Customer Reviews

To Ride A Rathorn

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At last, the next installment in this series! Four novels and one slim collection of short stories in twenty years - this author is not just for Christmas, she's for a lifetime. P C Hodgell should be far better known than she is. She should be a NYT bestseller. She is brilliant. Her novels are dark, funny, intricate in characterisation and worldbuilding and deeply original. Tropes that have become standard in the twenty years since she started writing - lost heirs, soul-bonds to people and animals (and Hodgell makes it clear what a deep and terrible thing this is), the boarding school from hell (a military college, this time, and trying to shoot the Principal leads to a truly horrible death)- are made logical, convincing and terrifying. Hodgell does not shrink from the consequences of her premises, and I am pleased to be completely unable to predict what will happen next. The only point that irritated me was the reappearance of the child-abuse-as-important-traumatic-event motif, which is tediously common in US fiction at the moment, but that was a minor flaw in an otherwise deeply enjoyable book.

In her world, trees migrate and leaves fly south for the winter, and unicorns eat people and grow ivory armour that eventually grows over and suffocates them to death, and butterflies drink blood and feed on carrion (which, depending on where it dies, doesn't always stay dead).

The publisher could have spent some time and money proofreading. I hope that the next volume will come out soon.

17 years ago I discovered a dusty copy of PC Hodgell's God Stalk and was forever lost in Jame's world. To Ride a Rathorn gives us a few more clues to the tangled lives of the Knorth twins, Jame & Tori, as well as sinking us deeper into the rotten polital game that infects the Kencyrath.

Lovers of this series will find this a must read - those new to this world should start at the beinning with the publisher's reprint of the 1st two novels under the title Dark of the Gods.

I hardly know what to say. It's a great book, though the editing left a bit to be desired. Even Americans don't spell "disdain" as "distain"; the editor clearly let the story pull them along too fast to take note of the spelling and grammatical errors they should have been correcting. It's an annoying detraction from an otherwise fitting addition to the wonderfully entertaining, richly layered and textured world that Hodgell has created.

I'm still giving this 4 stars though, because it *is* a great book, enriching previous plot threads and introducing new ones as it takes us on the usual riotous ride of Jame's extremely peculiar life. I also note, with mixed admiration and relief, that despite the amount of time elapsed between books, Hodgell remains wonderfully faithful to her characters, adroitly picking up the flavours of their personalities and adding to them without destroying what has gone before. This is the Jamethiel Priest's-Bane I came to know in all the books before, but not a Jame in stasis, rather one who continues to grow from each alarming new twist in her life.

This book isn't stand-alone, so if you haven't read "God Stalk", "Dark of the Moon" and "Seeker's Mask", run, don't walk, and read those first ("God Stalk" and "Dark of the Moon" can be found in the omnibus "Dark of the Gods"). Also, if the long wait for this book was only made bearable by the fact that "Seeker's Mask" left us at a reasonable resting place, maybe you should brace yourself and wait a bit longer.

While certainly not leaving us on a cliff-hanger, events within "To Ride a Rathorn" reveal the disturbing consequences of one of Jame's actions in a previous book, and this particular plot-line is not brought to any form of resolution by the end of the book. Without spoiling but for those who have read the book, I refer to the importance of names. I, for one, find myself even more desperate for the sequel to this than I was to the one for "Seeker's Mask", and view with great disturbance the potential for an equally lengthy wait.

If you are resolved to wait but feel you have the mental discipline to refrain from reading (which I assuredly do not), I do recommend snapping this book up quickly, since the publisher is not known for large print-runs, and "To Ride a Rathorn" may well be hard to find if/when its sequel finds its way to book-stores.

I also find myself in the somewhat conflicted position of having to recommend, despite the unimpeachable qualities of the book, that you avoid reading "Blood & Ivory" if you haven't already. This anthology of short-stories by Hodgell reveals a lot of information on Jame and the Knorth history that should perhaps be avoided until after reading "To Ride a Rathorn" (perhaps even until after the entire series itself has been completed and read). I believe I would have found certain parts of "To Ride a Rathorn" more gripping had I not already known what would be revealed.

Hello. PC Hodgell here, thanking those readers who have kept faith with me all these years and welcoming new readers to my occasionally insane fantasy world. (Sorry about the five stars: I was afraid I wouldn't get posted if I didn't put down something.) Yes, I'm a slow writer, rather like the grain of sand in an oyster which eventually, if lucky, irritates the host enough to produce a pearl. Nor has it helped that publishers keep dropping me mid-series. Blame that for the gap between "Dark of the Moon" and "Seeker's Mask," when no one would touch my work. My last publisher suddenly went out of business without paying me anything for the past five years. Now, however, it appears that Baen is picking me up, so I hope to get all the books back in print and to have the funds to concentrate on continuing/finishing the series, which has become my life's work. ¨To Ride a Rathorn" got cut in two to bring it out on schedule. I'm currently working on the second half. If I ever get my website on line, you'll have the chance to commission "God Stalk -- the Sweater" (I have about 4000 different colors of yarn to play with) or a stained glass window, those being my other current occupations since I retired from UW-O, along with training a Saddlebred colt named Pip (aka Peregrine Stargazer) and chasing three rag-doll kittens around the house.

It's taken Pat 25 freakin' years to get this far, (God Stalk was published in '82) at this rate I'll be playing tiddlywinks in the old folks home before she's finished!
I love this world, it's as deep and compelling and the characters are as real and complex as anything in modern fatasy, and far better than most. You don't HAVE to read the first 3 books before reading this one but you'll get a bit confused if you don't. In this one our heroine has enrolled in the randon academy (think a combo of West Point and SEAL training) after being named heir to her brother's position as Highlord of the Kencyrath. She must deal with both academy officers as well as other Highborn that are determined to see her fail. There also seems to ba mysterious madman concealed in the college with a reputation of eating unwary cadets and a ghost-like "White Lady" whose appearance fortells the death of those who see her. In addition the Earth Wife and the Burnt Man (local nature spirits) seem to be either out to get her (Burnt Man) or "help" (Earth Wife). To top it off the rathorn colt whose mother Jame killed in Dark of the Moon has finally caught up with her and is determined to kill her. (Rathorn=carnivous unicorn that grow their own ivory armor reputation of extreme ferocity and insanity)
Jame's strugle to pass the first 2 cullings, and control the darker aspects of her emerging Shanir powers make for a ripping good story whose sequel will be eagerly anticipated.
BUY THIS BOOK!!, BUY THE OTHER 3 TOO!! Maybe the sales will convince Pat Hodgell to write faster. This is not a series I want to see end anytime soon.

A new novel by P.C. Hodgell is a major event. Her previous novel, Seeker's Mask, appeared over a decade ago. "To Ride a Rathorn" picks up directly from the end of that novel with very little backtracking, and I had to reread "Seeker's Mask" to pick up the thread.

When the first Jame novel, "Godstalk" (which is where new readers should begin) appeared in 1982--a time when most fantasy was heavily indebted to Tokien or Howard--Hodgell's unique hero, inhabiting a world that was a fully complex and realized as Tolkien's Middle Earth, yet completely different, was startlingly original. Fantasy has progressed and diversified considerably since that time, but Hodgell's novels hold their own and retain their unique flavor. Any lover of fantasy owes it to him or herself to read this series.

If Seeker's Mask might have been subtitled "Jame Goes to Finishing School," this one is "Jame Goes to Military School." And as usual, chaos, both magical and otherwise, ensues. The larger plot involving the Kencyrath and their enemy, Perimal Darkling, continues to move very slowly, and we don't hear much of them in this novel, but that does not mean that it is short on plot. Instead, it focuses more the coming of age of Jame and her increasing acceptance of her nature and her abilities, as well as her gradual discovery of what it means to be a leader.

The book's production values are somewhat disappointing next to my beautiful Hypatia Press editions of "Seeker's Mask" and "Blood and Ivory," which are illustrated with beautiful Tokienesque pen and ink and watercolor maps by the author of the story locations. "To Ride a Rathorn" also has has maps of its many locations (Jame moves around quite a bit in this one), but they are scanned bitmaps that hardly do justice to the versions in the Hypatia Press editions. Still, it is far more than one gets with most fantasy novels.

I look forward to Hodgell's next novel. I just hope that we don't have to wait another decade.

It has been over 20 years since I first read God Stalk and I still think it is one of the best and most original works of fantasy that I have read. I think I have three copies of God Stalk. I keep hoping that if I keep buying them, PC will keep writing them. This is another great book. The charactors are great and the world is quirky and engaging. One bit of advice: the plot line is convoluted. Read the books twice (at least!) You'll keep on picking up nuances in how the story fits together. If fantasy is your thing, but you think many fantasy writers shouldn't have, this is your book.

Hodgell has kept me waiting, and it's worth the wait. Jame becomes more enmeshed in the politics of her race as she tries to find a place among them. Torisen takes more of a back seat here than he does in 'Seeker's Mask' and the plot follows Jame's story. It is clear that Tori is a deeply conflicted man and I hope it won't be as many years again before we see how he handles his problems. I don't want to give any spoilers in a review--those who have followed the story this far will want to read for themselves and will not be disappointed. I rate it only 4 stars, because I think Hodgell can top this--I compare her to herself since I'd need more than 5 stars to compare her to most other authors in the fantasy genre.

P. C. Hodgell is one of the few authors who can enmesh me so thoroughly in a novel's world that I completely lose track of "real" time. Starting with God Stalk, twenty-some years ago, I've read every one of her books in single sittings, completely incapable of putting them down until I finished. To Ride a Rathorn is no exception to that rule.

I will admit, I had a brief scare early in the book when it seemed Jame would become a Harry Potter clone: the story is set in a school, after all, and one or two scenes are eerily reminiscent of J. K. Rowling. My fears were quickly allayed, however, as Hodgell's wonderfully unique style reasserted itself within three pages, taking her captivating heroine into places and situations that were as alien to poor Harry as... well, the Kencyrath itself.

I recommend To Ride a Rathorn, and all of P. C. Hodgell's books, with absolutely no reservations. Hodgell is, quite simply, one of the best authors I've ever read, and I find it astounding (and an example of inconceivably bad judgment) that the major publishing companies have completely ignored her. Thank heaven for Meisha Merlin Publishing: I'll put up with any number of badly-scanned maps for the privilege of losing myself in Patricia Hodgell's imagination.

A long awaited continuation of a marvelous series. It is just an absolutely spiffy book. The characterizations and story arc are engrossing and the humor and drama of the book really grab you while you're reading it. If you haven't read the series yet you must.