Customer Reviews

Winterbirth (The Godless World)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Brian Ruckley's Winterbirth is a good standard adventure fantasy. What it lacks in innovation, it makes up for in able storytelling. The heroes are likable and the villains are formidable. Although it starts sloooow, the pace accelerates by page 150. At times, the chase scenes are memorably breathless. I would compare the novel to David Durham's Acacia because both novels feature two cultures--one revenging past treatment, the other defending its border--battling for the same territory. (Acacia is probably the better novel.)

I think that the author wants to eschew a clear-cut good versus evil story; however Kanin and Wain are too grim for the Bloods of the Black Road to seem like anything other than bad guys. Ruckley does a better job of humanizing Aeglyss; although he is a cliché, I suspect he will be the most interesting character of the series.

The premise of a godless world is intriguing, but it does not impact the world in a significant way. I think that the absence of the gods should be felt more in the story. The author tries to personalize his world by calling elves "Kyrinin" and magic "The Shared," but his efforts at distinction are mostly weak. Despite the author's debt to Tolkien (Inurian could be Gandalf's long-lost twin), thankfully nothing resembling Orcs make an appearance. Ruckley provides a lot of history and background, some of it unnecessary. For example, if Whreinin and Saolin are not in the story, why mention them?

I applaud the author on his treatment of Anyara. Some authors seem to revel in depravity, especially when women are targets (Robert Newcomb's The Fifth Sorceress comes to mind), but Ruckley exhibits commendable restraint. In general, he avoids gore and gratuity, which bodes well for the series.

While Ruckley won't write George R.R. Martin out of a job, he's a good enough writer. I'll read what he writes next.

It would be easy to characterize Winterbirth as akin to historical fiction, but really it reads more like a novelization of history, ala 1776, rather than just a novel. Fantasy setting aside, like a historical novel, the book is one of events more than characters. The cover states, "It is a World of Ice, It is a World of Blood, It is a Godless World." That's pretty much what the book is about - the world.

The first many pages are dedicated entirely to background - we witness a variety of events that take place in the long ago, but that have shaped in a significant way the `present' in which most of the book takes place. These sections provide context for the events that come later, and in this way make the world seem more realized than is typical for a fantasy genre story. Give author Brian Ruckley credit, he knows his world and its history.

However, like one often finds in an academic's attempt to make history interesting, you find two things missing: One, a focus on a specific dramatic tension, and two, the gritty details. A variety of moving pieces play out their parts in Winterbirth, none really taking primacy. To be sure, each constituency represented in the book has its own demons, its own goals, its own agendas. However, to paraphrase the characters in `The Incredibles', when everyone is special, nobody is. Winterbirth _is_ like real life that way - but frankly, there's a reason more people read novels than histories. When I mention details, I don't merely mean the details of the events taking place, but detail of the characters, detail of the environment. Human beings sense smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound. Each of these senses should be engaged by the author to bring the reader into the tale, but Mr. Ruckley rarely engages more than three of these. As a result, I often felt as though I were looking down on a series of events - almost like a chessboard - rather than looking through the eyes of the characters.

This is, in fact, where Winterbirth fails to live up to the example set by the likes of George RR Martin's works - `real' seeming series of events, multiple characters of moral complexity - but in GRRM you truly sit behind the eyeballs of each character and so become very invested in what happens to them. Mr. Ruckley never quite achieves that intimacy.

Add to these challenges a significant number of pages dedicated to events with no apparent bearing on the current story, and what might have been an exciting read at times becomes a total slog. Meaning, "It was tough to slog through some of those pages."

Assuming Mr. Ruckley continues his series in the vein of Winterbirth, it would be a neat trick someday to see someone write a `historical fiction' treatment of what, as I said, comes across more like a novelization of history. If one were to pair down about 3/5 of what is here, and then expanded with brutal and gory detail what is left, I think you'd have a 5 star tale. The world and its events presented here are certainly exciting, it's just a pity they're not written that way.

There are many things worse than Winterbirth on the fantasy genre bookshelves. I'll buy the second book in the series - but I will do so with a certain amount of trepidation. If I feel the same way about that one I do this one, I'll stop there.

If you haven't read Winterbirth, I would wait until some reviews of the second are posted and make your decision to purchase at that time.

I'm struggling to separate my astonishment at some of the reviews with my true feelings towards the novel. Brian Ruckley's Winterbirth is at BEST a promising novel. I understand the difficulties in breaking into a well established genre, and applaud Ruckley for (seemingly) being able to do so successfully. However, as much as the publishers and authors would like it to be, not every debut fantasy can be suddenly catapulted into the all time hall of fame. As my title suggests, almost everything about Winterbirth is decent; Story, Characters, Misc.

The story is... decent, but it takes awhile to get to that point. I don't agree with some of the extreme arguments about the beginning. Ruckley does a fair job, setting the world and backdrop that influences the rest of the book. While the story may be gritty in some parts, it's not done so as to be entirely original, nor does it greatly improve the use of realism. When someone writes a story with historical overtones, set in a genre called "dark fantasy," it's kind of a given that it needs to be realistic. Anyway, the story drags a bit until the last quarter where it, and strangely the quality of writing, picks up and finishes with more of a whimper than a bang. Moreover, while the last quarter saves my desire to read a sequel, it doesn't instill in me a great need to buy it in hardback.

The characters take awhile to get interested in. They're written in such a way as to seem less important than the world they live in, the context of events, and the even the scenery. As mentioned before, it really isn't until the last quarter of the book that the author seemingly puts a little more importance in the characters than everything else. They are dry, sometimes uninteresting. Although others may put great importance on Ruckley's use of morally ambiguous character types, it isn't something incredibly well fleshed out, highly original, or as deeply refreshing as other might have you believe. It's...decent.

The misc. in a fantasy novel can make it or break it for me. These are the things that are common, sometimes necessary, in todays market. Examples would be the names, the maps, the extra information that might fill in the whole when your creating a complex world. Winterbirth's names were frustrating for half the book. Any author should realize that when you have major/minor characters that have similar names, it can be frustrating. It should be Fantasy 101. Everything about a world is in the authors head and no where else. When introducing that world to others, similar names confuse us until we get used to it and have enough info to differentiate. Neither should they be nearly impossible to pronounce, and if they are, the majority should not be nearly impossible to pronounce. I also understand the need to outsource the drawling of your map but as a fan, details are important. It doesn't have to be precise, but major geographical regions (epic woods, epic mountains) should have more than just names. There really shouldn't be great blank spots, unless within the world those spots aren't known. The time line in the back of the book is nice, but the history of the world in Winterbirth is not delved into so much that it's really needed.

As I said in the beginning, it was frustrating separating my feelings of the reviews and of the book. It was not "Heroic fantasy splashed with 300-style gore." There was not nearly enough detail in the battle scenes to even be in the same house as 300. It also certainly does not put the "epic back in epic fantasy." Epic implies greater reaches in story and character development than this first novel does. Maybe that will change, but in no way does Winterbirth set the stage for EPIC...prologue foreshadowing notwithstanding. Winterbirth is not a "tour-de-force." It is not a rival to Martin, and it won't chill your bones with the idea of a godless world of blood and ice. All in all...decent.

I tried. I really, really tried and gave this book ample chance to pick up enough momentum to grab my attention, hold it, then take me on a ride. As another reviewer (much more positive than me) pointed out, there were some scenes which were really well done (the chase with the hunters and their dogs springs to mind); conceptually, I also didn't mind the world the author had created, it looked like it had promise.

Unfortunately, it proved to be just a bland read. The author can write - but this was just too slow, too ordinary and ultimately, not worth completing.

I was looking for a new book to take on vacation and found this gem. I have never read this author before, but if this book is representitive of his work I will definately buy more. Great book beginning to end with nice story lines and twisting plots. If an epic series is your preference then this trilogy is for you. I look forward to the next books.

If your taste runs along the likes of George R. R. Martin; dark, gritty fantasy that reads like historic fiction. Then Winterbirth is for you.

The gods got fed-up with their creation and left it to its own demise long ago and this world feels like just that. It's a cold, dark, and violent, place that's full of rugged highlands, foreboding forests, and misty, frigid coastlines. Cross-generational feuds among Bloods, are the cause of constant unrest among the human races. The Kyrinnin race of forest dwelling people, not only must face the sometimes violent prejudice of the humans but have their own tribal wars to content with. Now, the banished fanatical Black Road Bloods are invading and a lust for vengeance in one lone cross-bred human/Kyrnnin is awakening a dark force with a strength that hasn't been known in living memory.

As I read this book, the story's feeling of hopelessness that accompanies a godless place, just kind of crept through like a chill draft that sends a shiver up one's spin.

I only have two complaints about this book; 1. The names are long, hard to pronounce, and similar. While on one hand, this adds some realism to the story but on the other, I became easily confused at times as to who is who and where is where. 2. There is a huge lacking of visual description, which seem to me, to be a trend in a lot of the new fantasy. While I understand authors may be trying to distance their work from past epics that wasted page after page on boring, gratuitous details. I think fantasy, more so then other genres, requires a certain amount of visuals due to the totally made-up worlds with made-up races, creatures, and other things.

Over-all this is a good story that's well-worth a read, especially by those who already like this kind of fantasy epic. It's not a first book that just "blew-me away". However, it seems like its building up momentum of getting better as it goes. Which is a great relief compared to all the series that start-out strong, but progressively become less interesting with each following book.

No Spoilers.

"The world breeds no heroes now."

This line from the novel WINTERBIRTH, by Brian Ruckley, sums up my main observation after reading the novel. WINTERBIRTH is marketed as both Epic Fantasy and Heroic Fantasy. What does that mean? Well, for starters, it means we should have heroes in some sort of capacity. It also means we should have blood and battle...and in high quantities. Epic Fantasy usually involves some sort of epic quest, or a huge, all-engrossing plot that the heroes must stop. Heroic Fantasy means we have heroic and tragic last-stands.

Unfortunately, there was nothing epic about this fantasy, and as for battles...can someone please explain to me why the first battle in the novel happens more than half-way through the book? OR WHY THERE WERE NO OTHER MAJOR BATTLES AT ALL IN THE ENTIRE NOVEL? It was enough to make me think I was taking crazy-pills.

Call me bitter. Call me angry. It's ok, because I am. There are so many other novels out there that I could have been reading; novels that I would be proud to review. WINTERBIRTH took me away from those novels.

It's not that the writing is poor. It is actually quite good, and it alone kept me reading. But what is Heroic Fantasy without the blood and sword? In a word: boring. Ruckley's novel is at its best when the characters (with whom we have absolutely no attachment - another problem in itself) are wading into their limited engagements of fighting. The paperback of this novel counts 688 pages - epic in length for sure, but bland as tofu. Maybe 20 pages are of Heroic Fantasy mayhem. The marketing on the novel suggests Ruckley's work is in the tradition of the late and great David Gemmell. I believe Gemmell would scoff at only 20 pages of action in a novel.

In addition, I feel a little taken advantage of. The prologue to the book mentions a race that sounds awesome, only then to tell us they were the victims of a genocidal crusade. So...no cool race. Another of the races that we have frequent contact with in the novel sound, act, and look suspiciously like elves...only they have an unpronounceable name...but don't worry, they speak a foreign language that looks like elvish, only it isn't. Look, if it's an elf, call it an elf (this is where we thank the UK author James Barclay for his honesty...not to mention copious amounts of ACTION).

As you can tell, I'm frustrated. I wanted to like this novel, but that proved an impossibility. This isn't to say that I can't enjoy a novel that doesn't have action. Take R. Scott Bakker's first novel, THE DARKNESS THAT COMES BEFORE. Astonishing in its greatness, and very little action throughout. I just felt that in this particular book it's absence wasn't outweighed by other cool stuff.

I won't be picking up the sequels unless authors I trust tell me to.

Recommended Age: 13 and up...if you can stand it.
Language: Nope.
Violence: The few times we get it, it is great, and it is brutal. Too bad we rarely get any.
Sex: Alluded to, but never shown.

Brian Ruckley's Winterbirth is the first novel in his Godless World trilogy. The series has an interesting set up: a cold, hard land, forgotten by the Gods, and a detailed history involving a pair of races that seem utterly fascinating. But unfortunately, all of the history and build up is for naught. The fact that the Gods have abandoned this world doesn't really play a role. To be sure, their abandonment probably serves to set up the cold, hard nature of existence, but it doesn't play a substantial role otherwise. The two fascinating races that Ruckley details in the history are, at the time of the novel, extinct and irrelevant. As much as I appreciate thorough world building, I don't generally appreciate world building for the sake of world building. If it doesn't have a point, doesn't really add to the reading experience, then it should be left out. Honestly, Winterbirth, which weighed in around 650 pages in paperback, could have been reduced to a tight 500 pages, which would have produced a much better reading experience. All in all, however, there is nothing really spectacular about Winterbirth, and nothing really bad.

The characters are mildly appealing. The protagonist Orisian is likable. He is the typical young hero who is forced to fight for his life after his family is attacked and slaughtered. Unfortunately, Orisian is the only character that is really fleshed out. His sister, Anyara, was slowly fleshed out as the book progressed, but certainly could have used further development. Otherwise, the character development was generally pretty weak.

The plot is, I suppose, a little different than usual fantasy fare. Instead of the young hero searching for some strange and unusual power in order to save the day, Orisian is basically trying to escape with his life and his sister intact. The other side of the plot, however, is pretty standard: invasion of the heroes land by a hateful group of foreigners who wreak havoc wherever they go. Ruckley tries to paint the characters in shades of gray, instead of in black and white, in terms of good and evil but, generally, fails. The good guys are pretty good, the bad guys are pretty bad. The only villain that is not purely evil is Aeglyss, who, unfortunately, is the hackneyed sort of pseudo-bad guy that is only bad because he has been mistreated in the past.

On the technical front, Ruckley is a proficient writer. Indeed, for the fantasy genre, where good technical writing is rare, one might call him a strong writer. His prose is fairly fluid and his dialogue is believable. Although there is less action than one might expect based on the summary on the back of the book, Ruckley certainly proves that he can write a good action scene. Of particular note is the climactic chase scene at the end of the book which was genuinely exciting and kept the pages turning.

Overall, Winterbirth is a decent novel and is certainly a respectable debut. It could have been a lot better than it is, but it has its merits. I intend to finish the series, which shows that it at least piqued my interest (unlike, say, Goodkind's Wizards First Rule, which put me off almost immediately). Although there are a number of other fantasy novels I would recommend before reaching Winterbirth, a frequent fantasy reader waiting for the next release from (insert author here) can pick up Winterbirth and not regret it. Further, because the trilogy is complete and the story ended, the reader will have a substantial conclusion, something that is becoming increasingly rare in fantasy novels.

(This is a review for the whole trilogy)
Tragedy in the Greek drama sense of the word, Ruckley's Godless World trilogy is a supple blending of epic fantasy and Hamlet. Set in an imaginary land reminiscent of Ruckley's native Scotland, the trilogy offers oily smooth prose, well developed characters, and a solemn sense of drama. Winter is settling in as the story begins and the stark aura it casts over the lords, their ancient feuds, and the fight for survival that ensues remains throughout the series. Quite obviously conscious of the sword and sorcery genre and its variety of cliches, Ruckley instead focuses the narrative on the characters and their personal struggles in a world at war - and all are human, not an undefeatable hero among them. Elements of fantasy do exist and are irreplaceable to the plot, but as a whole the books read like historical fiction; individuals develop and adjust to the inevitable tragedy of war where the quest for power and revenge leads. The strongest point of the trilogy is how smoothly events unfold. Winterbirth effortlessly sets the stage for the play and its actors, the scenes of Bloodheir and Fall of Thanes slowly unwinding to an unavoidable ending (just like Hamlet). The heart wrench invoked at the denouement is a testament to the sense of the tragic which prevails. Ruckley will probably not win any readers among the fans of derivative fantasy, Jordan, Goodkind, Brooks, etc. However, for those who seek fantasy writers with higher literary aims beyond spells and elves, The Godless World trilogy and its sorrows may be for you.

good if you like slow depressing tales with sad endings. Horrible if you don't I happen to fall into the latter category.