these books, she succeeds without the reader noticing. Once the story begins, it unfolds so naturally that the only places where the reader has to stop and wonder what the heck is going on are in situations in which the narrator doesn't know. We grow to admire these characters despite (because of?) their flaws, their petty snits, their weaknesses; moments of shallowness lend depth and make the characters -real-, and we come to care about them.
These books are not for those who require the familiar limits of traditional gender, race, and orientation in their love stories. These books are not for those who are singlemindedly homoerotic. These books are not for anyone who requires certain boundaries not be crossed, certain preconceived ideas not be altered. It's an adventure. Take the step.

Rating:
Summary: Storms Book Amazing. Gripping Review.
Review: As ENCHANTMENTS begins, we see a future world in the throes of human apathy. Humanity is dying, not solely from wars or disease or cataclysm, but from a combination of these; they've lost interest in what is befalling them. Against this tattered backdrop, a mutation of male human stock has occurred, somewhere in a dying city north of the farm where Pellaz, a human boy about fifteen, lives. This new race, outwardly male human, is gifted with powers of the mind, hermaphroditic, physically a bit stronger, and nearly immune from aging after they attain their 20s. They possess a wild, sensuous, almost supernatural beauty. As products of the city's dark underground, most have a dark past; they resemble a (long-haired) gang of street-tough youths. At first, further south, it's thought that Wraeththu are merely a violent gang of urban punks, so when Calanthe, a strikingly beautiful Wraeththu (or "har") arrives at the farm, Pellaz finds him intriguing, a part of the hitherto-unseen wild outside world. Meanwhile, Cal finds Pell's innocence and beauty irresistable. Pell slips away with Cal into the barren lands to the south. Cal's destination is Saltrock, where his friend Seel has established a rough settlement, and where Pellaz can be Incepted into Wraeththu. From there Cal wants to go to Immanion, fabled First City of Wraeththu. The tale of their travels told entirely from Pellaz's point of view, cobbled together from his notes and journals. --So now you're thinking "aha, so this is merely a quest tale!" Far from it, and don't be fooled! As the series unfolds, you'll discover these books are an exploration of human feelings using Wraeththu as a sort of foil: supposedly, hara (plural form of 'har') are above petty human emotions like love and hate that, they say, helped bring about Man's downfall. In reality, Wraeththu are no more immune from emotions than we ourselves, and the (forbidden?) love that develops between Cal and Pellaz becomes a driving force throughout the series. Of course, complications arise: Other characters fall in love with Pell and Cal and they develop (mostly fleeting) outside interests in turn....but at heart, this is a well-told romance about a love that knows no bounds, not even death. Pellaz's Inception into Wraeththu at Saltrock settlement must be accomplished by receiving an infusion of blood from a higher-caste Wraeththu adept, initiating the changes in his own body. The adept who appears at Saltrock is not the expected 'hienama' (or holy one) but a har called Thiede, whose power and stunning appearance instill awe and respect (and distrust) from other hara. Thiede is a pivotal figure in all three books, and only later is his true identity revealed. Pell's transformation takes about three days and is 'fixed' permanently by (finally!) having intercourse with Calanthe. Heretofore, Cal's Wraeththu semen would have killed the human Pellaz. Hereafter, they are inseparable in feeling, and not even 'death' and separation make them forget. --Cal and Pell, while both Wraeththu now, still resemble human males to outward appearance. Some readers get uptight at this point in Book 1, not ready mentally for what seems to be a carnal, homosexual relationship. Strictly speaking this isn't quite the case: during 'aruna,' or sex between hara, one adopts a male role ('ouana') and the other the female ('soume'), so physically the basic act is similar to human intercourse. Wraeththu are fully a different species from homo sapiens, but for some readers the seemingly gay relationship can be a distraction. I think Storm's treatment of sexuality and gender (male=fire, woman=water, etc.) transcends such contemporary interpretations, but mileage for more conservative readers might vary. Gay readers, naturally, will find Cal and Pell's relationship to be more familiar and perhaps refreshing. With Cal's support, Pellaz begins his caste-progression, mostly a matter of honing his newfound psionic abilities with some healthy earth-magick thrown in. He can only advance to low levels at Saltrock because a higher-caste ("Nahir-Nuri") tutor is required, so they decide to seek out the desert-dwelling Kakkahaar tribe, whose leader Lianvis has the necessary skills. Pell receives training there and advances his caste to Acantha level, but they also discover blood sacrifice and the darker directions the Wraeththu path can take. They depart the Kakkahaar encampment with relief and shortly find themselves accosted by the Irraka tribe, poor and caste-less, who have fallen from the Path. There, by sheer force of newly-empowered will, they liberate themselves and an injured prisoner, Cobweb. It turns out that Cobweb is the consort of Terzian, a powerful and respected leader of the warlike Varr tribe, and it is to Terzian's stronghold at Galhea that Pell and Cal take the badly hurt Cobweb. Terzian and Cobweb, who is a true mystic, have been able to work the ultimate Wraeththu magic, supposedly only possible between high-caste hara: they have begat a son, Swift. (In these early days of the existence of Wraeththu the procreation process was fraught with danger; no-one really knew if it would work, or even how. Pure-born hara at this time are quite rare; most hara were once human males and were Incepted in their teens. Cobweb, who was soume (female) during their intercourse, had grown a 'pearl' inside himself, which was ejected from its 'hostling,' still growing, after a few weeks. A few weeks later an infant harling, Swift, emerged.) Pellaz and Calanthe are welcomed to Terzian's stronghold as the saviors of his consort, and Cobweb is healed. Terzian becomes enamored of Calanthe, though (you'll get used to this happening!) and is deeply hurt when Cal elects to continue with Pellaz. This entire sequence of events is important later in the series and forms the backdrop for Book II.