Customer Reviews

Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As another reviewer has noted this is a very difficulty series to read...lots of loss and death and very little hope for the victory of the hero. However, if you slog through the depressing interludes there is a fairly interesting love story. Seen as a whole, the series details the path of this star-crossed romance (for it is very much a Romeo and Juliet make-over) as well as the struggle our heroine endures as she seeks the will of her god.

In this struggle between good and evil (and believe me, the author presents the extremes of both) there is little doubt in the reader's mind who the victorious party should be. The heroine is the embodiment of good trying to triumph over darkness, and her god is all that is loving and generous. The antithesis of the light, the "darkheart", is nothing but suffering, torture, blood sacrifice, and slavery. Yet after 4 books of presenting this dichotomy Ms Sagara wraps it all up in some cosmic "two-sides of the same coin" jargon. In the end she brings the light and dark gods together to form a gray-god and the reader is supposed to be satisfied. All the suffering and all the death of the faithful, good people is suddenly made right by this divine fusion.... I don't think so! The new god that the end of the book reveals is equal parts good and evil...where is the triumph in that? He is nothing more than a glorified, middling man.... and that is nothing but a disappointment. It might have worked if Ms Sagara had not spent 4 long books extolling the virtues of the Light and condemning the wickedness of the Dark. But as it is, the reader can only feel cheated and thwarted.

Lastly, the author tries to make up for this appalling lack of closure by uniting the doomed lovers. She strips them of all the hindrances to their love (in essence, their loyalty to and power from the Light and the Dark), and as common humans they can have the love formally denied them. As an ending it lacks conviction...what people who had experienced the MORE of divine patronage and power that these two had would be content with a lesser existence? I am not convinced that any love would be balm enough to make it right.

In fairness, I liked the books up until the very end. But I get the feeling that Ms Sagara had come as far as she could without beating the horse to death, and she reached an impasse. It is my opinion that there was no logical or graceful way for her to wrap her story up and she chose the easiest route possible. Otherwise there is no explanation for the lengthy efforts she went to to convince us of the indelible goodness of the light and the absolute perfidy of the dark, if she intended all along to unite them into one grey, disappointing god.

Imagine God "sundered" in two, one side dark, one side light. Man is caught in the middle. That is the basis of the Sundered series, and in the first three books you are invited to watch as the "good" side loses the war with only a small contingency of good remaining. The only tiny ray of hope left is that the chief villain, Stefanos, has a spark of love for Erin (Sara), the only remaining warrior of the light. Both are chained to their separate sides of the conflict, neither can give in to their feelings without destroying their followers, betraying their "God" and losing the war. This is their final battle, and the outcome is not easy.

Be warned, this is a difficult series to read. Very dark, very emotional, a good vs evil epic saga where the good guys rarely win. Evil is always stronger, simply because they have no rules. Virtue being its own reward will generally get you killed. Ironically, a clear winner will be a loss for both, pure evil can't sustain itself without an enemy, without the darkness, light becomes superfluous.

This is not a standalone book, the preceding three books need to be read to understand the depth of the conclusion. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, horrific torture scenes, mild sex, and you may have to put the books down several times or risk serious depression.

Absolutely PERFECT! The entire series is awesome. For those who complain about the ending, they're crazy. The ending is perfectly romantic and fitting. I initially bought the first book figuring if I'd like it I'd buy all the others...well, after finishing it the first thing I did was order the other ones. They did not disappoint. Wonderful wonderful books that I will reread many times in the future.

I truly enjoyed all of the books, one of the best ones I have read in a while. I loved the writing style, the characters were very well described and there was always enough action to keep going forward. The dark aspects of the story and Erin/Stefanos relationship was excellent and so i was hooked.
All of this was almost completely killed by the ending. Four books filled with war, torture, slavery and death can not possibly justify this conclusion!!!?. So Erin and Stefanos walk away togeheter into the gray beyond? And all of the divine powers are gone, and they are totally fine with it because they are now together? Author's suggestsion that "maybe there was not a happily-ever-after, but there was enough happiness for a while" did not work for me, because in the world that was so vividly described in all four books, they would probably last for about a day as humans, not even. So as far as I am concerned, the ending was way more depressing than anything. Even if the Dark prevailed,it would have worked better for me!!!

This is one of my favorite series' of all time. Stefanos is a wonderful character- tall, dark, handsome and truly evil but reformed through the power of love. Some of the other revewiers did not like the ending, but I thought it was perfect. I am a sucker for a HEA type ending. I thought it was very clever of the author to wrap things up so neatly in the way she did. For me this was a satisfying ending to one of the most romantic fantasy books ever! Please read this series- you will not regret it.

Michelle Sagara brings her series of four books on the Sundered Lands to a close with an unexpected ending. The complex relationship between the Lord of Empire and the Sarillorn of Elliath brings the conflict between the forces of Light and of Darkness to conclusion. The characters are rich and entrancing. The world and cultures Sagara creates sparks the imagination. The whole series of four books make for four wonderful weekends of fantasy reading!

I really been disappointed in several fantasy novels lately. In fact, so disappointed I considered only getting books from the library. I just could not find that right mix of story and romance. I found the first novel in discussion. I am thrilled that I took a chance on it. I love the ending; thankful for the payoff. The love scenes are not graphic and just hinted. The story well developed over a series of novels.

I started reading this series in 1992 when I found the second book in a shop in Vancouver. Annoyingly I could never find any of the others, despite searching extensively, so I was very glad to complete my series with these reprinted editions.

The story of the series is a novel twist on an age old love story. Much like a fantasy world Romeo and Juliet, this story follows a lady from the light and the lord of the dark whom she loves, and who loves her. It is a powerful story.

However, this was also a series that went on too long. It would probably have worked better as a trilogy, and consequently I found the story slow - particularly in the last two books.

It was not terrible though. It was still readable, and the ending wrapped things up in a satisfactory manner. It may have pondered a little, but as a story it got there in the end.

All in all this was an enjoyable read, but my feelings about the series would have been enhanced had I never read the missing books!

I loved the series, loved the last book...it is VERY dark and at points during the books i wanted to scream with rage...which to me makes it a great series if it can draw that kind of reaction from someone. The last brings the closure needed and overall I am looking forward to rereading this series in the future.

I have read all 4 books in this series...i found them captivating and well written...they all kept my interest to the end....i hope the author is planning more in this series or other such books....