From rec.arts.sf.written Wed Jan 6 23:50:05 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!wupost!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.iastate.edu!pv663d.vincent.iastate.edu!alix From: alix@iastate.edu (L.A. Melloy) Subject: REVIEW: _A_Tapestry_of_Lions_ by Jennifer Roberson Message-ID: Keywords: Roberson, cheysuli Sender: news@news.iastate.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 05:44:56 GMT Lines: 95 Well since someone kinda asked me to, here are my opinions of _A_Tapestry_ of_Lions. *SPOILERS* . . . . . . . . . . . . That should be enough.... For anyone who hasn't read Jennifer Roberson's _Chronicles_of_the_Cheysuli_ [henceforth, titles will not be underlined, but you'll know what are titles]) I would advise reading them. For a brief overview, the eight books in the series span approximately 100 years of history of the magical Cheysuli (translated in their language as "children of the gods"), a people who bond to animal familiars, called lir, and can shapeshift into that form. The driving force of the Cheysuli race is the fulfillment of a prophecy of the Firstborn, that "one day a man of all blood shall unite, in peace, four warring realms and two magical races". The eight books relate the trials and tribulations of many characters, all attempting to fulfill this prophecy. The writing in most of the books is very good: tight and descriptive. The reader knows that by the end of the series, the prophecy WILL be fulfilled, but Ms. Roberson makes the how VERY interesting, and not always how you would expect it. For anyone who has read Roberson's other seven books in this series, it was a good wrap up (much like "All the Weyrs of Pern" was for McCaffrey's _Dragonrider_ series), but overall, I don't think it was NEARLY as well written as the first six books of the series (Shapechangers, Song of Homana, Legacy of the Sword, Track of the White Wolf, The Pride of Princes, and Daugher of the Lion), and even below the seventh book, Flight of the Raven. It seemed that Ms. Roberson tried to cram everything she wanted to tie up about the Cheysuli prophecy in one book because she had said she would, even though it probably belonged in two. The first book in the series, Shapechagers, was probably only 200-300 pages long. A Tapestry of Lions was over 500. The story is about Kellin, Prince of Homana (where the stories are set in, and one of the "warring" realms, though by this time all the "warring" realms are at peace). Kellin is the final link before the coming of the Firstborn, Cynric, who will be his son. For now, Kellin is an angry, bitter young man. His mother, Shona, was brutally murdered and Kellin ripped from her womb by the Ihlini (the other magical race, and mortal enemy of the Cheysuli). His father, Aidan, abandoned both son and crown to become a prophet for the coming of the Firstborn. Raised by his grandparents, Kellin rapidly loses several people close to him due to his role in the prophecy, and denies everything that he can become close to: friends, kin, and even lir. The plot details the many things Kellin goes through, from losing his beloved uncle Ian to "the Lion", the symbol of the Homanan kingship, to the fights while slumming, to his denial of lir and the bestialness when he does finally get one. He confronts his father about abandoning him, only to be sent to Valgaard, the Ihlini stronghold, on a quest from the gods. It is there that the means to fulfilling the prophecy comes about (which it is). The book ends with the "warring" realms, all ruled by Kellin's great uncles, giving over their kingdoms to Homana to rule, since none of them have heirs, the birth of Cynric, and the resulting events marking the realization of the Firstborn. Many of the episodes related are disjointed, too brief, and do not really affect the reader (excepting the death of Ian, who was a character in all but the first two books, and the surprising death of another character), but both of these are due to knowing the characters from previous books, and not because of anything presented in this one. The back cover preview is VERY misleading, speaking of Kellin being lir-less, and yet you can tell by the front cover he does get a lir, since he wears the ornaments that only warriors with lirs receive. The success of the first seven books is due to HOW Ms. Roberson tells the story, since the end result is already known. This book fails on this count. You never really learn to care what happens to Kellin, like you did with the other numerous characters in her books. He is just a spoiled brat, with no redeeming qualities, despite all the hard knocks Ms. Roberson gives him to gain our sympathy. Overall, I think this was a lousy book, but it DOES finish up the story. I did like the Epilogue, though. For anyone who has read the other seven books, it can stand on it's own (to a certain extent). If you really want to see the good stuff, read just that. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leigh Ann Melloy | "I would like us to come together and build...... alix@iastate.edu | a chopstick." - From the movie _Mr._Baseball =============================================================================== From rec.arts.sf.written Wed Dec 2 11:37:45 1992 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!fizban.solace.hsh.se!kitten.umdc.umu.se!sunic!mcsun!uunet!wupost!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Roberson: A Tapestry of Lions Message-ID: <1992Dec1.005157.5486@netcom.com> Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1992 00:51:57 GMT Lines: 35 Why do I do this to myself? Well, I suppose I know the answer to that: It's been just under nine years since Jennifer Roberson started her Cheysuli saga, and I wanted to see how she finally wrapped it up. No surprises, just the usual ingredients in a slightly different order. Instead of being a spoiled kid who is kidnapped by the Ihlini, suffers, grows up and falls in love, Kellin first suffers, then is kidnapped, then becomes a spoiled kid, and *then* grows up and falls in love. No surprises. If you thought the last four or five books in the "Shapechangers" series were worth reading then you'll think that "A Tapestry of Lions" was worth reading; if you didn't care for those, this won't change your mind. Like the rest of the books, this one ends with a pseudo-resolution. If the author doesn't return to this milieu, we can assume that they all lived happily ever after. If she does (as she threatens to), then the next book will undoubtedly start with all the problems ignored at the end of this book still around, with a new arch-villain to replace the last one, with a relative or few assassinated, and whatever else the author dictates. I suspect this book will appear in the used book stores in large numbers over the coming months. If you have no strong reason to hurry and buy it new, don't. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you! -- Dorothy Parker From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Oct 23 16:05:32 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!pipex!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!EU.net!uunet!sparky!kwiudl.kwi.com!netcomsv!netcomsv!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: Doug Ingram Subject: Review -- Chronicles of the Cheysuli by Jennifer Roberson Message-ID: <9410110810.AA27875@stein3.u.washington.edu> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: The Internet Date: Sat, 22 Oct 1994 01:31:58 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 256 Chronicles of the Cheysuli by Jennifer Roberson Review copyright (c) 1994 by Doug Ingram The Chronicles of the Cheysuli is an 8-book series started in 1984 (and originally intended as one, then three, books) and finished in 1992. The series takes place in a fantasy world consisting of three major races: humans, Cheysuli and Ihlini. The Cheysuli are distinguished by their ability to bond with a given animal during the course of their lives...the particular animals for bonding, known as lir, are specifically created by the gods at birth for each individual Cheysuli. The Cheysuli's "coming of age" involves seeking out this lir and forming a bond with it that enables a form of telepathic communication with the lir as well as the ability by the Cheysuli to change shape into the shape of their lir. The lir bond is so strong that if the lir dies, the Cheysuli usually commits ritual suicide. The Ihlini are a race that is endowed with a special talent for wizardry. They have the ability to cast spells using drawn runes, and they either follow a dark god, called the Seker, or they follow the same gods as the Cheysuli follow. The two magical races are related in some way that is unclear to them from long ago, and the two races, each in the presence of the other, have the ability to cancel each other's special abilities. In addition, the Cheysuli's lir have been commanded by the gods never to interfere when the two races fight. The reasons for this and the specific relationship between the lir and the gods is disappointingly (to me) never revealed, even at the end. The major action in this series takes place in the two major realms of the land known as Homana and Solinde. Homana is known to have a rich tradition of Cheysuli, while Solinde has an Ihlini tradition. Long ago in the history of this world, there was a special race, called the Firstborn, which somehow became extinct through too much inbreeding (it is never quite clear) and the two races, Cheysuli and Ihlini, are their descendants. The Cheysuli have a prophecy, however, that if a person is ever born with the blood of both Cheysuli and Ihlini and the blood of four different realms (there are six other realms in this world other than Homana and Solinde), then the Firstborn will return, which is the wish of the gods. The series begins by following the adventures of a woman named Alix, who believes herself to be a simple farmer's daughter wanting to have an affair with the prince of Homana, Carillon. She soon discovers, however, that she is the daughter of a couple who, thanks to their elopement, drove the king of Homana to declare a holy war on all Cheysuli (since he thought a Cheysuli man had kidnapped his royal human daughter, and there was and is already racism present between humans and Cheysuli). In addition, she has a bloodline linking her back to the Firstborn directly and is wanted by the Cheysuli to both give birth to a new Cheysuli prince with the prophetically required blood. The first three books of the series involve the adventures of Alix, Carillon and some of the Cheysuli who are both trying to help them win a war against Solinde while also trying to stop the holy war declared by the king against them. Working against the completion of the prophecy are the Ihlini who follow the Seker (the dark god), led by Tynstar. These Ihlini believe completion of the prophecy will destroy their race. By the end of the first three books, the prophecy is still on track, despite repeated efforts by the Ihlini to foil it by killing those involved in the birthlines. The next five books essentially involve the continuation of the wars between the descendants of Tynstar and the descendants of Alix. In addition, as the series continues, some Cheysuli are encouraged to fight against the prophecy, either because a given bloodline wants the throne for themselves or because they believe like some Ihlini that the fulfillment of this prophecy will result in the loss of their magical powers as well. The gods eventually appear to one particular Cheysuli and try to explain their motivations. All the while, the Cheysuli, whether they understand why or not, continue to follow their "tahlmorra" (or fated destiny) and work toward the completion of the prophecy. In my summary of this series, I have repeatedly mentioned the importance of the prophecy in guiding the lives of the Cheysuli. The Belgariad (and Malloreon) is another series that uses this device, but the two approaches are quite different. Here, the prophecy is simply used as a driving motivation for the characters. No specific predictions are made about exactly how this prophecy will eventually come to pass or when. In fact, it is interpreted in different ways by different people, which is a major focus of contention in the books. Unlike the Belgariad, the prophecy simply remains in the background as something the Cheysuli are striving for but may never complete. In the first three books, the focus is clearly on the conflict between Carillon and Tynstar, with Alix and the rest of the Cheysuli leaders (such as Finn and Duncan) left somewhat in the background, although very important. At the end of the third book, one is left with a sense of resolution, but Roberson leaves enough of an opening for later books. It is unfortunate, I think, that she spent her talents on five more books that essentially retold new generations of the same story. The original story is a good one, despite some major flaws. Overall, the plot moves very fast...100 years of quite complex history is covered in eight books. At times, there are sudden jumps, such as from the decision in a conference room to go to war followed by a heat-of-the-battle scene on the very next page. Roberson draws a fine line between a fast-paced plot and a sense of disjointedness. I enjoyed how fast things moved along so that there were always new things happening, and the plot had a very unpredictable element about it, especially for the first few books. I never knew when a major confrontation would take place, and I almost never could guess the outcome beforehand (not that I tried, but in retrospect, I was pleasantly surprised by most plot twists). Another major feature of the writing style is the violence. I'm not sure why it is, but Roberson's violent scenes were sometimes almost too graphic. Maybe it is because they were so few and far between, and maybe it was just because of the ruthlessness displayed by some of the Ihlini despite their seeming willingness to reasonably and rationally explain their motives (racial self-preservation, often mirroring their plight to that of Cheysuli under the old king's holy war). Or maybe it is just that Roberson does a very good job of making the reader empathize with a powerless Cheysuli in the face of a strong Ihlini wizard. Also, Roberson switched between first and third person a few times during the series. I actually found this rather refreshing since she gave us strong characterizations and viewpoints from a variety of characters. It was a nice change of pace in a long series, and I think it is a good indication that Roberson has a lot of talent. Some of the flaws, though, were distracting. The major problem I had with this series was what I call the "Batman complex". You remember the old TV series where the Joker or the Riddler or the Penguin or whoever would put Batman into one of those death-traps, gloat for a while, then leave, only to find the following week that, despite all the odds, Batman somehow escaped. Why wouldn't they learn after a while and just shoot the guy?!? The Chronicles have this same problem. On the one hand, the Ihlini believe so passionately in the preservation of their race at the cost of the fulfillment of the prophecy that these Ihlini are ready to slaughter hundreds of Cheysuli. On the other hand, when the only link remaining in the prophetic chain is sitting right in the palm of the head wizard's hand, the guy basically says, "Well, you are so pathetic and hopeless that I'm just going to let you go and watch you suffer." Only to find that somehow, against all odds, the hero ends up coming back and killing the head wizard. This bugged me a little bit the first time, but by the third or fourth time, it was downright annoying. I wish Roberson had not provided us with confronta- tions between the major antagonists if she couldn't provide a satisfactory resolution. Another problem was the inconsistency in the cancelling out of magical powers between Ihlini and Cheysuli. Sometimes it seems to work, and sometimes not. The blood of the Firstborn being immune to this effect could perhaps be used to explain some of these cases, but not all. In addition, Roberson goes on and on about the legendary fighting strength of the Cheysuli in the first few books, only to later have hundreds of them slaughtered at the hands of a band of Ihlini. The characterization is fairly strong in the first few books. I came away with an excellent image of what Alix, Carillon, Finn and Duncan were like. Later books, however, seemed to define characters only by their quirks (or lack of them) for the most part. There were just too many family members who were potential links in the prophecy for Roberson to follow. Perhaps in order to keep the reader guessing, she gave equal time to a lot of different characters in subplots that eventually turned out to be dead ends. That's fine as long as the subplots are interesting, but it is not the stuff of a classic series. It is, rather, a sign that a series has gone on too long. And that is really my chief criticism of the Chronicles. It is a great idea for three books. The writing style, plot elements, characters, etc. are all innovative and interesting. Had she quit there, she would have had a classic fantasy trilogy that might even be more accessible today than it is (the length of 8 books IS somewhat daunting and will probably prevent many from buying these books when they might take a chance on a trilogy with a good recommendation). Unfortunately, the Chronicles didn't die. And I'm not saying they were bad for the last five books. They just weren't that good. And I know from the first three books that Roberson is a very talented writer. I look forward to future non-Cheysuli stories from her. In the meantime, I would recommend buying the first three books of this series if you can find them (I found them at a used bookstore). If you really like them, go on to the later books, but realize going in that you can get a satisfying and well-written story by just pretending this is a trilogy. Doug Ingram -- ingram@u.washington.edu // "Carpe Datum." More reviews: http://www.astro.washington.edu/ingram/books.html %A Roberson, Jennifer %T Shapechangers %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1984 %G ISBN 0-88677-140-4 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli %A Roberson, Jennifer %T The Song of Homana %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1985 %G ISBN 0-88677-317-2 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli %A Roberson, Jennifer %T Legacy of the Sword %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1986 %G ISBN 0-88677-316-4 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli %A Roberson, Jennifer %T Track of the White Wolf %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1987 %G ISBN 0-88677-193-5 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli %A Roberson, Jennifer %T A Pride of Princes %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1988 %G ISBN 0-88677-261-3 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli %A Roberson, Jennifer %T Daughter of the Lion %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1989 %G ISBN 0-88677-324-5 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli %A Roberson, Jennifer %T Flight of the Raven %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1990 %G ISBN 0-88677-422-5 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli %A Roberson, Jennifer %T A Tapestry of Lions %I DAW Fantasy %C New York %D 1992 %G ISBN 0-88677-524-8 %S Chronicles of the Cheysuli