Customer Reviews

The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure: UK Edition Bk. 1 (Wraeththu Histories)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike some of the others who've posted reviews here so far, I didn't read the original Wraeththu trilogy as a teenager, but rather as an adult. I think this at least in part explains why my reaction to Wraiths of Will and Pleasure is so very different than theirs. While those reviewers (seemingly making their comments from within a rosy cloud of linger adolescent nostalgia) express disappointment and a feeling that the "magic" is gone, I on the other hand feel that Storm Constantine has breathed life into the series and written a novel which although different from the original, is a wonderful complement and furthermore surely the beginning of yet another wonderful trilogy. If Hollywood came out with Labyrinth II and souped it up with overdone special effects, a David Bowie clone, and a director to replace Jim Henson, I'd be outraged, but with Wraiths, I feel we've all been blessed by a writer at the top of her form.

In looking at Wraiths, some have voiced complaints about the narrative and the way it uses the third person rather than the first person of the original trilogy. To me it seems like these readers have completely missed the point! Wraiths is the first volume in a new trilogy that presents the history of the Wraeththu, not the diaries of the Wraeththu elite (i.e. Pell, Swift and Cal). In presenting this history, the book employs the third person to show a more complete picture of the Wraeththu world. Set in a time period which stretches the length of a good deal of the original trilogy, Wraiths offers perspectives on those events covered within the first-person narrative -- perspectives which illuminate the previously "definitive" version. We learn that things are not always what they seem and that one har's perspective on events may be very limited; for example, Swift's view of Seel certainly differs from Seel's view of Swift and Pell knows much more about the Kamagrian than Cal ever imagined! The use of the third person also allows Constantine to create a complex storyline with multiple interweaving threads, bringing in the experiences and perspectives of para and parazha in a way that could hardly be achieved by using nothing but first person!

As for those complaints about Wraiths lacking the "magic" of the original books, I have to say I disagree with that as well. It's true that Wraiths is different than those books, but then again I think that's inevitable as Constantine's evolved as a person and a writer since then. I also think that again, the shift in feeling is quite appropriate given that this new trilogy is a history not the musings of individual hara. As a history, Wraiths sets before us a world without the distortion of all the fuzzy (although very seductive) gauze of the original books. To me, it's as if Enchantments, Bewitchments and Fulfilments are stories told from within a dream, the Wraeththu world PART of it, but in Wraiths we have the actual, solid world that has materialized over the years. For this we have to thank Storm's continuously growing imagination and talents, plus the energies of its many fans as well as practitioners of "dehara" magic. For me, Wraiths IS magical and involving and has lots of energy. It's not like George Lucas and Star Wars -- nothing like it!

Now, to stop simply defending the aspects I've seen criticized, let me go on to the parts of the book I loved. First off, it might not be some people's cup of tea, but I was blown away by the first chapter which features -- not to reveal spoilers -- a death and a birth. Absolutely gripping stuff that is really profound and signals a change from was Wraeththu WAS to what it becomes from that point forward. After that, the interweaving storylines were fascinating and I loved seeing the way the characters came together, interacted and then developed their personalities and relationships over the course of the book. There are some new characters like the child Lileem as well as old characters like Ulaume, Flick and Seel who we see a lot more of, and in each of these characters we see different aspects of the tapestry of Wraeththu. We also get a whole cast of characters in the "dehara," a god/goddess system Flick discovers and which exists as a product of the collective Wraeththu soul -- and can be very powerful, once hara know how to access it. There are lots of fun, juicy scenes in the book, like Flick and Ulaume going to a party at Forever which takes a serious left turn. And Seel's scenes certainly contain some major shocks!

There is more I could say but for now I'd like to say that as part of the Wraeththu fan community (it's gotten quite large online), what I've heard from pretty much everyone is an embrace of this book and lots of grateful, happy cheering. We're not nodding sycophants either (unlike say Anne Rice who think every book of hers is a masterpiece), but people who see pretty clearly and even though we see something different feel it's very, very good. I'm very excited about where this new trilogy is going and am eager to see where this all leads!

Storm Constantine is not a middle of the road fantasy writer. No dragons or unicorns here, but often violent mutant magick hermaphroditic post-apocalyptic political saga. Kind of Julian May meets Michael Moorcock by way of Frank Herbert; you either love her or hate her. Wraiths of will and pleasure is written 17 years after she completed the initial Wraethu trilogy, and indeed her writing style has changed somewhat. You could probably read it without having read the first trilogy, but I wouldn't recommend it. She doesn't disturb the continuity of the original greatly in her revisit, which is a relief. However, this expansion and retelling of part the wraethu saga is more approachable and less mystical than some of her fiction. For once, Constantine is drawing elements together to make more greater sense, instead of taking a left turn pulling for the cosmic interpretation zone. Don't get me wrong, I like her wild, incredible imagery and heavy pagan/magical overtones, but they are not for everyone. Some of her work, worth reading for sheer experience, is not what I would recommend to others for fun. This one is old home week with gossip, emphasizes plot first. Said plot is familiar in one sense, the aftermath of Calanthe's disastrous return to Saltrock, the [demise], rebirth and coronation of Pellaz har Aralis, but from a different point of view-- Flick, a minor character in the first book. Another expanded character is Ulaume of the Colurastes/Kakkahaar (forgive my spelling), the serpent haired assassin .... A memorable, but essentially throwaway role in the first story, Ulaume is the other real center of this volume. Mima, Pellaz's human sister, is another expansion, as are, of course, Seel Griselming, Opalexian, Tel an Kaa, and Thiede. We get teasing glimpses of other strong characters from earlier-- Swift,Vaysh, Ashmael, Arahal, Cobweb, Leef, Tyson, etc. but there just isn't room to get to them-- I sure hope to see more later. What is different from before are tangential stories that embroider more detail into the bigger picture, and hints at a bigger picture than that, as well as some characters who might be big players in future installments. Terez, for example. Lileem definately. And there's a satisfying love story. Meaty character angst. Better dialogue. Characters with flaws carefully exposed yet that aren't ruined. Less stretching past the point of belief within the story frame, well, mostly. I kind of have a hard time with some of the later plot elements involving translocational cross species har + kamagrian aruna, but hey, I'll go with it. And I just find the kamagrians less involving than the har characters-- I personally don't really care about them that much, but I realize they are essential. It's not a perfect story. But what a yarn! It left me wanting more. And it makes you rake through the earlier stories for little bits to savor again. Which was the point.

I really enjoyed the original series and I really wanted to love this book. But...

The initial scenes of this novel, which starts during the original series, focusing on other characters, are fantastic. But sometime around the capture of Flick and Ulaume by the Uigenna -- an event which should have been highly dramatic, but felt glossed-over -- the writing, for me, began to deteriorate. It becomes increasingly expositional and "telly", until by the end we're getting stuff more or less on the level of "Pell did X. Flick felt Y." There's a reason why writers are instructed to "show not tell": the effect of so much exposition is to flatten the plot arc, lose the sensuality, and distance the reader from the initially very appealing characters.

I'm not crazy about some of the directions Constantine takes this. I don't care about the Kamagrian, and I'm much less interested in the Wraeththu as otherworld-exploring ascended master sort of people than I am in them as crazy, sensual, magic barbarians. I would, though, have liked the author's treatment of her chosen material much more had it not been so expositional.

If you have read the first wreaththu series then you should read this book. It takes place between books 2 and 3 and as such, fills in a few blanks from the series. What I like about this book is that it plays up some of the minor characters from the first series as well as intruduces a few very interesting new ones. The mysterious Kamagrians are also explained and expanded in this book.

Is this book as good as the first series? I don't think so. There is freshness and naturalness to the writing of the original series that is lacking here. Part of that might be the use of 3rd person objective in this book rather then first person as in the previous Wreaththu books. The first person gives an immediacy and power to the writing that this novel lacks. Another writing quirk in this work that I found really annoying after a while is that the author changes words like no one and any one, someone to Nohar, anyhar, somehar, even when the phrase is not a direct character thought or part of dialogue. These changes did nothing for the book, just jarred the reader out of the story.

Still, I have no problems recommending this work to fans of the first series. The story is a good tale and the writing is solid even with the quirks. I found the book enjoyable if not as mind blowing as the first series and look forward to books 2 and 3 in this series.

Wraiths is a fabulous read. It fed my hunger. It provided a clearer picture of the world of Wraeththu. It gave me background on minor characters that appear in "Wraeththu" (the first three books of the series), and filled in details, and textures that makes this world all the richer and more satisfying.

This story is set during the original "Wraeththu" trilogy. Wraiths storyline begins part way through the first book, and its storyline ends part way through the third book - more detail I cannot give for "spoiler reasons". Wraiths is told in the third person and follows the lives of characters that are introduced as secondary characters in the initial trilogy, as well as a few new ones.

These characters are not the powerful elite destined to rule this new world...these are characters helplessly caught in the wake of the geopolitical events of the times and the whims and actions of the powerful few such as Pell, Thiede, and the enigmatic Cal.

The Wraeththu race is no longer riding a cresting wave of a newness and power; they are caught in a raging powerful tempest of political, and social, strife and uncertainty. The protagonists are forced to confront themselves, their spirituality, their world, and the repercussions of their own actions. As Flick tells Ulaume, "There is something terrible in us. We are no better than humanity, just stronger and more dangerous".

Once again...A warning!!!! This book is not for everyone. I loved it and I am highly recommending it!!! That being said - I realize that there may be sensitive readers that will have "trouble" with the sexual aspects of this book. Your mind must be open to read and enjoy these books. There is sex. While in my opinion the depictions of sex are by no means graphic, or gratuitous, it is "non-traditional" (i.e. between androgynous hermaphrodites).

"Wraiths" is an excellent, and welcome, addition to my favorite story of all time. I have been a huge fan of Storm's since I read the original printing of the Wraeththu trilogy back in '91. While her other books are placed proudly on my bookshelf, none of them will ever match the magic of Wraeththu.

I noticed a couple of fans panning the book, and while I can't say they're wrong I can comment on it. For one thing, the magic of Wraeththu is, even more than most literature, a very personal thing. I, for one, was never so taken by the individual charcters, as much as I was by the world of Wraeththu, as a whole. I can see, then, how a switch from the 1st to 3rd person, as well as a change in writing style, might irk some fans, as she leaves behind her baroque, introspective narration, for a sparser and more focussed prose.

Still, none of these things bothered me; if anything, I prefered Wraiths to the orginal three books. Part of that is that I usuallly prefer 3rd person storytelling to 1st. The other is that I absolutely loved the protagonists in Wraiths! I never really identified too much with Pellaz, Swift, or Cal (the heros of the trilogy); they were either too good, too bad, or too perfect. Ulaume, Flick, and Lileem, on the other hand, all wormed their way deep into my heart, especially Lileem. They are all outcasts (relatively speaking, that is) yet they manage to rock the world in their own way. The relationships and politics were at least deep as in the original books (I loved reading Flick's confrontation with Seel...and the Kamagrians, the part about some of them excising their Ouana-lims, I almost died laughing!)

Of course, this is just my opinion. As I said, I particularly loved Lileem (she's the first of all of Storm's characters that I've really identified with), so perhaps if I hadn't I wouldn't feel quite as strongly about the book. However, I did, and I do, so I guess that's just that. Anyway, thanks Storm. Keep 'em coming. Please.

What can I say about Storm Constantine's work that hasn't already been said. She is truly brilliant and a gift to lovers of literature everywhere. I first was introduced to her work 2 years ago. I read the first 3 books of the "Wreaththu" series and I was hooked. The way she tells a story, is unlike any other. The landscapes, the characters, and the emotion that pours from her fingers and into the pages. Reading these stories felt like living them. Then came the 4th book, "The Wraiths of will and pleasure". I was so excited to see that these wonderful characters had more of their story to tell. I couldn't put the book down. Reuniting with these characters was like seeing old friends again. Finding out more truths and realizing the full effect of their life experiences. The friendships, the loss, new life, love, fear, and awakenings. Reading this was like being truly aware. Even though it is a work of fiction, you can't help but imagine, "what if?". I look forward to the next 2 books in the series. Storm has truly been bleseed with such an amazing talent. She inspires me, ignites a flame inside. This is truly an amazing author not to be missed. Read all of her work you can. Let her stories fill you with magic and wonder. Let the words slip into your mind, as they make you think, "I wonder? What if?". Let her make you think such a world is possible. Let these tales incept you.

I've been waiting a bit anxiously for this book. I fell in love with the first Wraeththu trilogy years ago, and still consider those books to be some of the best ever written, anywhere. But given that, I couldn't see how Ms. Constantine could possibly capture the exoticism and pure wild originality of the first books. Her writing style has changed drastically over the years, and I have to admit I haven't enjoyed her recent works as much as the earlier stuff. But for her, and for Wraeththu, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Sadly, my fears have proven true. "The Wraiths" isn't in the same league as the first Wraeththu trilogy---not by a long shot. To be fair, however, not all of this is a bad thing. The new story has more speculative fiction elements and logic than the first one did, which may make it more accessible to the mainstream SF/F audience. It seems to deal more forthrightly with the characters' main issues, so that we aren't taking 3 books to realize that an event which occurred on page 100 is actually important. The story is told in a very succinct, very compact manner, which I guess is a necessity because this is the story of three different main characters---Ulaume, Flick, and their adopted Kamagrian daughter Lileem---and their interactions with many more characters. So from a plain storytelling (and probably a marketing) point of view, this is an improvement.

But what disappoints me is that many of these changes remove the sense of wonder and emotion that the first books gave me. I miss the intimacy of first person. I miss having a single character to identify with throughout the whole novel---changing perspectives from character to character (sometimes within the same section) is distracting and makes it hard for me to care much about any one of them. I miss the wildly poetic language of the first novels, from which entire passages still linger in my mind. In this book there were only a few memorable lines. I miss the struggle of the characters to accept the reality (and potential) of their hermaphroditic nature. For example, in the earlier books they debated changing gender-specific language to suit their new existence, but in this book the debate has apparently been resolved through the use of odd constructions like "anyhar" and "nohar" (which seem unnecessary given that they're replacing words which were gender-neutral to begin with. I found this really puzzling, and a bit distracting).

But most of all, I miss the mystery of Wraeththu itself, as much of what was left nebulous and strange in the first novels is now "explained" in this book. Was it really necessary to bring genetic engineering into the picture? Did we really need a description of Wraeththu genitalia after all this time? I don't like knowing in explicit detail what happened to Pellaz's body during the time between his death and rebirth. That feels like following the Tooth Fairy home to see what she does in her spare time---unnecessary, and demystifying. And why has the magic system of the first books---the castes and all the necessary details---been practically ignored in this book? There *is* still magic in the story; Lileem discovers an alternate world, and Flick explores the Wraeththu gods, and at one point there's a grissecon (which feels somehow anticlimactic). But it's not much, and it's treated in an almost prosaic fashion. I feel as though a beautiful, powerful fantasy novel has been turned into a colder, weaker sci-fi novel, perhaps in an attempt to please people who disliked the first trilogy. And while I enjoy both fantasy and SF, this is not a good (or necessary, IMO) change.

However, I notice that the official title of this book has a subtitle which refers to it as the *first* volume of the Wraeththu histories. So if there's a sequel in the offing (and there needs to be---this one lacks closure), hopefully it will be better.

Storm Constantine is still my favorite author, and I still believe she's one of the most brilliant writers on the planet. Because of that, it's possible that my hopes for this novel were too high. But I can't help it; I know what this writer is capable of, and it's more than this. So I'm going to hold out high hopes for the next book as well. May the Aghama (or Opalexian, whichever) make it a better one.

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 9/10

PROS:
- The world-building in this series is amazing: detailed, beautifully written, and unique. Constantine is particularly good at using concrete descriptions to bring abstract ideas to life.
- Events related in this volume serve to illuminate incidents and characters introduced in the original Wraeththu trilogy. When I read the trilogy, I wished on numerous occasions that I could see more of what happened between certain characters, and in many cases, that background information I craved is present in this book.
- There are a couple of teasers at the very end of the third book that suggest an entire world separate from but related to that of Wraeththu. Those teasers are, much to my delight, developed (and even focused on) in this volume.
- In spite of the magnificence of the story idea and Constantine's actual writing, my favorite thing about the Wraeththu series is the characters--especially the romantic relationships they form with one another. There are several new relationships in this book, one of which involves a character I liked very much in the original series.

CONS:
- This volume is told in third person, whereas each of the original stories is narrated from a different character's perspective. The plus side of the third-person POV here is that we get to see a lot of different characters' experiences, which gives the story a broader scope than the original Wraeththu stories have. The down side is that this story doesn't feel as intimate as the earlier ones, because the comments we're prone to are those of a removed, omniscient narrator rather than a character who's actually participating in the action.
- I thought the story was a little slow at first. It took almost a hundred pages for me to get really interested in it, even though I already knew and liked one of the main characters from the previous stories.

Overall comments: I think if you've read the original trilogy, this is a must-read as a follow-up. The background it provides for several of the main characters is wonderful, as is the expansion upon ideas only briefly touched upon in the first books. If you haven't read the original books, the story here is probably engaging enough to catch your attention; however, you'll be missing out on much of the emotional impact of the events related in this volume.

This book continues the story of Storm Constantine's first trilogy surrounding magical androgynous hermaphrodites in a post-Apocalyptic world. Years after she wrote the first trilogy, she returns to this complex realm to weave more mythos.

There's a definite difference in quality of writing between this series and the previous. This isn't bad; it's not a matter of one being better than the other. However, the feel of her writing has matured, adn doesn't have quite as many rough edges as the original trilogy does.

As with the first time, though, we're brought back into a world of well-developed characters and even better stories. There's more information on the Parazha, a second group of hermaphroditic beings who sprung from women instead of men, and we get to see the development of hara who were relatively minor players in the first trilogy come into their own. Ulaume, who had a rather small, negative part in Wraeththu, ends up becoming quite a different person through the adoption of Lileem, an abandoned harling. Flick leaves Saltrock and is oenof the first hara to work with the Dehara, the gods of Wraeththu, through shamanic experiences in the desert. And there are some very unexpected twists and turns to the tale beyond even these.

I really enjoyed getting back into Storm's writing, especially as Wraeththu is a favorite of mine. Highly, highly recommended for a good read.