Review: The Shattered Vine by Laura Anne Gilman

Publication Date: October 18, 2011
by Gallery Books
Genre: Fantasy
Source: review copy from publisher

Jerzy, Vineart apprentice and former slave, was sent by his master to investigate strange happenings—and found himself the target of betrayal. Now he must set out on his own journey, to find the source of the foul taint that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. By Jerzy’s side are Ao, who lives for commerce and the art of the deal; Mahault, stoic and wise, risking death in flight from her homeland; and Kaïnam, once Named-Heir of an island principality, whose father has fallen into a magic-tangled madness that endangers them all.

These four companions will travel far from the earth and the soul of the vine, sailing along coastlines aflame with fear, confronting sea creatures summoned by darkness, and following winds imbued with malice. Their journey will take them to the very limits of the Sin Washer’s reach . . . and into a battle for the soul of the Lands Vin. For two millennia the Sin Washer’s Commandment has kept these lands in order: Those of magic shall hold no power over men and those princes of power shall hold no magic. Now, that law has given way. And a hidden force seeks the havoc of revenge.

Laura Anne Gilman is a great writer. Unfortunately, her style is really not for me. I prefer a little more quick and dirty style, rather than the thoughtful, more literary style that she writes in.

The story's magic system is where vinearts (the mages) use spellwine to do magic. They also have what is called "quiet magic". Instead of saying, Jerzy used quiet magic to _________, we hear how he gathered saliva in his mouth to do the magic, what he was thinking, what was going on around him, other spellwines he might recently have used, etc. For some, this might make them immersed in the story, and according to the many high reviews on goodreads, I believe this is the case. For me, it just felt tedious. The whole book is like this.

Some books I give lower grades because I believe the writer isn't very talented and it wasn't well written at all. I don't think that's the case with Gilman. I think she is very good at what she does, and has a real talent for writing. There are lots of people who will love her writing and her style, I'm just not one of them.
Grade: C 

Review: Weight of Stone by Laura Anne Gilman

Publication Date: Oct. 20, 2010
by Pocket Books
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy from publisher

Jerzy, Vineart apprentice and former slave, was sent by his master to investigate strange happenings—and found himself the target of betrayal. Now he must set out on his own journey, to find the source of the foul taint that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. By Jerzy's side are Ao, who lives for commerce and the art of the deal; Mahault, stoic and wise, risking death in flight from her homeland; and KaÏnam, once Named-Heir of an island principality, whose father has fallen into a magic-tangled madness that endangers them all.
These four companions will travel far from the earth and the soul of the vine, sailing along coastlines aflame with fear, confronting sea creatures summoned by darkness, and following winds imbued with malice. Their journey will take them to the very limits of the Sin Washer's reach . . . and into a battle for the soul of the Lands Vin. For two millennia the Sin Washer's Commandment has kept these lands in order: Those of magic shall hold no power over men and those princes of power shall hold no magic. Now, that law has given way. And a hidden force seeks the havoc of revenge.

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I felt like the first book in the Vineart War series was quite slow to start, and maybe a little over-descriptive.  This second book was much better.  There were still some slower parts, but with enough action mixed in to make the pacing just about right.  Jerzy is becoming a more interesting character as the series progresses, and I'm really looking forward to finding out what will happen next.

This is not really my normal type of reading.  Yes, it is fantasy, but I tend to gravitate towards epic fantasies.  I'm not sure what you would classify this under, but it's not quite the same thing.  I would recommend it to fans of more thoughtful, literary type fantasy.  Grade: B-

Review: Flesh and Fire

Book Details

Title: Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War

Author: Laura Anne Gilman

Genre: Fantasy

Page Count: 374

Publishing Info: October 13th 2009 by Pocket

My Review

Why I read it: Reading Cove Book Club

The Plot: Fourteen centuries ago, all power was held by the prince-mages, who alone could craft the spell-wines. But the people revolted against harsh rule, and were saved by a demigod called Sin-Washer, who broke the First Vine, shattering the hold of the prince-mages.
In 1378 ASW, princes still rule, but Vinearts now make spellwines, less powerful than in days of old. Jerzy, a young slave, has just begun his studies to become a Vineart when his master uncovers the first stirrings of a plot to finish the work Sin-Washer began, and shatter the remains of the Vine forever. Only his master believes the magnitude and danger of this plot. And only Jerzy has the ability to stop it…before there are no more Vinearts left at all.
The first half (or maybe 3/4ths) of this book was agonizingly slow.  Page after page of pretty much the same thing.  It's very much a set-up book for the rest of the series.

The Characters: Jerzy is the main character, and he's really the only one we get to know.  I felt like we knew every thought and feeling of Jerzy's, but didn't get beyond the surface of any of the other characters.  You'd expect that in a first person novel, but this was third person, and the author could have done better in that aspect.

The Setting: The setting is described in great detail in this book, over and over.  If you read this and can't picture the grapevines and the buildings and such, you're just not trying.  There are plenty of things we could have been given more information about, but the setting wasn't one of them.

A Sample of the Writing:
Jerzy refused to allow those memories to resurface.  That was a life that had happened to someone else, a story told and retold until he knew all the twists and turns but felt little of the emotions the players must have felt.  It was Then.  This, the aches and pains of his backside, the jostle and slosh of the spellwines on his saddle, the creak of the leathers and the clodding noises of the horses' hooves on the packed dirt road, this was the Now.  Now he was no slave, but an apprentice Vineart on a mission of great importance for his master.

Who Should Read This? Those who like descriptive writing.

Final Thoughts: If I hadn't have been reading this as a group read, I would have most likely given up on it.  It was just so slow for most of the book.  The writing wasn't necessarily bad, it was just over-descriptive (I tried to give a sample of the descriptive writing above) and a bit repetitive.  Surprisingly, the last bit of the book made up for it.  It was enough for me to say I actually liked the book.  I feel that this was an overly long set-up, but it was quite the set-up, and done well enough to make me want to read the next book, so I'd consider that it did it's job.  Now, if I read the second book and there's another half a book of set-up, that'll be it for me with this author.  We'll see.

Grade: B

Cover Thoughts: I like the cover, and I think it fits pretty well with the story.