Sunday, 3 May 2015 02:15 pm
Book Review: Owlflight
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deckardcanineI wanted this book more for an introduction to its first credited author, Mercedes Lackey, than for Larry Dixon. I may have to read something by Lackey alone in order to guess how much was Dixon's work. Judging from the scarcity of female characters, I wouldn't be surprised if her name came first only for commercial purposes.
Despite genre and titular similarity, it's nothing like Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight. Unfortunately, it also has very little to do with some of my favorite birds. That's all the more a shame because the bond between individual Hawkbrothers (humans so sylvan, elite, and shrouded in legend that I mistook them for pseudo-elves) and their assigned birds is one of the few elements that lend this medieval fantasy a feeling anything like originality. Well, I gauged as much early on and continued regardless, because originality is slightly overrated.
The story begins with 13-year-old Darian hating his present life, with more reason than most 13-year-olds. Ever since a series of "mage storms" rendered the forest more dangerous, the village of Errold's Grove has had minimal contact with outer civilization. Darian and his parents did not share their neighbors' sentiments and frequently forayed into the forest, until the parents went alone and didn't return. Now he's apprenticed involuntarily to subpar wizard Justyn, finding magic too difficult for any practical purpose yet. Neither Darian nor Justyn gets much respect from other villagers, who seem to think themselves saints for giving them both the time of day. Oh, younger children admire Darian's ruggedness from afar, but he doesn't get to enjoy their company.
One strength of this early part is that we get the POVs of both Darian and Justyn. We understand their mutual frustration mixed with mutual pity perfectly. It's harder to sympathize with the others, but Justyn at least recognizes the limited information on which they make their judgments. No local knows, for instance, that Justyn is a war hero with traumatic brain injury; nor do they realize how the "lazy" Darian gets away with a lot less than non-orphans.
Prominent snobs are on the verge of casting out both heroes when an army of barbarians shows up. Who would care to invade such a poor, backwater village? A wizard, of course, sensing value where normal people couldn't. With Justyn dead (not much of a spoiler; it's in the excerpt at the front), Darian runs where nobody else would, soon meeting the one other focal character, Snowfire the Hawkbrother. The 17 local Hawkbrothers and their nonhuman allies -- among them an adolescent griffin, who stretches out R and S sounds; the hertasi, servile anthro-reptiles; and the dyheli, telepathic deer who help Darian master the Hawkbrother language in no time -- must decide what if anything they can do about the occupying force.
This may sound hypocritical coming from the cartoonist of "Downscale," but man, things move slowly. Never mind the scarcity of women, owls, and originality; how about action? Not that it feels like the narrator's buying time; in a way, the pileup of little things like chats and brooding adds to the credibility. I wouldn't say I was bored. I just wanted more.
I suspect that the 342-page book was written with early teens in mind. I also suspect that the entertainment improves considerably in later volumes in the Valdemar Saga, when Darian becomes more competent; and perhaps in a prelude, with more details about Justyn's past. Dang it, didn't I determine before that I need to do more research for when it's better to start in the middle of a series?
Next up is John Scalzi's Redshirts. Good thing I finished watching "Star Trek: The Original Series."
Despite genre and titular similarity, it's nothing like Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight. Unfortunately, it also has very little to do with some of my favorite birds. That's all the more a shame because the bond between individual Hawkbrothers (humans so sylvan, elite, and shrouded in legend that I mistook them for pseudo-elves) and their assigned birds is one of the few elements that lend this medieval fantasy a feeling anything like originality. Well, I gauged as much early on and continued regardless, because originality is slightly overrated.
The story begins with 13-year-old Darian hating his present life, with more reason than most 13-year-olds. Ever since a series of "mage storms" rendered the forest more dangerous, the village of Errold's Grove has had minimal contact with outer civilization. Darian and his parents did not share their neighbors' sentiments and frequently forayed into the forest, until the parents went alone and didn't return. Now he's apprenticed involuntarily to subpar wizard Justyn, finding magic too difficult for any practical purpose yet. Neither Darian nor Justyn gets much respect from other villagers, who seem to think themselves saints for giving them both the time of day. Oh, younger children admire Darian's ruggedness from afar, but he doesn't get to enjoy their company.
One strength of this early part is that we get the POVs of both Darian and Justyn. We understand their mutual frustration mixed with mutual pity perfectly. It's harder to sympathize with the others, but Justyn at least recognizes the limited information on which they make their judgments. No local knows, for instance, that Justyn is a war hero with traumatic brain injury; nor do they realize how the "lazy" Darian gets away with a lot less than non-orphans.
Prominent snobs are on the verge of casting out both heroes when an army of barbarians shows up. Who would care to invade such a poor, backwater village? A wizard, of course, sensing value where normal people couldn't. With Justyn dead (not much of a spoiler; it's in the excerpt at the front), Darian runs where nobody else would, soon meeting the one other focal character, Snowfire the Hawkbrother. The 17 local Hawkbrothers and their nonhuman allies -- among them an adolescent griffin, who stretches out R and S sounds; the hertasi, servile anthro-reptiles; and the dyheli, telepathic deer who help Darian master the Hawkbrother language in no time -- must decide what if anything they can do about the occupying force.
This may sound hypocritical coming from the cartoonist of "Downscale," but man, things move slowly. Never mind the scarcity of women, owls, and originality; how about action? Not that it feels like the narrator's buying time; in a way, the pileup of little things like chats and brooding adds to the credibility. I wouldn't say I was bored. I just wanted more.
I suspect that the 342-page book was written with early teens in mind. I also suspect that the entertainment improves considerably in later volumes in the Valdemar Saga, when Darian becomes more competent; and perhaps in a prelude, with more details about Justyn's past. Dang it, didn't I determine before that I need to do more research for when it's better to start in the middle of a series?
Next up is John Scalzi's Redshirts. Good thing I finished watching "Star Trek: The Original Series."