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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
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Original and intriguing, but a little slow in places,
By
This review is from: Black Sun Rising: The Coldfire Trilogy: Book One (Paperback)
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 sight) and also the way that magic is portrayed. In this world, there are energies constantly flowing (known as Fae), all of which are based around an element and all of which can be manipulated by a suitably skilled adept.
Adepts can only manipulate one of the energy types and this is quite a neat mechanism which allows the characters to be imperilled and doesn't allow the reader the luxury of assuming that they can get just use their magic to get themselves out of trouble. For example, one of the main characters can manipulate Earth Fae, but when he is on a sea voyage, the earth Fae are too far away for him to access their power. The story follows the usual small group of people and their adventures through the land. Other races are encountered with varying degrees of success as they battle to defeat the "Evil Power". Also interesting is that like George RR Martin, Friedman incorporates a duality to the characters which allows you to like the "evil" and dislike the "good" as the story progresses. One particularly interesting character is "The Hunter" who is an expert in his field, but has matured into a distinctly nasty piece of work. One thing worth mentioning is that this story is quite a bit darker than you are used to, where the characters use various foul means to generate a negative emotion (like fear) and then feed off them. A good, concise description would be an emotional vampire. As well as the dark themes, there are a number of quite graphic scenes which are certainly harder hitting than you would think. In giving a mark to the book, I find myself a little torn. It is undoubtedly intriguing and the second half moves at a fair pace, but I did find it a little hard going to start with. I was toying with a 3-star rating, but when it comes down to it, I did enjoy the story and I would certainly like to encourage others to try it out, so I've settled on my rating at 4. If you like your fantasy dark, this will be right up your alley and if you're getting a little sated with the standard fantasy plotlines and concepts, this is a good place to find something different.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, but grim and humourless.,
By A. Whitehead "Werthead" (Colchester, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Black Sun Rising: The Coldfire Trilogy: Book One (Paperback)
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superbly Original,
By
This review is from: Cold Fire Trilogy: Black Sun Rising(1) (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.
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