Customer Reviews

Beyond the Summerland (The Binding of the Blade, Book 1)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fantasy readers will love it, and even those not addicted to fantasy should like it A LOT too. I couldn't put it down once I got into it. A compelling plot with complex characters and an in-depth world. I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it is refreshing to read a book by an author who loves Tolkien but does not simply mimic him. Beyond the Summerland is more approachable than The Lord of the Rings, but still has plenty of depth (something sadly lacking in so many fantasy books). Graham's Christian worldview also shines through, makes this book a must-have for any Christian Fantasy Lover.

This novel is adept at good characterization and world-building. It is a coming-of-age story for a group of future leaders of Kirthanin. It involves dragons, Great Bear, giants, dark wolves, Malekim, an ancient prophet, Titans, and many other impressive fantasy creatures and people. It is a strong Christian allegory in the tradition of Lewis, though the characters representing angels are presented in a style representative of powerful men of ancient myth. This adds to the fantasy flavor. From Allfather to the powerful, twisted Malek, the story is filled with many imaginative protagonists and antagonists. The adventures are equally impressive and help develop the main characters well.

The controversial ending was hinted at throughout the story, and since I have read the second book, I can say that it was necessary in light of the continuing story.

The only small fault is that some of the dialogue seems a bit too modern in places and not "medieval" enough. That was very minor and doesn't hurt the story as a whole. This is an excellent book and I recommend picking it up!

I purchased this book after reading all the rave reviews and must say that I'm very surprised that some readers would rate this book in the same league as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Before I discuss the problems of the book, let me say a word or two about its strengths. First of all, the story has potential. There are enough interesting twists and turns throughout to keep the reader reading (though don't believe all the hype about the ending being unexpected. I'll admit I was a bit surprised that Graham went through with the ending, but he did hint at it frequently throughout the book ). Second, I liked the way Graham tied hints of Greek mythology into the picture. Third, I was appreciative of the Creation-Fall-Redemption motif that undergirds the story. It provides a nice backdrop and helps hold the story together.

Having said that, this book feels highly underdeveloped on a number of levels. First, the characters are shallow and lack believability. Part of this is because they all seem too perfect (or if evil, stereotypical). Like another reviewer noted: the main character's biggest problems are whether or not to declare his love for a girl and what other people will think of that. After a while, it almost becomes silly. The characters are constantly apologizing to each other and are quickly repentant when they have done something wrong. While these characteristics are laudable, they do not reflect the messy realities of human life with its inner struggle between good and evil (for example: compare Graham's Joraiem with Tolkien's Frodo). Granted, there are villians in the story, but even they lack believable depth (the one exception to all of this is the prologue with the characters Malek and Andunin).

The second problem I had with the book was the dialogue. In connection with the underdeveloped characters, it seemed extremely unnatural. The love scenes especially suffered with the "I love you - no, I love you more" forumla.

In summary, I would say that if I was L.B. Graham's editor, I would have told him something like the following: "you have a good start here, and I think this story has worlds of potential, but you need to flesh out your characters, rewrite several of the scenes heavy with dialogue, and avoid the moralistic tone that creeps into the story from time to time (this could be accomplished in the story by by making the characters actually imperfect and struggling against a deeper inner evil)."

I have to admit, I was hooked from the first sentence of Beyond the Summerland. I was captivated by the whole past of Andunin and Tarlin. It was interesting how Andunin loved his son so dearly, but in the end, caused his untimely death. The ideas of the first bloodshed and war in a previously perfect world were interesting as well.
But then that part of the story ends. Enter Joraiem Andira, an utterly unremarkable character with blonde hair and blue eyes. He also happens to love and be horribly afraid of the ocean at the same time. How does that work? No one really knows. Joraiem goes a' hunting a Malekim for a chapter or so, and then spends a great deal of the first part of the book lamenting his poor decisions in love. He had his chance, but he did not speak of his undying love to Alina before she hooked up with someone else! Tragic, to say the least. But it's OK -- he finds the much hotter Wylla a bit later, and promptly forgets his former love.
Alright, enough of me dumping on Joraiem. I just found him to be...weak. Anyway, there IS alot to like about this book -- the world of Kirthanin, its past, and peoples/creatures are all done pretty well. The backstory is mostly pretty firm. It's just when the flimsy characters enter the story that the interest level goes down. Joraiem, as I said before, is rather limp, Wylla is about the same, with no outstanding characteristics that would explain why everyone loves her, and her and Joraiem's whole love story is about as deep as a sappy pop song. Wylla's brothers could've been interesting characters, if they had been given more page time. The other characters all had potential, but as with the twins, were not given enough lines for you to really tell.
In the end, I think the book is interesting, and due to the final plot twist, I might go on to read the Bringer of Storms. The backstory is good, and some characters have potential (like Aljeron, Evrim, and the twins). However, if you're really into deep character development, this is not the book for you.

I ordered this book from Amazon after looking for books comparable to those of Lawhead.

Initially, I was a little dismayed at the simplicity of the characters' dialogues and the constant re-reviewing of the history of Kirthanin. I also agree that the exchanges between characters seemed a bit modern given their level of civilization. As for character development, the main character was quite flawless and his progression was mostly in the form of increased self-awareness. I personally thought the love triangles were excessive intially, but, by the end, they seemed appropriate.

With that said, I could hardly put the book down (much to my wife's chagrine). The storytelling was masterful, inflected with colorful foreshadowing and ironic conversations. The background of Kirthanin is convoluted and yet symmetric enough to create a workable construct in which the main characters can interact and explain the different attitudes and behaviors of the various races/species of friends and foes. One of Joraiem's abilities was truly inspired (torrim redara)... I had hoped for more strategic use of it, but perhaps we'll see more of it in the future...

When I finished the book last night, I couldn't sleep for a couple of hours with thoughts of Joraiem, Wylla, Rulalin, Aljeron, Valzaan and others swirling in my head...it was nice to get caught up in a story again and to feel joy, grief, solace. I guess you never get too old to get lost in a good book.

I must also address one more item: the monotheistic worldview of Kirthanin. The parallels between Malek's fall (and Andunin's) and Lucifer's (and Adam's) was bordering on copyright infringement, but at least there was no snake. Though the slaying of the lamb by Andunin was also pushing it. As a Christian (and a parent), I did not feel like the author was trying to assert a unique theological perspective on an otherwise unsuspecting, naive audience, nor were there any gratuitous scenes of affection (or particularly graphic violence), and thus this book could even be read to mature children at bedtime.

Caveat emptor, there is no catharsis at the end of book one. But it is wholly worthwhile nonetheless. Slainte!

5 star book for sure. It's got enough of a back story to make you a fan, but not so much that you lose interest in reading long enumerations of historical facts. The characters are in the same way well-written.

The plot has disappointed some, but after reading the second book, Bringer of Storms, everything seems necessary and falls into place nicely. Think of this book as a prologue to other four (three are as of yet unwritten).

Very strong first book from new author. Character development is good, and gets much better in sequel. Very surprising ending. Good read overall.

Beyond the Summerland is not a bad book by any means. The basic story is interesting and has potential, and L. B. Graham's efforts to create a compelling world are well done. The world feels immersive with a distinguishable history and Graham does a good job of making the world seem persistent and fleshed out.

The book, unfortunately, bogs down with several major problems. The first and most glaring of these, at least for me, was the seeming lack of editing. There are several instances of verb confusion and agreement, structure problems, and in one spot the narrative even drops perspective from third person to first (but only for one sentance). Many sections seemed rough and unpolished as if they were simply written and not edited or proofread. I generally don't have a problem when a book has a problem or two, but the sheer amount of problems in this one really destroyed the experience for me before I had a chance to enjoy the story.

The second problem, which also may have easily been corrected had the book been properly edited, is the quirky and predictable dialouge. The characters say their lines effectively enough to make their points, but the dialouge often seems forced and simple. It gave me the feeling of a elementary school play where the kids have memorized their lines, but you are very aware that what you are hearing is not natural conversation.

The third major problem is a lack of dimension. The characters are very predictable and follow cookie cutter style paths once their roles in the story have been defined. Emotions are unrealistic with characters forming strong emotional attachments with seemingly little reason or interaction. It seemed to me that the author wanted to move the story along without a true commitment to defining why characters feel the way they do about each other. Descriptions of feelings are simple as are the descriptions of the characters motives. Many elements of the plot unfortunately suffer from the same rushed feeling without really explaining why things are happening or the rationale behind major events and decisions.

Definitely does NOT live up to the hype of being anything like Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia. I think that it could have at least grown closer to this standard given the proper time and rewriting, but in its current form it fails miserably when compared to these classics. Overall I would recommend this book if you are looking for an easy, light fantasy read. The book could definitely do with some major editing and the plot suffers from several big holes, but as a quick diversionary read it is a good book.

I fail to see how so many people could rate this book more than 3 stars. I admit I found the basic concept interesting (with the titans, etc), but it was far from being well developed. What I saw as the main problems in the book can be summed as follows.

1. Joraiem (the main character) is always blushing. This was perhaps one of the reasons why I didn't like him. Plus he can never seem to get a handle on his apparent destiny. Why does he not enjoy the thought of being what he is (I'm trying not to add spoilers)? I don't feel I ever received a satisfactory answer.
2. Valzaan (a main supporting character) is always trying to sound important and reminding us about the will of Allfather (the deity in this story) without bringing anything that sounds like doctrine. You would think that in all his time alive (if you read the book you'll understand) he would have learned something more than `everyone should get along with one another and listen to Allfather'. However he speaks of little else, meaning I could almost guess his next bit of dialog. Also he withholds information until later that really could have been mentioned from the beginning. But then the reader would not be as inspired to keep reading.
3. Toward the middle of the book something happens because the women go on a trip with the men (again trying to be as vague as possible), and the rest of the book is spent righting this wrong. Why did this happen? Because Allfather does not discriminate between male and female, so everyone should go. What does that have to do with allowing them to come and cause the situation? The reader never finds out. This is perhaps one of my chief complains. If you are writing a story and God tells one of your characters to do something, at least make the directive look smart.
4. There is an unforgivable lack of spiritual insight and content. `The Lord of the Rings' trilogy at least showed the inward struggle one has against evil, and in a very engaging fashion. What is Joraiem's chief concern for most of the book? "What girl do I pick, and will I insult anyone by doing so?" This is yet another thing I disliked about the main character. Plus all the simple moral lessons are repeated over and over until you are tempted to skip ahead to the next action scene.
5. As many people have stated, the ending is horrible. Picking a bad ending that no one wants so they won't guess how it ends is not good writing.

To conclude, this is a book that tries to be epic but stays clichéd and mostly boring. Perhaps if more thought had been given to the story it would have been different. On a final note the writing, while far from horrible, is just writing. I could tolerate a less than polished writing style if it came with a stellar story. However a mediocre story with the best writing style is always worth overlooking. If you must read it, go to the library. I will probably not read the next book in the series.

I have long been a fan of the works of CS Lewis and Tolkien, but am ussually reticent to try other fantasy titles thinking that they could never match up. But reading a review for LB's book on the Christianity Today website I decided to give it a shot.

The book is not as good as the Narnian Chronicles or Lord of the Rings, but this is no slight against LB because I dont think that any fantasy book in my lifetime will be.

A lot of fantasy books have a comic-bookish feel to them where one gets the impression that there is no significance beyond the story's events. This is not the case for LB's work. It is not merely a tale of good guys beating up the bad guys. Though his work is not allegory, there definately are Theological and moral themes behind the events that make the story applicable to our own lives.

Perhaps more importantly, this book was just plain fun to read. I especially like the character of Aljeron, a sort of warrior who has a special bond with a tiger of all things.

Overall this is a solid first book. I really recomend checking it out.