Tower of the King's Daughter

Rating:
Summary: One small step for fantasy, one joyful leap for readerkind
Review: For those of you who love George MacDonald, but desire better narrative, C.S. Lewis (who didn't like George MacDonald's narrative either), but want a secular fantasy story; and J.R.R. Tolkien, but think a couple more female characters would be appropriate, and are tired of the rut of fantasy stories that too often follows in the wake of these writers . . . For those of you who long for daring vistas, swashbuckling adventures, and scintillating dialogue, but aren't satisfied with these things alone and would see them combined with dynamic narrative . . . For those who desire a chiaroscuro of events, characters, and places, but events that aren't just plot devices, characters that react as opposed to simply act, and places that capture glimpses of both heaven and hell, then the Outremer Series by Chaz Brenchley is most definately for you.

I almost didn't read these books, I almost left them sitting on the shelf in the bookstore because the story summary on the back of the book seemed to be relating just another sword and sorcery novel that, worse yet, was going to unite the "princess" and the "knight-to-be" in a simplistic battle of good versus evil and beauty versus darkness. Let me tell ya', the back of the book is a bald-faced liar.

First and foremost, this series is a sweeping fantasy adventure in a fully-formed world that is intricately imagined and described. It is the setting, the situations, and particularly, the choices the characters make to complex problems and threats that drive this superbly told story which doesn't simply leap from one magic trick to the next. And don't expect mundane magic like Hogwarts, either. This magic is complex, dangerous, brushing softly against the numinous.

Brenchley, appropriately, is a storyteller, not a preacher, but his story DOES deal in absolutes, and in my mind at least, avoids moral relativism completely. The problem with absolutes is that NO ONE has a monopoly on them; the miasma of conflicting loyalties, spiritualities, and desires that is life is mostly successful at obscuring or obliterating completely the direct path to goodness. Sometimes there simply cannot be a choice between right and wrong, but only a choice between the lesser of two evils. While the series is filled with such dramatic and realistic dilemmas there is one character that is braver, genuinely braver, than most characters I have ever read: he is Marron, a graceful, strong squire whose bravery lies not in when and how he handles a sword, but in the frightful clarity of his personal courage and the choices that he makes. Marron is a troubled, but conscientious soul battling the forces of tyranny, dogma, and deindividuation, for the most part, successfully. And perhaps it is the character of Marron that is the most fantastical element of this fantasy. In real life, most of us aren't this morally competent.

But morality aside, these books are great. I'm recommending them to everyone. Just don't read them when you have more important things to do; they are just that difficult to put down.

P.S. The emotional and physical relationships are sensual, maddening, and heartbreaking all at once. I'm just sorry one doesn't get to read more about the consummation of these. Brenchely's violence isn't gratuitous, but it certainly goes into a lot more detail than his sex does. Sigh.

Rating:
Summary: A disturbing secret is revealed, but the writing is superb
Review: The Devil in the Dust, the first book in Chaz Brenchley's Outremer series, drew me into its world of fantasy from the very first page, and thus I was eager to see what happens in book two, Tower of the King's Daughter. Brenchley is a true craftsman of the written word, far surpassing most fantasy authors with an unassailable skill at constructing worlds the reader can almost reach out and touch and then filling these worlds with complex characters whom we come to know and care for despite the mysteries and character flaws surrounding them. Tower of the King's Daughter takes off where The Devil in the Dust ended; I should point out that the Outremer series was published as a trilogy in the UK, whereas the US publisher has split those three books into six. A lot of issues that were left hanging in the balance at the end of the first book are more directly addressed in this text, and there are some big surprises waiting to greet the reader in the final sections.

The action so far is really built around two central characters: Marron, the young man who came to Roq de Rancon in order to serve in the Knights Ransomers, and Julianne, the daughter of the King's Shadow who stops at the fortified castle on her way to meet and then marry the husband selected for her. The first book dealt primarily with Marron, and his is the more captivating story in my opinion. Soon after arriving at the castle and being introduced to the disciplined life of a religious warrior and witnessing the magic of the King's Eye, he begins questioning his service. A knight at the castle, Sieur Anton d'Escrivey, injures Marron's arm badly in a display of fighting and soon takes the boy in as his squire. Sieur Anton is by no means an average knight; his is a past that includes the murder of his own brother, but only in Tower of the King's Daughter do some of his hidden secrets fully reveal themselves to Marron and to the reader. I have to say I was shocked at the turn of events and revelations late in this novel. What I had regarded as baseless rumors concerning Sieur Anton turn out to be true, and this quickly leads to an even more shocking discovery about Marron himself. The controversial nature of the subject at hand will likely turn a few readers off, especially if they get blind-sided by it like I did, but the sheer daring of Brenchley's imagination is really something to behold. While events drastically rub my own personal beliefs the wrong way, it is impossible for me not to remain wholly committed to this series - Brenchley's writing is just too good to miss.

While Marron remain the central character to my mind, this second book of Outremer delves more deeply into the lives of Julianne, daughter of the King's Shadow, and her new companion Elisande. We now learn why Elisande has come to Roq de Rancon and largely through her we come to know two additional important players in the drama. We also meet the man Julianne is to marry; the bride-to-be finds herself drawn to him from the start, a fact which makes what she has to do all the harder. A second visit by a mysterious djinni has compelled her to leave everything behind and journey alongside Elisande to the land of the Sharai, a foreign people with little love for Outremer. This plot point eventually allows for the assembly of all our major characters in one place, but the book does not end before we discover the truth about Roc de Rancon's mysterious Tower of the King's Daughter.

Plenty of mystery remains in the lives of our characters, a fact which bodes well for the succeeding four novels in the series. I'm still trying to recover from the shock of the stunning secret just revealed, and Brenchley seems determined to keep me off-balance as even the final sentence of this second book of Outremer drops another bombshell right on my head. I am quite bothered by the nature of one aspect of the story, but - as I said - that disquiet has done little to dampen my wonder and excitement over this refreshingly bold and uncommonly compelling series. Few fantasy writers can equal the power of Brenchley's prose, as anyone who wanders into the world of Outremer will quickly discover on his/her own.

Rating:
Summary: This series just keeps getting better
Review: The second installment in the Outremer series has even more momentum and intrigue than the first. Brenchley takes real risks with his characters, which heightens the peril. This is a refreshing alternative to fantasies whose main characters remain static through umpteen books; there are surprises enough here for even the most jaded fantasy reader. Kudos to Mr. Brenchley.

Rating:
Summary: This series just keeps getting better
Review: The second installment in the Outremer series has even more momentum and intrigue than the first. Brenchley takes real risks with his characters, which heightens the peril. This is a refreshing alternative to fantasies whose main characters remain static through umpteen books; there are surprises enough here for even the most jaded fantasy reader. Kudos to Mr. Brenchley.

Rating:
Summary: Started OK, ended up......somewhere else......
Review: These days, fantasy novels should come with warning labels.

Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald -- where are you when we need you? Your stories always had a clear good vs. evil theme. No moral relativism. And no all-pervasive political correctness.

But, nowadays, our fantasies simply MUST include elements of decaying moral uncertainty ("neutrality"), coupled together with 21st century sexual hijinks.

The first book in this series was an "OK" fantasy story.

However, after reading the second book in the series...about three-quarters of the way through.....I began to consider the virtues of recycled paper........

If you like for your adventure stories to be spiced up with soft-core porn, then this is the series for you.

Otherwise, avoid.

I would like to recommend George MacDonald's Phantastes, instead. A great story - and a sad romance. Without the need for modern baggage.

Rating:
Summary: Started OK, ended up......somewhere else......
Review: These days, fantasy novels should come with warning labels.

Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald -- where are you when we need you? Your stories always had a clear good vs. evil theme. No moral relativism. And no all-pervasive political correctness.

But, nowadays, our fantasies simply MUST include elements of decaying moral uncertainty ("neutrality"), coupled together with 21st century sexual hijinks.

The first book in this series was an "OK" fantasy story.

However, after reading the second book in the series...about three-quarters of the way through.....I began to consider the virtues of recycled paper........

If you like for your adventure stories to be spiced up with soft-core porn, then this is the series for you.

Otherwise, avoid.

I would like to recommend George MacDonald's Phantastes, instead. A great story - and a sad romance. Without the need for modern baggage.