Exile’s Gate is the last book in The Complete Morgaine omnibus by C.J. Cherryh, and contains the last adventure of Morgaine and Vanye.
Plot:
Morgaine and Vanye have ridden through the Gate on Azeroth, and find themselves on another world, once again surrounded by men and qhal, not knowing who they can trust. While they try to find the next Gate to seal, they find resistance, and help, from the unlikeliest of sources.
Fires of Azeroth is the penultimate book in The Complete Morgaine omnibus by C.J. Cherryh.
Plot:
Vanye and Morgaine have entered a new world, the world of Azeroth, and it is a beautiful one. One without strife, where man and qhal live together in harmony. But unfortunately, this world is about to change for the worse. For they didn’t come through the gates alone. The people of Shiuan have entered this world, and so has Chya Roh, their most dangerous enemy. They mean to take this world for themselves, and Chya Roh has his forces guard the Gate, and search for the one they all hate: Morgaine.
Will have to add this one to Mount TBR, because I’m still up to my elbows in the r/fantasy bingo
I bought The Complete Morgaine omnibus by C.J. Cherryh a while ago, and while I would usually just review the entire thing, I figured each of the four books it contained merited a review. So that’s why I’m reviewing all of them separately. Well of Shiuan is the second book in the saga.
Plot:
Jherun knew her world, Shiuan, was doomed to be overtaken by the dark waters that rose every Hnoth eventually. The Gates of Shiuan were once ruled by kings, but they were long gone, and only their descendants still lived. They still lived, knowing that their world would one day drown. None knew how to use the Gates now, their sole means of escape if ever there was one. None but Morgaine, who’d come to her Shiuan to seal them
I bought The Complete Morgaine omnibus by C.J. Cherryh a while ago, and while I would usually just review the entire thing, I figured each of the four books it contained merited a review. So that’s why I’m reviewing all of them separately. Gate of Ivrel is the first book in the saga.
Plot:
Nhi Vanye i Chya has been exiled for unintentional brother killing, and must survive his ordeal through outlawry. The clans of Andur-Kursh are all vying for power, but there is none as powerful, and horrible as Thiye Thiye’s-son, master of the Gate. When hunted, hungry and thirsty, Vanye finds himself in the accursed Morgaine’s vale, he is too tired to seek shelter elsewhere. When accidentally stumbling upon a temporal trap, he unintentionally frees a beautiful but otherworldly woman, suspended for a century. It is Morgaine, a legend of the past of whom terrible tales are told; the witch who brought disaster upon Andur-Kursh. She claims from him a year of servitude, to guard her back while she prepares to finish what she started so many years ago.
Can’t really read the second trilogy of the Pern series before this one, can I?
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai is the first book in the Song of the Shattered Sands series by Bradley P. Beaulieu.
Plot:
Çeda lives with her best friend Emre in the slums of great Sharakhai, the Amber Jewel of the Desert, a hub of commerce and ruled by twelve immortal Kings. She loves Sharakhai and its people, but she had no love for the Kings and their harsh ways. She’s lost much by their hands, and every night of the Beht Zha’ir, when no one ventures outside and the chosen ones wait and pray to be taken by the deadly asirim, their hands are stained with more blood of Sharakhani. But the Kings are well protected by their Silver Spears and the elite warrior Maidens, and any hope to overthrow them is futile. After Çeda goes out on the night of Beht Zha’ir, she experiences something that sets her on a path of discovery, and revenge. Sharakhai holds many secrets, and Çeda means to learns them all and use them to her advantage, for there is much afoot in the city.
Opinion:
Beaulieu is amazing at making you feel the city of Sharakhai. I could feel the heat, the press of bodies at the market, I could hear the gutter wrens running around laughing and picking pockets, the roar of the crowd in the fighting pits and I could see the horror of the asirim and the actions of the Moonless Host. The setting is absolutely riveting.
All characters felt like real people, with their own motivations, talents and flaws. Çeda is my kind of girl: headstrong, a woman of action, knowledgeable about her part of the city, curious, and driven. Sure, she’s driven to avenge the loss she suffered when she was little, but she has a plan, and sticks to it. She still has much to learn, of course, and she makes many mistakes. But she learns from them, and that’s what I like about her. She overreaches sometimes, and can be overconfident on occasion, but she’s still, what, nineteen? It’s understandable, even though it can be frustrating.
Her friendship with Emre was believable, and I’d like to know more about Emre, and his motivations. I don’t necessarily buy what he told Macide, leader of the Moonless Host, to join them, but he is siding with them while he knows Çeda doesn’t approve of their crude and often bloody methods. Why would he want to belong to them, is what I’m wondering.
Ramahd’s story of loss is a harrowing one, and sketches an even more terrible image of the Moonless Host. He’s on his own path of revenge, and I see his path colliding with Çeda’s many times in the future. I must admit I like him, and am severely creeped out by his sister-in-law Meryam, but I’m excited to see what happens next with them.
The only thing that frustrated me while reading this book was that no one seems to clearly communicate! Everyone’s keeping secrets from everyone, and then they feel bad for not telling the other. I believe Ramahd and Çeda have been the clearest towards each other about their goals. I hope people actually start talking to each other more, and work together.
Rating:
8.5/10
