Customer Reviews

Krispos Rising

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Tale of Krispos series, is actually a two book set about young Krispos, followed by a stand-alone third book about a mature Krispos and his kids. The Tale of (young) Krispos begins with "Krispos Rising", and continues seamlessly with "Krispos of Videssos". This is a classic rags to riches story, perfectly done, with the added adventure of a sword and sorcery tale. Krispos is born into the humblest of beginnings, then his life gets even worse. Just when you think things might be turning around for him, things get even worse than that. Finally he is left with nothing, and sets out to seek his own fortune in the world. You get to enjoy Krispos' rise from the very depths of the low, to the utmost pinnacle of his world, every step of the way. It is thoroughly enjoyable, not only because Krispos so richly deserves his reward, but also because his world of Videssos is a better place with him at the top.

The spellbinding detail of the world of Videssos was painstakingly developed in the author's first series, The Videssos Cycle, beginning with "The Misplaced Legion". This is a story about elements of one of Caesar's legions travelling into Rome's future of the Byzantine Empire. Only it's not the real Byzantine Empire, it's a parallel universe where magic works. Aside from that, it's Byzantium written by a Byzantine historian. In his first series, Harry Turtledove is contrasting the vigor of an expanding Roman Empire under Caesar with the decadence of the Byzantine Empire in decline. In his Tale of Krispos series, he is contrasting the industrious work ethic of the rural peasants with the jaded debauchery of the Empire's noble elite. With 1000 years of Byzantine history at his command, the author is able to richly describe detailed colorful characters, places, and events in this series, the same way he did in the first. They all ring true, because they are based (sometimes loosely) upon real historical fact. The realism of Videssos is unsurpassed.

The Tale of (young) Krispos is a must read for anyone who likes to read a gripping tale about a young man's struggle to reach the top. It is also a must read for anyone who is fascinated by the inner workings of ancient empires, particularly the Byzantine and Roman. Finally, it is a must read for anyone who likes sword and sorcery stories, because there is an evil wizard to defeat, and a barbarian invasion to turn back.

To quote W.E.H. Lecky (History of European Morals, 1869) in regard to the Byzantine Empire - "The history of the empire is a monotonous story of the intrigues of priests, eunuchs and women, of poisonings, of conspiracies, of uniform ingratitude, of perpetual fratricides." The present novel creates an alternate world empire, with the story based on an altered version of the rise of Basil I (in this story Krispos) and the Byzantine Emperor Michael III (in this story Anthimos), with some amount of magic added in.

The novel gives a fairly accurate depiction of a Byzantine type empire where various people scheme to obtain power, barbarians raid the borders, and nobels live high on the hog while peasants often starve. The novel follows Krispos' rise to power from his early beginnings as a peasant child carried into captivity by barbarian raiders. Along the way he must survive crippling taxation, epidemics, barbarian raids, homosexual overtures, and attempted assassinations.

The novel has significant sexual content (including orgy style banquets), homosexual relationships, and some violence. Based on content, I would give it a PG-13 rating.

This book is, in my opinion, one of Turtledove's best. One of his problems is that many of the characters in his varied series are essentially the same; this does not happen here. The story too is relatively fresh. While it is a basic rags-to-riches plot, the execution is relatively flawless and the details are wonderful. The plot itself is loosely modeled on the rise of Byzantine Emperor Basil I (book two is largely based on Basil II) but the interaction of magic and other various details makes this book unique. It's a well written and exciting read. Moreover, minor details tie it in to the other two Videssos located series, the "Videssos Cycle" and the "Time of Troubles" cycle. Well worth reading, I give it full marks.

This was the first book by Turtledove that I read, and it's still my favorite. The story follows the life of the remarkable character "Krispos", from childhood to young adulthood. His great adventures are chronicalled with marvelous detail. Never have I read a book with a more detailed fantasy world than this. I was enthralled from the first page!

The Tale of Krispos, based on the real life adventures of Basil the Macedonian, Eastern Roman Emperor(867-886 AD) is truly excellent and well written fantasy. The author keeps us gripping the book and you will have to buy the sequel to this when you read it! Good character development. Excellent plot.

I do commend the author on lending a lot of realism to his novel. Obviously an expert on Byzantine culture, all of the customs,concerns, and situations of the people and nations are very much believable and more fleshed out than most pure fiction. On the other hand, however, as far as fantasy fiction goes, where is the fantasy? The scenes are so grounded that you hardly get the feeling that Videssos is any more exciting a world than the one you currently inhabit. Sure, there is "magic", but it is presented in a very dry way, and there is more to creating a magical world than that. But I guess that is the author's preference.

Much of the novel is about the intrigues and politics of the Videssian Empire, and though I enjoyed that, it came off a bit dumbed down most of the time. All the supposed cleverness and power plays seemed to me to be ordinary common sense, yet Turtledove makes it sound you would have to be a master tactician to survive in this arena. Like when Krispos' life is in danger from Patronas, he seeks help from Gnatios (who is Patronas cousin and close ally, as had been noted MANY times already). I was dumbfounded- "what is he, high?" Only half way through the conversation did he finally realize his error. Who on earth, when his life is in mortal peril, makes the mindnumbing mistake of asking guidance from your opponent's friend and relative? It doesn't speak of intrigue, it speaks of Krispos not being very bright. Or when Anthimos shows the "maturity" to suggest that Patronas be guarded on the way to the temple, lest he try to escape after Anthimos had JUST THEN disposed of him... well, of course he needs to be guarded. A simpleton could figure out that one.

Even so, the care the author has taken to create a very realistic, balanced, Byzantine-like world makes it enough for you to be quite interested about how everything will play out, even if you feel like giving some advice to the characters in the book every now and then.

This is the series that got me into reading fantasy novels. The characters are dimensional and believable and the story flows beautifully. Don't buy this unless you have the other two to complete the set or you'll be beating yourself over the head while you wait to read those. If you've read the Videssos Cycle this takes place a couple hundred years before. All the places and the races are described beautifully and comprehensivly. After all the years since i first read this, this is still my favorite book.