Just Finished...a good read

[L'Aile]

Just finished The Hidden Stars. I felt like it really started to move at the end...I am anxious to read the next one. Kelpie, you are quite the storyteller. I particularily enjoyed the relationship between Sinderian and her father, Faolein. Also, enjoyed the invented language(s)--am I off-base, or do I detect a hint of Latin-esque inflection? JRR Tolkien wrote LOTR as a platform for his invented language(s), and even though I am a linguist, I don't aspire to anything so enormous...did you have the language before you started, or is it "off the cuff?"

By the way, I will be recommending the book to friends, family, people that I accost in Borders, etc. Thanks for an engaging read.
L'Aile

[Teresa Edgerton]

The language is more inflected than English -- interesting that you noticed that with such a limited sample. Not being so very knowledgable about liguistics myself, I won't expose myself to you or anyone else by saying much more than that.

I spent about a year working on the language and maps in the early stages of thinking about the book. So the language was invented for the trilogy, but mostly before I did much writing on the first book. It was interesting for me to see how my plans for the story shaped the language, and how the language shaped certain aspects of the story (particularly the back story).

If you are interested in invented languages in general, L'Aile, there's a topic on just that subject in the Aspiring Writers forum.

edited the next morning:

No, I'm wrong, the invented language thread has been moved from Aspiring Writers to keep my other threads company right here.

[Alia]

The book is an awesome fantasy, nothing short of an excellent read!!
Wondering, Kelpie, when the next book is to be release? I'm anxiously awaiting to continue the adventure. Have you finished all three of them already?

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks, Alia.

The second volume is scheduled for the spring, it's not quite finished and I'm still trying to figure out what the heck to call it. The gap between that one and book three should be a lot shorter.

[Paradox 99]

Just finished reading the Hidden Stars too.
I knew right from the opening pages it was going to be a good read but by the time I'd got to the end I came to the conclusion that it's one of the most colourful books I've read - and I mean "colourful" literally. It was very rich in that sense.

I was away for the weekend when I reached the part depicted on the cover. The entire world around me disappeared whilst I got lost in that.
The characters were interesting, especially Prince Ruan, and Ourianna carries a real sense of omnipotence and dread. I too am really looking forward to the next installment - don't keep us waiting too long!

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks, Paradox. That's one of the effects I particularly strive for -- to take readers out of this world and into my own -- so it's always encouraging to be told I've succeeded.

(Particularly with an action scene like that one, because those don't come so easily.)

[I, Brian]

I agree that the ship scene was good - just read past that part - seemed the novel seemed to hit a new gear with the scene. I remember a sample of that section was posted up a while back.

[Marky Lazer]

I have four chapters to go. It took me a while to really get into it, but now I feel a bit like addicted and need to force myself to quit reading and do something I intended to do in the first place.

[I, Brian]

Finally finished it - also had trouble getting into it at first, as it's a fairly slow pace for a while, but events such as E- wizard event and the first ship event helped develop it, and towards the book it was on full steam.

The descriptions were well-used and there was a good use of short sharp detail spread about the scenes, but the one thing I wasn't so keen on was the number of Point of View characters - for example, near the end when we're focused on Winloki and then we get a Kivik scene covering what I'd prefered to have seen from Winloki's POV - though Kivik's scene was very well written.

I think it was more that I wanted to get into the characters more, so the shift in POV to other characters seemed to take away from that, but otherwise a quite enjoyable story.

Got to go ask a question on the other thread now.

[GOLLUM]

Just completed Hidden Stars. Overall an above average read and I certainly intend to read the next installment. Teresa' skill as a storyteller is obvious and I certainly felt I was in competetent hands.

Interesting about the comments on the use of invented languages as I certainly felt more than just a hint of Tolkien in this book. It's a pity the map wasn't published with the book but I found the geography easy enough to follow.

I've written a short review in the June reading thread in the General Books sections, more from the literary viewpoint of the novel rather than the actual story itself.

Not sure if it's appropriate to repost it here as a seperate thread or part of this one or not as members may be interested??

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks, Gollum. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

Thanks, Gollum. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Yes I did. So much so I've been doing a little bit of promoting of your book elsewhere in cyberspace. Interestingly enough I have started corrseponding with Janny Wurts whom I believe knows you. Janny is something of a prose idol for me. She wasn't aware of your name change so I suggested she might like to check out Hidden Stars, which she seemed interested to do, so I hope you don't mind? She relayed the fact that she enjoyed your Gnome's Engine quite a bit. I'm not a published author but I'd imagine it must be nice in particular to gain praise from one's peers.

Here's a short critique I did on Hidden Stars from a literary standpoint in case any other members might be interested:

Whilst there are obvious influences from Tolkien including the use of invented languages and the plot has its fair share of fantasy tropes I felt there was enough originality in Howard's world to keep me interested. The prose on the whole is well crafted without being spectacular and in parts reminded me of a hybrid along the lines of authors such as McKillip and LeGuin but maybe that's just me as it certainly had in sections that magical quality one associates with hearthside tales told on cold winter nights. Howard's strength as a storyteller in her ability to neatly balance various elements of a story is obvious. I certainly felt as a reader that I was in pretty competent hands. The level of worldbuilding however whilst not insubstantial to my liking may have been better fleshed out in terms of a history and backstory but then in fairness to the author I suspect it will be in subsequent installments. The battle scenes were fair but not as detailed or “in your face” as I would’ve personally preferred, however other aspects of Howard’s descriptive prose like the various landscapes and cities visited were a particular highlight for this reviewer. The character development is engaging without being deeply multi-layered (in fairness to this point in time, although I'm sure as the story develops so will the characters) and the dialogue, which is always a difficult thing to perfect, is very well suited to the storyline.

The absence of a map was a mild annoyance although I understand it's available via Howard’s website and the way the story was developed it was easy enough to follow the geography. I liked the way the various magical concepts and words were introduced although I believe a list of characters and magical elements at the back of the book wouldn't have gone astray.

In short not one of the novels to rank as a Masterwork but a more than solid contribution to the Genre.

For those who follow so-called rankings or ratings I give this book 7.5 stars out of 10, although if I was more into traditional style fantasy these days I’ld probably rate it closer to an 8.

Well done Teresa on a solid start. I for one intend to follow this series through to its conclusion

[Brown Rat]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

The absence of a map was a mild annoyance although I understand it's available via Howard’s website and the way the story was developed it was easy enough to follow the geography.

Here's a link to the map Gollum mentions, for anyone who is interested: http://thehiddenstars.com/mh-map.htm

Teresa, you used software to create the map, didn't you? I think it looks good--more professional than a pen drawing, and the font has a real fantasy feel.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thank you, Gollum -- for the review, and for the promotion elsewhere.

Yes, I had some contact on-and-off with Janny Wurts back in the old days of the SFRT on GEnie. I've always envied her artistic talent -- it seems to me that to be able to render your visions in paint as well as words must be the height of bliss (not to mention being able to provide beautiful and appropriate cover art for your own books!).

I seem to remember that she liked Goblin Moon and TGE, but was less enthusiastsic about the Green Lion books, so perhaps she wouldn't find THS so much to her taste either.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes, I created the map using the Appleworks paint program. I've made more attractive maps (I think) since, and I'd include one here in this forum, but I'm not sure how to do it.

EDIT: I think I've done it, but I don't know if other people can see it on their machines.