Monument [Paperback]

Ian Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2003

Ballas is a drunk and a vagrant. In his eyes there is only greed, and in his heart only bitterness. Such a man is not suited to legend. He is fit only for an unmarked grave. And there are people who seek to hasten his journey there. When a young priest saves him from a beating in the street, Ballas does not know how to react to such an act of kindness. But he soon finds a way to pay him back. He steals from him. What Ballas chooses to take can easily be hidden under a cloak, but it is no trinket to be sold in the market for a bowl of soup. It is known as the Monument. And the power it contains will bring a god of chaos and destruction into the world. Now Ballas has that power. MONUMENT is a masterpiece of storytelling - a new classic of fantasy fiction. Find out more about this and other titles at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eschewing the predictably chivalrous caricatures of much mainstream fantasy, British author Graham's fiercely energetic debut novel of dark destinies, treachery and tragic self-awareness focuses on morally corrupt characters in a bleak, amoral world of oppressive religious systems and explosive violence. Ballas, a drunk whose soul is as deformed as his busted face, repays a priest's act of kindness by stealing from his religious order a black iron disk with magical properties. Visited by the vision of a Lectivin, a member of the legendary "Pale Race," Ballas forcefully enlists the aid of Lugen Crask, a cowardly eel hunter, and his likable daughter, Heresh, to help locate the fabled "Land Beyond the Mountains," to which Ballas is drawn. Sentenced to death by church Wardens and pursued by a deadly Lectivin, Ballas is a nasty character study of degraded self-interest and anguish. A lack of sentimentality lends this intelligent story an authentic, subversive air of philosophical harshness. Minds and hearts are battered just as often as flesh, and the antihero commands the reader's reluctant respect for his steadfastness. While this existential epic probably won't please fans of C.S. Lewis or Tolkien, those seeking gritty realism in imaginative fiction will welcome it as a bitter feast.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In this anticlassic quest tale, a young priest rescues a drunken, down-on-his-luck vagrant from a beating. The vagrant repays his Good Samaritan by stealing from him. But one of the items he steals provokes a frenzied manhunt that involves ever higher authorities, until at last the bum faces a final battle high in the mountains. The world Graham creates is original in detail, if not conception, and very well constructed, though grim. Plotting, pacing, and characterization are competently managed, too, though the book's vicious and hypocritical church leaders approach stereotypicality, and the story's continual squalor and viciousness makes one wonder whether they arise from Graham's wish to grind axes more than out of the characters and situation. Perhaps fantasy fans of the literary-realistic bent that Graham pursues will most appreciate his first novel. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Orbit (July 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841491969
• ISBN-13: 978-1841491967
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 6.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most impressive fantasy novels I've ever read, February 4, 2005

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monument (Mass Market Paperback)

Ballas is a shifty, ill-mannered, incorrigible, self-interested, perpetually drunk brute of a man with basically no morals and a natural dislike of every other living person on earth. If you think I'm describing the villain of this novel, you are quite mistaken. Ballas is actually the "hero" - or, to be precise, anti-hero, of Ian Graham's absolutely captivating debut fantasy novel. Fantasy as a genre suffers from repetition of themes and outlines more than any other genre (just think of all the Lord of the Rings clones out there), so it is quite refreshing indeed to come across a story that eschews all traditional approaches to the subject at hand. Of course, courageous risk such as that displayed by Ian Graham carries with it possible consequences -namely, some readers may find the main character so roguish and unlikable that they will not consider reading the novel, put it down in disgust after a chapter or two, or grudgingly finish the book in order to tell everyone just how unenjoyable it was. On the other hand, this type of unusual approach, distilled through the talents of an undeniably gifted author, can make for a most memorable experience, one sure to deeply impress many fantasy readers.

Ballas is a thief who roams from village to village in the land of Druine stealing anything he can get his hands on in order to support his drinking habit. He is a big, ugly brute of a man who looks as if he has been on the wrong side of many physical confrontations - and he has. This pattern continues, as Ballas is beaten to a pulp on a regular basis (but not without leaving a path of human destruction in his own wake). A young priest takes Ballas in, but our "hero," once he is recovered, betrays his protector and makes off with a most unusual of trinkets bearing a mysterious blue jewel surrounded by four red rubies. This object, he soon discovers, seems to have magical qualities when exposed to moonlight, and on one occasion he witnesses a vision of a member of a dead alien race (the Lektivin) seemingly trying to speak to him. His crime (which includes murder) makes Ballas a wanted man, and leaders of the Church send out Wardens to apprehend him. His ordained fate is to have his head nailed up on the Penance Oak (sans body, of course) as a message to all sinners and unbelievers. The occasion of his execution is a truly memorable one, marked as much by what he witnesses as by the fact that he somehow manages to escape.

On the run, Ballas begins to develop a deep-seated desire to escape across the mountains to a legendary land beyond; certainly, he needs to leave Druine because the Church and its Wardens are quickly on his tail, desperate to eliminate this outlaw, but the land beyond the mountains - if it even exists - is an almost impossible goal. Ballas has no qualms about killing and sacrificing others in his mad dash for escape and safety, yet he does take on temporary companions and finds a number of unexpected allies in his cause, including a priest who follows the Law rather than the orders of the present-day Church. The character development of Ballas is masterful; whenever you think he has shown a soft spot for someone or backed down from his normal attitude of hatred and contempt for the human race, he does something despicable. The secrets of his past and future are not revealed until the very end, making it hard, I would imagine, for some readers to sympathize with him at all on the course of his flight to safety. Still, I felt drawn to this character, and certainly he was a compelling anti-hero who drew increasing amounts of my fascination and interest. The Church and its minions are far from heroic or praiseworthy themselves, and this helps make Ballas a character who won a good measure of my allegiance if not sympathy. I wanted him to succeed in his impossible but passionate mission, despite all of his many, many faults - other readers may wish him to be destroyed as soon as possible, but even they cannot but feel compelled to follow Ballas' plight.

Graham does a masterful job keeping the suspense and mystery ratcheted up from beginning to end, making it all but impossible to figure out what exactly will happen if and when Ballas makes it across the mountains. As the story progresses, the reader accumulates fascinating facts about the Church and its founding, the "extinct" Lektivin race of aliens, and Ballas' own past, but it's impossible to tie all of this disparate information together without the insights Graham offers in the final pages. The ending itself feels exactly right, as well - with an anti-hero such as Ballas, you can't really expect a happy ending, of course, and Graham does not commit the cardinal sin of letting his readers down at the last minute by somehow allowing all of the characters to live happily ever after - the gritty realism of Monument extends all the way to the final period on the last page. In all honesty, Monument is one of the most distinctive, memorable, and impressive debut fantasy novels I have ever read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long time fantasy reader pleased, September 27, 2008

By 

William P. Visser (Clayton, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monument (Paperback)

First for those people who don't even finish a book and write a review please resist the urge to put your limited poit of view down. I enjoyed this book. I'm not going to get into the character did this and should have done that with my review. People who do that should either write a book themselves or plain shut up. I like George R. R. Martin, Bujold, and Tolkien too and I liked this book. The main character is not your typical "hero" he is more of an every man out only for himself. It is a well written world and the plot keeps you going. It was one of those books that you don't want to end. If you like fantasy and are tired of all of those Tolkien rip offs try this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book, April 13, 2005

By 

Alebeouf (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monument (Paperback)

The coverart on this book is pretty, but very misleading. I admit it--it WAS the coverart that led me to even touching this book, I'm a coverart whore, so I guess it did its duty. But that old man on the cover? We see him for like 60 seconds. Or however long it takes to read those paragraphs in the book.

Very good book! I'm impressed. If you've somehow skipped the other reviews and have no clue what the book is about, it's about the most filty, loathesome scoundral and pig of a man you'll ever meet as the main character of a fantasy book. Unlike Peter David's Sir Apropos of Nothing series (good books, btw), there isn't even a grand sense of humor to distract attention from distract how cowardly the main character is.

Monument is set in a cruel world where humans have killed off the other intelligent species and live, at least in this book, under the rule of a theocracy. Unlike many books with similar settings, the theocracy is portrayed realistically...people aren't sheep. I mean, they are, masses of people are stupid, but the author doesn't use and abuse them as cannon fodder. Well, he does. But he does it well. Difficult to explain--it has a depth many lesser books wouldn't have when dealing with the same subject.

The characterization is very gritty and dark, but it's realistic dark--you see a wicked/sinful part of the world due to the circles the main character travels in, but you also glimpse that the author is capable of interesting "good" and sympathetic characters too, so it's a choice for the purpose of telling the story, not a limitation of the author's skill.

The book itself is very neat and square. It's not written as a trilogy and a series, and all questions brought up during reading are answered or brought to a close by the books' end--including some subtle questions brought up about the main character's past; those are very well done. This is a stand alone book. I personally give the book 4 stars because I prefer a book I can invest more into--especially when the author is skilled like Ian Graham is--but the distinction between 4 and 5 is merely my opinion. I could give it a 5 as well, because it's really a good book...I just want more, and the structure of this book doesn't really allow more unless you have a new character and story.

If you get depressed with dark books, or need a character that you *like* instead of just find interesting (fascinating characters can replace likeable characters for me), or want world-sweeping sagas, this probably isn't the book for you. But if you like well-crafted stand alone books that explore the seemier side of humanity in a fantasy setting, you probably will enjoy this book a lot. :)