[Books 2007] Mark Chadbourn
Jan. 21st, 2007 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulro5. Always Forever by Mark Chadbourn
This is the last of a trilogy I picked up at FantasyCon, all packaged nicely in one volume as Age of Misrule. It was meant to be my airplane reading for my flight to and from Toronto (ie. fluff, but vast quantities thereof). It turned out to be a lot more than I expected.
The premise is that in present-day Britain, the old gods of Celtic mythology have found a way to come back, and five "ordinary" individuals find out that they are the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons and have the power and the obligation to put things right. There's every creature ever from Celtic mythology and British folklore, and an old hippie called Tom to guide them. Sacred sites such as Stonehenge are guarded by a man called the Bone Collector. There was an awful lot for my concentration-impaired brain to take in.
Density aside, there's a lot of good things about this series - I like the story and the mix of Celtic mythology and the settings in modern Britain (I've been to most of the places where the action is set).
However, it's not helped by the characters, none of whom I liked. They all bicker with each other continually, which is one thing in the first volume where they're still finding their feet as heroes, but when they're still doing it near the finale it's just stupid. The other downer is the constant introspection - after every exciting and gripping encounter with the Otherworld, they have to sit down and discuss it endlessly. And they whine. A lot. I suspect the point is to show how modern people deal with being put in such a situation, but really, I don't want this in a fantasy novel, and it slows the pace immensely.
It also has the feature I hate about a lot of classic fantasy: the travelogues. I really don't want to read pages about finding modes of transportation, setting up camp and foraging unless it's directly related to the next adventure. This one is more my problem than one with the writing.
Recommended? I dunno. As I said, the actual adventure is Damn Cool, and one of the better uses of Celtic mythology I've come across in fantasy, but it really is badly let down by the characters and the whining. I bought another of Chadbourn's books at FantasyCon, Jack of Ravens, and I'm not put off, but I'm also not moving it to the top of the pile.
This is the last of a trilogy I picked up at FantasyCon, all packaged nicely in one volume as Age of Misrule. It was meant to be my airplane reading for my flight to and from Toronto (ie. fluff, but vast quantities thereof). It turned out to be a lot more than I expected.
The premise is that in present-day Britain, the old gods of Celtic mythology have found a way to come back, and five "ordinary" individuals find out that they are the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons and have the power and the obligation to put things right. There's every creature ever from Celtic mythology and British folklore, and an old hippie called Tom to guide them. Sacred sites such as Stonehenge are guarded by a man called the Bone Collector. There was an awful lot for my concentration-impaired brain to take in.
Density aside, there's a lot of good things about this series - I like the story and the mix of Celtic mythology and the settings in modern Britain (I've been to most of the places where the action is set).
However, it's not helped by the characters, none of whom I liked. They all bicker with each other continually, which is one thing in the first volume where they're still finding their feet as heroes, but when they're still doing it near the finale it's just stupid. The other downer is the constant introspection - after every exciting and gripping encounter with the Otherworld, they have to sit down and discuss it endlessly. And they whine. A lot. I suspect the point is to show how modern people deal with being put in such a situation, but really, I don't want this in a fantasy novel, and it slows the pace immensely.
It also has the feature I hate about a lot of classic fantasy: the travelogues. I really don't want to read pages about finding modes of transportation, setting up camp and foraging unless it's directly related to the next adventure. This one is more my problem than one with the writing.
Recommended? I dunno. As I said, the actual adventure is Damn Cool, and one of the better uses of Celtic mythology I've come across in fantasy, but it really is badly let down by the characters and the whining. I bought another of Chadbourn's books at FantasyCon, Jack of Ravens, and I'm not put off, but I'm also not moving it to the top of the pile.
