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The Tales of Nedao #1
To the Haunted Mountains
After her family is murdered, Princess Ylia and a small group of travelers set out on a perilous journey and encounters the deadly dangers of dark magic conjured by Ylia's enemies
312 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
11 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Ru Emerson
53 books52 followersaka Roberta Cray
Ru Emerson was born on December 15th, 1944 in Montana. She and her husband, Doug, live in Oregon with their only child, a silver mackerel tabby cat named Roberta. She likes to lift weights, run, bike, skate in-line, ski, play basketball, tennis, racquetball, garden, play guitar, scuba dive, and fly stunt kites. Her favorite reading material includes Megan Lindholm, science fiction by Larry Niven, murder mysteries by Patricia Cornwell, plus any other good historical non-fiction.
Ru Emerson was born on December 15th, 1944 in Montana. She and her husband, Doug, live in Oregon with their only child, a silver mackerel tabby cat named Roberta. She likes to lift weights, run, bike, skate in-line, ski, play basketball, tennis, racquetball, garden, play guitar, scuba dive, and fly stunt kites. Her favorite reading material includes Megan Lindholm, science fiction by Larry Niven, murder mysteries by Patricia Cornwell, plus any other good historical non-fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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July 23, 2015I swear the cover shown on Amazon is the same picture as some other fantasy novel I've previously read...
August 14, 2019
Puoi trovare questa recensione anche sul mio blog, La siepe di more
Avevo messo questo libro in lista perché ero convinta facesse parte dei grandi classici del fantasy e invece proprio per niente: è uno dei tanti. A volte mi convinco delle cose come se fossi una terrapiattista antivax qualunque…
Comunque, nonostante il granchio preso sulla sua rilevanza, è stata una lettura piacevole e consona ai quaranta maledetti gradi. Il suo difetto più rilevante è stata la prima metà lentissima, durante la quale il gruppo di personaggi scappa attraverso le montagne e non succede pressoché niente se non caccia, pesca, accensioni di fuochi, raccolta di erbe, bagni nei laghi e compagnia bella.
È vero che tutto questo camminare serve a introdurre e costruire i vari personaggi e le loro reciproche relazioni, ma a Emerson non è riuscito benissimo, visto che sono abbastanza stereotipati e di parecchi continuavo a dimenticare i nomi (in particolare, c’è una coppia di gemelli che confondevo sempre, sebbene fossero anche rilevanti nella storia).
Mi è piaciuta molto, invece, l’impostazione blandamente femminista del romanzo, che va oltre il solito principessa forte che spacca culi. Emerson mette in luce tramite Ylia tutta una serie di dinamiche tossiche di potere tipiche del patriarcato senza bisogno di fare grandi discorsi, per rendere certe critiche digeribili a qualunque tipo di pubblico. Visto che ultimamente spopolano le eroine sarebbe bello vedere più impegno su questo fronte da parte di chi scrive.
Avevo messo questo libro in lista perché ero convinta facesse parte dei grandi classici del fantasy e invece proprio per niente: è uno dei tanti. A volte mi convinco delle cose come se fossi una terrapiattista antivax qualunque…
Comunque, nonostante il granchio preso sulla sua rilevanza, è stata una lettura piacevole e consona ai quaranta maledetti gradi. Il suo difetto più rilevante è stata la prima metà lentissima, durante la quale il gruppo di personaggi scappa attraverso le montagne e non succede pressoché niente se non caccia, pesca, accensioni di fuochi, raccolta di erbe, bagni nei laghi e compagnia bella.
È vero che tutto questo camminare serve a introdurre e costruire i vari personaggi e le loro reciproche relazioni, ma a Emerson non è riuscito benissimo, visto che sono abbastanza stereotipati e di parecchi continuavo a dimenticare i nomi (in particolare, c’è una coppia di gemelli che confondevo sempre, sebbene fossero anche rilevanti nella storia).
Mi è piaciuta molto, invece, l’impostazione blandamente femminista del romanzo, che va oltre il solito principessa forte che spacca culi. Emerson mette in luce tramite Ylia tutta una serie di dinamiche tossiche di potere tipiche del patriarcato senza bisogno di fare grandi discorsi, per rendere certe critiche digeribili a qualunque tipo di pubblico. Visto che ultimamente spopolano le eroine sarebbe bello vedere più impegno su questo fronte da parte di chi scrive.
June 9, 2022
Old-fashioned fantasy story, first of a trilogy. Quite good.
Like many fantasy stories that model themselves on the Lord of the Rings and benefitted from its success, this novel deals with Ylia, heir to the throne, escaping the demise of her homeland and embarking on a long journey with several companions of various sorts. There’s a lot of adventures on the way and encounters with different characters. There is plenty of character development and the plot moves along quite well. It’s nothing terribly inspiring but has some original ideas. I’ll probably bother with the second book.
Like many fantasy stories that model themselves on the Lord of the Rings and benefitted from its success, this novel deals with Ylia, heir to the throne, escaping the demise of her homeland and embarking on a long journey with several companions of various sorts. There’s a lot of adventures on the way and encounters with different characters. There is plenty of character development and the plot moves along quite well. It’s nothing terribly inspiring but has some original ideas. I’ll probably bother with the second book.
July 25, 2020
This book is terrible. Did not finish. The plot was trite and predictable. The characters were stilted and boring. Don't even get me started on the language - the dialogue pattern was trying much too hard to be high fantasy.
For about 2 pages I thought there was going to be an interesting romance but ...
Would not recommend.
For about 2 pages I thought there was going to be an interesting romance but ...
Would not recommend.
not-finished
September 3, 2021For a book published in 1987, this felt very 1973
September 22, 2022
Is this a Young Adult? Well if so, it reads well for an adult. The characters are well developed and engaging and the detailed traveling descriptions are beautiful and realistic.
The female heir of a fallen kingdom travels through dangerous passages to safety hoping to eventually reunite and lead her scattered people. She has minimal Powers that she needs to strengthen and become comfortable with and is also a rare swordswoman. Along with her, travels a very magic cat and survivors.
I think I have the second of this trilogy. It is hard to find, I found mine via internet.
The female heir of a fallen kingdom travels through dangerous passages to safety hoping to eventually reunite and lead her scattered people. She has minimal Powers that she needs to strengthen and become comfortable with and is also a rare swordswoman. Along with her, travels a very magic cat and survivors.
I think I have the second of this trilogy. It is hard to find, I found mine via internet.
January 17, 2017
Not a bad book overall - I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could - but the characters are only so-so and there are a lot of them. The plot isn't bad, but it's kind of slow and repetitive; I did enjoy the ending. I probably wouldn't read more by the same author, but I'm not terribly disappointed that I read this one.
January 5, 2016
This book was ok. I had some trouble getting into it and found a lot of it repetitive (lots of traveling through the forest and camping out over and over), but there was enough suspense and action to keep me reading. It's a good story with good characters. It could just be written a little better.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews