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Night-Threads #4
The Craft of Light
Four years after Aletto, the rightful duke of Zelharri, is restored to his throne, Lialla, the outcast duchess of Zelharri must use her secret powers of Hell-Light to determine her fate. Original.
280 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1993
11 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Ru Emerson
54 books52 followersaka Roberta Cray
Ru Emerson was born on December 15th, 1944 in Montana. She and her husband, Doug, live in Oregon with their only child, a silver mackerel tabby cat named Roberta. She likes to lift weights, run, bike, skate in-line, ski, play basketball, tennis, racquetball, garden, play guitar, scuba dive, and fly stunt kites. Her favorite reading material includes Megan Lindholm, science fiction by Larry Niven, murder mysteries by Patricia Cornwell, plus any other good historical non-fiction.
Ru Emerson was born on December 15th, 1944 in Montana. She and her husband, Doug, live in Oregon with their only child, a silver mackerel tabby cat named Roberta. She likes to lift weights, run, bike, skate in-line, ski, play basketball, tennis, racquetball, garden, play guitar, scuba dive, and fly stunt kites. Her favorite reading material includes Megan Lindholm, science fiction by Larry Niven, murder mysteries by Patricia Cornwell, plus any other good historical non-fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 6, 2023
I have not read the preceding trilogy, but this was more or less readable independently. Two of our heroines, Jennifer and Robyn, are from California in the 1980s, and along with Robyn's grown son Chris, were transported to this alt-world fantasy realm three years before, where they got embroiled in political issues and various romances. Now Robyn and Jennifer are both married, Robyn has several children, Jennifer is trying to craft political change, and Robyn's sister-in-law Lialla has decided to bring about some political change of her own.
This was interesting but not gripping for me. The narrative emphasis settles in weird places for me; Emerson seems to think we deeply care about the real-world analogues to fantasy-world places (so for example "the town is about where Lima [Peru] would be" or the names of various oceans). I do not, and moreover in a preindustrial society - with no access to real-world maps or rapid transportation - I don't know why the characters would be so concerned with this, either. Similarly several paragraphs are devoted to Jennifer's attempts to reinvent the blue jean, and later her sorrow over her deteriorating sneakers (if she jogs that much her sneakers would already be dead, sorry).
In the meantime, the worldbuilding is inconsistent; Jennifer and Robyn (or rather, their respective husbands) rule fairly large realms, but Jennifer's husband knows literally everyone in his capital city by sight? It's a medieval-style political setup but no one has food tasters? Villains apparently escaped at the end of the last trilogy and pop up in the new one to wreak havoc. Lialla's efforts to help some benighted ladies in a foreign duchy achieve some form of independence are weird and poorly thought-out; I still don't fully understand what she was attempting to do or how she thought it would work.
The other books are available electronically so I may seek them out at some point, but over all I don't feel compelled to do so any time soon. I might have loved this had I read it as a kid in the 90s but as an adult thirty years later, it's just kind of a shrug.
This was interesting but not gripping for me. The narrative emphasis settles in weird places for me; Emerson seems to think we deeply care about the real-world analogues to fantasy-world places (so for example "the town is about where Lima [Peru] would be" or the names of various oceans). I do not, and moreover in a preindustrial society - with no access to real-world maps or rapid transportation - I don't know why the characters would be so concerned with this, either. Similarly several paragraphs are devoted to Jennifer's attempts to reinvent the blue jean, and later her sorrow over her deteriorating sneakers (if she jogs that much her sneakers would already be dead, sorry).
In the meantime, the worldbuilding is inconsistent; Jennifer and Robyn (or rather, their respective husbands) rule fairly large realms, but Jennifer's husband knows literally everyone in his capital city by sight? It's a medieval-style political setup but no one has food tasters? Villains apparently escaped at the end of the last trilogy and pop up in the new one to wreak havoc. Lialla's efforts to help some benighted ladies in a foreign duchy achieve some form of independence are weird and poorly thought-out; I still don't fully understand what she was attempting to do or how she thought it would work.
The other books are available electronically so I may seek them out at some point, but over all I don't feel compelled to do so any time soon. I might have loved this had I read it as a kid in the 90s but as an adult thirty years later, it's just kind of a shrug.
June 29, 2023
4th book in the Night-threads series
This one was a different from the previous onces, having two plotlines that it followed. One with Jennifer and Dahven, and a second one wity Lialla.
The first one, following Jennifer and Dahven, was part slice of life, part politics and part thriller, with talks about a their new life together, the development in the world since the adventure from the trilogy ended and finally the return of Dahven twin-brothers and the drug they brought with them. This plotline does get some sort of closure by the end of the novel, but does leave an opening for continuation in the following books.
The second plotline followes Lialla, who is going to Halmaddi. She goes there on a (as Jennifer refers to it as) feminist chrusade, to help the local women from the oppresive patriarcy. There she meets a young man who wants to learn to wield Thread, and helps her escape when she is captured. The plotline showes good promise, however, i felt that it didn't get enough attention, and the ending didn't feel like an ending, more like the half way there. I hope that it continues in the following books, like the ending seems to indicate.
Chris serves more as a side-charagter, as he appears in person in for a short while, but otherwise he only appears in letters. But he serves a important role by telling us what is happening around the world. Robyn showes up for a short while, but doesn't play as big of a role when she leaves, and Aletto never appears outside of being mentioned. I look forward to spend more time with Chris, as the book is setting up a grand adventure with him in the next book.
This one was a different from the previous onces, having two plotlines that it followed. One with Jennifer and Dahven, and a second one wity Lialla.
The first one, following Jennifer and Dahven, was part slice of life, part politics and part thriller, with talks about a their new life together, the development in the world since the adventure from the trilogy ended and finally the return of Dahven twin-brothers and the drug they brought with them. This plotline does get some sort of closure by the end of the novel, but does leave an opening for continuation in the following books.
The second plotline followes Lialla, who is going to Halmaddi. She goes there on a (as Jennifer refers to it as) feminist chrusade, to help the local women from the oppresive patriarcy. There she meets a young man who wants to learn to wield Thread, and helps her escape when she is captured. The plotline showes good promise, however, i felt that it didn't get enough attention, and the ending didn't feel like an ending, more like the half way there. I hope that it continues in the following books, like the ending seems to indicate.
Chris serves more as a side-charagter, as he appears in person in for a short while, but otherwise he only appears in letters. But he serves a important role by telling us what is happening around the world. Robyn showes up for a short while, but doesn't play as big of a role when she leaves, and Aletto never appears outside of being mentioned. I look forward to spend more time with Chris, as the book is setting up a grand adventure with him in the next book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2022
Interesting follow-up
Fantasy magic parallel world quest
In the 25+ years since I first read the series, and I guess I blanked on much of this. Our heroes from the first trilogy are back, and they are absorbed with daily living. When their lives are threatened, they have let the skills that saved them before get seriously rusty. The outside forces that want to destroy Rhadaz proceed, and our heroes... Well, that would be telling.
I still wonder why Lialla has not used her skills to ease her brother's disability.
This digitized work contains numerous errors (around a dozen) -- errors that were not in the original print versions that came out in the 1990s. Back then, when a major print house published a book, professional line and copy editors rigorously reviewed a book for typos, etc. This was obviously scanned in and was not even spell checked. Further, the map included in each book remains absent. Just because this was once printed by a mainstream print house does not justify the higher price for that alone. We don't even get the original artwork. Instead we get a quickie cover that took maybe an hour and was reused over and over, only changing the title.
Fantasy magic parallel world quest
In the 25+ years since I first read the series, and I guess I blanked on much of this. Our heroes from the first trilogy are back, and they are absorbed with daily living. When their lives are threatened, they have let the skills that saved them before get seriously rusty. The outside forces that want to destroy Rhadaz proceed, and our heroes... Well, that would be telling.
I still wonder why Lialla has not used her skills to ease her brother's disability.
This digitized work contains numerous errors (around a dozen) -- errors that were not in the original print versions that came out in the 1990s. Back then, when a major print house published a book, professional line and copy editors rigorously reviewed a book for typos, etc. This was obviously scanned in and was not even spell checked. Further, the map included in each book remains absent. Just because this was once printed by a mainstream print house does not justify the higher price for that alone. We don't even get the original artwork. Instead we get a quickie cover that took maybe an hour and was reused over and over, only changing the title.
December 31, 2014
Four years after banding together to make Aletto Duke, life goes on. Robyn has her children, Jennifer has her husband (and her paperwork), Chris is off traveling the world with his trading company, and Lialla still hasn't really made up her mind what she wants to do with herself. When northern women send Lialla a plea to help them, she sets off alone to remedy the situation. Meanwhile, old enemies are scheming against Dahven and Jennifer...
Once again the back cover does not do this book the remotest justice. The book is hardly about Lialla's powers with Hell-Light---she barely uses magic at all---or even Lialla's decisions. Rather, it is more of a "what happened after" kind of story that ties up a few loose ends and provides new issues and challenges.
The strong part about the book has been with the entire series: the very real, very human characters and their lives. There aren't any grand destinies or vast spells, just ordinary people trying to live their mostly ordinary lives. Jennifer, not so surprisingly, has sunk into her advocate role with gusto, and is finding it rather too much like the work she did as a lawyer: endless stacks of paper, mediating agreements between different parties, and far too much overtime. But life changes when someone sets assassins on her heels. And there are disturbing rumors that a new drug is working its way into Rhadaz.
For those who like the characters, this is a good followup to see just how things have gotten on as they followed the mostly-happily-ever-after ending from One Land, One Duke. But the lack of a clear focus for the story to tie the plot together might be distracting (no grand quest here). It may be worth reading for those who liked the first three books, but it's not the best place to start for new readers. I rate this book Neutral.
Once again the back cover does not do this book the remotest justice. The book is hardly about Lialla's powers with Hell-Light---she barely uses magic at all---or even Lialla's decisions. Rather, it is more of a "what happened after" kind of story that ties up a few loose ends and provides new issues and challenges.
The strong part about the book has been with the entire series: the very real, very human characters and their lives. There aren't any grand destinies or vast spells, just ordinary people trying to live their mostly ordinary lives. Jennifer, not so surprisingly, has sunk into her advocate role with gusto, and is finding it rather too much like the work she did as a lawyer: endless stacks of paper, mediating agreements between different parties, and far too much overtime. But life changes when someone sets assassins on her heels. And there are disturbing rumors that a new drug is working its way into Rhadaz.
For those who like the characters, this is a good followup to see just how things have gotten on as they followed the mostly-happily-ever-after ending from One Land, One Duke. But the lack of a clear focus for the story to tie the plot together might be distracting (no grand quest here). It may be worth reading for those who liked the first three books, but it's not the best place to start for new readers. I rate this book Neutral.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews