The Sundering (Warcraft: War of the Ancients Trilogy, Book 3)

Book Description

The hour of wrath draws near...

The valiant night elves have been shattered by the loss of their beloved general. The black dragon, Neltharion, has claimed the Demon Soul and scattered the mighty dragonflights to the winds. Above all, the demonlord, Archimonde, has led the Burning Legion to the very brink of victory over Kalimdor. As the land and its denizens reel from this unstoppable evil, a terror beyond all reckoning draws ever nearer from the Well of Eternity's depths...

WARCRAFT

In the final, apocalyptic chapter of this epic trilogy, the dragon-mage Krasus and the young druid Malfurion must risk everything to save Azeroth from utter destruction. Banding together the dwarves, tauren and furbolg races, the heroes hope to spark an alliance to stand against the might of the Burning Legion. For if the Demon Soul should fall into the Legion's hands, all hope for the world will be lost. This then, is the hour...where past and future collide!

THE SUNDERING

An original trilogy of magic, warfare, and heroism based on the bestselling, award-winning electronic game series from Blizzard Entertainment.

Customer Reviews:

Last Part.......2007-08-09

This is the third part of the trilogy and wraps things up nicely, while leeting you know what is to come. It explains a lot about the game and the relationship of the characters.

So compelling, such a wonderfull story!!.......2007-06-08

This is what can only be described as a fantastic final chapter in the war of the ancients series. This book was so fantastic i was immersed into the warcraft universe so much everything else meant nothing. The characters are so well portrayed and the events that take place are spectacular. Richard knakk really sets the pace and the scene with his writing in this book.

The end was sudden and tragic however like every good fairy tale we are left with hope and purpose.

Brilliant

5/5

Enough said... 5 stars........2006-06-27

Definetly get books 1 and 2 before geting this one. If you are new to warcraft universe the triology does a good job of explaining who and what things are ... for the ppl allready into warcraft lore let me tell you, you will not get enough sleep until you are done with all 3 books (and you will want more).

Great ending.......2006-03-04

This trilogy has captivated me from beginning to end. The battles were especially heart pounding. Excellent work. The first two were good, but this one blew me away. Lost too much sleep because of it.

**A book I would also recommend is The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. This, the first installment of The Morcyth Saga is a great beginning for a new author. Battles, magic, gods, secret passages and intrigue, all the elements of a classic epic fantasy! Any fantasy reader will enjoy it

A terrific end of a terrific trilogy.......2006-02-05

This book just goes to show you that the third book in a series written based on a Blizzard franchise is always the best one. A maxim I have found to be true. I digress. The Sundering takes place a short time after the events of The Demon Soul. The night elves find themselves in constant battle against the Burning Legion. One of the night elves' most relied upon sorcerers has defected to the side of the Legion and their situation looks grim. The book is packed tight with all sorts of depictions of grisly combat and quite remarkable detail. Richard A. Knaak definitely shows himself as one of the masters of writing massive battles (especially the final battles). This was one of the few books I actually sacrificed sleep for just to find out what was going to happen next. That is how addictive Knaak's writing style is. I also like the way he killed off several of his characters, the way he did it was neat. If you are a fan of the Warcraft series of games, you definitely need to read this book, if not the entire trilogy. This book is tied with Empire of Blood as the best final book in a trilogy.

Average customer rating:

Not Quite as good as Banewreaker
She lost me
plot on autopilot
Very Good
The beautiful shades of grey

Godslayer: Volume II of The Sundering
Jacqueline Carey
Manufacturer: Tor Fantasy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 076535098X
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Book Description

IF ALL THAT IS GOOD CONSIDERS YOU EVIL, ARE YOU? Once human but now immortal, Supreme Commander Lord Tanaros fled the realm of Men and chose darkness when he killed his adulterous wife and his liege king who cuckholded him. A thousand years have passed in service to his master, the dark god Satoris. The world view Satoris as Evil Prime and the name of Tanaros is the byword for treachery.The races have united in their quest to rid the world of the Dark God and his minions. The key to the prophecy is the beautiful Elvish princess Cerelinde-and Satoris has captured her. Yet not all tales told are true and evil may have another face. Satoris refuses to act like the monster that he is made out to be for he recognizes in Cerelinde a spark of the love that he once bore for his fellow gods. But this spark of light might prove to be a danger to Satoris....and a greater danger for Tanaros and all that he holds dear. For Cerelinde might remind him that the heart that he willed to iron an eon ago is still very much mortal.

Customer Reviews:

Not Quite as good as Banewreaker.......2007-09-03

One of the problems with sequels is that, everything that you held in wonder from the first book, is now old hat. There's not really much one can do about that except read the sequel and hope it stands on its own merits.

If I could give this book 3.5 stars, I would. It's almost as good as Banewreaker, but not quite. In this volume, I think Carey spends too much time with the two characters that stand in for Frodo and Sam from LOTRs (named Dani and Thulu). I was never keen on their storyline from the beginning, so the attention she gives them here wears upon me.

Also, like the movie version of Return of the Kings, Carey has trouble finishing this book. There's like 6 different endings. Loose ends do indeed need to be tied up, but it just goes on and on.

I was, however, glad to see that my favorite character, the Dreamspinner, played a significant role, and I hope Ms. Carey will consider doing another series with him at the helm.

She lost me.......2007-06-20

I had a difficult time getting into Banewreaker, but when I did I was interested enough in what was happening to purchase Godslayer.

As it was, I read another book in between Banewreaker and Godslayer, one that was extremely well written, and when I came back to Godslayer the problems I had with Carey's prose multiplied. As is the problem with many fantasy novels, the prose was rather purple, and contained an abuse of words that made you look to a dictionary. I found myself struggling to turn pages.

Then, out of nowhere, she "pulled a Gandalf". If you don't believe me, he's on the cover for all to see: a reincarnated character who comes back robed in white, with white hair and a white beard, and on a white horse!

I had argued that in Banewreaker Carey was imitating Tolkien's works so much (and to a lesser extent, other works) because she was telling a story that could apply to any epic or high fantasy series. That allowed me to get past the numerous unnecessary similarities to Tolkien's world (Soumanië = Silmarils, etc.), but just barely. This last one, the "Gandalf", I can't get past. It could reasonably argued that the Soumanië were necessary to the story, and it couldn't have been told without them, but it cannot be argued that "pulling a Gandalf" was necessary, because it just isn't. It NEVER is.

plot on autopilot.......2007-06-14

As other reviewers have noted, the story borrows heavily from LOTR, but with a well-developed cosmology and mythology of its own that make it an interesting read. Unfortunately, it's pretty clear from relatively early on that the supposedly evil guys are really not all that bad, and the supposedly good guys are little better (and in some ways possibly worse), and while that's an interesting concept, it's not really enough. I think Jacqueline Carey sold her readers a little short with this one: the second half of this novel was boringly predictable, as if, having turned good and evil on their heads, she feared to do anything else.

Very Good .......2007-05-03

I have not read the Kushiel series as yet as I wanted to give the Sundering a fair chance. I must say that it was very enjoyable, although there are some elements of Tolkien. But, it is still worth reading. I wonder if Ms. Carey will write another one. I am hoping that she will.

The beautiful shades of grey.......2006-09-04

I love stories that explore moral ambiguity, and Carey's new trilogy is a beautiful example.

And, no, it's not as great as her Kushiel trilogy, but that's setting the bar kind of high. lol And, for all the people bemoaning it as a thinly veiled rip-off of LOTR, perhaps the publishers should require people to take a basic level IQ test before buying the book...

What it *is*, is a beautifully crafted retelling of the traditonal high fantasy story, in which 'good' battles 'evil'. Maybe this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it.

Now to be a bit critical, I thought this one dragged a bit in the middle, but it definitely picked back up for its sad and poignant ending.

I'm definitely looking forward to its sequel. (There will be one won't there?)

The Sundering: Dread Empire's Fall (Dread Empires Fall)

Average customer rating:

The story continues...
All that is important is known...
Second book in one of the most entertaining recent space opera series
Excellent Story!
Very, Very Good

The Sundering: Dread Empire's Fall (Dread Empires Fall)
Walter Jon Williams
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0380820218
Release Date: 2004-02-24

Book Description

The Dread Empire of the Shaa is no more, following the death of the last oppressor. But freedom remains elusive for the myriad sentient races enslaved for ten centuries, as an even greater terror arises. The Naxids—a powerful insectoid species themselves subjugated until the recent Shaa demise—plan to fill the vacuum with their own bloody domination, and have already won a shattering victory with superior force and unimaginable cruelty. But two heroes survived the carnage at Magaria: Lord Gareth Martinez and the fiery, mysterious gun pilot Lady Caroline Sula, whose courageous exploits are becoming legend in the new history of galactic civil war. Yet their cunning, skill, and bravery may be no match for the overwhelming enemy descending upon the loyalist stronghold of Zanshaa, as the horrific battle looms that will determine the structure of the universe—and who shall live to inhabit it—for millennia to come.

Customer Reviews:

The story continues..........2007-01-02

The second book in Walter Jon Williams' Dread Empire's Fall series, The Sundering, resumes exactly where The Praxis left off. It continues the story of Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula as they battle to retake the Shaa empire from the Naxid rebels. The writing and characterization continue to be top notch so if you enjoyed the first book you will definitely like the second. Although the second book was good, I felt that it put a lot of pressure on the third book to determine whether the series will be great or not. In other words, after reading about these people and their war for two volumes, I need the third book to be truly spectacular in order to make the first two books pay off. Therefore, I will withhold judgement on the entire series until I finish the third book, but if the first two books are any indication, I don't think I'll be disappointed.

All that is important is known..........2006-07-21

... so says the Praxis...

So often Science Fiction, and the sub-genre of Space Opera in particular, is set amidst a completely unbelievable background, either an unlikely extrapolation of current society and science or worse still, our current society set in a thinly veiled future that lacks any cohesion.

The Dread Empire series defies this trend by setting the books in very believable, cohesive, and reasonable setting. What a wonderful change from the likes of David Weber's Honorverse.

"The Sundering" is a marvelous continuation of the "Dread Empires Fall" series, providing more of the rich prose and exciting storylines experienced in "The Praxis".

While reading, I often paused to wonder at the depth Mr. Williams has developed for the story's universe, its beauty, and more importantly, for its cohesiveness. I give it 5 stars.

Second book in one of the most entertaining recent space opera series.......2006-05-23

The Sundering is the second of Walter Jon Williams's space opera series collectively called Dread Empire's Fall. (First was The Praxis.) In the first novel the last of the Shaa, the long-lived aliens who controlled the multi-species Empire, died, setting off a battle for control. One species, the Naxids, rebelled, arguing that their status as first species to be conquered by the Shaa made them natural successors. The other species were taken by surprise by the rebellion, as they had apparently assumed that things would continue much as before, with power divided fairly evenly between the several species. A war quickly followed.

The central characters are two humans, Lord Gareth Martinez and Lady Caroline Sula. Both are relatively young and quite brilliant, and both become heroes in early action of the war, effectively preventing an immediate Naxid victory, though it is clear that the Naxids have the advantage of numbers. Martinez and Sula meet and are obviously attracted to each other. However both have flaws that will obviously cause future problems. Sula has a very dark secret in her background, further complicating her already compromised status as the last surviving member of a disgraced family. Martinez's family, while very rich, is provincial and thus his social status is tenuous, and his ambitions (and those of the rest of his family) tempt him towards dicey social and political manipulations, and occasional rather careerist, and conceited, actions.

In The Sundering, the story of the war as well as the personal stories of Martinez and Sula are advanced but not resolved, as one might expect from a middle book. Both are responsible in part for some further military successes, due to their brilliant tactical minds (and to fruitful collaboration). Their personal relationship takes some steps forward as well, only to be impeded by mutual misunderstandings, and by the problems mentioned above: Sula's past, and the ambitions of Martinez and his family. By the end of the novel a plan the two concocted for saving the Empire has been put into motion, albeit credited to more respectable people, and each are involved in desperate battles (of very different sorts) with the Naxids.

The book is very exciting, with some first rate space action, and some ground-based action as well. Williams appears to take great care in making his battle scenes plausible, taking into account travel times, acceleration requirements, and the general physics of space travel in planetary systems. Various aspects seem modelled on Napoleonic era naval adventure books, such as the hierarchical nature of shipboard society, and indeed the aristocratic focus of the overall society. The overall design is quite familiar, including such important things as the hero and heroine being brilliant mavericks, and such small details as Martinez's crusty and wily veteran servant. But if much is familiar, even cliché, Williams works very well within the form. The intrigues and twists and those disasters the reader sees coming give great pleasure. The flawed characters still attract this reader, and I root for them despite grimacing at their folly. This series is great fun to read, one of the most entertaining space operas in many years.

Excellent Story!.......2006-03-23

I truly wonderful novel! It has been awhile since I read science fiction that is so good.

Very, Very Good.......2006-03-21

I commented on this books predecessor that the remarkable thing about Dread Empires Fall is that very little actually happens. I enjoyed the book but I was looking forward to the next installment. I am pleased to say that the second book certainly moved the story and it is rather more action packed then the first text.

As I usually make a point of I do not wish to give too much of the plot away so the review lacks some specifics. The book is far more action packed then the opening book of the series. The story moves at a good pace and the plot does not seem either rushed or artificially elongated. The weakness in middle books is that they often feel like a bridge between the foundation and the capstone and otherwise seem to have very little reason to exist. This is absolutely not true in this novel. The story was engaging and very satisfying. It is still true that the book would be hard to fully engage with if the first text had not been read first.

An excellent book. I hesitate to give this novel 5 stars and have settled on 4 instead. This book, in my mind, does not quite join the very top-level books in the field but it is very, very close.

Average customer rating:

This isn't good
No, Banewreaker is not derivative
just read the silmarillion
A Great Book
Very Interesting, though not Perfect

Banewreaker (The Sundering, Book 1)
Jacqueline Carey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000FUTQ1E

Book Description

Following the triumphant success of her Kushiel series (Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, Kushiel's Avatar), Jacqueline Carey now turns her hand to another startling fable, an epic tale of gods waging war in their bid to control an entire universe and the mortals they use as chess pieces in a most deadly game.Once, the Seven Shapers dwelled in accord. First-born among them was Haomane, Lord-of-Thought and with his brother and sister gods, the Seven drew upon of the power of the Souma, claimed a race of beings for their own and began Shaping the world to their will. But Haomane saw the ways of this new world and was displeased. For in his younger brother Satoris, once called the Sower, Haomane thought too prideful and in his gift, the quickening of the flesh too freely to the races....and to that of Man in particular. Haomane asked Satoris to withdraw his Gift from Men but he refused. And so began the Shapers' War. Eons have passed. The war that ensued Sundered the very world. Haomane and his siblings lay to one end of a vast ocean unable to touch their creations, Satoris and the races of the world on the other. Satoris has been broken and left adrift among the peoples of the world and is reviled, with most of the races believing that it was he alone who caused the rift and depriving them of the balm of the Seven. He sits in Darkhaven, controlling his own dominion--seeking not victory but neither vengeance.But still Haomane is not content. Through Haomane's whispers in the minds and hearts of the races of the world come a prophecy that if Satoris were defeated, the world could be made whole and all would bask in the light of the Souma again. And the few who stay by Satoris are viewed as the ultimate evil. And so the races come together to defeat Satoris, a being who helped engender them all but who is caught in his elder brother's warp.Strong storytelling with evocative, compelling, and unforgettable characters, Banewrecker ultimately asks the question: If all that is considered good considers you evil, are you?

Customer Reviews:

This isn't good.......2007-09-30

I was implored by a friend of mine to read this novel due to the idea that it is solely based on the phrase, "If All That is Good Thinks You are Evil... Are You?" My friend stated that it was basically a Tolkienesque story applying that question.

I bought this novel based solely on that recommendation, and I wished that I hadn't. Books like this are directly linked to the reason why I hardly ever read fantasy. I was even expecting a Tolkien clone, but maybe some interesting anti-heroes, clever dialog or better yet, a very concise analysis on what people perceive as evil to make it a little more palatable. Not only did I not receive any of these, I received a book containing nothing even remotely resembling a good story.

I've heard nothing but good things about Carey's "Kushiel" series, which is why I plan on reading it, but there was nothing good about "Banewreaker." Wait, I'll take that back. If I were a thirteen year old who'd never been exposed to Tolkien, I probably would have liked this book. This novel was essentially a bad plagiarizing of The Silmarillion; it's actually nauseating as to how cloned it is.

Though it was obviously spawned from Tolkien's world-building classic, the prose and character development were easily the worst parts of the novel. From the second page of "Banewreaker," I couldn't help but think that it was written by a junior high student. I wouldn't make the summation that Carey is a horrible writer, but any command of prose or dialog is nonexistent here.

It was almost as if Carey said to herself, "How about a story involving evil guys, who are not really evil as much as they are misunderstood." Then is seemed as if she were trying to break a record for how quickly she could produce a full-length novel. The characters, every Old-English speaking one of them, are utterly one-dimensional. Regarding the Old English diction: It would be hard for me to describe how irritating the use of it is in this novel. "Banewreaker" is actually supposed to be a tragic piece about how all of these "evil" guys were painfully wronged and how they now see the world differently than all others. And speaking of all others, Carey, like Goodkind with his dreadful "Wizard's First Rule," managed to create an entire planet with a whopping population of about 54. Not only does this world seem devoid of cities or varying borders, but it has no populace to speak of.

I certainly hope that Carey was not attempting to make a statement about moral relativism or subjective perceptions of good and evil, because she would have failed miserably. "Banewreaker" could have been a much better book had Carey studied up on her Kant and Glaucon. It would have also helped unequivocally had she really spent the time to build her characters and their histories, not to mention making the prose and dialog a little more intelligent.

No, Banewreaker is not derivative.......2007-09-20

Do not be put off by any review that derides this work as derivative. It is true that Jacqueline Carey's world as described in Banewreaker and its sequel Godslayer has many similarities on the surface with Tolkein's Middle Earth. Moreover, the parallels among the characters are numerous: Aracus Altorus, the dispossessed heir to the Kingdom of the West, vs. Aragorn, the dispossessed heir to the throne of Gondor; Dani the Water-bearer vs. Frodo the Ring-bearer; Malthus, the grizzled old wizard (who vanishes for a time underground only to return as a white rider) vs. Gandalf, the grizzled old wizard (who does exactly the same thing). But the parallels are deliberate. In fact, they are the whole point.

What Carey has done in Banewreaker and Godslayer is to take the premise of the epic struggle between good and evil and turn it on its head. In the Lord of the Rings, Sauron the Dark Lord is purely and irredeemably evil and is viewed only rarely and at a distance. In contrast, we meet Satoris the Sunderer and those around him on an intimate level. We learn what motivates them and how they struggle with their doubts and with their moral and ethical dilemmas. And it turns out that they're not so evil after all. They value love and trust and honor and they grieve over the suffering of others, even of their enemies. What they are fighting for is not, from their point of view, evil. They are fighting for freedom.

On the other side of the conflict is Haomane and his allies, who have taken upon themselves the mantle of the Good. Interestingly, it is Haomane who is viewed only rarely and at a distance. Moreover, the claim of Haomane's allies that they are the forces for Good is borne out of the certainty of their faith. And it is the tyranny of that certainty that makes them more truly evil. The core of the dispute between Haomane and Satoris centers on sexuality. It was Satoris' gift to humanity at the beginning of the world and Haomane asked--no decreed--that it should be withdrawn. When Satoris refused, the conflict that we witness began.

There are fascinating similarities between the war in Banewreaker and Godslayer and the cultural war that is playing out in early twenty-first century America. When the forces of freedom and open sexuality are arrayed against the forces of certainty and unquestioning faith, it's clear where Carey's sympathies lie. Given that, plus the fact that she managed to work in the phrase "a thousand points of light" when describing the home of the "good guys" (who are actually the bad guys), I'm pretty sure I know how Jacqueline Carey will vote in the next election.

just read the silmarillion.......2007-09-06

ok i NEVER write reviews, but how can someone who was so goooooood in the kushiel series write such derivitive crap like this? 2 chapters in and even the names (never mind the plot) arecompletely hijacked from tolkein's the silmarillion! go read that instead, it's much more fleshed-out. I know the silmarillion isnt as widely-read as the lord of the rings series, but come on! even the gods names are so alike! stick to kushiel......they are wonderful, inventive, gorgeous imagery.......get back to work on that series instead. there are enough bad ripoffs of tolkein out there already. (sword of shannara anyone?)

A Great Book.......2007-09-03

I think this novel is an excellent one. Those who criticize it as merely a Tolkien rip-off are, in my opinion, beyond help. Those readers are skeptics of the worst kind. They are pessimists.

I think Carey knows exactly what she's doing here. If you want to read a Tolkien rip-off, read Eddings or the scores of others that have come and gone over the decades. Carey is a far better writer than any of the so-called "me too" novelists who have tried (and failed) to do a good Tolkien clone. Indeed, it is true that the vast majority of characters in Banewreaker have Tolkien equivalents, but they have so much more substance than ANY characters in LOTRs. I don't see how anyone with two eyes and a working knowledge of the English language could think otherwise.

So I'm giving this one a strong thumbs up. Give it a shot. You may like it.

Very Interesting, though not Perfect.......2007-08-30

I adore the Kushiel's Legacy Trilogy, and the new Imriel books, but luckily I wasn't expecting these books to be as good as them--I had heard some complaints about them, so I didn't have that high of expectations. It took me until this summer to pick this one up in fact.

But as it turned out, the book exceeded my expectations--it wasn't long until I had gotten into the book and was picking it up to read at every opportunity I got. True, the prose is a bit clunky and slow, to the extent that I largely skimmed through the last half of the book, getting the gist of each scene, trying to find scenes with interaction between Tanaros and Cerelinde (which admittedly was the thing in this book I was most interested in and loved most--I'm a big C/T shipper, and loved the subtle and gradual development of their relationship so far--Carey is so good at writing romance!). There were boring parts, and I wished we could have stayed more in Darkhaven or with Tanaros and Cerelinde. However overall the story was great and a very interesting concept--and as in Kushiel's Legacy, there are characters I genuinely adore, foremost among them Tanaros, who I find to be a very compelling, tragic, and complex character. The fact that I find his murder of his wife and King to be understandable and forgiveable, and love him in spite of such crimes tells a LOT about Carey's masterful writing and character development! Carey is the best author when it comes to character development, IMO, and this book is no exception, though there aren't as many great characters as in Kushiel.

It's also great to see all the different perspectives--especially as a history buff and major, I can understand how Haomane's Allies would have been so blinded by what they'd been told abotu Satoris--if it can happen in the real World, why can't it happen there? Look at the way Germany was blamed for starting WWI in the Versailles treaty at the end of WWI when they were far from having begun it (Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Serbia were higher on the list of countries to blame--Germany actually tried to avoid war for a while, begging their ally Austria not to do it, and asking Russia to remove their troops from their border with Germany--not to mention all the other, many complex factors that caused the war), and the idea that they began it still exists--I thought that was the case myself when I was younger. Just as Tanaros and others had learned as children that Satoris was evil and to blame for the Sundering of the world, before they learned the other side to the story. So I don't think it's a stretch at all to believe that all Men would hate Satoris after being taught to do so, and learning to do so, all their lives--it's just another example of history being written by the winners. So as a history buff I can also especially appreciate the complex interplay of views and histories as presented in the book.

Anyway, in short this book is well worth reading, and even if it's different from the Kushiel's Trilogy and perhaps not as good, it's still a great work of fantasy with a compelling story and characters, as well as a more complex and philisophical work. (Though Melisande is more complex than your average villain because of her capacity for love, she is still rather black-and-white evil--when she says there are two sides to everything, it's not very believable. In this book, however, there are two sides, which makes things very interesting and thought-provoking.

Average customer rating:

An extraordinarily complex, moving achievement
Good first half of a story. What next?
A tragedy

The Sundering (SFBC Omnibus)
Jacqueline Carey
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0739456903

Product Description

This is a two-in-one volume with both of Jacqueline Carey's top sellers Banewreaker and Godslayer. (Inside jacket: with her successful Kushiel series, Jacqueline Carey proved herself a force to be reckoned with in the fantasy field. Now she returns with another extraordinary epic, a shattering tale of gods at ware and the mortals they use in their deadly game.) Once the Seven Shapers dwelled in accord. First-born among them was Haomane, Lord-of-Thought, and with his six sibling gods, they Shaped the world and its children to their will. But Haomane was displeased with Satoris' Shaping, for he thought his younger brother too generous in his gifts to Men, who made war upon Hoamane's Children, the Ellylon. Though the First-Born asked his brother to withdraw his Gift, Satoris refused. So began the Shapers' War, which sundered the world and cast Satoris and his kindred to opposite ends of a vast ocean.

Customer Reviews:

An extraordinarily complex, moving achievement.......2007-07-13

Yes, I have read and loved all the Kushiel series; they are astonishing, wonderful books. Yet those who pick up the two volumes of the Sundering because they loved Phedre, and come away disappointed and complain the books fail to measure up, are missing the point entirely. These books are a different genre, and a different kind of accomplishment; they are a fantasy epic which is also a philosophical and ethical critique of the epic genre.

Of course, the similarily in narrative structure to the Tolkien epics is conscious and purposeful. Almost every character from the Lord of the Rings is found here: Gandalf-Malthus, Frodo-Dani, Aragorn-Aracus. Previous reviewers may have missed that the arguable "heroes" of this story, Tanaros Cavaros and the "Misbegotten" Ushahin Dreamspinner, are analogous to the leader of the Ringwraiths and Gollum. And Satoris Banewreaker, of course, is the Sauron who the Elves/Ellylon so lyrically claim to be bent on the destruction of all that is good and beautiful, working tirelessly "to cover all the world in a SECOND darkness!!!"

I wonder, how many of us who read and loved the Lord of the Rings ever wondered why Sauron would wish such a thing? Did the explanations of his motivations ever seem thin? Sauron was supposed to have created the Orcs "in savage mockery" of the Elves; a force of pure evil, needing no purpose other than destruction, with no desires, even in creation, except to mock and ruin. What Carey's epic is meant to show, and it succeeds beautifully, is that there are no such villains. There can be no races, such as the Orcs in Tolkien, without redeeming characteristics. To exist at all, especially to exist as a living community of any kind, living creatures must manifest certain virtues. The "Orcs" on the Sundering epic are ugly, certainly, and the "Elves" fear and despise them; yet Carey shows the Ellylon hatred and fear of the trollish Fjel as a product of their own limited aesthetics and the enmity between their races. The Fjel lack the beauties and brains of Elves and Men, yet they are real creatures, and therefore, in order for them to continue as a race at all, they must reproduce and rear their children, they must have some forms of love and loyalty. As this epic unfolds, the awareness grows in the reader that the "orcs" of Tolkien could never have been anything but a savagely distorted picture, a lie wrought by those who hated them from a distance. The power of the Ellylon to tell their stories with beauty, and thus inscribe their point of view as history, is explicitly thematized by Carey's hero Tanaros, who reminds the lovely Ellyl lady that every story has two sides, and that no Elf or Man has ever listened to the stories of the Fjel.

Tanaros himself stands as one of only two counter-examples; he himself is a Man, one who once served the ruling house of the oldest of Men's kingdoms. Once a hero in the best epic style, a loyal general who loved his king and his wife, now he is the most famous villain of his own race of origin. Long ago, he discovered his wife's new child to be, not his own son, but the son of his own best friend and beloved liege. The power of his loves fueled the violent madness of his hatred when those loves were betrayed, and he killed both his wife and her lover. Only in the service of Satoris can he re-discover loyalty and purpose, as only Satoris was willing to allow him the "dignity of his hatred" and allow him the chance to make a new life. The kingdoms of Men call Tanaros "Wifeslayer" the worst of comicbook villains, and see his service to Satoris as simply confirming how evil he is; a man who killed both wife and king could only flee to bad black Satoris in his evil dark fortress. Yet Carey shows us Darkhaven through the eyes of Tanaros as a haven, a place of beauty and dignity, and Satoris as the being who has given Tanaros sanctuary-- as well as a love that has never failed nor been untrue.

The Darkhaven of this epic, this Mordor, was built by Satoris after his first war with his older brother, who, wrathful at his younger brother's refusal to obey, burned the world with the fires of the sun and left Satoris wounded and scorched. Darkhaven is dark not to symbolize evil, but because light hurts as well as illuminates, and because fire is the weapon of the elder Shaper who believes, on thin grounds, that his own will is the entirety of truth and goodness, and that Satoris' refusal to obey him is the essence of wrong and evil. Darkhaven is guarded by Fjeltroll and staffed by madlings, and here is the poignant heart of Carey's vision. For Tanaros is only one of the ambiguous and complex heroes of this story. The other is his counterpart Ushahin, like Tanaros a byword for evil among the Elves and Men of this world, and like him a product of the very world and races who fear and hate him.

Ushahin Dreamspinner, unique in this fantasyworld, is half Ellyl and half mortal Man. The Ellyl, children of Haomane FirstBorn, are a race gifted with mind and heart, rationality and love, but immortal, and without the gift Satoris was asked to give to every other race: Desire. It was Haomane's command that Satoris withdraw Desire from Men which Satoris refused, the refusal for which he is called the Sunderer. Desire is an ambiguous gift, and one both Men and Elves find easy to blame for the crime one Man committed upon a daughter of the Ellylon; the crime of rape. Ushahin Dreamspinner was conceived in that rape, abandoned by the kindred of both parents, and almost killed in childhood by a crowd of other children with rocks. His appearance is all the more monstrous for the remains of remarkable beauty ruined, elegant bones shattered and ill set, wide-set eyes permanently dilated and crazed; he embodies all the horror of human cruelty and callousness, and walks in their dreams to show them the image of a child's fist with a rock breaking another child's face to bits. Called "The Misbegotten" by both the races from which he sprang, Ushahin serves Lord Satoris for the sanctuary Satoris gives to all the mad and broken of the world, those Ushahin calls to Darkhaven where they are safe and loved.

It is Satoris' relationship with Ushahin and his madlings that thematizes the true heart of this amazing critique of epic storytelling, this reply to Tolkien's brutal aesthetic of bright beautiful Elves versus nasty ugly orcs. When the lovely Ellylon lady arrives in Darkhaven and learns that it is a sanctuary for madlings, for all those beings broken and maimed by the cruelty of the world, she is of course appalled. The lovely, the perfect lady, of course she cannot fail to feel pity and mourn for the victims of cruelty and neglect who find safety and love in Darkhaven. Yet she protests they could be fixed, that Satoris ought to heal them and make them pretty again, a response that Tanaros shows in its selfishness with his reply: "To my lord Satoris, she is already beautiful." He loves them as they are, and finds the beauty they have in themselves, not needing to transform them into pretty elf maidens to find them lovely. Similarly, the Ellylon cannot realize the limitations of their own attitudes towards the half-elven Ushahin; they blame Satoris for not "fixing" him, never imagining that it is tghe Dreamspinner himself who refuses to be "healed" to erase the signs of what has made him what he is.

The Elves can only imagine beauty as being like themselves: perfect, tall, glowing with light, and above all, lucky. The scars of the unlucky, of all those who have been hurt, the stories of all those whose lives have been shaped by pain-- they can only see those things as flaws to be erased. What the limited aesthetic of the Ellylon cannot understand as valuable is the same thing that disappears in the caricatures of "orcs"-- the values and features of *life*. Life that struggles through pain and trauma, life that nurtures young, life that makes the best of ambiguity, life that goes on imperfectly.

It is finally an aesthetic of life with which Carey counters the simplistic aesthetic of epic in the Tolkien vein. In place of a god whose mysterious will must be obeyed as the definition of Goodness, we have a god who wishes only to live as he sees best, and survive the despite of his older brother's wrath. Haomane First-Born believes his own vision to be the definition of truth and reality, and his own will as the determiner of goodness. In such a belief-system there can only be one kind of choice: obedience is good, and defiance, evil. Counterpoised to that simplistic lie, Carey gives us a meditation on the nature of choice as life-determining, or choice and responsibility, of truth itself as ambiguity and complexity.

Good first half of a story. What next?.......2007-04-15

I love Jacqueline Carey's series about Phedre, beginning with Kushiel's Dart. It is one of my favorite stories. I also enjoyed The Sundering, though not as much.

The Sundering is a takeoff on Lord of the Rings, upside down. Sauron is the good guy here, and Gandalf is the bad guy. Frodo is a bit of a dupe, sent to destroy Sauron's power, even though Sauron was much kinder to him than the good guys ever were.

In this story, Gandalf's name is Malthus. "Mal" means something bad, as in malady. Frodo's name is Dani. He is accompanied by his uncle Bilbo, whose name here is Fat Uncle Thulu.

The dwarves are intact, but the elves are here called Ellylon, and are not as short as the elves of LOTR. Instead, they are the size of the elves in the LOTR movie, man-size.

Aragorn is in this story as well. His name is Aracus Altorus rather than Aragorn son of Arathorn. Same guy. Leader of the Borderguard, and the hereditary king. And as in LOTR he is scheduled to marry an elf, the Ellylon beauty Cerelinde.

Sauron, here called Satoris, isn't half bad. He inspires love and loyalty. It is his big brother Haomane who is the real pain in the butt. All of Satoris's brothers and sisters have ditched our world, gone across the sea, I suppose across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in America while the action of the story is in Europe, more or less, though Haomane's home is described as an island, not a continent.

Haomane wages unjust war against Satoris. On Satoris's side are Jackie's version of orcs or trolls, which she calls fjeltrol. They are big and strong and ugly. They are bigger than humans. But they have hearts of gold and are the good guys. The beautiful Ellylon are a bit of a load, conceited as all hell. So while Tolkein made it obvious who to root for because his good guys were cute and his bad guys were ugly, Carey turns that upside down for us. Ugly good guys, cute bad guys.

I was confused with some of her terminology. Souma. Soumanie. Marasoumie. Rhios. Half the time I barely knew what she was talking about when she mentioned these things. Apparently there is a lot of magic in her world, and the souma is a great source of magic.

Her characters are so interesting that I always wish the books were illustrated.

The main additions she has to LOTR are some new characters. Satoris (Sauron) has his three main helpers. I suppose they could be compared to the ring wraiths, and once in a while one of them is a Black Rider, but these three really aren't ring wraiths, and have interesting characters of their own. One of them, Tanaros, is the star of the book.

I enjoyed this book but it cries out for a sequel. Everything about the ending screams out SEQUEL.

A tragedy.......2006-05-27

This is an interesting book. The world is believable. the different races recognizable. It is told from the perspective of Satoris, the third born shaper of the world. He is supposed to be the bad guy that caused the world to be sundered.

And war is coming. It is led by the children of the first born shaper, Satoris' brother Haomane. They are allegedly the good guys. So now we have a classic battle between good and evil, only good isn't that good, and evil might actually be innocent of the charges against him.

I found myself cheering for Satoris as everything about him fell apart. I really didn't like Haomane at all. There are magical weapons, prophecies, but no one becomes all powerful that none can stand before him.

This is a story filled with rich characters, and they experience the spectrum of love, betrayal, honor and pride. This is good story and fine fantasy.

Recommended.

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Not Free SF Reader

The Sundering (Dread Empire's Fall)
Walter Jon Williams
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Not very interesting, it seems. I may give it another chance some time.

Presumably this is meant to be a grand, sweeping space opera, but I
could not get interested in the setup, the aliens, the protagonists, or
any of the setting, so just found this rather dull.

The Collected Works of William Morris: Volume 21. The Sundering Flood. Unfinished Romances

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The Collected Works of William Morris: Volume 21. The Sundering Flood. Unfinished Romances
William Morris
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1402150105
Release Date: 2004-03-19

Book Description

With an introduction by May Morris. This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1914 edition by Longmans, Green, and Company, London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta.

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Morris' evolution
Not one to cut your teeth on.

The Sundering Flood (Wildside Fantasy)
William Morris
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Glittering Plain (Wildside Fantasy)

ASIN: 1587154994

Book Description

The Sundering Flood, among the last of Morris's works, was published in 1897, after his death. The beautiful prose and rich use of language are typical of Morris and fill the reader with a sense of awe and wonder. The "flood" of the title is nothing less than a river, metaphorically as well as literally dividing two lovers. And there is the fantastic, too: dwarf folk, a magic sword, and an ageless warrior to mentor the hero. All told, a delightful story certain to appeal to all lovers of classic fantasy. "C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both acknowledged the influence of William Morris." --The Encyclopedia of Fantasy "No mountains in literature are as far away as the distant mountains of Morris." --C.S. Lewis "With his epochal novels of the 1880s, William Morris established the tradition of the tale set in a completely imaginary world of the author's own invention.? --Lin Carter

Customer Reviews:

Morris' evolution.......2003-04-17

The Sundering Flood is my favorite among Morris's fantasies, and was one of the last (if not the very last one) written. His earlier works (Wood Beyond the World, Well at the World's End, etc.) are modelled after the romances of the high Middle Ages and late medieval/renaissance works. In The Sundering Flood, Moris looks back further in time, and incorporates thematic and stylistic elements of the Norse sagas. This is particularly evident in the first part of this work. The overall structure does resemble Well at the World's End, but this work is not derivative. The action is tighter, more varied, and more detailed. It is the closest of Morris's fantasies to a modern novel. The language remains archaic, and might put off some readers; but if you persevere you will adjust to it, and find this a great story.

Not one to cut your teeth on........2003-02-12

Morris devotees will find it well worth reading (and the four stars are for benefit of those readers). Others may find it impenetrable. Those who have never read any of Morris' works absolutely should start with The Well at the World's End, which is his masterwork, and I'd hate for anyone to be discouraged from that experience.

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The Sundering Flood
William Morris
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OV4WYU

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Sundering Flood
William Morris
Manufacturer: BALLANTINE BOOKS @
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UE4RO6

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