Customer Reviews

A Secret Atlas

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Secret Atlas (2004) is the first fantasy novel of the Age of Discovery series. Centuries past, the Turasynd had invaded the Empire. Empress Cyrsa divided the Imperial lands into nine parts and placed a son of the Emperor over each principality. Then she led the Imperial army out to fight the invaders.

The battle unleashed great amounts of magic, bringing the Cataclysm. Wild magic raged during the Time of Black Ice. Blizzards froze villages and glaciers scraped the earth down to bedrock. The effects of that time still showed -- and wild magic still flowed -- in the Wastes.

Jaedunto -- skill magic -- comes with training and practice to the best craftsmen. These Mystics are revered, but some study xinga to master jaedun, magic itself. Such vanyesh have been greatly feared since the Cataclysm.

In this novel, Imperial Prince Cyron is the ruler of Nalenyr, one of the Nine Principalities. He has brought his realm into more wealth than any of the other principalities through trade. Nalenyran ships sail widely over the seas, bringing back goods and treasures.

Qiro Anturasi is the greatest cartographer in the Nine Principalities. He resides at Moriande in Nalenyr and produces the best maps in the known world. Many believe that he has attained jaedunto in his craft.

His grandsons -- Keles and Jorim -- have inherited the family talents and have learned the skills of cartography. Keles is better at the mechanics of the craft, but Jorim is renowned for his voyages of discovery. Qiro's granddaughter Nirati seems to have no talents, although she is more capable of calming Qiro during his rages.

Prince Pyrust is the ruler of Deseirion, a cold land to the north. His realm was not part of the Empire per se, but was used as a dumping ground for troublemakers. His people are rough, but capable, and the prince has used them to build a large and effective army. He is almost ready to invade the Nine Principalities.

In this story, Moraven Tolo reaches the crest of the hill from which he can see Moriande. The half-blind old man behind him gestures and declares that the city is the grandest in the world. Moraven Tolo nods in agreement.

Then three bandits appear and demand tribute. Moraven Tolo declares himself to be xidantzu -- a traveling swordsman -- and claims the other travelers to be under his protection. The bandit swordswoman laughs at his bravado and states that she has already slain one xidantzu.

Moraven Tolo tells her to draw a circle for the duel. While she is doing so, her companions attack Moraven Tolo and are defeated. Then he tells the swordswoman to display the sword forms. She shows some skill and he tells Pavynti Syolsar to present herself at the School of Istor for further instruction in the sword.

This story takes Moraven Tolo with Keles Anturasi on a journey to the Wastes, searching for relics from Empress Cyrsa's army. Jorim Anturasi sails on the Seawolf in a voyage of discovery. Nirati Anturasi stays in Moriande with her grandfather.

This tale is full of action and magic. The Anturasi grandsons discover old truths and new cultures and Nirati finds herself in another world. Enjoy!

Recommended for Stackpole fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exploration, armed conflict, and political intrigue.

-Arthur W. Jordin

A Secret Atlas has its flaws, but overall makes for a solidly enjoyable read, especially as it generally (with some exceptions) improves as one moves through it. The story begins in Nalenyr, one of the "Nine Principalities", the divided remnants of an empire that along with much of the known world was brought to near ruin centuries earlier in the Great Cataclysm. The novel focuses most of its attention on the Anturasi family, whose patriarch Qiro has the Talent (capital T intentional) of mapmaking. His charts have for years allowed Nalenyr to amass wealth and now his two grandsons (whose father Qiro may or may not have purposely sent to his death on an exploration mission) are each sent on a long and vital mission of exploration. One takes ship to expand Nalenyr's knowledge of the world, the oceans, the best shipping routes for trade. The other goes overland, partially to map out new or rediscovered routes, partially to find a particularly talented inventor, partially to find caches of magical weapons that seemingly are being plundered from the wastes where the Wild Magic of the Cataclysm causes strange things (an understatement) to occur. Their sister stays behind and becomes involved in family dynamics and political intrigue. Meanwhile, Cyron, the prince of Nalenyr must deal with politics both internal and external, especially an overly aggressive prince seeking to reunite the Empire by the sword, as opposed to Cyron's preferred method of trade. Toss in various spies, monsters, magical chaos storms, a bureaucracy more concerned with its existence than the state's, assassins, echoes of European exploration/Chinese empires/South American civilizations and a few other items and one gets a sense of the book's complexity.
Not all of this is successful. At times the history comes across as a bit vague or jargony (throw a whole bunch of fantasy-esque vocab at the reader without much specificity or vividness: Grand Cataclysm, Age of Black Ice, etc). One major subplot I would argue is wholly predictable for the reader and should have been so for the characters involved as well, making their obtuseness a bit hard to believe. And another seems a bit contrived towards the end. Another problem is that the book starts off slowly, not in the good "let a complex tale slowly unfold" way but in a "I can see where this is going and why are we taking so long to get there way?" And characters tend to get lost in the mishmash so that none really stand out strongly. Stackpole, however, is not averse to killing off major characters, so perhaps this problem will sort itself out as we are left with fewer to focus on.
On the positive side, the story in general is interesting enough in its basic premise and its several strands that the above plot flaws are tolerable. And the characters are mostly, though not all, interesting enough that we want to know more about them. The several-stranded structure, typical of long fantasy epics, is handled well, even if it does rely a bit too heavily on the shift-to-a-new-setting/perspective-at-a-dramatic-moment structure. Most positively, for the most part the story improves in pace and interest as it goes on.
The meshing of various histories- Chinese, European, South American empires-with the fantasy setting works as well, though at times it's a bit clumsy, at other times one wishes he did more with it.
Overall, Atlas isn't a great book, but it has a relatively unique germ of an idea with its focus on exploration and its echoes of past cross-cultural empires and if its success in character and plot is somewhat uneven, it ends up being a solid start to a longer work and one which I'll continue to follow. Recommended.

A Secret Atlas is a good start to Stackpole's latest trilogy. He continues his tradition of inventing a different interpretation of magic that is both better thought out and more interesting than the stereotypical fireball/lightning/cool special effects magic that readers find in most cookie-cutter fantasy. He also molds history, politics, and human interaction into a believable description of a whole new world for readers. His ability to describe individual combat continues to be better than any other author that I have read.

Stackpole has yet to reach the ranks of authors such as Tolkien and Martin. Despite this, he is still a very enjoyable read and an excellent choice for readers looking for new material while their favorite author/authors take years to come out with their next books(Stackpole can usually keep up a pace of about a book a year). If you haven't read any of Stackpole's books yet then I would recommend starting with Talion: Revenant or The Dark Glory War.

The first in the new 'age of discovery' series, A Secret Atlas is the next excellent book from Michael A. Stackpole. The book starts slowly, but quickly speeds up and gets very interesting. I was forced to pause in my reading for about two days roughly two-thirds of the way through, and when I went back to the book it had not lost any of its page-turning magic from the delay. Understandably, the first half or so has some extra explainations in it, making the story a bit slower, but this is not a bad thing at all-- rather, it is very smart, as without these explainations a reader would be lost in this new world so totally unlike any of Stackpole's previous. Also this allows the push of the end of the rising action to be that much more powerful when the book devotes itself to telling the story, making it go faster. The end left me eagerly wishing that Stackpole would finish the next book quickly, yet also hoping he takes his time with it, making it as good a book as possible. And I know, as this is Michael A. Stackpole that we're talking about, he will most definitely do the latter.

I began the book excited about finding a decent new novel that was not part of yet another series (which tend to be, Harry Potter included, too little plot in too many books). I also saw hints of an original setting, and the opening chapters delivered.

Although I enjoyed the first half of the book, by the middle I began to see that this was in fact not coming to any conclusion. The trade paperback copy I purchased did not have anything about "Part 1" on the cover or back. I realize that a series is a good moneymaker for the author and publisher, but I have often found it leads to rather lazy writing, and I began to see evidence of that in the second half. Mr. Stackpole departs from his fairly original path and we come across culture which is a clone / melange of pre-Columbian South American culture. No thread is completed. The book does not in fact stand alone at all, and I feel misled by the packaging.

The book starts strong, and then weakens as the threads become ever more obviously spun towards a sequel. I will probably pick up the second book some day (see? a good moneymaker) but I can't recommend A Secret Atlas nearly as strongly as I would have based on the first 100 pages.

The story started very slow and did not really pick up until around page 200. I did find the new terminology to be a bit difficult to gather from context at times, but by the end of the book it started to make sense. One suggestion I would make to the author would be a glossary or even (preferably) footnotes.

I found many similarities in the quest for Jaedunto (supreme skill in an art) to the Asian life-quest of perfection very intriguing. The aspect of Jaedunto that allows a master to attain longevity (through magical means) as a result of their perfection of an act, whatever that skill may be (swordsmanship, pottery, sex, etc) was akin to the harnessing of Qi (Chi) from ritualistic action (performing a skill). Once again, an interesting idea.

By page 300 it got really intersting and I was getting into the story. Many of the characters were starting to actually take on a personality for the first time. Some of the action, however, (sush as that which happened in the Jungle with Jorim) just happened without any real build-up. One minute they are talking about his special position (which I won't give away) must save them from destruction and then next page they are fighting against a horde we have never heard of. An extra chapter with more description of the city, the preparations for the battle and some history of the foe would serve to build suspense and add greatly to the story.

Oh well. All in all I would say it was well worth a read and I quite enjoyed it. I would suggest paying paperback price for it, though.

In the beginning, nothing happens, characters are lackluster and the names bordering on ridiculous. Add to that the constant perspective shifts that work for numerous other authors, end abruptly without any true resolution to the scenes. In a later scene, sometimes the action may be summed up from the previous one, sometimes not. In the second half of the book, it is more of the same. I gave up at page 316. It was like reading a dry rambling lecture that puts one to sleep so that if there is a kernel of substance, it gets missed. Sorry, but I will not pick up another book by the author. My time and money are too precious to waste.

Once upon a time in Nalenyr lived the Anturasi family, Royal Cartographers who would chart worlds yet undiscovered...

It would be unfair to give away the storylines of Stackpole's latest epic; the grand, majestic fantasy that is A Secret Atlas! This book is simply a must-read!

A Secret Atlas, the first in a trilogy, delivers far more than yet another Tolkien-esque series. As much science fiction as it is fantasy, A Secret Atlas earns Stackpole his place among writers such as Zelazny, McKiernan, and Donaldson. The scientific discoveries explored in this brilliantly conceived, stunningly researched and cleverly crafted tale will make you, albeit reluctantly, stop reading for a moment and wonder "what if?"

Still, A Secret Atlas is every fantasy reader's dream with plenty of magic-gone-wrong, romance and Stackpole's unparalleled and realistic battle sequences.

With haunting historical ties to our own world, political plots and schemes that would make the United Nations blanche, strong story arcs and tangible, believable and utterly engaging characters, this grand novel offers something for everyone.

Qiro, Nirati, Keles, Jorim and the enigmatic Moraven Tolo will make you scream, laugh, cry, and they will definitely make you turn the pages of A Secret Atlas. A more stunning cast of sympathetic characters is rarely found outside the works of mainstream authors such as King, Rice and DeMille.

Although Michael Stackpole's body of work is impressive, with 36 novels published, several New York Times Bestsellers, and an anthology and Cartomancy (the next in the Age of Discovery series), on the way this year, A Secret Atlas is, no doubt, his best work to date!

***Spoilers in this review, but nothing too insane since I'm only 200 pages in.***
So far I am about 200+ pages in.
This book is extremely frustrating, and this comes from a lover of high fantasy.
My main gripes:
1
Why do we need a million "new" words for things. Every time I see a word in italics in this novel, I cringe, for not only will I probably not remember what it is supposed to represent, but I probably will spend several minutes deciding on how it is pronounced, ripping me right out of the story.

This reaches ridiculous proportions at some points. Some dark art is introduced with a name like ixthylith, and those who practice it are ixthylitists. Then, for the course of one single paragraph, they are called Deathbreathers. Just call them Deathbreathers then! That wasn't so hard was it?

As an addendum to this, there are some serious naming problems in this book. I got so utterly confused at one point (right after the fight at the party on Hero's Night) that I spent about 10 minutes flipping back and forth figuring out that the prince's name is Cyron, the pupil's name is Cycil, and the other fighter was named Cyrcil. Why on earth would you have three characters who are entirely unrelated with such similar names in such a short number of pages? I read the entire fight scene thinking that Moraven was fighting his apprentice. Too confusing.

2
I get how cool ninjas/samurai/kungfu guys are, but so far the character of Moraven Tolo is distracting from the legitimately cool story of the Anturasi clan. I promise Mr Stackpole, you don't need flashy combat every three or four chapters to keep me interested in the family that is SO GOOD at MAKING MAPS that they become nearly immortal.

It's pretty obvious that Moraven is going to accompany one of the brothers, but you are drawing it out for no real purpose.

3
Slow slow slow slow slow. This book is so utterly slow. I concede that everything up to the point I'm at is interesting and generally important to the plot, but it just seems so dragged out. We could have gotten to this point in half so many pages.

I'm going to keep reading this because I am a glutton for punishment and I've got nothing better to read, but I hope that this book picks up the pace and cuts out the silly words.

I'm familiar with Michael Stackpole from his early Battletech universe novels. I enjoyed his writing then and I continue to enjoy it today.

A Secret Atlas is written in a similar style to his "Dragoncrown War" books. This style spends a good portion of the book setting up the world and its inhabitants. Rather than front-load all of the world's history and establish "deep" relationships without written support early in the book, he instead inserts this information slowly - in all the right places - throughout the book. The politics and personality dynamics he writes this way fairly leap off the page, but come at the cost of overall story pacing, especially in the first half of the book.

I'm a big fan of complex worlds that are internally consistent and well developed. I'm a bigger fan of unique ways of writing the epic fantasy series. I'm still a bigger fan of characters that I can cheer for and villians who, while villians, have three dimensional personalities that include some admirable qualities.

Michael Stackpole delivers on all counts and this goes on the short list of books that I'd recommend to a friend and I just bought the sequel yesterday.