Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Rare and Wondrous Fantasy, September 8, 2000
I rarely hype other writers' books, but this one is exceptional. Alas, it's published by a small press, and I fear it will be overlooked and trampled in the crush.Briefly: a war-weary knight returning to Germany from the first crusade meets a pagan witch queen and comes into conflict with the church. If this sounds like warmed-over Katherine Kurtz, trust me, it isn't. The politics of the time set the Holy Roman Empire against the pope, lords against vassals, the church against the old but not forgotten gods of the forest. Women are stock certificates. The chief narrator is an absolute swine with attitudes that make you want to scream, and yet you can sort of see his point. I won't say more, because the plotting kept me guessing all the way through, which doesn't happen very often. This really one has it all! You like scholarship? Jakober wields pagan myth as surely as Tolkien ever did, and cites Christian beliefs in a way even C. S. Lewis would never dare (although to very different ends). She knows history but adapts it to serve her purposes, just as Guy Kay does. There's plenty of action for repressed adolescents like me-magic, jousting, tender romance and gruesome brutality. She creates superbly subtle characters, men and women both. Best of all, I think, is her evocation of the atmosphere of Dark Age Northern Europe-nasty, brutish, and haunted. Edge has done a magnificent job of design; the book as a book is a pleasure to own and read. This one deserves to be a classic. Grab it while it's still available.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully Told Tale of Betrayal, Love & Self-Deception, July 11, 2000
From time to time fantasy produces a book that is special, thatstands apart from other work, both in terms of its writing and itsstory: The Black Chalice is such a book. Lyrically told, with historical elements woven from medieval Germany and the First Crusade, at times this book echoes the works of Guy Gavriel Kay, while yet existing well apart and above even his best. And---I shudder to say this---not since Tolkien have I seen tales of folklore told with such power and grace. Magic abounds here, but it does not take the shape of fireballs or enchanted swords, but instead actually lives, as vibrant as the forests in which it dwells, and as inseparable from the world as the trees, the air, the birds, or the people that populate it. When the author can make a world actually breathe and assemble before one's eyes without clouting the reader over the head to obtain their recognition, I consider it no mean accomplishment. This is a tale of betrayal, love both commonplace and forbidden, redemption and damnation, belief and self-deception. Marie Jakober captures the brutality of the early 12th century, as well as the horror and abjection of being born a woman, while at the same time celebrating the joys of both love and existence, the strength as well as deception awaiting faith and self-affirmation, and the power that lies hidden within love's union, be it human or through earthly existence. And throughout the narrative Jakober's characters weigh and reinvestigate the varied meanings and interpretations of their actions that come to define their lives. This work is unlike any fantasy I have read before, both for its lyricism as well as the quality of its existential ruminations. While others have attempted to place their fantasies within a historical context, none that I have read have done so as well. Again, echoes exist with the works of Kay, Bradley's "Mists of Avalon," and the folklore of Tolkien, yet this remains essentially an original work. Though many others have attempted to counterpoise Christianity with paganism---Kurtz, Welch and recently Marillier among others---none have done so as successfully, with both systems of belief coexisting credibly if not harmoniously. While this is not a work to read for the continuous clashing of arms and warfare, the struggle is nonetheless hardly lessened by the book's moments of reflection, nor the evolving inner conflict of its characters. What more can I say: it's a marvelous book! It's unfortunate that at the moment this work is only available through a tiny publisher in Calgary: I fear this may result in many not ever having a chance to read it. I myself would have been unaware of it were it not for the sfsite and their recommendation. While they have not always been reliable, they have nonetheless steered me to two of the most important fantasies I have read during the past two years: this work and "Gardens of the Moon" by Steven Erikson. You may have to expend some effort to obtain this book---I see the wait here is several weeks---and I question whether we'll ever see it in paperback. Nonetheless, it is well worth the expenditure of time and money, and deserving of every accolade. I can't recommend this work more highly. Spread the word...
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A skillfully written, powerful, richly detailed novel., September 7, 2000
The Black Chalice is a superbly written fantasy novel that explores the intertwined physical, spiritual and political relationships between a knight, a sorceress, and a monk during the tumultuous times that followed the first Crusade. Marie Jakober has successfully created a powerful tale of ambition, delusion, obsession and betrayal that will keep the reader riveted from first page to last. Jakober has carefully blended historical fact with imaginative fiction in creating a conquered pagan world replete with brooding legends, dark magic, and sexual power. Combine all this with an compelling plot, challenging themes, all played out against a backdrop of richly detailed settings, and you have Marie Jakober's The Black Chalice.
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