Customer Reviews

Sorcerer's Son

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

 

 

I found this to be a surprisingly good book (and I am not a big fantasy novel reader). It was just lovely! The romance between Delevev and Gildrum was the highlight for me though. Gildrum, he can pass out at my front door anytime!

I first read this book years ago as a library copy--the title and the smarmy cover painting did not look promising. To my delighted surprise, the story is full of marvelously inventive yet logical plot turns, settings, and details as well as a variety of appealing characters and an appropriately vile villain. Instead of cloying sentiment , there is an underlying warmth that feels honest. There is also suspense, heartbreak and a story that always pulls you on and keeps you guessing. Since the plot extends over a generation, there is space to develop the characters, the story line, and the many unexpected ramifications of magic. There is also a uniquely humanistic depiction of demons (four kinds!) including a tour of their home domains. The ending is exciting and satisfying, but I kept checking to see how many pages I still had left to enjoy and was sorry when they ran out.

Though my first copy was from the library, I've bought multiple copies since then for myself and friends. So far, they've all reacted to this book the same way I did. I recently read it for the fourth time and enjoyed it all over again.

This was a fantastic read. From the cover and the description, it seemed very typical and straight forward. But don't be fooled, this novel is filled with characters with many facets, and lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing. Eisenstein is not a very prolific writer, but if you enjoy this one, pick up In the Red Lord's Reach, The Crystal Palace and Born to Exile. All are fine reads.

As a jaded fantasy reader, I immediately recognized the character types I'd seen in a hundred other fantasy novels. What Eisenstein did is take characters that could easily have been cliches and made them live. These people seem real and human, and the story -- the wonderful, absorbing, unique story is so well told I couldn't put the book down. Some scenes were classic fantasy novel moments but they were so well done they seemed fresh, like I was reading the book the others had been imitating. The plot itself was original and satisfying; it kept me guessing/hoping/wondering without relying on illogical, artificial twists, and I can't remember the last time a fantasy novel achieved that.

I gave it away 'cause I gave away most of my books, from the teenage years. I can't get this one out of my head, though. I loved how simple and vibrant it was. I almost felt like I was in there; seeing and feeling like the characters. I'm an idiot and so I'll buy this one again.

I'm surprised they haven't made this into a film. Wow, I'd love to play the sorceress. I can see myelf there. ;)

Gildrum came to Castle Spinweb as a wounded knight, to be succored by the Lady Delivev, a sorcerer with control over all magic related to spinning or weaving. Then, after a brief idyll of love, he vanished, leaving behind

A WOMAN WAILING FOR A DEMON LOVER

But neither she nor Cray, the son she bore, could know that Gildrum was a demon, enslaved by the evil sorcerer Rezhyk. Nor could Gildrum return to the woman he had come to love. He could only watch helplessly as Cray set out to find the knight who never was, guarded from peril by the webs of ensorcelled spiders.

Frustrated at every step, Cray turned at last to grimmer sorcery for his answers. And thus he came under the control of his mother's archenemy - the Demon-Master Rezhyk