Customer Reviews

A Magic of Twilight: Book One of the Nessantico Cycle

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

 

 

Let me first address some of the above reviews whose writers have apparently been deeply offended by this book. It is true that, for most people, this book is not a "leisure" book. That is, it's not one of the quarterly, mass-produced formula books that we now expect from such writers as Mercedes Lackey, Robert Jordan, et al. Most of the reviewers above appear to have gotten halfway through 'Magic of Twilight' before realizing that this book was not what they wanted. However, if any potential reader bothers to peruse the book before purchasing or reading, they will notice a foreword describing the various cultures and languages that influenced the setting, as well as an appendix with a glossary explaining all the names and places that are supposedly unpronounceable (unless, of course, you know anything about any European languages (and why do so many people seem to be bothered about the pronounceable-ness of a word that they don't actually have to say out-loud?)).

Anyhow, my point here is that if you look before you leap into a book, you're much less likely to be overwhelmed or caught off-guard. If you do find yourself in the position of the above reviewers, it's more helpful if you say "I was expecting X, but discovered Y" instead "God this sucked and it was boring and I can't be bothered with nomenclature!"
Now, on to the actual review:


Simply put, I loved this book. As has been said before, it is not a Tolkeinesque fantasy world of elves and dwarves, but instead one populated entirely by humans. What I really loved about it (and other people seemed to hate, I suppose) is that the world was well thought out and detailed. While I was reading this book, it felt like I was traveling to another country. The various European influences, in nomenclature as well as cultural affections, theology, architecture and more, are easily seen and masterfully woven to give the reader a real sense of what it means to be a part of this society.

The author facilitates this by presenting each chapter through the viewpoint of a different character. Of course, the main characters receive several chapters while more minor characters receive only one or two chapters. This mechanism does wonders for the "tourist" effect of the book, ensuring that you get a chance to compose your own viewpoint of the world from various elements of each character's view.

This technique also facilitates the twisting of the plot. It's exhilarating to turn the page to the next chapter and find that it's "told" by a character who has so far appeared to be antagonistic, inscrutable, evasive, or otherwise intriguing. Farrell also uses this to good effect by establishing the motives or allegiances of characters that would otherwise be questionable, and therefore harm the integrity of the story.

One of the things I liked best about the book was the main locale, the city of Nessantico. Reading the book, you can tell that Farrell has put a lot of effort into making the city feel like a living entity, almost in the way that Joss Whedon envisioned the spaceship Serenity as "the 10th character" on the much-mourned Firefly television series. Reviewers who complain that the main character, Ana, is boring and uninspiring are really just missing the point: Nessantico is the main character, not Ana, nor anyone else.

'Magic of Twilight' brings in enough magic and fantastical elements to fulfill my appetite for escapism, but not so much as to make the suspension of disbelief a chore. It focuses on theo-political intrigue to really engage me mentally, while including just enough of the life-or-death adventure and action to make it viscerally appealing. This whole well-balanced system is set in a world that is lovingly detailed and thought out, making it a solid, cohesive story. In this way, at least, Farrell is like Tolkien, who knew much more about his world than could be written before he even wrote about it. Nothing contradicts, and everything is believable within the setting.

'Magic of Twilight' is like the love child of a political intrigue novel and a history textbook, whose nursemaid was a fantasy adventure. I mean that in the best possible way. It combines all my favorite elements from each of these sources.

One last thing that I imagine turned off more than one reader, however, was the sense that the story was incomplete. Of course. The story of a history is never finished, and this installment leaves the reader on the cusp of a breakdown of Nessantico's long rule over the surrounding region. There is so much about the world that we don't yet know.

Luckily, there are more Nessantico books coming. I can't wait.

Back in the day, "formula fantasy" meant something quite predictable. It meant dwarves, elves, wizards, orcs, and dark lords bent on world domination. It meant magic swords and rings, heroic quests, swordfights, narrow escapes and the like. An expert fantasy reader could guess the major events in any novel with extreme precision. Chapter 3? This is when the quest will start. One third of the way in? Time for the princess to be kidnapped. Half way through? This is when the wizard will appear to be killed, only to reappear later with more powers.

That was then. Now we're seeing a new formula emerge, modeled on George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)Dwarves, elves, and orcs are out while human beings are in. Quests and sword-fights are out, while politics and intrigue are in. But while the formula is different, it remains a formula. The astute reader can see the punches coming just as easily.

S. L. Farrell's "A Magic of Twilight" may well be the prime example of the new formula fantasy. It has all the characters: the elderly monarch, the arrogant prince, the rebellious lord, the young girl caught up in palace intrigue, and the foreigner who pulls the strings for his own mysterious ends. Specific plot events come down the line at specific times. For instance, we expect the old queen to die about a third of the way through. She goes right on schedule.

I won't bother with a plot summary. There are a bunch of factions, lots of maneuvering, some fighting, blah, blah blah. The problem with this novel is that it seems organized around the goal of imitating every other fantasy novel. For instance we get lots of torture, for no apparent reason except that everyone else is writing torture. We need a scene in a classy whorehouse because everyone has that, too. Political marriages, prison breaks, the young girl getting framed for a crime, backstabbing, it's all there.

S. L. Farrell is a perfectly competent author. His prose is crisp, his dialogue is steady and realistic, and is descriptions are decent. What's lacking in this novel is any special zing. George R. R. Martin brings his books to life by making everything distinctive. Every person, every place, and every event stands out as something special. In "A Magic of Twilight", by contrast, everything just blends together. It's a struggle to remember which character is which. This problem is exacerbated by the names, which are packed with apostrophes and impossible to pronounce.

So to summarize, the problem in this book is not with the little things but with the big things. Fantasy is supposed to be fantastic, ground-breaking, invigorating. It should explore new world and new ways of life. Too many authors, however, are getting stuck in a rut, writing the same old stuff over and over again. We do not need yet another run through the standard maneuvers in a quasi-medieval world. We need authors who are willing to break the mold, but we're not going to get that here.

The book is decent. The story has a great premise and it does have its shining moments.

It also has its cons, The writer insisted in creating new titles and ranks for EVERYTHING. Once you get used to these ranks it becomes easier except that throughout the book everyones title rank and name is constantly repeated. Instead of calling the main character Ana (her first name) it is constantly written O'teni Cu'serante which can be confusing since there are multiple people with similar ranks and surnames (o'teni,e'teni,cu',ca', ce' and the list goes on). IT also makes scenes with multiple family members extremely confusing because they are all addressed with the same name. The last thing I found aggravating is that the main character is boring and uninteresting, It's obvious the writer wanted her like that since characters are constantly mentioning it.

Overall it was a decent book that I can see people becoming big fans of, unfortunately I don't see myself as one of those big fans but I do plan on reading the rest of the series when I get the chance after Its release

You know...I consider myself somewhat of a Fantasy Afficianado...and yes...in capital letters, mind you! And I cannot believe that ANYONE would take Not4Prophet's review seriously once I heard you're a fan of Terry Pratchett books. Are you above the age of 12? Because that's about how old you need to be to :"appreciate" the "genius" of Terry Pratchett...OMG!!
That being said...I'm enjoying this book in a way that I've not enjoyed books for some time. Granted, I've not finished it...so my mind may change...but I enjoy a book that's NOT what I consider typical forumlaic tripe... The young boy becomes unstoppable hero despite self-doubts and goes on to destroy the hideous Nameless Storm Witch who dwell on top of the Mountain overlooking the fair city that just so happens to be our young boy's true birthright...blah blah blah..
George R.R. Martin DID write great books...up until Feast For Crows..which I couldn't even finish because it became obvious he has NO IDEA where the hell he's going with the story...(Robert Jordan anyone??)
Besides....everyone ALWAYS says this book is crap...that book is crap...you people MUST READ George R.R. Martin...or another of my favs....Steven Erikson. However...Erikson is NOT for everyone...and what are you supposed to do once you HAVE read Martin? Start reading the Wild Card crappy books from the 80s...that he only EDITS?? Please!!
But, what really made me realize that you have no idea what you're talking about is the same thing that I've heard from EVERY SINGLE NEGATIVE review about this book. "The names are too hard to remember...too many apostrophes..blah blah blah!" Are you freakin' serious?? Are you THAT lazy that something a bit different is too much to be bothered with. You remind me of people in America 100 or more years ago that made fun of people with accents or with names that sound different than their names do (without realizing that American names sound funny as hell to the rest of the world!)...but oh wait! That's NOT 100 years or more ago...THAT'S NOW...because your prejudice is shining brightly and it's shameful and amazing that you don't even notice it for what it is....
For anyone else who doesn't have hang-ups about "funny sounding names" I heartily suggest trying this book out. I like it...and you might as well. And you can always do what I do when a book becomes a tad bit slow. Put it down for awhile...read something else...and go back to it. Since when is it written that EVERY book must be read in 3 sleepless nights or less?? The only books that happens with anymore are the poorly written, large font, one syllable word atrociously told tales like Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. You know WHY people read those so fast? Because they've already read the story 100 times before...or in Dan Brown's case...at least twice before!

Please give it a shot... It's a shame that the Product Descriptions for both this book and the next (A Magic Of Nightfall) are so limited. It's no wonder that nobody has given this book it's due. From the Product Description, you wouldn't think to read it... but it's a wonderful book!!

I picked up this book with the hope that it would be a lot like George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series which really delivers. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same about this book. I realize the author is enamored with medieval Italian history, but the names and titles that he has invented for his world are, for me, too difficult. The status of the people in the story are based on the first one or two letters in their names, and it's not easy to follow this pattern. I'm trying to read this novel, after all, I spent eight bucks on it. It's a struggle so far. I doubt I'll be buying another one. '

The writing is skillful, which I respect, so I've given the book a 3 star rating. It hasn't gripped me, though. By the same point in Martin's Game of Thrones, I was hooked and had a hard time putting the book down to sleep or go to work. I feel disappointed by this book. I'll keep reading a little at a time to see if it gets better.

Just keep on reading and you will find deep characters, twisted plots and good action. It does lack some suspense at first but that is due to the writing style which I found to be like an oral storyteller. A comfortable read for a winters night.

This is a decent fantasy book. But its strength lies in dealing with religion and supernaturalism in a modern and political manner. The author reflects real world tensions between science and dogma, belief and unbelief, with a deft touch.

I liked it, and look forward to the next one. More fantasies should be this poignant.

This book was really good. I liked all the people. I am reading the 2nd book now. And I really like that one too.

Many of the reviews here seem to fall into either the Love or Hate category with A Magic of Twilight. I found myself somewhere in the middle.
It's a strong story and an interesting, nicely imagined world peopled (mostly) by well-formed, multi-dimensional characters. The writing itself is good, both technically and artistically. And the fact that each chapter focuses on one specific character (though the book is written in the third person), was a clever idea.

I was not put off by the book's exploration of history, religion and culture, which (as noted in previous reviews), are the overarching themes of the story. There is still plenty of action, a smattering of romance, and a decent collection of characters. It has been said previously that Ana is not the main character, and that the city of Nessantico is. I don't know if I agree with that; perhaps it is a matter of opinion. It's true that Nessantico is depicted as human, both at the very beginning and at the end of the book. But a large portion of the story certainly does focus on Ana. And Ana, unfortunately, is one of the least interesting, least dynamic characters in the story.

Many of the other characters develop enormous respect, love, hatred, or suspicion for Ana, which I found difficult to believe, since she is not a particularly vivid character. It seemed strange that she would have this powerful, polarizing effect on people. She floats about, gets misused and abused by one person after another, and generally seems bewildered and hopeless about the whole thing. Her great claim to fame is unusual skill with magic, which could easily have gotten her arrested (or worse) in the very early going, but somehow ends up making her a shining star, who gets to go around telling priests, royals, and generals what to do. I'm not sure I ever understood why they listened to her, except that people seem to like using her to get at their enemies. I don't know that she is impressive enough a character even for that unenviable purpose. It's a bit like hitting someone with a stapler, when you could have used a hammer. I'd have preferred a more hammer-like main character, even if she is just a tool.

I did not find the character or place names terribly challenging, though some of them are long, and they are often used with professional, clerical and/or social titles. I do not know why the author decided to invent new words for mother ("matarh") and father ("vatarh"), when english terms were deemed okay for most things that exist both in our world and in the imagined one. This seemed unecessary, but was possible to overlook once I got used to it.

There has been disagreement in previous reviews about the ending of the book, and whether it is fair to call it unsatisfying, when it is only part of a continuing saga. With that in mind, I did find it unsatisfying, since a full, start-to-finish narrative exists in this book, whatever else may come next in the story. A Magic of Twilight ends abruptly, like a sentence without punctuation. Even if another sentence is to follow, a period is appropriate. I think a fuller conclusion to this book would have been preferable, regardless of future tales in the Nessantico Cycle.

On the whole, I found it a decent book and an entertaining read, but I can sympathize with those who thought it could have been better.

I have read all Farrell's books and this one did not disappoint but it was different, not quite as good as his other books- each main character had a chapter within a chapter which was interesting in its own way and had a few twists that kept interest going forward...the second book is out but this series does not rate hardback prices- I will wait for the paperback- look forward to it.