Customer Reviews

Shaihen Heritage: Book 1: Cloak of Magic

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

 

 

By 10, I had read the classics of fantasy. In the decades since, I have grabbed every fantasy novel I could find, swallowing them whole in single-afternoon sittings, searching for that balance between innovative ideas and believable stories, between surprising plot twists and logical consequences, between imaginative settings and realistic characters.

And in this book, I found it. My words aren't worthy, but I wish I could read it for the first time again. I refuse to write any specific details about this book for fear of demeaning its content or giving away any clue to its plot.

I can say a lot, though, in general. Cloak of Magic has a three-dimensional reality; it just happens not to be ours. It lives under the pressure of its history and the fear of its future. It has fascinating characters who have earned their strengths and enjoy their faults despite themselves. The description is so rich, no pictures could be clearer. It has complexity that is so carefully written, you don't realize how intricate it is until you force yourself to put it down and think about it. It has magic and intrigue and personality and emotion. And the plot doesn't disappoint. Cloak of Magic is unique and subtle and clever to any discerning reader.

I recommend this book to people who never want to read fantasy and to those who are well-versed in the field. It's a wonderful read. It's a great book.

One of the better books I've read this year! For once, I am at a loss to find the words to describe just how good this book is.

The back cover synopsis doesn't do this book justice. It is so much more than it appears to be at first glance.
S A Rule's writing style cannot be beat. The flow of her writing was magnetic. I am all in on this series. The Staff of Power is the next in the series and will be available in January and you can be sure I'll be reading it.

Highly interesting characters, especially Kierce. A wonderfully complicated and down-to-earth character.
The dynamic between the characters is compelling, to say the least.
The land of Shehaios is alluring on so many levels, it is impossible for me to convey. I gradually came to understand the mystique of the Spirit of Shehaios and just what that fully means through the eyes of it's inhabitants.
The shocking ending had me floored; I didn't see it coming as I usually do with most novels. That in itelf is worth a two-thumbs up!

A compelling and believable novel.

The Cloak of Magic is not to be missed.

I'm so tickled that I joined GoodReads.com, met Sue, found out about & got to read this book. It is excellent. The first of a trilogy, it starts off with a simple, pastoral world & people that develop as they're pushed into an empire's problems & politics. The characterization is very well done. Traits & flaws are logically developed into twists that sucked me in to a very long lunch hour.

I HAD TO FINISH THE BOOK!!! Do not plan on doing anything else when you get about 3/4 of the way through. You may be able to break away, but it is painful. Not that the first part wasn't good, but the last part just grabbed me & ran.

The second book is due out next month & I can't wait! I've been reading fantasy since I was first reading & it's hard to find a new world & book that is engaging. This is one of the few.

A sordid fantasy tale that plumbs the depths of the human spirit. This dark tale is unrelenting as a small kingdom faces danger and invasion from all sides. Kierce is no innocent Gandalf nice and benign. He is cruel and filled with selfish ambitions. Caras has a good heart but faces situations beyond comprehension. These two pivotal characters strive to bring hope to the kingdom of Shehaios and succeed only at great cost.
I recommend this story to those who enjoy a tale laced with tragedy and broken dreams. This is not a fantasy for the faint of heart. =)

Cloak of Magic by S A Rule

A Review by Trevor Rowe


In Cloak of Magic, S A Rule takes the reader on an enthralling journey to far off places in a time long ago, when dragons roamed the earth and unicorns were still to be found. The world of fantasy would not normally be my choice for a good read but I was very pleasantly surprised that the more I read of this tale the more I began to change my mind. Perhaps because Cloak of Magic does not stray into the bizarre and really unbelievable, but borders on the credible, and only required a tiny stretch of my imagination.

This fascinating journey into the dark ages of history in mythical lands has turned my opinion around about books in the fantasy genre. I almost believe that dragons and unicorns really existed!

The lives of the principal characters, Kierce, the Horse Master of Arhaios, and Caras, the heir to the Chief of Arhaios and Oreath are interlinked throughout the book, not always harmoniously, to bind the people of Shaihen in resisting overthrow by the Empire of the Sacred Union. Their relationships with one another and with the other characters, family, friends and enemies, are cleverly constructed, as is the whole storyline. I found that I had to resist the temptation to read the book right through in one sitting.

Throughout, the author displays excellent descriptive powers, particularly of battle scenes, human relationships and personal conflicts between the use and misuse of power; physical, magical and governmental and, although set in a fantasy environment, many of the intriguing personal and political relationships are very relevant in today's real world.

The conclusion of Cloak of Magic left wanting me to know more. What happens next was on my mind? However, that is not a criticism; far from it as I know that there is a sequel in the pipeline. I shall certainly want to read it and I commend you to do so too - after you have read and enjoyed Cloak of Magic.

Last night I stumbled upon a link to Sue Rule's website, where I proceeded to download and read a PDF containing the first 2 chapters of the Cloak of Magic. After the 2 chapters I wanted more.

The Cloak of Magic is an immersive story that will have you hooked and turning pages. I am an avid reader of Sci/Fi and Fanstasy, and for every 1 book that has me hooked enough to get past 50, I put down 5-10 that just don't have the good story I am looking for. The Cloak of Magic is good, and you will read it and want more.

After reading any book, the highest compliments are, 1) Are you left wanting to read more and, 2) When you are not reading the book do you think about the world. Both of these happened to me.

I look forward to more from SA Rule.

Received as part of First Reads for review.
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I'm really torn by this book, some bits had me desperate to read on but others just left me cold. The ideas are great but it just didn't seem to hang together in a way that pulled me through the story. I liked the characters and would love to have found out more about them but there was never quite enough meat on their bones.

I'm not even sure I would class this as Fantasy but hey I don't know where the trilogy is going. I don't even know if I'm going to read the rest, which is a shame as I feel there's real potential there. Almost as though the author has a whole world (literally) of detail, plots and characters in their head but has not quite worked out how to get it on paper yet, at least not in a way that translates easily to my head.

I can quite easily read a 700 page book in one sitting (if family allow) and have even been known to re-read a previous book of a sequel at almost the same time just to refresh myself prior to the "actual book". This book while I did enjoy it, took a similar amount of effort and it's only 330 pages (ish) long - which should really only be a few hours reading.

I'm very undecided on this one.

The Cloak of Magic is an entertaining story set in a world of where `paradise' is swept up into the power struggles of a decadent empire against a surprisingly intractable rebellion. Not a bad setting as far as such goes; however, the author's attempt to paint this primitive agrarian society into the epitome of spirituality quickly begins to grate under the repetition. To be fair, I generally don't really find utopias all that interesting, so the perpetual reminders of how perfect this society was simply made it more difficult for me to identify with the people in the story ... they just weren't `real.' Kierce was the only character I felt had much depth at all. It was through him that the author presents the best part of the story. The most intriguing concept was that of the Lord High Magician, who appears to be the focal point of the sustaining spirit of this otherwise `godless' land. Unfortunately his uniqueness is overshadowed by the author's attempt to portray the religious fanaticism driving the imperial forces (and with whom they find themselves allied with) as diametrically evil against purity of the `Holy Land.' Here is where the story began to break down for me; I continually had the feeling that I was being preached at while the author tried to emphasize the moral superiority of the one society over the other. It seemed to me that the religion of the empire was a proxy for religion (external to the story) in general and that author was engaging is a little minor axe grinding.

Lest I give the wrong impression completely, I want to restate my opinion that this was a good story. The interplay between the main characters was well done and frequently humorous; in fact, I would have liked more of it (the story pacing was a tad quick). I was especially interested in the imperial commander ... who seems posed to make an even greater contribution to the storyline in the future. Even the political intrigue was complex enough to be fairly enjoyable, as well as reasonably plausible. Of course, what sets this story apart from most is the magic; while not well explained, magic appears to be mostly illusion and slight of hand, with the possible exception of the Lord High Magician's sympathetic connection to spirit of life within his realm. Perhaps this will change as Kierce grows into his power ... but I hope not.

Here in her first novel, Rule does a number of good things. The heart of much good fiction is its characters, and her characterization is pretty solid. The novel rests on the relationship between Kierce, the reluctant heir to the Lord High Magician of Shehaios, and Caras, heir to the chief of Oreath, a province within Shehaios. Each is strongly drawn with a realism that invites both sympathy for and criticism of each of these characters. Their relationship, from boyhood friends to major players in the politics of the country who seem at times to be working at cross-purposes, is portrayed well. Several other characters are strong, either in and of themselves or as studies of a type, though at times I did find myself wishing for even deeper characterization of some. Nonetheless, the characterization is a strength.

Rule also builds an interesting, complex, and believable world. Shehaios, the Fair Land, is characterized on the back of the book as a "self-sufficient agrarian culture," which is threatened by the Empire of the Sacred Union. The latter is extremely reminiscent of the Roman Empire, but Shehaios itself is more than simply agrarian or self-sufficient, it is--or at least aspires to be--radically egalitarian and largely peaceful. At the novel's start, Shehaios finds itself under attack from renegades on the fringe of the empire, as the "king" of Shehaios brokers a marriage between himself and the Empire that works to bring Imperial troops in to defend Shehaios while maintaining his land's independence and its essential character. These are the essential conflicts that dominate the action of the novel, and without moralizing Rule is able to address interesting issues about the structures, values, and biases of these very different cultures, one of which is hierarchical and war-like while the other is egalitarian and peaceful. How, though, does the latter maintain these qualities in the face of violence? How, too, are ways of thinking and perceiving the world shaped by our social structures?

Beyond these things, Rule tells a good story. She paces the story well, exquisitely balances exposition with action, and makes some unexpected moves. It is, at times, a dark novel, full of difficult-if-not-impossible choices, mistakes, and tragedies, but also of joy, love, and life.

I have some small nits to pick here and there, some of which could have been fixed by better editing and some of which may turn out not to be nits at all when the trilogy is all said and done. On the whole, though, I quite enjoyed my first foray into Shehaios and look forward to reading the rest of this series as it comes out.