5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Will Power": Hard to resist, September 21, 2010
Will Power, second in a series of fast-paced fantasy novels by A J
Hartley, makes its debut on the bookstore shelves today. I write "series" in the
hopeful assumption that Hartley has plans for continuing the saga of one Will
Hawthorne--actor, poet, playwright, con man, and now full-time reluctant adventurer. Hawthorne's somewhat checkered rise to stardom as a young Elizabethan-style actor of plays and self-proclaimed pithy purveyor of pentameter poesy, was rudely interrupted in the first installment, Act of Will, leading to new employment as front man for a band of, in Will's modest opinion, much too heroic adventurers.
Stylistically, Professor Hartley has created a somewhat eclectically archaic world
for us to adventure through in accompaniment to his heroes. An entertaining mix of places and individuals with the flavor of the Elizabethan, the Gothic, and the sometimes hard to categorize populates the narrative, written in the first person from Will Hawthorne's perspective. But our inability to 'peg' this time and these places, while at the same time being more than faintly all too familiar with them is the result of a clever device on Hartley's part. And it's the use of that very device that makes it an unusually fresh approach in my opinion. Hartley is able to remain true to his atmosphere with rich and vivid descriptions of the surroundings, situations, battles, creatures, and ancient weaponry, yet allows the reader to settle into an easy, comfortable, narrative realm, through the modern linguistic expressiveness and colloquialisms of his lead character, Will--and far from clashing, the style winds up complementing itself over and over.
Following the events through the eyes of Will Hawthorne, Will Power transports us to ancient lands of Goblins who use bears as horses, wolves that seem to understand what you're thinking, and a gleaming White City where King and court seem all too concerned with outward appearances. Therein lies a theme commented on by Hartley. But the commentary isn't heavy handed. It's intertwined so well within the story line that the denouement, held close enough to the vest to more than support the lessons we might learn, still comes as a shock to the senses, surrounded by the events Hartley so deftly and vividly describes for us. In reality, though we might sometimes wish to ignore their existence, we Know these strange characters for who and what they are--and the realization can come to us as a little unsettling, even though we must nod in assignation as we read. This is one of the qualities I have come to admire about Hartley as a writer; he instructs as well as entertains.
Hartley has also seen fit to aptly furnish his saga with a back story. In the author's words:
--Like the first volume, Act of Will, it [Will Power] has been translated from
the original Thrusian--as preserved in the now famous Fossington House
Papers--with the aid of notes left by the Elizabethan translator Sir Thomas
Henby. As readers of the first manuscript will quickly see, the second volume is
different in key respects from the first, and raises still more vexing questions
of provenance, locale, and issues of how much of the narrative--if any--is
derived from fact.--
He then goes on to promise the results of further investigation in a series of
academic papers to be published in issues of Philological Quarterly
--HA!--Though he doubts that a general reader would be very much interested.
-- What a hoot.
This is the type of well-rounded attention to detail I came to expect from Hartley,
becoming familiar with his work after having fortunately stumbled upon his mystery novel,
What Time Devours. And it's what makes Will Power read with the veracity of a mysterious and exciting in-but-out-of-this-world
historical chronicle, rather than pure fantasy.
(See my review of "What Time Devours":[...])
Although I must admit, upon finishing the copy of Will Power provided by the Publisher (Tor/Forge),
I immediately began a quest to find book #1 --Act of Will, and purchased and read Act of Will on my own.
Will Power certainly holds up to its billing as a 'stand-alone' fantasy novel. But trust me, if you're a fantasy
fan, you too will be looking for more from Professor Hartley, past or future.
This book, as well as all of his others, no matter the genre, is recommended reading. JM
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
superb tale, September 19, 2010
The Diamond Empire guards have Will Hawthorne and his gang of thieves at the Waterman, he knows they are lost as the doors crash open. However, they escape as they scatter across the city. Will owes his life to Mithos. At the Fisherman's Arms, they meet Ambassador Linassi who manages to get them out of the city.
When Linassi's coach stops, Will or Mithos has no idea where they are as this land is different than anything he has ever seen. He and his comrade are welcomed by the Fair Folk who are at war with the Goblins. Since the fair Folk are very nice to them and look human while the enemy looks like a horror version of Goblins, the outsiders assume they are on the side of the good guys. However, Will begins to doubt what he initially accepted as gospel although the beer is quite good.
This is a superb tale as the antihero manages to land in one misadventure after another. The story line is incredibly fast-paced and the incidents purposely exaggerated. With the jocular escapades, fans will toast (with beer of course) as A.J. Hartley cleverly weaves throughout the strong saga a warning to never judge a book by its cover as Will begins to wonder who the monsters truly are
Harriet Klausner
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent story, December 26, 2010
I read a lot of non-fiction. Books on business, theology, and history dominate my reading table. So when I take some time to read a novel, I am very particular about what I read. I don't get a chance to read them very often so I want to make sure I choose novels that I am really going to enjoy.
I knew when I picked up A.J. Hartley's Will Power that I had made an excellent choice. And every single page confirmed my decision.
I read the first book in the Will Hawthorne series, Act of Will, and loved it so on one level, Will Power was an easy choice. But you know how things often go with sequels; the second book is rarely as good as the first. There are notable exceptions of course, but the exceptions prove the rule. I will add Hartley's book to the list of exceptions.
Hartley is a craftsman and writes in a way that makes it obvious that he is a man with a deep and profound love and respect for the power of art in general and the written word in particular. As a consequence, his prose is tight and powerful and he doesn't waste even a syllable as he weaves his story.
Like the first novel in the series, Will Power impresses me with the way it is paced. The reader is carried along on a thrill ride roller coaster one minute and then a slow boat down a river the next. This creates an excellent reading experience that makes the book almost impossible to put down. In fact, I stayed up until well after midnight reading one night because I just couldn't let the story go. Or rather, because the story wouldn't let me go. I finally closed the book due to exhaustion but picked it up as soon as I could the following day.
More than once during my reading of Will Power I found myself literally laughing out loud at the dialogue or the hilarious situations Will Hawthorne had gotten himself into. Then, at other times, I was literally holding my breath or shouting at the open pages of the book because I was so enthralled with the action in the story I felt like I was right in the thick of it.
I can only imagine that Hartley's theater background (he is the Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare in the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and a director as well) is what makes him such an engaging novelist. The dialogue in this novel certainly reminds one of something a good playwright would craft. It is always purposeful, rich and appropriate to the character speaking it.
Combine all of this and you have a fine story, excellently told, and a reading experience that will leave you wanting more.
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