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Summary: Another great (and overlooked) Brit fantasy writer
Review: I first read this trilogy as a teenager, more than 10 years ago, and unlike other fantasy writers who shall remain nameless, these books have stood the test of time. My only regret is that Cooper's stuff, like that of other excellent UK fantasy writers, is difficult to find. "The Initiate" is the first of the Time Master Trilogy, which also consists of "The Outcast" and "The Master," in that order. The series takes place in a nameless world, vaguely bronze-age, which is ruled by a triad of powers, two of which are religious and one of which is secular. The reason that religion is so powerful in this world becomes clear as the series progresses. Thar's gods in them thar hills, and they come into the world periodically to clash, wreak havoc, and overturn the very nature of human society. At the start of the series, this overturning has happened at least once that we know---when the gods of Chaos were overthrown by the gods of Order (related in a prologue, and in the later-published "Star Ascendant" trilogy). An unfathomable amount of time later, the world has been ruled by Order for so long that no one remembers anything of Chaos other than dark rumor and superstition. The story focuses on a young boy, nameless at first, who through tragic circumstances reveals that he has a phenomenal amount of sorcerous power. He is miraculously transported to the Castle of the Star Peninsula, the ruling seat of the highest of the two religious organizations which govern the world: the Circle. There the boy, who names himself Tarod, seems to fit in perfectly, in an environment where his hunger for occult knowledge and magical power are encouraged---at first. But Tarod is different from the other initiates of the Circle. He's arrogant and hot-tempered and a bit cold and cruel, although he is also fiercely loyal and scrupulously honorable. He scorns their adherence to ritual and tradition, and experiments with magic in ways that no one else would dare. Yet the greatest difference between him and the other initiates only begins to make itself known gradually and insidiously, slipping into his dreams and darkening his personality yet further. His fellow initiates react to these changes with fear and suspicion, and gradually they begin to close ranks against the outsider. Matters come to a head when Tarod's best friend, the young High Inititate Keridil, discovers Tarod's true nature. Will he decide Tarod's fate according to his friendship with Tarod, or the tenets of tradition? Whatever he decides will affect Tarod's decision between the path of good and the path of... something else. This is only the start of an extremely complex look at the old good/evil, order/chaos theme---an original one, which deliberately plays with the reader's conception of the two powers. The defenders of Order are not good; Keridil is motivated as much by jealousy and lust as he is by his duty as the High Initiate. The agents of Chaos are not evil; although their motives don't become clear until later books, most of them are driven by love and loyalty. There is order and chaos in *every* character, not just in the unseen gods. Which of the two powers will win? It's not clear until the end (of the series). This book is slower-paced than the other two in the series, but that's in part because it's more of a character study than the other two, which are more event-driven. The tone of the next two is set, however, with a spectacular occult ritual in the climax that has unexpected results. There are two other trilogies set in this world--- the "Chaos Gate" trilogy, and the "Star Ascendant" series. CG has been published in the US, but only the first volume of Star Ascendant made it over here. The Time Master trilogy, though, is the first, and the best.
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Summary: This book is incredible!
Review: I just recently got a copy of this book and ever since I've been glued to it! It's a really good book. Definitely worth the time it takes to read. The only problem is the ending, and there are 2 more to help with that. I have no complaints about this book. The confrontations especially are superbly well done, if you have any inclination toward fantasy or science fiction (especially both) this is one book you should look up.
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Summary: Definately worth reading.. .. Ten times.
Review: If you are young, romantic, impressionable, warning! You are about to have a hero (Tarod) for life! This book is so melodic and finely balanced I never read it without hearing a silent wail of the perfect background music: U2's Achtung baby album... probably Mysterious Ways, Y Love is blindness.. And wasn't that just the best album they produced? I believe this series is LC's most outstanding trilogy.. it is achingly beautiful and impossibly tragic...
Okay I hope I'm not putting you off it here, but honestly, this is still one of the best books I have ever read, and I've read more than a few. For similarly smashing books, see my so you want to list...
Read the book and then write you can write your own overly gushy & cringe worthy descriptions trying to capture it's essence, and convince others to read it. Until then...
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Summary: Possibly the best Fantasy trilogy I've read
Review: if you've read the other reviews, this won't be much different, i'm afraid. Read these books, they are brilliant. i first came across them via a friend whose copies are now very battered due to the amount of times they have been read. The characters are well rounded, particularly the female ones: not your standard fantasy females, these actually have depth. Tarod still rates high on my favourite characters list; he is impressive, interesting and believable. The story is a nice play on the usual Good Vs Evil line and i promise you will read these books more than once. In short, BUY THEM!
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Summary: Huge expansion on earlier work
Review: My first experiance of Louise Cooper was "Lord Of No Time" a 1977 book that told the tale of the mage Tarod and how he fell foul of his one time friend Keridil Toln. I loved it and hoped that the characters would appear in additional volumes. They did but not in the way expected, Louise Cooper rewrote the whole thing, spreading it out over the three volumes of the Time Master trilogy. Fortunately at no time does it lose the sharp freshness of the original, it's well worth getting hold of as is the subsequent series The Chaos Gate trilogy, though I would only give that four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Huge expansion on earlier work
Review: My first experiance of Louise Cooper was "Lord Of No Time" a 1977 book that told the tale of the mage Tarod and how he fell foul of his one time friend Keridil Toln. I loved it and hoped that the characters would appear in additional volumes. They did but not in the way expected, Louise Cooper rewrote the whole thing, spreading it out over the three volumes of the Time Master trilogy. Fortunately at no time does it lose the sharp freshness of the original, it's well worth getting hold of as is the subsequent series The Chaos Gate trilogy, though I would only give that four stars.
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Summary: Order rules
Review: This book is the first in the 'Time master' trilogy, that takes place after (although having been written before) the 'Star shadow' trilogy (only the first book 'Star Ascendant' was published in the US, the others are 'Eclipse' and 'Moonset'). In this books the gods of the order rule. Our hero is Tarod, a very interesting character, who becomes a very powerful mage at the service of Order. But, Tarod has dreams, very unsettling ones and starts having behaviours that are not acceptable at the eyes of the council. This book introduces us to the characters and the plot, and as the first book in the series gives us a unique insight into the war between chaos and order, and the role that Tarod will play in it.
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