The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure

The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure is the first of the Wraeththu Histories trilogy that Storm Constantine wrote about 17 years after writing the original Wraeththu Chronicles. This book begins about halfway through the first of the original Wraeththu books, The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit, and ends shortly before the ending of the last of the original Wraeththu books, The Fulfillments of Fate and Desire. For that reason, I would not recommend reading this review unless you have read the original Wraeththu Chronicles or you do not mind if part of the story is spoiled.

I was a little apprehensive about reading this book since I loved the Wraeththu Chronicles so much and I was afraid that revisiting it would be disappointing and not at all the same. Now that I've read the first two books in the Wraeththu Histories trilogy, I still prefer the original trilogy but I did not find this one worse so much as having a different purpose. The poetic writing is not as prominent, but this series is told from third person instead of the first person point of view so all the thoughts of the characters are not as fleshed out and a simpler, more succinct writing style is more fitting.

The first Wraeththu trilogy was more about the individual Wraeththu characters - the story of Pellaz in the first book, then Swift, then Cal. It was an exploration of what it meant to be Wraeththu and the way this new race developed and adjusted (or didn't adjust) to no longer being a part of humanity. The Wraeththu Histories series is less character-driven and more plot-oriented; it is beginning to explore where the Wraeththu and their sister race the Kamagrian came from and why they were created.

In The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure, the affects of the death and rebirth of Pellaz on the rest of Wraeththu-kind is shown. Ulaume (whom we met briefly in The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit in a scene in which he attempted to overpower Pellaz and strangle him with his hair) is obsessed with getting revenge on Pellaz. He makes plans to cast a spell on Pellaz during an important festival night and instead feels the death of Pellaz very strongly. This affects him deeply and Ulaume runs away from Lianvis and the rest of the Kakkahaar tribe. Soon after, he finds an abandoned Kakkahaar child, whom he cares for and raises.

Meanwhile, in Saltrock, the shaman Orien also sees the death of Pellaz. Eventually, Cal returns to Saltrock heartbroken and sure Orien knows why Pellaz was killed. Flick becomes close to Cal and is devastated when Cal kills Orien (yes, more details on what happened with Cal and Orien are in this book). Flick had promised Pellaz he would find his family one day, so he leaves Saltrock in order to fulfill this promise and meets a mysterious spirit who teaches him about the dehara, a pantheon of gods. Eventually, Flick finds Mima and Terez, the sister and brother of Pellaz, and meets up with Ulaume and the child Lileem who appears Wraeththu yet does not.

The main characters in this book are Flick, Ulaume, Mima, and Lileem, although Pellaz does appear more toward the end which made me really happy. I missed seeing him in the second and third books, but this book has a lot more about him. I was hoping to read more about Vaysh as well since I found him a particularly intriguing character, but he only made a brief appearance or two.

This book also contains more details on the Kamagrian and their similarities to and differences from the Wraeththu, which was interesting since I was not sure exactly how similar they were.

I did find this book a lot harder to get into than any of the original Wraeththu books, probably because it started with characters I knew very little about. Once it got going, I really enjoyed it, although not quite as much as the original trilogy. I still love all the characters - even the minor ones always seem to have their own personalities that set them apart from the others. Each character has their strengths as well as their flaws and is very realistically portrayed.

While not quite as enjoyable as the original trilogy, this book was interesting and well-done. It was fun to see more of Cal's return to Saltrock after Pell's death as well as a few glimpses into Pellaz's life in Immanion. Also, this book tied together events in the first three books so the motivation behind happenings made more sense. I would highly recommend these to anybody who has read the original Wraeththu trilogy.

 

On Vacation in Montreal

I am on vacation in Montreal this week so I probably won't be writing much, although I had some time to read while driving down. And I've had some time to read today since I'm not really sure what to do with myself since my fiance is at his conference (the reason we're down here). Tomorrow we'll be able to do more, at least.

Of course, I had to find the nearest bookstore and I found one, Bertrand's Bookstore, right on the street we are on! They didn't have much for science fiction and fantasy and most of what they did have was expensive considering the US dollar is equal to the Canadian dollar at the moment, but I did end up buying the Canadian omnibus edition of The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. I figured it was cheaper than buying the three books separately and the cover is gorgeous, so I might as well get it. It looks like that particular book is unavailable on Amazon Canada and out of print now, though, so maybe it was a harder to find book than I had thought.

I was hoping to find the third Wraeththu Histories book since I'm reading the second one now, but no such luck. Oh well. It looks like those are a lot more expensive here than in the U.S. anyway.

The Wraeththu Histories have me hooked - they're not as gorgeously written as the original Wraeththu Chronicles, but they are still a lot of fun to read and revisiting some of the old characters is fun. I just finished The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure yesterday on the drive up here so expect a review sometime after I get back (or maybe before depending on how long I'm by myself wondering what to do today).

The Fulfillments of Fate and Desire

Recently, I finished the final book in Storm Constantine's Wraeththu Chronicles, The Fulfillments of Fate and Desire, after being glued to it for a good chunk of the day. I was sad to see the trilogy come to an end, but at least there is still the Wraeththu Histories trilogy left to read.

This story was told from the point of view of Calanthe, who was a major character in both of the previous books in the trilogy. Calanthe, not knowing where else to go, ends up working in a whore house for a time. Eventually, he leaves the whore house to travel around Jaddoyoth, on a quest to discover his destiny and who is sending him on journeys to learn from various Wraeththu.

Since this book is about Cal, it also fills in the missing information on what happened to him after he was separated from Swift in the second book.

There is not much I can say about this that I have not already said about the first two books. It is beautifully written, and each point-of-view character has his own voice, making it seem as though each book really could be written by a different person. Cal's voice is more humorous and sarcastic than Pellaz or Swift, making him a pleasure to read about. The other characters are also portrayed as unique individuals with their own problems and motives that set them apart from other characters. I have rarely read books with such strong character development - there are no black and white characters here.

The story is thoughtfully written and contains a lot of interesting speculation on what the world would be like if humanity was replaced by a race of hermaphrodites that is more enlightened than humanity yet very human at times, no matter how hard they try to escape it.

This is one of those books I could not stop thinking about once I was finished. I still don't think it charmed me quite as much as the first book, but I couldn't put it down since I wanted to find out if Pell and Cal ever saw each other again.

9.75/10

The Bewitchments of Love and Hate

The Bewitchments of Love and Hate is the second book in the Wraeththu Chronicles by Storm Constantine. It is much the same as the first book in that it is beautifully written, emotionally absorbing, thoughtful, and fascinating. I almost enjoyed it as much as the first book, but not quite - not because of the book itself, but because I wanted to find out what happened to Pellaz, who was not in this book other than being briefly mentioned on a few occasions.

The second book of Wraeththu is told from the perspective of Swift, the son of Cobweb and Terzian whom we met in the first book when Cal and Pellaz stayed with the Varrs for a time. The story starts with Swift as a young har and is the first part is somewhat of a coming-of-age story. I loved the way Constantine got inside Swift's head as she wrote about his first learning of humans and how he pictured them from what the other Wraeththu told him.

Cobweb tells Swift of the demon Cal who once broke Terzian's heart by leaving and his feeling that Cal will return some day. Terrified by Cobweb's obvious fear of this event, Swift tries to protect the house from evil, but Cal is found one day and brought to their home. As in the first book, the story isn't about action so much as the relationships between characters, but it is very enchanting and well-done.

Many of the characters who appeared in the first book appeared in this one in addition to the aforementioned - Seel, Ashmael, Thiede, and Caeru, to name a few. Constantine has a rare gift when it comes to characterization - I can't remember being as emotionally attached to a set of characters since when I read the first three books of A Song of Ice and Fire. Each of the characters is so real and has their own unique personality - I loved them all.

This book gives more details on some aspects of the Wraeththu that are not explored very fully in the first book - for instance, the different tribes, Wraeththu magic, aruna, and Wraeththu procreation.

I still loved this book, but I felt it lacked some of the magic of the first book. This could have been because I'd already become enthralled by the first book, or just because I really want to know more about what happened to Pellaz. I suspect this is the case since it is no less well-written or beautiful than the first book, and the characters no less endearing. I still savored it and read some passages a couple of times, but it didn't give me that feeling of wanting to start the book all over again when I was done like the first one did (although I would definitely reread it at some point in the future).

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bewitchments of Love and Hate and highly recommend it to people who enjoy thoughtful, character-driven, unique stories (who have read the first book, of course!).

9.5/10

The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit

I was recently recommended Wraeththu, an omnibus edition of the Wraeththu Chronicles trilogy by Storm Constantine (consisting of The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit, The Bewitchments of Love and Hate, and The Fulfillments of Fate and Desire). I'd never heard of these books, which were inspired by Goth culture and written in the late 1980's, but now that I've read the first one, I'm really glad I did - it's now one of my favorite books of all time!

The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit is the testament of a Wraeththu by the name of Pellaz. As a young boy, Pellaz had heard horror stories of this mysterious new race known as the Wraeththu who stole boys away from their families. One day a young man named Cal comes to town and stays with Pellaz's family. Pellaz knows in his heart that Cal is one of the Wraeththu, and finding him to be beautiful and fascinating, he leaves with Cal to become one of them.

The Wraeththu are a race created by the blood of a mutant human, known as the Aghama, who has become a sort of god to them. They are both male and female, are more beautiful than humans, and possess some "magical" abilities such as telepathy. While they always think of themselves as being better than the humans, the Wraeththu are still part human and are not as immune to creating gender barriers and being emotional as they would like to think they are.

Thiede, a very powerful and well-known Wraeththu, takes an interest in Pellaz and it is his genes that are used to make Pellaz into a Wraeththu. Pellaz excels in his studies, and together he and Cal travel to many different Wraeththu tribes, each having its own unique culture, so Pellaz can learn from them. They are happy for a while, but it turns out Thiede has his own plans for Pellaz, which have some rather tragic consequences.

This is a beautifully written book with a very classical Victorian feel to it. It is at times rather poetic and reminiscent of classical literature, but without the hard-to-wade-through wordiness that is often associated with older books.

This is not an action packed story, which is not to say that nothing ever happens, but it does focus a lot on the characters, their relationships with each other, and what it means to be a Wraeththu. The characters all seem real and each has their own unique personality. I loved them all, especially Pellaz, through whose eyes we see the story unfold.

This book had me mesmerized by page 3. I did not want to put The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit down. When I got to the end, I wanted to read it all over again (but there were two more books left, so I went forward instead!). It was one of those books where I did not rush through it but often read the same passage a couple of times. When I finished it, I went back and reread parts of it. I thought about the characters and story for days. It's not a book I'll forget about quickly, and being immersed in the world Constantine created with her well-drawn characters is a pleasure.

10/10