12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wayfarer Redemption, Part 7??, June 2, 2007
This review is from: The Serpent Bride (DarkGlass Mountain, Book 1) (Hardcover)
Seems like old times, eh? Axis and StarDrifter together again, the weird, somewhat icky SunSoar affinity for intrafamily sex, the overarching plots that no one seems to understand or be able to explain to those necessary to their success, but are somehow meant to save the world from complete annihilation... We're back!!! Notwithstanding that somewhat sarcastic introduction, I really enjoyed this book because, well, I really enjoyed The Wayfarer Redemption, despite its flaws. Fortunately, The Serpent Bride contains the same beautiful scenery, rich descriptions of magic and nature and great character development. Unfortunately, it also contains some of the same flaws that plagued the foundation stories.
First of all, there are some inconsistencies with the information about Tencendor and the Icarii presented in earlier books. For example (Spoiler alert!), Salome states here that women pregnant with Icarii babies die if the Icarii fathers aren't present at birth to sing the babies out. What??? If I remember correctly, all Icarii weren't enchanters, and I don't remember a huge problem with infant mortality among the Icarii. Babies were born to non-enchanter fathers who were NOT able to sing their babies out, as they weren't capable of manipulating the star dance. Also, I don't remember this caveat being true in Enchanter, when Azhure was pregnant with Caelum. EvenSong told Azhure not to worry, that Icarii babies were born all the time with their fathers not present. So why, all of a sudden, is Salome so worried? And if this is a needless worry, why doesn't StarDrifter put her fears at ease? In a related issue, how is StarDrifter able to sense that Salome's child is (a) a boy and (b) an enchanter? Is there any such thing anymore as an enchanter, anyway? Yes, I know, the star dance is still alive, and will become an issue in later books, but the Icarii haven't been able to sense it for 8 years, and StarDrifter shouldn't be able to sense the things he does about Salome's child.
Second problem: what's wrong with simply saying "Hey, guys, there's an ancient evil rising from the depths of the earth that's going to use skraelings to take over the world. What are we going to do about it?" instead of hatching improbable plots that sow discord and resentment and despair. Lister (the incarnation of Light, sometimes appearing as a snake (a snake?????) ) and Isaiah (the incarnation of Water, sometimes appearing as a frog) are a bit insufferable, as they are responsible for most of the cryptic silences and half-truths that weigh the story down. But, maybe we're not really supposed to like these characters for just this reason... maybe we're supposed to resent them a little and give our "loyalty" as readers to Axis and Maximilian and Ishbel. I can buy that.
Third: the ick factor. Douglass has a tendency to make her villains not only bad, but, well, gross, and write lots of disgusting vignettes into the stories. Ba'al'uz reminds me of the Trashcan Man from Stephen King's The Stand; I keep expecting him to shout "Cibola!!! My life for you!!!" to Kanubai as he struggles through the Isembaardian desert. Ugh. And what about the Coil? Reading fortunes through intestines, or, as Douglass describes, "steaming bowel" is a new level of nausea-inducement, as is the description of eight-year-old Ishbel licking from her fingers the blood and pus snatched from the plague-dead body of her mother. I've got to give her credit, no one does disgusting like Sara Douglass.
On the other hand, no one does beauty like Douglass, either. The bonds that her characters have with each other, good and bad, are amazing to behold. The imagination-defying descriptions of the glass pyramid, the stone fortresses, the beauty of the River Lhyl at sunset, the gratitude StarDrifter feels when his wings begin to regrow... these are the reasons why I read Sara Douglass and love everything she writes and, as a writer, strive to match her incredible descriptive powers. Read The Serpent Bride, if you like fantasy at its best, most dizzying heights, and its cheesiest, guffaw-inducing lows. You'll enjoy the wild ride and look forward to the rest of the saga with baited breath.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not her best unfortunately, September 5, 2007
This review is from: The Serpent Bride (DarkGlass Mountain, Book 1) (Hardcover)
I'll state upfront that I am a huge fan of SD's work. But her writing has been at its strongest when she creates historical fiction/fantasy. Her earlier work (Wayfarer redemption, threshold, beyond the hanging wall) were all good fantasy work but not exceptional. Where readers may have hoped that SD had improved as a writer during the past decade or so since she last ventured into fantasy proper, it seems that she has reverted to a level of writing that barely sets her apart from the many other fantasy writers. The main strength of this opening volume of the DarkGlass Mountain trilogy is the incredible world SD has created and the facinating way that she blended three relatively disparate storylines (from her previous novels) into this grand adventure. I could almost overlook some of the flaws in writing style except for a couple of things that need to be rectified in future installments.
1. There are simply too many characters that seem to float around with little impact upon the main storyline. For example, Axis- a hero from the Wayfarer series- has been brought back from the dead but does little in this volume other than hang around and be a sounding board for other character's ideas. Fair enough, he may well play an important part in future installments, but his current status was incomensurate with his 'sceen time' in the Serpent Bride.
2. The book suffers badly from over-writing. The old writing adage of 'show, don't tell' is something that SD has neglected here. There are many, too many, pages where she simply describes how a character is feeling and over analyses each of their motivations. I would have appreciated a defter touch and some more subtety. Perhaps more suggestion and evocation of images would have been better than spelling everything out (Axis felt sad...)
Overall though, it is really enjoyable and had it been another writer I may have ranked it higher. But compared to her more recent work, the Serpent Bride reads more like a draft of a novel that could be truly great than as a finished piece of work.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
could've been better, August 25, 2007
This review is from: The Serpent Bride (DarkGlass Mountain, Book 1) (Hardcover)
I almost didn't pick this book up because the cover was so CHEEZY. That being said this book kept my interest for the most part. A few things that I would loved to have seen done differently:
Lose the "romance" element. Or at least lose the stupid and pointless rift between Maxel and Ishbel and vindictiveness of women like Ravenna and Starweb. Frankly, the couple's falling out and the trauma and drama of them sleeping with other people was a way too big part of the plot and detracted from the story considerably. I always find these types of tricks irritating in fantasy. They are not credible in the least and it sucks that the author relies on the romance so much for her story. It especially sucks that the cliffhanger at the end was mostly re. this element.
Stop portraying men as these god like heroes and the women as jealous, indecisive, and vindicative. It really is pretty trite and again detracts from a decent story.
Get the geography of the place right. The story line (especially Isiah's journey Northward) doesn't follow the map in the front of the book.
Axis again? Was that really necessary. People really should do us the decency of staying dead. There were enough "hero men" characters without his reintroduction.
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