Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just as good as Robin Hobb and George RR Martin, July 30, 2003
Reviewer: Rachael from London
I read SORCERY RISING last year when it came out and thought it was terrific, though it was largely set up for a much bigger story. But the characters stayed with me because they're some of the strongest I've ever read. But even though I'd loved the first book, WILD MAGIC, the second -- which I read overnight, and just couldn't put down -- took my breath away. So many surprises and revelations! The characters I'd remembered developed and grew and revealed themselves to be far more than I'd expected. I particularly love the Rosa Eldi, who was already intriguing in SORCERY RISING, but now is so much more than the rather glorious sexual temptress she was in that part of the story. The way her self knowledge develops is just brilliant. And Tanto - ugh! he's VILE. As for Fent Aranson, what a madman! I love Tam Fox, a perfect counterpart to the wonderful, feisty, crazy, tomboyish Katla Aransen. But I had no idea what was going to happen to either of them. That's the thing, the book is never predictable and absolutely gripping. I SO want to read the final one and find out what happens next.
And Virelai too, he's such a mysterious character. More than a trickster -- is he truly human? I can't wait to find out. This is such a page-turning read, it took me far, far away from all the chaos of my life at the moment, it was the perfect antidote. I just don't know how I can wait a year for the next book. Jude Fisher is absolutely brilliant, as good as Robin Hobb, I'd say and I love her work too.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wild Magic has more cliches than I have fingers and toes., August 17, 2006
It used to be a time when I would devour and nearly gulp down whole any book that was a fantasy novel. It didn't matter if it was good or bad or in between, to my hungry young mind, it was all worth it. Now that a few decades have passed, I've gotten more picky about what I read any more. And to my sorrow, most of the time my instincts will prove out right.
Wild Magic is author Jude Fisher's second book in the Fool's Gold trilogy. Picking up right where the first book, Sorcery Rising leaves off, it continues the mysterious goings on in a world that is somewhat close to our own. There are the Eyrans, a blend of hardy, Viking-like seafarers and warriors, and the Istrians, a somewhat more civilized country of fire-worshippers whose treatment of women make the Taliban look like pro-feminists. Every few years, the two nations gather for treaties, marriage arrangements, sports and trading in the AllFair. But a series of insults, botched betrothals and imagined sacrilege has strained relations between the two nations to the brink of war. Caught in between the warring states are the Footloose, nomads who trade trinkets and charms to make their living, and now the Istrians are hunting them down and burning them alive to their fire-goddess, Fala.
What started the entire mess is Virelai, a sorcerer's apprentice who has imprisioned his master, Rahe (the Magnificent) in his artic fortress, and fled with the sorcerous cat, Bete and the Rosa Eldi, the Rose of the World, a woman whose pale beauty incites unbearable lust in men, and plenty of jealousy in women. But the Rose has avoided being sold off to an Istrian lord by marrying the King of Eyra, Ravn, instead. Now Virelai has taken refuge with the Istrian, conjuring forbidden magic using the nasty tempered Bete, and discovering that his own powers are dwindling. Maybe leaving Rahe's fortress of Sanctuary wasn't such a good idea.
Among the Istrians, there's the two brothers, Saro -- a gentle young man who is more inclined to books rather than warfare, and Tanto, hideously maimed and unmanned, and a cad to boot. Saro has recieved a 'gift' from a dying nomad that is bringing him nothing but horrors, something that his brother gleefully exploits. And the Lord of Cantara, Tycho, has been bewitched with a case of priapism that makes Viagra look like children's aspirin.
Then there's the Eyrans, starting with the folk of Rockfall. Aran is determined to raid Sanctuary -- seems that Virelai was selling 'maps' to the hidden stronghold -- and has sent his sons Halli and Fint to coerce the best shipbuilder in the kingdom to make a craft that can withstand the voyage. But his daughter, Katla, who was nearly burnt alive by outraged Istrians, tricks her brother, and takes his place. Now not only does she have to survive among a crew of mummers and cutthroats, but evading the lustful advances of their leader, Tam. Oh yes, not only is Katla a flaming redhead, but she's also a blacksmith with budding magical abilities of her own.
Then there are the Footloose and assorted other characters sprinkled throughout the book. There are about a dozen different ways of making magic, from the spell-casting breath of Bete, visions in crystals, abilities to sense shifts in the earth, and love spells and cantrips that seem to have a mind of their own. And then there's the reawakening of the Rose, who may have the most fearsome magic of all.
Does it all sound confusing?
As with most middle novels, this one does little to carry the story forward. Most of the book is taken up with various characters bemoaning their fate, setting off to get this or that, plenty of sex -- indeed, male lust and the easing thereof is a major component of the story -- and a rather cheerless, humorless series of bloody events and malice. Unlike the first novel which managed to hang onto a sense of humor and had a lively sense of going on with the events of the Allfair, this one just grinds on.
Young lovers drown, sea monsters attack, plenty of women either being raped or sent to flaming pyres, nasty thoughts, malicious mothers-in-law, or just plain mothers, an irritating cat with a bad temper and worse halitosis, and other gimcrackery that borrows from everything and everywhere. While Fisher does manage to create some vivid imagery and narrative, it's such a downer of a book that I kept finding my interest wandering and doing other things while I tried to wade through this sad-sack of a novel.
Will I bother to go on and read the third novel? Probably, since I already have a copy, but otherwise, I don't think I would have bothered. It's rather sad when an author starts out with a few really great ideas, but then runs out of steam halfway through the three-book contract. While the story does start to get interesting about a third of a way through -- this is a massive, bloated novel of more than six hundred pages -- it's hardly enough to keep the reader motivated. A great deal of it is spent reviewing or rehashing the first book, and more of it with the characters going on and on about the mess they are in, or just ruminating.
I'm just glad I didn't plunk the money down for the hardback editions and held out for the mass market paperbound releases. Just barely three stars for this entry in the series.
Once again, a somewhat recommend.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fatally slow first half, January 26, 2004
Wild magic walks the world again after centuries of rest. The Rose of the World cannot remember everything but her powers are returning. The cat/beast is still held in captivity, but it is increasingly able to serve its own interests. And the old man has begun to awaken. But before the three are completely empowered, mortal men have much to do. Saro must suffer his family's abuse while the death-stone he carries makes him share their worst memories, Aran Aranson must make his doomed voyage into the ice flows in search of mythical gold. His daughter, Katla Arensen adventures in search of a ship designer, then finds herself forced to do woman's work. Virelai, once apprentice to the great wizzard needs to discover his true calling and escapte the bondage of those who use him. And the great female mercenary, Mam seeks work for her troop. Author Jude Fisher writes a frustrating combination of fabulous world-building with one-dimensional characters. Katla is a brat-tomboy. Her brother is a crazy coward. Her father is obsessed. Saro is a whiny baby. His brother is a cowardly bully. Growth comes slowly to these characters, especially as few of them are pursuing any particular goal (this makes for fine realism but disappointing reading). Of the major characters, only Aran Aranson seems to have a goal. On the other hand, Fisher's world is fascinating with its different cultures, religions, and the strange trinity that created it and still plays an active force within it. The first half of the novel is slow sledding. Characters wander around without much purpose, fighting and dying without achieving anything. Once Aran completes his ship, however, Fisher seems to get her second wind and the pace of the story and my interest as a reader picked up as well. Relatively little of the first half is really necessary for the story (the kidnapping of the ship builder could have been handled in the preface) but readers must still labor through it. WILD MAGIC is a definite step up from the first novel in this series, SORCERY RISING and gives me hope that Fisher will pull things together in the third volume.
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