Customer Reviews

Medalon: Book One of the Hythrun Chronicles

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's not often that a new writer explodes on the scene with book after wonderful book that just takes your breath away. Of course, it helps when the author in question has been writing for a few years in another country and her books are just now coming to North American shores. Such is the case of Jennifer Fallon, who's Second Sons trilogy has just been published in its entirety in North America. Also, the first book of the Hythrun Chronicles has also been published, Medalon. Unfortunately for me, Tor has decided that they don't want to saturate the market and will thus be publishing them once a year. It will be a while before we're caught up. I loved the Second Sons trilogy so much that I had to read Medalon, which is actually the first book that she had written. How does it measure up? Not quite as good as the Second Sons trilogy, but much better than other first novels.

The Sisterhood of the Blade rules Medalon ruthlessly, stamping out any hint of heathen beliefs. With the First Sister having just been assassinated, Joyhinia thinks that she's going to be named head of the church. When that doesn't happen, she works a scheme to make it happen. Her daughter R'Shiel and her son Tarja get caught up in it, and find themselves on the run. They fall in with a rebellion against the Sisterhood, and end up even deeper into a massive change that will befall the world. Brak, a Harshini outcast, brings news that the Harshini, long thought dead, may be coming back. And worse, R'Shiel may be the Demon Child that has been foretold. War may be coming to the world, religious or political, with R'shiel and Tarja caught in the middle.

Fallon has created yet another fascinating world, with the various politics and religions thought out and explained. There's Medalon with the Sisterhood, the Hythrun who believe in all of the gods, and Karien, where the War God is the only God, and worshipers of all others must fall to the sword. The Harshini, long thought wiped out, commune with the gods and even have some power (at least of persuasion) over them. The world these people live on seems so real and the events of the novel follow logically.

Fallon does wonderful work with the characters as well, with almost all of them being perfectly three-dimensional. R'Shiel and Tarja are especially good protagonists, with R'Shiel understandably having trouble accepting her parentage, especially considering her upbringing as the daughter of an ambitious Sister. Tarja has been exiled and is brought back at R'Shiel's insistence (though Joyhinia fought it every step of the way). He's a great military leader and an extremely intelligent man. I did find that R'Shiel's attitude during Tarja and her's initial flight from the capital to be a little bit grating and shrill. She seemed just a little too haughty, but she did mellow a bit as the story went on. Jenga, the captain of the Defenders, is also quite well done, considering he doesn't have a major role (at least not in the first book). Joyhinia has him under her thumb because she knows the truth about Jenga's brother and is quite willing to reveal it if Jenga moves against her.

The gods are great characters, too. The goddess of love (I won't name them because some of them travel in disguise and thus naming them would be spoilers) adds complications as she casts a spell on R'Shiel and Tarja that can only make matters worse. The god of thieves is mischievous but can help matters if Brak manipulates him well enough. All of the gods have just a little touch of dimension that makes them stand out, and they are never boring.

Sadly, the only character who doesn't quite work is Joyhinia. Being the main villain of the piece, that's a let-down, but she is just this side of two-dimensional. She's the typical power-hungry woman who won't let anything stand in her way. She's ruthless, willing to torch a whole village to keep a secret safe. She rants and she raves and she really isn't that interesting. If Jenga and his other Defenders weren't so beholden to their honour and their oaths, it would be a wonder that they would obey her at all, as she is quite clearly out for her own power at the expense of the Sisterhood and its Defenders.

Whether it's the lack of a credible villain or perhaps the quality of writing, Medalon didn't grip me like the Second Sons trilogy did. Perhaps that's the fault of the book being Fallon's first, but I didn't have the incredible urge to finish that I did with the other series. Don't get me wrong, the prose is very good and I found the situation interesting. I just didn't think it was as interesting as it could be. The prose isn't quite as polished. Still, for a first book it is quite good and shows flashes of brilliance at times and definitely indicates Fallon's potential. I wonder if perhaps my thoughts on Medalon have been influenced a little by reading her subsequent work first?

Whatever way it is, I can thoroughly recommend Medalon, and I can't wait for the next book to come out.

David Roy

The pace of this novel is agreeably brisk, which I imagine is what most people are responding favorably to. It does move along. But the writing is incredibly pedestrian and most of the plot "twists" are telegraphed far in advance. The city in which most of the characters live is called "the Citadel." Medalon's defense force is called "the Defenders." Grudge matches are held in an arena called "the Arena." In the very first sentence, the residents of the Citadel gather to witness a funeral pyre imaginatively called "the Burning." The big god of one of the other nations is "the Overlord."

Speaking of names and telegraphed plot twists, do you suppose that the only Citadel dweller whose name contains an apostrophe might not be from the Citadel (even though her adoptive mother, had she had any brains, would have changed her name to conceal her origin)? Do you suppose this character might be the "demon child" referred to early on in the story? Well, duh.

Place and other names are often English words with suffixes tacked on to make them seem exotic (Medalon, Harshini) or weird spellings of perfectly ordinary names (Davydd, Wilem). Have mercy! A courtesan is a "court'esa," a word supposedly adopted from a foreign (to the Medalonians) language that "just happens" to look like the English word "courtesan" with a letter chopped off and a gratuitous apostrophe inserted. Some of the names are too similar (e.g. Tarja and Trayla -- fortunately the latter is dead as the novel begins and isn't mentioned much after the first 50 pages; there were also two other characters whose names both begin with "M" that I couldn't keep straight). The characters themselves are right out of fantasy central casting and don't really have distinct personalities, except for the main villain, who is a caricature of evil and not a real person.

I also found a few instances where the author used a completely wrong word -- for example, one character objects to something "on principal." At another point a grisly task is referred to as "grizzly." This is a clear sign that the author simply didn't know which words are the right ones and couldn't be bothered to look it up. Worse, there were probably a lot more of these in the original manuscript, judging by the number that managed to slip through editing. On one of the section dividers "Grimfield" (another "imaginative" name for a, well, pretty grim prison town) is misspelled as "Grimfiled." This book had at least one Australian edition and a US hardcover edition before the paperback I read, so there is really no excuse for these errors to have persisted.

The spellings do seem to have been successfully Americanized, except for one place where a character jarringly refers to a "gaol break." Readers who are not familiar with British Commonwealth spellings may not know that "gaol" means "jail" (and is pronounced the same) -- this is one word that the author didn't make up!

There are some imaginative ideas in this novel. For example, I liked the idea of magic being derived by harnessing the power of the gods, and of entire nations being in denial of the existence of the gods and persecuting those who did believe. Medalon certainly has some gruesome skeletons in its national closet. Of course, nobody in that country really seems to be ashamed of having committed genocide. One nation believes in a different god than the rest and that god really seems to hate the other ones, and vice versa, which will no doubt figure into future volumes in this series. There even two different kinds of gods, those which exist regardless of belief and those who require believers. This is an interesting backdrop against which a fascinating story could have been written -- but unfortunately "Medalon" is not that story.

I also liked the bit about dragons not being real animals but being agglomerations of shape-shifting demons, subject to coming apart in mid-flight if too far from their home. (Although a word other than "demons" might have been used -- they aren't evil, as readers might expect, and they have no real relationship to the "demon child." I suspect that here, as elsewhere, the author simply used the first word to spring to mind and nobody made her change it to something stronger.)

I don't mean to harp on Fallon. She shows some promise as a writer. But this book's publication was premature -- it should have been returned to the author with a rejection slip, and probably was more than once until it encountered an editor who realized it could be a bestseller despite its many flaws. Still, the fact that a lot of people will obviously buy an unremarkable fantasy like "Medalon" is arguably no excuse for actually foisting it on them.

I'm mystified that this book has received, on average, four stars -- have the other reviewers never read any other fantasy, or are they simply unable to distinguish good writing from merely adequate? People are describing this work as "epic" almost as if they think it actually is! Really, there's much better fantasy to be had out there, and some of it really is grand enough in scope to be referred to as "epic." If you give this book four or five stars, what is left for books that are much, much better than this one?

Having grown rather tired of the entire fantasy genre and it's archetypical formula I found this first book in a series rather refreshing. You get a great spectrum of perspectives on the multiple sides in the building conflict as opposed to the "good guys" and the "bad guys". Strong characters, great pace, political, religious and racial tensions in good balance help get you past otherwise awkward parts.

What prevented a five star rating is that Fallon does at times slip into formula rather than stay true to her characters. At certain points she dumbs down her characters to get through to a certain plot point. On such example is one of the main characters going through the "but I don't want the responsibility of these powers, I just want things to be normal again." which is completely incongruous with an otherwise strong, perceptive and driven character.

One also wonders how the supporting character Brak can be so incompetent. His capacity to lose his charge and completely miss the obvious time and time again is rather amazing for someone with his supposed lineage and history.

The last criticism is that the USA cover is HORRIBLE. It makes the book look like any other generic, yawn inspiring fantasy epic. If I hadn't been in London and seen the UK cover I would never even have picked up the book.

Overall a great book and I was able to overlook the weaker spots, hoping that the rest of the series grows stronger as it matures.

Medalon is a place ruled by a group called the sisterhood and the Defenders are the warriors sworn to protect and defend the Sisters from heathen corruption. The sisterhood and their followers believe that those that worship multiple gods are heathens and would love to get rid of all heathen taint.

The Harshini, a race that is believed to be extinct, are beings whom pocess powerful magic; the heathens are the only ones that seem to only believe in the existence of the Harshini, whilst to most they are a myth. There is a legend that says that the last Harshini king had sired a child with a human, the child has become known as the demon child, who was created to annihilate a god named Xaphista, the Incidental God.

R'shiel is the daughter of the First Sister of the Blade (the leader of the sisterhood), Joyhinia. She has become a disappoint to her mother because she shows no remote interest of becoming a Sister or following her orders. R'shiel's half-brother, Tarja is a captain for the Defender cause and a more greater disappointment to their mother. Joyhinia is the type of person that one will love to despise, she only attained the position of the First Sister by upsurping another, Mahina, who was more qualified.

While on duty guarding the northern border, Tarja finds out that his so-called little sister isn't who she was led to be, heritage-wise. Joyhinia has decieved many. Tarja confronts Joyhinia in front of many others and ends up having to flee for his life, along with R'shiel, whom he already disclosed Joyhinia's horrible deceit to. Tarja and R'shiel get caught up in a rebellion against the Sisterhood.

Those of you that enjoy Greek Mythology will enjoy the devine interventions from the heathen Gods in this series. My favorite God so far in this series is Dace, a boy god of thievery; he is just so darned amusing!

In the last couple of pages there is a character glossary. There's a lot of characters for one to memorize, so the glossary is quite helpful.

Is a wonderful read for all fantasy lovers. Fallon is now one of my favorite authors. Her sense of humour in this book is quite amusing, even during serious moments. I can't hardly wait to get hold of her 2nd book.

Check out Fallon's official site --> www.jenniferfallon.com

"Medalon" the first book in the demon child trilogy is a relatively simple fantasy that just appears complicated because of the many gods and political fractions involved. However most fantasy books are like this, as is the real world, so if you can remember what country the main people are from and what religion that different countries follow you'll be fine-if not, well there's a glossary in the back of the book.

The country of Medalon decided a couple hundred years ago to be an atheist nation run by women known as sisters of the blade who are businesswomen and politicians. To bring about this perfect nation they killed off most of the pagan people who worshiped Gods (a little linguistic lesson from a real pagan-the word Pagan means "from the fields" and is essentially a nice way of saying hick) and these semi immortal fairy people the Harshini. The Harshini then went into hiding and are in the present of this book presumed dead. There are a couple other countries, two of which are pagan and hold with the gods (who are real by the way) and one which is monotheistic and ruled by a God who apparently needs to be killed-or so the other gods think. But they won't do it and the Harshini can't kill so there is a prophecy that a demon child will be born who will be half Harshini and who will kill a God.

Meanwhile in the present day in Medalon, in the citadel of the sisters of the Blade political power changes are taking place. One sister is scheming to be in charge and her children, Tarja, and his half sister R'shiel rebel and run away, find out they're not really related at all (can you see where this is going?-yeah, somehow the author manages to make it not creepy because they're not brother and sister at all and he's ten years older so they didn't grow up together...it's actually kind of sweet) and organizing the pagans into a rebellion. Meanwhile one half Harshini is searching the world for the demon child alternately helped and annoyed by the gods (who are hilarious.)

This is a pretty decent book and I really enjoyed it, except for one really annoying thing. Tarja and R'shiel are constantly having to rescue each other. I mean CONSTANTLY! Like one of them would rescue the other and then it would fail and they'd be a in a worse situation and they have to start all over. It's like that for the entire book. It gets old. I mean there is some interesting stuff in the rescues and while waiting for them and in between them there's some romance and good mythology and political maneuvering and funny scenes with the Gods, but it doesn't really break even.

In the end, three point five stars. I'll definitely read the next one though, which will hopefully have less running and chasing!

I received a free copy of this book at a science fiction convention. It is a fairly standard story about an orphan discovering her origins and maturing into her role on the world stage. As such the main character isn't terribly interesting, in fact, on several occasions I wanted to punt her into next week. The supporting cast is more interesting and the side plots intrigued me enough to read the second book. On the whole, I would say if I happened across this book in an airport gift shop, I would buy it.

The UK paperback jacket of Jennifer Fallon's opener in the Demon Child trilogy (Hythrun Trilogy in the US) caught me off guard slightly as it has a distinctive science fiction approach to its artwork. Having never come across Fallon, I was pleasantly surprised to find a fantasy novel that looks to combine the best of Jordan and Modesitt.
The story concerns Tarja Tenragan, a dashing, battle hardened and somewhat cynical Defender of the Medalon realm whom we first encounter punching out an overly arrogant captain called Loclon, and R'Shiel, his half-sister, a Probate the the Sisterhood - a firmly secular group who rule this central state, surrounded on all sides by god-fearing heathens, if you believe the propaganda. The irony that this state atheism is actually incorrect as we meet the Primal and Incidental Gods fairly early on in this adventure - the God of Thieves and Goddess of Love featuring heavily during an episode at the prisoner town of Grimwild. Tarja and R'Shiel come to realise that they are not, in fact related and that R'Shiel is the Demon Child, fated to kill the God Xaphista or die trying. At a human level their adversary is the resplendant wicked stepmother, Joyhinia, whose ruthless cunning secures her the leadership of the Medalon sisterhood after ousting Mahina and with complete disregard for her childrens' wellbeing gets them captured during a growing insurgency and carted off to Grimwild. At a deified level she is being hunted by the God Xaphista and his horde of fanatical Kairen Priests.
What follows is a race through Medalon as they first escape, prove to their rebel friends that Tarja did not betray them and R'Shiel gets captured by a Kairen priest and Lord Pieter, the Kairen Envoy. One explosive moment later on the boat we finally get to hear the truth behind her heritage as demon-created dragons enter the fray and we learn that the once-thought extinct Harshini are in fact alive and that R'Shiel is the daughter of Lorandranek te Ortyn, the dead brother to King Korandellen.
With it comes the explanation that the demon child has unlimited access to magic (normal Harshini can only access small amounts - more with a God's help) but her human blood means she can use it to destroy. All in all a potent weapon.
Fallon's opener in the trilogy is explosively impressive combining powerful plot, plausible characterisation and effortless writing style to create a novel that is as thrilling to read as any Eddings or Feist. There has been a dearth of quality new fantasy writers over recent years and Fallon's advent has come at exactly the right time. Any fan of this genre must read this.

Debut novel by Australia's latest export, Jennifer Fallon, Medalon is an intriguing mix of political intrigue, action and more plot "twists" than you can imagine a 400 page novel can contain. The story feels epic on the outside, simply because so much is happening that you figure the book has to be 1,000 pages. Similar authors (i.e. Robert Jordan) would take at least double as long as Fallon did to create this novel. The question is, though, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I must get what I feel is a weak point of this novel out in the open. You can take what follows worth a grain of salt, though, because I seem to be the only one here who feels this way. I just don't think the characters are very well developed. Before people react strongly and say my review wasn't helpful, let me clarify. You have the two protagonists, R'shiel and Targ. R'shiel is filled with rage, Targ with selfless altruism. Then you have the villain of the novels, their mother Joyhinia who is basically all-evil, scheming and plotting her way to the top without any regard for those who stand in her way. She's the evil queen bitch, to put it loosely. This is what I mean about the character's not being well developed. For as fun as they are, we don't really see much of their legacy or backstory; nor do we really get the feeling of a complex character (the character's in the Wheel of Time sometimes hit this mark as do some characters in Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's series). Nor do we see *much* change in the characters; R'shiel gets bitterer, Targ gets more altruistic and Joyhinia, well its hard for her character to get more scheming. Add tho this mix the handsome Loclon who gets marred by Targ and becomes the scheming jerk who must make lives more difficult. He actually becomes almost a caricature.

The relative shortness of Medalon and the fullness of the plot doesn't leave room for much character development. However, what Fallon lacks in that department, she more than makes up for in terms of plot. Medalon has a complex backstory involving warring factions and countries living so close together. It is a world that is rich in history and there is an uneasy tension between the countries that will take only a match (read Joyhinia) to burst into flames. What I really enjoyed about this novel was the political intrigue that never got bothered down. Unlike some novels with political intrigue, Medalon never gets bogged down in all the details. The intrigue is fun, never floundering. And it keeps the pace of the novel brisk.

As far as the plot goes, every time I had the direction figured out, it took a nice 90 degree turn into a different direction. I enjoyed that immensely as it made what could have been a standard fantasy story into something more intriguing. That said, I was a little tired about how many times the protagonists rush blindly into situations or get caught. I think there's a good 3-6 captures in the novel. Another downfall of the relative shortness of the novel is that so much happens so quickly. I was trying to relate what was happening to a coworker and she quickly asked me "HOW long is this novel?" because so much happened so quickly.

In the end, Medalon was a fun, intriguing, exciting and quick read. I don't think the first novel has a lot of hidden material that I will keep going back to it over and over again to read, but it was enjoyable. I hope that my only real complain about character development is brought up in the sequel. By the end of the novel, I did care about the characters and I am really curious to see where the story will go next. It is an above-average start to what I hope will be a great series. Jennifer Fallon has reached my list of authors to keep an eye on and I am hurriedly going to check out her next novel. I recommend Medalon full heartedly.

I haven't written reviews for Amazon before but have used them plenty of times so here it goes.

I was looking for something to tide me over until A Feast for Crows is released and picked up Medalon based upon the reviews on this site.

To be fair, nobody else writes quite like GRRM, but Mrs. Fallon is a little further off the mark than some. I found the characters to be rather two-dimensional with only the rare excursion into the motives for their actions. I also found the dialogue trite and simplistic. Take Brak's interactions with the Primal Gods as evidence. It almost seemed to me that she hurried through each section rather than delve into issues more deeply. Are we supposed to care about R'Shiel? Tarja? Brak? The Rebellion? I guess it really comes down to world building. Her idea, while not exactly unique, is good conceptually, but the execution is lacking. The character development was sparse enough that I just wasn't emotionally engaged with any of the characters or the story itself.

I have read much worse in the genre (I won' mention any names) but have also found much better. Melanie Rawn, Tad Williams, Robert Jordan (at least the first 7 of his WoT series), Terry Goodkind (the first 4 or 5 of his series) and, or course, the master himself, George R. R. Martin (every sequel is better than its predecessor...how often are authors able to achieve that feat?!). Some of the newcomers who caught my eye were Jude Fisher, David Coe, and Greg Keyes. I am still trying to find the next GRRM.

Just my $0.02.

I'm not a fan of starting new series, so I was a little hesitant to start this one. (especially since the cover came across as a little too childish) It was only by a great recommendation that I picked this one up, and thank god, I absolutely loved it! After the first chapter you will be drawn in up until the very last book.