Customer Reviews

Enemy Glory

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you love sinking your teeth into the artistic potential of the English language then you'll be in your glory reading Enemy Glory. Michalson doesn't waste a single word; each was carefully chosen for significance and impact either on the level of imagery or intellectual depth. This is a story about a young man who loves words and their magic. It's also a story about how academia destroys the creative imaginations of its students as "it" takes control of their minds, emotions, and lives. The character development from the psychological angle is thoughtful and substantive. The thematic irony reeks of real life experiences. And Llewelyn's passive aggressive rebellion is a thing of eccentric delight. Enemy Glory may be dark but it certainly isn't bleak. If you're in the mood for MORE than action adventure entertainment take a chance on Michalson's work. If not, well, we all know where to find the junk food.

As a longtime fantasy reader who has admittedly gotten somewhat bored with the genre, I loved this book. Why? Well, one reason is that it doesn't read like a typical "stuffed full of magic dragons and heroes on quests" story. This book is a lot deeper than that. Another reason is that this is a fantasy author with a clue. Someone who has a purpose beyond just telling a predictable story. The story is entertaining (even though it moves a little slow here and there) and the narrator is incredibly real. He's evil, sure, but he is definitely not a cliché. He is very complex, and he makes you really understand why he chose his path. You really can get into his head and identify with his choice. You also see a lot of the tension between his original goodness and love of beauty, and his choice of an evil career. He is definitely one of the most memorable characters I've seen in a long time. Go Llewelyn! I'm eagerly awaiting the next book.

I love this book! Sometimes I want to go to bed with Llewelyn (so I'm strange, I'll admit it), and sometimes I just want to kick him. Michalson's reluctantly evil protagonist is so believable because she takes us through his childhood and early adulthood and shows logically and believably how a sensitive, over-intellectual wizard comes to choose a dark path and find himself at war with everyone and everything. I especially liked the monastery scenes because they remind me so much of the politics and intrigue at my own university. Llewelyn's education in the monastery is a lot like mine and a lot of other people's that I know of, and I think that anybody that has ever been disillusioned by higher education will totally identify with these scenes, which are among the best in the book. But this is definitely not one of those overdone satires of academic life. This is pure, unadulterated high epic fantasy with tons of insight into what's wrong with education, government, capitalism, socialism and everything else. It is an entertaining read if you like fantasies that are more than just adventures, that make you think about issues. I put this book down - not quite done yet - and kept thinking so much here is like the real world that I'm sure I know real-life counterparts to these characters. I wisj more fantasy writers would take on the Big Ideas, like many science fiction writers do.

Publishers Weekly described Enemy Glory as "a sort of Harry Potter on downers". It comes endorsed by heavyweights such as Samuel R. Delaney and is promoted as "a new fantasy saga in the dramatic tradition of George R. R. Martin's A GAME OF THRONES". However, given the plotline, I'd describe it as "Modesitt on downers", rather than making any comparison to George R. R. Martin in any way!

ENEMY GLORY has taken me at least a month to read - it's one of those books which, when you take it up, you soon find yourself putting it down again, and picking up the local paper or the TV listings magazine. Either that, or you're forever flicking forward to see if it looks like it'll improve.

I'm surprised at myself that I finished it. Avoid.

This is one weird book. I have to say I really liked it once I got into it, and that I will definitely buy the next one, but it is still one weird book. It's so weird I'm posting my comments about it, and I never post comments. I don't know if it is for everyone. There is much more here than you would expect to find in a fantasy novel, which might throw some people off. There is an intellectual component to this novel that you don't often find in genre fiction, yet it still reads like good genre fiction. I liked the writing and the hero (anti-hero?), and give it four, maybe five stars. As to content it is a bit alarming to the sensitive. There are several violent scenes that made my skin crawl, but they were all tastefully done and made statements about the implications of many of the ideas in this novel. It starts off with the narrator, who is dying, agreeing to tell his life story to his enemy, who used to be his friend. I thought it was fairly brave to put the hero at the point of death in the first chapter, and I had my doubts, but it totally worked for me in that I found myself instantly attracted to and caring about this dying evil protagonist. Llewelyn is not just a "charming villain" type - far from it - but he is so convincing, and the inner hurt and betrayal that drives him to evil so believable, that you end up liking and rooting for him. At other times you want to take his enemy's part and kill him yourself. That is what is so weird about this book, having a hero that you find yourself alternating between really liking and really getting annoyed with, and yet always wanting to keep reading. It ends on a real cliffhanger. I wish the next book was available now.

Llewelyn muses in his epic story, ENEMY GLORY by Karen Michalson, that "Beauty is not truth. Beauty is when you stumble across truth accidentally outside itself" (322). Michalson certainly has outdone herself in portraying more than truth and beauty in Llewelyn's saga. Set in a country of great diversity and conflict, ENEMY GLORY tells the story of an evil cleric and his political and personal enterprises. The characters surrounding Llewelyn are three-dimensional, interesting folk who all have a stake in the outcome of the civil war. Llewelyn's personal adventures lead the reader through both the joys and ills of learning in a magical land. The language Michalson employs is exquisite, placing the first of several novels in the catagory of literary fiction as well as fantasy. This remarkable mixture of truth and beauty offers not only a great escape story but an interesting drama with elements like scholarship, friendship, and betrayal that relate to our daily lives.

I found this book delightful and intriguing. The characters were vivid and the action swept me away. Try it while listening to Point of Ares' "Enemy Glory" CD and you'll be there in person!

After reading many science-fiction/fantasy novels, I am a tough-to-please (yet avid) reader of this genre. Eventually, it became difficult for me to find a science fantasy novel that really captivated my imagination, not to mention my literary sensibilities. I am very pleased to say that ENEMY GLORY by Karen Michalson does both! The story is intriguing, and the composition is fluid. I was completely enthralled with the adventures of Llewelyn, a cleric of darkness and evil. Yet, somehow, his world seems to be incredibly full of shadows and beautiful light all at once. Perhaps, it is Karen's words that illuminate this darkness.

I read this book yaers ago when it came out in hardcover. I thought it had the coolest cover so I took a chance. Never again will I judge a book by it's cover. One of the worst reads ever. Stay away.

Karen Michalson's writing shows the understanding and beauty which can be found in the counter-currents of the universe, the importance of them and demonstrates their necessity in life. She does not shy away from the dark and 'evil' qualities present in Nature, but rather teaches one to embrace and learn from them. If one has the intellectual intuition to follow her points and insights, this book will not fail to entertain and enlighten in all aspects. It is to date the only modern fantasy fiction on the market with such sweeping depth and insight.

A flawless read.