Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman

I just finished reading "Black Sun Rising", and enjoyed it, but in some places seems more like a comic book or anime show than an actual novel. I sort of got irritated by hearing people in a futuristic/fantasy world alternating between old formal dialogue, and (moreso in the beginning of the book) modern casual. It has some intriguing ideas to it, like the manner in which the characters view magic, referred to throughout the book as "the fae", as a natural resource. The book's main character, the Reverend Damien Vryce is interesting psychologicaly, but the main antagonist, the mistress of Lema, doesn't show up often enough. We are simply told that she is mad and power-hungry. The most interesting character is Gerald Tarrant, who long ago sacrificed his family, and in doing so, all that was good within himself, for the purpose of immortality.
The book also has an interesting primitive society of human-like creatures called the rakh (who originated from cats rather than apes), and quite a lot of interesting weapons and an army of unusual demons. This book does pack a few emotional punches- I couldn't help but pity Gerald Tarrant when he was being tortured or nearly cried when another certain character was killed by the demon of his own ambition, and Reverend Vryce's religiously-oriented grudge against Gerald Tarrant brought a creul little smile to my face, but occasionaly the book uses the cliched theme of making you believe a character is dead and then bringing him or her back later in the story. This book's got a few flaws, but if you'd like something to read that simply hasn't been done before, I would reccomend this book.

I read "This Alien Shore" by the same author, and liked it so much I picked up other titles by the same author, including Dark Sun Rising. I really enjoyed this book, although it isn't the type of book I'd really read on a regular basis. I'd give it four stars out of five, and the fourth star is just for the ending. I really enjoyed it, it was my favorite part of the book!

This novel at first struck me as a JRR Tolkien wannabee, without the requisite knowledge of linguistics and lore that Tolkien had. A year after reading it, though, it stuck with me on its own merits. It was, in retrospect, a most pleasurable and good read. The idea that the hero is unspeakably evil but that the setting is a world where logic is reversed (dark sun rising, etc.) because of scientific reasons has a certain devilish charm to it, so Friedman indeed pulled off a good one and her contribution to the lit is most valuable. Sometimes I saw shades of Irving and his headless horseman, even though I suppose I wasn't supposed to. I haven't read the sequels but might do so sometime when bored. 3.75 out of 5 stars.