The Brothers

Sunweavers #1

by Carolyn Golledge

The Spider Lords discover the Severing Stone and make slave collars that prevent Sunweaver bodies from harvesting sunlight for reuse and cut them from a connectedness with the vibrant energies of all living matter. The dense dark mineral tears out Weaver souls, their bodies reclaimed by a Spider mind.

With the aid of their seafaring friends, some Weavers escape and begin a desperate resistance. Having rescued his Weaver brother's empty body, Taran m'Connor is sent back into enemy lands, his memory altered to safeguard his friends and the true purpose of his quest. He must find an enemy officer, raised to fear and loathe Sunweaving, whose brother, killed in battle against the Weavers, is haunting him, trying to guide him toward his true heritage. A legendary sword, the Catalyst Blade, has come to him and might unite their kingdoms against the Spiders and restore m'Connor's brother. Can Weaver and soldier stand together?

Genres: Fantasy

504 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2013

About the author

An insatiable curiosity and interest in all things science, eventually led Carolyn to graduate with a Degree in Teacher Education. Then, an illness that confined her to a wheelchair for some years, turned her imagination to writing and annual journeys to USA to attend SFF conventions, first as author and also as publisher of Solo Press. Her first professional contract was with West End Games, a Lucasfilm imprint, and their Star Wars Adventure Journal.
Since then, she has written many more adventures which can be found online. Now living in beautiful Tasmania, she is the author of the Sunweavers trilogy.

Reviews

[Mary Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Book One, Carolyn Golledge sets the stage for her six-part series Sunweavers by introducing us to two pairs of brothers: Sunweavers Taran m’Connor and Bren m’Fetrin, and Kerell Lerant and his foster brother Parlan Hollin, who are loyal to the emperor. Power-hungry Emperor Grouda is seeking to harvest the youthfulness of the Weavers, a people deeply connected with all living matter. With the help of the Spider Lords, Grouda removes m’Fetrin’s soul from his body. In order to save m’Fetrin, m’Connor must prove his innocence to Lerant, convinced that m’Connor is to blame for attacks targeting children of the city. Lerant already doubts the truth and morality of the war against the Sunweavers, but is constrained by guilt over his brother’s death (though Carolyn hints Parlan’s not finished yet!) and worry over his brother’s family. However, when Lerant finds proof of m’Connor’s innocence, Lerant breaks his allegiance to the Emperor. Strange abilities begin to manifest themselves in Lerant, giving m’Connor more hope than the Sunweavers have had in a long time.

Two minor quibbles: though the book’s mysticism is fundamental to the story, it sometimes drags. Secondly, because Carolyn introduces many new names and places in the first few chapters, it is difficult to grasp the setting for the first hundred pages or so. But don’t give up until you get to the golden heart of the story: the compassion and brotherly love that promises beautiful victory. The main draw of the story is the brothers and the perils they face in getting back to each other and leading their families and allies to victory. Carolyn’s greatest strength has always been her characters. There are always strong women and noble men, and the best part is the growth of their fierce devotion to each other, stemming from their desire to do the right thing. It’s satisfying. When hope glimmers on the horizon as Lerant and m’Connor overcome each obstacle and learn to trust each other, you’ll be cheering.

[Bettina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello,

i found this book tonight and i looked for about 1 hour to get it to buy as an ebook.
I´ve read the whole book at once, i couldn´t put it away.

Unfortunately the hardcovers and paperbacks are way to expensive in Germany for this book ( about 40-60 dollars), so i was really happy that i found it at amazon for about 3 euros
.
The book has everything you wish for, fantasy, loyality, a strong story, emotions and a little bit romance. i am totally taken with this series.

i really congratulate the author for describing feelings realisticly, many other authors seem to think the death and grief for a brother is something temporal, worth only 2 pages. Mrs Golledge let the protagonists really feel and live their emotions.So is one of the main characters a widow and she really remembers her husband on more than one occasion, the brothers remember their dead brothers vividly and if a charackter is shot, he´s really shot!

It is so great to read a realistic fantasy book, i fully recommend to buy this book to help the author write many more such good books.

P.S. i would really appreciate it if you could buy the second book as an ebook, i haven´t found it.
P.P.S. My english is bad because i am german, so please be nice about it^^

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this through Goodreads firstreads. This was an interesting book normally not the genre I would read. I do like fantasy this was a bit of that. I got a bit confused with some parts of the book and there were a few errors in it but that didn't stop it from being a good story. I will liked to get the second book to see where the story heads next. I highly recommend it to any science fiction/fantasy readers as it is a good story and keeps you interested and it is very different.

[Sarah-Jayne Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I've always really loved books with a fantasy or supernatural slant, whether set entirely in a new world or set in modern-day Earth with paranormal elements.

I found this book to be quite a unique idea, even with the fact that there are no entirely new plots in fiction. I was pulled into the characters' heads almost straight away and found myself emphasising with them very quickly.

Although there were plenty of villains, or bad guys, in the book, I found even those to be fairly well-rounded characters. There were some moments of confusion when characters with two names kept being referred to as one or the other interchangeably - this was particularly true of Lerant and m'Connor. I had to keep checking back several times to make sure I was in the right person's head - though towards the end, that confusion pretty much vanished, since I knew the characters particularly well by then.

I like the relationships between the two sets of brothers. I've always been a massive fan of what tends to be termed as 'bromance' and I felt the author did a particularly good job of conveying the two relationships that were at once similar and fairly different.

I was a bit confused about the whole relationship between the Weavers and the Magi. As I eventually understood it, the bonding consists of four beings - the two Weaver brothers, a female Magi and a male Akkarra. (Though I could be wrong about that). The confusion didn't stand in the way of my enjoyment of the story, but it did take me a little while to figure out.

My favourite characters were, without doubt, Lerant and m'Connor. Both proved to be heroes trying to do the right thing in their own way, though Lerant was a little irritation with the way he stubbornly clung to his beliefs for so long - and, I have no doubt, will continue to do so for the second book at the very least. I really felt for m'Connor with how much he got hurt during the book - by the time it reached the end, I just wanted the poor guy to catch a break. (I also really liked Alarn and Parla - and how Alarn attached himself to m'Connor so quickly).

I have to say, I did notice several errors in the book. Still, although I saw them, they didn't dampen my enjoyment of the story at all - and I'm definitely eager to read the next book. As soon as I have the money to buy it.

I highly recommend this book to fans of speculative fiction. Although primarily a fantasy, it does have science fiction elements to it.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunweavers: Book One - The Brothers by Carolyn Golledge is a very engaging read. It starts you right off in the middle of the action which, and this is my one criticism, is a little disorienting as you get used to unusual character names and unfamiliar situations. That doesn't last very long though as the characters are all sharply defined and the world you find yourself immersed in is rich and varied in its detail. You're not told very much about this world's history at the beginning, rather it is revealed to the reader as the story unfolds and what an intriguing world it is. Vile enemies creeping in the shadows, magical heroes facing impossible odds and valiant common folk alike are all finely crafted, all of which make this seem a very real and vibrant world. The mysticism of the Sunweavers and the Akarra trees is fascinating and you always feel real pangs of concern as their fate lies on a knife edge. Warning: cliffhanger! You will be all "it ends there???" Fortunately, Book Two is out and ready to jump right into the minute you finish this book.

[Inez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi Carolyn! I've already started reading book two! Difficult to decide who is my favourite character between Taran and Lerant so I'll choose Parlan instead! I equally love Rhyssa and Annalie, quite strong characters, and they both know what they want! As to memorable scene, I'll choose when Taran saves Lerant's nephew (I think it's Parla, I'm still getting used to the various names, unfortunately never had a good memory for names)and Parlan's death scene! At least it was bittersweet since his soul (Ea) was saved and still can communicate with his loved ones! (That's in BK two) I'm dreading finishing book 2 because than I'll have to wait to buy book 3! uff!
Sorry never was good for giving reviews that's why I limit myself to giving star ratings! Hope I was useful! Cheers

[Natalie Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely, not the kind of story I usually read but once I got going I was deeply involved in the main characters lives.
Although at the start it's a little confusing with the fast influx of characters and information once I hit about page 40 I was gradually enjoying it more and more.
I only found one slight mistake where rhyssa was told silsun was coming to see her and on the next page rhyssa was told again and then asked if silsun was coming.
Perhaps rhyssa didn't take any notice the first time.
This book was well written and flowed wonderfully and taran m'conner sounds like a good looking bloke( yeah I'm crushing a bit).
I'm looking forward to the next book in the sun weaver series.

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

It's very difficult for me to write this review 'cause I actually feel bad about it. I had a quick exchange of E-mails with the author and she's a really kind person and now I have to explain why I couldn't finish her book. That makes me a bit uncomfortable!

Let's start with a positive thing about the book, though. It's 504 pages long but the typeset used is a bit larger than usual and that made me very happy. I like it when you're turning your pages fast.

But as soon as I started reading something was off. My not so smart me couldn't tell who was who between the two brothers, Parlan Hollin and Kerell Lerant. I thought I got it right towards the end of their sub-chapter but no, I was wrong again! And after that the two brothers disappeared and the setting was moved into a prison with completely different characters. I thought that was really frustrating.

Another thing that made my reading a bit more difficult was the names of the characters. Personally I'm not a big fan of weird names. They usually make it difficult to remember them and sometimes you spend hours trying to image how to pronounce them. For this last aspect, however, being Italian is really helpful. But then you start wondering where to put the stress... Anyway, difficult names is one thing, but the author sometimes uses both names and surnames and it makes me even more confused.

Being a non-native English speaker, assessing the kind of language used by authors is something that I do unconsciously as soon as I start a book. This book immediately raised the alert: I don't mind big words because most of them have Latin origins but the sentences were long and full of words, too many words.

The author does capitalize all the words that are linked to magic. Sentences like "they can Channel for us", "to accept and relay such a potent Link", "we Travel instantly" are an example taken from page 135. And they bothered me a lot. I know that she probably wanted to stress the fact that those weren't common channels, links or travels still...

I tried to follow the plot. But there were such sudden change of setting that I lost track of the main plot. I tried to be a diligent reader and reviewer and I read everything till page 75. Then I started skipping more and more paragraphs and I finally gave up on it.

Maybe I'll try again in the future

[Ashley E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I'll admit that I was expecting a decent story, but nothing too spectacular, but I was a bit blown away by Sunweavers: The Brothers. The story sucked me in and didn't let go; still hasn't, actually! The end of this first installment has left me hanging and anxious for more!

The plot is a thing of epic wars and personal combats, but unlike many military-type fictions, this one focuses very closely on just a few characters and not a whole cast of them. M'Conner and Lerant and their friends and families are on opposite sides of a war, and it's so easy to be drawn into the tension as their two sides draw inexorably closer. I was just flipping the pages waiting for them to finally meet. Of course, then the author pulls a cliffhanger on me. ;)

There were a few scattered typos, but nothing that distracted me at all from my enjoyment. The world-building, especially, was just fascinating. Golledge has created a unique world full of magic that natural and intrinsic, and hints at a history that's much more than the typical fantasy backstory. I certainly hope that we'll get to learn more about those hints in future books in the series!

[I received this book for free through First Reads and was not required to write a positive or any other type of review. All opinions stated herein are solely my own.]