Customer Reviews

Children of Amarid (The Lon Tobyn Chronicle, Book 1)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read this book and I own all three books in the whole series. This book was very good and sets the stage for a very intriguing story. There are many twists and turns with loveable and hateable characters. There is a uniqueness that any RPGer would love and I currently have several handles from this book.

Truth to tell, I don't remember how long it's been since I've read such a good debut novel. This great yarn appears to have been written by a seasoned author.

Fantasy awards generally don't mean anything, as far as I'm concerned. I'll soon be writing a post on this subject. . . But Coe has won the William L. Crawford Award, for best first fantasy series. And based on this first volume, it was more than deserved.

I have no wish to include some spoilers in this post, for I do not want to deprive anyone of the pleasure of reading this wonderful book.:-) Suffice to say that you should all buy it!;-) Having said that, however, there is still a lot I can tell you about.

To begin with, the characterizations are excellent. Coe has created a number of three-dimensional characters. Some endearing and engaging, others less so; but all of them "real."

This series is also much more mature in its writing style. Which makes this a book destined for adults. I'm not saying that a younger crowd will not enjoy it. Far from it. But if you're someone who's eagerly awaiting R. A. Salvatore's next book, with all those choregraphed battle scenes and little substance, then this is probably not for you. . . No offense to Mr. Salvatore, but this story is not for the same sort of fantasy fans.

Plus, Coe's worldbuilding is distinctive and more than a little impressive for someone's first novel. The imagery is arresting, showing that the author has a good eye for details. The magic system offers a new twist, with mages bound to animals and the use of crystals. The myths and legends of the land, of which we only get a little glimpse in this novel, make you want to discover more.

The pace of the book keeps you turning the pages, even if it's far from being a thriller. In addition, Coe's prose is well beyond what we have come to expect from most fantasy novels. Children of Amarid is elegantly written, making it a wonderful read.

The author also tackles a traditional fantasy theme: Sorcery vs Technology. We only see a little of this in the novel, but a lot more appears to be in store in the next installment.

All in all, a very, very good book. It leaves you wanting to read more about Jaryd, Alayna, Baden, Trahn, Orris, and the rest of the characters. It leaves you wanting to learn more about Theron, Phelan, and the rest of the Unsettled. It leaves you wanting to learn more about Sartol. In short, it leaves you with a strong desire to return to the land of Tobyn-Ser. And to discover what lies to the west, in the technological world of Lon-Ser.

The only negative thing I can mention about this book concerns what little we learn about Sartol and how he came into power. But I have a feeling that it is something that will be addressed in the next 2 volumes of the series.

I commend this one to your attention. Novels with so much promise are few and far between.

In light of all this praise, I believe that Children of Amarid is a great addition to any fantasy collection.

Check out my blog: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

I like to consider myself a fantasy connoisseur, having read everything from Tolkien to Jacques, LeGuin to Weis. I enjoy the genre very much. When I received this book as a gift, I must confess I expected it to be another ho-hum piece of trash, like such which have become so popular these days. I was totally unprepared for the riveting universe this book brought me in to. The setting, the characters, the mood - all are lovingly coaxed into one's mind by a masterful artisan of words, and I personally could not put the book down from the first page to the last. Congratulations on this wonderful work, Mr. Coe, and thank you for sharing a little bit of yourself with all of us.

The first thing you notice when reading "Children of Amarid", by David B. Coe, is that this guy can actually write. He has talent for describing beautiful landscapes and writing exciting action scenes that actually make sense. Throughout the book, you feel that the environment is real, and you understand the effects that is has on the moods and actions of the characters. One problem that plagues a lot of current fantasy is that the authors feel that they need to imitate language from earlier eras, so they throw in a lot of distracting, archaic words and phrases. Coe writes in a modern, straightforward manner. He also gives his characters names that are original, but still easy to pronounce.

The problem with this book is its unoriginal plot and characters. It deals with a band of powerful mages, known as the Children of Amarid, whose are supposed to use their power to protect the people of Tobyn-Ser. Unfortunately, one of the strongest mages decides to betray the order and use his abilities to take over the land. (Don't you just hate it when that happens?) Luckily, we have a young hero named Jaryd who sets out on a quest to protect Tobyn-Ser. He's accompanied by a wise old mentor, needless to say. And there's a young female mage whose job is to fall in love with the hero. And there are many other boring characters and predictable plot events, but nothing that doesn't give you the feeling that you've read it or seen it many times before. The only original touch in this novel is that each mage is required to form a mental link with a hakw or owl, which then helps them in battle. Unfortunately, the birds are barely mentioned during the second half of the novel, so Coe doesn't really explore the possibilities presented by this concept.

I'm not saying that "Children of Amarid" is a bad novel. It's an easy and entertaining read, and you shouldn't be intimidated by the 600-page length. It's a perfectly good way to waste a couple of lazy summer afternoons. It just isn't a memorable work of fantasy.

David Coe's Children of Amarid is not inept.

His premise is fascinating - a technology poor society defended by magic is under assault from a high tech society with no magic. Unfortunately, Coe is far too long winded. This book is huge - it needed nothing more than a good editing to tighten it up and construct the plot more carefully. Coe could lose 200 pages and the reader would not miss them.

The characters aren't that interesting.

The characters talk endlessly and say very little. You can safely skip 2 and 3 pages at a time and not lose track of the plot.

The heroes are flat-footed and dull. Their dialogue is slow-moving and unenlightening. The love affair feels forced. They simply aren't compelling. The ghosts in the story end up being props not characters. The main character's trial in a haunted grove fell flat. This crap was supposed to drive him nuts? I don't think so. The heroes didn't even save themselves. It was a minor character who was promptly and conveniently killed off. In real life, that may be what happens, but in novels it's okay if the heroes do it themselves. It was hard to care about the heroes.

To offset this problem, Coe needed a good villain. And he almost had a villain whose motives and personality were enough to carry the story. But, the villain was too glib, too sleazy and too splenetic. He ended feeling like a stock character.

Coe is a historian and his solid grounding in history shows through this book. It props up the book's weaknesses. We get a strong sense for the society in this book and even the glimpses of the high tech society we get are enlightening. Except for a few cheap lines about the high tech society fouling its air and water, the history and societal relations are sharp and interesting.

The book took too long to reach a climax and then it ends far to quickly. The events were too fast, too furious and over too suddenly. A bit of judicious rewriting and editing and Coe would have had time - and space - for a decent denouement.

Coe's control of the technical side of writing - putting sentences and paragraphs and chapters together is strong. It's the contents of the form I have problems with. It's in content his weaknesses are revealed: character-development and plot pacing. That's the core of the problem. Technical mastery simply can't compensate for this book's uneven pace and poorly constructed characters. Readers have to care about the characters and their problems. I gave Children of Amarid 3 stars because I enjoyed reading it - it was escapist and diversionary - but not enough to buy the sequel. And that's a problem when the author is planning a trilogy.

Coe has outdone himself in this wonderful work of fiction. It has all the ingredients of a great fantasy novel: Good characters, stunning description, and enough plot twists to keep you up late into the night. Watch Coe for more must-reads in the future!

The virtues of this book are in it's system of magic, while the strongest criticisms can be leveled at plot and character development.

The magic is relatively cogent. Mr. Coe has done a good job identifying the place of magic in his society, the limits of divination, and the means by which magic is manifested. He becomes a little more vague in addressing the _source_ of magic. On the one hand, he seems to state in explicit terms that it always comes from within the mage, and certainly it appears to be in the blood. But then he goes on to make references to the Children of Amarid "drawing upon" their familiars. Which is it? That there must be a binding of bird to mage to work magic is obvious, but the exact function the bird serves in supplying the mage his power is never revealed. This leaves the familiars as little more than cardboard cutouts on the mages' shoulders, feathered batteries without any definition or character to speak about (until they meet some unpleasant end).

In fact, Mr. Coe seems to have a great deal of trouble building relationships of _any_ kind in this interesting tale. He proposes that mages are "closer to their familiars" than to any other living being. Yet the hawks and owls have little in the way of personalities, show no real affection, idiosyncrasies, indeed, any indication at all that they are more than the winged automatons of the techno-horrific Outlanders. They hunt when the mage tells them to do so, fight when commanded, scout or hunt, all at the beck of their human master. What do they receive in return? For a close binding, this sure has the feel of a one-sided, parasitic relationship. The most character we ever see from a familiar in this story is that Badan's owl likes to be scratched on her chin!

The _human_ relationships fair little better, especially the supposed young lovers. After a few awkward moments and adolescent spats, one flight into danger causes them to realize they are "falling in love." That seems a bit abrupt for two people who just met a matter of days previously and who avoided each other for most of the supposed quest.

Mr. Coe has presented us with a believable system of magic and an intriguing yarn, but overall, he seems to have little patience for the slow building process that goes into relationships. Instead, he appears to put the characters out there, proclaims they are now emotionally close (or in love), and then presumes to present them that way without any of the communication and mutual exploration in between. To the reader, this just comes across as abrupt, as though the characters went from "hello, my name is so-and-so" to "yes, I'll take this person in sickness and in health" with the turn of a page.

The villian had something of a "Snidely Whiplash" quality to him, an almost too conveniently evil demeanor, especially given how easily he covered his inner passions and duped everyone significant to him (especially Alayna, which is another relationship that is talked about in great length but never demonstrated in the present moment). However, in all fairness to Mr. Coe, I really liked Sartol because he scared me. I found him believable in spite of his limits, and figuratively let out a genuine Homer Simpson "doh!" when he intruded upon the workings of the living even after he himself wasn't.

Despite its shortcomings, this book has enough suspension of disbelief and magic to keep me interested. I recommend it to any fantasy fan interested in wizards, and I fully intend to finish out the series.

I read this a long time ago. I remember that I found this book to be pretty well written, but rather simplistic and predictable. I am not going to read the sequel. Hopefully, his other work is better.

I love this book, simply because I find it to be a very intresting story and I love birds of prey. I think everyone with a love of fantasy and birds should read this. I might also be a little partial to this book because I met the auther and he seemed really nice, beside, give him a break people! This is his FIRST book. I believe it is really good.

A well written book crafted around the ideas of magecraft and familairs; there's a little bit of technology involved as well - not too much tho, just enough to add to the intrigue. The ending of Book I seemed a little abrupt, but I am still looking forward to the next book of David Coe's trilogy "The LonTobyn Chronicle." -Calvin