Authors reviewed:

Robin Hobb
Michael Scott Rohan
Sean Stewart
J.R.R. Tolkien
Tad Williams

Robin Hobb

The Farseer

The Farseer is a trilogy which starts off with Assassin's Apprentice. The main character is Fitzchivalry, the illegitimate child of Prince Chivalry of the Six Duchies. In the first book Fitzchivalry is a small child being raised by a stableman loyal to Chivalry. King Shrewd has Fitzchivalry trained as a royal assassin and he finds himself drawn into the intrigues at court and the politics of the land which sometimes call for the aid of a royal assassin... Along with internal strife, barbarians reminiscent of vikings are raiding the coast of the Six Duchies 'forging' the people. Essentially this means that their humanity is taken from them, leaving them as brutal animals.
Fitzchivalry is gifted with magic. Hobb describes these magic abilities in some detail, and I think she uses magic in an interesting way, representing intellect and emotions. Hobb really has created a fantastic story with people you care about. The hero Fitzchivalry is gifted but not invulnerable. He makes mistakes and faces many challenges and continues to mature throughout the story.


The trilogy continues with Royal Assassin and the series is brought to its end with Assassin's Quest. The first two book are similar in that most of the plots take place around Buckkeep, the royal castle. In the third book Fitzchivalry ventures forth on a quest which involves travelling through a large portion of the Six Duchies. On his journey he has to struggle with conflicting loyalties and Hobb continues to explore and develop the magic of her world.


Hobb wraps up the plots nicely enough in Assassin's Quest, but I feel she did hurry to bring the story to a rather abrupt end. This is a very minor quirk though, this is first-rate fantasy. I seldom read the same book several times but I will definitly be reading this series again.
Robin Hobb is a pseudonym for Megan Lindholm.

Michael Scott Rohan

The Winter of the World

This series is one of the lesser known (at least outside Great Britain) works of fantasy. It deserves more readers as it is one of the best series I have read. It stands head and shoulders above most other fantasy series. In the first book The Anvil of Ice, a young boy, Alv witnesses the pillaging of his village by sea raiders. A mysterious man sailing with the raiders saves Alv from being sold as a slave and takes him to his remote castle. There he becomes an apprentice to the mysterious man who is a Master Smith. As Alv becomes older he begins to wonder who the Master Smith really is. Why does he live in a remote castle far from any towns ? Who are the mysterious visitors .... Part two in the series is The Forge in the Forest. The third and concluding part is The Hammer of the Sun. They are of the same high quality as the first installment.


Not only are peoples, cultures and various races portrayed, gods intervene from time to time. Some of these gods are influenced by norse mythology. Rohan has a remarkable ability to bring life to his fantasy world, its a joy reading about all its details. This is high fantasy, very much in the tradition of Tolkien as far as the quality of the work is concerned, but also very original. The series is accompanied by a lengthy appendix which adds greatly to this work. Rohan has recently (winter 98) written a fourth part in this series, The Castle of the Winds. I haven't had the time to read it as yet.

Sean Stewart

Nobody's Son

Summary:A terrible spell makes the Ghostwood a dreaded and haunted place. Many heroes have tried to break the spell and failed. A young man finally succeeds in releasing the Ghostwood from the spell and in return is rewarded by the king. He is given the hand of the kings remaining unmarried daughter. Also he receives a duchy to rule, close to the Ghostwood.

Comments:Normally this is where most fantasy books end. In this novel however the heroe´s troubles begin after his heroic deed is completed. Being Nobody´s son, a simple man of low birth, he has to get accustomed to the rules of conduct at court. He also must learn about the plotting and scheming that people with power play at. Stewart contrasts the manners of the nobles at court with the fresh heroe´s quite simple manners and often improper conduct. The novel is very funny at times, Stewart has a good sense of humour. He manages to create an involving story with likeable characters and this is certainly a fantasy novel with an original twist. The conclusion to the story is one of the best I´ve read. The book goes to show that fantasy can be very good even if the book is only a 300-page novel and not a huge epic.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Work: The Hobbit 
Year: 1937   

The Hobbit is a prequel to Lord of the Rings of sorts. Written much earlier, it is intended for children. I remember being hugely entertained by it. This was my favorite book when I was a kid. You will appreciate it as an adult too I think. Just don't expect it to be as serious as Lord of the Rings. Tolkien later regretted writing it, he felt he had ridiculed the Elves(and Gandalf!). I think that's a shame. I know people who prefer this book to Lord of the Rings.

Work: The Lord Of The Rings 
Year: First published in 1954,1955
Version read: BCA 1991 
ISBN: 9780044406792 
Genre: Epic fantasy 

This is the epic fantasy masterpiece that started it all. It is not really the sequel to The Hobbit, only in a superficial sense. This epic was not intended to be read by children, and is a much darker and more serious work than The Hobbit.
In Lord Of The Rings, the magic ring found by Bilbo in The Hobbit is passed on to Frodo. Later, Gandalf pays Frodo a visit warning him that the ring should not be used by him, for any reason. When it's almost too late it is discovered that the ring is more dangerous than anybody had ever believed and must be destroyed...


Tolkien spent years working on Lord Of The Rings and before he started writing it he had already developed languages and a mythology for the peoples of Middle-earth. This mythology was meant to become England's very own and it is very sophisticated and quite profound. You can read more about it in Silmarillion.


This background gives Lord Of The Rings a special and truly unique atmosphere. When reading the trilogy you again and again are 'tickled' by Tolkien with the underlying history of his secondary world. No other fantasy author to this date has laboured to create an alternative world as complex as Tolkien's. His secondary world includes elements taken from norse mythology, Tolkien was well oriented with various mythologies, but mainly his incredible imagination lays behind it. It seems to me that Tolkien thought of his world as a 'real' one in a sense, what with the languages he developed for the peoples etc. You can tell that writing the trilogy took many years, the tone gets darker and more archaic the further you read.
Lord Of The Rings is a great story with a depth and a literary quality that most fantasy writers today cannot match.

Tad Williams

Memory Sorrow & Thorn

The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower make up this trilogy. Williams has created the land of Osten Ard in which these books take place. It is inhabited by ordinary people, 'the 'sithi'(elves), norns and numerous other peoples and strange beings. Hayholt is the largest city in Osten Ard, it is ruled by Prestor John. Hatholt is situated above the remains of an ancient subterranean city of the sithi. Rumor has it that the city is not entirely abandoned.... The old king dies and is succeded by one his sons. The son is 'guided' by a malovelent priest. The king's other son, Josua, is put under arrest. A young boy, Simon, who works in the kitchen begins his apprenticeship with Morgenes, wizard and leader of "The League of the Scroll". Simon succesfully gets Josua out of the dungeons. Josua then makes his escape through the undergound city of the sithi.
Then the story really picks up, the norns(dark elves) have a secret plan to conquer all of Osten Ard....
Williams has stated that he wrote this trilogy in part as a "dialogue" with Tolkien's famous work Lord of the Rings which impressed him greatly. Despite this the books have quite a different tone from Tolkien's. The line between good and evil isn't as distinct and several of the main characters have to cope with conflicting loyalties. Tolkien's world was heathen, Williams' on the other hand has elements of christianity. There are many characters in the series worth following.


All in all I think 'Memory sorrow & Thorn' will appeal to all readers of fantasy. I would rate it as second only to Tolkien's works.