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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back with a Shiver, 11 Aug 2005
This return to the world of Darwath is even colder than the the original trilogy, as the ice age predicted by Gil has truly begun to descend. Not only is the weather growing colder but everything is more hostile as mysterious slunch grows over all ground, gradually destroying every plant it comes into contact with and being basically indestructible. The remnants of the realm are still sheltered within the (hopefully) impregnable Keep of Dare and while Rudy attempts to help his love Minalde hold the Keep together in the face of divergent factions Gil and Ingold Inglorien search for the Mother of Winter, the cause of these recent ills.As with Hambly's other works I especially appreciated the gritty realism. This is no fairy tale world where everybody lives lives just as good as we do in 21st century America (but they happen to have kings, swords, dragons, and magic). Perhaps this realism is achieved because two of the characters are native Californians who can directly comment on the differences to their former life, and suggest improvements (such as in sanitation). Furthermore, while the characters we follow are well connected the political situation isn't one of absolute control so there is a healthy bit of uncertainty about what will happen, even if proper solutions are discovered. No longer even considering returning to Earth, Gil and Rudy have fully settled into life in the keep. I only recently started reading the series, but I already feel as though these are old friends along with Ingold and Minalde. In some ways the book is a bit of a mystery, as you're not sure what is going on in the first pages, but you follow the efforts of Gil, Ingold, Rudy, Minalde, and Minalde's now five-year-old son Tir to unravel the mystery of the slunch and the keep itself. If you have read the original Darwath Trilogy this is indeed a worthy successor that will keep your attention to the last page. If you've not read the first books then please start with them: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight. I would also recomend Hambly's Windrose Chronicles (for more Americans crossing into fantasy realms), and her Sun Wolf and Star Hawk trilogy.
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by Barbara Hambly
by Barbara Hambly
by Barbara Hambly
by Barbara Hambly
by Peter V. Brett
