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EUROPE'S MOST VISITED SF/F WEB SITE |
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Ruins of Ambrai (Exiles Volume 1) by Melanie Rawn check out website Daw Books.com
It deals with the destruction of an ancient family and sisters who are placed on different sides in a war threatening to engulf their world. Sound interesting?
Rawn has, in this book created some of the most life-like characters I have ever encountered in the fantasy genre. It must be acknowledged there is often the temptation to create stock character types modelled on the Conan figure - big and brutal or the Aragorn type - silent and deadly, but here the author has very little black and white. Her shades of grey permeate the entire book through the idiosyncrasies
of her characters and their actions and you find yourself unable to wholly justify
some of the decisions of the 'good' characters, nor wholly able to condemn the
actions of the 'bad'. The creation of a matriarchal universe was amazing, modelled exactly on the world we live in, just inverted with women ruling (because of course inheritance can only be assured through the female line). You will rudely awaken to the true extent of social conditioning that is taken as standard in our own world. Seeing a man's drunken, lecherous behaviour, which will usually tug a wry smile from us becomes grotesque when committed by a female. The lack of male rights and the woman's possession of a man's dowry becomes
monstrous and when you find yourself released from the spell that is the Exile's
series you will find that the world is no longer the place you thought you knew. A truly engrossing book, which I believe, will be enjoyed by all
readers of fantasy. Especially the women. There's much to be said
for a matriarchal universe ... Sana
Master
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OTHER REVIEWS - February 2003
NEW NOVELS The
Dead Sea Scrolls Deception by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh Buffy
The Vampire: The Cordelia Collection Volume 1 by Nancy Krulik Tourniquet
Heart edited by Christopher C. Teague The
Devil In Green (Book One of The Dark Age) by Mark Chadbourn Angel: The Longest Night by Pierce Askegren Dark
Angel: Before The Dawn by Max Allen Collins Guilty
Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton The
Divine Comedies: Here Comes The Sun & Odds And Ends by Tom Holt The
Drawing Of The Dark by Tim Powers. Fantasy Masterworks # 33 The
Far Enough Window: The Reclaiming Of Fairyland by John Grant and illustrated
by Ron Tiner The
Ruins of Ambrai (Exiles Volume 1) by Melanie Rawn The
Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson (SF Masterworks # 51) HARDBACKS INTO PAPERBACKS Wizard's
Funeral (The Red Pavilions Book Two) by Kim Hunter Wanderers
And Islanders (Legends Of The Land Book One) by Steve Cockayne Effendi (The Second Arabesk) by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
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A
very modern take on families was my first thought on reading this
first in a so-called trilogy (the final part is yet to be released,
despite assertions from the author that it has been long completed).
Probably
not yet but I hesitate to give you more for fear of ruining this
masterfully woven text. It was a page-turner, my eyes were riveted
to the book and considering the size of each of the two parts I
finished in a very short time, 2-3 days to be precise. 
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