Customer Reviews

The Silent Strength of Stones

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Silent Strength of Stones" is a wonderful book. Hoffman builds her own world that looks exactly like our own, except for those strange people with the mysterious (sometimes even to them!) powers. There's only one thing that made this a less-than-phenominal experience for me: I'd already ready "The Thread That Binds The Bones", Hoffman's first novel. "Thread" makes this book seem anemic! The two are loosely connected, since Hoffman scatters clues (names and pieces of her Ilmonish vocabulary) that Willow, Evan and their strange family are related to the main characters of "Thread". Since "Thread" is, sadly, out of print and hard to find, "The Silent Strength of Stones" will have to suffice for people new to Hoffman's work. Even a book that is, in my opinion, her second best, is still head and shoulders above the work of most other fantasy writers. This is a book that will carry you along, envelope you in its world and characters, and leave you begging for more of Ms. Hoffman brilliant writing.

Like the Harry Potter stories, this book is about a magical child growing up among non-magical people who eventually discovers his own heritage and powers. But the story of this boy's discovery of his true nature is much richer and darker, and much less predictable. The characters are more complex--even most of the "bad guys". The mother who abandons him and the father who mistreats him turn out to be doing the best they can in struggling with their own demons. As in "The Golden Compass", another of the few truly original fantasy novels written in recent years, not everything is spelled out. Tantalizing hints of greater mysteries and stranger worlds leave the reader craving more.I found this book to be much more satisfying and well-written than her earlier "The Thread that Binds the Bones", although I did enjoy that book too. My only criticism is that the book is much too short--it's one of the rare books that truly deserves a sequel. And the author deserves to sell at least as many books as J.K. Rowling.

Nina Kiriki Hoffman is a new discovery for me, and one long overdue. The Silent Strength of Stones is an excellent introduction to her writing, which -- like contemporaries Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Terri Windling, etc. -- crafts a highly developed fantasy world within the framework of a thoroughly modern, very real society. Her characters are finely drawn and wholly believable in this setting, and the story resolves neatly while still leaving ample room for a sequel.

Hoffman is an exciting writer -- I can't remember the last time I found one who intrigued me this much!

Nina Kiriki Hoffman has succeeded in creating a fantasy world just around the corner from our own,a world that draws on the unique qualities of the American continent.She doesn't use elves, or faeries, or any "imported" european style myths, but creates her own unique "Powers and Presences". A landscape just like our own until you scratch the surface. Briefly, the story is about a young man, almosts an adult, dealing with new-found talents, people (and others) which do and don't like him because of those talents, and the major issue of dealing with parental abandonment and just plain growing up. Because this book, and her previous "The Thread that Binds the Bones" are so unique and special I recommend this book highly (and anything else by Ms. Hoffman).

This was a really great book. It sucks you in and is very hard to put down. Its just enough fantasy and magic for me. An ordinary guy in an ordinary life, and he turns out to be not so ordinary after all. I don't like the whole unicorn and dragon adventure quest type fantasy that is everywhere, and have a hard time finding ones I think I'll like. This was one of them..very different type of fantasy. I wish I knew a category to call it. I don't know what it is about her books, but I just can't get enough, I wish 'Thread that Binds..' wasn't so hard to find. I read the Red Heart of Memories, and then I was immediately hooked on her writing.

A book in the world of _The Thread that Binds the Bones_ (see inotherworlds.com), but unrelated to the earlier book, this fantasy set in our world has Hoffman's characteristic magic, familiar and original at once. It also has the hallmarks of warmth, pleasure, and very human villains. Combined with romance, murky parentage, strange friendships and various non-human beings, this pleasant melange manages coherency and tight focus, and leaves the reader with a feeling of satisfaction and wonder.

I'm a 57 year old woman who started my science fiction/fanasy reading passion in the third grade by reading all the Tarzan books I could get my hands on. The Silent Strength of Stones gave me some of the same magical feeling I get when I walk through our woods with my dogs. The only problem is - the book ended too soon - I want to know more - I want a sequel (or two or three)

Although "The Thread That Binds the Bones" gets a little more attention, "The Silent Strength of Stones" is my favorite Hoffman book with "A Stir of Bones" running a close second.

The standout for me is Hoffman's Nick Verrou, the young hero. He is not perfect by any means but his motives, actions and reactions are very true. His voice is clear in the story even if he's not always sure of where he is going.

The other thing that I like is that Hoffman resists the urge to have a closed ended narrative. Not every story thread has an ending. Although the main story plot has closure, there are other significant moments that do not and within this story and the way that the characters interact, the open-ended storytelling makes sense. It may be understandably frustrating to some readers, but I felt it was appropriate because the main characters are young and nothing at that age has easy closure because they are really just at the beginning of their lives. Hoffman allows that sense of non-closure come through.

The last thing that I like is Hoffman's prose. There is something magical about the way she writes. Smooth, clear, and deceptively simple. She makes the story that unfolds seem effortless and natural. That's a rare talent.

Hoffman is not for everyone but for those of us who find her and admire her work, she's a treasure. And "The Silent Strength of Stones" is my favorite treasure of hers.

Exceptionally-intriguing fantasy novels by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, who's won all kinds of writing awards--Bram Stoker, World Fantasy. The Thread that Binds the Bones and The Silent Strength of Stones deal with an extended family of magic-users, and all the moral/social/familial dilemmas in which they find themselves, in relationships within the family and with outsiders. The magic is believable, all tied up with dead ancestors and unseeable spirits and ancient family history, and it varies from person to person, family to family, generation to generation, like any other inherited trait (instead of "Oh, she's got her grandmother's blue eyes!" it becomes "Oh, she's got her grandmother's second sight!"). Thread deals with the arrival of an outsider, unrelated to the Family in any way, whose inate powers are different from, and stronger in some ways, than those of the Family, and who falls in love all in an instant with a semi-despised daughter of the Family, and between the two of them, the slow steady decline into evil behavior begins to reverse. Stones deals with a long-lost unknown cousin of the Family, living on his own, unaware of his potential, who meets up with some of his relatives and comes of age.

They're good, really really good. Eerie, resonant, by-the-pricking-of-my-thumbs stuff...

What else can I say? This writer wraps you up in a world so believable, so tangible that you forget everything else. She makes you laugh and cry and sigh, sometimes all in a single sentence. I have never read anything by Nina that has failed to please and this is yet another winner. This is dark fantasy that chills. She and Joss Whedon should collaborate sometime!