The Blackgod (Chosen of the changeling) [Mass Market Paperback]

I read the previous reviews on this book before I decided to write one of my own, and the review that stated that the sequel was poor compared with The Waterborn was very different (not wrong-everyone's entitled to their own opinion)than what I concluded about The Blackgod. It was as good-if not better-than The Waterborn. For one thing- it was easy to pick up on after reading The Waterborn--only a few months had passed. The characters start out as being the same people you remember-but they change dramatically by story's end. Hezhi begins to grow into womanhood and starts to notice her physical and emotional changes. She also realizes her childhood is gone and that she has been robbed of the one place she felt she belonged-by her own father, the River. Perkar begins to understand that the mistakes he made--the people killed and the lives ruined--has forever severed him from the life he would have had among his people. But he also learns that pity and remorse for himself and the people deceased will do nothing but prevent him from moving on. This book is definite "gotta read" for people 13 (like me) to 99. If you like this book you gotta check out Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Series, Andre Norton's "Imperial Lady", and Jane Routley's "Mage Heart" and it's sequel, "Fire Angels".

Perkar's rash, ham-handed efforts to respond to Hezhi's almost unwitting call for help have opened a hornet's nest of trouble. Their flight from the city of Nohl to escape the Changeling has left behind them a trail of mayhem, death and destruction - Perkar's people, the cattle farmers, and the Mang, accomplished horse breeders, riders and worshippers are now at war; Perkar has slain and beheaded Ghe, the Jik assassin, but through the intervention of the Changeling's power, Ghe has been resurrected as a powerful ghoul who now claims to "love" Hezhi; and, in the fashion of the Greek and Roman pantheon, gods and half-gods squabble and tamper with the lives of man but their motives are murky, confusing and a good deal less than altruistic. Karak, the Raven, or the Blackgod, seems to have developed a particular fondness for Perkar, Hezhi and their small band of travelers. Much to Hezhi's utter dismay, fear and anger, he discloses to her that her destiny is at She'leng, the source of the River, where she will find the power to defeat the Changeling. But all Hezhi really wants is to be left alone. As the story unfolds, the gods' relentless tinkering with the world results in nobody knowing who to believe in or who to trust.

In The Blackgod, Keyes has moved well beyond The Waterborn and expanded Chosen of the Changeling into a truly mature epic fantasy with amazing breadth and scope. The animist pagan theology introduced in The Waterborn is explored in wonderful depth and detail. In a concept strikingly reminiscent of the Christian idea of Trinity and yet still wonderfully original and imaginative, Perkar's and Hezhi's gods - Balati the One-Eyed Lord, Karak the Raven, Ekama the Horse Mother and the Huntress - are revealed as manifestations of a single god united in their quest to eliminate the incessant, overpowering evil of the Changeling. As the war between them advances to a climax, the Mang and Perkar's people, the cattle farmers, come alive with rich and colourful detail including traditions and beliefs, costumes, history and language. Questions about the history and meaning of the priesthood and their temple in Nhol left unanswered at the end of The Waterborn are resolved with a dazzling twist. Heroes, heroines and villains alike are well-constructed, realistic and are allowed to develop and mature into different characters with strengths, weaknesses and human frailties.

Although we are reasonably certain of the eventual "winner" of the conflict, the story-telling never becomes maudlin or trite and remains entirely unpredictable and compelling. Of course, that has a great deal to do with the fact that until the very end, we're not really certain of who the bad guy really is. I said it about The Waterborn and I'm thrilled to be able to say it again for The Blackgod: "An unforgettable fantasy replete with all the requisite elements - a pretty damsel in distress, heroes and their sagas, gods, battles, good and evil, with lots of credible dialogue to bring it home! Did I mention a couple of plot twists that would make the most jaded thriller or mystery reader's eyes light up?"

If you enjoy an epic fantasy, you won't want to miss The Blackgod, second entry in The Chosen of the Changeling.

After reading The Waterborn you think you understand
the world of the Changling, but then The Blackgod
reveals secrets you didn't suspect in the first book, and
suddently the lines between friend and foe become
blurred and you don't know who to trust. This is the
experience of the heroine, Princess Hezhi, in The Blackgod.
As she learns to wield her power it seems that everyone is
trying to influence her. She even grows unsure of Perkar, the
warrior from the cattle lands that she unwittingly summonned
to aid her escape from the city of Nohl in the first book.

Against Hezhi and Perkar there are a huge range of
powers: a mysterious Mang shaman, various warriors trying to
enhance their reputation, and, rising from the beheaded corpse
of a man that Hezhi once considered a friend, comes a monstrous
avatar of the River god; a being powerful enough to
consume gods; a man who does not remember his own past; the man formerly known
as Ghe.

Keyes manages to introduce new twists and interpretations
to the beliefs and social systems of this fantasy world. We learn that
the priests are not what they seemed, and, as the Changling rises
from his muddy bed and begins his inexorable passage across the land
in pursuit of Hezhi, we see the hand the Blackgod has played in
the saga, and learn why only Hezhi can defeat the Changling.

This is even more of a page turner than The Waterborn. But, don't worry if you (shock, horror!) haven't
read the first book, Keyes re-visits the formers' climactic battle to
present us with the re-birth of Ghe and proceeds from there to take the story through new locations to the birthplace
of the Rivergod--the only place he can be killed. Of course, readers of The Waterborn
will enjoy meeting old friends such as Ghan and Brother Horse again.

In short, Hezhi, a fourteen-year-old one-time princess, is truly one
of the most interesting heroines in fantasy fiction, and the world Keyes has created
is striking in its originality.