Customer Reviews

Acacia: The War with the Mein (Acacia, Book 1)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Will Durant said: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within". It was true of Rome and is equally true of David Anthony Durham's mythical land of Accia.

'Acacia' is Durham's first professional trip into the world of fantasy...and what a trip it is. The story follows the lives of four royal children raised by a father that has insulated them from all the darkness in the world. The Empire is built upon slavery and trade in a highly addictive opiate called Mist. The children see none of this and are spoonfed idealistic stories about the nobility of their family line and the Divine right by which their family rules. Their idealistic, loving but deeply flawed father is eventually assassinated in a successful attempt at overthrowing the dynasty that has been in place for generations.

Each of the Akaron Children is secreted to different corners of the Empire where they develop new skills and more importantly, new perceptions of the world that once had been theirs to rule. The lessons here are numerous. Good and evil are a shell game; concepts that become more and more "muddy" as each of the children sees the beauty as well as the darkness in cultures not their own. These newly developed abilities, perceptions and allies may collectively return them to power, but more importantly, balance a world filled with inequaties (much like our own). Moral pitfalls fill this novel and it becomes clear how difficult it is to juggle idealism and the power to transform those ideals into reality.

This is the 'Heroes Journey' in true Joseph Campbell fashion. Filled with political meanings and starkly human motivations, 'Acacia' could very well join Frank Herbert's 'Dune' as one of the most influential novels in Fantasy/Science Fiction. The book is fleshed out by Durham's mastery of the language and one cannot help but compare this book favorably to George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice series. Like Martin, Durham is not afraid to create a fantasy world with real grit and meaning. There are many lessons for our time in this book and it's easy to tell that Durham's previous novels were historical in nature and it's difficult not to draw parallels between the current state of affairs in the world and this story.

This is a dynamite novel (in any genre) and if Durham is able to hold true to his vision in the future 'Acacia' books this is well on it's way to becoming classic literature. I can hardly wait for book two!

I agree a lot with M. Borchelt's review. However I have to say the first third of this book was the best first third of a book I've read in a long long time. Great action, wonderful character development, excellent details that help the reader visualize scenes and conversations in ways that other authors haven't touched.

With such a deep knowledge of human character then, how could the book degenerate into such pap? Every one of the four main characters who were written so insightfully as children become cardboard cutouts of various comic book/fantasy/romance characters by the end of the second third of the book. By that point, any cliffhangers become meaningless because I was truly hoping he would kill them off and start over.

By the last third, even the (mostly) well-written villains become automotons.

The plot has similar problems. It advances well and quickly in the first third of the book, begins faltering in the second third, and then becomes just a repetition of the same formula by the third piece. At this point each chapter becomes almost the same in format. It starts with few pages discussing where the plot is, maybe drawing some history into it, or else just focusing on a vapid character's obsessive and/or meandering thoughts, then it proceeds to the expected piece of action or dialog that shoves the plot onto the next step.

The action in the first third of the book is exquisite. It's realistically written, hard-edged to the point that when one fairly ludicrous fight comes along (man vs giant) I was swept right along with it and believed it.

By the middle third the action is humdrum; people severing limbs with sabers, for instance, or one person taking on four and not receiving a scratch. A main character trains in sword-work and becomes a master in weeks (if not days ... it's hard to tell how he advances time). Things like that completely sever my suspension of disbelief.

This book had so much potential.

For those who like their epic fantasy more along the gritty lines of George R. R. Martin's Fire and Ice series, this is highly recommended. Set in a diverse, highly realized world and chock full of political, economic, cultural and social conflicts, written with great sophistication and complexity, it enriches the basic story of a flawed by wise king who is assassinated, leaving his four children to deal with treachery and plots and a ruthless enemy, the Mein, who seem to almost walk over the Acacians, who have ruled for centuries.

Nine years later and the four children have survived, despite all odds. One is captive of the Mein, ruled by Hanish, now the Emperor of Acacia. The others have grown up, scattered to the far parts of the diverse Empire, which rules the Known World. A daunting task is before them. Can they fight back against the Meins, who have seemingly taken over the running of the Empire with few problems and have had nine years to entrench their position? Should they? The Mein have powerful allies. They have had a long grievance against the rulers of Acacia, who have wronged them and others and have held power through slavery and trade in narcotics. However, the Mein haven't changed anything, they have simply replaced one set of rulers for another. In the spirit of their dead father, the remaining siblings don't want to simply regain their power, but to remake Acacia for the better.

Nothing, though, is black and white. To regain power, they may have to ally themselves with sorcerers who have been exiled by Acacian forebears at the beginnings of their history--sorcerers whose intent may be good but whose power is warped and evil. Meanwhile, the Mein, while not changing things for the better, are certainly no worse than the old regime. Yet one of their goals is to spill the blood of the Acacian heirs in order to bring back their ancestors who are hungry spirits desiring nothing but bloody vengeance.

Amidst battles and bloodshed, dark sorcery, dangerous rites of passage, sea raids and battles, tribal battles for leadership, strange gods and goddesses, plots and treachery, the four heirs and a myriad of secondary characters live and fight and love... Empires rise and fall... and in the Unknown Lands, plots and kingdoms stir, affecting Acacia. The first book is long and meaty and covers more than enough to be satisfying on its own. Knowing that this is the first book of a series is almost overwhelming, but still very welcome

Acacia: Book One: The War With the Mein is David Anthony Durham's "debut" of sorts into the fantasy genre. He creates a world rich with myths, legends, history, culture, and differing races striving to co-exist in Acacia, the designated center of the The Known World. This first book, The War With The Mein, opens with a Mein assassin journeying from the arctic ice lands of the North on a mission to avenge his people who felt they were denied their place as rulers of the The Known World and banished to the ice lands centuries before. Upon the successful assassination of the King of Acacia; three of the four sheltered, pampered child heirs escape capture, scattered to differing parts of the kingdom under assumed identities. The Mein easily topple the sleeping Acacian capital and control the kingdom. Hanish Mein, handsome brother of the self-sacrificing assassin, occupies the palace and vows to capture the remaining Acacian heirs (preferably alive) to complete a blood oath to release the Mein's spiritual ancestors.

In the meantime, the heirs, separated during their flight from capture, mature in differing ways in disparate cultures over the next decade. The oldest son, Aliver, trains with the Talayans on the desert plains and enlists the aid of the mystical Santooth to avenge his father. The beautiful elder sister, Corinn, a prisoner in her own palace, becomes the concubine/lover of Hanish Mein. Third to the throne, Mena, is raised as a virginal priestess in a land that worships a sea Eagle and practices child sacrifice, and the youngest son, Dariel, is raised a swashbuckling pirate buccaneer.

Durham leans on his historical fiction background and blends a numerous, yet full bodied, cast filled with resonating histories, each contributing purposefully to the multi-layered plot and sub-plots. Much of the book establishes the complex histories, secrets, interrelationships of the Acacian people, their allies, enemies, and subjects. It also provides a detailed backdrop on the alliances, motives, and betrayals of court members and key figures with such deep conviction that initially, it is very difficult to sort the `good' from the `bad' guys.

I enjoyed the book and enjoyed how The Known World parallels reality in that there are multiple races that mimic reality. The reader will recognize a touch of ancient Nordic, African, and Arabian traditions and cultures that borrow from the Celtics and Aztecs. His creativity sparked in the creation of a feared group, The Leaguemen, a sea-faring group who specialize in the production and distribution of "the mist" and opiate-like drug that has stupefied most of Acacia into submission. The nations of Acacia struggle with slavery, war, greed, jealousy, drug addiction, and other social ills that have plagued mankind from creation. I am not sure if all of his "old" fans will embrace this novel; but there is no doubt that he will pick up new fans with this release. I'm looking forward to Book Two!

Reviewed by Phyllis

APOOO BookClub

Nubian Circle Book Club

This was like a fantasy history book. Too much telling, not enough showing. In one chapter Spratling and his crew are discussing how to attack a League platform. Instead of writing the entire conversation like a normal person, Durham just writes a couple of lines and exposits in-between. Not only does that make it seem like he doesn't care about his characters, it makes it seem like the characters do stuff just for the sake of moving the plot forward. I thought the whole downfall of Acacia was rushed; there's a plague that kills off half the population (and a minor character) and it's only briefly mentioned and then forgotten about. No emotional impact whatsoever. And then in the second half Mena, Dariel and Alivar become Mary Sue's. Not good.

Leodan Akaran is the 22nd Akaran lord to preside over an era of peace. The citizens of his empire, Acacia, are pawns and don't even know it. They are subjugated and sold to obtain a drug that keeps the people from realizing their own fate. On the backs of their own drugged and enslaved souls does the kingdom prosper.

Until the arrival of Thasren Mein. Long ago exiled to the ice-swept north, the Mein have prepared, schemed and waited. In a myriad of guises, Thasren makes his way into Acacia and strikes the killing blow, assassinating Leodan while the Mein support with savage assaults all throughout the kingdom. But Leodan has already put another plan into effect, one that will see his children safely away, scattered to the four corners of the world.

Each of them will be with a solitary advisor or guardian. Hidden from the Mein, Leodan hopes that his four heirs will find a way to seek each other out and combine their collected knowledge into a successful bid at salvation for all of Acacia.

In ACACIA, author David Anthony Durham has created a fantastic world presented in exquisite fashion. This is a world with little in the way of magic, so you need not fear wizards running rampant with awe-inspiring power. Its main focus is more on what we perceive as common problems --- slavery and drug addiction. Granted, the use of pacifying agents to lull the people into foul deeds is nothing new in the world of science fiction/fantasy, but Durham uses it in a fabulous way, and it makes for a strange juxtaposition that a king who would endorse and encourage what could be perceived only as an evil act is at the same time a compassionate and kind man.

Where Durham also succeeds is in keeping the line between good and evil a very stark gray. Hanish Mein, the older brother of the assassin and the lord of the Mein, is far and away the most interesting and intriguing character in ACACIA. This is no bad-guy-for-bad-guy's-sake stock villain; he is intelligent and charming, and sometimes it's difficult to see him as a true enemy. Much of what is found is very symbolic of our own tempestuous world, where even those we tend to see as bad, when shown in the proper light, are working for their own perceived good.

Durham does not play the reader for a fool. He prefers not to spell everything out for you and leaves some of the mystery in the telling, dropping you into the story rather than you just reading it. An example of this is when he recounts the journeys of the four children of Akran. As they begin, Durham does not tell you "this is Dariel's tale" or "this is Corinn's tale." You learn who you're following as the events unfold.

ACACIA holds a vast and fully developed world, one that readers will get to know. Thankfully, two more volumes will be releasing in the future. It is a world worth visiting and a land worth exploring, and Durham is more than capable of weaving the story and telling it to you. Intrigue, suspense, adventure. What more could you ask for?

--- Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard

ACACIA by David Anthony Durham is the first book in a new series called; The War with the Mein. Mr. Durham is most noted for his historical fiction books. However, Acacia represents a step from the norm for Mr. Durham and steps into the realm of fantasy. I was pleasantly surprised by this novel, not only in the story but also the characters. With this being Mr. Durham's first fantasy novel the long-term outlook for his novels is certainly bright. However, this is not your typical sword and sorcery fantasy novel. I would liken this more to G.R.R. Martin, Steven Erikson, and Scott Lynch. It's a more gritty look at fantasy, where people die and the `good guys' don't always come out on top. I would say it has a more adult feel then the majority of fantasy novels out today.

The plot of this book is a very large, sweeping type of plot that not only covers a lot of ground, but a large timeline as well. The basic premise of the plot is the race called the Mein are tired of being exiled from a land they believe is theirs. They put into play a series of events to wrest control away from the ruling Arkans. Then the plot shifts to the plight of the four Arkan children as they seek to avenge the assassination of their father. The plot follows each of the four children as they make their own path in the world after being exiled themselves and each facing a different set of circumstances. During the course of the novel there are large scale battles, political intrigue, treachery, double speak, and numerous other things. There are also several sub-plots tied in very nicely to the overall scope of the novel. Not only do we get to read about each of the four children, we also get to read about the leader of the Mein, Hanish Mein, as he seeks to establish his people in what he believes is rightly theirs.

The characters in this novel are very good. Every character from Leodan Arkan to Hanish Mein has a purpose and a `voice' in which they speak. Each has their own motives and reasons for acting in the manner they do. This individualism leads to a much more believable story. Each and every character also have their own faults and often times do not act in a way that you would expect. There is also a great deal of character development within the pages of Acacia. For instance the four Arkan children start off as kids in the beginning of the novel, but by novels end they are not only older, but wiser in the workings of the world. Another thing I appreciated about this novel was the character dialog. Never does the dialog seemed forced or unnecessary. In fact, it all seemed to me to serve a purpose. I had the feeling if a character was speaking there was a reason behind it and they were all saying something important. Based on my experience, that is something rare in the fantasy genre right now. Truly solid characters all the way around.

Some overall comments on the novel as a whole:

The world is richly detailed. I appreciated Mr. Durham's way of intertwining pieces of the world's history into the conversation and prose. It made the world feel that much more alive and lead to believability of the characters actions. The `feel' of the novel is not the typical fantasy fare that is out there right now. It's dark, gritty, and feels much more real.

Some things I would have liked to have seen differently. I would have liked to seen the chapters labeled with the character featured in the chapter, much like G.R.R. Martin's chapters. It would have provided a better understanding and a reference point for me to grasp what I was looking at. I would have also liked to see a year/calendar type heading under the chapter number. There were a few times where things seemed to jump ahead timeline wise and I was lost for a time as to what just happened and how much time passed. While there are some bits of history interspersed in the novel, I would have liked to see a little more - maybe this one will happen in future novels. Lastly, there is one character in this book who's behavior change at the end of the book seems vastly different from what that character acted like during the majority of the book. This dramatic change seems to come out of thin air and seemed `wrong' to me.

Overall, this is a solid debut into the fantasy genre. There are some things that I would have done differently, yet the base of this novel is well done and should provide a solid starting point to what should be a fantastic series. I think most adult fantasy fans will find something to enjoy. This is certainly a book I can see myself recommending to the serious fantasy fan.

Acacia is a fierce, tour-de-force of epic fantasy, in the grand tradition of George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. Kingdoms war and empires fall in a monumental chess game, but there are no pawns here--the players are knights, rogues and royals, coal-shovelers who become heroes, and leaders of powerful drug cartels that fuel the engines of war. This is not the white-washed world of traditional fantasy, with its Anglo-Saxon longings for a mythical golden age. The power of Acacia lies not only in its realistic characters, but in the cultural tapestry that Durham has woven. The kingdoms which are variously allied, controlled, and seek the destruction of the Acacian Empire, are racially diverse, and each culture is beautifully rendered with unique customs, religions, rituals and distinctive motivations. The role of women in these cultures is equally diverse. Rarely has epic fantasy given us so many strong, believable, female characters. It's refreshing to see men and women fighting together, not as an anomaly, but as a given. And woe to the reader who falls in love with Durham's characters, as you are guaranteed to do as you immerse yourself in this world, because as in real life, death can come for anyone.

There are epic battles, pirate wars, Byzantine intrigues that would send Dan Brown running for cover. Wise readers, like the characters of Acacia, will be forced into a "trust no one" mentality. You won't find noble Elves here, and no jolly Hobbits, but you will find men and women who are moral conundrums, self-conflicted, often heroic, sometimes cruel and cowardly, but all with inner lives as rich and contradictory as human nature.

The twilight of the Acacian Empire, also serves as a metaphor for the American Dream, and Durham shows that beneath the hope, heroism, and fantasy lies a nightmare. He knows his history, and shines a stark light on themes of imperialism, globalization, slavery, exploitation of indigenous peoples, germ warfare, "ethnic cleansing," drug abuse and the drug economy. This gives the novel a level of realism rarely seen in fantasy. It is less escapism than political polemic, last seen so expertly realized in Frank Herbert's Dune, where the Spice economy served as a metaphor for the politics of Oil. When we grieve for the Acacians, we grieve for our own sins, and when we root for the heroes, we are rooting for the noblest and best parts of ourselves, the parts that seek justice and believe in the limitless potential for good. Acacia's greatest success is that it does far more than entertain, it challenges us to re-examine our own history, and fight the real demons of our age.

R.J. Crowther Jr.

***Spoiler Alert ***

My Acacian Journey - A review of both the book of CD and the book itself

Acacia has been an unusual experience for me. I began by first getting the unabridged version of the book from the library (all 23 disks), and listening to it nonstop during a two-day road trip. So I felt quite immersed in the story, but felt I was missing too much detail and nuance, due to having it read to me. I stopped listening at about disk 17, and decided to finish, instead, by reading the actual book. But "The Name of the Wind" became available at the library, so I spent the next few weeks reading that. I decided I'd begin Acacia (the book this time) from the beginning. That tells me I did enjoy the story, enough to read most of it all over again only 3 weeks after hearing it on disk. A few notes on this experience:

Hearing the book first meant that I was familiar with how the strange names of people and places were pronounced. Most striking of all was the book's subtitle, "The War with the Mein." According to the reader, Mein is pronounced like "mean." Which goes against the rules for English, certainly. I assumed it was pronounced as the German word "mein,", that is, like the English word "mine." This seemed a bit wrong to me. Why make up a name that everyone is certain to mispronounce? And it seems rather hokey to call your bad guys the "Means". Reminds me of Yellow Submarine, except these guys weren't blue.

But it was really cool to see these words after hearing them read to me for 20 hours or so. Strange, but true. I really enjoyed reading it after hearing it. And this confirmed for me that you really do need to *read* a book. Having it read to you is not good enough, though it is entertaining when driving for 10 hours straight. But there's no stopping (as you can do when reading) to think about what someone has said, or what just happened. The reader just rolls on. So that's a limitation of the medium. Hitting the pause button would be much more disruptive of the fictive dream than simply looking up from the page and thinking.

Finally, the voice of the reader is not like the voice in your head, which in my head at least, does not sound like a whiny twit when reading the words spoken by the women in the book. The reader attempts to come up with a different-sounding voice for every major character. He does a great job with the mens' voices. Meander especially was chilling to listen to. But the women - especially Corinn -- came across as very small-minded and weak. Reading the book, Corinn came across rather differently. A much stronger character, for sure. Durham's handling of women, however, could be much better. He has the two male siblings, Aliver and Dariel, sent off to lands where they learn fighting skills. He send the two female siblings, Corinn and Mena (unfortunate name, that -- sounds too much like "Mein") to places where they don't learn fighting. He then has Mena learn, in a single chapter, how to become a legendary fighter, and it just doesn't wash.

As for the story itself, here are my thoughts. Obviously, I liked it enough to essentially "read" it twice in a two-month span. I never do that. The writing style is very good, and better than 90% of the doorstop fantasy tripe out there. This is a first fantasy novel for Durham, who has heretofore only written historical fiction. Durham says, "Acacia is a novel about the myths empires create to explain their crimes. It's about how difficult it is to join idealism with action. It's about ambition and hope and dealing with the disappointments inflicted by a callous world. It's about family legacy, sibling rivalry, and striving to correct past wrongs." This comes across quite well, and these strong thematic elements make "Acacia" an important fantasy novel. Durham, an African American, was also attempting to include a vast racial diversity, and in that I don't think he was very successful. The various tribes all seem cut of the same cloth, and rather hackneyed cloth at that. They're stereotypical primitives. Durham's imagination seems to have failed him here, I'm afraid. The Meins and the Acacians seem very much alike, and the rest come across as third world knockoffs. Having read a lot of science fiction, I've seen many authors do a better job of imagining alien cultures. Durham is falling back on stereotypes from our own world too much, I feel.

Another nagging problem was that I felt the presence of a story outline. The characters often seemed to be fulfilling the needs of that outline rather than acting according to their true natures. The best example of this was the very end, when Corinn suddenly beomes very powerful and cunning. There was no foreshadowing this development. She was too obviously advancing the plot, and not in a way the reader expects.

The death, at the very end, of Aliver, seemed wrong. We see Aliver grow steadily in power and wisdom for 550 pages, and then he foolishly agrees to a fight with Meander. I could almost see Durham saying, "Okay, for the next book, I want Corinn to be the Queen, so I need to get rid of Aliver. Hm. How can I do that?" So he gives us a few paragraphs of Meander's thoughts, of Meander realizing that soon he will be seen as a mere nothing compared to his older brother Hanish. So he'll kill Aliver and thus do something important. This seems obviously hacked in, not natural, and it throws you right out of the story. I felt these characters would not do these things, based on what I knew of them.

One final quibble: I wish Durham had not waited till nearly the end to explain why the Tunishnevre (the ancestors cursed by the ancient Akaran Tinhaden) needed to be transported from the Mein homeland to Acacia. I kept wondering why Hanish was going to so much trouble, when he could simply take Corinn to the ancestors, and this made me begin to suspect a plot hole. Durham should have explained the need to have them "awoken" in Acacia right up front.

Acacia is an important new fantasy novel, and I look forward to reading the next volume(s). Durham does not say how many books are to come, but there is obviously at least one more. I'm sorry if this review seems overly negative. I hope the author finds these criticisms helpful, if he reads them. Fantasy that speaks to the problems our world faces is rare. Acacia is a breath of fresh air, though it stumbles now and then. Acacia and Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, Day 1) combine to give fantasy lovers great hope for the future.

Frankly, this book is a decent diversion, but if you, like myself when I bought it, are looking for a deep, insightful fantasy novel on the level of Martin or Hobb, you aren't going to find it here.

Durham is an author who hits almost all the right notes, but doesn't strike any of them in such a way as to leave the reader feeling he's done anything particularly inventive. There's no spark of genius here, no creativity allowed to turn wild.

This is most noticeable in his treatment of the characters. An earlier reviewer commented that Durham has a distinct "voice" for each character. To this, I can only respond that if he has written any reasonable distinctness into his characters, it was subtle enough that I found it negligible. I found his characterization exceedingly poor: Aliver, Mena, Dariel...it doesn't really matter, as the novel progresses, from which POV you're reading. They all make much the same observations, reason through problems in pretty much the same way, and experience much the same variety of worry. And aside from this mirror-image effect, they all amount to a rather boring character. They simply do not involve the reader or feel human. There is little to no complexity in them. Even when they do something sudden or unexpected, it feels static and ill-considered, with no real build-up. The characters are, in short, game pieces Mr. Durham is moving around the board. They feel like underpaid actors wearily going through the motions demanded by their director.

Another issue is the flavor. Events are presented in a dull, clinical fashion. This happened, then this happened, then this happened. It's like Durham is trying to copy the coldly even tone of Stephen King's horror sequences without any of the individual sparks of life that make those segments work.

I'm not entirely down on the book. The plot is clever, and does not so much twist as it unfolds. Elements presented early on remain right down to the end, but new revelations are made about them as we progress. Seemingly every meaningful occurrence in the Known World has as many layers as an onion, each more fascinating than the next. Durham's command of English is impressive, his dialogue is good, and his action sequences are sharp-edged and well-done.

In short, basically everything in this novel is impeccable aside from the human aspect. The characters are automatons, and the world feels like it's being explained by a sociopath. Emotion is presented without any clear understanding of what it's supposed to do. There is a lot of psychoanalysis, but no empathy at all.

Summing up, this novel is a decent read. It will divert you and entertain you. But you will not fall in love with it, and you will forget it relatively without effort. It's fascinating on an intellectual level, but it has no soul.