7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back with a Shiver, August 10, 2005
This return to the world of Darwath is even colder than the the original trilogy, as the ice age predicted by Gil has truly begun to descend. Not only is the weather growing colder but everything is more hostile as mysterious slunch grows over all ground, gradually destroying every plant it comes into contact with and being basically indestructible. The remnants of the realm are still sheltered within the (hopefully) impregnable Keep of Dare and while Rudy attempts to help his love Minalde hold the Keep together in the face of divergent factions Gil and Ingold Inglorien search for the Mother of Winter, the cause of these recent ills.
As with Hambly's other works I especially appreciated the gritty realism. This is no fairy tale world where everybody lives lives just as good as we do in 21st century America (but they happen to have kings, swords, dragons, and magic). Perhaps this realism is achieved because two of the characters are native Californians who can directly comment on the differences to their former life, and suggest improvements (such as in sanitation). Furthermore, while the characters we follow are well connected the political situation isn't one of absolute control so there is a healthy bit of uncertainty about what will happen, even if proper solutions are discovered.
No longer even considering returning to Earth, Gil and Rudy have fully settled into life in the keep. I only recently started reading the series, but I already feel as though these are old friends along with Ingold and Minalde.
In some ways the book is a bit of a mystery, as you're not sure what is going on in the first pages, but you follow the efforts of Gil, Ingold, Rudy, Minalde, and Minalde's now five-year-old son Tir to unravel the mystery of the slunch and the keep itself.
If you have read the original Darwath Trilogy this is indeed a worthy successor that will keep your attention to the last page. If you've not read the first books then please start with them: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight.
I would also recomend Hambly's Windrose Chronicles (for more Americans crossing into fantasy realms), and her Sun Wolf and Star Hawk trilogy.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST for all Darwath readers, July 19, 1997
By A Customer
This continuation of the adventures of Ingold, Gil
and Rudy takes place approximately 5 years after
the defeat of the Dark. If you wondered what
happened to our heros, this answers many of the
questions. The interplay between the characters
makes them more real than most characters in books.
You just know they are fictional, usually, but not
in Hambly's books. They have real emotions and
they react in a truly human manner. Ingold may be
Archmage and seemingly all-powerful, but he's
human, too. He can be happy or excited or angry
or hurt just like anyone else. Gil is just as
lost and confused as anyone when dealing with an
unknown element--in this case, her feelings for
Ingold--a really human relationship which her
background has not prepared her for. I can hardly
wait for the next adventure of our favorite
Archmage and his partners.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
weep for darwarth..i do, August 23, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Mother of Winter (Darwath) (Mass Market Paperback)
Again BH throws us into darwarth, a world where anarchy and chaos rule. Society is crushig down, church takes over, with all the terrible consequences that appear only when reason is substituted by faith and prejeduce. The describtion of a once splendid culture now reduced to ruins made my heart cry. You also almost want to cry out in pain for the knowledge, the books that are destroyed. It is as if the ghost of Claude Maniere participated : "... knowledge - written treasure; once found; and now forever lost;
knowledge - yes; but wisdom never; wraiths are paying now the cost..."
But in this environment of hopelessness and despair there is hope, life. The story of Ingold and GIl, Rudy and Sante goes on blooms and makes me long for more
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