Dark of the Moon

Kencyrath #2

by P.C. Hodgell

The whole city is in an uproar. And the cause, Jame, and her friend Marc have fled. They are making their way through mountain passes, far too late in the season, hoping to find Jame's brother Tori somewhere on the other side.

Nothing ever goes easily for Jame, least of all this journey. As hints of the past she has forgotten—of dark and horrid years in the house of Gerridon, betrayer of her people, the Kencyrath, and her god—come to the surface, she encounters changers from the house of Gerridon, wanting to bring her back into that dark place. Arrin-ken, catlike creatures who are nevertheless a part of her own people, find and judge her. Bandits, brigands and strange remnants from the past of her people—which suggest a dim future for them, their god and their hope of defeating the great enemy, Perimal Darkling—arise to haunt her. But her determination to find her brother and to avoid falling into eternal darkness only grows stronger.

Meanwhile Tori, who is Highlord of the Kencyrath, leads the wayward lords of the Kencyrath with uneasy grace. He is a compromise for them, a way of avoiding endless battle between them. But he can bind them together only so long as he can tread a narrow way between their varied needs and desires. When a vast and unexpected danger threatens, he must call up the host—the troops that each lord must muster—but in so doing he threatens his own position and his sanity, for he cannot avoid the attention this calls to him, attention that seems to bring changers who want to kill him, and odd nightmares that seem to suggest a future he does not want and the reappearance of a sister he both loves and fears.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Adventure

370 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hodgell continues her long running epic fantasy with Dark of the Moon, the second novel of the Kencyrath. While the first introduced Jame, fleeing from the Perimal Darkling into Rathillien, and focused on her trials and tribulations in the great city of Tai-tastigon, Dark of the Moon oscillates between Jame and her leaving Tai-tastigon to find her lost twin brother Tori, and Tori himself, the young (and new) leader of the Kencyrath in Rathillien.

Further, Dark of the Moon begins to assume a more 'traditional' fantasy bent, with Jame's quest to find her brother on the one hand, and Tori leading the Kencyrath to fight off a massive invasion from the people of the Southern Wastes-- the 'Wasters'. Just about forever, the 'Wasters' have lead a brutal tribal life, with each tribe hostile to the next, squabbling over water holes and such. For the first time (forever), they are united and moving as a great hoard of millions to invade the North. Tori, with less than 100,000 brave warriors, hope to stall their attack at a bottleneck of the 'escarpment'.

Like the first in the series, however, the plot is rather secondary to the overall tale, as are in a large part the characters (although there is some development there this time). Besides the wonders of the world (and this really is some amazing world building), this series focuses upon questions of personal identity, religion, politics, and honor. These ideas animate the text much more so than the high fantasy adventure, which serves primarily as the 'battleground' where these notions are fought over and struggled with. Honor, in particular, plays a large role, but what does this mean? The Kencyrath never lie, and if they do, they lose honor and the only redemption is death. Is honor doing what is right? Obeying God, or at least what the priests say? Respect for your family? Hodgell makes this an open debate here, even while it is fundamental to the Kencyrath's identity.

Overall, still very engrossing for sure, although the magic of the world building I did not find as captivating as the first installment. This is a world where the dead still play a role, and while the past cannot be changed, it still impacts the 'now' in profound ways, as Jame repeatedly is forced back to 'relive' her strange history (and that of her mother). 3.5 stars, rounding up!!

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the end of the second book, I still don't feel like I really know Jame (and maybe it's understandable, since she doesn't really know herself) and Tori makes me want to hit things, but HOLY WOW that world-building. The entire section when they were in the Anarchies had me *riveted*. I am undecided on whether to continue the series --on one hand, I don't care at all about watching Jame's brother or the rest of the Highborn try to use her as a sequestered pawn (or about keeping track of all the political alliances and machinations, for that matter). But on the other hand, I would *love* to learn more about the Builders, the sociology and theology of the world, and how current songs and myths are rooted in (gorgeously unexpected!) ancient history on Rathillien. This doesn't seem like the sort of series a reader can cherry-pick from, and I don't know whether the parts I like so much about it will continue to outweigh the bits I don't care for. I think if I had found this series when I was younger, I might have been in all the way.

[Assaph Mehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've recently decided to re-read this excellent epic fantasy cycle, and review as I go.

What to Expect

A highly entertaining story, continuing from where God Stalk left off. Hodgell is now exposing more of the Kencyrath culture and world. We get more of the back stories and histories of the characters, as well as the expected political machinations culminating in an epic battle.

Structurally, the story alternates between Jame (the protagonist of God Stalk) and Tori (her twin). They are each only vaguely aware of each other, and lead different adventures from vastly differing perspectives -- all naturally culminating together at the grand finale.

What I liked

Hodgell's story-telling and world-building are top-notch, her story pacing is excellent, and she balances light and dark themes perfectly. I love the tantalising glimpses into Jame's past, and the building tension around her. Torisen, while he has his annoying blind spots, is also a very deep and engaging character. One can't help but feel immersed in the story, love the characters, be glued to plot, and wish to learn more.

What to be aware of

The story builds up on the previous volume. While referenced events are explained in short, it always helps to read in order. The latest installment of the series (book 8) was published last year -- 35 years on from the first volume. I believe the series is still not complete, though I expect GRRM fans will likely not mind this in the least. I certainly don't, as the stories make an excellent read, even if they leave you hungering for more.

Summary

A highly recommended series. This is epic fantasy done right, with perfect balance of light and dark, and excellent, slowly-building pacing. I'm off to re-read the rest of the series (and read those newer volumes for the first time). If you love fantasy, I strongly suggest you add it to your TBR pile.
--
Assaph Mehr, author of Murder In Absentia: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel to God Stalk is captivating in a different way, as Jame's story is intertwined with her brother Tori's, alternating chapters until the very end. I don't usually like books with multiple plot lines, mainly because I tend to attach to one more than the others and become impatient when I'm pulled away from the one I care about. In this case, I'm just as interested in the political warfare going on in Torisen's story as I am in the mystical journey Jame undergoes. Where God Stalk was a story primarily about magic, faith, and the intersection between the two, this book prepares the way for a story that explores the Kencyrath and the demands their Three-Faced God makes of them.

I don't know whether I'm more fascinated by the complex society of the Kencyrath, with their arcane customs and alien (to the world they live in) ways, or the world of Rathilien as it develops. In God Stalk, one of the prime movers of the story is Jame's investigation of the multitudinous "gods" of Rathilien as represented in the city Tai-Tastigon; to her, it's an absurdity, because the Kencyrath don't have faith, they know their god exists and is, frankly, a bit of a bastard. In Dark of the Moon, we get the first hints that there are forces on Rathilien that may well be divine in the sense the Kencyr mean, and while Jame is perhaps too busy surviving to think much of it, the reader can see how those hints are lining up to play a greater role in future stories.

And, of course, there are all the lovely throwaway details Hodgell peppers her world with: trees with leaves that fly south for the winter, birds whose only eyes are the feathered ones on their wings, step-back and -forward stones that remember where they used to be, and the Horde, which is implausible--three million people can't possibly survive if all they do is follow each other in an endless circle, preying on each other--but is a breathtaking bit of imagery as they come north shrouded in perpetual storm. If I was a bit impatient with the book this time around, it was solely because I was eager to get to Seeker's Mask, which I've read only once before, but remember well enough to look forward to seeing the next part of the story.

[Dorian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit different from its predecessor. Instead of being confined to a city in setting, it's more open, as Jame (along with her friend Marc and big cat Jorin) sets off into the world to find her long-lost brother. Meanwhile, Torisen (the long-lost brother) is Highlord of their people, but having some political difficulties, not to mention the problem of an upcoming battle in which his forces are outnumbered about sixty to one.

The viewpoint flips back and forth between these two characters, something that can be very annoying if one is not interested in one of them, but in this case it worked for me as I was equally interested in both. Well, nearly. Jame and the havoc she wreaks apparently just by existing are actually more interesting to me than Tori and his war and politics - but I do still like Tori's sections too. (Also, Jame has the cat...)

Overall, a good read, and now I shall have to go and buy the rest of the series; I really want to see what happens now that Jame and Tori are together.

[Sol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would you notice if someone didn't have nails and their fingertips were smooth?

I'm shocked that this series never took off back in the day. Not long and autistic enough?

Important things first:
Best "Jame has no breasts" joke:

"Graykin . . ."
"Don't you mean Gricki?"
"No, I do not. You're no more responsi­ble for your bloodlines than . . . than I am for mine. Look, running around like this may be good for the circulation, but I'm starting to get cold. Can you find me some clothes?"
He gave her a sharp look. "Some of Lyra's, d'you mean?"
"Trinity, no." She took off the mask and dropped it on the floor. "Some of yours will do."
Graykin started to laugh, then saw that she was serious. "Wait here." He jumped up and disappeared down the hall. In a few minutes he was back with an armful of clothing, including one undergarment for which Jame had no use whatsoever.
"Very funny," she said, handing it back to him.

This is the best breastlessness joke in the series as of book five. Strong buildup and punchline, and it ties into the introduction of two fairly important characters (Lyra and Graykin). It's also a confluence of all of Hodgell's running gags: Jame has no need for a bra, obviously, she's been skulking around naked, and Graykin is better versed in the arts of femininity than she is.

Picking up right where God Stalk left off, Dark of the Moon alternates between Jame's journey to reach her brother Torisen, and his parallel story as he deals with a crisis of the Kencyrath. Because the story is much more linear and digestible, it is in some ways denser than God Stalk, which had to rely on repetition to provide emphasis and structure in its cavalcade of subplots. Dark in fact covers so much ground I'm flabbergasted that there are so many books left. It feels like the story could easily be wrapped up in another book or two. It's a cool world with characters I'm interested in and care about, with some hooks and loose threads, but are there really eight books worth of story left?

Jame's side leans more on action and lore than Torisen's, which goes for intrigue and drama as he is forced into difficult decisions. Hodgell does a solid job of building him up considering he never appeared in God Stalk, and he truly feels like a protagonist in his own right. He gets into a lot of situations that force him to compromise, from balancing the interests of him and his allies vs. the polity as a whole, to having to admit mistakes and make changes afterwards, and having to display ruthlessness and mercy at differing times, even when he might feel neither personally. It gives solid characterization of him as both a man and a ruler. I hope she wrings some real drama from his and Jame's estrangement going forward.

Though the exit from the weird city Tai-tastigon is a loss, Dark keeps up a steady supply of strange creatures and places, from the vampiric changers who fly by stretching their loose skin like a flying squirrel, to a fortress whose walls become exponentially higher the closer one approaches, to the immortal rathorns who only die due to the overgrowth of their armour and horns. Rathillien as a world doesn't have any clear gimmick like The Edge Chronicles, nor is it as aggressively surreal as Bas-Lag, but it's far from a completely generic setting as I'd feared.

The Kencyrath now take centre stage. Functionally they're the elves of this world, long-lived, with innate powers beyond humanity, yet slowly dying off. Add a touch of cattiness and samurai death-before-dishonour. They're also fuckups, but they're fuckups with a divine mandate to prevent the destruction of the multiverse. It's clear somebody is going to have to shape them up, and Torisen seems the one to do it. Jame, however is a spanner in the works. She's positioned as a dark messiah of Gerridon's, an indispensable piece of his plans. Her abilities are frightening and destructive, and conceivably more dangerous than helpful to the Kencyrath. Hopefully Hodgell can do something interesting with that.

That dark lord Gerridon has been kept away from the spotlight for a remarkable length of time. I don't recall him appearing onscreen once in God Stalk, and in Dark, only once, and Jame has yet to see his face. It helps give him an air of gravitas, since he isn't constantly in our face having his plans stymied, but also leaves him kind of vague. I don't think we know, at this point, what exactly he can...do. He's undying for the time being, and apparently a powerful Shanir. As powerful as Jamethiel? He has yet to show it.

The sequences where Jame and Torisen's confrontation with their painful pasts are literalized as actual travel to those places is a great idea, and the twin peaks of the story. Jame's time in Gerridon's house is the best part of the series so far, it's spooky, creepy, it makes me shiver to imagine a little girl being raised there by a couple of the less-evil vampires so her 3000-year old uncle could make her his new wife. A landscape that "looked and smelled like raw, spoilt liver" is an all-time great description.

I don't know if it's my own sexism or what, but the number of scenes where Jame is naked in view of men, or has attention called to her flat chest/androgyny somehow don't bother me. I'm positive that if say, Jack Chalker had written such scenes I would be docking points.

Summary: Jame, Marc (Kendar) and Jorin (blind cat) cross the mountains to the west of Tai-tastigon. Keral, a mutated "changer" of Gerridon, attacks Jame, but the Arrin-ken of the mountain, Immalai, saves her. Immalai psychically accuses her of being a servant of Perimal, but relents after Jamethiel appears to save Keral, and guides them over the pass.

Meanwhile, Torisen has been Highlord for 3 years after he declared himself publicly following a dream-vision of his father's death. His position has been accepted out of desperation by the surviving Highborn families and he fears assassination. While investigating a fallen Kencyr stronghold (Marc's former home) Torisen finds a full skeleton of a Kendar girl. Lord Caineron, his greatest enemy, arrives, and obliquely threatens to kill him. Kindrie, a disowned Shanir in Caineron's employ creates a distraction, and Torisen escapes. That night, he shares Jame's nightmare, and next morning is informed that the 3 million strong Horde of the southern wastes has been met in battle by the 15 000 strong Southern Host of the Kencyrath, a mercenary army formed of the bulk of their fighting men and their main source of income.

Jame and co. arrive in the town of Peshtar. They seek advice from a witch, Ragga, who informs them of the Southern Host's movement, and the retrieval of the girl's bones, who was Marc's sister, Willow. She gives Jame an imu amulet. They are attacked by Bortis, a brigand from Tai-tastigon, and another changer who claims to be opposed to Gerridon. The imu attacks the changer and burns it.

Torisen and Caineron travel south to Tentir, where Torisen challenges Caineron's son, Nusair to a duel. A changer kills Nusair, framing Torisen. It attacks Torisen in the form of Nusair, but is killed in view of several people. Torisen re-recruits Harn Grip-hard, his former second in command, and Ashe, a bard and former soldier. Torisen and co. race to Gothregor where the High Council is gathering. Caineron accuses Torisen, and produces his grandson Donkerri, who witnessed the death of the changer, not realising it was not Nusair. Kindrie produces the arm of the changer, proving Torisen's account. The council votes to head south unanimously. Donkerri is disowned by Caineron and taken in by Torisen.

Jame and co. witness a changer flying west, and are attacked by Grindark tribesmen, who are in league with Bortis. They travel south to the Anarchies, a region religiously barred from the hill tribes, where Rathorns dwell, armoured flesh-eating unicorn-like creatures. They discover a line of stones which teleport travellers backward, but get through. They become lost, and the land itself seems to attack Jame, until she presents the imu. They discover rathorns feeding on Bortis' men, and follow them to a deserted city. Jame explores, and finds buildings larger inside than out, with gravity changing directions, and a room that seems to exist in a world overtaken by Perimal. She guesses that it was the city of the Builders, a fabled fourth Kencyrath race that precedes the other three in the chain of worlds and builds their temples.

Bortis and the burnt changer attack Jame, but are interrupted by two rathorns, a dying mare and her colt. The mare psychically begs Jame to kill her, but her colt will seek revenge for life. Jame kills the mare, her death scream killing the changer. Jame guesses the Builders were killed by the screams of the rathorns and could not travel to the next world, and if Rathillien is not saved, the Kencyrath will be cut off from their god forever. Jame and co. flee into underground tunnels, and are guided by the ghost of a Builder. Jame hears the voice of Torisen and calls to him. They emerge hundreds of miles south, in the city of Karkarinoth near a miniature Kencyr temple. Attempting to open the temple, they are captured by guards.

The Riverland Host travels near Wyrden, a fortress controlled by the Grindarks. A group of rathorns cross Torisen's path, disappearing into a hole in a hill, into which Torisen calls and hears his name spoken from within. Torisen is told that the Grindarks used to be the Builder's labourers, and would have inherited their city in the Anarchies, but the Builders disappeared, and the Grindarks now fear the Builder's Men-thari, a decapitating necklace. Torisen realizes the Men-thari is the same object as the Kenthiar he is wearing, which decapitates all but the legitimate Highlord. Using the Kenthiar, he takes the fortress bloodlessly. The Grindark leader, Grisharki, begs mercy, claiming that a burnt changer forced him to break his agreement with the Kencyrath. As an act of mercy, Torisen has him executed before he is impaled. A message intercepted by the Grindarks says that the Southern Host has been nearly destroyed and is in complete retreat. Torisen orders a faster march through the White Hills, where his father Ganth met his defeat and was deposed.

Jame escapes her cell and finds Gricki/Graykin, a servant of Prince Odalian, who leads her to Lyra, the young daughter of Caineron who is currently marriage-contracted to Odalian. She discovers the Prince has ordered almost every person in the palace to join the Riverland Host. Jame realizes Graykin is half-Kencyr, and he leads her to part of the palace covered in grey shadows. Entering, she finds herself in Perimal Darkling, in Gerridon's house. There she meets Terribend, a soulless man, and Tirandys, his brother, Jame's instructor in the ways of honour and battle, and a changer in the form of Odalian. Tirandys explains that Gerridon has nearly run out of souls to consume, and some of the changers have rebelled against him, inciting the Horde to attack the Kencyrath so they can take over Rathillien as the first step in a campaign against Gerridon. Gerridon had Tirandys take Odalian's place to support the Kencyrath, hoping to crush the Horde, then have Tirandys take Torisen's place. Gerridon also masterminded Jame's birth, sending Jamethiel to Ganth, with Torisen as an unwanted byproduct. Jame was to become Gerridon's new wife, but she cut off his hand when she entered the marriage chamber and fled. To prevent this, Tirandys reveals he has poisoned Jame's wine.

She later wakes up surrounded by shadow-beings, who lead her through the house. There she sees ghosts of the past, including Gerridon preceding her up the stairs to the wedding chamber, re-enacting the night she escaped. She meets Graykin, nearly stealing his soul, and begs him to save Marc and Jorin, and take Ganth's sword Kin-Slayer from Gerridon's house to Torisen. She is given the serpent-skin cloak by the shadows, and up the stairs, Terribend gives her a white knife. Reaching the door of the wedding chamber, she realizes she will fall to him if she enters. She prepares to kill herself instead.

Camping in the White Hills, Torisen's ally Lord Jedrak dies of old age, his last act appointing Kirien as his heir. Torisen realizes Kirien is a woman disguised as a man, which though not illegal, became uncommon after the fall of Jamethiel. Wandering into the hills, he unknowingly travels thousands of miles to the Haunted Lands and the keep of his childhood. Kindrie is led to Torisen's side by the ghost of Willow. Torisen realizes that Jame had returned to the keep and is still alive, while Kindrie begins to suspect that Torisen may have betrayed Ganth due to inconsistencies in Torisen's story. Kindrie uses the pyric rune to burn the re-animating dead in the keep, but others had crossed over to the White Hills and attack the Kencyrath. Ashe is bitten, and Demoth, the provisionally appointed Lord Coman, attempts to kill Torisen after he passes the lordship to Demoth's half-brother Korey, and is killed himself.

The Kencyrath cut through a forest called the Weald, where the transforming wolf-man Wolvers live, and meet Torisen's old friend Grimly. Torisen stops sleeping and becomes erratic, including believing that his wine has been poisoned. Ardeth confides in Kindrie that he is also secretly a Shanir, and that the Shanir have kept secret that all Highborn lords have the Shanir power to psychically bind themselves to their followers. Torisen himself is likely a powerful Shanir, and his dreams a manifestation of that. Burr calls the two of them to help Torisen, who has collapsed into a nightmare. Kindrie attempts to heal Torisen, bringing Willow's bones to guide him. He enters Torisen's dream, finding Jame at the point of suicide. He transfers the poison to himself, and the snake-skin cloak neutralizes it. Jame awakens and searches for Odalian in the deeper parts of the house, which exist in earlier worlds that have been absorbed by Perimal. Once rescued, Odalian has become a changer, and kills himself by touching Jame's knife. It was in fact the Ivory Knife, which can kill with a single cut, and Jame could have easily killed Gerridon. As the Kencyrath temple breaks, it destroys the palace. Jame, Marc, Jorin and Lyra escape and travel west to Hurlen, near where the Riverland Host gathers.

Torisen and the combined armies prepare for battle. Graykin betrays Jame to Caineron, his father, but regrets his actions, and saves Jame when she attempts to escape being kidnapped. She accidentally binds him to her service, charges him with retrieving the Pale Book, and takes Kin-Slayer. The battle is joined, including a changer in the form of Pereden. Torisen attempts to regroup with his forces by cutting through the forest, but it has similar properties to the Anarchies. He is attacked by multiple changers. Donkerri leads a charge in the place of the absent Caineron, lying about his orders, and dies honourably in Jame's arms. Jame finds Torisen and throws Kin-Slayer to him, who fights several changers, but is disarmed. She loses the knife, and defeats the remaining changers by screaming as the rathorn did.

The vanguard of the Horde, when confronted by the undying bodies of the changers disguised as their forefathers, become disgusted and retreat. Torisen interrogates the captured Pereden, who proves to be real, having betrayed the Kencyrath after his defeat. Torisen kills him and disguises the body as a common soldier. A message from the remains of the Southern Host arrives, proving that only Pereden's column was annihilated, allowing him to become a hero in posterity. Ashe proves to have died of her haunt-bite, becoming one herself, but retaining her sense of self, and resolves to continue "living". Willow's bones are cremated. Tirandys-as-Odalian begs Torisen to symbolically perform the rite of blood-binding with him, Torisen not knowing that Tirandys' changer blood will kill him. Jame attempts to stop it, but the ritual goes ahead. Torisen proves to actually be a Shanir Blood-binder, and his blood begins killing Tirandys instead. Jamethiel appears to save him, but Jame intervenes so that Tirandys can die. She gazes into Jamethiel's soul, where she dances on a bridge above a void. Recognizing Jame, she stops her dance and falls into the void to prevent Jame's soul from being devoured. Jamethiel's body is sucked into the void inside herself, killing her, and letting Tirandys die.

Torisen and Jame are reunited, with Jame returning Ganth's ring. Their reunion is tetchy, with Torisen fearful of Jame's strange mannerisms and Shanir powers, but he resolves to introduce her to the assembled lords as his sister.

[Jeffrey Caston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts after listening to the audiobook production...

Jame leaves Tai-Tastigon. Gets some independence. Meets Marc. Hijinks and chaos ensue. No surprise there.

Torisen clings to power and tries to keep the barely holding together Kencyrath from completely fracturing.

A BIIIIG battle with a large host of the Kencyrath fighting the mysterious horde.

Bad guys doing obnoxious things.

'Nuff said.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the setup of the first book, where the cosmic battle against Perimal Darkling is a background element and where Jame makes her way alone in a strange city, becoming entangled in events for personal reasons. It's a little sad to see the epic story arc start to ramp up, and Jame becoming something of a Chosen One, accumulating trinkets and plot coupons. At the same time, the urban adventure in Tai-Tastigon has been changed for a travel and military story with occasional quest and random mayhem.

Still, this is inventive and involving, with little elements that make it stand out from the conventional dragon-and-elves business. There's an unfolding mystery about the nature of the Kencyr themselves and the predecessor Builders and the Trinity God, and even the world of Rathillien itself. Many things are unexplained, either hooking into later parts of the series or left hanging as a mystery of this occasionally strange world.

It looks like the next book changes gears again as Jame tries to fit into a culture that has strong and limiting ideas about a woman's place. It probably continues the themes of intrigue and politics and family entanglements and obligations begun here.

[Laura (Kyahgirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5; 4 stars; B+

I found this book a bit more convoluted and hard to get into than the first one but there were many aspects I enjoyed. The imagination of this author is amazing. The strangeness of their world, the odd link between the twin minds, the overlapping worlds from the Chain of Creation...it all makes for a really good fantasy story. Again, there was much darkness in this story but things such as Jame's friendship with Marc and her lovely relationship with Jorin to counterbalance it.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read God Stalk and Dark of the Moon as part of the omnibus The Godstalker Chronicles. However, I’m reviewing them separately because they are separate novels with standalone—but connected—arcs. They work well as an omnibus edition, because the latter picks up almost immediately following on from the former. Whereas I had a great deal of difficulty with God Stalk, however, I found this one slightly more tolerable.

To be honest, about fifty pages into Dark of the Moon, I started flipping through the remainder of the book to try and get a sense of whether things got more interesting or—crucially—more intelligible. I was having the same problem I encountered in God Stalk: every few pages, suddenly I would find that I had no idea how whatever was happening had happened. Who was this random new character? Why was Jame suddenly halfway across Rathillien? Cue several minutes of backtracking while muttering under my breath.

Obviously, I was having trouble concentrating on the story. And this is after deciding that this book is actually easier to follow than God Stalk, although on the whole it’s probably more boring. Jame and her new Kendar companion Marc wander across Rathillien to meet up with the Kencyr Host and the Highlord, Torisen, who is probably Jame’s twin brother. Meanwhile, Hodgell also relates events happening with the Host from Torisen’s point of view. It’s politics, and it provides a very interesting glimpse into the culture of the Kencyr. Unfortunately, it drags in comparison to Jame’s portion of the narrative, which comes with some substantial action.

As with the first book, I can see why Dark of the Moon earns praise. Jame’s label of anti-hero is more obvious here than it is in the first book: her struggles with a darker side to her abilities are far more overt. And we get to see a lot more of the Kencyr and learn about their culture. With Tai-tastigon out of the way, the landscape returns to the safer footing of a stalk fantasy world. On the surface this might seem disappointing, but by playing in a familiar sandbox, Hodgell saves on the reader’s cognitive capacity, freeing up more to spend on things like Kencyr culture. I think part of my problem with God Stalk was that I spent so much energy attempting to grok Tai-tastigon that any notions about following the plot were fanciful at best.

And again, I don’t like having to express my dissatisfaction with this book, because I want to like it and praise it. Hodgell’s storytelling has a nice spark of originality to it. There is some interesting potential in the contrast between Jame’s character and the typical gender performance of a Highborn lady. But these two books have reminded me of the intense subjectiveness of the reading experience. It doesn’t matter how much I try to notice and mention objective features of merit—when it comes down to it, on a gut level, this book just didn’t click for me.

There is no way to rationalize it or explain it away. Dark of the Moon is marginally more tolerable than God Stalk but not a huge improvement. I don’t regret sticking out the entire book, but I’m not in a hurry to continue with the series. I suspect I’ll be setting myself up for more disappointment if I do.

[Cheryl Landmark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I liked this book a little better than the first one. The city of Tai-tastigon was quite interesting and different, but I prefer my fantasies to involve journeys where the characters encounter various dangers, threats, creatures and places. As Jame certainly did in this book.

I was pleased to find out more about her background as her memories became a little clearer, but there was still a lot of tantalizing details missing, which, in my case, anyway, is a sure-fire way to guarantee that I will be reading the next book in the series to discover more of her history.

Ms. Hodgell definitely has a vivid imagination and comes up with a lot of unique concepts. I particularly liked the idea of the step-forward and -back stones. I still haven't determined if Jame and the Kencyraths are aliens from another planet, or just people from an alternate world that is part of Rathillien. The concept of the Builders sounds suspiciously like aliens finding new planets and establishing their culture and temples on them.

As in the first book, I had somewhat of an issue with the author's naming conventions. It seemed that just about every character and place had two or three names or titles and it was difficult at times to keep them all straight.

I liked Torisen's character. He seemed very strong and charismatic and inspired a lot of loyalty and confidence in his leadership. At the same time, he was also conflicted and somewhat scarred by his past. I only wish he had a little more empathy and love for his sister, Jame, but his distrust and dislike of Shanirs made him too prejudiced toward her. Marc was another character I really liked. He made the perfect protector and companion for Jame on her journey. And, I'm a sucker for loyal animal companions as well, so naturally I loved Jorin the ounce!

All in all, not a bad book, although I found that sometimes there was a little too much complexity and detail in the plot. I guess I like my fantasies a little simpler and more straight-forward!

[Metaphorosis · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Jame has left the temple city of Tai-Tastigon in search of her twin brother Tori, to deliver to him important relics. Accompanied by Marc the warrior and Jorin the blind cat, she nonetheless manages to get into serious trouble. Meanwhile, Tori, Highlord of the Kencyrath, has troubles of his own as the Southern Horde, after years of aimless circling has suddenly decided to head north.

Review
Arriving a few years after God Stalk, Dark of the Moon doesn’t have quite the same startling impact. For one thing, it’s very much a travel story – Jame and Tori traveling separately to an eventual meeting – and the result is pretty much foreordained (they meet). However, Hodgell packs in a fair number of revelations, and sets up some interesting locations for further exploration.

We get drawn further into Kencyrath politics (setting up future books), which I find the least interesting part of the whole story, with its suppression of women, intrigues and betrayals, etc. It’s not too heavy in this volume, though it does serve as a bit of warning for what (as I recall) comes in later installments.

What’s much more welcome is that we get to see a bit more about the Kencyrath as a whole, including the mysterious Builders who aren’t one of the three key races, but did prepare the way and build the temples. I’d forgotten this aspect, and welcomed it. Hodgell also ties off one major, if somewhat off-screen, character thread – another point I’d forgotten entirely.

On the other hand, we see a bit more of Gerridon’s House and it’s pretty murky. I left the book without a much clearer understanding of its details than I had before. Changers are very involved here, but never with a very clear sense of purpose, though we get some hints.

All in all, a very strong sequel, though without the depth of its predecessor.

[Sbuchler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: High Fantasy

I found this a rather slow to read. I think it was because the book switched point-of-view characters between Jame and her 10-years-older twin brother Tori, Highlord of the Kencyrath every chapter. I just wasn’t that interested in Tori, despite finding Jame’s chapters fascinating.

I’m not sure why I found Tori’s chapters slow to read… part of it may be that he’s a bit “oh woe is me, my life has been so unfair” which is true but tedious. Part of it may be that Tori doesn’t change or grow – he’s prejudiced from start to finish no matter the facts… this is understandable given his upbringing but again, no fun to read. Finally it may be that he never really acts, he just reacts to the machinations of the other Highborn and the machinations of Gerridon (and the “dark side”). Jame may bungle things, but she acts. The affects of her actions are not always what she wants (in fact, usually accidental destruction), but her intentions are honorable, even if she considers her knee-jerk reactions suspect.

Anyway, this book picks up where God Stalker left off; Jame leaves Tai-Tastigon, and from there the entire story is traveling; Jame to reach Tori (to give him their father’s sword and ring) and Tori to reach the battlefield to stop the Horde in time. During this journey we learn a whole lot more about the history of the Kencyrath – which becomes rather personal for Jame… We learn about Gerridon Highlord who 3,000 years ago tempted his sister Jamethiel Dream Weaver into the great betrayal that was “The Fall of the Kencyrath”. We also learn more about the Kencyrath’s migrations between worlds, and particularly about hurried emigration to the world of Rathillien following The Fall. Plus we get bits and pieces of Jame’s missing memories.

Despite my complaints the climax was very satisfying and there are plenty of loose ends to look forward to into the next book.

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this sequel of "God Stalk," Hodgell follows her main character from that book, Jame, but the tone of the story changes drastically. "Dark of the Moon" is a much more 'epic'-feeling fantasy, as Jame returns to her mission to find her brother, whom she suspects is now High Lord of the Kencyr . So she sets forth with the 'giant' man, Marc, and her mind-bonded blind hunting cat, Jorin, and much questing and adventure ensues...
Meanwhile, her brother, Torisen, is indeed High Lord, and as such is dealing with much political maneuvering, as Kencyr society is bound by all kinds of strict traditions and rigid ideas about honor... which can get in the way of dealing with issues that come up, such as shape-changing impostors, assassins, power-hungry rivals, not to mention the rumors of a three-million-strong, half-human cannibal horde about to overrrun civilized lands...
Well-done fantasy but I have to admit that I missed the more intimate tone of the first book, as well as the intriguing setting of the city of Tai-Tastigon.

[Verity Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I don't love this book as much as I love God Stalk, I still like it an awful lot. Adding in Tori's PoV, especially the whole business of Kencyr politics and the impending war against the Horde, slows down the progress of Jame's story. The first time I read it, I was annoyed. Upon re-readings, I appreciate Tori more, but the most gripping parts of the book are still, unquestionably, the ones where Jame discovers more and more of the truth about her missing years in Perimal Darkling. And the ending, while "happy," is still a downer in terms of what it means for Jame's immediate future.

[Juushika · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Jame struggles to catch up to her brother as he leads the Kencyrath host towards war. I thought the first book had an interesting backstory which was too far removed from uninteresting fantasy tropes in the foreground; all that is corrected here. Jame regains some of her memories and the Kencyrath are front and center in the narrative, so there's more space for that interesting backstory. The plot structure is a quest/travelogue, but it wanders through fantastic setpieces: mysterious forests filled with carnivorous unicorns and strange deadly flora; ancient, ruined castles that slip through realities and time. (The writing also improves, particularly because the dual PoV allows exterior views of each protagonist without relying on the awkward "zoomed out" PoV changes of the first book.) I'm generally indifferent to high fantasy, this makes me understand where it can be interesting and fun--if you did read the first book, the second is worth picking up if only for the trip to the Anarchies.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

God Stalk was about Jame finding herself and her place in the world but took place entirely within the confines of Tai-Tastigon, but Dark of the Moon is a travel narrative. And not just for Jame, though she does travel quite far, but also for her half-brother Torisen who is promoted to a main character and whose story occupies half the chapters in the book.

That means that the book covers Kencyr society in much greater detail than God Stalk did, and I can only imagine what the explosion will be when Jame finally rejoins it. Whereas I mentioned last time that the Kencyrath religion reminded me a lot of Judaism, their social relations are very similar to pre-modern Japan--or at least, to the idealized vision of pre-modern Japan that the Tokugawa Shogunate-era samurai thought of when they were writing about the proper way for a warrior aristocracy without any wars to fight should behave, mixed with some of what actually happened on the ground.

Highborn women are virtual prisoners, living cloistered in their father's house until they are married off to other lords, and with no political power at all. Shanir are despised because their talents are what allowed Gerridon to crush the Kencyrath at the previous threshold world, but secretly every lord who can bind Kendar to serve him is a Shanir since blood-binding is a Shanir talent. The Highborn spend most of their time scheming for power and some of them don't even believe that Perimal Darkling is anything more than an abstract force, and certainly not that Gerridon or changers actually exist. Honor is all-consuming, and the kind of conundrum where a liege lord orders their retainers to commit a dishonorable act so they're doomed either way is really common.

Speaking of Perimal Darkling, there's a scene that takes place inside it, which was a bit confusing to me based on the impression I had gotten from God Stalk. That made it seem like Perimal Darkling was more like Satan, in opposition to the Three-Faced God and someone that one could deal with. In Dark of the Moon, though, it's more like a wave of chaos that washes over the worlds that the Kencyrath fail to defend, which makes me wonder how exactly they're supposed to fight it. I suspect they wonder that themselves, and that's part of why they're so pissed off at the Three-Faced God.

Also, the conflict seems pretty explicitly about Cosmic Law vs. Cosmic Chaos. Hence all the rules the Three-Faced God set down for the Kencyrath and their focus on honor, and how Perimal Darkling doesn't destroy the worlds it conquers, it just changes them so much that they're unrecognizable. Also explains why the way to make a changer is just chain them in a back room of the Master's House and let Perimal Darkling infect them.

I've mostly written about the world-building until this point because in terms of the story, it didn't felt like that much happened to me. I mean, objectively that's not actually true, since Jame went into Perimal Darkling and I really did like the chapters where Torisen was trying to get all the Highborn on his side.

On the other hand, I can see why one of the reviews for God Stalk mentioned that Jame was a Mary Sue. I did mention her incredible luck in my previous review, and that continues here. And not just her--Torisen ended up in his father's castle in the Haunted Lands because...well, because? There was no reason given for it other than some speculation about the land being connected because Perimal Darkling was close to the surface, it was just an incredibly well-timed coincidence. Or the poisoning being cured through the twins' link. The series is full of incredibly well-timed coincidences so far. I guess it could be the Three-Faced God acting, but the Kencyrath seem to hate him for refusing to act when they needed it, so there's no real reason for that to be the case.

On the other hand, the existence of changers means that a lot of the seeming coincidences actually have reasons for them. The Horde stops circling and starts moving right when Torisen's power over the Kencyrath Host is weakest? Changers. Odalian acting weird and competent? Changer. Torisen apparently murdered Caineron's son? Changer. It does make it easier for Hodgell to work in mysterious plots, since anyone could be anything at any time.

I didn't like the actual action as much as I did in God Stalk, but as my gushing about it probably revealed, I did like all the things we learned about Rathillien in Dark of the Moon, and I'm definitely eager to read the next one.

Previous Review: God Stalk.
Next Review: Seeker's Mask.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

As mentioned, I have this as an omnibus edition with the first book in the series; recently re-read the omnibus. Having had a somewhat underwhelming experience with rereading God Stalk, I was wary with rereading this one, since I remembered having been a bit disappointed with it. Although I still didn't find it riveting, I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Maybe it's that growing up thing.

Jame has left Tai-tastigon behind, having made life for herself there pretty much not an option. That's ok, she was more interested in tracking down her twin brother Tori/Torisen anyway. Setting out in winter with not enough equipment or supplies, it's not surprising that she and her companions Marc (a big warrior type) and Jorin (a blind hunting cat who can see through her eyes) run into some trouble. The story is mostly told in chapters that alternate between her point of view and that of her brother, Torisen, who is emmeshed in some serious political wrangling. It takes a little while to get the complexities of who's who and the main political motivations sorted, not helped by the fact that lords have a name and a title and are referred to by both names, interchangeably; some of these are helpfully shorthanded in a dramatis personae at the front of the book and in an appendix at the back, but not all characters are listed. Both Jame and Tori are on a journey, and for both characters it's a fairly slow-moving one at first. I guess this gives us a chance to build up some knowledge of the complexities before the pace picks up, but I felt it could have been done better.

Anyway, both Jame and Tori (that name! constantly had to stop myself thinking he was a girl) discover some weird and crazy places in their world which are quite fascinating. Hodgell is definitely a world-builder and can create quite an atmosphere, whether it's the smoky, claustrophobic feel of a border town closed up for the winter with a group of bandits inside; an eerie graveyard of rathorns (a type of animal that is a bit like a horse with ivory that grows into a carapace or exoskeleton); a castle at night with a creepy vampiric wyrm thingie and a shape-changing nasty; surreal jumps through time, space and reality. It's these places and the stories that go with them, the glimpses of culture and folklore and mythology that are actually more interesting than the main action of the book. Gradually as the book goes on, you realise that Jame (in particular) is caught up in a lot of the Kencyrath mythology, having spent some time living with the Ultimate Bad Dudes as a child. That would be the tortured past that was hinted at quite a lot in the previous book. I'm oversimplifying and making it sound rather cheesy, but this is actually one of the better aspects of Jame's character and history. It also explains a lot of why she acts as she does and forms rather shallow attachments. I also like the ongoing tension in her character: having spent so much time in Perimal Darkling, has she become corrupt? Or can she choose differently now? This fate vs free will conflict may have been done before, but this is a fairly satisfying portrayal.

I think one of the reasons I disliked it when reading it before was the fact that the eventual meeting between Jame and Torisen is completely underwhelming. Both twins have clearly idealised their long-lost sibling and a certain amount of drama might be expected when they finally meet up. Instead they keep just-missing each other, and when they finally have a proper conversation, it's pretty clear that each is rather narked off by the other. I found this mildly amusing, and although the book ends with Tori pretty much telling his sister she's going to have to settle down and be a proper lady now, and with Jame meekly accepting that, if you've been paying attention at all you'll know that Jame doesn't meekly accept anything she doesn't want to. The only frustration is not knowing how she will rebel.

And that's obviously where the next book will pick up. Or so I surmise; I haven't read any of the others and in fact, never knew there were any others until the magic of the internets revealed that yes, PC Hodgell is alive and well and still producing books in the series. I've added the others with their oh-so-trashy covers to my wishlist in Book Depository, and will eventually get them. It will be interesting to see what I make of one in this series without my teen-reader-memories as an underlay.

[Estara · Rating 4 out of 5]

On this re-read of the whole series, I find my impressions of Jame and Tori tumbling in and out of all kinds of action pieces confirmed (but if you accept the underlying background, which is highlighted more in this book, now that another one of the three key players is introduced and followed - then this makes total sense: we are living in end times after all, 30 Millenia development are coming to a head and the first thing that has to happen is that the Tyr-Ridan has to be tempered and made aware of the fact that they ARE the Tyr-Ridan).

I remember being much more annoyed with Torisen's wishy-washy feelings regarding Jame and his deep paranoia about her on the first read. Maybe I simply took more time to think about what she did in Tai-Tastigon in all her thoughtlessness (like a detached scientists or an affronted beserker when someone/anyone called her honour into question). She really IS a problematic anti-heroine, but she means well - so I forgive much. And it's not as if she had much in the way of helpful nurturing in her people's way or as if she had any real support: Marcarn basically becomes unavailable at the end of the book as soon as he realizes that Jamethiel is a pureblood Highborn lady.

I really enjoyed the action pieces of Tori and Jame mirroring each other, their twinness influencing each other, the very sad vignette in the old home of the Builders, whether it was finding that one last skeleton or having to kill the slowly dying rathorn dame and therefore getting the undying enmity of her colt.

I loved those casually thrown in weird bits about the landscape, the arboreal drifting leaves and trees, even though - because the pace is so fast - we don't get as much of a feeling for the atmosphere as we did with Tai-Tastigon.

In light of the fact that Tyrandis hardly shows up except in memory and a few key scenes, you really can feel Jame's grief and thankfulness for him (even though at one point he can't help but decide that poisoning her is best) - same with the eventual death of the Dream-Weaver.

And then there's Graykin, a product of all the worst things that the Highborn do to Rathillien, he really serves to show in this and the next books what Jame can set off when she crosses the path of your life, in the way of the development of honor, but also what happens when you betray her - AND he serves to show that she remains on the knife edge of honour whatever she does, because Jame betrays Graykin's (and other people's) trust, too - when she thinks her needs are more important (and usually they are because people are trying to box her into roles that are just not what her god has decided for her).

Becoming more aware of her situation and her past memories in Perimal Darkling makes Jame accept her role much faster than the other two avatars of the Three-Faced God. And because her concept of honour is all that she has, she simply can't conceive at least trying to fulfil the rules and obligations that sets on her - even as her temper can bring her to the edge of darkness so fast.

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I certainly liked this book more than the convoluted first novel, mostly because it didn't have nearly as many awkward and confusing gaps in continuity or impossible to follow references that made the first novel so annoying to read. That's not to say that it was without the above problems, only that there just weren't as many of them. There were a few times I had to go back and reread several pages just to be sure that I hadn't zoned thru them, and to reassure myself that what was happening in the next chapter made no sense whatsoever.

Maybe it was just me. So many people obviously feel very strongly about them. I think that the story itself is very good, although I feel the character of Marc has been relegated to even more of a secondary character than he was before, and I still don't understand (since he supposedly sees thru her eyes) how the blind cat can run around without crashing into things when Jame has been knocked or passed out, and big brother Tori, leader of the Kencyr, has turned out to have a pretty big stick up his butt with his predjudice towards the Shanir, of which Jame is one. It's not going to be a stretch to guess that Jame takes over the whole Kencyr shebang before the end of the novels.

I most likely would not read the two followup novels, but since I bought all four of them together, I feel I'm somewhat committed. Fingers crossed.

[Bryan457 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jame & Marc have left Tai Tastigon to search for Jame's brother. Every other chapter is about their journey. This part of the story has a very similar feel to Andre Norton's travel type books with ancient cities, peculiar magics, odd encounters, and dangerous confrontations with unique monsters, entities, etc.

The chapters not about Jame are following her brother, the High Lord, Torison, as he is involved in the politics of uniting the Kencyrath clans to fight the southern horde.

Jame remembers some of her past in the house of Gerridon in Perimal Darkling.

I miss Tai Tastigon and the theiving aspects of God Stalk. I miss the casual chaos that swirled around Jame's every move in that city.

I had a hard time finishing this.
It has an unfocused, murky feel to it; or as another reviewer said "surreal & confusing."
I never came to really love the characters.
I don't really like tragic heroes. It feels like that is where the series is headed. I don't feel like reading 2 or 3 more books only to find that everything implodes, and everyone dies in the end.

[kvon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still in my backwards reread...so all the bits about Urakarn are backstory still (perhaps to be revealed in later volumes?) As is the full story of Tori leaving the Grey Keep and arriving at Ardeth. I had forgotten that Gricki was Caineron's son. And that Kindrie showed up so early. Heh, back wages. Hodgell likes the infrequent puns. The wyrm here shows up three books later. I was thinking there weren't a lot of women here, then I started listing them and it's a pretty varied lot...Kirien, Earth Mother, Ashe, Lyra, off-camera Kallystine, both Jamethiels. And the ante is upped as the Builders are all gone (have the step-forward stones been seen before? None since.) It's more clear to me now the different factions in the houses. And I can appreciate more the interweaving of the two viewpoints, and the meticulousness of the timeline.
Ivory knife=death, Snakeskin cloak=life? Book of runes=preservation? or creation?

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read in 2007, re-read April 2014

A friend I loaned this to said he much preferred the first book to this one, and I agree but I still like this one. There's more detail than plot, but they're important details and we still get to see Jame in her "wild" persona before the constraints of her society take hold in later books (or try to).

I am reminded, as I was when I reread The Blue Sword recently, how this book influenced my conception of the female hero. Granted, I was an adult when I first read these, but some of my ideas were still forming and I think the idea of a dancing warrior hero came from this book.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book #2 of the series. Also LOVE it. Jame's had to flee Tai-tastigon and is the run again, but now has picked up two friends, an aging Kendar soldier (Marcarn) and a golden hunting ounce (Jorin.) She's going to find her twin brother, and deliver their father's sword and ring to him. Such rich story-telling -- the culture of these fictional people, the world they live in, their religious beliefs and structures -- so detailed and layered. There's a lot of mysteries here, because Hodgell doesn't explain a lot to her readers, but rather let them sink into the story. So if you don't get it all right away, just relax and enjoy. They're great fun and each time I read them, (and this is probably my fourth trip through) I "get" more of the story. I LOVE these books.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this series a fair shot, but I just can't make myself be interested in the plot or care about the characters. I'm not interested in the gods or the magic system. I find this author to have a very confusing writing style...it's hard to tell who is speaking or who is performing actions. Also, I have a MAJOR reading pet peeve about books that have a plot that only consists of people traveling somewhere. It's boring...I'm looking at you GRRM.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen has ruined fantasy for me, because I cant help but compare everything to it...and this one comes up way short. I will not be finishing this series. Too many other books out there to waste any more time and money on something I dont really like.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book so much I took my screen name for aol from it.

[Novak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of PC Hodgell's Dark of the Moon:
(Second book of the Kencryath series.)

I'm just going to go full spoiler for this.

Re-reading this was one of the oddest experiences-- I had forgotten it almost perfectly. Meaning, I had no idea at all what was going to happen next, but almost every scene provoked a deja vu like sense of, "Oh yeah, I remember that." I did remember a (very) few things going in, but overall less than I thought I did, and some of the things I was sure would be here didn't happen until the third book. It turns out, it's been a really long time since I read these.

I did vaguely remember not liking this one quite as much as Godstalk, primarily because the book was split in mostly alternating chapters between Jame finally making progress toward re-uniting with her brother Tori; and Tori acting as Highlord of the Kencyr fighting off local politics and distant armies.

Jame's sections of the book still have a sense of misadventure (dialed down from 'hijinx') as she sort of bounces around Rathilien once she gets moving, making incredibly swift progress by basically stumbling over a bunch of magical transport effects. That's just the tone of Jame's adventures, I guess-- leaping before looking, but turning out fine. The benefit of this is that we do get to see a lot of the weird parts of Rathilien that way, and more of what exactly went down 3000 years ago when Gerridon betrayed everyone.

Tori's sections are less misadventure and more political and military, although very much in a "Don't look really closely at this," way, because otherwise you might stop to wonder how a three million strong horde manages to feed itself if they spend all their time (literally) going around in circles, or wondering how the Kencyr manage to cover 70 miles per day on foot, through hills. It'll give you right flashbacks to arguing about Aiel logistics, it will.

I think DotM ages at least as well as Godstalk, if not slightly better. I'm better able to put a point on why I didn't like Tori as much: It's because he's kind of a jerk to a lot of people who had the misfortune to be born shanir-- especially Kindrie in this book, but the writing is clearly on the wall for Jame, and I don't think it's going out on a limb to suspect that he'll either have a melt-down or go completely hypocritical when someone points out that he's a shanir. I'm possibly a little more sympathetic to it this time through, if only because I've got 25 more years of seeing just how much your parents can mess with your head, if you get a bad draw in life. But only a little. Jame has a much worse time, growing up in Gerridon's house, and she doesn't take shit out on everyone else.

If there's a flaw, here (other than there still being a bit of an over-reliance on luck) it's that the secondary villains are a bit weak, and both in the same way: They're supposed to be highly competent. The world and the characters react to them as though they are highly competent. But they're idiots:

Jame's adversary is Bortis, the bandit leader from the first book, and everyone in the book (his henchmen and the people he terrorizes) treat him like a Big Deal. And yet in every encounter with Jame, he loses big-time.

And Tori's nemesis, Lord Caineron, is that same thing in a political dimension. People react to him as though he's a master schemer. He's amassed power as evidence of having mastered scheming. But his schemes are dumb, and made dumber by his being such a vile shithead that his own henchmen betray him at every turn. (I counted no fewer than three: Kindrie broke with him early in the book to join Tori, his son Graykin snapped and went over to Jame, and his poor grandson Donkerri was so ashamed he willfully dishonored himself to save Tori and then sought an honorable death to atone for that dishonor by... saving Jame. It would have been four, but another son got killed before he could really do anything with his hatred.) It's hard to take him seriously as a supporting villain.

But this isn't a huge flaw. It is definitely a flaw, but not a decisive one, because the real villains are Gerridon and the members of his family from 3000 years ago, and some newer minions, and they apparently all hate that motherfucker enough to be anywhere between open revolt and and malicious obedience. Hell, most of the Tori arc is driven not by the machinations of Gerridon, but by his minions running their own game. Which, really, makes it a strong possibility that Caineron is supposed to be similar to Gerridon, although if so it's a little contrived and overdone.

This aged pretty well, as I said, so I'm looking forward to reading something else and then getting back to this. The next book, Seeker's Mask, I have apparently close to no memories of at all, but by the process of elimination that has to be where my dim memory of getting a Perimal Darkling-sympathetic view of the Chain of Creation (stealing it back from the Kencyr God, as I recall) and something about a Fire-based Rathilien-native force that seems similar to the Earth-Mother one from here.

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the second of a series which began with God Stalk, and while God Stalk was indeed superb, this novel supercedes it in quality, in my humble estimation. In God Stalk, our heroine Jame explored the wonderfully-weird god-ridden city of Tai-Tastigon. In this installment, she and her Kendar companion, Marc, and her blind ounce cat Jorin, leave Tai-Tastigon earlier than they expected due to political and magical upheaval. It is more of a quest story, since Jame seeks to return a ring and a sword to her brother Torisen, whom she has not seen in many years and whose welcome to her is uncertain. Torisen himself is headed for battle with the grisly Horde and has the charge of the fractious and quarrelsome nobles under his command.
If this sounds the like the stuff of which bog-standard fantasy is made, I am not doing this novel and series justice. I used the phrase "wonderfully weird" to describe the city of Tai-Tastigon:the same phrase can be justly used to describe the entire series. Here is world where the misapplication of a spell to raise bread dough can cause the bread not to rise from yeast but from human organs gowing inside the dough. Here is a world populated by fantastic beasts such as J* R****g could not in her entire narrow-minded lifetime ever conceive of: rathorns (think of an aggressive aggregate of unicorn, rhinoceros, and ankylosaur), beautiful jewel-blue carrion eating butterflies, stone-eating creatures once kept as pets by a long-vanished race, only to turn feral and indiscriminately devour anything else as well as stone.
The overall mood of the story is a hauntingly gloomy one, shot through with some veins of hope. Jame is a Kencyrah Highborn, part of race of people charged with keeping the world-devouring Perimal Darkling at bay--that is, if only the remaining Kencyrath could be bothered to quit their infighting long enough to unite and focus their energies on eliminating this foe. Some of Jame's travels take her to macabre places. Jame herself in many ways is a typical fantasy heroine, More Powerful Than She Knows, possessed of skills and powers that set her apart from other people. More eye-rollingly, at least for me, she is one of those heroines who is often mistaken for a boy and complains about not being attractive enough despite having a tall, slim form that in our world (in Western culture particularly) is considered "ideal". What saves Jame from being Another Typical Fantasy Heroine is her spirit and the dry wit with which she approaches all obstacles, and they are considerable, in her way.
This book was originally published in 1985, and unlike many fantasy novels written around that time, it does not feel dated. (Not that older fantasy novels, even those which do not translate as well into more current times and may contain aspects that have not aged well, like at all, are not worth reading in their own right, but it is refreshing to see one that avoids those things). I would recommend it for anyone who is seeking a fantasy novel that contains many unique and strange elements.

[Mike Mclatchey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It had been quite a few years since I read the first book in the Kencyrath Chronicles (as well as the first three short stories, two written before, one after it). I had some memory of what the set up was but my notes showed that I felt they were average, so I wasn't prepared for how truly great "Dark of the Moon" was. Written in the days where most of what you could find was Tolkien, Moorcock, Brooks and Donaldson, P. C. Hodgell had created a really vibrant and unique fantasy world whose background lore really informed the current proceedings, feeling like a solid mix of the classic and modern. In some ways this feels a lot more like it takes from early sword and sorcery and sidesteps the usual elves, dwarves and dragons while perhaps foreshadowing the later medieval politics that would go into making early work by Robin Hobb and the great Ice and Fire books by George R. R. Martin the juggernauts they were. Hodgell provides for very complex plotting, in fact some of the time-related background of her main character Jame was the only point where it started to get past me a little, but the way the half-plot of her and friend Marc trying to find her brother to bring him items he inherited winds toward the other half-plot where her brother tries to bring together a disparate array of other Highlords to meet an impending threat is rather ingenious and so full of genuinely cool and fresh ideas that it is still kind of shocking to me this series still seems to be something of a hidden (if fairly open) secret in fantasy. It definitely won't be long before I come back to this as the latest in the series is 2022 and so I have many books to go. Books three times as long don't have half the excitement this one does, I couldn't put it down for the last 100 pages as Hodgell brilliantly weaves so many things together to a solid conclusion.

[Bryan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one much better than the first. The pacing picks right up where the first left off, and doesn't relent until the end. The whole story is almost frenetic as both Jame (the hero of the first book) and her ten year older twin brother rush headlong towards a massive conflict being brought about by the machinations of the evil big bad.

This story has much more action and less exposition since we went through much of the world building in the first book. I began to like Jame much more, and while I think her brother is a bit of a tool, at least he's got good qualities as well.

The climax of the story was very satisfying and the book begins to explore the question first raised in the initial book of "what is honor?" The ending of the book sets up the next story in a fairly appealing way as Jame, now reunited with her brother, has to find a new place to fit into a society that she's never been in, and likely still has powerful enemies after her.

So will I read another. Yup, headed off to the bookseller sites to find #3 right now.