Review of The Fire's Stone

	Of Darkness, Light, and Fire: The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff 528pp (Paperback) My Rating: 7.5/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.98/5 Goodreads Rating: 3.85/5

This is part two of my review of this collection of novels. It was originally meant to be one review of the entire omnibus, but it ended up a little wordier than I had hoped so I split it up. The first part is here. This part has the introduction to Of Darkness, Light, and Fire and covers the second book in it, The Fire's Stone.

Of Darkness, Light, and Fire is an omnibus containing the third and fourth novels written by Tanya Huff, who has written many more novels since the first of these two was published in 1989. Both novels in this collection are completely unrelated books with no sequels or prequels. Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light is a contemporary fantasy set in Toronto, and The Fire's Stone is a more traditional quest-based fantasy. These two novels are out of print now other than in this collection.

A wizard, a thief, and an alcoholic prince - all with serious issues with their fathers - undertake a quest to save Ischia from imminent destruction. The volcano in Ischia is held back by a magical stone, but it was stolen and the only hope of saving the city is discovering the location of this powerful item and returning it to its proper place.

Prince Darvish has largely been left out of princely duties due to his unfortunate birth as the third son instead of the heir or the backup heir. Instead, he's turned to being the drunken life of the party and when the stone is stolen, his reputation allows him to get into seedy areas to investigate without anyone thinking twice about it. Also, he has experience with thievery on his side due to his recent rescue of the thief Aaron, who was to die for his crimes. He and Aaron are later joined in their search by Chandra, a princess betrothed to Prince Darvish. Chandra traveled to Ischia just to tell Darvish that she cannot marry him since she is a Wizard of the Nine who must focus on her studies. However, when she hears the stone is missing she blackmails Darvish and Aaron into letting her accompany them - after all, they may need a wizard and she feels it is her responsibility help retrieve the legendary stone created by other Wizards of the Nine.

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The Fire's Stone is the more character driven of the two novels in Of Darkness, Light and Fire and it is definitely my favorite of the two. It's a fairly conventional epic fantasy story in which a group of characters set out on a quest to save part of the world, but Aaron and Darvish made it very worth reading. Chandra, however, irritated me to no end for a while, although she did grow on me more as the story progressed. It was a good thing Aaron and Darvish were so interesting from the start because there were several times I thought if I read her saying or thinking, "I am a Wizard of the Nine!" again I might throw the book at the wall. By the end, Chandra was even somewhat likable as she seemed to ease up on the attitude and also had remarkable courage.

There was a nice camaraderie among the three, especially by the end when they had all worked through their various struggles some. Each of the characters had a big problem that he or she had to deal with throughout the story. As the third prince, fun-loving Darvish was overlooked and his father never gave him a second thought. The competent, charismatic thief Aaron left his home because his father killed the woman he loved, and he's dealing with his feelings for Darvish after being taught all his life that homosexuality was wrong. Chandra just wants to be an all-powerful Wizard of the Nine with none of this princess stuff her father is foisting upon her.

There were also some pretty decent lines in this book that added a little bit of humor to a mostly serious story, such as when Chandra was trying to convince Darvish and Aaron to let her help them in their search for the stone:

"And what are you and Aaron going to do when you find this unknown and, I might add just in case you haven't caught on yet, very powerful wizard with The Stone?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are you going to do? Whack him with your sword while Aaron picks his pocket?" [pp. 330]

I also had to smile when Darvish and Chandra were trying to figure out whether or not some boats in the distance were pirate ships they needed to worry about:

"Bugger the Nine!" Darvish stood, and kicked the stool aside. "We have to know what's going on." He slammed a fist into the cabin wall. "Where's Aaron? Pirates are just thieves in a boat, maybe he'll know how to identify them." [pp. 352]

While the plot was fairly generic epic fantasy with a quest to save part of the world, the characters of Aaron and Darvish made the book. They both began with various struggles, but throughout they developed and changed. In spite of the fact that Chandra was quite annoying at times, these two made this well worth reading and Chandra also became more likable by the time the story was finished.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Where I got my reading copy: Gift from a friend who really wanted me to read The Fire's Stone.

Review of Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light

	Of Darkness, Light, and Fire: Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light by Tanya Huff 528pp (Paperback) My Rating: 7/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.98/5 Goodreads Rating: 3.85/5

This is part one of a review of two stories in one book. Originally, I had planned to review the entire omnibus together and just keep my review of each book within it fairly short. While the reviews of each book were shorter than my usual, the entire review ended up pretty long so I decided to split it up and post the first half today and the next half in a couple of days. Today's review introduces the omnibus and covers the first part, Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light.

Of Darkness, Light, and Fire is an omnibus containing the third and fourth novels written by Tanya Huff, who has written many more novels since these two were originally published in 1989 and 1990. Both novels in this collection are completely unrelated books with no sequels or prequels. Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light is a contemporary fantasy set in Toronto, and The Fire's Stone is a more traditional quest-based fantasy. These two novels are out of print now other than in this collection.

A young, mentally challenged woman named Rebecca has the ability to see magic in the world. One day soon after she arrives home from her job at a bakery, she notices it seems too quiet outside. When she steps out to take a look around, some blood falls on her from a nearby tree and she discovers the little man who inhabits it has been attacked. Rebecca manages to drag him into her bedroom but is then unsure of what to do since most other people will not even be able to see him. She decides to find Roland, a man who plays guitar in the street but does not yet realize magic exists. Roland agrees to help the panicking Rebecca although it is against his better judgment - after all, she just came up to him and announced she doesn't know what to do with the bleeding man in her bed.

Soon after Rebecca and Roland return, the little man dies. Since he was her friend, Rebecca wants to find out more so she brings Roland with her to see Mrs. Ruth, a homeless lady. Mrs. Ruth reveals that Roland has the Sight because he is a Bard - or at least he will be once he completes his training. She also says that the man died as the result of Darkness coming to the world and that the balance between Dark and Light must be restored. If they want to hold back the forces of the Dark, Rebecca and Roland need to send for an Adept of the Light - and quickly.

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Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light is enjoyable in spite of the fact that it is basically another tale of good vs. evil. It's also a tale of magic existing in the modern world, although it was written about 20 years ago before urban fantasy was everywhere. While they're not exceptionally well-developed, the characters were at least different enough from the usual to make it more unique even if it seems as though it's a story one has read before. Rebecca was brain damaged as a child, and Huff handled her character well by giving her depth beyond merely being a woman with a disability. Although she is innocent and childlike, she is in many ways adult and perceptive as Roland noted when he recalled the first time he met her:

"I'm not retarded," she'd told him that first afternoon, prompted by his condescending voice and manner. "I'm mentally disadvantaged." Her pronunciation of the long words was slow, but perfect.

"Oh?" he'd said. "Who told you that?"

"Daru, my social worker. But I like what Mrs. Ruth says I am better."

"And what's that?"

"Simple."

"Uh, you do know what that means?"

"Yes. It means I have less pieces than most people."

"Oh." There wasn't much else he could think of to reply.

She'd grinned at him. "And that means I'm solider than most people."

And the funny thing, Roland mused, was that while undeniably retarded, in a number of ways Rebecca was solider than most people. She knew who and what she was. [pp. 9]

In addition to Rebecca, there is of course Roland, the Bard who was unaware of magic until he learned from Rebecca how to look for it. He was also unaware that he may like other men until Evan, the Adept of the Light showed up, and struggles with this new aspect of his identity throughout the book. Mrs. Ruth may seem like a crazy bag lady, but she has a lot of knowledge about the Darkness and the Light. Then there is Daru, Rebecca's social worker, and Tom, a cat who seems to understand more than one may expect (but he's not Rebecca's cat - she is quick to point out that he is his own cat). These are the ones on the side of Light who are the only hope for defeating the Darkness.

The basic plot was very familiar since those on the side of the Light were very good and the Darkness was very evil, but I did like the way it ended very much. Certain hints made sense with the final revelation, and the mythology behind these references made it work well.

Overall, Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light is an entertaining book, although its basic premise of good battling evil will be very familiar to fantasy readers. There are enough characters with different situations than the norm to keep it from being stale, though, and the conclusion is also well done.

My Rating: 7/10

Where I got my reading copy: Gift from a friend who really wanted me to read the second book in this collection, The Fire's Stone.

The Leaning Pile of Books

I hope everyone is having a happy 2010 so far! Now that the holidays are over, I'm starting to get back into writing reviews (four left at the moment). Of course, as of tomorrow, my vacation is also over, but I suppose that means I'll be going through fewer books than I have been over the last week.

This week I'll be going back to the old format since I have a much more manageable number of books for the week - one.

Of Darkness, Light, and Fire by Tanya Huff

This is an omnibus containing two unrelated books, Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light and The Fire's Stone. The first one is urban fantasy and the second is traditional fantasy. I received this as a gift from a friend. We made a deal this year in which we each picked three of our favorite books from 2009 and the other person has to read those three books in 2010 (the first favorite one has to be read by the end of February). One of her three picks for me was The Fire's Stone so I'll be reading that one sometime in 2010 (along with Duma Key, which will be my first Stephen King book, and one other book that I'll talk about when I get it - that's the one I need to read by the end of next month). I'm looking forward to reading both of these books since I've been wanting to read something by Tanya Huff (shame on me, I have another omnibus containing two science fiction books by her I haven't read yet).