16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Incredible World of Fiona Patton, July 5, 2000
This review is actually for all three of Fiona Patton's books, since it's hard to consider them separately, since FP does such an amazing job of blending history and story backwards in time and space.
The Stone Price lacks some of the sophistication of concepts and writing that her latter books have, although in other ways it is the best of the three, especially in terms of gay relationships (in Granite Shield there are few prominant long-term gay relationships, and in Painter Knight, one of the guys is dead, which puts a damper on things).
Granite Shield excells in setting the scene for a lot of the Triarctic/Essusiate conflict, as well explaining the hints about Gwyneth's more rebellious past in the events to come. The only problem I had with this book was that, even by FP's standards, this was an extremely dense read, and the names and titles were enough to make your head spin without careful attention to who-goes-where-and-why.
Painter Knight is, of the three, the best blend of the two most attractive aspects of the universe--the romanticism of Stone Prince, and the politics of Granite Shield--but I think it makes a poor first read in the universe; too much is assumed, and the death of a major character 20 pages in (and of a family as prone to tempermentalism and misunderstanding as the DeMarians) tends to distract the reader from the action, which requires a clear head to follow.
Finally, a word on the gender politics of the books; in this universe, bisexuality is the norm, unquestioned, and gay relationships are uncompromisingly as common as straight ones, with stigma attached to neither--very refreshing, especially when combined with the completely non-gender-bias of the universe. Many fantasy universes that preach gender equality have a "aren't we liberal, look how liberal we are" quality to them; FP doesn't even bother to justify her equality, and simply makes it a non-issue. It just *is,* and even titles such as Prince, Abbot, Knight, Duke, and so forth are non-gender specific; you're as likely to have Duke Kassandra as Prince Demnor, for example. When I finished these books, it took a minute to remember where I was, and how much our world is different from FP's, and when I did remember, I almost cried. We've got a long way to go.
All in all: five stars, each and every one, each with different strengths and weaknesses. I thoroughly enjoyed all these books, and can't wait for the next one. Strongly recommended! :)
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining, May 12, 1999
I highly recomand the book to any fantasy reader and anyone else. This book is even better than the Stone Prince with complex characters and great storyline. The events are fast paced and ever fascinating.
This book is about religious conflicts between the Essusian and the Triach which is the Living Flame housed in each of Aristok of Branion. The storyline begins at a time when of Essusian kings who, for the past 150 years, has denied the Living Flame inside them which gives them the right and power to rule Branion. The present monarch, Marsellus DeMarian is another DeMarian Aristok who has denied the Flame.
So now, Llewellynne ap Rowena, the fighting Prince and a Seer in the neighboring kingdom of Gwyneth was given a vision by the Flame which instructs her bearing the first child of the Aristok, a child who is willing vassel of the Living Flame and who can lead the Triarctic forces back to victory in Branion.
Thus, Llewllynne succeeds in her mission and gives birth to a son named Rhys, who grew up, together with his brother Llewen (Llewllynne's son with her husband) to wrestle back the power of the land.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bogged down by minutae, July 1, 2005
Having read the first two books in the series, I was terribly disappointed with this one... I can't even get myself to finish it after two weeks, and I burned through the first two in a couple of days!
A major issue for me, which other reviewers have also acknowleged, is the sheer volume of detail and data. Despite the chapter-by-chapter list of Dramatis Personae, I still found it frustrating to try and keep track of who was who. While true historical politics are certainly as convoluted and complex as events in The Granite Shield, I prefer to be able to get through a fantasy novel without having to refer to an appendix after every paragraph. In my opinion, the plot just got bogged down by too much information, making it a struggle to read.
My second issue is simply that, at the mid-point of the book, I still have not developed any affinity for these characters. Maybe it's a side effect from the info overload discussed above, but I just cannot get attached to the characters in this book, whereas I felt connected to Simon (The Painter Knight) and Demnor and Kelahnus (The Stone Prince) from the very first page .
Gripes aside, however, I remain appreciative of Patton's egalitarian society where gender and sexual orientation are complete non-issues. But for my money, The Stone Prince and The Painter Knight are much stronger works with stronger, more memorable characters.
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