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Even The Stones
A young queen must confront her destiny, and overcome the powerful forces arrayed against her. When she is kidnapped by enemy invaders, Marwen of Kamilan must escape her oppressive foe and reclaim her throne. But it will be a fight that will test the very limits of her will, both in an ill-matched war against her former captors, and in the political intrigues that await her in her own land. It is only with the help of a battle hardened soldier, that Marwen finds the strength to face her greatest fears, and discovers that love may be the most dangerous weapon of all.
350 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2004
34 people want to read
About the author
Marie Jakober
10 books12 followersFrom Wikipedia:
Marie Jakober is an award-winning Canadian novelist.
Based in Calgary, Alberta, Jakober writes historical fiction and fantasy. Sandinista: A Novel of Nicaragua (1985) won the Writer's Guild of Alberta Novel Award in 1985. She received the 2002 Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction for her novel Only Call Us Faithful (2002).[1]
Her second Civil War novel, Sons of Liberty, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Novel at the Alberta Book Awards in 2006.
Marie Jakober is an award-winning Canadian novelist.
Based in Calgary, Alberta, Jakober writes historical fiction and fantasy. Sandinista: A Novel of Nicaragua (1985) won the Writer's Guild of Alberta Novel Award in 1985. She received the 2002 Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction for her novel Only Call Us Faithful (2002).[1]
Her second Civil War novel, Sons of Liberty, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Novel at the Alberta Book Awards in 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 17, 2018
Une relecture toujours agréable. La force de ce roman, c'est de placer dans un contexte fantastique de vraies préoccupations féministes. De plus, les actions et paroles des hommes sont vraisemblables.
May 10, 2020
Kindle. Tiptree longlist 2004. A bit of an Author Tract but still very enjoyable, addressing issues of power, gender roles, class prejudice, and the consequences of war.
June 11, 2010
This review appeared in The New York Review of Science Fiction in December, 2005. It was reprinted from The Peterbrough Examiner where it appeared in September, 2004.
Even The Stones
by Marie Jakober
Edge Science Fiction And Fantasy Publishing, 2004
337 pages
$19.95
Review by Ursula Pflug
629 words
Award winning Calgary writer Marie Jakober knows how to write a page turner; Jakober’s previous novel, The Black Chalice, spent months on the best seller list. Her new novel, Even The Stones, is no exception.
Like The Black Chalice, it takes place in a medieval fantasy world. A young queen, from the small mountain country of Kamilan, is abducted by a neighbouring crown prince to be his wife. She pines and withers, and refuses to call their union a marriage, much to Prince Held’s consternation, as well as that of the women of the Dravian court, who think she should be grateful for her high position. But Marwen is strong willed, and misses home. Her mother died when she was young, and her aunt Medwina, a priestess of the old religion, raised her to worship Jana, instead of Jana’s warlike son Mohr, who has largely usurped his mother as deity. Medwina also instilled an education in such tricks as controlling weather, which come in handy later.
A captive in Dravia, Marwen is befriended by an independent free spirit who has worked variously as a caravan guard and a minstrel, and in this latter role the young woman is taken on in the court. Kiri becomes Marwen’s confidante, and learns to both pity and admire the Kamil queen, and eventually engineers their escape across the borderlands to home. Along the way they meet and are helped by a young captain; Shadrak is dark and wolfish and extremely attractive if not conventionally handsome, and a brilliant military strategist to boot. Upon their return home the Dravian prince conspires to steal his wife back, as he feels is his due, and all follows from there.
Jakober writes well about military matters, including meticulously thought out strategy and rousing battle scenes, although these are in defence of a queen and a goddess, the power of their pleasure loving culture stemming from the Earth itself. This contradiction, which appears in similar form in The Black Chalice, might appear glaring if Marwen didn’t ponder just this paradox as she and Shadrak conspire to save Kamilan both from the Dravian invaders and from the machinations of the Kamil Council. And, as in The Black Chalice there are intoxicatingly written steamy scenes aplenty.
Riane Eisler, who wrote the well-known nonfiction book The Chalice and the Blade, an investigation into power and gender, wrote the cover blurb, and in some ways Even The Stones is The Chalice And The Blade in novel form. Inequality and injustice of all kinds are extrapolated from male dominion over women; hence the young queen’s and the freedman’s love for one another: they both know what it’s like to be the underdog, and to have the powers that be take this entirely for granted. In their world it is just the nature of things for women to serve men, and for slaves, even when they have been freed, to have no status at all, and to remain at the mercy of their so-called betters. It is this fact, above all, that Shadrak and Marwen join hands to fight.
Jakober is an unpretentious yarn spinner, and a very good one; she knows how to keep the pages the pot boiling. With the excuse of a bad head cold I stayed in bed an entire day so I could find out what eventually became of Kiri and Marwen and Shadrak, and the little mountain country they hoped to keep free. And at the end of that day I wondered whether the women’s movement had accomplished all it intended, or whether in many ways our world is still dishearteningly similar to the one described in Even The Stones. And I think perhaps that was Ms. Jakober’s intention, brilliantly disguising this question within a vastly entertaining yarn.
Even The Stones
by Marie Jakober
Edge Science Fiction And Fantasy Publishing, 2004
337 pages
$19.95
Review by Ursula Pflug
629 words
Award winning Calgary writer Marie Jakober knows how to write a page turner; Jakober’s previous novel, The Black Chalice, spent months on the best seller list. Her new novel, Even The Stones, is no exception.
Like The Black Chalice, it takes place in a medieval fantasy world. A young queen, from the small mountain country of Kamilan, is abducted by a neighbouring crown prince to be his wife. She pines and withers, and refuses to call their union a marriage, much to Prince Held’s consternation, as well as that of the women of the Dravian court, who think she should be grateful for her high position. But Marwen is strong willed, and misses home. Her mother died when she was young, and her aunt Medwina, a priestess of the old religion, raised her to worship Jana, instead of Jana’s warlike son Mohr, who has largely usurped his mother as deity. Medwina also instilled an education in such tricks as controlling weather, which come in handy later.
A captive in Dravia, Marwen is befriended by an independent free spirit who has worked variously as a caravan guard and a minstrel, and in this latter role the young woman is taken on in the court. Kiri becomes Marwen’s confidante, and learns to both pity and admire the Kamil queen, and eventually engineers their escape across the borderlands to home. Along the way they meet and are helped by a young captain; Shadrak is dark and wolfish and extremely attractive if not conventionally handsome, and a brilliant military strategist to boot. Upon their return home the Dravian prince conspires to steal his wife back, as he feels is his due, and all follows from there.
Jakober writes well about military matters, including meticulously thought out strategy and rousing battle scenes, although these are in defence of a queen and a goddess, the power of their pleasure loving culture stemming from the Earth itself. This contradiction, which appears in similar form in The Black Chalice, might appear glaring if Marwen didn’t ponder just this paradox as she and Shadrak conspire to save Kamilan both from the Dravian invaders and from the machinations of the Kamil Council. And, as in The Black Chalice there are intoxicatingly written steamy scenes aplenty.
Riane Eisler, who wrote the well-known nonfiction book The Chalice and the Blade, an investigation into power and gender, wrote the cover blurb, and in some ways Even The Stones is The Chalice And The Blade in novel form. Inequality and injustice of all kinds are extrapolated from male dominion over women; hence the young queen’s and the freedman’s love for one another: they both know what it’s like to be the underdog, and to have the powers that be take this entirely for granted. In their world it is just the nature of things for women to serve men, and for slaves, even when they have been freed, to have no status at all, and to remain at the mercy of their so-called betters. It is this fact, above all, that Shadrak and Marwen join hands to fight.
Jakober is an unpretentious yarn spinner, and a very good one; she knows how to keep the pages the pot boiling. With the excuse of a bad head cold I stayed in bed an entire day so I could find out what eventually became of Kiri and Marwen and Shadrak, and the little mountain country they hoped to keep free. And at the end of that day I wondered whether the women’s movement had accomplished all it intended, or whether in many ways our world is still dishearteningly similar to the one described in Even The Stones. And I think perhaps that was Ms. Jakober’s intention, brilliantly disguising this question within a vastly entertaining yarn.
October 20, 2007
This historical fantasy is about an ancient land, and its young queen’s fight for her crown, her freedom and the man she loves.
Several years previously, Marwen of Kamilan was kidnapped and forced into a marriage with a heartless lord from the neighboring kingdom of Dravia. With the help of Keri, a warrior/minstrel who is part of a caravan passing through Dravia, Marwen escapes. After several weeks walking through forbidding terrain, they arrive back in Kamilan.
Soon after the celebrating stops, the Kamilan Council brings up the subject of Marwen, who is barely 20 years old, marrying and producing an heir to the throne. An unmarried, childless queen is not acceptable, so Marwen reluctantly marries Landis, one of Kamilan’s nobles. It’s purely a political marriage, until Marwen produces an heir, when the two go their separate ways.
Meantime, Marwen resurrects the ancient, and long-suppressed, religion of the hill queens, leaving the Council aghast. It gets worse when Dravia sends a military probe into Kamilan. Shadrak is a slaveborn commander of an outpost who has been given permission to train a company of men his way. He has also won Marwen’s heart. Shadrak defeats the Dravian attack, but according to the Council, he didn’t do it honorably. Shadrak used hit and run, guerrilla tactics which greatly limited the casualties among his men. According to the Council, honorable combat means two armies clashing in an open field, swords and lances flying.
Marwen and Shadrak have several late night liaisons, which brings the Council to near-mutiny. The possibility of a half-breed ruling Kamilan is almost too much to bear. But Marwen is not alone. She has Keri, and she has Medwina, priestess of the goddess Jana, and those of her people who keep the old religion.
The proverbial final straw comes when Dravia sends a full-fledged invasion force. There are many casualties on the Kamilan side, but ultimately, with some sorcery help, Shadrak and Kamilan are victorious. Marwen only wants the Dravia forces out of Kamilan, but the Council is shocked that she doesn’t conquer Dravia. They only see the possibility of more riches and power for themselves, they don’t see that Kamilan would have to go on a permanent war footing. Feeling that Shadrak has somehow bewitched Marwen, a plan is hatched to get rid of Shadrak, permanently.
This is a first-rate piece of writing. It’s more a story of gender roles, and the cost of changing them, than a sword and sorcery story. The author does a fine job with the characters, and this is very much worth reading.
Several years previously, Marwen of Kamilan was kidnapped and forced into a marriage with a heartless lord from the neighboring kingdom of Dravia. With the help of Keri, a warrior/minstrel who is part of a caravan passing through Dravia, Marwen escapes. After several weeks walking through forbidding terrain, they arrive back in Kamilan.
Soon after the celebrating stops, the Kamilan Council brings up the subject of Marwen, who is barely 20 years old, marrying and producing an heir to the throne. An unmarried, childless queen is not acceptable, so Marwen reluctantly marries Landis, one of Kamilan’s nobles. It’s purely a political marriage, until Marwen produces an heir, when the two go their separate ways.
Meantime, Marwen resurrects the ancient, and long-suppressed, religion of the hill queens, leaving the Council aghast. It gets worse when Dravia sends a military probe into Kamilan. Shadrak is a slaveborn commander of an outpost who has been given permission to train a company of men his way. He has also won Marwen’s heart. Shadrak defeats the Dravian attack, but according to the Council, he didn’t do it honorably. Shadrak used hit and run, guerrilla tactics which greatly limited the casualties among his men. According to the Council, honorable combat means two armies clashing in an open field, swords and lances flying.
Marwen and Shadrak have several late night liaisons, which brings the Council to near-mutiny. The possibility of a half-breed ruling Kamilan is almost too much to bear. But Marwen is not alone. She has Keri, and she has Medwina, priestess of the goddess Jana, and those of her people who keep the old religion.
The proverbial final straw comes when Dravia sends a full-fledged invasion force. There are many casualties on the Kamilan side, but ultimately, with some sorcery help, Shadrak and Kamilan are victorious. Marwen only wants the Dravia forces out of Kamilan, but the Council is shocked that she doesn’t conquer Dravia. They only see the possibility of more riches and power for themselves, they don’t see that Kamilan would have to go on a permanent war footing. Feeling that Shadrak has somehow bewitched Marwen, a plan is hatched to get rid of Shadrak, permanently.
This is a first-rate piece of writing. It’s more a story of gender roles, and the cost of changing them, than a sword and sorcery story. The author does a fine job with the characters, and this is very much worth reading.
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April 7, 2015FAILMEME, INO, BUT THERE'S A THREAD ASKING FOR CANON RECS ABOUT HIGHER-RANKING WOMEN AND GUYS WHO ARE SUPER DEVOTED TO THEM, AND IT SEEMED LIKE SOMETHING MEME MIGHT BE INTO.
I'M USING IT AS A JUMPING OFF POINT, BASICALLY, AND GOOGLING EVERYTHING/LOOKING IT UP ON GOODREADS TO SEE WHAT NON-FAILMEMERS SAY.
NO TO THE BLACK CHALICE, THE DUDE SEEMS LIKE A DICK. I’M KIND OF INTERESTED IN EVEN THE STONES THOUGH, ITMIGHT BE WORTH CHECKING OUT.
I'M USING IT AS A JUMPING OFF POINT, BASICALLY, AND GOOGLING EVERYTHING/LOOKING IT UP ON GOODREADS TO SEE WHAT NON-FAILMEMERS SAY.
NO TO THE BLACK CHALICE, THE DUDE SEEMS LIKE A DICK. I’M KIND OF INTERESTED IN EVEN THE STONES THOUGH, ITMIGHT BE WORTH CHECKING OUT.
March 24, 2011
Fascinating integration of gender studies/power dynamics mixed into a fantasy world. I really liked this book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews