GOD STALKER
Jame is a Kencyr. Kencyrs are not native to the planet where they now live. For thirty centuries they have been the weapon that their Three-Faced God has used against the power of the Perimal Darkling. And though they have fought well, the Darkling has come to planet after planet, and the Kencyrs have moved on.
Jame knows this as she stumbles out of the hilly, barren Haunted Lands into the city of Tai-tastigon. But she knows little else. She does not remember where she has been or what she has done for the last ten years of her life. Her memory goes back only a week or two—to finding her home destroyed and all her family dead.
In Tai-tastigon Jame begins a new life that seems to be at odds with all that the Kencyrs stand for. Kencyrs are honest and just, but Jame becomes an apprentice to the most renowned thief in the powerful Thieves' Guild. Kencyrs are confirmed monotheists, yet Jame explores the rituals and activities of the thousands of gods, templed and untempled, in this religious center; she even kills a god and then resurrects him. And at the inn, the Res aB'tyrr, where she lives, she finds herself using the most sacred dances of her people, dances she does not even remember learning, for the entertainment and sometimes the destruction of the inn's patrons.
Within herself Jame finds power she does not want and doubts she defies her heredity to harbor. She moves through the rich and bloody stew of Tai-tastigon like a hot spice. Her probings, to find herself and to discover what her powers mean to her and her people, combined with influences already at work, very nearly destroy the city. And yet, they bring her face to face with a destiny she must accept.
This is the first of several books.
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Product Review
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Product ReviewAll Hodgell's novels (I exclude the collection BLOOD AND IVORY), are among the best fantasy (read: Sword & Sorcery, modern) novels written in recent years. The only downside is that it takes her so long on the sequels! (Similar waits include David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr--still incomplete after more than thirty years--and Jean M. Auel's Ayla books). Don't miss these!
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Product ReviewAs stated by others, many original ideas make this a very good read, however the later books did improve on the series. This is a good introduction to an interesting world, unusual characters, and non-traditional gods.
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Product ReviewI was quite taken with this story when I read it in an SFBC edition many years ago. I was thrilled when Ms. Hodgell finally published the rest of the series, and couldn't be happier that Baen is making all of the stories available electronically. This is isn't the usual formulaic fantasy. The main character is unusual, her relationships with those around her unusual, and the story is well worth the time to read it. What *would* it be like if your gods were real, and available for consultation... whether you liked it or not?
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Product ReviewOriginal plot and character that held my interest. It wasn
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Product ReviewLiked it. When can we get the rest of the story? Is it already written?
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Product ReviewTolkien this is not--not even in the same zip code. I give it 2 stars = 3 star for novelty + 1 star for writing. While the story is intriguing and has many fresh elements, and Ms. Hodgell obviously has talent, this reads like something between a rough draft and final copy... random statements seemingly inserted as placeholders to be fleshed out later; abrupt starts and stops as if the author was simply tired of pursuing a line of thought; or the author was simply in too much of a hurry to complete it, didn't think it through, or didn't think it was important to expand on for the reader.(This is fantasy/fiction after all--not a historical treatise that I expect to have to re-read, all the while consulting numerous references and footnotes--assuming they were even available, which they are not, or at least not in any quality or quantity.) The result is uneven pacing and discontinuity that often borders on incoherence. The manuscript is in serious need of a good editor. With that, and another few months of work by the author, this could be a great story. That said, this is a good start. As the first in this series, an early effort by Ms. Hodgell, and given Baen's hype, I may have simply been expecting too much. I hope that this is an anomoly and that Ms. Hodgell (or her editor) has done their work in subsequent volumes. UPDATE: After reading the 3 volumes in this series, I suggest treating this first volume as background material; the second two volumes are much better. A revised (properly edited and reworked by the author) omnibus of the three volumes would go far to increasing readership and recognition of Ms. Hodgell's talent(hint, hint).
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God Stalker Chronicles$25.00