Customer Reviews

The Walls of Westernfort

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I search and search for really engaging, interesting and WELL WRITTEN lesbian novels especially sci-fi/fantasy. Good ones are extremly hard to come by. This novel does it and does it so well that I found myself easily captivated and drawn into Natasha's world. Jane has created a world that is belivable and well thought out. The characters are well developed and are neither good nor bad but have different sets of beliefs that they live, and sometimes, die by. I found myself beliving that people could and would act a certain way because of what they happened to believe. I won't go to much into the plot others here have already done so and you can read them should you wish to... I won't spoil it for you.

But I was impressed by the world building and complex story telling, enabling to me to really get a 'feel' for Natasha's world. I thought that Natasha's inner struggle was communicated to me with such ease that I felt that I was a participant rather than a spectator. I cared for whom Natasha cared about, I felt her anger at the 'heretics' and her confusion and cried over her heartfelt anguish. In short I loved it and it shall win a place on my book shelf... not an honour I easily bestow.

Read this and do yourself a favour... you won't regret it.

"When in doubt, polish it." is the mindless maxim that Natasha Ionadis has spent the last several years following as a Temple Guard. In Jane Fletcher's Walls of Westernfort, this devout 22 year old woman is offered an opportunity by the Temple hierarchy to be part of a covert mission and she leaps at the chance to offer her life to her goddess, Celaeno. She is to be part of a team of three women who are to infiltrate a group of evil heretics, journey to their stronghold known as Westernfort, and assassinate their leaders.

Natasha's commanding officers believe it will be a suicide mission. Posing as a family interested in joining the heretics, the intelligence agents' journey will challenge the beliefs that Natasha has sworn herself to defend, force her to face her own internal crisis, and define the nature of loyalty and faith. Along the way, she also struggles with her definition of family, and finally, love.

Walls of Westernfort is a recent release from Jane Fletcher and part of her growing Celaeno fantasy series. Celaeno is an all-female society in a pre-industrial, pre-Enlightenment setting ruled by a strict theocracy. The idea of a female-centric, goddess-worshipping world is often symbolic of a utopian culture in lesbian-feminist founded speculative fantasy and science fiction. And a new reader to the Celaeno series might be tempted to adopt this view initially, especially as she travels with the naive and earnest Natasha on her coming-of-age quest.

The Temple authorities who oversee the worship of Celaeno, with its complex undercurrents of science cloaked in religion, will tolerate no deviance from its established policies and will stop at nothing to ensure compliance with temple law. Issues involving the nature of religion, particularly that of a fundamentalist view, and the dangers it can impose in politics is a primary theme of Fletcher's Celaeno world. As a result, Walls of Westernfort, is not only a highly engaging and fast-paced adventure novel, it provides the reader with an interesting framework for examining the same questions of loyalty, faith, family and love that Natasha must face.

It is unnecessary to have read any other Celaeno novels to follow the action and the unfolding culture. While some of the characters in Walls will be familiar to readers of other Celaeno titles, the series is not designed to be strictly chronological.

In Walls, we see the Temple Guard, inside and out. We learn of their strict code of discipline and life, including abstinence from alcohol and sex, and with Natasha we learn of the harsh, cruel methods the Guard employs to deal with heretics in the name of Celaeno. Once Natasha finds the heretics might not be demons, she must struggle with questions regarding her mission and whether it is morally right.

The very act of impersonating a heretic requires Natasha to see these "evil traitors" as ordinary women who are attempting to live peaceful, productive lives, maintain their own beliefs and remain true to their own hearts. This realization is the beginning of Natasha's internal struggles that will bring her to a crisis of faith, and force her to think for herself.

Related to Natasha's self-questioning is her growing attraction to Dani, one of the heretics assigned to guide the "family" to Westernfort. A potter by trade, Dani has suffered a great deal of loss and pain, courtesy of the Guards. And as the attraction and affection between the two women grows, it will become apparent that before Dani can allow herself the hope of loving Natasha, she will have to deal with those scars.

In Walls, Fletcher brings this chapter of Natasha's life to a satisfying conclusion. However, it is clear that many stories of Celaeno remain to be explored. This reader will be looking for other titles set in Celaeno and hopes that Fletcher continues with her storytelling.

With Jane Fletcher's mesmerizing stories, The Walls of Westernfort (winner of the 2005 Golden Crown Literary Awards- Sci-Fi/Fantasy) and Rangers at Roadsend, the first two books in her Celaeno Series, she has converted this reader into a sci fi lover. Each book takes us into a magical world fraught with danger and full of moral dilemmas.

In The Walls of Westernfort young Guard Natasha Ionadis accepts a dangerous undercover mission, knowing that its success may depend upon her dying. Natasha aka Jess and her two "mothers", Cal and Rohanna, must travel as spies to Westernfort to assassinate three leaders, Gina, Kimberly and Lynn, of a rebel heretic movement. Their movement must cease as it is evil and against all that Celaeno stands for. Along the journey to Westernfort and while living there, Natasha gets to know one of these "heretics", her guide Dani, to whom she is attracted. She begins to question everything she has learned and is left with some very difficult choices because someone will die no matter what she decides to do.

The ethical dilemma that Natasha must face is what makes The Walls of Westernfort so captivating. Every teaching she has learned until this journey is now in question. Natasha is discovering that when she gets to think for herself, there is not one right answer. These women are not evil because they do not possess the same beliefs as she does. By struggling with these questions, Natasha is even more confused because now her choices are not clear cut. On the one hand, she may be killing women that she does not believe are evil, and on the other hand she may be risking the lives of her comrades. Fletcher presents Natasha's inner turmoil so convincingly through her thoughts and interactions with the other characters that as a reader, I found it difficult to choose the right answer for Natasha.

This is a thought-provoking intelligent story that stays with the reader long after the last page is read.

Rangers at Roadsend is another absorbing tale of intrigue, murder and romance.

We are drawn into this story by the secrets of Sgt. Chip Coppelli and Private Katryn Nagata. Katryn is transferred to Chip's squadron under mysterious circumstances and together the two must track down rogue criminals. They learn that the crimes are part of a deeper conspiracy that involves the so-called good citizens of Landfall, Chip's former home where there are unpleasant memories for her. To succeed in this mission as Rangers, they must trust each other, but both have too many secrets. In the course of unraveling the conspiracy plot, Chip develops an emotional attachment to Katryn, but knows that as her superior, it must remain as unrequited love.

In Rangers at Roadsend, Fletcher skillfully cultivates a back story in the middle of their journey to expand on the past and secrets of Katryn. As Katryn's history is told through this back story, we discover a hero rather than a dishonest loathsome Ranger. We learn of Katryn's struggles and how valiantly she faced them against all odds and with no believers. When Fletcher seamlessly moves us back to the main plot, Chip becomes her champion, and a romantic subplot flows naturally from this. These two characters are expertly crafted into unlikely heroes that we, as the reader, must root for.

In Rangers at Roadsend Fletcher not only gives us powerful characters, but she surprises us with an unexpected ending to the murder conspiracy plot, pushing the story in one direction only to have that direction reversed more than once. This is one thrill ride the reader will not want to get off.

(While Rangers at Roadsend was published in the United States after The Walls of Westernfort, it is not a sequel. The Celaeno Series is not a chronological series but does share the same characters.)

In Jane Fletcher's novel, The Walls of Westernfort, Natasha Ionadis, a devoted Guardswoman, is willing to die for her beliefs and volunteers for the ultimate sacrifice. Fletcher explores serious themes in the Celaeno series and creates a world that loosely parallels the one we inhabit. Despite being female, the rulers of Celaeno are as susceptible to human foibles, and senseless wars, as are the political leaders on Earth. Fletcher weaves a plausible action-packed plot, set on a credible world, and with appealing multi-dimensional characters. The result is a fantasy by one of the best speculative fiction writers in the business.

In this volume of the series, the Chief Consultant Pereira, current leader of the Sisterhood believes she has the goddess given right to rule the world and to regulate everything in it. Threatened by rebel heretics, the Sisterhood requests volunteers to carry out a risky assignment to rid the world of the blasphemous heretic leaders, and Natasha's name has been put forth as a worthy candidate. On her mission, Natasha will pose as a heretic along with two other temple guards and thus get close to the women she must assassinate.

What happens to a young woman who would do anything in honor of the goddess Celaeno, when she signs up for the mission? Natasha believes the religious teaching of the Sisters without question. Impressionable, pious, and perhaps brainwashed, Natasha's heart and soul swell with love for the Goddess. However, as she gets to know the heretics, Natasha's faith falters to the point where she doesn't recognize herself nor does she know what she truly believes anymore. Further complications include matters of the heart as Natasha wonders if she can not only maintain her celibacy, and more importantly do what she started out to do.

Despite taking place on an imaginary world, while reading Jane Fletcher's brand of speculative fiction, the line is blurred where the reality ends and the fantasy begins. I strongly recommend that you get caught up in the loves and lives of heroines you'll adore. The Walls of Westernfort is an interlinked yet standalone novel that will leave you sated but begging for more. Luckily, there is The Temple at Landfall and Rangers at Roadsend to read until Jane Fletcher puts forth another in The Celaeno Series. The Walls of Westernfort, a 2005 Golden Crown Literary Award Winner, is as engaging as it is well written and should not be missed. I can't wait for the 2007 release of Dynasty of Rogues. Fletcher is also known for The Lyremouth Chronicles.

Jane Fletcher has got a great series going. I'm not much into Sci-Fi, but I am enjoying Fletcher's series.

The sharing and rebuilding of worlds and lives is something we could really use in this real world.

The characters have unusual names, but they are well developed and bring the story to life.

This is just not for Sci-Fi reader.

If you're looking for a good lesbian romance story that takes place in a fantasy type world, look no further. It's very well written and the characters are not only lovable, but believable as well.

Second book I read in the Celaeno series I read and I enjoyed this one as well.

It delves further into the planet's society, again stressing the conflict between the Sisters/Guards and those who oppose them.

This story takes place sixteen years after Temple at Landfall, and follows up on the deserted Rangers and heretics and how they fare in their newly built city. Myths formed around their desertion and the new city in Landfall, and the Sisters try to keep it quiet and at the same time have more Intelligence information and try to take the leaders of Westernfort out.

The story focuses on two young women, Dani, a heretic, and Natasha, Guard on a secret mission. It's a classic tale of faith and betrayal, the women have grown up with different truths and Natasha for the first time is confronted with a different truth than the one she believes in.

I just love this planet and the stories it has to tell. For my liking it focuses too strongly on the romance aspect and is caught in the traps of that genre in that it's obvious from the start who will end up together and what conflicts they will have to face to get there. But the story they have to tell is a good one so I take this minor weak point, imo, gladly to find out more about Celaeno.

The Walls of WesternfortThis is the third story in the Celaeno world books. It's written with a story and character depth not always found in lesbian fiction. If you liked Daughters of a Coral Dawn by Katherine Forrest - this book is for you! Ms. Fletcher is a spellbinding story teller. I stayed up past my bedtime many nights reading this and her other books.

At 300 pages this is another wonderfully substantial and satisfying novel. This book is part of the authors Celaeno Series. While each novel takes place in the same world and same locales they all have a different flavour.

This novel is special in that it concerns a woman's coming of age, the decisions she originally makes based on life long beliefs, how those beliefs are held against a light of truth and what she makes of that truth. It is a wonderfully complex story with a variety of interesting people.

The most interesting feeling for me was that I was able to inhabit each person's perspective . I found myself disagreeing with decisions they made and yet was completely understanding of what compelled them to be made.

It was very nice seeing familiar faces from the author's other novels in this story.

This was an exciting novel, very rich in passion and humor too. Be prepared, while the character's feelings and actions are authentic to today's world, the setting is much like I would imagine the middle ages had been with all the brutality of that era as well.

I liked it so much I devoured the other three books in the series in one week. It really doesn't matter which order you read the novels in (I read Temple at Landfall first).

Don't miss any of the books in the Celaeno World Series by Jane Fletcher

The Rangers at Roadsend
The Temple at Landfall
The Walls of Westernfort
Dynasty of Rogues

I purchased this entire series (as far as I could surmise) several months ago, but it has resided on my `to be read' bookshelf since it arrived in the mail. I assumed this would be one of those story lines I'd have to be `in the mood' to read if it were to be enjoyed. By that, I mean there are certain types of stories (in this case, a medieval-ish plot) that I need to be in a certain frame of mind to fully appreciate. Boy was I ever wrong! This book is so well-written that I could have read it at any time and still been waiting for more.

Natasha Ionadis is assigned to join two other Rangers on a quest that is almost certainly their last. They are being sent into the camp of their enemy where they are tasked with killing three of the enemy leaders. However, due to difficult circumstances, their trek takes longer than expected and Natasha begins to blur the lines between what she has been taught and what she experiences in the enemy camp. Specifically, these women are not the evil beings she expects them to be. Just the opposite is actually true. She does a lot of maturing as she investigates the truth, not only in the people around her but also within herself.

Note -- My only complaint is that I don't really know what the series order is. As far as I can tell, the series order is - `The Walls of Westernfort' then `Rangers at Roadsend' then `The Temple at Landfall' then `Dynasty of Rogues' and finally `Shadow of the Knife.' The books open in the years 553, 533, 536, 561, and 519, respectively. [The first three listed were the first three published, in that order.] Additionally, very early, Fletcher wrote `The World Celaeno Chose,' but it isn't even mentioned as a book in the series. Except that the Amazon.com main heading says `Shadow' is Book 1 of the series (as it would seem to be based on the year in which it opens), these books are not numbered, nor are they chronological. That said, I have read the first three (in the order above) already and they all seem to be stand-alone stories. Each is enhanced by background information gained from each additional read, but they seem to be enjoyable when read in any order.

Bottom Line - Even if you think you might not like this kind of book, go grab a copy and give it a chance. Since finishing the first three in this series, I ordered Fletcher's Lyremouth Chronicles too. Great author, great read!