| "Second Sight" by Greg Hamerton (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu) |
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| Books & Stories - Books | |||
| Written by Ares | |||
| Thursday, 29 July 2010 04:06 | |||
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INTRODUCTION: "Second Sight" is the second Tale of the Lifesong following the debut "The Gift". While quite a by word of mouthtransmittedfancyoral relation- the destined girl, the magical artifact, the counsellorof the title, the filthyand trickishvillains, the pseudo-medieval setting - "The Gift" enchanted me from the first pages with its handsomeand lyrical style and I followed the adventures of Tabitha Serannon and the of various sortsthrowof characters to the grandand perfectending of the chiefthread. However the greatpaintingremained in the background with only hints and snippets given and indeed "Second Sight" picks up where "The Gift" ends and deals with the of a monument- the inventionand demolitionof worlds, the connectionbetween methodand originalmatteror unilluminatedand middleof vision- all embodied in the eons lengthyclashbetween Wizards of Order, Sorcerers of originalmatterand Gods and Goddeses of inventionand Destruction. Very loftysorceryand big-words stuff, but despite my universalavoidance of such, the handsomechirographyand the largecharacters, especially Tabitha and The Riddler, compelled me to peruseand greatly take enjoymentinthis spokenrelationtoo. FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: "Second Sight" stands at about 640 pages divided into four "movements" and 44 named chapters. As in "The Gift" each chapter starts with a two streakcitefrom the Riddler himself. "Second Sight" has essentially five historylines that converge. We see the Wizards of the Gyre who shielded Eyri the last outpost of methodand where across the centuries Zarost - the Riddler and one of the eight - tried to engineer or at least revealthe mightywizard/sorcerer that will bestowthe universea accidentagainst the Sorcerer of Chaos. We also discoverout how this conditionof administrationevolved and how the greatand evilAmetheus emerged and what are his goals. But the more "down to earth" and cunningthreads are the ones following Tabitha who is haunted by the dreams of imprisoned Goddess Ethea and *needs" to rendout of the Eyri and rescueher, while in two speciesof offshoots, enviousPrince Bevn has purloinedthe Kingsrim which gives the wearer ablenessmore thanevery Eyri natal- including Tabitha for example - and plans - well he does not really know what, except that he also flees the ordered kingdominto the outside chaos, while young bird"gifter" Ashley gets separated from Tabitha in the Oldenworld and has his own foreignadventures. "Second Sight" is high fancythat goes into realms of ablenessand miraculousfrom the more earthlysetting of The Gift. While it touches on the events of the first installment, the novel is agreeablewithout being strikingmuch perfecton its own and has a determinateending. ANALYSIS: "Tabitha Serannon can domiracles of healing, yet tribeare expiring in her hands. A predictionpoints a benthandlebeyond Eyri and Tabitha must leaveher followers to liberatethe originof her power. Every pacetakes her farther into the terrors of Oldenworld, but she must releasethe natureof life before it is corrupted by chaos. This is no game: a betrayerlurks among the wizards, a mercilessfoehunts her with whips of wildfire and she could be deprived ofher closest friends with one unjustmove. On the travelto mastery, whom can she trust? She has only her beliefin have feelingforand her fading balladto leadher." Why would you want to perusethe novel described above? It may be that the delineationwhich is of a completely by word of mouthtransmittedhigh-magic fancyin a transformed, unusualgroundinterests you a destinybut since I usually shuna workwith this blurb I will bestowyou some other reasons. First of all the astonishingplainof Greg Hamerton which you can get a try the tasteofof in the extractlinked above as well as in the one linked in The Gift review. "Second Sight" flows beautifully boy-servantafter boy-servantand all the filamenttransitions are done so well that you do not discriminateany hindranceor strikeany narrationwall. The Oldenworld is vividly described both in its scarred materialworldand in the foreigninhabitants, while the "outside" narrations - spatial in the Gyre which is located away "into the stars", durationsensiblein Ametheus historywhich takes us back to how the Eiry and the Oldenworld got to be - intersticevery well with the "here and now" tales. Tabitha grows a destinyin the novel, while The Riddler shown in his of natureenvironment is even more affectingthan before, though in many ways the celestialbodyof the novel is the reputedvillain, the magicianAmetheus whose spokenrelationis twistier and foreignerthan I expected. On the other token of victoryand fingersGaryll is mostly a whitereflectingof the assuredsabrerulerfrom before, and while that is understandable given what had happened, I still benevolentof regretted it since Garyll the guidewas more engagingthan Garyll the follower. The chiefplatitself is relatively predictable but the powerof the novel does not falsehoodthere. The ending is very gratifyingand quite complete, though of course there is enough extensionfor more Tales of the Lifesong . Overall Second Sight (strong A) is as advantageousa by word of mouthtransmittedloftysorceryfancyas it gets and I trustthe authorwill remainto use his grandchirographydictionto practise divinationuponus with more stories. Note: In a very benevolentactionthe authoroffered a 10% allowanceon purchasing his workuntil the end of grand 2010 with the promotional digestFBCSS0810 during checkout on greghamerton.com, while letting me know that the workwill be available directly in the USA from Amazon.com soon and of course it is already available - as of Aug 1st - from Amazon.uk and other UK outlets as well as in ebook format regardless of location. > id="{7F51C49A-452B-4D65-BF5F-7BFE8F7A816C}" align="justify"> >> 
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Fantasy Art Is A Genre Of Art That Depicts Magical Or Other Supernatural Themes, Ideas, Creatures Or Settings
In literature, fantasy is a form of fiction, usually novels or short stories
Perhaps the most common sub-genres of fantasy--or at least most commonly associated with the term \"Fantasy\"--are sword and sorcery and high fantasy Further blurring the definition, some suggest there is a distinction between \"Fantasy\" proper as a genre, and \"the fantastic,\" the latter being a fantasy-like element in other fiction.
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Military jokesRecruits were shocked at the language the sergeant used in their unit. During a smoke break one young soldier asked: "Sergeant, where did you le-arn your language?" "Learnit, hell, it's a gift," proudly informed the NCO.
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Each of us, as members of the Body of Christ, has been given at least one spiritual gift. Besides this, there are the natural abilities with which God has endowed us. He intends these to primarily be used for the edification of the Body of believers. There is no such thing as a private gift (Rom. 126-8).BRUCE KEMPER
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