Well of Shiuan

The Morgaine Cycle #2

by C.J. Cherryh

Book by Cherryh, C. J.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Adventure, Audiobook

153 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Currently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cherryh continues her rather dark sword and planet adventure here with another tale on one planet, this one a drowning world. While this still features Morgaine, Cherryh spends about the first third of the novel introducing the world through a peasant girl named Jhirun and her story. For whatever reason, the seas are rising here and much of what was arable land now lays under water. Jhirum lives at the 'edge of the world' and that edge is slowly, but in fits and starts, moving ever upward.

While the people here are distant relations to the clans of Vanye's world, the rulers of the high grounds are halflings-- no, not hobbits, but the offspring of humans and qhal. Qhal, the race that build the gates, once ruled a massive empire with humanity as their subjects, and as part of their experiments. While most of the qhal are no more, their legacy continues, in particular, their 'gates' which allow for instantaneous travel between planets, and indeed, also in time.

Cherryh gives us a bit more of Morgaine here, but she is still an enigma to be sure; totally dedicated to sealing the gates, she seems aloof the fate of the people she leaves behind, or the price they may pay in life to achieve her goals. Vanye acts a bit like her conscious with his sense of honor, but he is her servant and must take her orders, how ever much it chaffs. So, off to seal another gate, but of course, all kinds of trials and tribulations await them, as they must struggle not only against the constant flooding, but the enemy introduced in the last volume, who seems to be a rouge qhal transformed into a human body via the power of the gates.

The world building here is a bit more intense, and definitely more bleak, and the befits a drowning world and the hopeless struggle of the survivors to claim what little there is left. Their only hope is to escape the planet via the gates, but yet, this world was invaded by Man from people fleeing another world a 1000 years ago and ripped it apart. The emotions run high therefore; little hope, the seemingly cold-hearted Morgaine (and her horrible weapons!) doing what must be done, at least according to her own moral calendar, and Vanye at times grudgingly doing her will in spite of his own, more humane ethics. Yet, we already know Morgaine's quest to seal the gates is only done to prevent another massive disaster that wiped out civilization at least once before. Can you say moral dilemmas? Quick read, but one that may leave a lasting impression. 4 stars!

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very dark and depressing read. Throughout Volume 1, we are told about Morgaine's grim reputation as someone who brings death and suffering everywhere she goes. In this volume we see for ourselves how her single-minded focus on finding and destroying the space/time portals on each world she visits lead her to make alliances and decisions that result in enormous violence and misery for anyone who is in her way, and most of those who aid her as well.

And yet, Cherryh manages to retain my interest in and even a certain sympathy for Morgaine by showing her through the eyes of her loyal companion, Vanye, a man who is driven by little more than a deeply-held sense of honour.

This novel is set on a world that is dying as rising waters engulf every last strip of habitable land. This adds to the darkness of the novel and also complicates the plot as the inhabitants learn of the existence of the portal and what it might mean for them from Morgaine's adversary, a human who might be possessed by an alien intelligence. A young girl who lives on this world, Jhirun, is an important viewpoint character in this novel; her character arc bookend the novel and presents us with a different kind of story to offset the epic ambiguities of Morgaine and Vanye, although no less rife with tragic import.

A gripping novel though quite disturbing at times. I look forward to reading its sequel.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great follow up. Morgaine is kept at arms length to preserve the mystery of her origin and motivations. In fact, she’s not even present for a third of the book. The opening chapters are spent developing the drowning world the book takes place on. It seems like the moon broke up, or there’s some new moons, somehow causing the water to rise(maybe I was tired when I read that part) This is definitely a dark one, Morgaine will stop at nothing to close the world gates, even let great numbers of people die seemingly without regard; but it’s hinted that bad things have come of trying to help people previously.
Vanye seems to humanize her a bit as cracks appear at the edges of her stony resolve; showing glimpses of regret and even a need for Vanye’s companionship.

You would be forgiven for looking at the awesome, Michael whelan cover and assuming it was a fun, science-fantasy romp, but it’s actually very bleak and desperate. There are situations that will leave you wondering who the good
guys are.
Well done C.J., I’m going to start the next one right now.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The word 'misery' and its variations are used quite a bit. The world of the Shiuan Gate is drowning. Each year more land is claimed by the sea: field becomes poisoned marsh, hills become islands, and villages are abandoned when sea walls fail. Fatalism and retreat and diminishment as the people slowly migrate to the highest land available, and all know that the world is doomed. The gray misery of the people is on every page (perfectly suited to this week's weather: the cold wet drip of late March and a deluge of thaw) and tinges everything. It's a Dying Earth story of a sort, a wet, bonechilling November, whatever the season really is.

Morgaine and Vanye--Morgaine especially--march relentlessly on a quest that few if any will thank them for. In this case, they close the only escape from this sadly unpleasant planet. Where in the land of Ivrel's Gate this task had an air of heroism to it, a worthy deed to accomplish, here it is a heavy doom upon the inhabitants. Morgaine is merciless, holding the long view of events, and trailing destruction. It is not surprising that her name becomes a curse in the lands she has traveled. Especially in this case, where her passing triggers long-awaited social upheaval and a final accounting for many.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book recently, and as happened with another of this author's books, found that I'd owned it before, in the 80s.

The story of young woman who loots a tomb and is then followed home by an enigmatic armored warrior. Once the warrior leaves she (deciding that her life is one she doesn't want..think about it) she follows the warrior...but meets someone else. She meets two people sworn to "destroy" Roh (the warrior). You see, they explain Roh is actually not Roh, but possessed and they are on quest. And on and on and on. They have perused him through a gate left by an older civilization, there are two on this world....and off we go.

The story moves on in what I find to be a pretty standard mannor and it never drew me in. I couldn't get into any of the character's minds and I just didn't get to where I cared what happened to them.

Skimmed through, skipped to the end finally. Some will like it I'm sure, but as I've said before, I've read better by the author. She apparently isn't one whom I like everything by. I find that my take on her works is that they run hot and cold. if you like this one great. the synopsis sounded good and drew me in, but I just couldn't get into the story...but maybe I'll remember it this time and not buy it again.

[Mirjam]

"Thee will not appoint thyself my conscience, Nhi Vanye. Thee is not qualified. And thee is not entitled."

First of all, "thee" is an accusative "you," i.e., "I will tell thee." The subject pronoun is "thou," i.e., "I know thou art a man of honor; I'm so sorry to bother thee at home." This should read as follows:

"Thou wilt not appoint thyself my conscience, Nhi Vanye. Thou art not qualified. And thou art not entitled."

There we go! All better.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is volume 2 of the science fantasy series narrating the efforts of Morgaine to close the space-and-time spanning Gates which have previously wrought havoc through time implosion, and the struggles of her faithful servant Vanye to stay true to his self and his oath, although he has to accept he is gradually becoming more distant from both. In this book, he faces the soul shaking discovery that, just as Morgaine had been missing for a hundred years on his own world while she was trapped in stasis within a gate, so has he been gone from his world for nine centuries. The world they have come to, in pursuit of the dangerous enemy who possesses his cousin Roh's body, experienced an invasion a thousand years ago and has suffered the effects ever since. The planet has also been experiencing a worsening innundation since the moon apparently broke up in collision with some captured moons, and now the coastal Barrower settlements - people who live by robbing the graves of their kingly ancestors and trading the gold with those living further inland who can grow food - are under imminent threat.

Morgaine and Vanye interact with the societies which have evolved since the incursion a millennia previously - the Barrowers, the Marshlanders and the people of Shiuan who are divided into rulers (who have the bloodline of the alien qual, who originally spread the use of Gates and who were responsible for the catastrophe those Gates brought about) and ordinary humans whom they view as cattle. The ancestors of all the ordinary humans came through the Gate, and Morgaine and Vanye eventually deduce they were the lost troops who originally followed Morgaine on her first attempt to close his world's own gate, and the reason her memory was reviled on Vanye's home world. The clue is in the Barrower and Marshlander superstitions concerning Morgaine, whose name has changed but is still recognisable, as a figure of ill omen. Despite this, some of them are willing to follow her away from the drowning coast in a quest to leave their doomed planet via the master Gate. In reality, she uses them to try to smash a way through to the Gate and close it before Roh can reach it and jam it open to allow the inhabitants - including himself - to escape to another planet and time.

In this story, Vanye is more torn than ever between his oath to Morgaine and the need to rely on his cousin Roh - or the creature wearing his body - for survival when he falls prey to the ruling qual descendants. The other man insists he is still Roh in essence, and Vanye finds it impossible to kill him as Morgaine ordered. He earns her suspicion, although she comes to his rescue - but then, it seems she has other motives. Always he finds it difficult to deal with her brooding nature, and she is more contrary than ever at times in this novel, though he now understands that at least some of this is due to the burden of carrying Changeling, the artefact which is a sword in form but a portable Gate in nature.

As a change from the first volume, the opening and closing sections of the book are seen through a different viewpoint than Vanye's: a young Barrower woman, Jhirun. She has been somewhat of a Cassandra figure since childhood and is viewed by her people as fey. She dreads the thought of having to marry the brutal Fwar and become a drudge overburdened with children like her sister. While wandering far from the Barrow she discovers an unplundered tomb full of riches, but is then prey to misconceptions about the identity of the wounded warrior who follows her home and terrifies her people, precipitating her own drastic departure. She is an interesting character viewpoint and it is a pity that her viewpoint is not continued in the main story, where we usually see Jhirun as a cowed character at the mercy of Morgaine, only sometimes showing the courage which we know she possesses.

The story concerns the breakdown of society and a descent into lawlessness, with the strong coming out on top and the weak and innocent suffering or even being slaughtered. The situation was evolving that way before Morgaine arrived, but her actions - in particular the manner in which she rescues Vanye - precipitate the downfall of the first inland fortress and a bloodbath which she does nothing to prevent. She is callous and only mindful of her mission - and somewhat of Vanye's life and safety, but probably because she needs someone to watch her back. She isn't responsible for all the mayhem - Roh has already infected one of the sons of that fortress with his vision of the Gates as an escape which he can open, and it is that murderous man who presides over a lot of the destruction - but possibly Roh would not have meddled so if he had not had Morgaine in pursuit, since his hope of extending his very long life depends on Gates.

The story is quite grim in places, and Vanye certainly goes through the wringer physically and mentally. The ending of the main story is a bit rushed - I wondered what Morgaine had accomplished with her 'final' order to Vanye and how necessary that was - so for that and the lack of integration of Jhirun's viewpoint into the main story, I would rate this at 4 stars.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roh delayed, a frown twisting his face. He extended his hand, dropped it in a helpless gesture. "Nhi Vanye—my life will end if your liege destroys the Wells—not suddenly, but surely, all the same. So will everything in this land... die. But that is nothing to her. Perhaps she cannot help what she is or what she does. I suspect that she cannot. But you at least have a choice. These folk—they will die, and they need not."
"I have an oath to keep. I have no choice at all."
"If you had sworn to the devil," Roh said, "would it be a pious act to keep your word?"

#

"Why?" Kithan asked when the coarse laughter had died. "Why have you done this to us? This is excessive revenge."
Again Morgaine shrugged. "I only opened your gates," she said. "What was waiting outside was not of my shaping. I do not lead them. I go my own way."
"Not looking at what you have destroyed. Here is the last place where civilization survives. Here—" Kithan glanced about at the fine tapestries that hung slashed and wantonly ruined. "Here is the wealth, the art of thousands of years, destroyed by these human animals."
"Out there," said Morgaine, "is the flood. Barrows-hold has gone; Aren is going; there is nothing left for them but to come north. It is your time; and you chose your way of meeting it, with such delicate works. It was your choice."

Cherryh's talent for characterisation shines through in Well of Shiuan. Morgaine and Vanye's relationship is wonderfully written, with Morgaine herself demonstrating a savage ruthlessness that sets her apart from the genre-savvy, quippy, but basically nice heroines of more recent sci-fantasy fiction. It's probably fair to call this novel humourless, and perhaps a little self-serious, but Cherryh pulls it off with aplomb. Gripping and apocalyptic. 4 stars.

[Matt Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly richer story than Gate of Ivrel, and the use of the outsider Jhirun as an additional point-of-view made for a more complex read. The world in which Shiuan lay was a dismal and thoroughly unappealing place, appropriate setting for such a bleak story; that I really dislike salt marshes didn't help. Altogether though, this is a depressing story in a grim setting, told alternately breathlessly and awkwardly.

Well of Shiuan is thin and paced like the prior novel as part of a series, so the rush at the end doesn't really culminate in much. The language is still affected and clunky, and the descriptions don't really convey what the author is picturing in her head; it is easy to read a passage and think, "What the hell does this place look like?" or "Who the hell just did which thing?" Certainly an early work in Cherryh's career.

Decent SFF pulp, but not superior.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The new setting was hard to get into but the book really grew on me. Also the sword is just so cool.

[Caleb Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

You see the stars! Of course it’s gas, it’s C.J. Cherryh!!!!!!!

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nhi Vanye's travels with Morgaine continue on the other side of the Gate. This time they've come to a world that is slowly dying -- drowning, apparently, in tides caused by a rogue moon. And this time they face adversaries more familiar with the Gates Morgaine is sworn to close, coupled with foes who are the result of Morgaine's own past actions.

These are not happy books. This particular world, as mentioned, is dying. Vanye is bound to Morgaine by oaths, but their relationship is prickly at best -- he feels compelled to honor his bond, but Morgaine is ruthlessly single-minded in her quest, willing to sacrifice anything or anybody if it will put her closer to her goal. And there's no knowing how many Gates await them, or whether they'll even realize that they've reached the final one.

They are, however, very, very good books -- compelling, character-driven drama in a vividly-realized world -- and I look forward to following Vanye and Morgaine through the Gate to see what's on the other side.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some part of me doesn't want to like this series. Maybe because Cherryh loves to toy with my emotions. She makes very good ancillary characters that I end up liking even though I know that I'll never see them again...I hates her. She gets me every time. Even when I think that I'll finally avoid getting attached, then her three dimensional, interesting characters put an end to that.

Oddly enough, I thought at the end of the previous book that I would start to warm to Morgaine here. Not the case. She seemed even more heartless and arbitrary in this book than she did in the first. Some of the character development just vanished. Which, I guess can be realistic, but I would have preferred a slower descent back into how she was, rather than a few days later everything is back to how it was.

[Boris Slocum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Morgaine and Vanye books. They certainly are among the lesser of Cherryh's works, but they have a dark and brooding charm. Book 1, Gate of Ivrel, was my first introduction to a mix of fantasy and science fiction. Or, at least what I thought originally was a fantasy book. I nearly put it down when I realized what it was, but I'm glad I persisted.

The author's real gift is the characters, both beautifully crafted. Morgaine is what you would expect of an immortal, driven but gripped by ennui at her apparently endless mission. Vanye, a soldier from a feudal system that he hates (and which hates him) that clings to that identity because it is all that he knows.

Great story, delightfully sketched characters, and a story with much originality. I recommend this book very much.

[Gio C · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending the ending the ending. I really wanted to like this book as it continues the story from the first novel. It was good but as I will not spoil it the ending was a complete cop out. Really upsetting and seemed like a waster of time. I will read the next installment in hopes that there is something that I do not see that will bring this all together but I am not hopeful. There really didn't seem to be a lot of character building as everyone just seems to keep rolling along not learning anything. The battle/fight scenes are a little hard to understand and see what is actually going on but other that it was still has a good premise. I am hoping that it gets better in the next one.

[Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these books but I can't figure out why they take me double the time to read. Anyway, 2nd book in a trilogy, not as good as the first and I'm kinda unsure what exactly happened at the end. I'll wait a bit before moving on to the final book, but i'm super stoked to see what happens to Morgaine! Vanye I don't care about at all, the lummox.

[James Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abandoned.

On this note, I think I am giving up on Cherryh. At least for a decade or so. Unlikeable, inscrutible characters, and plots and settings that just do not make up for that. Life is too short to slog through books that just do not appeal, and this makes the third or fourth Cherryh series I have abandoned midway through...

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 2 out of 5]

#2 Morgaine, slow, stilted, hard to stick with it

[aja · Rating 4 out of 5]

quick review bc i am on mobile but i enjoyed this immensely! part of the breadth of my enjoyment is def bc i have read this immediately after finishing the unspeakable travesty that was fourth wing, & so returning to fantasy written with care & a knowledge of the genre & its history & craft was such a relief it has somewhat biased my response to this

all that said tho, i love the world in which we found ourselves here!!! i saw a lot of reviews discuss how bleak & miserable this was, which i suppose is not an unfair assessment, but i loved it. all the little details: the moon that has shattered into smaller moons, & their sibling elder moons, still whole, harbingers of death & ruin, so close to falling to earth; jhirun, raised amongst the barrows of their long-dead kings of old; the reveal that her barrow-king ancestors were the army who fought alongside morgaine in the events that lead into the first book & were lost to her in battle, sucked through the gates & spilled into this world that they then conquered, vanye's ancestors too!; the way their memory of morgaine carried over into their descendants & she became their goddess of death; the storms & the floods & the rising sea that obliterates by inches the land on which people live, the constant referral to the ocean as the end of the world. bleak, for certain, but in many ways all the more beautiful for it.

& once again i LOVE her character work. vanye, so torn between his morals as a man, as someone raised among people of strict laws & morality, & his duty to morgaine, the oath he has sworn to her. so terrified of becoming kinslayer once more, but unable to trust the man who wears his cousin's face. so loyal to morgaine, but also to his beliefs, & how those clash to often catastrophic ends. his unwillingness to go against morgaine, but so terrified & repulsed by her qhujal magics

& morgaine, so implacable, trapped in many ways by the geas of her sword & the duty to which she is bound. not uncaring of the destruction wrought in her path, but also unable & unwilling to prevent it. cold, & distant, & then in rare moments so solicitous of vanye & his needs & comfort. i love her dearly

anyway. this got longer than i intended lol. as with the first book my only real gripe us the incorrect usage of "thee." where was our editor here. excited to continue w this series in the future, i'm having loads of fun with it

[Douglas Milewski · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Well of Shiuan (1978) by C.J. Cherryh continues the tale of Morgaine and Vanye. Morgaine is an otherworldly sort, dedicated to the destruction of gates, and Vanye is the sword and sorcery minion who's out point of view character for most of the story.

This was her second publication, and here she addressed many issues that haunted her first work. In this book, she creates a much better feel for location and place, she better articulates goals, implications, and moral conflicts, and she generally keeps the through line of the narrative far clearer. In the sort of tale where moral ambiguity usually doesn't exist, this tale hinges on those ambiguities. However, even with all the improvements, there are still places where the tale feels muddled and ill directed.

Also gone is the stiff dialog of her former work. The dialog in this novel, while still not fully naturalist, has greatly loosened up, The characters no longer feel like they're always reading from cue cards.

Interestingly, Cherryh begins the story from a third character's view, that of Jhirun, a young woman that lives in the marshlands. I found her the most present and engaging of all the characters, and I wished that we had spent far more time with her point of view. She gives us the world and the complexities in a way that no other character does, with a vulnerability that no other character has. Because she's so unspecial, her actions have consequences where a hero's never would. To me, that made her a more interesting character than any other in the book.

Parts of the book still felt forced, while other parts seemed aimless. Cherryh still has a ways to go before she hits her stylistic best, but with this tale, I begin to see those traits that would make her later books so interesting.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second in the Morgaine saga series and this one brings Vanye and Morgaine into a world and land that is slowly being flooded and eaten away by the sea.

Not only does it tie together Morgaine's duty to close another Gate or Well as they are called on this world but the Barrow-lords that came to the world centuries ago are likely the army that disappeared into the Gate a hundred years ago back on Andur Kursh, Vanye's homeworld.

Of course, the possessed Roh who seems to proceed them at every step, allies himself with the son and new lord of Ohtij-in - who murders his father and casts blame on Vanye. The fortress, controlled by the halfling khal has become a refuge for the marshlanders fleeing from the eroding coastlines but even that ends as ground-quakes bring it down, killing hundreds and forcing the balance towards the higher grounds and the Well where they are promised an escape to another world.

In the end, much of the mob along with Roh and his allies get through the gate along with Morgaine and Vanye who destroy it behind them. The two remaining allies of Vanye stay behind to await the inevitable drowning of their world in the more fertile mountains. As for our hero and his lord, off to the next adventure.

Originally a fantasy adventure but it seems rather foreboding since at this time, the world is experiencing the inundation of coastal land with the rise of sea level. I would like to think that humanity would deal with a similar situation in a rational matter but somehow, I doubt it. Certainly the conditions on Shiuan were being blamed on the tides and the influence of the 5 moons and the remains of the broken moon but . . . it just seemed so prophetic. . . and insightful.

2020-160

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Threat, tension and risk flow darkly throughout this novel, connecting the characters with the landscape, and creating a thoughtful plot that never reverts to mere inconsequential drama. Cherryh’s sense of place is flawless: this world and its inhabitants are grim and highly suspicious, and in this setting the troubled Morgaine is rightfully cursed, feared for what she may be, shackled to a bloody history, a victim of her own torment.

As in Gate of Ivrel, this is Nhi Vanye’s tale; a powerless, troubled man seeking to navigate recurring peril within the obligation of unsought service. The reader feels his concern, tiredness and anger as he and Morgaine journey toward their destination; a path filled with challenges that do not place them at an advantage, and are not easily resolved. Cherryh’s plotting continuously delivers scenes full of edgy negotiation, necessary shifts of strategy or alliance, and additional difficulties to outsmart and overcome.

This series has a great, always intriguing storyline built around linked worlds connected throughout a vast span of time. Each page is a delight to read – compelling sf/fantasy that’s a cut above most others in regard to quality and conception.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is where it fell apart for me. I just couldn't get into the book during the early going - following Jhirun around while Cherryh does a big info dump so you understand the world that's taking place. It started to pick up after the confrontation with Jhirun and her people over the stranger, but once Morgaine and Vanye shows up, the plot grinds to a halt.

It's very similar to the first book - a breathless rush to the gate, our heroes exhausted, horses driven to the breaking point. There's a long pause when Vanye becomes a prisoner and Roh talks and talks and talks. And then more of the same.

I was barely able to finish this book - I had forty, then twenty pages left, and I just couldn't convince myself to read anymore, but I pushed through it and finally finished the book. I will not finish the series.

I really hate Vanye, Morgaine is more a cipher than a fully-realized character, and once Jhirun has been used to explain the world and lead us to our protagonists, she really doesn't serve any purpose. A book that never really got going, was a little confusing, and moved in fits and starts. I hated it.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our protagonists from Book One have passed through the worldgate to another world... but one linked in ancient times, and one where the villain from Book One has preceded them.  So, Cherryh neatly averts the threat of leaving books set on separate worlds disconnected.  Plus, the image of the world here - with the Blasted Moon shattered above, and the waters swallowing up the earth beneath - is so evocative it's stuck in my mind ever since I first read it as a kid.  What I didn't remember is the local guide our protagonists meet, who knows her world is dying and yearns for some escape...

That said, the actual plot is mediocre.  In part, it might be the disconnectedness coming back anyway; our characters aren't tied into the world so well.  But I'm still glad I read it, for the setting and characters.

[January Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the backstory is science fiction, the book could be almost entirely read as fantasy or swords and sorcery. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” as Arthur C. Clarke wrote.

One might be forgiven for missing the numerous subtle hints Cherryh drops into this story of the future to come. Or at least, I hope so. I missed many of them on my first reading, and continued to miss several of them on my second, third, fourth, etc. readings. I've lost count of how many times I've read the Morgaine Cycle now, but I generally re-read it almost every year, because it is that good.

There are some heart touching moments in this book. There's plenty to think about when it comes to honor, loyalty, brotherhood, friendship, kindness to strangers, and more.

[Gary Currier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, this book is so slow....! I slogged through it, as I weed through all the books on my shelf that I have never read. The world concept was interesting, the planet is in death throws as it floods and earth quakes finish off the last livable places. The world has a well "gateway" that can take the population off this world to a new one. Vanye is the biggest cry baby warrior "whiner" ever born to the sword. His master a women with the job of killing the people on the planet before they escape to another world. Who told her to do it? Why would she do it? At the end of the day nothing happens, some of the people left and some stayed behind to afraid to go. The End. Thank the lord it ended it really was a dull read.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never know quite what to make of the Morgaine book covers, but it is a pity that the audio version comes with such a bland one. Hey-ho. The intensity intensifies as Morgaine and Vanye are hurled into a new world, a dying world of rising waters and a broken moon. Preceeded by Vanye's supplanted cousin, they soon find the doomed, half-starved half-decadent people rising up and rushing towards the gate they mean to destroy. Surrounded by treachery, with allies that are untrustworthy or who have good reason not to trust them they drive forward relentlessly through the floods and the burning keeps and deserted villages trying to overtake the horde they helped unleash.

[Andy Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was definitely better than the first book but I honestly struggled to follow what was going on. The book ended and I’m not sure what happened. I don’t know what the various races of the people are, which ones created the gates or wells, what those things do, who or what Morgaine is, what she’s trying to do and why, in what time Morgaine is from, how old she is, why the heck Vanye is following her, who or what the body snatcher guy is, what’s the beef between him and Morgaine, and on and on.

[Zachary Jacobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I generally like honourable characters, I think there is a level of tormented "oh no, my honour" that offends even my sensibilities and the middle of this book was solidly in that vein (or, if you prefer puns, 'in that Vayne'). I enjoyed the ending and the relentless bleakness though.

Also, bonus points for the horrifying revelation that the Barrows Folk are the descendants of Morgaine's army. That made a bunch of things clear.

[Chinasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check cherryh is my queen and she can do no wrong! Love how urgent this feels while also simultaneously feeling slow burn and with so much emotional subtlety between all of the characters. Jhirun’s story arc was fantastic and really added a lot to the series so far, can’t wait to read the next 2 books 😢😢😢😢 but I’ll probably take a break and read some other stuff for now because I don’t want my time with these characters to come to an end.