Review: C.S. Friedman, The Coldfire Trilogy

[winter]

On the distant world of Erna, four people--Priest, Adept, Sorcerer, and Apprentice--are drawn together to battle the forces of evil, led by the demonic fae, a soul-destroying force that preys on the human mind.

That’s the plot summary for Black Sun Rising, the first book of the Coldfire Trilogy (the other two are When True Night Falls and Crown of Shadows). Sounds like a bad RPG scenario, doesn’t it? And instead it’s one of the best fantasy books I’ve ever read.

C.S. Friedman is a highly skilled writer, with a tight visual style that carries you straight into a character’s head until you’re inside looking out. She has also built a fascinating world: Erna is not “once upon a time”, but a planet in the far reaches of our own Galaxy, on which a colony ship lands when the choice is between it and sailing on into starless space. On this planet, energy fields (the fae) can manipulate and be manipulated by the human mind, and in both cases the results are often disastrous.

Just this world, in which a warrior-priest can slice demonlings to shreds in one breath and perform an operation to correct a congenital heart defect in the next, a world where faith can really work miracles, would be interesting enough. But that’s not the reason why I gulped down three 600+page books in as many days.

Damien Vryce (warrior priest, healer, professional pain in the ass) and Gerald Tarrant (vampire, sorcerer, prophet, winner of the title of most stubbornly proud man on Erna for the past nine hundred years running) are two of the most fascinating characters I’ve had the pleasure to encounter. Gerald, evil and corrupt, is all that Damien hates; Damien, devoted and conflicted by the dichotomy between his faith and his magic, is all that Gerald doesn’t want to remember. Fireworks? Try WMDs.

Other characters are painted almost equally vividly, and the author has a talent for making the reader see all sides of the story. The surface plot of each book is a quest, but it’s the inner journey and character transformation that’s the real story. A character-driven fantasy book is rare enough; one this well-written is a gem.

And it doesn’t exactly hurt that Gerald and Damien are made for each other. If any slashers need enticement, highlight this (minor spoilers, nothing that’ll diminish your enjoyment of the book): midway through the first book, Damien allows Gerald to drink his blood in order to form a bond that’ll allow Gerald to feed on his fear by weaving nightmares for him. The one adjective Damien always uses when describing Gerald is "seductive". Gerald will literally or verbally bite off the head of anyone who opposes him – except Damien. Damien is also the one person who can touch Gerald, or whom Gerald willingly touches. Whenever Gerald’s upset about something, he storms out (slamming doors if any are available) and then waits for Damien to come reason with him. And that’s not even mentioning what happens in the third book.

Word of warning though: the first book starts with a prologue that drives home just how nasty Gerald is – and that’s very nasty indeed. If you can’t forgive a character for killing his own children for his own means, Coldfire might not be for you. Or maybe just read the main book until the earthquake and then come back to read the prologue once you know you can root for Damien either way ;)

I'm not saying the books are perfect, because the pacing suffers sometimes and I have issues with the ending, but Coldfire is fascinating, rich, compelling, with a thousand possibilities – my current pet theory hinges on the way human subconsciousness influences the fae and vice versa, also known as "he’s not that evil, he’s just written that way". If you like fantasy in the slightest, do read it. If only so that I can have more victims for the Coldfire fics I’m writing.

Comments

[jehzavere.livejournal.com]

*drools* It sounds delicious. Excellent, I was actually looking for a new series to get in to. I will have to pick this up sometime tomorrow. Thank you~ <3

[winter]

Just a word of warning: may cause insomnia. My mother started the first book yesterday morning, almost dropped it after the prologue, and then stayed up until 3AM reading it. I think she managed to pour water instead of milk into her cereal this morning :>

[jadeemperor.livejournal.com]

*grins* I would /love/ to see Coldfire fics from you, I read the books a couple years ago actually. I also love the two characters you're talking about in your post too, especially Gerald, he was my hands down favorite character of the whole thing.

There was a lot of things I loved about the entire series, but I sadly lack the coherence to properly express them here. Though now I want to re-read the series but lack the books to do it since I originally had gotten them from the library when I first read them and that's not really a viable option now.

[winter]

Hey, it took me a week before the sheer level of squee died down enough that I was able to write something coherent ;) Gerald's such an adorable cold-hearted bastard, isn't he?

If you don't mind e-texts, things can be arranged.

[jadeemperor.livejournal.com]

XD Don't you just adore the cover art for CoS? I have a wall print of it *grin* and Yes, he IS.

ooh, really? I don't mind e-texts, I have a few e-books on my pc now actually ^^

[winter]

I think he looks far too angelic on that cover ;) I'd like him much better if he didn't bully me into writing fic, really. I've got 8,000 words of a random post-Trilogy Tarrant family thing, an upcoming Buffy crossover on crack, and I may have promised him a first-time fic just so he'll shut up for a while...

I'll send them your way once I get home. Does Hotmail accept larger files, or should I use MegaUpload?

[jadeemperor.livejournal.com]

*grin* I'd love to read that once your finished with it too.


Actually if you want; I have a gmail account. ryuukasasuke@gmail.com but other than that megaupload is also great. Thanks muchly!

[mariem-1.livejournal.com]

I watched first 5 seasons of Buffy, so I can look at that crossover too.

[alice_montrose]

Just one correction - it's now closer to a thousand years since Gerald has held that title! :D

Nobody likes the ending... but then again, just what is the ending. It's debatable. For me, the book technically ends with the patriarch's Sacrifice. the rest is just some glimpses of what happens in the future, and leave one heck of a wide berth for speculation by fans. Not that we mind, of course.

As for the insomnia danger... they're teh only books, aside from the Nightrunner Series and the Dark Jewels Trilogy (and assorted books set in teh same universe), who managed to do that. *nod nod* One heck of a mingle between SciFi and Fantasy, too!

[winter]

Well, that depends on what you regard as the beginning. Then again, that might well have been "starting his own mega-Church to fulfill his vision" :>

My main issue with the ending is Gerald's second sacrifice, which IMHO is not only incredibly stupid, but also against the dramatic rhythm of the story - at this point he should have a slow journey of redemption ahead of him with Damien at his side dammit and not either an easy death (in which case, why the hell did he survive the first sacrifice only to fall to Andrys Tarrant, whiner supreme, of all people?), or a change that allows him to say "oh well, can't make up for the crimes someone else committed, and by the way did I mention that if I ever acknowledge I was the Hunter, up to and including feeling guilt for these crimes, I'll drop dead?". I know it can be regarded as dealing, in turn, with his crimes as the Hunter and his crimes against his own family, but - bah humbug. Lame. And totally unfair to Damien. Which, I guess, is why I'm writing fanfic.

(Now, if only I could make up a plausible reason to Gerald to be un-Hunter-ified and in the old body at the same time, because while the shorter height and longer hair have novelty value, I want the pale-skinned fallen angel back. Maybe I could just give Andrys a heart attack when he sees Gerald and Damien in the Forest?)

[mariem-1.livejournal.com]

There are several alternative endings to CoS where that scene with Andrys is rewritten.

[winter]

I know. I can't remember which fic that one is (shalott's?), but I'm very fond of the one where Damien refuses to leave and then Gerald knocks him out :>

But I'm stubborn, and so are my muses, so I'll probably end up writing my own version eventually.

[alice_montrose]

*snickers* The Church was already there - he only rewrite more than half their books and changed the focus of their worship. That's the man of genius to you... overworked!

I'm sure he had a secret agenda even after what happened on Shaitan. I no longer question his decisions and sacrifices - just take them is stride. Who can tell what he was thinking? He's still pretty much an enigma to all of us. Maybe he just wanted to give everyone some closure.

But fanfic is a good thing. And since there's pretty little space to place it within the action of the books, if one is writing Damien/Gerald of course (those months at sea are the only unexplored intervals of time, so unless the fic is introspective...), the "sequel" type seems to be favoured by all.

Lara made a plausable explanation, but didn't post it yet so you'll have to wait for that. Still. I am pretty much subjective when it comes to the new body - oh, that vast expanse of hair! *deep sigh*

[winter]

I just keep thinking that after Shaitan, he started making overcomplicated plans again, and Damien was too tired to drag them out of him and set him straight. Plus, I really don't see him coming up to Damien only to say goodbye - not after CoS and especially the way he all but admitted his feelings by the way he didn't want to go to Shaitan without Damien.

I have a few possibles to write mid-book, chief of these being the coldfire healing after Damien falls into the river, but sequels are definitely easier. And more fun, since it takes the pressure off the relationship, mostly.

She mentioned it to me, but didn't offer details. I'm of two minds about the bodies - me, I prefer the old one, but Gerald chose one that he likes and Damien definitely finds it attractive. The hair is a big factor for both of them. Oh, who am I kidding, for me too :D

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Working on it... I'm about to go from writing to editing, so it shouldn't take forever.

And the key idea was my wondering whether Gerald picked that body deliberately. I just don't think the implied vulnerability of that appearance would appeal to him that much. And then there is the issue of shape shifting usually not being permanent...

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Maybe I could just give Andrys a heart attack when he sees Gerald and Damien in the Forest?

That heart condition just has to be hereditary.

And total agreement on the second sacrifice. It's like escaping a Hollywood blockbuster catastrophe scenario and then being killed in a freak accident involving a banana.

The only explanation I can come up with for why he didn't just avoid that kind of situation is that after all those death and near-death experiences he's had in the last few days, he wasn't quite himself. *sigh* Or Andrys would have wound up dead really quickly.

[winter]

One could argue there's not that much difference between Andrys and a banana as far as intelligence is concerned ;)

Actually what would have been in character would be for Gerald to tell Damien to leave and let him take care of the puppy, upon which point Damien should have argued back that he didn't drag Gerald's ass all the way from Shaitan, fixing his heart on the way, to leave him alone now. Andrys would probably last about three minutes of waving his springbolt and going "hey!" only to be told to shut up before his head would implode. I can more or less follow Gerald's reasoning, but not Damien's in that scene.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*grumbles* As if I wasn't short enough on time already :P

[winter]

*makes a who, me? face*

No-one's forcing you to do anything, m'dear ;)

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*grumbles s'more* Stupid vampire sorcerer type person and slash and evil and good and grr *mumbles*

[winter]

Great, now you have him preening in the middle of a scene where he's supposed to be uncertain and out of his depth :P

(Did I mention that Gerald's manners are Revivalist - from an era where, in order to quell unrest and restore social order, the humans on Erna resurrected feudal structures, courtly manners and gothic architecture - and he's the Neocount of Merentha? Also, he evolved cats.)

[merentha.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that you've only just found this series. The Seishirou in my X fics was partly inspired by Tarrant. The Hunter has to be my all-time favourite character in fiction. I have to agree with you about the bad blurb for the first book. I almost didn't pick it up because it was so cliche, but the pretty Michael Whelan cover art of Tarrant was just too gorgeous to resist.

Friedman is a fantastic author of ideas, and I respect her for that. I haven't regretted reading any of her books, including The Erciyes Fragment which is inspired by the Vampire: Masquerade game. It's one creepy take on Cain's story in Genesis.

[winter]

I think the reason was that a, I quite frankly didn't hear about it, and b, the Polish edition got passed over as "yet another RPG novel". Gerald's a member of my all-time-favourites pantheon now too :)

I'll definitely be checking out other Friedman novels.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

All of Friedman's books are good - and very different from each other. Try This Alien Shore and The Madness Season, and you'll see what I mean.

[winter]

I'll definitely try them :) I think I may have found a new favourite-author, and for once she writes in various 'verses for variety. Far too many of my favourites (Gibson, Pratchett, Gaiman etc) stick to just one reality.