Customer Reviews

The Soul Weaver (The Bridge of D'arnath, Book 3)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm stunned. Completely and totally stunned. I love Carol Berg's work, but this book let me down so much. Her work up until now has been intriguing in plot and flawless in execution, so what happened here?

The first two books tied into one another nicely. Small bits and peices that are only hinted at in the first book become the central focus of the second. I had assumed that this would be the same, but far from it. With her previous triology, all the peices felt connected. The realities of the conclusion were hinted at in the first two books of her first, the Rai-Kirah trilogy, and came to fruition in the third. Here, the events of the conclusion came as a complete shock. And not in a good way.

What is the Bounded? How come there is absolutely no indication of it whatsoever in the first two books? There is not so much of a hint of it being created, although the book claims the creation of this new work at the end of the second book. How? Well, that's never explained. Supposedly it's connected to Gerick's talent as the titular Soul Weaver, another peice that wasn't hinted at in the other two books. And, aside from the Bounded's godlike "Source" revealing to Gerick what's really going on, it serves no purpose. The reader doesn't actually see the conversation where the Source explains. The Bounded doesn't help him to defeat the lords of Zhev'na, who have somehow faded into the background, presenting much less of a threat than they should have.

The grand betrayal at the end should have been a revelation. Instead it was a rude jolt. Who is this guy? What's his motivation? Why have we not heard of him AT ALL before now? Instead of being woven perfectly in with the rest of the characters, he appears out of nowhere for the third book and is suddenly the traitorous villain. And while Berg's traitors usually pull the wool over even my eyes, I can't see how this guy fooled any of the characters. It was obvious from the beginning that he was up to no good.

With all the time Berg's spends on explaining what happened before, this book would have actually stood better on its own than as part of this trilogy. If the first two books were a smooth transition from first gear to second, this was a shocking jolt as the engine stalls moving into third.

It's been four years since the last book, and with it Gerick and his relationship with his mother, Seri, has blossomed. But his father's work in Avonar has kept him away from his son, so Karon decides to take Gerick over the Bridge and risk the eyes of the Lords of Zhev'Na so he can bond with his son for a night. Yet right after they return, the problems start coming.

Gerick is accused of being a traitor, people all over Leire are disappearing, and the mysterious people responsible are haunting Gerick's dreams. There is another world, the Bounded, and its people are convinced Gerick will rule them.

As with the last book, the point of view changes between characters, although a bulk of it will go to Gerick. He has stopped his incessant whining and temper tantrums and is acting more like an adult. Karon is losing himself to the more violent D'Natheil, the Prince's personality overwhelming Karon's in his rage. Seri must decide whether she believes her husband or her son, and must play mediator between the two. The character's changes as well as the fast-paced plot make this book come to life.

I absolutely loved this book. It outshone the previous two, and thats saying something. Berg plays with the reader's emotions and uses them to make an intense story that you can't put down. Definetly one of the best fantasy series I've ever read, and this book concludes it impeccably. I highly recommend it.

quick edit* Apparantly this is not the last book of the series. Apparantly Carol Berg decided to put one more book in so she could work with Gerick's issues. Sounds exciting, details are on her site. Its called "Daughter of Ancients" and should be out sometime in September.

The novel was great. I enjoy all of Berg's work. I think her characterization is beyond comparison. I'm not sure what happened in this novel. The story starts off like usual. Karon is off leading a fight. Seri is at home trying to raise their son, Gerik. Then suddenly, Karon want's to kill Gerik. Gerik flees to a new world, the Bounded. Which is a really interesting place. Nearly 1/2 of the book is spent in this new world, with Gerik trying to solve its problems. Eventually he leaves the Bounded to solve his family problems as well as the problems of the other two worlds.

The only problems I had with this book is that the world of the Bounded and the actual bad guy in the end of the story was never introduced. I don't understand how these people could just pop up out of no where.

Would this stop me from reading any other books from Berg? Of course not. Berg is still a very talented writer and will always be on my number one list of reads.

Berg delivers again. I was enthralled by the strong female protaganist (Seri) and the equally interesting Prince of Anovar. All three books held my interest and I was utterly surprised by the ending chapters of this book. No, it wasn't an easy ending to understand unless close attention had been paid to the story. The end came and I had a basic understanding of what went on. Yet still in a bit of shock, I went back just to see how Berg set me up so well. Was the "The Bounded" part supposed to be crystal clear? If it had been, then I might have been disappointed and might have predicted some of what occurred at end. The Bounded is not a separate character - refer to the introductory poetry and folk stories told throughout the book to gain further understanding.

Bottom line: I loved this book. It wasn't structured as expected, all the characters had truly mysterious aspects and the love bounds portrayed felt so authentic. Berg took me on an amazing ride through an inventive world and I sincerely thank her for it, yet again.

Yet I see she has another book coming in this series. I totally thought it was over. I'm glad that it's not, but even if it had been, this last book would have ended the series just fine.

She is brilliant. Berg had me switching opinions of every character all the time. Just when i think that there is no one she could trick me, she does. I've read all her other stuff, so I have an understanding of her style, yet she still pulls quick ones on me. Everything is always tied back to something. Like Gerick's Soul Weaving for instances. You get a glimpse of the power while he's a Lord, but of course we know he's only doing the Lord's evil power, not soul weaving. Then, as he's going through the breach, he reaches out with his power to stay a live. He created order from the chaos, creating a world bound to himself. THis is the Bounded, the Source a reflection of his Soul. I should have guessed, who the bad guy was, it made sense, all the clues were there. His father was the big surprise for me at the end. I don't have a single clue about what the next book could be about. I love how the characters with the least amount of power, have the larger influence upon the books, mainly Seri and Paulo. Nobility of the heart and true love, is what this book breaths, and it makes you feel every part of it, every bit of the story will make you feel what the character feels.

It seems that Berg's third book always fall apart. It happened with Restoration as well. It's as if she's rushing through the story. Her plot is vague yet obvious and I can see what's coming next. The ending is so transparent I couldn't believe it actually happened. I will continue to read Berg, just not expect her to maintain her plot through number three. She has a FOURTH book in this series coming out - will she be redeem herself?

While Karon rules in Avonor on the world of Gondai, a place where magic is practiced openly; his wife Seri and their son Gerik live on the mundane world of Valleorn, where magic is stamped out whenever the anomaly appears. Gerick recovers from being held prisoner by the lords of Zhev'Na, powerful evil sorcerers. They hoped to break Gerick and make him one of them but his parents rescued him.

In Avonor, Karon battles the Lords of Zhev'Na, a war that has been going on for a millennium. The only time he sees his wife and son is when he crosses D'Arnath's Bridge that links the two worlds. He takes Gerick to Avonor for a day and returns him to his mother. Not long afterward Karon believes Gerick betrayed his plans to the Lords.

Gerick crosses the bridge into a new world whose people say he is their rightful king. He cares for these people, damaged, broken, but kind. Still he knows he must leave them to so he can root out the traitors that counsel his father. He also wants to use his knowledge to help Karon put an end to the Lords and bring peace to a world that knows only war.

Carol Berg is one of those rare and talented fantasists who has the ability to create worlds out of her imagination, populates them with tortured but likeable characters and place them in realms that feel believable. After reading THE SOUL WEAVER readers will feel as if they have gone through an emotional wringer having empathized with the three main characters. This exciting finale brings to a close one of the best fantasy series in a long time.

Harriet Klausner

I like the concept of soul weaver and enjoyed this book a lot. This book is more than soul weaving, there is world weaving, character weaving, good and evil weaving, and on. This book seems to be a mathematical equation based on 3's and 4's and 7's in a matrix of algorithms. The cleverness raises my eyebrows,,with Gerrick creating a world populated with broken people, weaving in and out of their fastnesses, replenished by the mysterious Source.
I enjoyed the pools that Karon journeyed through for his healing rite of passage, a mirror of other things. The visions and poetic/prose writing style made this a book I found hard to put down. Now on to Daughter of the Ancients.

The Soul Weaver continues the Bridge of D'Arnath series, and although there were parts that maybe were a bit slow going it was made up for in events that were unexpected and exciting. A strong series that could have turned out much worse. I looked forward to the next installment.

I have to disagree with a lot of the other reviewers. Did this book start out slower than the rest? Yes. Of course, it had a lot to explain to the reader. But, I can definitely say that this has been my favorite of the series so far. The last half of the book is so worth the ride. And, I understood why the beginning was slower than the previous two... it made the ending pack one huge wallop of emotion. Loved it! Can't wait to read the next one!