avolio@grendel.UUCP (Frederick M. Avolio) (01/08/85)
************* TINY TINY POSSIBLE SPOILER AT THE END ************
The *Darwarth Trilogy by Barbara Hambly has been out for a few years,
but having just finished reading the books I wanted to share a few
thoughts. This is not a review nor is it profound. :-) The books (in
paper by Del Rey books) are: *The Time of the Dark*, *The Walls of
Air*, and *The Armies of Daylight*.
I found this trilogy very enjoyable and quite exciting. This is
probably the first series that I have read with such a terrific woman
main character. I mean by that, the character of Gil was very well
done. (Anyone recommend other fantasy books with good woman main
characters?) The other characters were also very good. Worthy of
noting is Ingold, the wizard. It is *so* hard, I imagine, to write a
book with a wizard main character and not have him/her look/act/sound
like Gandalf. Ingold is a unique individual.
The ending, also, was very satisfying. It was a surprise to me when
the solution to the menace of the Dark was revealed and while the
ending could only be classified as "happy", it did hold the promise of
problems and hardships ahead along with hope. (I contrast this with
the ending of *The Belgariad* series by Eddings -- which I also
recommend -- in which everyone was happy, together, wonderful,
cheerful, clapping, singing, dancing -- I exaggerate -- etc. ala the
too-happy ending of *The Return of the Jedi*.)
****************** TINY SPOILER *******************
One final thought. The idea of romance between a commoner and a
person of royal blood is not new. And, in general, I think people
tend to think of women being attracted to such stories and ideas.
(Cinderella/Prince, Snow White/Prince, other romance storeis and
novels...) But I think this is just as an attractive idea for men -- a
commoner-man catching the attention of a queen/princess. I enjoyed
this development in this story and also in the book *Saving the Queen*
by Wm. F Buckley. (STQ is a spy novel but is the only other book I
can remember reading with such a relationship.)
--
Fred Avolio
301/731-4100 x4227
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