Beldan's Fire

Rating:
Summary: An Intricately Woven World of Fantasy!
Review: I also loved this series. I read Sadar's Keep as a teenager and then happened to stumble on Beldans fire about 2 years later. I was ecstatic. The books were wonderfully written. The characters developed and the plot unpredictable.I would suggest it to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Unconvincing and Tedious
Review: I bought this book a long time ago, but never read it because I found out that it was the last book of a trilogy. It took me many years to locate the first two books in used bookstores, but I finally did, and just finished the trilogy last night. What a shame that they're so hard to find - this is one of the most original fantasies I've read.

The concept of the trilogy is that the world of Oran is held together and protected from Chaos by a "Queen's Quarter Knot", composed of four women, each with the power of one of the four elements. 200 years ago, the Fire Queen Zorah revolted, killed her three sisters, and is now ruling the country herself, using the magic of her element to keep herself young. But she can't do everything herself, so she has brought in a Regent and many of his followers from the neighboring country of Silea, and the native Orans are suffering under the arrogant rule of the Sileans. The New Moon is the name that the Oran rebels have given themselves, and their struggle both against Zorah and the Sileans is one focus of the story; the other is the formation of a new Queen's Quarter Knot as the four elements find each other and realize that Zorah is beginning to lose control and let Chaos claim the land.

The tough street slang of Jobber and the other city-bred characters makes the dialogue more interesting and fun to read. Snyder's Beldan is a well-detailed city with both a seamy underworld and corrupt nobility. The Oran countryside is no less well described. I wish that these three books (the first two are New Moon and Sadar's Keep) were not out of print, because I'd recommend them to any fantasy reader. They're worth searching used bookstores for.

Rating:
Summary: Unique
Review: I bought this book a long time ago, but never read it because I found out that it was the last book of a trilogy. It took me many years to locate the first two books in used bookstores, but I finally did, and just finished the trilogy last night. What a shame that they're so hard to find - this is one of the most original fantasies I've read.

The concept of the trilogy is that the world of Oran is held together and protected from Chaos by a "Queen's Quarter Knot", composed of four women, each with the power of one of the four elements. 200 years ago, the Fire Queen Zorah revolted, killed her three sisters, and is now ruling the country herself, using the magic of her element to keep herself young. But she can't do everything herself, so she has brought in a Regent and many of his followers from the neighboring country of Silea, and the native Orans are suffering under the arrogant rule of the Sileans. The New Moon is the name that the Oran rebels have given themselves, and their struggle both against Zorah and the Sileans is one focus of the story; the other is the formation of a new Queen's Quarter Knot as the four elements find each other and realize that Zorah is beginning to lose control and let Chaos claim the land.

The tough street slang of Jobber and the other city-bred characters makes the dialogue more interesting and fun to read. Snyder's Beldan is a well-detailed city with both a seamy underworld and corrupt nobility. The Oran countryside is no less well described. I wish that these three books (the first two are New Moon and Sadar's Keep) were not out of print, because I'd recommend them to any fantasy reader. They're worth searching used bookstores for.

Rating:
Summary: Trilogy's finale, but it stands alone
Review: I found Beldan's Fire years ago, and immediately fell in love with the rich fantasy web that Snyder weaves: defeats are well-blended with victories, hope with despair, pride with penitence -- even as Snyder's world needs the balance of earth, air, fire, and water, she finds it in her writing. It is very much to the book's credit that when I later discovered that it was really the third book in a trilogy, I was shocked. Unfortunately it is also the only one still in print, but finding the full trilogy is well worth the wait... and effort.

Rating:
Summary: What more can I say except "WOW!"
Review: I picked up the last two books in this series at a local used book store, hoping that, for once, the actual book would be as entertaining as the description on the back of the book. I rarely reread a book, unless I REALLY like it. I have read this book at least three times, and loaned it to a friend. The plot is well developed, and you fall in love with the characters. I recommend all the books in the series: New Moon, Sadar's Keep, and Beldan's Fire.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I read Beldan's fire with out the others and now can't get a hold of the other two. All though I'd like to read them you don't have to because in Beldan's Fire you get so into the book you don't need the extra background. You will come to love the characters an worry about them when they are in trouble.

Rating:
Summary: This book has everything you could ask for in a Fantasy book
Review: I read Beldan's fire with out the others and now can't get a hold of the other two. All though I'd like to read them you don't have to because in Beldan's Fire you get so into the book you don't need the extra background. You will come to love the characters an worry about them when they are in trouble.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is the final book of my all-time favourite trilogy. All the characters are engaging, or at least interestingly nasty. Some familiar elements of fantasy plots (street urchins, elemental magic etc) are given real depth by Snyder's lyrical style and a willingness not to pull her punches. The characters face a real struggle for survival and there are no easy solutions on offer. It is criminal that the other two books in this trilogy are out of print, because you really should be able to begin at the beginning. I can't recommend this trilogy enough.

Rating:
Summary: Unconvincing and Tedious
Review: This is the last novel in a trilogy that includes New Moon, Sadar's Keep, and Beldan's Fire. To understand it, it is necessary to read the whole series.

I have read and liked other books of Midori Snyder's (my favorite being The Inamorati). This series is unfortunately inferior. The historical background reads as if it was researched by attending a Renaissance and/or a Dickens Faire (street scenes and petty criminals in the main city of Beldan), watching a Middle Eastern dance troupe (the Ghazali), and reading a book about the problems with English (Silean) rule in Ireland (Oran). Grafted onto this is a New-Agey idea of the country of Oran (not the planet, just this country) being maintained by four queens with supernatural powers drawing on the four elements (earth, air, fire, water). Mixed in is some modern pop psychology about intergenerational conflicts, the fear of death, anorexia, and other current concerns.

Although represented as intelligent and resourceful, the characters don't act with ordinary common sense. Perpetually pursued and attacked, hungry and cold, whenever they come to a recently deserted village (which is often), they almost never bother to look for weapons, food, clothes, or other much-needed items. There are many other illogical actions. For example, the Ghazali substitute the words of their native tongue for the most common words of the Oran language (such as "yes") rather than more obscure or untranslatable ones.

This series is an unconvincing and tedious read.