The Winds of Khalakovo

[Glelas]

The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu.

Anyone read this or plan on reading it?

Fantasy with Tsarist Russia flavor. I am intrigued.

[jagilki]

I'm just starting chapter 23 (pg 179 on my Nook) and it's not too bad of a book. The first 40-50 pages or so were a little slow, but once I got into the actual story it's fairly decent.

As I haven't finished, I can't speak for the whole book, but I'm digging it so far.

[pat5150]

Not perfect, but for me it was the fantasy debut of 2011.

Patrick

[s271]

Didn't like it, didn't finish.

[Michigan]

It's sitting in my to read pile. It's a big pile though so not sure when I will actually get around to it. Am looking forward to seeing reactions here though.

[JustaStaffer]

It's very good. I just started the sequel. Will report back.

[Corporal Blues]

I finally got around to reading this one. Overall, I thought it was a pretty strong as far as debuts go. As other folks have mentioned, things started out pretty slowly, but I thought the ending was pretty exciting which helped to make up for the slow start.

The action scenes were a bit confusing and disjointed feeling at times, which took away from my enjoyment a bit too.

I did appreciate the non-standard eastern European style setting. Beaulieu did a good job of making his setting come to life. I'd love to see more authors venture out and try different settings. There are a few who do it, but not enough for my liking.

For my tastes, this fell firmly in the "middle of the road" category though as it didn't have anything all that special about it to make it stand out from the crowd of epic fantasy. I'm on the fence for the next volume, and will hold off until I see some reviews.

[ArtNJ]

My review from Amazon, verbatim:

In ambition, The Winds of Khalakovo (Winds) is not so different from A Song of Fire and Ice and any of the other well regarded fantasy epics. There are several different POV perspectives, an imaginative magic system and mythos, political intrigue, romance, lots of battles and a lengthy book that appears to contemplate sequels (I have not checked for them). The problems, however, are many:

(1) one paragraph will be in the POV of one character, and the next paragraph will be a POV from another character with no warning. Normally when people mention this issue in other books I am not bothered by it, but here it was kind of a bigger deal, an actual and repeated annoyance. At least give us * * * to denote POV changes. Something;

(2) the "romance" is poorly done - one character basically falls in love because a prince tries hard at a dance;

(3) the politics are very important to the book but thinly sketched (despite the book's length). For example, there is a hugely important rebel faction that is apparently mad because they had their land stolen. I say apparently, because we are never told anything about the history of this conflict, dont know what land was stolen when or anything of that sort. When a war breaks out among the "Landed" (the folks that apparently collectively stole the rebels land) it doesnt feel convincing;

(4) the magic system and mythos has too many very different components, and while parts of it work quite well, the tie in with the overall plot does not. There is a spirit world with powerful fire/water/air/wind spirits and some can bond/control them to an extent. Other folks have the talent for assuming a sort of astral form when submerged in cold water, and these folks are used for communication, and to help tame the wind currents. Still other folks have the talent for actually manipulating the winds so that ships can fly from island to island. Those parts are fine, and in spots actually work quite well. There are some fun sky-ship battles, for example. But there is much beyond that -- reborn wizards, a seemingly autistic kid, magic gems that get created what feels like randomly, a plot involving the autistic kid, a growing "rift", spirits sucking on souls, a wasting disease, and as you get towards the end, it starts to feel made up as the author went along. Lots of potential and creativity, but the author maybe got a little too ambitious and/or didnt do a good enough job of making his imagination serve the plot. Too many moving parts that dont mesh well enough;

(5) the book really seems to be heading towards a resolution in one volume, and then it just doesnt. What with the overly-complicated mythos, I was just feeling lost and/or like the author was tacking stuff on at the end to try to keep going.

I really feel like this author has a strong imagination, and is *close* to being able to write convincing epic fantasy. Winds has a pretty decent amount of action, and the action sequences seem to be pretty well done. However, I almost gave this book 2 stars, because -- in trying for an epic feel -- this book sets the bar too high. I feel like if the author had just scaled back his ambitions a little and focused on a tighter plot, he could have written something I would give 4 or 5 stars. This, however, is not that book.

Bottom line: Soft 3 star rating. I do not recommend it, but its possible you might like it.

[kcf]

I finished The Winds of Khalakovo amost 2 months ago, but getting a review written for was tough, I eventually went in a bit of different direction. I like the book - it's a pretty solid debut and I certainly recommend it. But...

Overall, The Winds of Khalakovo is quite successful - the characters are well-rounded and interesting, the Imperial Russian-inspired culture feels fresh (even though non-western settings has become quite popular in the past year or two), the gypsy-like culture of the indigenous Aramahn is well-done, and the action is as much political as physical.

And it’s the politics that I've kept coming back to in my almost 2-months of thinking on this. The politics of The Winds of Khalakovo are widely praised as the biggest strength of this book. However, the reaction that I can't help but come to is this: if the politics in this book are praised as a complex addition to the fantasy genre, what does it say about the genre as a whole? Or to put it another way, if these are good politics, then fantasy must be full of really badly (or perhaps, simply) presented politics. And in my opinion, that is a very sad fact.

When I use the term politics, I'm not really speaking of the politics we are bombarded with by media in our society today (particularly during an election year here in the US). What I am speaking of are the complex relations of people in power, who want to be in power, who were once in power - from the top of society all the way down to the interactions among the least of a society. The shifting alliances, the lies, the truths, betrayal, idealism, heroism, morality, religion, sex, best intentions, selfishness, and flat-out evil, inhumane actions. It's the politics of people and their interactions. It's what drives our world and it's what all too many fantasy novels completely lack. It's what turns a good story into a compelling novel.

In my opinion, the politics of The Winds of Khalakovo are not complex or particularly deep - I found them rather linear and predictable. But, they do play a central role in the book, much more so than in many other books which tend to focus much more heavily on individual goals and motivations (there's plenty of that here as well) rather than the complex interactions of many individuals, government, societies, etc. This has only made me realize more and more why those that are praised at the top of genre belong there - they do the politics well. George RR Martin and K.J.Parker immediately leap to the top in this respect. Other authors I love at least have their moments - David Anthony Durham, S.L. Farrell, and Robert Jordan (for all his faults it's the politics of that series that I enjoy the most).
Full Review on the blog

[Chrysippus]

Been planning to read this for awhile, ever since I read the Preface (or whatever) in my local Barnes & Noble, bought it, and added it to the to-be-read pile. Still haven't gotten around to it, though.