Customer Reviews

Sebastian (Ephemera, Book 1)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After reading the House of Gaian Trilogy, I was loathe to pick up Sebastian, worried that it might turn out similar. I was thrilled to find out that Sebastian is completely unlike the House of Gaian, and far more similar to Bishop's first trilogy, Black Jewels.

Sebastian is the story of Ephemera, a luscious, complex, fully-formed world that pulls you in and refuses to release you. The Eater of the World has been inadvertently released back into the landscapes by the hot-headed Landscaper, Nigelle. It quickly begins Its quest to suck Ephemera's landscapes of all hope and Light, leaving them deserted and desolate wastelands. The only person who can stop It is the Landscaper Glorianna, called Belladonna, and her cousin the incubus Sebastian. But Glorianna is supposed to be walled into a garden, and Sebastian is probably too concerned with Lynnea, the sweet country girl he just met, to care.

The first thing you will think when you open Sebastian is "What the hell?" The narration plunges you headfirst into the thick of the story, not stopping to explain the nature of Ephemera's worlds and power structure. Although this could be detrimental to the story, it turns out to be quite the perk. Piecing together the way Ephemera functions is half the fun in this story.

What I loved most about this story is that it is the first of all Anne Bishop's story that is more than just fantasy, action, adventure, and romance. This story has a message. When you strip away all the trappings of a fantasy story, Sebastian, and hopefully its sequel Ephemera, is a story about the human heart and the effect that it has on the world around it. Even though, in our world, squabbling teenage girls won't cause rocks to drop from the sky, their attitudes have an obvious effect on the people around you. The Landscaper's greeting and farewell "Travel lightly" should mean as much to the reader as it means to the characters. Be careful of what baggage you carry in your heart, because that baggage will effect the people and world around you.

It always saddens me when an author I thought was good turns out to be...well, not so good. I was willing to forget about Anne Bishop's previous trilogy and go into Sebastian with her original Black Jewels Trilogy in mind.

This just was not a good book. It was not a fantasy novel, so much as a romance novel with some fantasy concepts. And they are interesting concepts, as Bishop's often are (although a bit confusing until you get far enough into the book to make the right connections). But she seems to have no idea how to truly utilize them. The balance between fantasy and romance is horribly off kilter, with romance winning out.
It's your typical soulmates, meet-each-other-and-fall-in-love-without-knowing-each-other type of romance. The kind that makes my head hurt. If the characters were better one might be able to root for the romance, but they're not.

First is Sebastian, your typical dark, brooding bad boy with a bad past etc, etc. Now, I am as much a fan of this type as a number of other women, but Bishop has too many of them in her stories. While not entirely unlikable, Sebastian just isn't terribly interesting. Been there, done that. Making him a half-incubus really does nothing to add to his appeal, either.
Lynnea is irritating as hell. I'm not asking for every female lead to be headstrong and tough as nails, but she's SO sweet and SO innocent and SO naive that it made me want to puke. And then, somewhere in the middle of Bishop trying to balance her elements, Lynnea turns into this tough little sex kitten. Huh? That sure came out of left field.

Some of the other characters are mildly interesting. Glorianna Belladonna (a nominee for Most Ridiculous Name Ever in the Fantasy Genre) is just like Jaenelle from the Black Jewels Trilogy: powerful beyond all others like her, hated and feared by almost every other person, an outsider who takes the burden of the whole world on her shoulders. The only difference being that Bishop actually goes into Glorianna's mind, making her motivations a bit easier to understand.
Teaser, Sebatian's incubus friend, has the potential to be a lot of fun but that potential isn't realize. Glorianna's brother Lee is a source of some amusement, because the two of them have a decent dynamic together.

Overall, though, it was simply a mess, plagued by A Strong Need to Use Pretty Words: ephemera, aurora, sanctuary, belladonna, etc. Too romancy and slightly ridiculous, too.
I'd read the second one (though I wouldn't pay hardcover price; nor did I on this one) out of curiosity. Which is more than I can say for her previous trilogy. But Biship will need to strengthen the fantasy aspects, spin deeper, more interesting characters, and write a romance that is actually believable. Otherwise I doubt I'll ever want to read another one of her works again.

I actually finished this book a few days ago. I've been letting it settle, like the very rich meal it is.
The story is to deep for a quick synopsis, but it follows Sebastien, a half incubus and his dear ones in the world of Ephemera, a land built on dreams and wishes.
As with all of Anne Bishop's work, this a very textural book, with depth you don't normally see. The characters aren't perfect, they make mistakes have dark impulses and dark needs as well as light
The problem I ran into was that perhaps it was just a bit too rich. The whole Guide, Guardian, Landscaper, Bridge, Demon, and the rest of the terminology left me a bit breathless for about 1/3 of the book until i just gave up and pitched trying to figure it all out to the wind. Her other series were so clear to understand. I hope the next book is clearer with the background we need.
The pros:
1. Wondeful Characters with a richness rarely seen
2. A wonderfully imagined world
3. An excellent mythology if it is a little confusing

The cons;
Well - just one. As I mentioned, the background and terminology was a bit too, well, ephemeral and hard for me to grasp

There's just one word I can come up with: Boring. It's going to be used a lot in this review, so get used to it. (Not as many times as the various clichés Bishop uses throughout her book, though, so you're safe there.)

Ok, so I loved the Dark Jewels series. Sure, it was never going to win a Nobel Prize in literature, but I put up with some of the more tedious clichés and repetitions in exchange for fascinating characters and an interesting story. "Sebastian" has all the weakness of the Dark Jewels books, with none of their strengths.

Dark? Please. The supposedly "dark" demon characters are so goody-goody it's liking watching puppies try to be guard dogs. They're all over vulnerable, noble, compassionate, blah blah blah. But there's not a single genuinely dangerous bad boy among them. They all bounce around pretending to be all growly and mean, but I lost count of the number of times Bishop assured us that this was all just a façade. Boring!

Erotic? How bad is the state of romantic fiction when pages and pages of hand-holding and cuddling - and almost nothing else - is considered erotic? Sebastian is in love with Lynnea, a meek little 'fraidy cat who, naturally, has him wrapped around her little finger. So this incubus - that's a sex demon, bear in mind - spends the first half of the book nobly resisting having sex at all, and the second half having such tame vanilla sappy I-love-you-more sex - interspersed with plenty of the aforementioned cuddling - that it wouldn't turn your mom on. Apparently there's plenty of hot dream action going on somewhere, but we certainly don't get to see any of it. Boring!

The story? The Eater of the World (amusingly referred to repeatedly as It, which at least offers the opportunity to picture an evil clown wreaking havoc across the landscapes) is now loose in the land of Ephemera, which long ago was split into a series of disjointed "landscapes", which sound kind of like alternate planes. The whole structure is very confusing, especially when you throw in things like Bridges, which can be either one of several different ways of crossing these landscapes, or the people who create them. I was too bored to really pay attention, but I think Bishop changed the rules of How the Universe Works several times, not that it mattered. Anyway, the eponymous Sebastian, his cousin Glorianna Belladonna (great name, btw), Lynnea, and a whole cast of bouncy, wannabe tough guy outcasts must save Ephemera because - wait for it - the wizards, who are supposed to be in charge, are actually evil beings in league with It! Oh, no! Whatever shall we do, Sparky? In a word: boring, Boring, BORING!

The worst part of all is that I get the impression Bishop still thinks this is all very dark and thrilling. At least with the Gaian trilogy (another awful offering) she was doing something different - it didn't work, but you could tell yourself that was just because she wasn't trying to write another dark erotic fantasy. Here, she very obviously IS trying - and failing miserably. It's like she's suddenly afraid of having a dark character who's actually, you know, bad. Lucivar and Daemon worked in Dark Jewels because they were genuinely mean, nasty guys who nevertheless were the only ones doing the right thing. Here, everyone tries so hard to be good they never stop to realize they were never bad to start with.

Yawn. Wake me up when Jacqueline Carey's next book is published.

I loved The Black Jewels Trilogy, was mildly dissapointed by the carboard characterization in Dreams Made Flesh, but enjoyed it nonetheless... Sebastian... um, well, was absolutely horrible drivel written in a style favoured by 13 year old goth girls.

First of all, what is with Bishop and rape or attempted rape? Jaenelly, Marian, Lynnea, is it a fetish or is she unable to come up with a better plot device to indicate urgency or help events forward? Why do all of her heroines automatically come from horrible abused childhoods? Is it hard to write interesting characters whose parents dont' hate them for no apparent reason? It seems hard for Bishop even WITH the abuse!

Secondly: characterization, WHAT characterization?? Lynnea and Sebastian are the epitome of walking lifeless carboard with no emotion, intillect, motivation, or anything redeemable to make me care one iota if they wind up together or even survive! The book describes them as meeting in dreams and calling out for one another - um? You mean that one dream Sebastian had when he heard some pathetic, needy, waif whine in her sleep? Yeah, that's ... really ....not erotic or mildly sensual, not to mention not keeping with the book jacket. We keep getting told how dark and dangerous and sexy Sebastian is but we are never shown this. That's another major problem here, we are constantly TOLD things without being SHOWN. His whole "I cannot be with you Lynnea! You are the light and I am dark...no really I am! I'm DARK I tells you! Can't you see it? Look how I brood constantly! Look how often I drink black coffee...I mean "Koffea".... Look at the copious amounts of black denim I wear! NO ONE wears black denim! Not since the 80's...it's cause I'm a rebel though! FEAR ME!! FEAR ME!! I'm SEXY" And so forth and so forth. Talk about a majorly watered-down, pansied-up, version of Daemon! And yeah it's just SO suspensful wondering if he and the redneck will actually get together.

Oh and Belladona? All she ever does is walk around and talk! What does she look like? What does she do when she takes a break from all the inter-dimensional travel? Ugh!

Other annoyances:
Phallic Delights - stop describing them in EVERY chapter. We GET it! Oooh!
Ma and Pa: This is fantasy not the Little House on the Prairie, people don't like to read those words, they sound stupid!
Fart jokes: Are you serious? Is this a YA novel?
Sex: As in complete and utter lack of!
Villains: CARBOARD!
Keffea/Illictricity: No comment needed.

Good Things:
The world was very creative and well thought out.
The cover is hot.

A half Wizard, half demon incubus resides in a district called the Den of Iniquity and stalks humans. He is bored, jaded, drinks coffee. Pretty interesting, huh? Then he changes somehow, becoming shy, gauche, and hesitant after encountering a child described "the rabbit". They are soul mates. They are also bland beyond description. There is also some sort of predictable battle between good and evil.

The Den of Iniquity, which could have been that memorable exotic "dark carnival" with a little exposition, but turns out to be filled with kindly folk, no more naughty than a weekend in Las Vegas.

Although the concept of a fractured world with irregular connections is very original, development was lacking. It is unclear how Landscapers (always female) work---they plant small gardens to serve as anchor points to connect non-contiguous areas. Bridges (always male) can somehow make the connections. Their work and training is left to the reader's imagination, but apparently sincerity and heart's desire and focused wishing has a lot to do with it. Too much of the book describes unpredictable travel from one section to another.

Many words are written about Light and Dark in a kind of emotional shorthand, as if these concepts were mutually exclusive. Light is prettier and sincere. Dark is undefined. The dark arch villain is reminiscent of Chthulu.

Anne Bishop has done better. I confess that I plowed through 400+ pages of repetitious verbiage waiting for something dramatic to happen. Nothing sparkled, nothing resonated. Sigh.

This is a book that could have gone so many places and develop deep, interesting characters...and then didn't. You just don't feel the characters or their world the way you do in other Bishop books. It is a good book, but I found it much harder to believe in the struggle when it was so underdeveloped. Still, read and enjoy the book because it is a good read and a fun world and there is always hope for the sequel.

Anne Bishop is one of the most inventive authors and I really loved her other books, especially the Black Jewel trilogy.

This book is certainly inventive and I think it has great potential as a series, but this first book falls flat for me. There isn't much history to the main characters of Sebastian and Lynnea. Sebastian isn't what I would expect a incubus to be. He doesn't seem to have the edge you would expect. I thought Anne Bishop brought out the dark side of her male characters better in the Black jewel books.

The relationship between Sebastian and Lynnea isn't terribly convincing either. They are too quick to fall in love and it doesn't ring true. I didn't end up caring enough about the characters and really wasn't all that interested in finishing the book, which is rare for me when it comes to an Anne Bishop book.

This is one I would say you should wait until it comes out in paperback if you must read it. Spending the money on a hardback felt like too much money for a ho hum book.

Anyone who's ever read the black jewels trilogy knows that Ann Bishop is a great writer. That's why it's so hard to give this book less than stellar reviews. We know what she can do. Or is it that those books were so good that we don't want to read anything else that isn't black jewels? I was looking forward to another story filled with complex characters filled with humor and compassion by turns. I was looking for another story filled with interesting relationships that made you envious of a family with members like Saetan, Daemon, and Lucivar. But this story isn't it.

This story lacks the heart of the Black Jewels. The characters here are mere shadows of Daemon, Saetan, and Lucivar. And the cast of characters here is a lot smaller too. The love interest of Sebastian is a loser. I mean I already forgot her name. I thought at first she was our heroine. NOT!!!

But what really burns my biscuit is the plot. Could it be more contrived? And could the World building be more confusing? And could those narrative chapters be more boring and intrusive? Talk about a story grinding to a screeching halt for no reason at all. Those narrative bits should have been woven into the fabric of the story not just thrown in for pace control.

The thing that made me stop mid story and step away from the book was the part where the too stupid to live hero rushes head long into an obvious trap. I mean come on! Why does there always have to be an obvious trap to everyone but the dumb hero/heroine? Why do they always ignore everything they've ever been taught and ever known to believe the lie of someone they know as a no good so and so? Why! Why! Why! It was so obviously a stupid plot device that it stopped the momentum of the story for me. He fell for the oldest trick in the book!!!

Stupid characters are not respected, period. Which is why I also hated the heroine. She was stupid too. There was nothing special about her, nothing so wonderful that all the demons should bow to her every whim. Why because she's a virgin? Innocent? Made of light? That's ridicules. Nobody is all good, all light. If they are, they are boring. And she was boring. At one point she was so annoying with her "sex stuff" innocence that I wanted to hit her. She lived on a farm all her life and doesn't know anything about sex. Yeah right!

This book is o.k., not great like the dark jewels. I don't think I am looking for the Dark Jewels all over again. I just want a lush story with characters I feel happy about rooting for. I want a story with heart and soul and intelligence and sensuality. Too much to ask for? Probally. But Ann bishop has given us a taste of this type of writing before so I hope she will do it again in the next installment.

`Sebastian' is the first book I have read from Anne Bishop, and I must say her writing style and imagery are excellent. This book was an enjoyable read with a deep message. On the surface `Sebastian' is a novel about a world- Emphera- that has been divided by the emptiness and negative emotions of people. The main character, Sebastian, is an Incubus and powerful Justice Maker. He is in charge of a town called the Den of Iniquity and is the cousin of the most powerful Landscaper in all of history, Glorianna Belladonna. Through the character of Sebastian, and later on through Lyenna a young woman who wanders into The Den and catches the attention of its caretaker, we see how Emphera is lead to the brink of war against the evil power of the Eater of the World.

However, when we dig a bit below the surface, the novel reveals the truth about the affects people have on the world around them. In the land of Emphara, a person's emotions can alter the reality of their land- they can change it knowingly or unknowingly. If people can change, the world can change; this is the general thrust of the novel and it is beautifully executed in the characters of Sebastian and Lyenna. They both give up a part of themselves in order to save those they love and reveal to the audience that true love conquers over all obstacles and blind to prejudices.