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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Formulaic attempt at fantasy., October 14, 2007
The Covenant Rising by Stan Nicholls is the first book of The Dreamtime. This book promises a rich, detailed world with a twist on the concept of magic. Magic is regulated by the powers that be. The back cover promises a gripping tale of magic, sword duels, and mystery. This is the first book I have read by Mr. Nicholls so I am basing this review not on a body of work, but on this book as an individual entity.
The main plot of this book centers around the search for a mysterious group and what their influence is regarding magic. Along the way there are also subplots of political intrigue, a mysterious death that has long ranging complications. There is also the subplot of the main character being afflicted with a spell that no one has any answers for, but it is causing him great distress. This novel is packed with a great deal of potential. Sadly, the plot falls remarkably flat. It quickly becomes uninteresting and formulaic to the extreme that observant readers will guess where this book will end, and ultimately where the entire series will end up. While the book starts off very well, within the first fifty pages it quickly stagnates into a regurgitation of past fantasy books and is no where near original. In fact there are no less than three sections of the book where it was nigh painful to read due to the pacing and prose and lack of interest in any of the plot points.
The characters of this book are equally disappointing. There was a great deal of potential for characters such as Reeth, Kutch, and Serrah, yet, when I finished the book all he characters were largely forgettable. They are riddled with undisguised clichés and the dialog is often redundant and uninteresting. In fact, there were several times while reading this novel that the dialog seemed less like talking than it did the author telling the reader what the reader had to know to make the book make sense. In the end, the best words to describe the characters are flat and uninteresting, which is too bad, because I had high hopes for this novel.
One thing I particularly liked about this book is the setting. There seems to be a good amount of potential here. There is a rich history for the world, there are interesting takes on magic and how it is used. I was genuinely interested in the setting. Unfortunately without a good plot, and good characters, the setting can not carry a book.
As I mentioned before this book suffers from several things.
Poor characters. Both in terms of dialog, development, and riddled with clichés. Mr. Nicholls seems to want to have a very detail, involved plot. Yet, this book may have benefited from a less complex plot. Maybe, Mr. Nicholls tried to do too much with this book and in the end had so much going on he lost the reader.
Overall, I didn't enjoy this book even though I tried rather hard to. In the fantasy genre today, there are so many other books out there I can not really see myself ever recommending this one to anyone. In fact, I am not sure if I will read another Nicholls books again. With the dearth of books in the genre, books like this can sour a reader. I may even warn people against reading this one, which I normally never do. Great promise, terrible execution for this novel.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing setup but poor execution, March 4, 2007
Long ago magic permeated all that was to the point that existence was a waking dream. Over time the dream ended, but man's ability to shape reality to his whims remained. While the world shaking powers of the Founders have been lost, magic is still a potent force capable of fantastic miracles. Massive castles cling to floating islands through the power of the Craft while magicians form staggeringly complex illusions. Two massive empires, Gath Tampoor and Rintarah, have utilized the power of magic to conquer the majority of the civilized world, with only a few contested areas remaining. Meanwhile, the merciless order of Paladins retains a veneer of neutrality, playing the empires against each other and working for both under the facade of keeping peace. Bhealfa, one of the last contested islands, has become a hotbed for rebellion under the guiding hand of the Covenant, a group of dissident wizards bent on overthrowing Imperial rule.
While this sounds like a recipe for a full throttle, five star fantasy extravaganza, The Covenant Rising fails to deliver the goods. There's no question that the author spent a good long time crafting the world and system of magic in this series, but his method of telling the story about that world is unconvincing and occasionally even boring. The main storyline focuses on Reeth Caldason, an enigmatic warrior who has lost the ability to die, and Kutch, an apprentice wizard who follows Reeth around like a lost puppy. Apparently Reeth has become tired of immortality after only a mere eighty years, so he seeks out the most powerful wizards in the land to break his "curse". Along the way he unwillingly becomes embroiled in the Covenant's rebellion against the two opposing empires. While Reeth and Kutch are ostensibly the most important characters, their stories are also the least interesting. Reeth spends the entire novel brooding and maintaining his strong and silent exterior, while Kutch follows Reeth around doing nothing but being constantly annoying and ineffectively attempting to work magic.
A major problem facing The Covenant Rising is that nearly every facet of the story contains something too modern for the fantasy setting. The spy network of Gath Tampoor is called the Council of Internal Security, which the characters refer to as the CIS (reminiscent of FBI, CIA, etc.) When instances like this pop up the reader can't help but lose any sense of immersion in the book's fantasy world. Lengthy discussion between members of the Covenant on the best method of government don't help the matter much either. Another issue that strains the credibility of the novel is that the reason for the Covenant's existence doesn't entirely make sense. The group's overseers are composed of dissident wizards who refuse to register with the government to become legal and legitimate practitioners of magic. The problem with this is that there isn't really any reason for them to not register themselves as magic users. The process of registration doesn't require them to do anything that breaks their moral codes, and with the sheer number of practicing magicians in the world they could still effectively hide themselves as rebels (in fact, it would be easier to hide their rebel affiliation and present the facade of being law abiding citizens).
The minor characters sprinkled throughout the novel, such as the pacifist rebel Kinsel and the prostitute-on-the-run Tanalvah, are the main reason to keep reading. The insane prince Meylobar, who unfortunately only appears a few times during the course of the story, is hands down the most intriguing cast member. His paranoia that someone is trying to kill him grows daily until he becomes convinced that Death itself is stalking him, and the only way to evade an untimely demise is to wipe out the entire population of his subjects so that Death has nowhere to hide from him.
The Covenant Rising has an amazing setup, but the overall execution is poor. Hopefully the problems in this novel are rectified in the rest of the series, because the intricately crafted world of the Dreamtime series practically demands a higher quality novel.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Thriving characters, complex plot, but..., July 21, 2007
If you like conflicts with swords, magic, and political intrigue, this is a book worth reading.
Stan Nicholls creates a believable world of engaging characters whose desires weave a nice complex plot. Among the storylines, Reeth Caldason is the main character, a swordsman who is near eternal but with a terrible price of a berserker rage he can not predict nor control. He suffers from a magical malady or curse, which he searches for a cure. Nicholls does a good job of keeping track of the different storylines, but it may be to many for some readers who want more "page" time with Reeth and a few others. The philosophical debates over the value of magic seemed overdone, like arguments between advocates for and against gun control. The action scenes, especially the battles, cast a vivid vision that makes Nicholls a promising fantasy author.
The late David Gemmell wrote a blurb for this book and that was good enough for me to pick it up. Nicholls is no Gemmell, except for the battle scenes. That's good as he establishes his space in the world of Fantasy. The use of modern references did not distract me as it appears seamless and fitting for this series' world. The ending sets up the next book in the series with no real closure of the first. BUT, I found the end satisfying enough that I want to read the next book in the series. With so many series vying for attention, Nicholls' work is well worth reading.
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