Customer Reviews

The House of Gaian (Tir Alainn Trilogy)

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

 

 

When a new book comes out in a series I have particularly enjoyed I await it with feelings of both joyful anticipation and dread. Why dread? In the past I have found far to often that it is difficult for sequels to match the excellence of initial volumes and this has a tendency to taint the entire series for me. Unfortunately in the case of THE HOUSE OF GAIAN this dread was well founded.

Not that HOG is a particularly bad book, it is in fact a genuinely average piece of fiction given the profession standards of today, but it pales in comparison to the first two volumes in this series, PILLARS OF THE WORLD and SHADOWS AND LIGHT. Touted as the final volume in the Tir Alainn trilogy you would expect it to bind all the treads of the first two books into one grand finale of the story. Close but not quite. It does indeed end the saga of the Blackcoats in a final battle that unites the Fae, Barons and witches but the story line is so disjointed as to make it difficult to follow. If fact there are as many unanswered questions at the end as there were at the beginning. In stead of coming to a tightly woven conclusion it seams to unravel like a pair of frayed jeans.

Problems it has in spades. Numerous new characters are introduced adding story line threads that seem to just petter out leaving you wondering just what was their purpose. They add nothing to the original story line, which didn't need help by the way, and made the reading disjointed, jumpy and a little difficult to follow.

Character development, one of the strong points of the first two volumes, is sadly lacking. Not that this is necessarily bad in a final volume but with the numbers of new characters introduces too many become mere hollow shells with little apparent purpose. Also a good number of you old favorite characters seem to fade away or are brought in for cameos again with little or no relevance to the overall plot.

If you enjoyed the romance infused throughout the first tow, forget it, there is almost none here. There is a little bit between Breanne and Falco and a weak attempt to associate Liam with one of the new characters but in all it falls fairly flat. Romance was one of the strong points of the first two volumes but here the rambling, disjointed nature of the storyline precludes actually developing any real connections between the characters

Let's leave it at this, HOG is good, but nowhere near the same quality as the first two volumes. Maybe it was written too fast, maybe she just ran out of ideas. Whatever, fans of PILLARS OF THE WORLD and SHADOWS AND LIGHT will want to read it, but be prepared for disappointment.

I RECOMMEND it, with reservations.

I think Bishop got a little carried away by the end of this series. Adolfo did not have enough motivation for the horrible things he did, the witches were way too powerful and way to perfect and all of the most intriguing characters died. Well, that's not entirley true. Murtagh,the Lord of the Selkies lived, but he barely appeared.

In the second book I was impressed by the power of the witches, and the obstinancy of the Fae annoyed me, but by House of Gaian, I was so sick of those supremely perfect witches that I wanted to kill them myself. The whole premise of the story was that witches are all-powerful, the fae should be humbled and anyone who opposes the witches is wrong and ignorant. And yet these incredibly powerful women did nothing to spread their knowledge or to help thier fellows in the previous books. I got tired of the constant lectures on witch power and fae ignorance. If the witches refused to tell their story how can they blame others for not knowing it? That bothered me a great deal.

I can't say I was pleased, either, that Bishop turned Lucian into such a horrible villian. In my mind he was one of the most intriging characters in the first book. He had a great deal of potential to develop, but Bishop took the easy way out and he remained exactly as he was. A great pity in my mind.

I fell in love with the characters of Breanna and Liam in the second book- they are quite perfect but utterly charming none the less, and I enjoyed their presence in this book. I cannot say the same for Selena however. She was too all-powerful and holier than thou. It was rather alienating. Also, I was a little curious as to why Ashk was so powerful. As far as I could tell, all she could do was turn into a Shadow Hound and shoot a bow well. So why exactly did Aiden keep getting chills whenever she said something ominous?

Compared to the previous books, House of Gaian is considerably darker, but it didn't bother me too much. It gets a little gory near the end, and some of the character die, but it only alleivates the sense of loss that one gets when reading about the witch-hunts and the battle. Overall I think the book rounded off the series quite well, and though it had its flaws, I enjoyed it a great deal. I shall certainly continue reading Ann Bishop's books.

This book starts right where "Shadow and Light" ends.
The Hunter is making ready to leave the west to gather an army that can fight against the Master Inquisitor. She has the power to force the fae into the fight, but there is a new Lady of the Moon, who might use her power to oppose this. And what about the Daughters and Sons of the Mother, will they leand their aid to the course ? Because the Master Inquisitor has found a new way to twist the magic he steals.
The story includes all the characters we already know (and love) and introduces a few new important ones. The pace of the story is stunning, and it can at times be hard to follow because it jumps between people and places. So it thakes some concentration.
But I like the story and you get the answers you have been waiting for: The story about the beginning of the fae and the witches.

Although I haven't yet read the first book Pillars of the World, I have read The House of Gaian and Shadows & Light ... the last book in the trilogy is wonderful. Anne Bishop is able to explain the relationship between the Fae and the witches, and give us more about their history. The book is filled with little comics, some romance, and the preparation of war. The reader is compelled to keep reading, its really hard to put down. Absolutely wonderful, I would definately recommend this triology to others!

I looked forward to this final book in this series and I was not disappointed.
There were a number of things I really liked: The origins of the Fae are explained. The arrogance of certain Fae is paid back in spades. The witches emerge as a powerful force. The wiccanfae are explained and a very interesting wiccanfae character is introduced.
This book is darker, no doubt. There is some touches of romance and the comic touches come from new characters, for example the funniest comments (in my opinion) in the entire book are spoken by an exasperated Selkie lord.
I was greatly disappointed with the loss of one character whom I liked very much, but a rebirth for that character is foreshadowed. I also did not care for the amount of loss and physical pain endured by some of my old favorites, but this book is about a war and it was not entirely unexpected.
The previous books built up to this book, and while I can see why others were displeased, I found it to be a fitting end to the series. There are loose ends, but there is hope.
I enjoyed it and have gone back and re-read all 3 books.

Once again Anne Bishop is proving that she is one of the top authors of fantasy fiction. She concludes the "Tir Alainn" trilogy with a super exciting almost imposible to put down final chapter. She is able to create wonderful caracters that the reader is forced to care about. Her plots are fast moving and she is able to mix a sence of comedy and romance within a scary almost dark adventure. In the end she ties up all loose ends leaving the reader satisfied but wishing for more of the characters they now feel are friends. Only the best authors can create such feelings after three books covering more that 1000 pages. I can't wait to see what Anne has in store for us in her third series.
My HIGHEST recomendation

I've read both the Black Jewels Trilogy and now the Tir Ailain trilogy. I will say that the Black Jewels is my favorite of the two but this trilogy has its highlights as well. This concluding installment tries valiantly to tie up the loose ends that were produced in the preceding 2 volumes and almost succeeds. This book has such a frantic pace in the last half that before you know it the war has come and gone and you really haven't realized it ever started. Bishop appears to have let the story grow in the telling and got too many storylines going to be able to adequately (in her fashion) bring them all to a justifiable conclusion within the confines of a 3 novel arc. This is still a highly entertaining read and will keep your interest especially when you reach the last half of each novel.
Enjoy. Definitely worth checking out.

This is a really good trilogy. This last book concludes it very well and really was an enjoyable read, despite the melancholy ending. I've really enjoyed re-reading these and I'm sad that I don't have any other books by Anne Bishop to read!

Bishop keeps going! This turned out to be a very fun and well written series, It isn't earth shaking in complexity or originality but .. damn its good!

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I loved this book. I think Anne Bishop is a wonderful writer who really captures you and pulls you into her stories. This whole trilogy was just as great as the Black Jewels trilogy, which i also strongly recommend. If you want a great book, which really holds your attention, and makes you addicted to its wonderful story line, this trilogy, The Black Jewels Trilogy, and any Anne Bishop book will do it for you!