[Thurlor]

Just wondering if anybody had read this series by Jennifer Roberson. I've had a bit of a look around here and no-one seems to have mentioned it anywhere.
Anyway, If you've read it let us know what you thought.

Thanks

[Siouxzan]

I've read the Cheysuli series, multiple times. I've recommended it to several friends, some of whom are not sci/fi or fantasy readers, & they have all loved it as well.

[Obtuse]

I've started a lot of fantasy novels that I either didn't finish, or finished but decides not to read any sequels. In some cases those books made me decide not to read that particular authorin the future. As a rule, however, I try not to trash-talk those books and authors. I may advise against reading them, or point out what I perceive as weaknesses, but rarely will I truly slam one of those books or authors. There is one author and series though, that I cannot help but rail against; and this is it.

I actually made it 3 or 4 books into this series, and in truth, I was enjoying it. Then I read something that ruined the whole series for me. Something that, to this day, I consider one of the most idiotic pieces of fantasy literature I've ever read.

Below is the content of a post I made a couple of years ago, which explains my issue with this series.

It's been a long time since I read these books so I don't remember a lot of the details, but I remember this much. A prophesy said that a man with the blood a several kingdoms and 2 magical races would unite those kingdoms and races. One magical race, the Cheysuli supported this prophesy, while the other magical race, the evil sorcerers, fought against it. The reason the sorcerers where against it was because they thought it would taint, and therefore kill off their race. Now, this is a big deal. In their minds they where fighting for the very survival of their kind.

Now, anyone with the power of the Cheysuli was protected from the powers of the sorcerers, and the bloodline that was leading to this prophesied leader to unite everyone usually had Cheysuli powers. For some reason, however, one link in the bloodline did not have Cheysuli powers, even though he had Cheysuli blood. Thus he had a Cheysuli protector who was supposed to be with him at all times. So this brings us to the crux of the situation.

At one point, this man whose descendant would one day unite the kingdoms and races found himself without his Cheysuli protector, and confronted by the leader of the sorcerers. All the sorcerer had to do was throw a bolt of magical energy at the guy, and the game would have been over. The prophesied bloodline would have ended, and the sorcerers' race would have been saved from extinction. But he didn't do it. I nearly threw the book in the garbage, literally, at this point. Then I thought, wait, maybe the author will offer some explanation for this absurd event. So I continued reading, and the author did indeed offer an explanation. It was the single most idiotic piece of literature I have ever read. Apparently, the sorcerer gave up probably the best opportunity to save his race that he would ever have because.....are you ready for this.....he was evil and he just wanted to toy with them and play mind games. Huh?

Sorry, I just can't buy that. That episode completely blows the credibility of the antagonists' primary motivation. Without that motivation, there is no reason for the conflict and thus, no reason for the story.

It seems to me that the author wrote that scene simply for shock value, and then thoughtlessly made the absolute cheesiest excuse for the contradiction.

I would rather do myself bodily harm than to ever again have to read anything by this author.

[Siouxzan]

That's interesting, I guess to each his own. I read the whole series, but what I got out of it was that the evil ones weren't trying to destroy the prophecy, they were trying to control it, so if they destroyed the bloodlines, that would not have been possible. Anyway, sorry you didn't enjoy it.

[Severn]

I finished reading all 8 books a month ago or so. I have the omnibus editions - 2 books per omnibus, and I am quite glad that I bought them in that format because quite frankly book 1 is horrendous - cliched, over-adverbed, romantic nonsense (with a tendency to use the word 'prate' far too many times, along with the phrase 'what do you say?').

If you're going to read the series I strongly suggest bypassing book 1.

Here's a rundown if you want:

Beautiful human girl meets wild Cheysuli man. Wild man reveals beautiful girl is actually half-Cheysuli. Beautiful girl spends next 150 pages denying this by running regularly into the trees and screeching, while coming close to being ravished by wild man half a dozen times. Beautiful girl falls in love with wild man's brother and acknowledges her heritage (finally). The end.

You don't need to read this tripe to appreciate the rest of the series. I continued reading because, well - I had the omnibus - why not? I also was aware this was her first novel and this often means the rest will improve if the first isn't so great. But most importantly, the author had written a foreward just for the omnibus in which she said that she felt the novels after book 1 drastically improved in story-telling. (So even the author admits book 1 is crap). And it's true - the story-telling does improve, and so does the writing.

She's not the best writer on the planet (although she has collaborated on a book called 'The Golden Key' with two other authors that I think is brilliant, and is vastly different to the Cheysuli series), but I found the rest of the series entertaining, fun reads. Not everything needs to be brilliant to be enjoyed. At times I was even deeply moved (particularly in book 7 - her strongest I think).

Roberson takes an interesting stance on her writing. Books 1,3,5,7 & 8 are written from third person perspectives - sometimes cycling through a number of different character povs. Books 2, 4 & 6 are first person perspective. Her writing is by far stronger when she writes from first person; they seem weightier somehow and the series might have been more successful had she stuck with that format consistently.

As to what Godmage said - unfortunately, Roberson failed to master the ability to write a story about a prophecy and good guys versus bad guys without sometimes floundering into convenience:

Oh I won't kill you here - you can run away and beget more heirs for me to play with in later books - bwahahaha!

Which brings me to the romances. Oh dear. If you detest romances - numerous romances - you may have to swallow hard and say to yourself several times - 'it's necessary, it's part of life, people fall in love all the time and how many generations are we going through here? Of course there's going to be lots of romances!' This also lends itself to 'convenience' in terms of the tradition for Cheysuli men to have both wife and mistress. Very convient at times.

Something else which was at times both poignant and jarring - getting attached to characters only to have new ones in each book. Because the books revolve around a generational prophecy, previous characters will grow old and die in new books - and if you're reading these in a row...you think - hang on, you were alive and well last night, what's going on?

There you have it Thurlor - it's a mixed bag, you take the good with the bad if you want to read them. Don't expect profound literature by any means, but they're not so bad, if you ignore the niggly bits.

K

[Amaunette]

I've actually been reading this series for the past month or so (I don't get a lot of free time, and there ARE eight books). I'm on the seventh book right now, and the storytelling is good even though the writing is below average in my opinion. I think you should give it a shot. I picked it up on a whim at my local library and read the first two books in one weekend. Mostly I just want to know what happens, and THANKS to you others who have posted for appropriately formatting your spoilers because I really would like to find out the good old fashioned way. I find that her writing is very similar to Carol Berg's writing, if that helps at all.