Witch of Rhostshyl

Silverglass #3

by J.F. Rivkin

With only her sorcerer's powers and the swordswoman Corson to protect her, the lady Nyctasia was forced to flee her beloved city of Rhostshyl. Solving riddles and casting spells, fighting pirates and helping escaped slaves, sword and sorcery have stood back-to-back dueling with advfenture.

But now, Nyc's beloved city needs her. This is no street brawl, but a civil war, which Nyc must win...or all is lost!

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, LGBT, Lesbian

172 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1989

Reviews

[charlotte, · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rep: bi mcs

[Robert Jenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 'Meet the Authors' section of "Mistress of Ambiguities", the fourth book in the Silverglass series by J. F. Rivkin, we're told that 'J. F. Rivkin' is the shared pseudonym of two popular fantasy authors on opposite ends of the United States. Both of them collaborated on the first two Silverglass novels, while the second two, including "Witch of Rhostshyl", were penned by the "East Coast" J. F. Rivkin. Well, unfortunately it shows. The first two volumes in the series not only had well-drawn characters and tight dialogue, but lots of action and highly engaging supernatural plotlines that subverted (in a good way, not a destructive way) well-worn fantasy tropes such as elves and demons. "Rhostshyl" doesn't concern itself so much with epic fantasy, but rather with Nyctasia making the decision to return to her home city and set things to rights, preferably with Corson along to keep her in one piece.

This is a well-written and thoughtful novel, and it's great to see Corson and Nyc again, even if they spend over half the novel separated, with Corson in Chiastelm and Nyc still in the Midlands with her distant relatives. There's a ton of interaction with side-characters of varying degrees of likability. There are a few subplots, including an imprisoned ship-captain, an escaped slave and some acrobats, which basically go nowhere, and I could never quite see how they fit into the story, especially since the author had no problem passing over other long periods of time with simple narrative exposition. "Time passed and Nyc had arrived at such-and-such," etc. Maybe Rivkin is setting us up for events in Book 4.

However, "Witch of Rhostshyl" is an enjoyable read even without the influence of the West Coast J. F. Rivkin, and I decided not to ding the novel a star simply because it wasn't up to the standard set by the previous books. The "Silverglass" series is a highly enjoyable read and still exceeds modern day standards of epic fantasy storytelling, even if it's no longer exactly epic fantasy.

[Jade Finzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

i found this book in an old bookstore with no idea what it was or even that it was the third in a series, and although i haven’t read the previous books i understood everything that was going on and really enjoyed it! i definitely mean to buy the other books in this series and read them all, this book was so enjoyable to read and it got me interested in reading again.

[Ruby Ridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

My God, what a boring book. The author has made the most boring sword and sorcery novel I have ever read. The first half was full of Corson's domestic life and arrangements - who the hell wants to know. We buy Sword and Sorcery for ... well... sword and sorcery not to know who chopped the firewood. After reading this I feel cheated of my money.
Recommendation - if you are following this series skip this book and if you have already bought it delete it in case someone else picks it up and suffers too.

[Mehmet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more or less the same as the previous two, just the story is leading back to where the series started. If you read this far like me, well there is no turning back. Still slow but I really do feel for the characters.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those odd midpoints for a series where nearly nothing happens and it all seems to be setting up for the finale. Still enjoy Corson and Nyc together though.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

You'd find a divergence if you'd compare the features I look for in a book of this type a setting with a lot of moving parts, characters appealing enough that you'd like to see what happens to them, and action sequences in big interesting set pieces with what this series has delivered so far. I can't even name any set pieces of note, the characters and their dialog waver between disagreeable and saccharine, and the one big thing the story had going for it the intrigue-laden city of Rhostshyl, half ruined by civil war between feuding noble houses has been in the background for all of the previous book and most of this one, and its reappearance and Nyctasia's assumption of political control was a thing that sort of happened rather than something fought over or worked through. There is much in here that happens too easily, and the book spends much time in the picayune aspects of the characters' lives.

And yet the story and its characters sort of fit like a comfortable shoe and I'm compelled to finish the series. This is a story about the people in it, their lives and entanglements and obligations and what they feel about all of these events. It's not just that Corson gets a job contract as hired sword for some mysterious purpose--and it is, honestly, a shame that she told the details of this after the fact instead of the story following her through it--but that the job was actually to nab smugglers on the coast, who happened to include someone that she has a personal connection to.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

An improvement on the last volume in the series, this installment picks up where the last one left off: Swordswoman Corsan settled at the Hare with her brawny lover Steifann and Nyc enjoying herself at her family vineyard. The pair unite once more as Corsan is summoned to become Nyc's bodyguard when she returns to her war-torn city of Rhostshal. She makes herself increasingly unpopular, but setting herself up as ruler and claiming the only way to make peace is for her sister to marry her sworn enemy.

A fun romp, although having all the characters bisexual does seem to be a bit of a cop out. I did like the confrontation between Nyc and Steifann, even if it was far too brief.