Customer Reviews

Fortress in the Eye of Time

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a beautiful book (and series)--intelligent, complex, with delicious characterization and writing. It has been one of my favorites since my first reading when it was released years since, but I find I must rank it down because of the dreadful presentation of the Kindle edition.

I strongly advise anyone contemplating reading it to buy the BOOK and not the Kindle version. I have seen problems in Kindle conversions before; I've had my Kindle 1 for almost a year. I have never seen anything to equal this this ghastly conversion. The typographical errors are manifest and widespread and appalling. When I reported this problem to Amazon, their response was to ask me to detail the problems for them--detailed descriptions and locations in the Kindle text. Otherwise, they wanted me to copy-edit the text. Um.... there are HUNDREDS of errors, perhaps even THOUSANDS! I have only "read" less than half the text! In places, the problems makes the text essentially nonsensical. I can easily see where a new reader would find this not only unreadable, but it would turn them off forever from the great Ms. Cherryh's books and perhaps even from buying e-versions for the Kindle, which is very sad, indeed!

Amazon and/or whoever is responsible for the conversion: you should be ashamed of yourselves for expecting people to PAY for this!

I knew, before picking up this book, that Cherryh is an amazing writer. Her first book that I ever read was "Faery In Shadow", and it absolutely completely bowled me over, and not just because I'm obsessed with Celtic history!! But this book exceeded my expectations. It's an exceptional, really lovely piece of storytelling. If I had to choose words to describe the way she writes I'd pick "beautiful", "ethereal", "compelling", "haunting", "poignant"...it's just one of those things that have the power to move you beyond words. I absolutely loved the whole thread of the story. It's amazing not least because the idea itself is surprisingly simple and tame: a classic story of good versus evil. And yet the way Cherryh develops the whole plot is really remarkable. I fell in love with Tristen very early on into the story, and have never let go of him since. The story is even more wonderful in that Cherryh does not succumb to the usual neat formula of fantasy novels which seems to INSIST that there must be a love interest. I hate it when my enjoyment of a good fantasy is spoiled by romantic involvement. In this book you only get a mere whiff of that, and it involves someone other than the main character. And even that is played out in a wonderfully pleasing, satisfactory way. The ending was a bit too neatly put, but surprisingly enough I liked it just the way it was, unlike most other books I've read. In the end, though, I have to give it less than 10 because there are other mysteries, hints and innuendoes which are not properly tied up. In a way I like it that Cherryh left them that way, but a part of me is just begging to see everything played out to the end. From the feel of things it seems like she intended this book to be a stand-alone story, yet it practically cries out for a sequel (just like "Faery In Shadow"!). On the other hand, I think I'd rather prefer it if she just left it this way, so that I can deliciously contemplate the beauty of this one story without having to worry about other issues nosing their way in. I do wonder if she plans to put out a sequel, but if she does I hope she focuses more on Cefwyn and Ninevrise this time. Tristen's story has been told, and although some would think he needs more things to happen to him, I think he should be let alone. I'd like to just dote over this book and hoard it away as One Of The Greatest Stories I Have Ever Read. Magnificent. I said it before of Agatha Christie, but now I must say it again: I now worship C.J. Cherryh.

I loved this book. To be honest, the first half of the book doesn't move very fast, but you come to appreciate how the author controls the flow of the story based on the progress of the main character. It's a very interesting technique that takes a little patience to enjoy.

The story centers around a young man called back from a distant past and who's soul has already lived a life. His challenges in adjusting to life with no real past are very well written and yet his native intelligence and personality begin to grow quickly.

The characters that surround the protagonist are fairly well written and far from perfect themselves. For me the frailties of people are often neglected in most fiction unless it is overly depicted in the bad guy. In this case the author is very effective when describing the different supporting cast and creating reasons for them to be who they are.

The story follows the political manuevering of a Prince and various factions who either want him dead or simply out of the way. The culmination of the story when the Main Character begins to experience the depth of who is will be is very exciting.

On a final note, I think that the author does a good job of describing conditions that people live in without wasting too much time on trivia. It makes for a more believable read when life is a little rustic, even for the nobility.

Read this book!! The next three in the series are a worthwhile reward.

Last Week, in anticipation of the new book in this series, "Fortress of Ice", I re-read, "Fortress In The Eye Of Time" and rediscovered what a joy it is to read. The book I had just finished the week before was the newest Goodkind book "Phantom", and while the whole time reading that story I wanted to go faster to get through all the wasted rehash of words to get to the 100 or so pages worth my time, it just underscored how great C.J. Cherry is as a writer.
When I read a C J Cherryh story, I never want to hurry I just want to enjoy the story as it unfolds, and what a story Fortress is!

Fortress is a wonderful story in the style of High Fantasy, with the feel of truth, like a history that never was, if you enjoy stories of honor, politics, and Magic, and want to start a series that leaves you feeling you want the story to never end rather than please tie this up.... This is a story for you!

I read a few of the other reviews before deciding to write my own. I am currently re-reading the series for the second time and find that I am blown away again by the quality of writing, the attention to details, the character development, the dialogue: Cherryh's craft is writing.

Sure, I love her sci-fi, it's great fun, Downbelow Station, Cyteen, the Faded Sun trilogy, Paladin, and the Morgaine series being my favorites: but being a history buff and a high-fantasy addict, I have to say I've never read better. A lot of people criticized the book's first 200 pages for being slow paced, i.e. the development of Tristen and Mauryl: someone mocked him for running around calling for owl and the pigeons and I can't believe it! Cherryh painstakingly devloped a character rivalled only by Shelly's Frankenstein in otherworldly innocence and boundless, exciting potential.

From the moment I began to read of this old wizard, Mauryl's shaping and his apparent disappointment in the seemingly failed "shaping", I was interested. I wondered why Mauryl was disappointed, what he had created Tristen for, why they were so isolated, what dark spirits/shadows they warded against that eventually defeated Mauryl and set Tristen no more informed than the reader into a new and strange world. That Cherryh could craft such a story in itself: an old powerful recluse wizard whose magic is based in star charts and mason's boundaries and weather and scrolls and words, a creature called presumably to take over the sorcerous fight against the shadowlord, and the apparent resultant failure an innocent, naive, non-magical babe in a young man's body is enough. All hope is gone. Tristen can't read Mauryl's magic book, can't be what Mauryl wants and all-too-soon is alone to figure things out for himself--whose passtimes have been chopping wood, cooking meals and feeding mice and pigeons.

Then bring Tristen to the castle of a dissolute Prince (called from the dead of night during a romp with noble twin ladies, no less) who is touched by Tristen's innocence (we later wonder with the Prince if it is of his own volition or simply Tristen's nature...)and a whole world of court intrigue, battle, chess-like politics, magic, religious orders and superstition, and endless details from the court ladies stitching circles to the training of local peasants in warfare. It doesn't get any better!

Characters like Idrys, Cefwyn's High Commander/"black crow" who are terse, sarcastic, wily and dangerous, Emuin "master grayfrock" a somewhat questionable wizard turned clergy who avoids Tristen as much as possible, yet is drawn irresistably, Uwen, the simple peasant soldier assigned to Tristen who teaches him of things like seasons and everyday rituals and reminds him when he is just plain freaking everyone out, and Efanor, Cefwyn's religious younger brother who was favored very much by their father and who is apalled by Cefwyn's friendship with the "shaping" Tristen...I could go on, even the stable master and cook are good characters and new ones keep getting introduced as you get to know others.

The layers of this book are amazing, in the magic, politics, historical detail, character development and conflict: Prince Cefwyn loves Tristen, but he could be the prophetic "Sihhe King", a threat to his own kingdom, he isn't a wizard but simply IS magic and seems to be a long-dead warrior with fearsome qualities, mercy not being one of them. There is sarcasm, subtlety, and humor woven into scenes that are of calm, simple everyday things and of murder, warfare, and frantic mobs.

I have read fantasy for twenty years, voraciously, and this book is well written on top of being well crafted and simply superb. I can appreciate that everyone has different tastes, but I certainly believe this is one of the best fantasy books/series ever written.

Normally, I breeze through books at a whipped up pace. I can get through King and Goodkind in (max) a weekend. But this book took me almost a MONTH to read. Not because it was bad, but because I read literally every single word. No trite, hack writing here! Every sentence seemed artfully and specifically crafted. The imagery spawned by the writing was remarkable. I lived in the world every time I opened the book, and got sucked into the story in the first two pages. It truly was like no other book I've ever read. Not necessarily better or worse. Simply different. I'd have rated it higher, but for the ending, which seemed too short, convenient, and contrived for the suspense and anticipation leading up to it. For anyone who favors fantasy, I'd recommend this book as an enjoyable diversion from the pile of clones out there.

For the first time since her Morgaine series C J Cherryh has managed to create something which goes beyond the good, though at times over stretched intermediary works such as Rusalka - Chernovog - Yvgenie, Ealdwood, Farey in Shadow, and The Goblin Mirror. In this book she has combined elements from them all, bringi9ng her fantasy work in line with the qualities that mark her Sci-Fi stories: the ongoing Foreigner series especially, which would warrant the rather OTT statement on the back cover of this being her `high fantasy triumph'.

Parts of the narrative don't work as well as they could, some sequences requiring a little more stretch in them in order to add more credibility - the part where Tristan is so keenly welcomed into the Royal fold so soon after getting to town standing out the most, with a few others rushed in comparison to the length of the build up. There is also rather too much dashing about the countryside to add an element of overt action.

Even so, Ms Cherryh - like Carlsberg is to lager - is probably the best writer in this genre; her combination of literary technique, and attention to detail within context outstanding in its appeal to those who want to read something more involving than is usual.

And look out for the others in this set: Fortress of Eagles, Fortress of Owls, etc.

The main character of this book, Tristan, is a wealth of wonder, amazement, and trust. With conflict swirling all around him, the peace in his exploring this new world sets this book apart from the rest of the writer's books. In past books, the writer's characters may be simple minded or new in the situation they find themselves and/or may be protected and mostly the main character takes care of this person but in this book, you see simple innocence at its best in the main character and the writer makes the reader care about Tristan. You don't want him to change into the possible bad person that he may be. You want to see him grow up (even through he already is an adult in his body) with the same attitude. Tristan's relationships with the other characters make the book into more than an action book or a science fiction book.

For the book itself, the writer actually accomplishes something unlike some of her other books that are just fighting to maintain a status quo. Having read all but three of her books, I really enjoy reading her writing just that I get an empty feeling at the end sometimes. The characters in this book are fully formed so that each has his/her distinctions.

The book also provides a background for the future sequals. Have read the first two sequals and planning to read all further ones, the first book provides the basics that are necessary to make the others successful.

A hero innocent yet full-grown, magically conjured up by a dying mage to combat a growing evil in the world: this plot could have been so dreadfully corny! But somehow, it isn't, because of the quality of Cherryh's writing. The childlike Tristen's education in the world is handled so beautifully that it is both believable and moving. I read this several months ago: all too often with fantasy novels I've forgotten the characters or the plot by then. Not with this one, though. In contrast to one of the other reviewers, I certainly don't think Tristen's story is over yet by any means, and I look forward to reading the sequel.

Fortress in the Eye of Time is a good book and reading it is time well spent. What makes the book work for me is that it is a great story, accented by a superbly detailed world. However, when I say detailed, don't think that this means the book describes every blade of grass for the imagination handicapped, rather its detail lies in things like intricate political intruge and authentic seeming (I have no basis to say for sure) horsemanship. While the conclusion is abrupt, it seems to fit in with the rest of the book so I can't complain. But I still want more, which leaves me with mixed emotions. I know this book is successful bacause it tells a great story, but it also finishes the story and there a very few loose ends to create anything more than a contrived plot for more books. So I can only cross my fingers and hope for the best.