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The Way Into Chaos by Harry Connolly
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Loved! (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
The Way Into Magic by Harry Connolly
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Loved! (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
The Way Into Darkness by Harry Connolly
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Loved! (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
I did exactly what I try not to do: After I read a book, I'm supposed to write up the review before I go on to the next one. But I loved this series so much, I couldn't stop. As soon as I finished one book, I immediately started the next.
Because of that, unfortunately I can't review each book individually, which is a crime. Each one deserves its own review, but the whole story is just one unit in my head now, not three books. So here goes the review for the whole series:
Set in some fantasy world populated by humans of about medieval technology level, once a generation a magical portal opens. Out from it come visitors. Aliens? Differently evolved humans? Creatures from another dimension? No one knows. These visitors (the Evening People) hate all fighting and violence, so for the week they stay, the humans of the city move all their weapons out into the countryside. They put on plays, tell stories, and sing songs to entertain their guests, but only about nonviolent things.
Why cater to them? Because if the Evening People are pleased, they give humanity one magic spell. One magic spell per generation. Things like 'create pure water', 'shape stone', 'create light', 'make object fly'. As you can imagine, this makes the people of that nation the Evening People visit much more powerful than any other nation in the world.
--- If you're intending to read these books, and I strongly recommend that you do, beware spoilers from this point forward. ---
The story opens as the city is getting ready for this generation's visit from the Evening People. All weapons have been stored off in the countryside. The whole city is ready for a week long festival. The portal opens... and out come monsters.
A flood of monsters. A sea of monsters. Purple-furred, larger than bears, faster than cats, armed with giant claws and teeth. Nightmares. The portal always stays open for one week, and the monsters surge out without end.
The city (which had unarmed for the visit) falls in hours. The king and queen are both killed in minutes. As the last of the city is destroyed, one doctor (what the world calls the few individuals able to use the gifted spells) closes the portal with a rogue spell. It's too late though, the damage is done. Thousands of these monsters have spilled out.
The monsters are basically impossible for humans to fight. A troop of soldiers were all killed by one. They're too strong, too fast... and it turns out their bite turns you into one of them.
[This was the only time in three books, three long books, that I got frowny. I thought this was basically going to become a zombie story, but luckily I was wrong.]
Through a magic spell, one of the characters can briefly understand what the monsters say. It turns out they're not just animals: they speak. They call themselves The Blessing. To bite you is to pass on the blessing.
Through the series, The Blessing spread, making more and more of themselves. Cities have no defenses against them. Any damage they take can be regenerated by them. And with each person they bite, more and more of them are created.
The series has two main characters: An old soldier (badly near sighted -- how cool is that in a main character!) and a young woman who is learning magic (and held hostage by the royal family for crimes her parents committed). Holy cow, did I love them so! Even though the old soldier (Tejohn) was set in his ways, even though the girl (Cazia) hated the world (with good reason), they both grew and changed so much!
Most reviewers mention Cazia most, since she's probably one of the best written female characters ever in fiction. So very realistic, flawed, strong, she is amazing.
To me though, it was Tejohn who held my heart the strongest. A good man in this horrible situation, trying to save everyone, having to not be able to save his family because he was trying to save everyone else. Such a good, flawed man. Imperfect but trying his hardest to do the right thing. I loved his journey of change through the books.
If you've followed my reviews, you might remember that I generally LOVE the first book of a series, then my feelings about the later ones go down and down, because I love world building best of all. That did not happen with this series. There was as much worldbuilding in book three as book one! The characters themselves learned so much, and through them so did we. Even in the last pages of the story, we were still learning how the world/universe worked.
I really can't say enough about this world the author created. So many nations, all different from each other. So many different races of people and other creatures. So many details of the world! It was just so so so good.
My biggest (and only) disappointment was something unrelated to the story: There was 5% of the book left, over 30 minutes of reading per my Kindle, and the story ended. Why? Because the remaining 5% was a list of Kickstarter supporters. I was so jarred that the story ended (even though it was a great place to stop it) because there was so much of the book left. Sadly, it changed the feeling I ended the book with.
If you enjoy fantasy stories, worldbuilding, and realistic characters, you should check out this series! Now I'm off to find the other books he's written...
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Loved! (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
The Way Into Magic by Harry Connolly
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Loved! (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
The Way Into Darkness by Harry Connolly
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Loved! (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
I did exactly what I try not to do: After I read a book, I'm supposed to write up the review before I go on to the next one. But I loved this series so much, I couldn't stop. As soon as I finished one book, I immediately started the next.
Because of that, unfortunately I can't review each book individually, which is a crime. Each one deserves its own review, but the whole story is just one unit in my head now, not three books. So here goes the review for the whole series:
Set in some fantasy world populated by humans of about medieval technology level, once a generation a magical portal opens. Out from it come visitors. Aliens? Differently evolved humans? Creatures from another dimension? No one knows. These visitors (the Evening People) hate all fighting and violence, so for the week they stay, the humans of the city move all their weapons out into the countryside. They put on plays, tell stories, and sing songs to entertain their guests, but only about nonviolent things.
Why cater to them? Because if the Evening People are pleased, they give humanity one magic spell. One magic spell per generation. Things like 'create pure water', 'shape stone', 'create light', 'make object fly'. As you can imagine, this makes the people of that nation the Evening People visit much more powerful than any other nation in the world.
--- If you're intending to read these books, and I strongly recommend that you do, beware spoilers from this point forward. ---
The story opens as the city is getting ready for this generation's visit from the Evening People. All weapons have been stored off in the countryside. The whole city is ready for a week long festival. The portal opens... and out come monsters.
A flood of monsters. A sea of monsters. Purple-furred, larger than bears, faster than cats, armed with giant claws and teeth. Nightmares. The portal always stays open for one week, and the monsters surge out without end.
The city (which had unarmed for the visit) falls in hours. The king and queen are both killed in minutes. As the last of the city is destroyed, one doctor (what the world calls the few individuals able to use the gifted spells) closes the portal with a rogue spell. It's too late though, the damage is done. Thousands of these monsters have spilled out.
The monsters are basically impossible for humans to fight. A troop of soldiers were all killed by one. They're too strong, too fast... and it turns out their bite turns you into one of them.
[This was the only time in three books, three long books, that I got frowny. I thought this was basically going to become a zombie story, but luckily I was wrong.]
Through a magic spell, one of the characters can briefly understand what the monsters say. It turns out they're not just animals: they speak. They call themselves The Blessing. To bite you is to pass on the blessing.
Through the series, The Blessing spread, making more and more of themselves. Cities have no defenses against them. Any damage they take can be regenerated by them. And with each person they bite, more and more of them are created.
The series has two main characters: An old soldier (badly near sighted -- how cool is that in a main character!) and a young woman who is learning magic (and held hostage by the royal family for crimes her parents committed). Holy cow, did I love them so! Even though the old soldier (Tejohn) was set in his ways, even though the girl (Cazia) hated the world (with good reason), they both grew and changed so much!
Most reviewers mention Cazia most, since she's probably one of the best written female characters ever in fiction. So very realistic, flawed, strong, she is amazing.
To me though, it was Tejohn who held my heart the strongest. A good man in this horrible situation, trying to save everyone, having to not be able to save his family because he was trying to save everyone else. Such a good, flawed man. Imperfect but trying his hardest to do the right thing. I loved his journey of change through the books.
If you've followed my reviews, you might remember that I generally LOVE the first book of a series, then my feelings about the later ones go down and down, because I love world building best of all. That did not happen with this series. There was as much worldbuilding in book three as book one! The characters themselves learned so much, and through them so did we. Even in the last pages of the story, we were still learning how the world/universe worked.
I really can't say enough about this world the author created. So many nations, all different from each other. So many different races of people and other creatures. So many details of the world! It was just so so so good.
My biggest (and only) disappointment was something unrelated to the story: There was 5% of the book left, over 30 minutes of reading per my Kindle, and the story ended. Why? Because the remaining 5% was a list of Kickstarter supporters. I was so jarred that the story ended (even though it was a great place to stop it) because there was so much of the book left. Sadly, it changed the feeling I ended the book with.
If you enjoy fantasy stories, worldbuilding, and realistic characters, you should check out this series! Now I'm off to find the other books he's written...
