My life in books

Two by Fiona Patton (wife of Tanya Huff), competing a trilogy I started reading a long time ago.


The Golden Tower

This is the second volume of Patton's Estavia trilogy. I read the first volume quite some time ago and enjoyed it very much, but then it took a long time to get an ebook of this one, and in the meantime, I had forgotten a fair bit of the detail of the first volume. That may be why I found it so difficult to get into this volume.

Or it could be suffering from middle-volume syndrome, where most of the action, physical or psychological, is about the characters getting into position for volume three. Certainly, that's what was happening for about three-quarters of the book, while key characters equivocated all over the place. The last part of the book started moving as some decisions were finally taken and some important moves were made.



The Shining City

So, series finished. There was stuff I liked a lot, and stuff that didn't work for me. Again, I found the pacing wrong for the first two thirds of the book. Too much back-and-forthing, complete with adolescent angst. I guess this is understandable since the book is very much a coming-of-age story, with all the major protagonists under 20 and tied together by serious events from their childhoods and a web of prophecies that change dramatically depending on whether they work out their interpersonal dramas or not.

So... Basically, there's this God, one of six Gods who give their protection to the people of this particular city-state. And he thinks thinks are stagnant and wants to shake things up. And there are these four outcaste orphan kids living on the streets, three of whom have destinies - Brax, Graize and Spar - and one of whom will die young in a metaphysical maelstrom. When Brax and Graize are very young, Brax does something that leads to Graize kind of imprinting/obsessing on him, but they are separated. Later on, when they are still kids, Brax is taking care of another street kid, Spar, and Graize has hooked up with the fourth kid who will die soon. Graize hates Spar, because Brax is caring for him, and hates/desires Brax. Spar and Graize are both seers, which in this world contains a wide mix of magical goodies. So on this particularly nasty night, a swarm of hungry, mindless wild spirits break the protections on the city and wreak havoc. The four boys find themselves at the centre of it. One boy dies, Grize is teleported hundreds of miles away to be found and cared for by nomadic enemies of the city, Brax swears fealty to the god of war if she will help him fight the spirits and save Spar, and the spirits themseves are tramsformed into a proto-god who is tied both to Graize and Spar.

The whole series is about the three surviving boys and the proto-god growing up and sorting out their feelings and needs so they can eventually work together to save the city from an alliance of outside enemies intending on its destruction. In the process, everybody gets to be vacillating and selfish, though Brax, as the champion of a god, sorts things out earliest and Graize, as a jealous little bint, takes the most time getting a clue. Which causes a great deal of trouble, as he is a very powerful sorcerer/seer who is deep in the plans of all these enemies because he wants to destroy the city that Brax is sworn to protect.

It all works out in the end, and the city gets a new god out of the whole business, too.

What I liked was the worldbuilding and the natural feel to a social system that accommodates people who are male, people who are female, and people who are bi-gendered and can shift their presentation easily from male to female. Also, same-sex relationships all over the place, totally normal.

So, interesting, fun at times, a little slow at others, good but not great.