Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Wings of Wrath - Reviewed

C.S. Friedman is a writer who will always have a special spot in my heart. After all, on the plane to and from Hawai’i for my honeymoon, I read her wonderful Coldfire Trilogy. Everything else I’ve read by her was engaging, moving and enjoyable. The same can be said for Wings of Wrath, her latest novel, the review of which I posted last night:

One of the things that stood out to me in this volume (and a trend I’m noticing in a lot of the stronger fantasy writers such as C.S. Friedman) is that this second book doesn’t simply tread ground and hold things at a status quo for the eventual final volume. Certain plot elements gain closure, while others continue to set up for an eventual clash that I for one hope to see occur in the final volume.

An element I’ve enjoyed in all of Ms. Friedman’s novels is her ability to give weight to both sides of a conflict. In Feast of Souls, the Souleaters were monsters out of legend associated with only death and destruction. Here in Wings of Wrath, more background is given to these creatures and their history, which gives the beginning hints of a rational perspective to their existence. A Great Secret may lie at the heart of what they are (perhaps not unlike the world of Erna in her (Coldfire Trilogy) but the hints of such a secret may just be teases of What Could Be rather than What Is.

That will be all for today, except to say that I am enthralled by The Judging Eye.

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