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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780380807994
ISBN number: 0380807998
Label: Eos
Manufacturer: Eos
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 496
Printing Date: November 01, 2005
Publishing house: Eos
Release Date: October 25, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 187342
Studio: Eos
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Product Description:
Known for her lush, intricate worlds and complex characters, acclaimed author Martha Wells has delighted readers with her extraordinary fantasy novels of daring and wit. With The Wizard Hunters she launched her most ambitious undertaking yet -- the return to the beloved world of the Nebula Award-nominated The Death of the Necromancer and The Fall of Ile-Rien. Now the saga continues in a triumph of suspense and imagination.
Despite a valiant struggle against superior forces, the country of Ile-Rien has fallen to the onslaught of the relentless Gardier, a faceless army of sorcerers determined to conquer all civilization.
To save the remnants of her country, former playwright Tremaine Valiarde undertakes an epic journey to stop the Gardier. Rescuing the proud ship Queen Ravenna from destruction, Tremaine and a resolute band of sorcerers and warriors set sail across magical seas on a voyage of danger and discovery. For the secret to defeating the enemy -- and to rescuing the world from the Gardier's inimitable hatred -- lies far beyond the walls of the world, and only the tenuous ties of friendship and honor will keep the band together.
But the Gardier are not the only evil in this tumultuous world, and an ancient terror stalks the ornate rooms and shadowy decks of the Queen Ravenna -- a force so malevolent and enigmatic that even the growing power of the sorcerer's sphere may not be enough to save Ile-Rien from utter ruin.
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Rated by buyers -
For a mid book in a series, this book moves along well, tells a real story and develops the overall theme sharply. Nothing moves too slow or too quickly, and none of the interactions is forced.
Rated by buyers -
Martha Wells's beautifully written "Ships of the Air," the second in the author's "Fall of Ile-Rien" trilogy (and you really have to read the very first novel, "The Wizard Hunters," before you tackle this one) surpasses the very first in its utter looneyness. We meet once again the spectacularly neurotic Tremaine Valliarde (who has, thankfully, gotten over her suicidal impulses), as she and the companions she met in the very first volume explore the world she now finds herself in as they endeavor to learn more about the Gardier, who have been wreaking havoc on Tremaine's world. In order to do so, Tremaine engineers an alliance between one of the tribes of this world, the Syprians, and the Rien, after which they endeavor to discover just where the Gardier are coming from.
At the end of the volume, after quite a trip, they do.
Once again Wells's elegantly flowing prose style smoothes out the rough spots caused by her tendency, as was the case in the very first volume, to write herself into a corner, creating problems for herself that don't really matter. (I suspect that, like her heroine, Ms. Wells makes things up on the fly--perhaps working from only the loosest of outlines. And that's not a complaint.)
Whatever. The completely dysfunctional quest is bizarre fun. Tremaine has leadership foisted on her after she gets married mainly on a dare, and although she hasn't a clue, she's certainly plucky and lucky. The tale, which features sorcery and electricity in equal proportions, moves quickly from land to a converted luxury liner and thence to "flying whales," which is what some of the characters call this world's version of hot-air balloons. (They're filled with hydrogen, not helium. Oh. Oh.) And despite the fantasy elements, much of the novel is grounded in reality. Wells describes perfectly what is bound to occur when a group of ill-assorted people are forced to go sallying forth together. They quarrel; they fight for dominance; they all think they're right. It's quirky fun. For readers anyway.
Rated by buyers -
I loved the story, kept me interested throughout. Wells is a good author who has a good idea how to keep the reader turning the pages. I hope there will be more from her as I look foward to experiencing more of what she has to offer.
Another book readers of Ships of Air would possibly like is The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. Slightly different from hers, still not too bad.
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