Rating: Summary: The elves return -- the revival of magic in a mundane world Review: I find the Fortress series to be thought-provoking and intriguing. In these stories a kingdom exists in which mankind has gone to great lengths to purge itself of the very magic it needs to survive. Will humanity accept the hand Mauryl extends to them through Tristen, or will he ultimately be rejected? Fortress of Owls gives us a delictable hint as to the final answer. I am waiting impatiently for the next book.I am fascinated by the themes Cherryh presents in this book. At first I found the sections about Ceffwyn boring, but I came to realize that Cherryh is using them to point out just what makes Tristen different from mankind, and how different a world governed by a true Sidhe would be. I love the way Cherryh uses Tristen's friend/enemy, Owl, and Tristen's beloved pigeons to highlight the truth concerning Tristen's nature. In many ways Tristen is just like his "silly" birds, but he is rapidly becoming more and more like Owl, despite his protests to the contrary. Tristen's relationships with these birds provide illumination into his relationship with mankind -- Men are just like the pigeons, squabbling and fearful, needing protection from Tristen because they are too silly to recognize danger until it is too late. And Tristen? Tristen is Owl, a frightening Shadow to Man who must always remain apart due to the potentially destructive power that resides within his very nature. However, just as in Owl, Tristen is not evil, it is simply that he must live according to his nature, just as the pigeons must live according to theirs. Fortress of Owls does an excellent job of revealing Tristen's true nature, and allows glimpses of the mature Sidhe into which he is developing. And just as owls and pigeons have a larger environment into which they fit, so too does Tristen. For the first time, we can see how Tristen fits into a much greater picture, a tapestry in which good and evil, Sidhe and man all form their part. I truly enjoyed Fortress of Owls. It gets a little slow at times, and some of the scenes appear disjointed (e.g. Where in the world did the twins come from? Their arrival came as a most unwelcome intrustion), but this book is definitely better than Fortress of Eagles, and leaves me breathlessly awaiting the arrival of Fortress of Dragons. Tristen has the potential to become something truly grand. I just hope that Cherryh doesn't hold back in her Shaping and prevent him from achieving his full potential. I look forward to meeting the Sidhe Mauryl met a thousand years earlier, and finding him far greater than his legend.
Rating: Summary: What does it mean to trust? Review: I love the way CJ explores multiple themes, and one of them in this series, I think, is the nature of trust. This relates to the more obvious topic of religion and spirituality. (Religion takes a knocking, but I'll forgive her that because she's trying to be honest.) I wonder about Tristen as Christ. A virgin birth, so to speak. One who learns of his special mission - to save. I'm betting Dragons involves a crucifixion. Is the grey space - prayer? I'm also thinking of the Tempest, in which Prospero must relinquish his power (Ariel) and embrace his shadow (Caliban, whom, at the close of the play, he invites into his home.) Is Tristen's shadow - Orien??? What a pregnant thought, even if the pregnant one is her twin sister.
Rating: Summary: Cherryh makes a bad book worth reading. Review: I was thuroughly entranced by the first book of the series, _Fortress in the Eye of Time_. That was a book that delivered the goods regularily and with great power. I was, however, less impressed with the sequel, _Fortress of Eagles_, because very few things worth writing about happens in that book. I am even less impressed with _Fortress of Owls_, which manages to go into great length about nothing important at all, save a few events. In the terms of the overall story, nothing in the book needs anything more than a paragraph, but the most mundane interaction between Tristen and those around him get special attention. He is depicted in great detail every time he visits some local of the least note, or forms an acquaintance of the most miscleaneous character. Most of Cherryh's brilliant dialogue is wasted on trivial things and gratuitus musings. Nothing important happens--no battles, no strained relationships, no great revelations. Things do begin to happen right at the end and the next and final installment looks to be very interesting but this book should be considered a coloring book for Cherryh's world. With that said, Cherryh is still a great craftswoman, and even when she's bad she's good. Very few writers can match her for intelligence, grace of prose, skill of character-building or her powerful dialogue. No fantasy writer that I've ever read can touch Cherryh at making the reader suspend belief; her world is so fleshed out, so internally consistent, and so genuine that one has no trouble at all believing that Tristen's world could really exist. It's the strength of Cherryh's presentation that this book is as enjoyable as it is, because the premise, frankly, is lacking.
Rating: Summary: Excuisitely detailed and developed plot and characters Review: I will begin by stating that while book can stand on its own, but I do not recommend reading it out of context with the rest of the series. I greatly enjoyed the development of the Tristen in this book. There is little external 'action', most of it is internal -- we see him struggling with the Other, in this case, his former self/identity. In the first book, the Other was Mauryl's enemy. In the second book, the Other was Cefwyn's political opponents. But in this book, the Other is Tristen himself. In some ways, Tristen is like Robert Jordan's Rand al'Thor, though with less internal conflict, and certainly a good deal more originality. CJ Cherryh is one of the most versatile authors out there. She writes evocative fantasy and disturbing hard-core sci-fi with equal credibility. "Fortress of Owls" is of the same high caliber I have come to expect of all her works.
Rating: Summary: Only for the dedicated Review: I'm a great fan of this author, and so it pains me to say this I think this is her weakest book so far. For about the first half, the reader is bombarded with detailed esplanations of what people are doing, but Cherryh never *shows* the events that are being described. Then, suddenly, half way through, the action starts - and, as always, it's totally engrossing. Cherryh's great strength is showing complex political events from an innocent's point of view, and once events start to unfold around the protagonists, drawing them up an increasing frenetic whirlwind of uncontrollable events, the reader is right there - and, as is Cherryh's gift, not at all confused. But when she resorts to long passages where one character explains things to another... I got lost. And bored. I'm desperately hoping that Fortress of Dragons will live up to "Fortress in The Eye of Time" - but I know I'll buy it whatever the reviews say, because a mediocre Cherryh is still streets ahead of just about anything else on the market.
Rating: Summary: A Gripping Epic Fantasy Filled with Charm Review: It's been too long since I've been as captivated by pagentry and character as I've been by this series. The protagonists have a rare depth and heart to them. The action moves from quiet, intimate moments of friendship to sweeping panoramas of war. This is no formula-based high fantasy and no stereotypical beings will be found here. Bravo to the author and a truly a treat for any reader.
Rating: Summary: Woven like a tapestry Review: Read all three books. I did, and then read them again. I loved every one. It is what a fantasy story can do -- reaffirm the best in all of us while demanding the stretch of imagination that allows magic into our lives. A solid Cherryh fan, I feel this story very strongly. Each encounter is a lesson in life; every revelation is couched in romance, with horses and banners. There is true love! There is true fear. What Tristen has, I seek: a fresh unfettered look at everyone around me. I rate this with 4 stars because the ending leaves me longing for Fortress of Dragons!
Rating: Summary: This has everything that made the first book so good Review: So much fantasy is big on action, like a megabudget summer movie, and on allegory (Dark vs. Light, Good vs. Evil) but lacking in characters who engage the heart and don't simply perform a role. I fell in love with the first book in the series, Fortress in the Eye of Time, quite unexpectedly, because I'd always thought C.J. Cherryh's fantasy novels somewhat lacking in life compared to her science fiction. In this series, however, is every strength of her sf--sympathetic and individualized characters, a world imagined down to its least detail but tossed away as mere background, and themes of people finding a place to call home in an alien world, the interplay between nature and nurture, between what we are and what we aspire to be, and whether history, in the form of an individual, does, or can, repeat itself. The second book, Fortress of Eagles, seemed a bit skeletal compared to the first and a few inconsistencies crept in, as if the author had not had time to flesh it out fully and as if the editing had been hasty as well. Fortress of Owls is back to the high standards of the first book, where there is as much pleasure in a re-reading as in the first reading, and, in fact, you catch important details that you missed the first time. I can only wonder at the Kirkus reviewer's finding the detail tedious--I treasure it, along with the characters, and, although I eagerly await the fourth and final book, I shall be sorry to say good-bye to it all.
Rating: Summary: Show me the money... Review: That's what Tristen instructs his shieldman, Uwen, to do because Tristen has no concept of how coin relates to material things like grain, sheep, cattle, etc. Tristen has Uwen demonstrate the value of his pocket change after which, they head down to the counting room at the foot of Emuin's tower, where the extent of Heryn Aswydd's tax revenue is revealed. Some of this cache Tristen decides to make available to those who will be loyal to Cefwyn's fight against Tasmorden, who has taken over Llefinian, the capital of Ninevrise's Elwynor. A little ironic for the loyalists, since they are now to be paid from what was Heryn Aswydd's excessive taxation. This was something of a highlight for this book, others being restricted to one liners, like when the disgraced Luriel is summoned into court: `Fox colors to cover a vixen's heart, Cefwyn thought,...' ( this relates to Luriel's cloak). These little throwaways brightened up a relentless barrage of detail reiterated through various points of view using both inner thought, and dialogue. Nothing new for a C. J. Cherryh book: I know, I read plenty of them. But this time she took it too far, even for me. In previous titles I've come to expect the first seventy to one hundred pages to be this indulgent before the story opens up, to then progress smartly enough. Not here though. It took almost three hundred pages for the narrative to get going in the engaging way that I would have expected for the book as a whole. I almost called it quits at page 260, but soldiered on. I knew it would probably be worthwhile at the end of it all. Which it was, as usual. But what a slog. So why give it five stars. As with most of CJC's books you have to look at it as an overall package: long on viewpoint, short on related action, and all tied together with clever, threadlike details. Some of her titles are more balanced with regard to viewpoint, and action, but not by much. Iain Banks is more effective in this regard, but is not quite as emotionally engaging. David Gemmelll can write very fine extended action sequences, as at the end of Midnight Falcon, but doesn't do viewpoint particularly well. Fortress of Owls has the engaging, emotional impact I would expect, but falls far short of being an engaging read. This shouldn't be the case. Not for a `Hugo award winner' as skilled as C. J. Cherryh.
Rating: Summary: Show me the money... Review: That's what Tristen instructs his shieldman, Uwen, to do because Tristen has no concept of how coin relates to material things like grain, sheep, cattle, etc. Tristen has Uwen demonstrate the value of his pocket change after which, they head down to the counting room at the foot of Emuin's tower, where the extent of Heryn Aswydd's tax revenue is revealed. Some of this cache Tristen decides to make available to those who will be loyal to Cefwyn's fight against Tasmorden, who has taken over Llefinian, the capital of Ninevrise's Elwynor. A little ironic for the loyalists, since they are now to be paid from what was Heryn Aswydd's excessive taxation. This was something of a highlight for this book, others being restricted to one liners, like when the disgraced Luriel is summoned into court: 'Fox colors to cover a vixen's heart, Cefwyn thought,...' ( this relates to Luriel's cloak). These little throwaways brightened up a relentless barrage of detail reiterated through various points of view using both inner thought, and dialogue. Nothing new for a C. J. Cherryh book: I know, I read plenty of them. But this time she took it too far, even for me. In previous titles I've come to expect the first seventy to one hundred pages to be this indulgent before the story opens up, to then progress smartly enough. Not here though. It took almost three hundred pages for the narrative to get going in the engaging way that I would have expected for the book as a whole. I almost called it quits at page 260, but soldiered on. I knew it would probably be worthwhile at the end of it all. Which it was, as usual. But what a slog. So why give it five stars. As with most of CJC's books you have to look at it as an overall package: long on viewpoint, short on related action, and all tied together with clever, threadlike details. Some of her titles are more balanced with regard to viewpoint, and action, but not by much. Iain Banks is more effective in this regard, but is not quite as emotionally engaging. David Gemmelll can write very fine extended action sequences, as at the end of Midnight Falcon, but doesn't do viewpoint particularly well. Fortress of Owls has the engaging, emotional impact I would expect, but falls far short of being an engaging read. This shouldn't be the case. Not for a 'Hugo award winner' as skilled as C. J. Cherryh.
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