Note: For the first time ever, I’ve decided to have my wonderful partner, Thomas Scofield, write a review for the site. I receive so many books to review from so many wonderful publishing companies that sometimes I don’t have time to read them all myself, so in the interest of getting more reviews up and introducing you, my fantastic readers, to more books that deserve to be read, I thought it would be nice to have Thomas review when the whim takes him. This book sounds particularly fascinating, so I’m sure I’ll be reading it myself in the not too distant future.
So, without further ado, Thomas’ review of The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke (Book 1 of her Watergivers series), available from Orbit Books.–Rob
Glenda Larke’s new secondary-world fantasy novel, The Last Stormlord, takes place in a ruthless desert land where life is sustained by the will of the Stormlords, individuals born with the ability to extract fresh water from the faraway seas, form the water into a vaporous mass and guide those clouds across mile after mile of empty desert…until they break the clouds open and let the rain fall onto rocky watercourses which lead directly to the aquifers that supply life to the various cities and peoples of the Quartern.
Now only one Stormlord remains and he is old. “Dying in his tower,” according to the blurb on the back cover of the book. One of the things I found most interesting was the fact that we are not allowed into the head of this last stormlord. The book revolves around the earth-shaking consequences to his being the last stormlord, but the story focuses to a greater degree on the hopes (and the characters that embody said hopes) for the future.
To start off, I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. It’s fresh, it’s interesting, it even managed to keep me guessing as to which characters did or did not deserve my trust (at least for a little while). The world is painted in vivid prose and I found myself pulled in and caught up with the characters almost immediately.
Terelle (a young woman fleeing a life she does not want) and Shale (a young man given a life he never expected) are the characters that bear the lion’s share of the narrative burden. As time passes (and as often as not, months or even years can fly by with just a few sentences) we, the readers, are privileged to watch these young people grow and mature. What struck me most about these two characters is the heart with which they are written. Though they live in an alien land, Larke has done such an excellent job bringing them to life that it is almost impossible not to empathize.
And the land is indeed alien. Desert nomads ride giant centipedes rather than horses and cities are built in tiered levels, the better to manage the flow of water from the privileged to the poor. The world is harsh, and the characters that struggle to survive in it harsher still.
That, I think, brings me to what was my absolute favorite aspect of the book: the intricacy of character and events. There is a sinister plot, and the way the plot evolves with the characters, because of their actions and the way events complicate themselves based on responses and reactions of the characters…the plot is truly a function of character.
However, it is not just the characters that are fully realized. The world is masterfully understood by its creator. Religion impacts life in wonderfully interesting ways and the pull between the priesthood and the politicians shows some very great potential. The history of the Quartern and her cities is well thought out and reveals very interesting details about the foundations of the conflict that is the driving force behind the story.
I would recommend The Last Stormlord to anyone who has a taste for truly original fantasy fiction, loves worlds that are well-designed and perfectly understood by their authors or just wants to try something different.
Because that is what I liked most about The Last Stormlord: in a world of carbon copy fantasy, it sets itself apart as truly original.
Buy:
The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke
Related posts:
- Guest Review: Stormlord Rising by Glenda Larke
- Guest Review: Rachel Neumeier’s Land of the Burning Sands
- Guest Review: Rachel Neumeier’s Lord of the Changing Winds
- Cold Front: Kate Elliott’s Cold Magic
- Book Review: What Would Buffy Do?
