"Cast A Bright Shadow", by Tanith Lee
This hefty book (427 pages), is the first in the planned Lionwolf trilogy. It's a fantasy epic in the style of her much earlier Birthgrave and Storm Lord trilogies, following as it does, the changing fortunes of the main characters amongst the tribes and royalties of an exotic land - in this case an icy arctic wasteland.Saphay is a minor royal princess, who is to be married off to the chieftain of a northern tribe. However, nothing is as simple as it seems, as palace conniving does not intend her to reach her destination. Attacked by a warband, she escapes but is driven into the frozen ocean, where she encounters a mighty horned whale, and a God...this is one of the three gods, all of double aspect (benign and malign) that were given to her at birth, as custom dictated. They will all feature in the book in their own interfering ways, and this one sires a son on her - he who is Nameless, later to be the Lionwolf. It is he, really, who is the main character here, and the book follows him as he moves amongst the diffferent tribes, forming a huge war band, the Gullahammer, to move against his mother's royal city in revenge for their earlier actions. But there in Ru Karismi, the Magikoy are preparing devastating defences of their own...
The main problem with this book is that the main characters are largely unsympathetic. Their self-obsessed and fatalistic behaviour make it very difficult for you to care what happens to them, especially as half the time they don't seem to either. Coming in a semi-complete circle to the end, while not ending on a cliffhanger (good) it doesn't give any particular sense of satisfaction either, or leave you especially desperate to get the next installment (and Tanith Lee is my favourite author, so that's a shame. I'll get it anyway, mind you).
A better reason than characters or plot to read it then, would be the writing itself, as ever, the world and its peoples are beautifully described and fully imagined. Religions, creatures both natural and supernatural, cities, customs, landscapes, languages - all are vividly painted and explored. Very readable, if not at her most gripping.
posted by Izzy @ 10:47 am
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