Tag Archives: War

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

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Synopsis:
One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.

Review:
This is my third time reading JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and I can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed it more. I’ve been following along with The Tolkien Professor’s podcasted course, and the background I got from finally reading and actually comprehending The Silmarillion really enhanced the depth of pleasure I received once diving back into Frodo’s familiar world.

Now, I’m not going to attempt to do justice to this massive work in just a short posting. Call these impressions, and I hope they inspire you to as satisfying a re-read (or first read) as I have just had.

The darkness
I hadn’t remembered such an abundance of scenes of pure horror. I think my mind sanitized Tolkien, since my last read was almost 7 years ago. But there is so much darkness in here. Tolkien doesn’t shy away from giving us evil in all its ugliness. It’s not graphic, in that it doesn’t wallow in scenes of torture or depravity. But it’s pretty darn scary, particularly in scenes such as Shelob’s lair and the Mouth of Sauron.

The goodness
Even so, I found myself far more drawn in by the courage, and bravery of the characters. Sam’s unabashed loyalty to his master, where his innate servanthood is the only means by which he has to resist the power of the Ring. Eowyn’s courage on the battlefield. Frodo’s suffering and perseverance. Aragorn’s majesty. All these qualities were so compelling, so beautiful, and so riveting that I craved more and more. I think that’s the hardest thing for a writer to do–to make goodness compelling and attractive.

The complexity
The struggle that various characters have with the Ring shows the depth and complexity of Tolkien’s moral vision. There is no black and white here–just human beings whose individuality brings a multitude of reactions to the temptations of the Ring. Tolkien deftly shows how we justify our misdeeds, call evil good, and fall prey to our own desires–even when those desires have goodness in them. The Silmarillion contains a more expansive treatment of Tolkien’s conception of evil, showing always how evil begins within and leads to its own destruction. “Love not too well the works of your hands,” indeed.

The influencesI’ve always loved the two noticeable references to Macbeth (the forest on the move, Eowyn’s defiance of a foretelling), and the podcast has helped me understand some of Tolkien’s medieval influences. But this time around, I felt keenly the influence of the biblical book of Isaiah. I have no idea whether or not I’m right in believing that Tolkien studied Isaiah in depth, but my hunch is that he did. I’m studying Isaiah right now with my moms’ group, and I see echoes of Isaiah everywhere in Tolkien, most particularly in the way both treat the temptation of power. Now, Tolkien’s theology for Middle Earth doesn’t involve a God who intercedes directly, or even really speaks to his people, but the sense of retaining hope when all else fails, “here at the end of all things” is the kind of thing that Isaiah kept reminding the beleaguered Israelites. I think Isaiah and Gandalf would’ve really liked each other.

The poetry
I read it this time–well, most of it. Again, the podcast deepened my appreciation for what Tolkien achieved in the verse he created for various characters to speak. It’s not filler or excess. It actually moves the story along and offers more facets to the interplay between characters and to the story at large. I always thought it indulgent and even somewhat embarrassing, but the poetry is a key part of the story he’s telling and well worth slowing down to absorb and ponder.

The end
I’m so sad it’s over. I always feel this way about beloved books, but perhaps most keenly with The Lord of the Rings. Has a better story ever been told? The richness of imagination, the range of emotion, the fullness of drama, and the completeness of conception–I mean, there’s nothing like it. Reading number 3 may just have cemented its position as my favorite book of all time. I get more and more out of it each time I read it, and I can’t wait until Superfast Toddler is old enough to enjoy it with me.

The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett

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Synopsis:
The next book in the series begun with The Warded Man, set in a world where humanity is besieged by night by demons and await the promised Deliverer, who may be one of two blood brothers, one who shuns the name and the other who embraces it.

Review:
I freaked on Peter V. Brett‘s The Warded Man when I read it earlier this year and had the usual worries about whether or not the series would continue in the same exciting vein, or fail to thrill (I’m looking at you, Forest Mage).

Well, the only one who failed to be thrilled was Superfast Toddler, left to fend for herself while I sat glued to the book, dying with every page to find out what would happen next!

The Desert Spear proves Brett to be a gifted, imaginative, skilled writer who comes up with big ideas and more than pulls them off. In this continuation of a series (not sure how many more books to come), Brett weaves in the life history of Jardir, an ambitious tribe leader the Warded Man encountered in his travels in the South. We see Jardir’s side of the story, as well as learn about his rise to power, and glean disturbing details about the way of life in the desert. Men live to kill demons by night, and their reward is that they can rape any woman they want. At first I thought I was supposed to sympathize with Jardir, and the raping thing really got in the way, but then I realized that Brett was after something a lot more complex.

In later chapters Brett brings back prominent characters from the first book. Leesha, spurned by the Warded Man, has become a powerful healer and warder, with skills against the night that haven’t been seen in centuries. Rojer, the musician whose fiddle enchants and confuses the demons, pines for Leesha even as he years for something bigger. And Renna, the girl who kissed the Warded Man back when he was just a boy, wastes away under the thumb of her monstrous father. All three characters becomes swept up in the bigger story when Jardir’s forces travel north to subjugate all the land under his rule as self-proclaimed Deliverer.

Most people who have met the Warded Man think he’s the promised Deliverer, but the Warded Man repels such claims because he thinks he’s cursed. The powerful wards he’s tattooed on his body are turning him into something between demon and human. He struggles each morning as the sun rises to keep from diving down into the Core where the demons live. What Jardir doesn’t know is that the fabled Warded Man is the old friend he trained in the desert ways of demon battle. Needless to say, this is one confrontation that’s going to be electric.

Like my favorite fantasy novels, it’s the nuanced, complicated, fascinating characters that really kept me enthralled. I loved how Brett developed each one of them in surprising ways. He takes risks with them and isn’t afraid to have them do something unexpected. Leesha, in particular, is a woman to rival Daenerys Targaryen or Althea Vestrit–and if you know who I’m talking about, you best be ordering The Desert Spear pronto.

Many thanks to Del Rey for the advance copy.

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The Children of Húrin by JRR Tolkien

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Synopsis:
The tragic tale of Túrin Túrambar, master of doom by doom mastered, who sought to fight evil but was undone by his own impetuousness and self-aggrandizement.

Review:
The Children of Húrin is a retelling in novel form of the chapter in Tolkien’s Silmarillion called Túrin Túrambar. I should’ve waited to read this for a year or two, because about halfway through I burned out on all the epic language and tragic plotting.

My experience aside, it’s a fantastic story, one of the best ever devised, filled with treachery and nobility and fate and will and foretelling and hindsight–everything you want from a tragedy that has both Greek and Norse flavors.

And did I mention the dragon?

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The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

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Synopsis:
An account of the history of the origins of Middle Earth during the First Age.

Review:
I have tried and failed to read The Silmarillion on several occasions, and I can only credit my success this go-round to the podcast lecture series given by The Tolkien Professor. The early chapters are so dense with information that his interpretation and analysis helped lay the groundwork for me to be able to enjoy later chapters such as “Beren and Luthien” and “Turin Turambar,” to name two of my favorites.

Much to my delight, the bulk of The Silmarillion is action-packed, dark with evil treachery against all the things of the light. Tolkien’s universe is not a Christian one, yet his conception of how evil pervades, taints, corrupts, and persists is thoroughly orthodox. I love how these stories resist any allegorical interpretation, standing on their own and feeling as real as the deepest mythology.

Perhaps now I’ll finally pick up that copy of The Children of Hurin I bought 18 months ago!

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Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon

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Synopsis:
As former military hero Duke Kieri Phelan ascends the throne in half-elven Lyonya, the neighboring realm of Tsaia faces a threat from the long-forgotten blood magery of the Verrakai family.

Review:
Oath of Fealty follows directly after the events that concluded Elizabeth Moon‘s Deed of Paksennarion trilogy, and as such is a bit tricky to synopsize, particularly in only one sentence. And it’s clearly the first book of a series, so it’s mostly set up.

That’s not to say that the book lacks action–hardly! The bulk of the plot concerns the newly discovered plan of the evil Verrakai family of nobility, who alone of the ruling class continue to practice magery. They keep their powers through blood sacrifice to the evil god Liart, such as the rituals practiced upon the paladin Paksenarrion in Oath of Gold. Dorrin Verrakai, who ran away from her family at a young age and pledged herself as a Knight of Falk, a holy saint, has now been elevated to Duke and charged to scour the land of her toxic and murderous kin. She discovers that their blood magery runs so deep that hidden Verrakai now wander freely throughout Tsaia, and that she alone has the power to resist them.

Meanwhile, two new kings have emerged in Tsaia and Lyonya. Plot-wise, the book mainly concerns itself with the politics of ascension, as Moon lays the groundwork for much intrigue to come. And then, in a subplot, we follow Arcolin, who has taken over now-King Kieri Phelan’s cohort, in a nice little military tale within the larger story.

Moon has a knowledge of military strategy that is par excellence, but she’s also a masterful storyteller who doesn’t let herself get bogged down in minutiae. Her prose moves things along and she’s got a good ear for dialogue. And she stages one helluva fight scene! Much here to recommend and endorse, and I hope the next one comes out sooner rather than later!

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Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth

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Synopsis:
Subtitled: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization.

Review:
I was first introduced to Lars Brownworth’s Lost to the West thanks to his outstanding podcast 12 Byzantine Rulers. He presented tangled, complicated history so compellingly that I just had to read the book.

The book is a fantastic read. The history is clearly presented with an eye to both the big picture and the little details that bring it all to life. The way he tells it, Byzantine history casts new light on everything I ever learned about British history and European history. I wondered why I never knew anything about the centuries of Constantinople’s dominance over huge swaths of Europe, Asia, and Africa, other than Justinian and the Hagia Sophia. In these pages, I met the brilliant general Belisarius, ruthless empress Irene, conniving eunuch Narses, and the loyal Varingian guard, who were given royal fiat to raid the treasury whenever the current emperor died. Given that most Byzantine emperors lasted only a few years (a whopping 88 rulers in 1000 years!), many of them retired as wealthy men.

Despite the fact that most successions of power involved assassinations, blindings, torture, usurpation, and just about any type of ambitious chicanery you can think of, the Byzantine empire managed to hold onto vast territories well into the 2nd millennium, gaining and losing ground on the peripheries in Italy and eastern Europe. Even though we say that Rome fell in 476 AD, the rulers and people of Byzantium considered themselves the Roman empire, only with the capital moved to Constantinople. It took several centuries for the infamous split between the Catholic pope and the leaders of the eastern church to occur, and the Byzantine emperors seemed infused with the sense that they were to protect or reclaim (depending on the current shape of the map) both Rome and Jerusalem. The celebrated first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, only came to power because the current Pope wanted to seize power for himself. He used the fact that the throne in Constantinople was occupied by a woman (the empress Irene) to say that there was no emperor at all, since Paul said he prohibited a woman to lead. He quickly crowned Charlemagne, claiming for himself the right to make kings and establishing the supremacy of church over state.

The tragic fall of Constantinople and ruin of the Byzantine empire may have happened at the hands of the Turks, but they were not the first to sack and pillage the famously luxe city. After a series of backdoor machinations on the part of some wily politicians, the fourth Crusade became an attack against Constantinople. The so-called holy warriors of Christendom sacked the city, looting, pillaging, and raping their way into the destruction of the noble capital. The Byzantines had historically opposed the premise of the Crusades, that a man could earn salvation by killing infidels, but were committed to stemming the Muslim tide, and in fact stood as a bulwark between the rest of Europe and invaders from Muslim lands. It seems that the fatal blow struck by the Crusaders weakened the city to the point where the Turks were able to subdue it completely. I was heartbroken to read how the Hagia Sophia was defiled, with rapes of women and children happening on the altars where the priests once served the Eucharist–and really, how much farther is this, morally, from raping women and children in the streets? The flag of Turkey still bears a waning moon as a reminder that the moon waned the night that Constantinople fell.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history. I loved it!

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Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon (The Deed of Paksenarrion)

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Synopsis:
A country girl enlists as a recruit in a band of mercenary soldiers, where she excels–and may be receiving supernatural aid from a saint she doesn’t know about or believe in.

Review:
Oddly enough, Sheepfarmer’s Daughter reminded me a lot of Battlestar Galactica, with its preoccupations over military honor and what makes for goodness in wartime. And anyone who knows me will let you know that this is a compliment of the highest order.

There are no starships or robots in the first book of the Deed of Paksenarrion, of course–this is epic fantasy of the Tolkien strain, complete with elves and dwarves. I hope Elizabeth Moon has reinvented these creatures; it’s too soon to tell.

Paksenarrion fled her rural home because she does not want to marry, ever. She joins one of the companies comprising the mercenary Guild that keeps order in her country, and finds herself in love with the life of a soldier. Though the mercenaries fight for gold, most of the companies keep to a high sense of order and honor, and this appeals to goodhearted Paks. She proves herself a fierce fighter, and earns heroic honors after a brave solo journey across dangerous territory in order to warn her Duke of an impending threat.

Paks has a few brief brushes with the saint Gird, but she’s not particularly religious and Gird isn’t part of the northern belief system. While a prologue hints that Paks’s destiny is one of greatness, the book doesn’t muck about with any “chosen” nonsense. I really liked the workaday aspect of her early journey. She excels, not because she was foretold or some such nonsense, but because she is brave and loyal and true. I like her tremendously.

The Crow by Alison Croggon (The Third Book of Pellinor)

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Synopsis:
Young Bard-in-training Hem finds himself in the midst of a war, recruited into a vicious army of children enslaved by evil magic.

Review:
The Crow got off to a very slow start, but once it got going I was enthralled by the uniqueness of the world and the beauty of the writing. I fell in love with Hem, a deep thinker whose life has been marred by tragedy, and his friend Zelika, an impetuous girl who is the last of her family. The war scenes rival any found in Tolkien, and Alison Croggon doesn’t shy away from darkness and tragedy, even while filling her story with light and hope.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

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Synopsis:
A 6-year-old wunderkind enters Battle School to train to defeat the aggressive, invading Buggers.

Review:
This was actually my first foray into audiobooks on the iPod. I am a huge fan of podcasts, but had yet to tackle a book during the time I spend pushing my stroller and nursing Superfast Toddler to sleep. I figured Ender’s Game was a good entrée, since I have read it before and it wasn’t terribly long, only 11 hours. Since it only took me 2 or 3 hours to actually read the thing, the inefficiency sort of bothered me at first, but I got into it really quickly.

What amazes me about Ender’s Game is how skillfully Card pulls off such an absurd premise. Ender and his cohorts are children who are capable of tremendous feats of military strategy and intellect. It’s impossible to picture–yet it totally works. Even more remarkable is how he maintains sympathy for Ender, who could’ve been totally insufferable in his excellence and achievement. Ender never fails, but you don’t hate him, because Card gets into his alienation and fears so deeply. All told, it’s a fine book for newcomers to science fiction, and definitely held up to a second read.

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Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

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Synopsis:
Given the power to summon fire, a young girl finds herself torn between duty to her country and her fears that she will be consumed by magic.

Review:
Enna Burning is a sequel of sorts to The Goose Girl, but as far as I know it is not based on a fairy tale. Enna is goose girl Isi’s confidante, and her adventure begins when her brother Leifert shows up with a mysterious vellum that has granted him the ability to summon fire. But his power has wrought a fearsome change in him–he behaves like an addict, and when he burns Enna, she flees in fear, wanting nothing more than to save him. An invasion from a neighboring country changes everything, so Enna reads the vellum but vows not to let the fire consume her. She may not be strong enough to keep her promise.

Enna Burning‘s inventive plot was set off well by Shannon Hale’s poetic prose and intricate characters. I was surprised at the darkness of this book–not that The Goose Girl was childish or light, mind you, but because it’s rare (and wonderful) when an author commits to placing her characters at risk.

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