The Arm of the Stone

Rating:
Summary: Bare, Ruined, but Magical Choirs
Review: "The Arm of the Stone" is a fantasy about religion gone bad - not my favorite type of reading - but this is a very powerful, intricately plotted book. It is chronicle of hatred, prophecy, and a very, very conservative religious elite who govern through magic (the Domain of the Mind)and forbid any kind of mechanical innovation (the Domain of the Hand). The 'Stone' of the title is the magical equivalent of a fragment of the True Cross. A millennium before this novel begins, the Stone was stolen from its loving and noble caretakers who are hunted to extermination over the years. As you begin to read, the Stone's true caretakers are reduced to a single family, and ultimately, to a single boy. How he seeks to recover the Stone and wreak vengence on those who stole it is the heart of the story.

Now the bad news: reading this book was a lot like being a spectator at a chess match. If the cold, logical intricacies of the religion that play out through this book are of interest to you, you won't mind sitting still until the end game. The story's climax is certainly worth the wait.

However, if you're like me you'll put "The Arm of the Stone" aside, maybe for a week at a time, and look for something a bit more frivolous. I read all ten of Roger Zelazny's Amber novels ("The Great Book of Amber") before I picked up "The Arm of the Stone" and finished it.

The contrast between Zelazny's Amber and the grim, cold world of the Stone is like the difference between winning a vacation to Venusburg, or spending an eon in the refrigerated compartment of Purgatory. Zelazny's plots skip forward, driven by his wise-cracking, laid-back characters, while "Arm of the Stone" inches forward with all of the grim momentum of a glacier.

All religious quibbles aside though, I'm ordering the sequel, "Garden of the Stone". I really did come to care about the Stone's two main characters, chess pieces though they were. And it's hard to find fantasy as original, and intricately plotted, and well-written as was "The Arm of the Stone."

Read it out of duty, if not for fun.

Rating:
Summary: Bare, Ruined, but Magical Choirs
Review: "The Arm of the Stone" is a fantasy about religion gone bad - not my favorite type of reading - but this is a very powerful, intricately plotted book. It is chronicle of hatred, prophecy, and a very, very conservative religious elite who govern through magic (the Domain of the Mind)and forbid any kind of mechanical innovation (the Domain of the Hand). The 'Stone' of the title is the magical equivalent of a fragment of the True Cross. A millennium before this novel begins, the Stone was stolen from its loving and noble caretakers who are hunted to extermination over the years. As you begin to read, the Stone's true caretakers are reduced to a single family, and ultimately, to a single boy. How he seeks to recover the Stone and wreak vengence on those who stole it is the heart of the story.

Now the bad news: reading this book was a lot like being a spectator at a chess match. If the cold, logical intricacies of the religion that play out through this book are of interest to you, you won't mind sitting still until the end game. The story's climax is certainly worth the wait.

However, if you're like me you'll put "The Arm of the Stone" aside, maybe for a week at a time, and look for something a bit more frivolous. I read all ten of Roger Zelazny's Amber novels ("The Great Book of Amber") before I picked up "The Arm of the Stone" and finished it.

The contrast between Zelazny's Amber and the grim, cold world of the Stone is like the difference between winning a vacation to Venusburg, or spending an eon in the refrigerated compartment of Purgatory. Zelazny's plots skip forward, driven by his wise-cracking, laid-back characters, while "Arm of the Stone" inches forward with all of the grim momentum of a glacier.

All religious quibbles aside though, I'm ordering the sequel, "Garden of the Stone". I really did come to care about the Stone's two main characters, chess pieces though they were. And it's hard to find fantasy as original, and intricately plotted, and well-written as was "The Arm of the Stone."

Read it out of duty, if not for fun.

Rating:
Summary: Kept me up all night
Review: A gripping story which takes a standard fantasy story - the hero's quest for some stolen magic artifact - and makes it new. Lots of unexpected twists. I was especially intrigued by the world which Strauss created. The story is told from two points of view - one male and one female. Both characters are fully realized, complex people with conflicting goals.

Read it just for kicks and you won't be disappointed - but thoughtful readers will also find lots to ponder here. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic world, Plot shifts & twists keep you glued
Review: A story developing a real and different complex world - Maybe the best I've come across since Darkover. The 'Magic' of the mind powers are rooted in the physical and the socio economic facts fit with the realities of the situation as developed.

I could not put the book down and when finished, picked it right back up to read through again for all the subtext I had raced past the first time. It held up well to that second reading.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: A very fine and well-written book, the kind you stick your nose into and don't come out until you've finished it. This was my first time with this author and I was not disappointed at all. Her characters are well-developed and she weaves a solid, steadily moving plot without any flat places. Four stars instead of five because as the story went on, she changes her mind about who the main character is striving against and skips over the explanation rather lightly.

Rating:
Summary: Highly original with lots of intrigue
Review: And I don't give out big numbers casually.

Ms. Strauss has created a new and different kind of world, in which characters are more concerned with a better plow than a better sword. In "Arm..." draconian Luddite laws keep the people trapped in a perpetual middle ages, enforced by overwhelming mind power.

How the hero resolves to tear down the oppressive government from within, then becomes seduced into accepting its ideals, is the meat of the story. "Arm of the Stone has a great deal of intrigue and treachery, with a bit of forbidden love tossed in for extra spice.

This is a terrific novel. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: An Old Man Learns from a New Tale
Review: As a writer (The Legacy, Savage Press 2000), I appreciate good wordsmithing regardless of the genre of the book. I must be honest. Other than Ursula LeGuin, I haven't read fantasy/sci-fi in ages. However, I bumped into Ms. Strauss because of her heavy involvement with the SFWA website and her good work at that site attempting to assist new writers in avoiding dubious literary agents and agencies. Since she was so personable and helpful via email, I felt it only fair to buy copies of her books and give them a try. Guess what? She's one great writer and I thorougly enjoyed the initial book in the series, "The Arm of the Stone" as well as its sequeal. Though I generally read literary fiction, I was fully satisfied by the sophisticated language, plot and charectors used throughout both books.

Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: A book that stands above the crowd
Review: As a writer of fantasy myself, I was very impressed with this book. It eschews the cliches of elves and dragons and instead delivers a fully realized world, very different from most found on the shelves. Ms. Strauss is a very fine writer with an eye and ear for detail. I highly recommend this novel.

Rating:
Summary: I found it fascinating.
Review: I found The Arm of the Stone compelling--the characters are vivid, and the author creates a real and frightening world and society. The plot moves swiftly, though the action takes place over a number of years. I am eagerly awaiting more books by this author--I hope there is a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read in a while
Review: I never heard of this writer until I bought this book, but now I'm hooked. This book is tremendous. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It's a powerful, character-driven story which also has an exciting plot. Ms Strauss builds a convincing and unusual world from the idea that a group of Spanish Inquisition-like enforcers keep technology at a deliberately medieval level. She also writes very well, which you don't find often enough in fantasy. I hope there's a sequel!