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It is not very often that I give 4 or more stars for a fantasy book, which I did for Book 1 (The Outstretched Shadow). And it is even less common f... (show more)
It is not very often that I give 4 or more stars for a fantasy book, which I did for Book 1 (The Outstretched Shadow). And it is even less common for me to give so high a rating to a second book in the same trilogy. Most often, I find the successive books to be "riding on the coat-tails" of the first, with nothing new to offer. And in many cases, they can't even sustain the quality of the first.
No fear of that here.
Candle is every bit as good a story, and as well told, with as many interesting ideas and devices, as Shadow was. One thing that pervades these books is Lackey's sense of reciprocity. For every thing there is a counter-thing, for every positive, a balancing negative. Since hero Kellen was the fish-out-of-water in Book 1, she now gives him the chance to be the "old hand," by having another young mage banished from the city and letting Kellen be the one to show him around. But at the same time, Kellen is still a bit of an outsider, still trying to prove himself and still trying to learn how to fill his own shoes.
The story is primarily about Kellen and his shoe-filling, and he doesn't meet the new kid until the book is 80% done, but oddly, the anticipation of their meeting plays out through the whole book and serves to provide the sense of closure needed for the book to feel complete, even though the big-picture story is far from over.
Again, Lackey continues to sprinkle unexpected little story-telling gems, ideas, and twists against our expectations - all of which keeps me entertained and looking for more. I love things like the Elvish fascination with tea, formal manners vs war manners, the Wildmage who can't do any magic, and so on.
It's not all good news, though. I am still disappointed by the cartoonishness of the city mages, who, despite intense intelligence and sophistication, are so easily manipulated (and so obviously) by a single underling. It's easy to posit such myopia arising in conservative, self-absorbed political systems, but by giving in to that stereotype and denying us a more complex, believable (and consequently, disturbing) scenario, Lackey has pulled her punches and weakened my investment in that particular storyline.
The demons are deliciously rendered in all their horrifying villainy, but again, probing beneath the surface, I find them very two-dimensional, as compared to the greater depths with which she has defined her hero cultures. Their culture doesn't seem to be as credibly founded - where do all the slaves come from, where are they all "penned," how are they all fed, what keeps them from rebelling, etc. I can only assume that Lackey shows us less of them so that she can maintain their evil-ness (since we fear what we don't know, keeping us from knowing them will help us to fear them), but I personally find this distance alienating, rather than horrifying.
But in truth, that's all quibbling. Good book, very well told, with plenty of surprises to keep my interest over an enormous 900-page length. I'm looking forward to #3. (show less)
