Besieged

The Outcast Chronicles #1

by Rowena Cory Daniells

For nearly 300 years the mystics have lived alongside the true-men, who barely tolerate them, until now...

King Charald is cursed with a half-blood mystic son. Sorne is raised to be a weapon against the mystics. Desperate to win his father’s respect, Sorne steals power to trigger visions. Unaware King Charald plans their downfall, the mystics are consumed by rivalry. Although physically stronger, the males’ gifts are weaker than the females. Imoshen, the only female mystic to be raised by a brotherhood, wants to end the feud. But the males resent her power and, even within her own sisterhood Imoshen’s enemies believe she is addicted to the male gifts.

Sorne tries, but cannot win the respect of true-men. When he has a vision of half-bloods in danger he has to ask himself where his loyalty lies.

Convinced he can destroy the mystics, King Charald plans to lay siege to their island city. Will Imoshen win the trust of the mystic leaders and, if she does, will she believe the visions of a half-blood?

Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, High Fantasy, Adult, Dark Fantasy

524 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

I write the kind of books that keep you up all night.

I write the kind of books that got you reading fantasy way back when. I also write gritty crime-noir with a touch of paranormal under RC Daniells.

I am unashamedly a Genre Writer!

Reviews

[Mieneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read and reviewed The King's Bastard , the first book in Rowena Cory Daniells King Rolen's Kin trilogy, which I really enjoyed, so much so that I that I went and bought the second and third books in the series immediately after finishing it. Consequently, I was really happy Solaris was kind enough to send me a review copy of the first novel in her new The Outcast Chronicles, Besieged. Before I get on with reviewing Besieged, I have to put something right: in my review of The King's Bastard I said that King Rolen's Kin was Daniells' first trilogy. It turns out I was wrong, it's actually her second. She had a trilogy out about a decade ago called Last T'En, which is sadly out of print these days. This is especially relevant as it was set in the same world as The Outcast Chronicles. Well, that was the rectification; let's crack on with the review for Besieged.

If you enjoy stories laced with political scheming, you'll love Besieged. The world of The Outcast Chronicles contains two races, the true-men or Mieren and the T'En or Wyrds. There are many more true-men than T'En, mostly because the latter rarely breed true. Instead they bear the half-blood Malaunje, marked by mulberry eyes and six fingers and toes and copper hair. The T'En possess powerful mental gifts and the ability to interact with the empyrean plane and if necessary to battle its horrific monsters. These abilities, their difference in appearance and their longevity, the T'En are both feared and despised by the true-men and have largely retreated to their island stronghold called the Celestial City. Enough fodder for conflict there to start from. But Daniells doesn't leave it at that; there is trouble afoot in the true-men kingdoms as King Charald of Chalcedonia, a disturbed and cruel despot, sets out to conquer the world and create an empire. In addition, there is unrest in T'En society, a society split in Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods, where children have to be given up to the Sisterhoods to raise and only the boys are returned to the Brotherhoods after seventeen years. This division is due to the differences between the male and the female gifts, which can only clash or bind, unless they are rigidly suppressed and adult T'En avoid each other. At least, that is what the T'En believe to be the reason for the covenant, which regulates their lives. Everything in T'En society is about gaining stature, both individually and for the clan-like Brother- and Sisterhoods, which leads to scheming, conspiracy and violence.

To carry off all the politicking you need strong characters, who can lead the reader through the maze of differing sides and keep the storylines straight. While Daniells delivers numerous viewpoints throughout the novel, the most important and consistent ones are those of Sorne and Imoshen. Sorne, a half-blood wyrd, son to King Charald, is raised as a weapon to destroy the Wyrds and we follow him from his birth to adulthood. Sorne is a likeable youth and while raised in isolation, he isn't raised to be a country bumpkin and he definitely isn't innocent. I loved that he decided that something strange was going on and to find out what it was. In contrast, Imoshen, is raised in ignorance of her society, even if she is allowed to read Sagora scientific texts, and is a complete innocent. She is unaware of the in-fighting, the betrayals, the rules and the cut-throat politics of T'En society and once she reaches the Celestial City, she has a hard time fitting in. Sorne and Imoshen are both outsiders looking in and as such are a good window into the world of both races. They're both likeable, but flawed and easy to relate to for the reader. By jumping forward in time, sometimes by several years, sometimes by several months – in a similar manner as Peter V. Brett does in The Painted Man – Daniells allows us to follow Sorne and Imoshen from birth to adulthood, stopping off at important moments and moving on in time once the dust has settled. I really liked this technique and it left me feeling more connected to the characters without having to slog through all the childhood years in secluded settlements.

Having created wonderful and sympathetic characters in Sorne, Imoshen, Frayvia, Valendia, Reoden and Graelen among others has also created some deliciously dislikeable characters. By which I mean, not that they are evil, though some of them are, Charald first among them, but that they really are just awful persons. One example is Vittoryxe, the overly ambitious gift tutor of Imoshen's Sisterhood. She is so blindly ambitious and self-centred, willing to stop at nothing to achieve her goals that any sympathy one might feel for her is swept away the next moment she speaks either out loud or in internal dialogue. The same goes for High Priest Oskane and his successor, I started off liking them, but as the story developed and their motivations and true characters were revealed, I found myself disliking them intensely. It's nice to find characters who aren't necessarily likeable, but aren't by definition evil or a bad guy.

In Besieged Daniells has created a rich and complex world and used it as the stage for an engrossing story. So engrossing in fact, that at one point I found myself emerging from the story only to find that I'd lost several hours and I needed a refill of my drink. I do have to say, I gravitated to the T'En chapters more than to the true-men ones, as I found the T'En culture fascinating, but I was never tempted to leaf ahead to the next T'En chapter and skip a true-men chapter. This first entry in The Outcast Chronicles was a delight to read and I'm glad I already have book two, Exile, on the TBR-pile ready to go. Look for a review of it soon.

This book was sent to me for review by the publisher.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Besieged by Rowena Cory Daniells
****4****

Full review now up

Wow, this was a big book and a lot happened. It's going to take me a few to organize my thoughts. For now, we'll say, it's a solid solid 4 star rating. The pacing was my biggest issue, but I've already purchased books 2 and 3. Full RTC.

Full Review below:

Ok guys, this book is a Tome, and my review is long. The world building is truly impressive and the story is complex. The pacing is weird and some of the characters are bland, but we’ll get to all of that.

Where to start? The story focuses on three different peoples. The True Men (or Mieren – Regular human beings), the T’Enatuath (or T’en or Wyrds - Silver haired, red eyed, six fingered individuals who have mystical powers and are hated by True Men) and the Half Bloods (or Malajune – Copper haired and six fingered servants/family/devotees of the T’En and hated by True Men).

The T’En live segregated into brotherhoods and sisterhoods. The sisterhoods raise all pure blood T’En children (therefore any man from a brotherhood who has a T’En child must give them up), but when the boys are 17 they are sent back to the brotherhood of their fathers, the girls stay with the sisterhood. It is very difficult to birth a healthy T’En baby and so their numbers are low. T’En men and their Malajune wives often birth Malajune babies. Sometimes they will get lucky and birth a pure T’En baby to give up to the sisterhood. This causes tension between the two groups which are each ruled by All-Fathers and All-Mothers respectively. One All-Father decides that he wants to keep his pure T’En daughter and raise her himself, to break down the barriers between the brotherhoods and sisterhoods. (A side note here, that while the brotherhoods and sisterhoods do “tryst” most of the sexual encounters take place within their own “hoods” and therefore some gender and sexual issues are explored which are very interesting)

This leads us to one of the main characters, Imoshen, daughter of All-Father Rohaayel, kept from the sisterhood. They plan to have her form a mystical bond with a T’En male and birth a very special and powerful baby called a Sacrare, who can bind the sister/brotherhoods together.

In another part of the world, King Charald’s queen Sorna births a Malajune baby boy. Priest Oskane convinces the King not to kill the boy, but to allow Oskane to take him away and raise him and use him to find a weakness in the Wyrds (aka T’En) and use the boy to kill them all. The King does, however, kill the boy’s mother. The boy is taken away and named after his mother, Sorne is our 2nd main character.

The book spans both characters childhoods and into their younger adult years. This is where the pacing gets weird. Some of the chapters really jump through the years. One chapter is “seven years later” and another “ten years later.” Further in the book these jumps shrink to three years and one year but it still makes some big time jumps that throws the pacing off. This weird pacing also occurs within some chapters as well. One example is when some T’En women are trying to heal a Malajune man, but cannot fully heal him until he emotionally forgives himself for the terrors he brought to the world. Long story short, the man forgive himself for a lifetime of wrongs in four short sentences so he could be healed.

*Name* took *name’s* hand and poined to Charald, exercising her raeden gift. The king’s features dissolved to reveal he was as much a beast as the men he commanded. *Name* could not be responsible for Charald’s nature; the king would always seek the path of war. *Name* felt it the moment *name* accepted this.

While some aspects of the story take pages and pages to develop, this is just one of many many instances where something big happens in just a few sentences.

While some of the characters, especially the main characters are very well developed (especially since we’ve followed them since childhood), others are pretty weak and interchangeable. Some of the characters are really likeable and you cheer for them, and some are really despicable and you hope to see them die and even a few are complex enough that you aren’t sure if you hate them or feel sorry for them or understand why they did what they did. However, these unremarkable characters are only made harder to differentiate when some of the names used are so similar. Example: Reothe, Reoden and Reoshen (fyi, one of these is a female, two are males).

The names and the odd pacing were not enough to take off a star for me, but when you add these to the fact that none of the magic systems are really explained at all for the first 200 pages it fell to less than perfect. I was enjoying the book, but was pretty confused for the first 200 pages. Afterwards I felt like I was getting a grasp on things. Luckily the book was interesting enough to keep me reading until I got to page 200, but it was touch and go for a bit there which led me remove one star.

This book was still really enjoyable, complex and impressive, it deals with cultural, social and gender issues head on and sometimes in interesting ways. And that ending! Now there’s a cliffhanger. Thankfully all the books in this series are already published so the cliffhanger ending isn’t as bad (I’m actually not a fan of the cliffhanger hook, but since all 3 books are out already I’m going to overlook this). I hope you give this book a chance and enjoy it.

[Braiden · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHY DON’T I HAVE EXILE YET (while I wait for Sanctuary)????? *runs to Book Depository*

-----

Besieged was the first book of Rowena’s that I have read, and I feel guilty now for not having read any of the King Rolen’s Kin books (although I own the first) or The Last T’En – I really do; I enjoyed this first book in her new series The Outcast Chronicles so much that I hated myself for not having the sequel Exile yet. All I want to do now is finish this series then visit her decade-plus-old The Last T’En books since they are set in the same world.

Although Daniells writes from a variety of different characters point of views, the real focus of this series, I believe, is not the journeys of the individual characters but instead the changes that occur within the kingdom and across the lands. It is Imoshen's and Sorne’s actions that contribute to the story’s plot, yes, but these books don’t only centre on their lives, but really on what happens within this world on a larger scale. The occasional jumps in time (e.g. thirteen years forward) supplements the story of the kingdom of Chalcedonia, and not the stories of the characters however much their individual developments are made known and experiences grow. Daniells moves the plot along, leaving out the unnecessary bits to provide you with events that are important in the eventual shaping of the kingdom.

I was especially intrigued in this story because of the magical T’En and the evident differences between males and females. Female T’en have stronger magic and are feared and begrudged by the men, so both groups have different societies in which they live. There is much more to the T’En, but by reading can you only discover the grandeur of Daniells's world. Physically T’En have twelve fingers and toes as well as hair of a copper colour. Then you have the half-breeds or Malaunje, and as they only have half T’En in them, they do not have any magical abilities but are able to recognise and sense the magic instead. They are physically like the T’En and so are immediately branded as Malaunje if conceived by two human parents, a genetic defect if that is the case; the child is often given to T’En and the mother killed as they are ‘abominations'. The humans or true-men or Mieren despise women in general just as much as the male T’En and they have an aversion to magic. There is quite a lot in this world in regards to the interactions between and general nature of the races and genders to wrap your head around, but as you read you will come to understand it all. The gender politics was particularly interesting. I’m interested to learn more.

As mentioned earlier, Besieged is told through the POVs of a variety of characters who are distinct and individually crafted in the way they act and their desires. However, the two significant characters are Sorne who is the king’s secret Malaunje son and taken away to be crafted into a spy and eventual weapon against the T’En, and Imoshen who was raised by the T’En brotherhood and never made known to the T’En sisterhood in which she was meant to be given to. Both characters are considerably likeable and you are invested in them both as they set the wheels of their individual journeys in motion. Sorne is out to destroy the stigmatisation of being Malaunje, while Imoshen escapes from the brotherhood to find a safe haven for her children. They each find their own meaning in life – their calling.

This book – and I predict the other two books will too – has a strong relevance and connection to the goings on in our current world and society. And the title of the series is perfect for this. The rights of specific groups of people (e.g. LGBT among others) are suppressed and this can be seen between the groups of people in Daniells’s world. There is much to be discussed and I am eager to read Exile and Sanctuary to discover more about the characters, the T’En, and the world. Fantasy adorers will consume this book. Besieged was intriguing in all aspects; it has fantastic characters and a fascinating plot. Just have Exile with you to read immediately after – that’s where I failed.

[Gavin Gates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt one of the best openers to a trilogy release I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The backdrop is absolutely beautiful, Daniels has created a brilliantly described world that is very easy to get lost in, superb races in the Mieren referred to as True Men, T'en a race of silver haired six fingered and toed gift empowered humanoids, feared and hated by the hugely more populated Mieren and the Malajune a copper haired half blood subservient to the T'en , also hated by Meiren.
The politics and hierarchy in place within all of the races is complex and very deep set in their history but explained throughout without any confusion or distraction from the tale being told. The real beauty to this novel though comes in the authors skilled take in balancing everything out, from the ruthless, power hungry King Charald of the Mieren race to the innocent, compassionate Imoshen of the T'en race down to characters only used very briefly with hints to a much larger role in the coming novels and the characters present at the start reaching tragic ends earl and also later on right through to the balance of events and the growth of individual characters and the influence of their environments and described upbringings. Everything you could ever ask for in a fantasy novel is present here in abundance.
My only two pieces of advice would be to firstly, take note at the beginning of some chapters when the year is mentioned as at some points a few years at a time are skipped by, this does help the pace of the novel greatly instead of bogging it down with unnecessary description of no importance, and secondly, clear yourself a bit of time because once you turn that first page you really do have to see it through to the end.

Gav.

[Mervi · Rating 4 out of 5]

290 years ago the peace accords were signed between the True-men (whom the T’En call Mieren) and the powerful and long-lived T’Enatuath (whom the humans call the Wyrd). The two races have co-existed in an uneasy peace since then. Sometimes half-bloods (whom the T’En call the Malaunje and the humans call the Wyrd) are born to two True-men parents. According to the accords, the True-men have to give up the half-blood infants to the T’En.

Sorne is king Charald’s eagerly-awaited first born son and heir. However, when Sorne is born a half-blood with six fingers and toes, red hair, and dark eyes, the king of Chalcedon is bitterly disappointed. The king wants to kill the boy, instead of giving him to the T’En so that as few people as possible would know about his shame. But high priest Oskane manages to save the infant’s life by suggesting that Oskane could take the child, hide him, and study him so that the True-men could find out any weaknesses the half-bloods have. The king agrees, but orders his young queen poisoned so that he can marry again and produce heirs without tainted blood. The queen was Oskane’s kin and Oskane had arranged the marriage so he feels responsible for the infant and the queen’s death.

Oskane, his aide, and a small group of servants travel to a abandoned place. On the way, they encounter a young woman being chased by a mob. The woman has given birth to a half-blood and the people in her village are furious. Oskane takes the young woman and her family with her. So, a king’s son and a carpenter’s son grow up together, both hated half-bloods, while Oskane dreams of revenge through the boy Sorne. In order to help the two half-bloods to become strong and resist the temptation of their magical gifts, Oskane beats them every day starting when they’re just five years old.

400 years ago a covenant was done between the male and the female T’En. According to the covenant, both sexes lived separetely in their own sisterhoods and brotherhoods. All pure blooded T’En children must be given to the sisterhoods to raise. Girls would never see their fathers again but the boys would return to their brotherhood when they turn seventeen.

Imoshen is a full-blooded T’En girl, born to T’En father, who is the leader of his brotherhood, and his Malaunje lover. Her father has raised her in secret with the hope that Imoshen would give birth to a powerful child who would break the covenant between the T’En brotherhoods and sisterhoods. Imoshen is raised on an island with only a few servants and without any knowledge of her culture.

Both Sorne and Imoshen are outsiders in their own cultures, and so they are a great way to introduce the cultures to the reader. Sorne knows that his culture despises half-bloods, like himself, but he doesn’t have to face that fact until in his adolescence, while Imoshen is thrust into the scheming and oppressive culture of the T’En almost without any knowledge about it. They both see the unfairness of their cultures and idealistically want to change them. Both are also flawed characters, especially when they get older and are scarred both physically and mentally by their experiences. The book follows them from birth to young adulthood.

We also follow a couple of other point-of-view characters. Vittoryxe is an ambitious young T’En woman. She wants to become the leader of her sisterhood, the all-mother, and will scheme and plot to get there. Unfortunately, she also expects everyone else to be a schemer and a liar, and treats them accordingly. Graelan is a young man who has just returned to his brotherhood, head full of battle and glory. To his shock, he’s trust in the middle of brotherhood scheming. Oskane leaves his familiar life at forty-five to raise the king’s half-blood son and to teach him humility and piety. However, Oskane still thinks of Sorne as a pawn and not a person who might want to do something else with his life than be a spy or avenger.

The book has a very complex world. The True-men have six different kingdoms and they each seem to have somewhat different culture, and different religions. They also have different languages. However, we don’t see much of them. Chalcedonian and T’En culture are the important ones for the story.

The T’En, or T’Enatuath as they call themselves, have been divided on gender lines to brotherhoods and sisterhoods. Every T’En has supernatural gifts and they believe that the male and the female gifts react badly to each other. The male gifts, and the males themselves, are seen as aggressive and dangerous. The male gift can taint a female gift, making the female addicted to the male gift. The female gifts are powerful in another plane but leave the female incapable of defending herself in the real world, and thus dangerously vulnerable to both the male T’En and the True-men. The half-bloods, called the Malaunje, serve the T’En in the brotherhoods and sisterhoods. Even though most T’En are born to one half-blood parent and one T’En parent, T’En don’t acknowledge the blood relationship to the half-blood. Also, in the T’En culture same-sex partners are commonplace. Each brotherhood is lead by an all-father and each sisterhood is lead by an all-mother. Each leader has two close confidantes and advisers: a hand-of-force and a voice-of-reason. Each clan has also a gift-tutor who is appointed by the previous gift-tutor. It seems that in a brotherhood, an all-father is replaced by assassination, outright murder, or by political scheming. In the sisterhoods, an all-mother usually steps down when she’s old and appoints the new leader, which usually means political scheming. I found the culture fascinating.

The T’En call the other plane the empyrean plane. The people with powerful gifts can project their minds to that plane but the plane is full of dangerous beasts. Unfortunately, the beasts can sometimes come to the real world on their own and so the T’En women must fight them. Sometimes a frightened or inexperienced T’En can also project herself accidentally to the other plane.

Besieged is centered on political scheming and interpersonal relationships (most of them are dysfunctional in one way or another). Families play also a large part; who should you give your loyalty and why. There’s also some interesting commentary on religion. The True-men of Chalcedonia worship the Seven; Mother, Father, and their five sons, and some characters claim to be able to talk with them. However, it’s clear from the start that they are lying. Religion seems to be pawn in political games or a exuse for people to justify their actions.

The book has a rather dark atmosphere with entire races hating and persecuting each other, children dying, and women being just pawns in political games. Oskane is a particularly dark character; he spends over a decade of his life raising two half-bloods but he always despises them and doesn’t see them as real people.

Yet, the characters have families and loved ones whom they defend and protect. Often enough the family isn’t by blood but by adoption. Both Sorne and Imoshen are curious people who want to know more and do what’s right.

There are lots of plot twists and some of them are down right brutal.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniells’ Besieged is the first book in a trilogy about the fate of the T’En (known to humans as the Wyrd), a race of near-humans blessed (cursed) with “gifts.” For three centuries there’s been an uneasy truce between them and humans. The T’En and the half-human/half-T’En Malaunje are confined to an island city, isolated estates and ghettos in select cities; T’En and Malaunje babies born to human women (which happens even if both parents are human) are given over to the T’En. That custom (and truce stipulation) is broken when King Charald’s queen bears a half-Malaunje child, and Oskane, the high priest of the Father, sees an opportunity to raise an assassin who can infiltrate T’En society and help bring about a “final solution” to the Wyrd problem. I use the term “final solution” fully aware of the connotation it should bring up with Nazis and Jews. I don’t know if Daniells wants to draw a parallel between Christian Europe and the Jews and Father-worshiping Chalcedonia and the T’En but it’s certainly there; and I can’t believe Daniells is unaware of it. For example, the event that sets Charald off on a final crusade against the T’En is when a delegation approaches him about repaying the loans the Wyrd had given him in the early days of his kingdom when he needed money to consolidate the throne. Compare this to similar situations medieval kings faced when they borrowed heavily from Jewish bankers. Or there’s the character of Charald, who becomes more and more Hitler-like as the story progresses.
 
T’En society is little better. For centuries they’ve lived in an increasingly dysfunctional society where men and women have been segregated into brother- and sisterhoods, ostensibly to protect the women from the uncontrolled gifts and aggression of the men. But the system has simply reinforced that aggression and has led to a dangerous imbalance between the two. The unexpected, and concealable, birth of a full T’En baby girl – Imoshen – to Rohaayel provides him with an opportunity to blow apart the centuries-old covenant and reassert what he considers a more proper relationship with the women.
 
Both his and Oskane’s plans fall apart when their two protégés grow up, and begin to think and act for themselves.
 
I’m giving this book a weak three-stars; it’s a 2.75/2.8 rounded up. The writing is usually good but there are sections that read awkwardly. They needed another draft to tighten up the writing. (The clearest example is the transition from part one to part two. I almost thought I was reading another, less competent author for the first few chapters.) Daniells joins those authors who write well enough that I can enjoy reading them but in this case I’m not captured by the story or characters sufficiently to care to seek out the next chapter in the saga.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uvrežen je stav da je epska fantastika isključivo eskapistička a nikada angažovana. Taj stav je, naravno, pogrešan. Čak postoji čitav pravac angažovane fantazije, koji nazivamo romantičarska fantazija (ne romantična) i koji se bavi životnom sredinom, međuljudskim odnosima i ugroženim segmentima društva, kao što su pripadnici manjinskih vera, nacija ili seksualnih opredeljenja.

Besieged definitivno spada u angažovanu fantastiku, prateći pomalo klišeizirani motiv rase/nacije obdarene natprirodnim moćima koju ugrožava verski zaluđena većina. Ma koliko meni ideja o totalitarnoj i zatucanoj crkvi bila bliska i srcu draga, toliko se koristi u poslednjih dvadeset i kusur godina da se potpuno izlizala. Danijels je odličan pisac u zanatskom pogledu, pa nije ni čudo što je njen roman visoko ocenjen, ali meni na kraju nije bilo stalo do njenih likova, obrade tema i motiva - koje su mi bile previše angažovano klišeizirane, pri čemu bih istakao nametnutu homoseksualnost kao traumatični momenat u razvoju jednog od likova. Zaista me nervira ponižavajuća predstava muškog homoseksualizma koju pojedine autorke gaje & podstiču.

Sve u svemu, 3/5

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have very mixed feelings about Besieged. Overall, I’d give it a positive ranking, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that the text does have issues. Quite a few issues, really. What does work is very good, and I can really give those elements a sterling review. But then there’s… the other hand.

Besieged is a big, sprawling political drama concerning a race called the T’en, the ordinary humans (here called True-Men or Mieren), and the “half-blood” population, apparently a result of interbreeding between the two, called the Malaunje. On the face of it, the whole dynamic looks like just another tussle between the Elves and the Humans: the T’en are a tall, beautiful, long-lived people with magical powers and an advanced, artistic culture, but are relatively few in number. The Mieren are plentiful, but are comparatively ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Nat]

I almost gave up on this ... there's so much happening, and at times I couldn't find anyone appealing to root for because some were just super mean or really stupid. the only one that stood out for me was Sorne, it was a love/hate relationship with him. I just wanted him to be happy.

[Tsana Dolichva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Besieged by Rowena Cory Daniells is the first book in the Outcast Chronicles, which is being published around now (Solaris likes to release trilogies over three months). It’s set in the same universe as her Last T’en trilogy (which is out of print and difficult to find) but in that world’s distant past. You definitely don’t need to have read The Last T’en first (I certainly haven’t, what with being unable to get a hold of it). A copy of Besieged was given to me by the author for review.

I absolutely loved Daniells’s previous (and completely unrelated) trilogy, King Rolen’s Kin. The Outcast Chronicles (judging by the first book, anyway) is quite different in the way the story is told. Where KRK followed a few characters closely over a relatively short period of time, Besieged has a much larger cast of point of view characters and spans a much longer period of time — about 25 years. I felt it was as much the story of kingdoms/their equivalents and ideas as it was the story of the individual characters. They all play important parts, but the real story is in the overall tapestry, not each thread.

Of course, spanning 25 years means there need to be some time jumps and I was fascinated by the way Daniells managed them. Among other things (such as just jumping forward a handful of years when nothing happened), all the literal journeys are skipped. Given how much the travelling from A to B journey is a staple of fantasy, it was interesting to see them skipped. Of course, there was no reason not to skip them (the interesting things all happened after people got wherever they were going), but I found it unusual enough to warrant a mention.

The societies in this world were fascinating. There are the T’en who have magic powers and who live in a very structured society. Female T’en have stronger magic than males do and so their society is mostly controlled by women and men and women live segregated lives. Men are forced to give up their pure blood children (which might result from a couple consisting of a half T’en half human and a full T’en) to the women, who raise them and then return the boy-children when they come of age. Many of the men fear and resent the women for the power the wield over their lives.

Half-breeds, if they’re lucky, live with full-blooded T’en. They have no magic of their own but can sense it. They also look different (like T’en they have six fingers or toes on each limb) and copper-coloured hair. They are accepted as sort of servants in T’en society.

Then there are the ordinary humans who are old fashioned in their attitudes towards women and fear anything to do with magic. Occasionally a genetic throwback causes a half-breed to be born to two human parents and then the child is lucky if it’s given to the T’en and the mother is lucky if she isn’t killed.

The different power dynamics, especially the gendered ones, are in stark contrast between humans and T’en. But at the same time, there’s not that much difference in how the male T’en view women to the humans, they just can’t express it properly. Honestly, it’s an interesting read for the gender politics alone, but there is much more to the story than just that.

Like the characters! Although there was a large cast, I didn’t have any trouble keeping them straight in my mind. Even the few longish “fantasy” names used were distinct enough to avoid confusing. Each character was well drawn and realistic. Because there were time jumps, we got to see very clearly how the characters changed over several years, which added to their depth. In real life people do change, sometimes unpredictably, sometimes only to become more who they were always going to be.

My favourite at the very start was Vittoryxe but that quickly changed as her intended path unfolded. Not that I now hate her as a character, but she’s not a very nice person. Very few of the characters are particularly “nice” people, really, thanks to the societies they’re born into.

My favourite character was Sorn. Born the king’s unacknowledged half-breed son, he is taken away by the former high priest, Oskane, to be raised by the church in the hopes of one day using him as a spy against the T’en. I liked Sorn because he does what he needs to to survive even as his perception of what surviving means, and what price is too high, changes as he matures. I’d say he’s the character that grows the most from teenager to man (although he book starts with his birth) by the end of book and I really enjoyed his journey and his ability to make the best of things.

I also enjoyed Oskane’s character, partly because we have his as a viewpoint character and as seen through Sorn’s eyes. What I found particularly amusing is there’s one scene where Oskane and someone else are talking about how half-breeds always end up turning on their human masters, no matter now well they are treated, and siding with the T’en. They’re completely oblivious to the fact that not killing or maiming them is a) different to treating them well and b) doesn’t make up for the rest of society hating them. So there’s a bit of racial commentary thrown into Besieged also.

And then there’s Imoshen, who is a T’en born to a male brotherhood and kept secret from the sisterhood she was supposed to be surrendered to. The brotherhood’s plans were to use her to gain power. Unsurprisingly (because nothing is easy) it backfires. Imoshen is practically impossible to dislike as a character. There was many a moment when I thought she was going to do something silly, but every time she manages to make the sensible choice based on what she knows. It seems like she’ll be quite prominent in the next book, Exile, and I definitely look forward to reading more about her, especially since she only came into her own in the second half of Besieged.

I said before I started reading that I suspected this would be a book that would leave me pining for the sequel and I was right. While it doesn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger, it definitely leaves much to be resolved.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of high/epic fantasy. If you like vast scales, lots of characters and intrigue, pick up Besieged.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog, Tsana's Reads.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[S.B. Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Besieged is the first book in The Outcast Chronicles by Rowena Cory Daniells.  The Chronicles see Daniells return to the world which she created in the T’En Trilogy.  The Chronicles are a prequel to that series and take place at a considerable distance from the evens featured in the earlier works.

It is not necessary then to have read the earlier trilogy, to understand or enjoy Besieged.

Where to start on Besieged?

There are good books that you can appreciate and enjoy, then there are books that you will lose sleep over or have to get you significant other to hide from you so you can get work done.  Besieged, for me is the latter.  I found its story and Daniells’ writing tugging at my consciousness at every waking moment of the two days it took me to read it.

The dark and twisted tale

Beseiged is a saga of blood, family inheritance and the struggle for acceptance. A tale of political scheming, intrigue, and up close and personal violence.  A tale of character’s wants, desires, and ambitions causing misery and misfortune for those around them.  It is a story of two people and two cultures and a path of destruction they seem unable to avoid.

Sorne is the half blooded son of King Charald in a kingdom where T’En and the half blooded Melanjue are slandered as Wyrd’s, abominations in the eyes of the true men who follow the Churches of the Seven.  He is raised in secret by a high priest and forged, through deprivation and holy torture, into a weapon to use against the T’En.

Imoshen is secretly raised by a T’En Brotherhood, an action the breaks the 400 year old covenant between the male and female factions of T‘en culture. She has an untrained talent for wielding the T’En gift and an inquisitive nature unfettered by the dictates of the covenant.

Imoshen searches for acceptance and a home for her children.  Sorne searches for love and affection from a father who will give him none.

Both these characters are agents of change in two cultures set to collide with one another.

Dark fantasy not for the squeamish

I have been a fan of Rowena’s since consuming the King Rolen’s Kin Trilogy last year. Besieged features the same pacey writing but with much darker content.

There battles in Besieged occur off page.  Daniells focuses on the interpersonal, which makes some of the content darker than your general fantasy tale.  There’s not much left untouched – children die, and characters are tortured.  The violence isn’t gratuitous but Daniells’ skill in getting you to love characters and invest in them before she hurts them in front your eyes, is superlative. You simply must read on to ensure that characters obtain justice or carry out revenge.

If you were squeamish about the inclusion of a gay character in the King Rolen’s Kin series, then you may have to put on your big boy/girl pants to read Besieged.  The T’En culture is split into Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods, same sex coupling is common and expected, in addition to trysts that result in offspring. 

There’s also aspects of sexual politics within in the Brotherhoods that might make male readers squirm uncomfortably.

Similar in tone to a Song of Ice and Fire, but complete

I have made comparisons between Daniells’ work and that of George R.R. Martin before, stating my preference for the former.  If you are looking for dark, gripping adult fantasy, but in a finished product, Besieged and I venture, the rest of the Chronicles, will sate your palate.

This book was provided to me by the author.

[De Roedere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the last T'En when it first came out and remember thinking that I'd found a new and decent read. The second and third in the trilogy didn't quite hit the spot - whatever that spot might have been is lost to time - and I guess that spot is why I've never taken too much interest in other books by this author.
But a friend gave me all three of The Outcast Chronicles for the holidays.
The cover seemed a little derivative of a series that's very successful at the moment, and I must admit that was off-putting. I didn't rush to pick it up. When I did, the first pages seemed to actively be trying to bury me under layers of backstory and terminology that didn't meet my expectations of fantasy.
But I am now in the process of reading the first, and I am excited.
Some of the characters I found lacking subtlety. Others I was only beginning to connect with when they were killed off, so I hardly missed them at all when I felt sure I should miss them a lot. Some were obvious plot devices; poor things, we should treat all our characters with respect. An occasional word still attracts my attention and I remember I am reading. Chance to put the book down and have catch up with emails.
I guess it's also not so different to any number of books I've diced with.
But these problems are insignificant when one considers the presence imbued in the main characters, the complete and intricate world building that doesn't get in the way of the story, the wide flung net of political intrigue that keeps me wondering how it will all end.
There are loose ends I am waiting to see tied up in this or in the remaining books. In the meantime I do so like to be kept guessing.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've delved into epic fantasy and this book is a harsh reminder of why I stopped reading it.

The novel depicts a very depressing world which is divided between normal humans and the psychic T'en, and then further divided into brotherhoods and sisterhoods. No matter how you look at it, it's all hostility all of the time. Except for some of the young people, no one is actually friends with anyone else.

The portion I've read (nearly two hundred pages, encompassing a 14-year span) is full of pregnancy and childbirth, again and again, yet it is curiously sexless. The only reasons anyone seems to have children are for use as political pawns or as tools against an enemy.

The characters are not well-developed, and I still don't have a clear idea of who most of them are or what their roles are. I feel the same way I did after I watched a few episodes of Game of Thrones: Who are all these people and why should I care about them? I'm not even going to get into the politics (mainly because that leaves me lost as well.)

I really hate abandoning books but there is literally nothing of interest here.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given 3.5 stars if i could. I had a real hard time keeping up with the seemingly unannounced time advances. sometimes weeks, months or years pass by between chapters or within the chapter itself. there are a few times when a date is used at the start of the chapter but not often enough.

The second issue is with the lack of character development. Granted if you speed up time to advance the story, its difficult to take the time and give us characters we can identify when we see their names in print. The seemingly random way of letters to create names also made it very difficult to track who did what to whom and why.

Luckilly, by the end of the book, we have a few people we can focus on and identify with which greatly improves the enjoyment of the novel. In fact, there are so many things that happen to other characters off book that by the end, i wanted to know more about them and what happend.

I look forward to reading book 2 when it comes out at the end of this month in the US.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first began reading I found the initial chapters to be rushed, giving too much information too quickly. I thought that could have been done a little more subtly than it had been. However, once I got passed this, the rest of the story began to flow and really turned into something quite spectacular.

There's great character development and, what a lot of books fail in, a brilliant societal structure that makes sense!!! I am thoroughly impressed with the thought and planning that Daniells must have gone through to make this story work.

Although my first impressions were well founded, now I've finished Besieged, I have actually really enjoyed the book and found it hard to put down - always a good sign! I think, if the rest of the series proves true, they will become one of my many favourites and I can't wait to read more!

[Caz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was given a free copy from the publisher, and although I love fantasy and read a lot of it, and am always up for reading new releases, this just didn't do it for me I'm afraid. There wasn't enough descriptive writing especially about the places visited - the places in which the story was set, I mean - and I thought the characters weren't fleshed out enough. It felt like Daniells was rushing to give us action, intrigue, new words and magics without explaining fully who and where the characters were. The cover art is too, urm, vampirey - it looks a lot like it's trying to appeal to the dark romance readers.
Such potential, but it wasn't pulled off and I didn't feel immersed enough.

[Maddalena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first time I heard about this book - and trilogy - was on Shari Mulluane's blog "Dragons, Heroes and Wizards"(http://dragonsheroesandwizards.blogsp...) where the series was reviewed in its entirety: as it often happens to me, I experienced a sort of mental click that told me it could be a great book, so I added it to my reading queue. Instincts proved once more to be right on target, because this is a great beginning for a very promising series.

Complete review here: http://spaceandsorcery.wordpress.com/...

3,5 Stars

[Tani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has that elusive trait that I'm always in search of: it makes me care about the characters. No, not just care. Become deeply involved in the aspects of the character's lives. Worry about them and root for them, laugh with them, and maybe even cry with them. That's always been the most important part of a book for me, and Besieged most certainly has it. I'm really looking forward to moving on to the next book in the series.

[Amanda J Spedding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniells’ world is extremely well constructed, the magic systems and culture, though unique to each race, they’re cleverly entwined and deftly delivered. There’s political and religious power-plays, revenge, betrayal, love and horror all finding their place here — a little something for everyone.

See full review here: http://amandajspedding.com/2015/06/06...

[Alexa]

That girl on the cover almost looks like the Khaleesi.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have some real issues with this book, but first let me start by saying that Daniells has a superb talent for controlling a story with vast political scheming. Most people that I have read have a hard time pulling this off, yet she was able to masterfully.

Overall, I felt that this story was lacking. I did not feel any kind of connection with any character until almost the end of the book. Right after I felt a connection for a character, I would find myself reverting back to no connection. I don't think that it is because of the story, yet I feel it is because of the way it was told. I absolutely loved the first chapter of this book, it had me hooked. The emotion that you could feel the characters going through, the pace, all of it; I loved it. Than as the story unfolds, all of the emotion is gone. It almost felt monotone for the rest of the book until maybe the last 10 pages than only half of the emotion was there. The pacing was horrible, it took forever for anything to happen. When things did happen Daniells would rush through that scene and go back to the monotonous political scheming. Just when I thought that the story was going to pick up again it ended. I'm not a fan of a book ending in a complete cliff hanger (I have come across some where it works but it did not work here).

I found that the different race's (while only being two was referred to with five different names) a little confusing. I will also state that I have not read her other series which might have made a difference there. We also have these gifts that I feel are horrible underexplained. Just when I think that I have the foundation for her magic system she goes and alters it and I'm left wondering what the rules are. I'm not one to point out editing errors but there are definitely some in this book that make it blatantly obvious that somewhere along the lines it was rushed (probably with editor). I understand that an author will miss things here and there, but for editors to miss some major ones is really an eye sore (the one that really pops into mind is when King Charald is talking to Zabier, they actually reference Zabier as Sorne). It is clear if you are paying any kind of attention to what is going on that this is an oversight it is still an eyesore and actually had me pausing mid reading. If this one did not end on a cliff hanger I would more than likely not be picking up the second book to the series, however, since it did end on a cliff hanger (and I own the second one) I will be picking it up just because. Overall I would not recommend this book to a friend to read.

[Shelley Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, with a very involved fantasy world that came filled with conflict and tension from page one. With the uneasy relationship between the so-called True-Men and the Wyrds on shaky ground, the birth of a half-blood son to the King of Chalcedonia sets in motion a chain of events that will catapult them into war. With both sides fighting for power within their own ranks for much of the book, the situation is ripe for disaster, a situation that only worsens over the years until it comes to a violent and yet inevitable conclusion.
Told from a number of different view points, I got to see all sides of the conflict and meet a range of characters that I came to either love or hate. I really liked Imoshen and Sorne, and looked forward to the chapters from their perspective, especially as they provided a counterpoint to the societies they belonged to having grown up apart. While being able to see into the minds of those who opposed them made me fear for Imoshen and Sorne’s future and for those they cared about. It was also interesting to read how supposedly good characters were subverted, while ones forced to do bad things sought to make amends.
With so much at stake, it made for a gritty read where racial prejudice, personal ambition and fear of change blind many characters to the consequences of their actions. King Charald is despicable in his greed and burgeoning madness. The Wyrds who are scrambling for position and power are wilfully ignorant as they trample anyone in their path to get what they want, while those who try to make changes for the better are shouted down or destroyed. It made for a gripping read, knowing that the lives of the characters I had come to care about hung it the balance from one moment to the next.
A densely packed and imaginative read, there were only a few places toward the end where I found the story lacking, with a couple of the storylines tied up in what seemed to be a rush, events happening too quickly for me to find them believable. As it is, the story ends abruptly, with no real sense of resolution, making me glad I have book two on hand to read next. If you like your fantasy stories on the darker side, then this would make a great read, just make sure you have the next book ready to go if you don’t like cliffhangers.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally published in SFX magazine, 2012. 3.5 stars.

--

Two years after the ‘King Rolen’s Kin’ series, Australian Daniells is back with another trilogy. It shares many strengths with the earlier series – well drawn characters, a ruthless streak to the plotting – though it lacks some of the tightly-focused adventure that made King’s Bastard and its sequels so much fun.

Besieged is an altogether different beast: more thoughtful, but also more sprawling and talky. It centres on a pair of overlapping, mutually-antagonistic societies: the awkwardly-named magic-wielding T’En and the self-described ‘True-men’, or non-magical humans. By long tradition, the T’En are further, bitterly divided by gender, with men and women living largely segregated lives in rigidly self-policed Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods.

This description barely scratches the surface of the world’s dynamics, which is both strength and weakness: there are weighty themes here, and it all gets pleasingly twisty and complex once things get going; but in the early stages exposition clogs the dialogue, and Daniells’ very plain prose style – a plus from a page-turning point of view – offers little to offset this. Jumps forward in time are common, allowing characters to grow up and take their place in the plot but also robbing the narrative of momentum and sometimes skipping over exciting-sounding key events. Nonetheless, protagonists Imoshen and Sorne are engaging, and there is the tantalising prospect of broad, sweeping social change in the future, rather than the ‘rightful king’ status quo restoration so familiar in fantasy.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good book, but I think it could use with trimming down and staying focused. Imoshen and Sorne are the protagonists, but so much of the book is from other points of view - and sure, those can give insight into the world or other aspects of the story, but I would have preferred to learn these things through their eyes, or not at all. I also think it was a weird decision to introduce yet another point of view toward the very end of the book.

And it's been a while, but I remember The Last T'En series having a real everything-is-mysterious properly magical vibe to it. I didn't get that here - everything seems neatly categorised or has science-esque theories around it, and there's nothing very mysterious about the past or the general setting. Also it seems inconsistent with stuff I remember from the other series - aren't T'En meant to be able to choose when to conceive and what the gender of the baby will be with magic?

But hey - I did pretty much inhale the book over a couple of days and will probably read the next one soon.

[J.M. Robison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the plot line, which is why I bought the 2nd book, but the back half of this book I felt started to deteriorate, in that the author chose quantity over quality. SO many characters introduced throughout the entire book I couldn't keep track of them, and then they'd promptly leave again. Love stories were forced and rushed and had me raising my eyebrows more than once. One element the author used which irritated me to the core were the frequent "conveniences" where the character needed something and BAM! It fell in their lap in that moment. A character saw something, and the author appeared too lazy to make the character work to figure out the situation because she straight up told the reader what the situation was which sounded exactly like it came from the author instead of the character. With so many characters, personalities were not fully developed and their individual emotions went by as brief mentions only.

[Shari Mulluane · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Book gifted by author in exchange for honest review)

♦ The Story. Oh my. How do I describe this tale? There is so much of it it defies a simple explanation. But I'll give it a shot.

Lets start with the basic makeup of this world. At the core there are three main races. The mystics, the non gifted (humans with no mystical powers) and the half-bloods.

The mystics consist of sisterhoods and brotherhoods, both laboring under an uneasy truce. To make things even more interesting, the brotherhoods are not only at odds with the sisterhoods. They are feuding with each other. The non-gifted have the usual divisions of class, religion, social status, wealth and power. In the background there is also a group of foreign scholars but they play a distant role at best. Oh, and if that isn't enough, there is a parallel plane filled with power hungry monsters.

With me so far? Well hold on, it gets even better. Almost every division hates, fears or distrusts the others. The end result is a tale full to the brim with tons of conflict. The majority motivated by political, religious, cultural, gender biased, racial and/or personal ambitions. Add to the mix a touch of greed, a bit of revenge, a few doses of misguided loyalty, then stir in some lies and you have a recipe for disaster.

♦ What I Liked. I enjoyed the complexity. The political, religious, gender and racial divisions intrigued me. The backstabbing, conniving, and secret agendas all kept me glued to the pages. The pace was fast, tense and flowed without effort. It was like being a fly on the wall watching the events as they unfold.

Another thing I loved were the twists and backflips. It was like watching a bunch of gymnasts -- on steroids. Loyalties flip, then flip again. The balance of power shifts constantly. Fortunes rise and fall. Sometimes things change for the better and other times for the worse, but almost always in ways you didn't see coming.

There is no question, this is true epic fantasy.

♦ What I didn't like. There was, for me, a huge learning curve. The severity is going to depend (I think) on whether you've read Rowena Cory Daniells' earlier T'En trilogy, Fall of Fair Isle. It takes place in the same world but is set many years later. If so, you are already familiar with some of the main structure. Unfortunately I haven't read that series so I had to learn everything from scratch.

First you have the various levels within each society. The brotherhoods, sisterhoods, political and religious factions each have their own circles and hierarchies. Add in the various cultural, social and magical components and you end up with alot to learn.

However, the main problem for me lay with the terms used by each race. For example, the non-gifted call themselves True-Men but the Mystics call them Mieren. The True-Men call the half-bloods either half-bloods or Wyrds. But, the mystic race calls them Malaunje. The mystics themselves are T'En but are also referred to as Wyrds, depending on who is doing the talking. Finally, the half-bloods use all of the various terms. Then you have rare births of individuals with special powers. There are completely different names for each of those those. Confused yet? I was.

I struggled the most with the different races all having individual names for each other. For awhile there I kept getting pulled out of the story while I figured out which race the text was referring to. Granted the names Mieren and Malaunje look completely different in the context of this review. However when thrown at you in a fast paced action story, the difference isn't so obvious. To make matters worse, I am still not sure I understand the full meaning of every term used. Especially the ones that indicate an individual has some kind of special power.

In my opinion this book needs a glossary but perseverance works almost as well :)

♦ My Thoughts. This is not a book to read before bedtime. Especially if you have trouble shutting off your mind as I do. It is also not a book you need to read if you have alot of distractions going on around you. Trust me, it will demand your full attention. The bathtub with a "Do not disturb" sign on the door might work. Just don't forget to get out before the water cools and you catch pneumonia because you have forgotten where you are. Oh and a treadmill would be perfect! Unfortunately you'll likely need new soles on your shoes afterwards. Especially if you run at the same pace as this saga.

There is alot of violence, rape, hate crimes, torture, tragedy and hardship. And when I say alot, I mean 20-30 years worth packed into one book. But it isn't all bad. There are some good folks too. Individuals who wish to better their world, or atleast their race's place within it. There is even a bit of romance amongst the chaos.

♦ Conclusion. I'm really liking this series so far. I am also seriously impressed. Rowena Cory Daniells covered a full generation of schemes, plots and power struggles. Build an entire fully realized world. Plus did all this without me once skimming back through chapters for reminders of what is going on. It is nothing short of amazing. The only thing that gets sacrificed along the way is intimacy with the characters. There are characters you will develop some feelings for but on the whole this is definitely a plot-driven story.

If you love dark, harsh, complicated worlds. Plenty of politics, ambition and greed. Lots of backstabbing, vow breaking, betrayal and strife, this book sure fits the bill. If you are looking for a simpler, kinder tale, this book will overwhelm you. Highly recommended for lovers of dark, complex epic fantasy!

Original post on Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

[Ана Хелс · Rating 3 out of 5]

Сeгрегация по пол, възраст, цвят на кожата, място на раждане. Сeгрегация по тегло, цвят на косата, очите или броя прочетени книги. Практикуваме сeгрегация ежедневно, ежеминутно, ежесекундно. Винаги сме ние и те, аз и останалите, моите приятели и целия тъп свят. Идеята за всички сме едно, обединение, нация, вид са нещо, за което само си четем в книгите, но ни държи твърде за кратко влага в умовете, докато се срещнем с първата случайна новина как те – управляващите са ограбили за пореден път нас – народа; как те – чалгаджиите, са ни изложили нас – хипстърите пред чужденците с неформалната си простотия; как те – онези, различните, тъмните, са посегнали на някой от нас – еднаквите, белите. И добрата идея за едното, което е много, но пак е едно, си отива заедно с несбъдналата се мечта за идеален баланс на Ричард Бах, пропаднала заедно с брака му с Лесли. Въпреки, че не знаете за какво говоря – все още не съм му простила след близо 15 години, че ме излъга, дето соулмейтовете трябва да са заедно в живота, вместо да си признае истината, че не трябва да се доближават и на километър, щото да мразиш образа в огледалото е далеч по-лесна работа от това да го обичаш.

Роуина Кори Даниелс пише точно за това – как можеш да мразиш всичко – света, хората, въздуха, и най-вече себе си. В реалмия на обитатели, с нищо по-различни от средновековната гмеж, от чието блато на несполучливо изроден интелект сме се пръкнали и ние; понякога генетиката си прави лоша шега и някои хора се получават физически много по-красиви, стройни и вечномлади, дори надарени с психически способности, за които в личното ни минало обичайното отношение е било – я марш на кладата. Тези прелестни човеци обаче, вместо да радват с красивата си разнообразност, само дразнят себичните взорове на мръсната околна сган, и ако не ги избият при раждането, милозливо ги изхвърлят на спретнати купчинки в гората, по обвинение в странност. И така се ражда расата на меднокосите маладжуни, от които пък понякога се раждат чисти среброкоси потомци, наречени т’ен. Вие ги знаете и като елфи, и като туата де данан, и като д’ни. Но в този свят на пъплеща омраза към различното, силното и красивото, те не са особено могъщи и това ги обрича на едно постоянно гонение от собствената им рода, сляпа за факта, че кръвта на отхвърлените е еднаква с тази с отхвърлящите, а разликата е само шепа непокорни гени. Ама просвещение, наука, здрав разум – тия работи не се тачат особено високо от обичайно кръвожадните варвари миерен, горди да се нарекат истински хора пред целия свят и да счупят главата на всеки, който се осмели да им покаже нещо хубаво пред кървавите свински очички.

Елфоподобните различни пък се самосагрегират и обвиват със своя вътрешна омраза – да, кръвта е наистина една и човешка, независимо от цвета на косата, или силно лимитираните проявления на сила, включващи лечение, емпатия, телекинеза и някое и друго практично умение, но за съжаление никой не мята огнени топки, не се сипят светкавици от небесата, не се изпепеляват хора с поглед. Ще сте прави, ако решите, че на малко насилен Х-мен конфликт мутанти срещу хора избиват нещата, но все отнякъде ще трябва да е дошла музата на вдъхновението. Разделението в красивия народ идва на база на различния вид сила, будеща се заедно със съзряващата плът, правеща невъзможно две силни т’ен същества от различен пол да могат да споделят повече от веднъж в годината близостта си, без да устоят на изкушението да се самоподчинят взаимно, демонстрирайки кой е по-силния. Мъжете и жените се отделят в братства и сестринства, където отприщват амбициите, злобата и надменността си до нива на периодична пълноценна анихилация на цели общности. Това не са точно вашите добри герои, но са жертви, и е само въпрос на нелогична съпричастност да сте от техния отбор.

Врагът е първо видим в огледалото, и после през прозореца. Приели своята различност и въздигнали я в човекоомразен култ, на красивите т’ен и техните предци маладжуни им се налага да бягат от превъзхождащите ги като брой братовчеди – истинските хора, които най-накрая под влиянието на един стандартно луд крал- завоевател, вече съвсем са зажаднели за кръв и гадорийки по викингски. Така започва трилогията за отхвърления, събирайки и разделяйки съдби на хора от всеки насилен подвид на човешката нация, можещ да бъде различени само по цвета на косата или очите. Е, не е точно правено за първи път в историята, но чрез живота и решенията на единицата достигаме до прозрения за общото, и то нашето си, лично общо, към което честичко обичаме да се тупаме в гърдите, че уж принадлежим.

По женски философска, по мъжки безстрастно жестока, Роуина Кори Даниелс убива своите герои, подлага ги на постоянни ��ъчения, и ги кара глътките щастие да им загорчат. Ще имате проблеми с обема на книгите, и вероятно един добросъвестен редактор ще отреже с лекота половината текст, но ако държите героите да станат ваши приятели, чиито имена да обсъждате на вечеря с половинката – няма да ви е излишна нито една глава, нито един разказ от трето лице, разговор или взиране в тъмнината, материализирайки страданието си в сивите демони на сянката, наречена меланхолия. Видимо е желанието на авторката да каже много повече отколкото е нужно, и очевидно си пада по финалите тип To be continued, вероятно мотивирани от някое и друго допълнително договорче със издателя. Но е история, която трудно би могла да ви удави в равнодушие, или да ви приспи успокоително, още малко – да ви усмихне със зрънце надежда. Но не е и дядо Мартин. Женският тип болка е различен, и е най-вече самопричинен. Но поне е безопасно да бъде прочетен, и дори оценен високо, ако успеете да намерите есенцията на човещината зад плътните мрежи ненавист и отчуждение. Полезно умение и за живия живот, ако ме питате.

[Shayna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover was what few drew me to this book while browsing in the book store. The woman reminded me of Daenarys from Game of Thrones. Then I read the back of the book and was interested enough to buy it. When i finally read it, it started out okay for me, interesting plot, developing characters, King with a "kill the people who are different" complex... I think I liked this book well enough but I was annoyed by what happened to Sorne when he could have had a nice life. I would probably read the next book in the series.

[Vigasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5

I'm kind conflicted with this book. From the start the story seems interesting, but in later part the pacing was so strange I sometimes didn't know what's going on and where. Multiple changing PoV between characters not connected with each other just to show some unimportant scenes made me lose interest in some aspects of the plot, and in the end I just wanted this book to end.