| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Black Sun Rising: The Coldfire Trilogy: Book One for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
A magnum opus of the imagination (Library Journal )
Book Description
The first volume of the Coldfire Trilogy - an extraordinary feat of storytelling and imagination on a grand scale
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Twelve hundred years ago, a sleeper ship from Earth deposited several thousand colonists on the wild, untamed world of Erna. Seismically active Erna is a harsh planet to survive on, made worse by the presence of the Fae, a source of energy that permeates the elements and can be harnessed by certain humans to further their own ends. Unfortunately, the Fae can also be manipulated subconciously, resulting in the people's fears and nightmares taking on solid form.
With all high technology lost in the birth of a new religion, the colonists of Erna have descended to a Renaissance level of technology, although retaining certain advanced medical, astronomical and scientific knowledge. Damien Kilcannon Vryce, a warrior-priest of the Church and one of the few churchmen able to wield the Fae, arrives in the city of Jaggonath to adopt a new and difficult role in the Church hierarchy. However, when a local Fae-wielder is brutally attacked and her ability to wield the Fae is neutralised, Damien is drawn into a lengthy quest that will lead into the dangerous rakhlands to confront a powerful sorcerer. Along the way Damien is forced into a most uneasy alliance with the cold and arrogant Gerald Tarrant, a powerful wielder of the Fae who has secrets of his own...
Black Sun Rising (1991) is the first novel in Celia Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy. This SF-epic fantasy hybrid was very highly regarded upon its initial release in the United States, but oddly it wasn't until a year or so ago that Orbit finally published the first UK edition.
The novel is a mixture of the familiar and the use of more original tropes, although the familiar does win out in the end. This is a quest story, with an interesting band of 'heroes' setting out to right a great wrong and travel across a vast chunk of countryside in the process. The world of Erna has some interesting facets to it but the travelling makes for the more tedious part of the book, especially the endless mucking around in caves. Page after page of description of rocks and tunnels does not make for entertaining reading.
Fortunately, Friedman's characters are an interesting, if largely unlikeable bunch. She isn't afraid to kill off major characters and paints them in convincing detail. Less impressive is that secondary characters are not very well developed at all. The rakhs' motivations in particular could have been fleshed out more and one key character who hangs around for a good 150-200 or so pages doesn't even get a name.
The plotline is intriguing and there's no denying that the worldbuilding is quite well-thought-out. The cliffhanger ending comes out of nowhere and the enforced humour at the end of the book doesn't really work as well as intended. That said, the book was enjoyable enough to make me look forward to picking up the second volume, When True Night Falls.
With all high technology lost in the birth of a new religion, the colonists of Erna have descended to a Renaissance level of technology, although retaining certain advanced medical, astronomical and scientific knowledge. Damien Kilcannon Vryce, a warrior-priest of the Church and one of the few churchmen able to wield the Fae, arrives in the city of Jaggonath to adopt a new and difficult role in the Church hierarchy. However, when a local Fae-wielder is brutally attacked and her ability to wield the Fae is neutralised, Damien is drawn into a lengthy quest that will lead into the dangerous rakhlands to confront a powerful sorcerer. Along the way Damien is forced into a most uneasy alliance with the cold and arrogant Gerald Tarrant, a powerful wielder of the Fae who has secrets of his own...
Black Sun Rising (1991) is the first novel in Celia Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy. This SF-epic fantasy hybrid was very highly regarded upon its initial release in the United States, but oddly it wasn't until a year or so ago that Orbit finally published the first UK edition.
The novel is a mixture of the familiar and the use of more original tropes, although the familiar does win out in the end. This is a quest story, with an interesting band of 'heroes' setting out to right a great wrong and travel across a vast chunk of countryside in the process. The world of Erna has some interesting facets to it but the travelling makes for the more tedious part of the book, especially the endless mucking around in caves. Page after page of description of rocks and tunnels does not make for entertaining reading.
Fortunately, Friedman's characters are an interesting, if largely unlikeable bunch. She isn't afraid to kill off major characters and paints them in convincing detail. Less impressive is that secondary characters are not very well developed at all. The rakhs' motivations in particular could have been fleshed out more and one key character who hangs around for a good 150-200 or so pages doesn't even get a name.
The plotline is intriguing and there's no denying that the worldbuilding is quite well-thought-out. The cliffhanger ending comes out of nowhere and the enforced humour at the end of the book doesn't really work as well as intended. That said, the book was enjoyable enough to make me look forward to picking up the second volume, When True Night Falls.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With so much dross out there in the genre it's a relief to know some authors can still turn out a novel with fresh ideas. The setting for the novel is unique and believable with a frightening alien world and terrifying magic like abilities simultaneously depriving a previously advanced civilization of its technology. The threats faced are dark and ominous, much like the rest of the novel and the internal and external struggles and conflict between the main characters are delightful, especially given the complexity of certain of those characters. This is an excellent start up to a thrilling and absorbing series. Great stuff.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In my opinion C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy is tied with Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series as the best fantasy ever written! Tarrant is without question the most interesting character in any fantasy novel I have read. He isn't the flat "Big Bad Evil Guy Who's Going to Destroy the World" found in so many fantasy books, yet neither is he the "Poor Misguided Soul Who Just Has to Be Shown the Right Path." He's not some looming shadow who can be dismissed as the bad guy, labeled as evil and given no further consideration. He's a real, fully developed, character, one who is inclined toward cruelty. He sees "The Right Path" and is by no means sure he wants to take it. Likewise his companion, Damien, though he is a priest, hardly fits the traditional mold of that vocation. Damien begins the tale as a devout warrior priest to whom Tarrant and all he stands for are anathema. However, Damien's naive idealism and faith soon come under assault, and ever so slowly Damien comes to doubt himself and his beliefs. More and more he comes to find himself agreeing with Tarrant, and more and more the reader who identifies with Damien finds himself agreeing with Tarrant. It is much more chilling to be in the vampire's head, to understand him and maybe even agree with him, than it can ever be to be stalked by him. For anyone growing at all tired of trite conventional fantasy (unicorns, fairies, and little pet dragons) this series will be a thoroughly refreshing read.
The magic system devised by Friedman is deliciously original. The cover art is outstanding. This is one case where you CAN judge a book by its cover; if you like the cover you'll love the book. I have to see if I can get a poster sized copy and possibly frame it. :-) When you finish Crown of Shadows you will be stunned. The ending is like being hit by a train...4 or 5 times in rapid succession. While the body of the series has enough plot twists to utterly enthrall even the most inert reader, the ending puts it to shame as a candle before the rising sun. Without the slightest bit of hyperbole I can state that I had no idea how it would end until the last word of the last page was read. In sum the Coldfire Trilogy is a masterwork, the sort of gem that fantasy aficionados search for but only too rarely are privileged to find.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Other Worldly Horror
Set in the future,on a plannet called Erna,where the inhabitants decended from a survival capsule sent from Earth. Read more
Published 13 months ago by alysan
Strong characters in a cogent new world
Dark fantasy set on a planet where the colonists met a force that turned their deepest nightmares into reality, and the legacy of same several thousand years later when the story... Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2008 by bluecougar25
Original and intriguing, but a little slow in places
Black Sun Rising has been my introduction to the world of Celia Friedman. It provides a new twist on the way that magicians are portrayed (not a pointy hat or flowing robe in... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2006 by Steven Baker
brilliant
As many of the other reviewers in this genre love to brag, I, too, have read a lot of fantasy. I usually lean towards writers like Tad Williams, David/Leigh Eddings, Robert... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 1999
Simply amazing
Read this. You must, especially if you think of fantasy as a normally shallow genre. More than a battle between good and evil, it is a tale of falls from grace, redemption,... Read more
Published on 30 July 1999
Excellent book
This book was excellent... When asked to describe it, I have a hard time - there's definite sci-fi thread running through the book, but the predominant mood to me was one of... Read more
Published on 12 July 1999
interesting characters
overall a very enjoyable book. The tension between Damien's "good guy" and the hunter makes for good reading. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 1999
gives a different twist to the classic fantasy/sci-fi book
usually when you think about fantasy, you think of dragons and magic and stuff like that. with this book, the fantasy deals with the "fae" and the term sorceror isn't... Read more
Published on 9 Jun 1999
Over used plot, but still good
Black Sun rising had a bit of a run of the mill plot, but it seems to me that there are so many books out there that it's immpossible to come up with a story idea that isn't... Read more
Published on 8 Jun 1999
Gothic sci-fi. Strange but wonderful brew.
I've had this book sitting around for years, and finally decided to read it rather than throw it out. A wise choice. Friedman's writing is a joy.
Published on 1 Jun 1999
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fantasy
- Books > Science Fiction > Series
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
