/lit/ - Literature

>>22618331
Black Sun Rising, Coldfire Trilogy #1 - C.S. Friedman (1991)

Damien Vyrce, a knight of the order of the Golden Flame, is a sorcerer in service to the Church. He has traveled far to the east to Jagganoth under orders to assist their patriarch. Upon his arrival he first visits the Fae Shoppe, which sells both items mundane and Worked (magical). He's immediately smitten with its proprietress, Ciani of Faraday. She's an adept, a person born with an innate connection to the Fae, which makes them natural sorcerers of far greater and exclusive ability. Soon after disaster strikes and Ciani has much of all that she is ripped from her. The only way for her to regain what was lost is to kill the one who did it to her. Damien, Ciani, and her sorcerer assistant Senzei Reese, set off in search of their quarry.

The main draw to me was the character dynamics. I don't remember when I last read such a contentious party who have so many competing emotions about their companions. That's especially the case for the character shown on the cover, who later joins, because at best he's a fallen hero, though it's probably more accurate to call him a villain. In reductive terms, he's an amoral vampire with a complex history. Somehow he's also the one who has the most character development, despite his age and desire to be set in his ways. Damien is extremely conflicted about his presence, though by the end there isn't much that he isn't conflicted about.

I also greatly enjoyed everything about the world. Unlike some other series, this one doesn't obfuscate. Everyone seems to know that humanity came to this planet, Erna, 1,200 years ago after 10s of millennia in cold sleep on a generation ship. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the planet, they had to make the Great Sacrifice and give up almost all of their technology. The animistic force that's omnipresent is called Fae and allows for emotions and beliefs to affect reality. It also allows for what's called magic for simplicity's sake. At the time of their arrival humanity were the only known sapient species. That didn't last long because humanity's intense beliefs caused a rapid evolution in several species and one in particular. If humanity was created in God's image, then this newly sapient species was created in humanity's image. War soon began. Elsewhere it wouldn't have been much of a conflict, but the problem with technology was if it wasn't fully understood and believed in, it often catastrophically failed.

I enjoyed everything about this except the plot, which I found to be too simple and convenient. It also failed to do enough with its setting and the backstories of its world and characters. The set-up for the next book also displeased me, but was more understandable. Simply put, I felt the plot was contrived and the weakest aspect by far. I had to think for a few days how to rate this, but there wasn't any doubt that I'd read the rest of the trilogy.

Rating: 3.5/5 (4)

>>22923663
When True Night Falls - The Coldfire Trilogy #2 - C. S. Friedman (1993)

Following a six-month time skip the party arrives at the eastern continent from which no one has ever returned. The last attempt was over 400 years ago. There they face a far greater evil than before. Across this new continent they journey to vanquish The Undying King.

That's the whole plot, from beginning to end, a singular journey to defeat the evil overlord. The plot is again by far the weakest part. As with the first book, this one is a self-contained story. There's a lot of wasted potential here, at least in terms of my personal preferences. Somehow I didn't mind that much that it was almost only travelling. There's even at least a few repeated story beats, yet it doesn't matter because this trilogy is all about the character interactions. That's especially the case with Tarrant. Without him this would be a thoroughly mediocre series. However, without Damien it wouldn't even be a series. Their interplay is easily the best part of the books. That's good, but it really ought to be more than that.

I've seen a lot mention the implicit homoeroticism of the two male leads, but I believe that to be a considerable exaggeration. There are those who see moral corruption, dependency, and much else as inherently sexual or even romantic, but I don't think that they are. Far too much is made of their relationship in sexual and romantic terms. I'm not going to say their relationship isn't unusual, it is, and that's what makes it's so interesting.

There's definitely a lot more religious content in this one compared to the first. It's primarily a comparative sort in how it can go right and how it can go wrong. On a personal level for Damien it's about confronting nihilism and how much necessary evil is allowable. If relying on specific evils leads to far better outcomes than not using them, then is one obligated to use them? It's one of the better arguments for The Greater Good and The Ends Justify The Means that I've seen, though of course in fiction the outcomes can be whatever the author wants them to be for any given action.

It's difficult to for me to say which I've enjoyed more of the two books. The first had both more high and low points while the second is somewhat better than decent the entire time except for the last 20%, which I really enjoyed despite being conflicted about what happened. Also in the latter's favor is that it has Tarrant from the beginning.

Next up is the final book of the trilogy. If the third book is also a simply plotted journey I'll be disappointed. My biggest problem with this book is a meta consideration. If plot twists seem to have been for the author's convenience, does that make them less meaningful? I prefer it when it feels like it wasn't something that had to happen.

Rating: 3.5/5 (4)

Previously in the series
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Coldfire&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old

>>22940205
Crown of Shadows, The Coldfire Trilogy #3 - C. S. Friedman (1995)

Around a year has passed since the events of the previous book because returning from the continent that no one returns from was much more difficult than getting there. The size of the planet is unclear, but six months to get there and ten to get back must involve considerable distances. It's good thing their travel time is skipped over between books because otherwise the majority of the time from the beginning of the first book to the end of the third book would be them at sea.

The enemy this time is what they consider to be an extremely powerful demon that they have no idea how they're going to beat. He's the guy behind the big bad of the second book who was the boss of the antagonists of the first book. Is there someone above this demon? It's as likely as you'd think. There's also a literally Unnamed manifestation of the all evil ever committed by humanity, which normally would seem like it'd be a big deal, but it never really is. Anti-climatic reveals and downplaying that which seems to be powerful happens a lot in this series. I thought it was just how it was written, but maybe it's meant to be subverting expectations. If that was the intent, then well, I don't know that it's advisable to do it continuously for all three books.

For the third time it's all about journeying. This time though the first half is a spiritual journey and the second half is a physical journey for spiritual reasons. That's not all though since there are several POVs this time. There's Damien and Tarrant who want to destroy what they see as the ultimate evil, the demon. Narilka and Andrys want to destroy the ultimate evil, Tarrant. Patriarch, who forever remains unnamed, wants to destroy the ultimate evil, the fae. There are a few other one-off POVs as well.

The primary theme is that through penance one can be absolved, if not redeemed. It leans heavily into the question of whether a few great deeds can mitigate a lifetime of evil. I'm not really much for heroic self-sacrifice as I think living is preferable, but as with some other ideals, I believe its arguments are presented here well enough. I'm skeptical of whether the character development was credible enough for what happens, but I'll allow it. I'm conflicted about the late story reveals and the epilogue, which were mildly to the detriment of my enjoyment.

I don't know what Friedman was going for with this series overall. I do know that I enjoyed most of it aside from the plot though. This is the end of the trilogy, but not the end of the works in this setting. There's still a work of short fiction and a novel left. The novel was published 28 years after this one, so I'm interested to see how much has changed in how Friedman writes in this setting.

Rating: 3.5/5 (4)

Previous books in the series
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Coldfire&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old

>>22953722
Nightborn, Coldfire - C. S. Friedman (2023)

This is a strange book. I don't think it stands on its own. It really seems like something only for those who have already read the Coldfire trilogy. I don't believe it's necessary reading for those who have read the Coldfire trilogy though. Probably only the people who need to read it are completionists and those who want to read how the first two weeks or so of colonization went. It doesn't even cover all of what was already included in the trilogy. The Rakh don't make an appearance on-page. I was hoping it would show more of their colonization efforts, because I'd like to read more like that. Instead it mostly focuses on the horror of the unknown and the helpless despair that it creates. I'd describe it as being more horror focused than science fiction or fantasy. To their credit by using the power of science and reasoning they figure out what's going on rather quickly. Unfortunately for them that doesn't really help much at all.

The plot covers from being in orbit to some days after The First/Great Sacrifice. That would seem like the page count is far too much for that. Maybe it is, but it read quickly and I didn't really notice. As for the characters, well, they're there. It's almost entirely told through the perspective of their leader, Leon Case, through daily journal logs. There's 200 colonists to start with and certainly less by the end. I don't really have much to say about them. A few of them of them have flashback scenes to their life on Earth explaining why they decided to join to the seed ship. I didn't care enough about the characters for them to mean much to me though. The main problem with Earth is that there's too many people and not enough opportunities. Every place except for where the seedships are headed have very strict population controls and new positions for anything doesn't open up unless someone dies.

The most troubling issue was that all of it felt insubstantial to me. It really feels like Friedman was just fleshing out the lore for hardcore fans rather than writing an actual novella. That's a nice gesture and one I can appreciate, but the content is lacking for me. Thematically it remains similar to the other books, especially Crown of Shadows.

Dominion, the Tarrant novella that barely qualifies as one, is also included in this book. I've separated it out and it isn't included in my rating for this book. It was rather disappointing and I didn't feel like writing anything for it on its own. I may read more from Friedman, though those 3.5s I gave for each book of the trilogy could've easily have been rounded down.

Rating
Nightborn: 3/5
Dominion: 2/5

Previous books in the series
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Coldfire&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old