Kirith Kirin [Paperback]

Jim Grimsley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2000

Kirith Kirin is like no other fantasy that you have ever read. Jim Grimsley has created a fantasy that could have come right from our world where power and greed can tempt, and sometimes conquer, even the most rightist person and where knowing who your friends and enemies are can be very difficult if not impossible. Yet it is not our world. For in Kirith Kirin's world magic is real, immortals walk the land, and people are sometimes the playthings for the dark arts. The Blue Queen, upon resuming the throne while King Kirith Kirin's eternality is renewed in the Arthen forest, has partnered with a magician of the dark arts. No longer does she need to leave the throne to renew her eternal nature. Swayed by promises of the dark magician, she has claimed the throne forever and is extending her influence to the far corners of the world. Malleable grey clouds, sidewinding wind, and intelligent lightning bolts made the trip across the vast Girdle nearly impossible. Out of nowhere, the Blue Queen's Patrols made haste to kill the boy and the warrior before they could safely reach the deep forest of Arthen. Riding upon two magnificent stallions, one a royal Prince out of Queen Mnemarra, Jessex and his uncle Sivisal reached Arthen despite a deadly storm that reeked of magic. Thus begins Jessex's new life as he enters Arthen and moves into the royal court of Kirith Kirin.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In a land ravaged by the rule of the usurper known as the Blue Queen, a young boy fulfills his destiny by entering the service of Kirith Kirin, who seeks to reclaim his rightful throne. Jessex grows strong in his magical studies and fighting skills, finding both companionship and love in the company of the man he serves and discovering his crucial role in the battle against the evil that overshadows his land. Mainstream novelist and playwright Grimsley (My Drowning) crafts an elegant tale of love, war, and magic in the epic fantasy tradition. Most libraries should consider.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"For a first time fantasist, Grimsley has shown a remarkable understanding of what makes the genre powerful." -- Rob Gates, NY Blade

"Grimsley crafts an elegant tale of love, war, and magic in the epic fantasy tradition. Most libraries should consider." -- Library Journal, May 2000

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc.; 1 edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892065169
• ISBN-13: 978-1892065162
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange departure, April 15, 2001

By 

Ivy (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kirith Kirin (Paperback)

I must say I approached this one with both curiousity and trepidation; I've read most of Jim Grimsley's novels - Winter Birds, Comfort and Joy, Dream Boy - and found them well-written, engrossing, unusual, even masterful. But Kirith Kirin is a huge departure for Grimsley, who has crossed a line most authors won't: from 'literary' fiction to genre fiction, in this case fantasy. I wondered, starting the book, if he'd pull it off. Verdict? He stumbles in places, and Kirith Kirin is not up to the level of his other novels, but there's some good stuff in there. In short - it reads like a lot of the better first novels do, and as long as you can read it without dwelling on either its flaws or the fact that it *isn't* a first novel, it's quite enjoyable.

But let's go back to those flaws for a second. First on that list for me was the main romantic relationship in the book, between Jessex, the farmboy-turned-magician-turned-savior-of-the-world, and Kirith Kirin, the virtually immortal king. Jessex is *15* for most of the book. For me, the disparity in ages - thousands of years old v. 15 - was too great. Sure, Jessex was willing, but the relationship seemed to me to be coming too close to pederasty. And the rationalizations offered by Jessex, as the narrator, weren't really enough to make me comfortable. (I also found myself wondering why Kirith Kirin, who has lived for millenia, couldn't find the wisdom and self-control to keep his hands off Jessex long enough for him to start shaving.)

Another problem with the book is the length. It's 500 dense, closely printed, oversized pages. Now, I've read some great books of that length, books that needed and deserved to be that long, but Kirith Kirin isn't one of them. It begs for some judicious editing. In places, the excess verbiage drags the pace of the book down considerably - in particular, it seemed to me there were areas where Grimsley could've omitted his detailed descriptions - with things like travel itineraries, for example, and the many ordinary days the characters spend on horseback.

However, the book has some great strengths, too. Despite a rather standard-issue plot (one that shows Grimsley's familiarity with fantasy literature, I might add), there is some true inventiveness in Kirith Kirin. In particular, the magic system and magic use stood out as an order of magnitude above what most fantasy books have to offer; for once in my life, I read an entire book in the genre without hearing any echoes of the Dungeons & Dragons magic system.

Also, Grimsley displays his usual command of the language despite the padding effect. Even the excess prose is a pleasure to read, especially in a genre like fantasy, where the writing isn't always of a high order. He also takes the opportunity to do some additional explorations of his usual themes - isolation, for example - and images.

Overall, there's a lot more of Grimsley in this book than I had feared, and a lot less of the derivative stuff that fills a lot of fantasy novels. Although it did seem to me that the author hadn't quite settled into the genre, the book is very readable, and I expect that if Grimsley continues with the fantasy experiment, we should be seeing marvelous stuff in a book or two. So, in the final analysis: if you can give the author a bit of slack, you'll find a book that lives up to the genre, and in places goes beyond it.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A memorable read, August 13, 2000

By 

Gauri Desai (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kirith Kirin (Paperback)

When I first picked up this book, I expected it to be light, brainless reading. Certainly, the blurb on the back cover gives no insight as to the depth and emotion of the story. More than a conflict of immortal royals and their wizards, it is the story of a rise to power and a loss of innocence, the devastation of war and the end of an era.

The book is written in a first person narrative which allows the reader to experience the emotions of the main character as he develops his magical powers and discovers love in the form of his king, Kirith Kirin. Jessex's magical training is described in minute detail which caused the book to drag at times. On the other hand, the description of the circles of magic also led to an appreciation of the scope of Grimsley's imagination and attention to detail.

The love affair between Jessex and Kirith Kirin was poignant and touching. Although at first glance, their romance appears to border on pedophilia, it is clear to see that Jessex had reached adulthood not only by Aeryn's conventions but in maturity as well. Grimsley manages to describe their growing affection with dignity and without resorting to the type of melodrama prevalent in many other fantasy books.

Lastly there is the war itself and the conflict between Jessex and his enemy Wizard. The battles are described almost as an understatement. This only serves to make the destruction and the horror Jessex feels about this destruction more immediate.

I could go on forever writing praises of this book! But I think the best way to truly appreciate this book is to read it yourself and immerse yourself into the characters. With Grimsley's powerful writing, Jessex and his friends come to life and it is not so difficult to imagine world such as the one they live in. Grimsley is a master storyteller with an amazing sense of imagination. I hope that he will write more fantasy books in the future of this caliber.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written and superbly executed, if a bit overlong, June 24, 2000

By 

Nathan G. Tipton - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kirith Kirin (Paperback)

I want to start by saying that I've read just about everything Jim Grimsley has thus far written, so when I learned he was writing a strictly "genrefied" fantasy book, I was a bit curious (not to say skeptical). Like Grimsley (in his authorial comments above), I grew up reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy but more or less abandoned it for more "classic" (read: literary) fiction. This isn't to say I am denigrating genre fiction, as Jim has proved to me (via Kirith Kirin) that you can go home again.

Kirith Kirin is vintage Grimsley with a twist, and I hear echoes of his other works coursing through this novel. It's ostensibly the coming-of-age story of Jessex, a 14-year-old farmboy who is prophetically called to become the saviour of the mystical world of Aeryn Along the way, Jessex discovers he is especially adept at magic, of which he is taught by three ancient "sisters" known as the Diamysaar. He also discovers that he loves, and is loved in return by, the soon to be prophetically-decreed king, the eponymous Kirith Kirin. Typical of the genre, there are inevitable conflicts involving battling magicians, armies of quasi-humans (called Verm) engaging the forces of Kirith Kirin, and the like. Through it all, Grimsley's prose shines beautifully. There is as much imagistic influence from Dream Boy and Comfort and Joy (particularly the emphasis in Kirith Kirin on singing) as there is from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Samuel Delaney.

Having said this, there are of course caveats. Kirith Kirin is quite long (472 pages, plus glossaries and appendices) and sometimes tedious. The echt pedophiliac relationship between Jessex and Kirith Kirin (of which David Tedhams, in his June 2000 Lambda Book Report review, voiced concern) is utterly superfluous. Ironically Grimsley, perhaps showing his own Southern propriety, even apologizes (through Jessex) for "too much information" after their first erotic encounter.

This isn't Grimsley's first foray into sci-fi/fantasy (his short story in Nicola Griffith's anthology Bending the Landscape and his play Math and Aftermath are the most obvious predecessors) but it certainly is his longest and, perhaps, most ambitious. I'm a great fan of Jim's writing and would eagerly recommend any of his books, including Kirith Kirin. I would also be interested to see if he continues in this genre. Well done, Jim!