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The Spiral #3
Cloud Castles
Establishing his place as a true corporate giant, businessman Stephen Fisher is horrified when an onslaught of demonic forces threatens to overtake Europe, forcing Stephen to reenter the Spiral and access a special power. Reprint.
336 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1994
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121 people want to read
About the author
Michael Scott Rohan
38 books81 followersMichael Scott Rohan (born 1951 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish fantasy and science fiction author and writer on opera.
He had a number of short stories published before his first books, the science fiction novel Run to the Stars and the non-fiction First Byte. He then collaborated with Allan J. Scott on the nonfiction The Hammer and The Cross (an account of Christianity arriving in Viking lands, not to be confused with Harry Harrison's similarly themed novel trilogy of the same name) and the fantasy novels The Ice King and A Spell of Empire.
Rohan is best known for the Ice Age-set trilogy The Winter of the World. He also wrote the Spiral novels, in which our world is the Hub, or Core, of a spiral of mythic and legendary versions of familiar cities, countries and continents.
In the "Author's Note" to The Lord of Middle Air, Rohan asserts that he and Walter Scott have a common ancestor in Michael Scot, who is a character in the novel.
[copied and adapted from en.wikipedia.org]
He had a number of short stories published before his first books, the science fiction novel Run to the Stars and the non-fiction First Byte. He then collaborated with Allan J. Scott on the nonfiction The Hammer and The Cross (an account of Christianity arriving in Viking lands, not to be confused with Harry Harrison's similarly themed novel trilogy of the same name) and the fantasy novels The Ice King and A Spell of Empire.
Rohan is best known for the Ice Age-set trilogy The Winter of the World. He also wrote the Spiral novels, in which our world is the Hub, or Core, of a spiral of mythic and legendary versions of familiar cities, countries and continents.
In the "Author's Note" to The Lord of Middle Air, Rohan asserts that he and Walter Scott have a common ancestor in Michael Scot, who is a character in the novel.
[copied and adapted from en.wikipedia.org]
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 27, 2021
The final story in Michael Scott Rohan's Spiral trilogy. The Spiral is the presence of the past - and the future - and the imagination in the present, touching the world at places of passage such as ports where, sometimes, it's possible to turn down a road or enter through a door and walk into not a different world but the extensions of our world that have existed, that will exist or that might have existed and that did in the imaginings of someone. Cloud Castles avoids some of the problems of The Gates of Noon and marks a return to Rohan's previous high standard. Steven Fisher, the hero of the two previous books, is finally beginning to change - it was getting difficult to imagine a man might have had the adventures in the Spiral that Steven did in the first two books without changing a jot - and the slightly forced far Eastern location of the previous book is abandoned for much more believable European locations. All in all a satisfying ending to the story.
June 4, 2013
Spoilers for the first two books, Chase the Morning and Gates of Noon - although really, there's three books, surely it's no spoiler to say that Stephen survives and has further adventures?
Stephen Fisher, no longer quite such the hollow man as previously; oh look, the brief love and forgiveness of his ex-girlfriend has worked not quite a miracle, but certainly wrought some change. Whodathunkit. When this novel opens, Stephen is in an intriguing position: he remembers the Spiral all the time when he's in the Core, he's deliberately had many adventures there - but his life in the Core isn't harsh or empty enough to give it up. In fact, he's now the head of his company and he's got a brand new, very interesting project on the go. No on-going relationship, but still - he's not the hollow, use-and-leave type that once was. Which is good, right?
The ultimate reveal is brilliantly constructed. Up to that point... well, the story threatens to feel a bit samey. In fact, it is: there's challenge from the Spiral affecting Stephen's life in the Core, and he goes out and faces it and there are ups and downs, and something Big from out near the Rim challenges Life As We Know It. All of these things happened in the previous novels, and they happen here too. But the great thing about Rohan's writing is that it still manages to be interesting and thoroughly enjoyable. For instance, in the mythos he's mined: there's been voodoo; and Asian myth from Buddhism to Hindu to animism; and here, Rohan brings it back to Europe. In terms of action, the first two books were similar in involving ships; here, the focus shifts to the possibilities of air travel (AIRSHIPS!). And I swear Rohan must himself have taken up fencing between Gates of Noon and this book, because the fights seemed to get a whole lot more technical... which I kinda skimmed occasionally. And while some of the side characters are the same - really, who could ever get sick of Mall? Really? And there are new characters too: happily, to my mind, especially another woman, who gets a bit more fleshed out than Claire or Jacquie ever managed to be in the previous books.
Yes, there's some annoying repetition with Stephen bemoaning his life - but Gates of Noon was definitely the worst for that, and his growing/filling up has largely curbed that. And yes, the portrayal of women is not always great - Stephen occasionally has a 'private' leer which the reader is privy to - but Mall gets to be Amazing. This could be problematic, because clearly it's not realistic and it's annoying if the only woman has to be so much better than any of the men to warrant any air time: but it does entirely fit the idea of Mall being over 400 years old, and moving outwards on the Spiral, and therefore - like Jyp is, to a lesser extent - becoming... clarified. And she's not the only woman, which helps.
So I firmly believe these books deserve their space on my shelf.
Stephen Fisher, no longer quite such the hollow man as previously; oh look, the brief love and forgiveness of his ex-girlfriend has worked not quite a miracle, but certainly wrought some change. Whodathunkit. When this novel opens, Stephen is in an intriguing position: he remembers the Spiral all the time when he's in the Core, he's deliberately had many adventures there - but his life in the Core isn't harsh or empty enough to give it up. In fact, he's now the head of his company and he's got a brand new, very interesting project on the go. No on-going relationship, but still - he's not the hollow, use-and-leave type that once was. Which is good, right?
The ultimate reveal is brilliantly constructed. Up to that point... well, the story threatens to feel a bit samey. In fact, it is: there's challenge from the Spiral affecting Stephen's life in the Core, and he goes out and faces it and there are ups and downs, and something Big from out near the Rim challenges Life As We Know It. All of these things happened in the previous novels, and they happen here too. But the great thing about Rohan's writing is that it still manages to be interesting and thoroughly enjoyable. For instance, in the mythos he's mined: there's been voodoo; and Asian myth from Buddhism to Hindu to animism; and here, Rohan brings it back to Europe. In terms of action, the first two books were similar in involving ships; here, the focus shifts to the possibilities of air travel (AIRSHIPS!). And I swear Rohan must himself have taken up fencing between Gates of Noon and this book, because the fights seemed to get a whole lot more technical... which I kinda skimmed occasionally. And while some of the side characters are the same - really, who could ever get sick of Mall? Really? And there are new characters too: happily, to my mind, especially another woman, who gets a bit more fleshed out than Claire or Jacquie ever managed to be in the previous books.
Yes, there's some annoying repetition with Stephen bemoaning his life - but Gates of Noon was definitely the worst for that, and his growing/filling up has largely curbed that. And yes, the portrayal of women is not always great - Stephen occasionally has a 'private' leer which the reader is privy to - but Mall gets to be Amazing. This could be problematic, because clearly it's not realistic and it's annoying if the only woman has to be so much better than any of the men to warrant any air time: but it does entirely fit the idea of Mall being over 400 years old, and moving outwards on the Spiral, and therefore - like Jyp is, to a lesser extent - becoming... clarified. And she's not the only woman, which helps.
So I firmly believe these books deserve their space on my shelf.
May 15, 2017
didn't finish it. Very poor, clunky dialog
January 12, 2021
Damn I love this series. I've been waiting years for another one. But I found out today that sadly, the author passed away, so there'll never be another book. He was a genius.
May 18, 2014
Thrilling and engaging, even more than the other two previous books, I really enjoyed it and I found it as a very satisfying ending to the trilogy. The choice of First-person view and the Present time engulfed me even more into the story, despite at the very beginning was a bit tricky to be used to.
This third final chapter brought back all the pieces of the big puzzle around the protagonist, becoming incredibly fullfilling, since the reader sees everything from the protagonist's point of view, from the troubles and confusions he had at the beginning, to the joys and struggles at the end.
I read the Italian version of the trilogy and the only tiny thing I am not really happy about is that there are no traslations for those different-from-English-and-Italian lines around the books, I would have really appreciated a note or two at the end of the page.
All things considered, I'm pretty proud to have this wonderful trilogy in my little collection and can't wait to try more works from the Author.
This third final chapter brought back all the pieces of the big puzzle around the protagonist, becoming incredibly fullfilling, since the reader sees everything from the protagonist's point of view, from the troubles and confusions he had at the beginning, to the joys and struggles at the end.
I read the Italian version of the trilogy and the only tiny thing I am not really happy about is that there are no traslations for those different-from-English-and-Italian lines around the books, I would have really appreciated a note or two at the end of the page.
All things considered, I'm pretty proud to have this wonderful trilogy in my little collection and can't wait to try more works from the Author.
August 21, 2007
Airships! And powerful forces brought into battle! The Spiral concept is neat.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews