DISCLAIMER! NONE OF THE EVENTS IN THIS ENTRY TAKE PLACE IN OR RELATE TO GRANTSVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA. Any similarities between characters discussed here and real persons in Grantsville, either living or previously living, is purely coincidental.


Read Jacqueline Carey's two "The Sundering" books in the last couple of days. Carey is more known for her "Kushiel's Dart" series, which I've tried to read in the past and haven't been able to get into. The "Sundering" is traditional fantasy ala J.R.R. Tolkien, where the forces of light marshall against a building lord of darkness. In fact, in many ways Carey is deliberately mirroring Tolkien in her book. There is an immortal wizard from across the far seas who rides a white horse. There is a leader of men who is betrothed to an elven lady (here elves are called Ellyon), and there is an endearing fellow entrusted with a quest to sneak into the Dark Lord's realm and turn the tide for the force of Light.

However, this series is written from the perspective of the Dark Lord and his minions. Satoris, the Dark Lord, is not Sauron, he is a much more morally ambigous personality. He is the God of Passion and Lust, one of seven lesser gods that arose when the High God died to create the world. All of the other gods except for Satoris created six races of the world. Hoamane, the god of light and knowledge, created the Ellyon. The Goddess of Love created the Humans, who were the only other race that Hoamane gave the gift of innovation. Satoris gifted all the races the gift of passion, except the Hoamane's Ellyon, because Hoamane refused it. Without it, the Ellyon reproduce very infrequently. Hoamane also asked Satoris to withdraw the gift of Passion from the humans for reasons, but presumably because he felt that with innovation and passion they would eventually overrun the planet. Satoris refused and Hoamane enlisted the other lesser gods in a war against him. In that war, Satoris was permenantly wounded with a magic dagger called Godslayer, but the other Gods were forced to retreat when Satoris enlisted the aid of the dragons. Satori ended up with Godslayer, and the other gods retreated to a land to the east, not wanting to risk their lives against Satoris while he has Godslayer.

A thousand years have passed since that last war. Satoris lives in an enormous fortress, perpetually covered in clouds to keep away the prying eyes of Hoamane. The fortress is in the middle of a valley guarded by mountains and a vale of spiders. He has recruited three leaders and made them immortal. The first is a half-ellyon who can watch people's dreams and controls huge flocks of ravens that scan the continent for him. The second is a master trader, known as "The Glutton" who keeps the fortress economically sound. The last is a mighty general who has organized the orclike but brave and honorable Fjel warriors into tactical fighting units.

Now, following an ancient prophecy, a red star has risen in the east and an Ellyon princess is engaged to marry a human lord. The forces of darkness understand that if the Ellyon and human actually marry, the prophecy will be fufilled, so they kidnap the princess. This sets in motion a series of events ultimately ending in titantic confrontation between the armies of light and darkness.

While the Frodo-like "flask bearer" (or something like that) receives some attention in the book, the main point of view is seen from the General who leads the armies of darkness. Known as the Betrayer, he joined Satoris after he slew his wife and the king he served under following his discovery that they were engaged in an adulterous relationship. Despite his position as the leader of the forces of darkness, and having strangled his wife, the General is a man of high morals, who commands his armies with respect. After the princess is kidnapped he is partially successful in convincing her that perhaps Satoris is not as evil as the forces light portray him to be.

Moral ambiguity is what in the end makes the book so compelling. I found myself rooting for the forces of darkness, but also not totally unsympathetic to the forces of light. This is not a complete role reversal. Acting in anger, the God Satoris does commit some acts that are less than pure, and the forces of light can be seen to have some genuinely good motivations for their actions.

The ending was surprising, and at first disappointing, but the more I think about it the fitting it seems. I'm not going to give it away, but it is as ambiguous as the God Satoris himself is.

Sauron from "The Lord of the Rings" was clearly evil, and you might wonder whether the author of "The Sundering" is voicing some objection to that black and white portrayal. But I like to think that this new series is just paying homage to Tolkien and not so much criticizing as offering an interesting variant.