A review by michaeldrakich
Chrysanthe by Yves Meynard
2.0
Standard fantasy fare with some twists and holes.
Chrysanthe has a number of standard fantasy features. A lost princess. A young knight in search of her. An evil lord who wants her crown. A perilous journey. Magicans, monsters, mayhem and war. On these standards it delivers.
There are a few different wrinkles. The made worlds. The Book. The Law.
Chrysanthe is the real world. All others were made by wizards many years ago, but not too many. Chrysanthe is only 6,098 years old. Obviously the author ran with the time frame proposed by Creationists on how old the Earth is. There are other religious references as well, though they are simply back story and not really pertinent to the main one. The Book is not an actual book. It is something from which God creates things. The Law is God's law. One of its rules is that no harm may befall the ruler of Chrysanthe or his descendants in line for the throne. There are Heroes in Chrysanthe who are created from the Book.
The story plods along slowly, too slow for my liking, to the eventual 'battle royale' with the good guys winning.
About a third of the way into the book the author forgot who the main protagonists were - Christine and Quentin. Quite simply, the parts they play throughout the balance are almost non-existent. Instead a new character, Melogian, a female wizard, takes center stage. Even some of the sidekicks like Captain Veraless get a lot more play than our original two heroes. When you invest the reader in two characters and then drop them like hot potatoes, you drop the attachment.
What is also frustrating is the plot holes.
Reading from here contains spoilers.
The made worlds are limited in number, yet limitless. It seems that when wizards, or those empowered by wizards, travel from Chrysanthe into the made worlds the move down a gradient whereby the made world deviates constantly. The best analogy would be a multiverse where things are not quite the same in each copy. It's made clear only wizards or those empowered can travel the gradient. The heroine Christine, daughter of Edisthen, the king of Chrysanthe, cannot travel the gradient. She is trapped in a made world and it takes a knight, Sir Quentin, who is empowered by the magic of Orion, to save her and do so. Her father, the king, gets trapped in a made world and dies traversing down the gradient. Wait a second. Only wizards and those they empower can do so. How did that happen? A lot of people liked the made worlds. I just found them confusing.
The Book is the only place Heroes can come from. Only God controls the Book. Hold on now. Melogian, a wizard, through a spell creates not one, but six heroes.
The Law, as in God's law, will strike down anyone who harms royalty. The story goes how Edisthen replaced Vaurd as king as ordained by the Law. At the point Vaurd dies, his children are no longer in line for the throne. Yet, behold, the Law still applies to them for some unknown reason. Why? They have no right to the throne. No title. If a usurper is protected by the Law, then everyone in Chrysanthe should be protected because everyone could possibly be a usurper.
Then there's the demons. Trapped below the earth for millenia by the best wizards of all time because they could not be killed, all get killed! Seriously.
There are other irritating tidbits like how God is a female for most of the book, but in the middle he's male. Someone missed that. Or how Duke Corlin gets captured, then is dead, then, oh, he was only captured after all. Who's editing this thing? There's more, but I digress.
All in all, I was disappointed, both in the story and in the plot holes. The only character I felt any empathy for was an evil wizard, Mathellin. His story delved into him.
I picked up this book at my local book store for only $5.00. As a fan of epic fantasy I figured it was worth a shot. There is a glowing tribute by Ursula K. LeGuin on a previous work by the author. Next time I'll make sure the review is for the book in question.
Chrysanthe has a number of standard fantasy features. A lost princess. A young knight in search of her. An evil lord who wants her crown. A perilous journey. Magicans, monsters, mayhem and war. On these standards it delivers.
There are a few different wrinkles. The made worlds. The Book. The Law.
Chrysanthe is the real world. All others were made by wizards many years ago, but not too many. Chrysanthe is only 6,098 years old. Obviously the author ran with the time frame proposed by Creationists on how old the Earth is. There are other religious references as well, though they are simply back story and not really pertinent to the main one. The Book is not an actual book. It is something from which God creates things. The Law is God's law. One of its rules is that no harm may befall the ruler of Chrysanthe or his descendants in line for the throne. There are Heroes in Chrysanthe who are created from the Book.
The story plods along slowly, too slow for my liking, to the eventual 'battle royale' with the good guys winning.
About a third of the way into the book the author forgot who the main protagonists were - Christine and Quentin. Quite simply, the parts they play throughout the balance are almost non-existent. Instead a new character, Melogian, a female wizard, takes center stage. Even some of the sidekicks like Captain Veraless get a lot more play than our original two heroes. When you invest the reader in two characters and then drop them like hot potatoes, you drop the attachment.
What is also frustrating is the plot holes.
Reading from here contains spoilers.
The made worlds are limited in number, yet limitless. It seems that when wizards, or those empowered by wizards, travel from Chrysanthe into the made worlds the move down a gradient whereby the made world deviates constantly. The best analogy would be a multiverse where things are not quite the same in each copy. It's made clear only wizards or those empowered can travel the gradient. The heroine Christine, daughter of Edisthen, the king of Chrysanthe, cannot travel the gradient. She is trapped in a made world and it takes a knight, Sir Quentin, who is empowered by the magic of Orion, to save her and do so. Her father, the king, gets trapped in a made world and dies traversing down the gradient. Wait a second. Only wizards and those they empower can do so. How did that happen? A lot of people liked the made worlds. I just found them confusing.
The Book is the only place Heroes can come from. Only God controls the Book. Hold on now. Melogian, a wizard, through a spell creates not one, but six heroes.
The Law, as in God's law, will strike down anyone who harms royalty. The story goes how Edisthen replaced Vaurd as king as ordained by the Law. At the point Vaurd dies, his children are no longer in line for the throne. Yet, behold, the Law still applies to them for some unknown reason. Why? They have no right to the throne. No title. If a usurper is protected by the Law, then everyone in Chrysanthe should be protected because everyone could possibly be a usurper.
Then there's the demons. Trapped below the earth for millenia by the best wizards of all time because they could not be killed, all get killed! Seriously.
There are other irritating tidbits like how God is a female for most of the book, but in the middle he's male. Someone missed that. Or how Duke Corlin gets captured, then is dead, then, oh, he was only captured after all. Who's editing this thing? There's more, but I digress.
All in all, I was disappointed, both in the story and in the plot holes. The only character I felt any empathy for was an evil wizard, Mathellin. His story delved into him.
I picked up this book at my local book store for only $5.00. As a fan of epic fantasy I figured it was worth a shot. There is a glowing tribute by Ursula K. LeGuin on a previous work by the author. Next time I'll make sure the review is for the book in question.