|
|
Title | The Riddle-Master of Hed
| |
Author | Patricia A. McKillip
| |
Cover Art | Darrell K. Sweet
| |
Publisher | Del Rey - 1982
| |
First Printing | 1976
|
|
|
|
Title | Heir of Sea and Fire
| |
Author | Patricia A. McKillip
| |
Cover Art | Darrell K. Sweet
| |
Publisher | Del Rey - 1978
| |
First Printing | 1977
|
|
|
|
Title | Harpist in the Wind
| |
Author | Patricia A. McKillip
| |
Cover Art | Darrell K. Sweet
| |
Publisher | Del Rey - 1988
| |
First Printing | 1979
|
| |
|
Category | Fantasy
| |
Warnings | None
| |
Main Characters | Morgon, Raederle, Deth, Ohm, the High One
| |
Main Elements | Wizards, Shapeshifters
| |
Website | patriciamckillip.com
|
|
 Riddle-Master of Hed
Long ago, the wizards had vanished from the world, and all knowledge was left hidden in riddles. Morgon, prince of the simple farmers of Hed, proved himself a master of such riddles when he staked his life to win a crown from the dead Lord of Aum. But now ancient, evil forces were threatening him. Shape changers began replacing friends until no man could be trusted. So Morgon was forced to flee to hostile kingdoms, seeking the High One who ruled from mysterious Erlenstar Mountain. Beside him went Deth, the High One's Harper. Ahead lay strange encounters and terrifying adventures. And with him always was the greatest of unsolved riddles; the nature of the three stars on his forehead that seemed to drive him toward his ultimate destiny.
Heir of Sea and Fire
By the vow of her father and her own desire, Raederle was pledged to Morgon, Riddle-Master of Hed. But a year had passed since Morgon disappeared on his search for the High One at Erlenstar Mountain, and rumors claimed he was dead.
Raederle set out to learn the truth for herself, though her small gift of magic seemed too slight for the perils she must face. The quest led through strange lands and dangerous adventures. Only her growing powers enabled her at last to reach Erlenstar Mountain. And there she discovered what she could not bear to accept.
Accompanied by Deth, the High One's Harper, she fled. And behind them came a pursuer whose name was Morgon, bent on executing a grim destiny upon Raederle and Deth.
Her only hope lay in summoning the Hosts of the Dead, led by the King whose skull she bore . . .
Harpist in the Wind
Though Morgon, the Riddle-Master was reunited with his beloved Raederle, his purpose in life and the reason for the stars on his forehead remained a mystery. All around him, the realm shook with the war and disaster as mysterious shape-changers battled against mankind. Without the missing High One, Morgon must assume responsibility for all his world.
After leading an army of the dead to protect his island of Hed, he and Raederle set out for Lungold, where the wizards were assembling against the evil Ghisteslwchlohm. And behind them came Deth, the crippled harpist, Morgon's friend and betrayer.
But Lungold was only the beginning of the quest that would lead him to the truth of ancient struggle and the fate of the High One, until at last he could solve all the mysteries and know his own awesome destiny.
I read the first book a couple years ago. My reaction to it was that it felt a little dated...not saying it was bad, but it was kind of hard to read, and the worldbuilding was confusing at best. There "are no wizards anymore" but seems half the people we meet can do magic. There are "shapeshifters" who are the villains in this story, but there are a bunch of other people who can change shape too. The one interesting concept is the land-heirs, the ruler of each region and who is so atuned to his realm that he can feel the grass grow and sense what is going on within his borders, and when he dies, his heir finds out quick as the powers flood into him. Or that way that An, was the one land where so many battles had been fought that the dead still had a tendency to rise and seek revenge for old debts, again, needing the land-heirs to keep them in check.
The riddles weren't really riddles, they were more trivia questions, more Alex Trebek, less Sphinx. There were some seriously bizarre names, not just unpronounceable but even unreadable like "Ghisteslwchlohm" and there were others with only two letters like "An". And try keeping two different characters, one named Morgon and one named Morgol straight in your head.
Frankly...the writing was pretty terrible. I would often have to read a sentence or paragraph more than once, and even then given up on it. Also, McKillip would love to do the following. Character one bring up one piece of information we already know. In a musing way, character 2 will bring up another piece of information we already know. There is a pause. The characters glance at each other, understanding dawning on their faces because they just figured out... What??? What did they just figure out? Usually a chapter or two later it will get spelled out, but ugh, that was annoying. Or you'd have a scene, Morgon got angry, he shapeshifts and then in horror realizes what he's become...then dashes out of the door and goes on the run. What?? What did he become?? ARGH!
An example of the confusing structure:
Something jumped in the back of Morgon’s throat. It was huge, broad as a farmhorse, with a deer’s delicate, triangular face. Its pelt was blazing white; its hooves and crescents of horn were the color of beaten gold.
Hmm, size of a horse inside your throat? Obviously the thing in his throat is the not intended to be the big white animal, but you have to read the paragraph a couple times to sort that out in your head. BTW, I've read McKillip's Alphabet of Thorn and didn't have this problem so don't let this keep you from reading her other books!
That said...as I moved on to the next two books, I got a bit more used to it, and also more confident that all those "Hey big reveal here but not telling you what it was", and cliffhanger book/paragraph endings, will eventually get told and explained clearly (and it does). In fact, this might actually be the kind of trilogy that benefits from a second read, knowing how everything works out in the end, one can re-read it and watch what hints were dropped and how the pieces fell into place.
In conclusion, I'm not sure I recommend this trilogy per-se, it's hard to read (and not just "literature" hard, but in fact, some cases of poor writing) and there are a lot of better things out there. However this is a classic, and it was back when this kind of thing was new, and in the end, if you make it through all three books, I felt was worth the effort. There is one, huge mystery to unravel, Morgon's Star-Bearer destiny, and it's a big one. And the ending comes with a price, it was not a happily ever after.
|
