Customer Reviews

Goddess: Book Three of The Percheron Saga

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"Goddess" is the third and final book in the Percheron Saga written by Fiona McIntosh. It picks up right where "Emissary" left off: Zaradine Ana has been kidnapped by rebels in the desert who have plans for her unborn child; Lazar, the Spur and protector of his adopted city of Percheron, is suffering from the Drezden poison illness after a failed trek across the desert in an attempt to prevent war; the young Zar Boaz is facing war against his city while trying to negotiate his way through the political maneuverings of his mother, Herezah, and the Grand Master Eunich, Salmeo, each of whom are trying to use him for a different agenda. At the same time, the Goddess Lyana is rising once again to do battle with the demon Maliz who defeated her centuries ago.

Ms. McIntosh sets up a story on a grand scale in the first book of the series, "Odalisque," promising political intrigue, war between nations and even a battle among gods. Unfortunately, "Goddess" doesn't really fulfill the promises made in "Odalisque," kind of fizzling out without delivering a properly satisfying ending. The promised battle between god and demon takes place over the course of a couple of pages at the very end of "Goddess," and turns out not to be a battle at all. The promised war between nations is set up fairly early in the second book, "Emissary," but ends almost before it begins. In the end, everything the author builds up to in the first two books turns out to be disappointingly anticlimactic.

Also, much of the series is bogged down by Ms. McIntosh's heavy-handedness with plot and character. Many plot devices to move the story along and keep the reader interested feel transparent and unnatural, just a means to move the story from point A to point B. In addition, the characters take quite a long time to develop fully, and some never seem to. In the first two books, the characters have their set roles and fulfill them as expected; the heroes are heroic and the villains are villainous. And it's pretty easy to tell who's who. It isn't until "Goddess" that Herezah, the mother of Zar Boaz, starts to develop some insight and a softer side, which is a nice relief from the plotting, power-hungry, lustful woman we'd come to know and despise, and Lazar, the cranky, withdrawn leader of Percheron's army, stops alternately stomping around and acting like a love-struck teenager, finally stepping up to his role as protector of Percheron and its royal family. However, many of the other characters never develop even this depth, such as Salmeo, who remains simply treacherous throughout, and Zar Boaz, a teenager who seems to be a child prodigy at ruling countries, making insightful decisions that everyone admires and behaving exactly as a model Zar should while at the same time falling rather easily into the plots centered around him. Ironically, one of the most enjoyable characters in the series turns out to Maliz, the demon trickster who has achieved eternal life through his ability to inhabit the bodies of others. He actually seems like a fun guy to hang around with, intelligent and funny and always up to something. It's almost too bad that throughout the entire trilogy he's not intelligent enough to figure out what Lyana is actually up to; despite centuries of doing battle with her and defeating her each time, she stays one step ahead of him this cycle and his end is, once again, disappointing and anticlimactic.

Also, the entire series probably could have been a hundred pages or so shorter if the characters didn't constantly rehash everything. Halfway through "Goddess," I had long since lost count of how many conversations had been held about who is or isn't the chosen reincarnation of Lyana, as one example. While it is necessary to have some purposeful misdirection, the constant dialogues and discussions and rehashing become tedious after awhile. Plus, the relatively small cast of main characters makes it obvious to the reader who is doing what to whom even during the few occasions the reader isn't privy to all of the political maneuverings that are afoot. Which also bogs the story down while the reader, who usually has inside knowledge well in advance, waits either for the plot to unfold or for one of the characters to figure out what's going on (which in many cases seems like it should be blatantly obvious even to the characters involved). This also makes for few surprises for the reader throughout the course of the story.

That being said, the setting of the series, which is a re-imagined Constantinople, provides a refreshing backdrop for the story and a nice change from the pseudo-European settings of most fantasy novels. Ms. McIntosh does a good job of making the culture and the integral role of the Zar's harem accessible, even if one doesn't necessarily buy into the idea (or practicality) of having forty or so wives and concubines.

Also, her strength in writing really seems to lie in extreme circumstances. She seems to relish the opportunity to relate all the gory details of such punishments as floggings and castrations and does so painfully well. She has a few such brutal scenes in "Odalisque," but not so many in the other two novels. There is, however, a fun fight scene toward the end of "Goddess" where Lazar takes on twenty men in a swordfight.

Also, through her ability to misdirect the reader, she does provide a few surprises throughout, despite the reader being privy to much of the ongoing political plotting and characters' thoughts. The final guise of Lyana, for example, while it makes sense, is unforeseen before it's revealed. Which, of course, should be one of the main things that keeps the reader turning pages.

All in all the Percheron Saga is a decent fantasy trilogy, which "Goddess" does a fair, but ultimately unsatisfying, job of concluding. Readers who have enjoyed J. V. Jones should enjoy it, as her writing style feels very similar, as would those relatively new to the fantasy genre, but more seasoned fantasy readers may not get as much out of it.

I'm not going to rehash all of the plot details - for that, you can read the other reviews and the plot synopsis provided by Amazon.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series, and own (and enjoyed!) all of the books Fiona McIntosh has published. I also enjoyed reading the majority of this book. Nevertheless, I found the ending to this book to be somewhat unsatisfying. The majority of the book leads to a stunning climax and then... it all just stops. The last chapter or two seem rushed, almost as though the word count for the book had been reached and someone had to put an ending into place. There doesn't seem to be much explanation for or introduction to this ending. In other words, I finished the book and said "oh."

I highly recommend the Quickening Trilogy, though, which is comprised of "Myrren's Gift", "Blood and Memory" and "Bridge of Souls".

I did enjoy the first two books of the triogy but Goddess was by far the best book. Not only did this tie up the story but it was filled with very innovative plot twists. Fiona Mcintosh is a writer that has never disappointed me. If you have not had the pleasure of reading any of her books you are cheating yourself. Her characters really stay with you and I was very sad to see this series end. I think fans of Carol Berg would really enjoy these books.They are a little on the dark side with a plot that grabs you and does not let go.

Religious fanatic Aranfanz holds captive in his desert fortress pregnant Zaradine Ana because he believes Percheron's leader Zar Boaz is the father of the unborn. Aranfanz plans to use the heir as a pawn.

Ana wonders if her beloved Prince Lucien of Galinsea, known in Percheron as Spur Lazar, is the father. However, her biggest concern is for her child wheile she remains incarcerated by the desert warriors. Meanwhile her spouse Zar and her beloved Luicen obtain the help of shapeshifting demigod Iridor in their quest to find and free Ana at a time when their two nations turn to war and Maliz the demon in human guise as the grand vizier tries to prevent their success.

The final Percheron tale (see ODALISQUE and EMISSARY) is an interesting ending to a strong trilogy though this entry is not quite as engaging as the previous pair is as it takes too long to move into confrontational mode. The key cast remains solid characters as Zar obsesses over Ana to the point that he leaves his country at risk from the sea to mount a desert rescue of her. Although newcomers must read the previous books to comprehend what is going on in GODDESS, Fiona McIntosh closes her saga on a fine note.

Harriet Klausner

Fiona McIntosh is a major new fantasy talent. With 2 wonderful series under her belt, she can only get better!