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mordproxy69's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Very focused on the main character Jame. The side characters are interesting but not super-well developed. Very episodic (but the "episodes" are pretty good). Lots of cool worldbuilding. Will definitely be checking out the sequel(s).
Since I listened to the audiobook instead of reading it (and I'm not a very good listener), take this review with a grain of salt.
Since I listened to the audiobook instead of reading it (and I'm not a very good listener), take this review with a grain of salt.
assaphmehr's review against another edition
5.0
This is another book I remembered very fondly from my teenagehood (I even had a limited-edition hardcover), and recently re-read to see how it withstood the test of time (as well as comparing older and newer young-adult fantasy). I enjoyed it tremendously. Below are my thoughts for prospective readers.
What to Expect
A highly entertaining story, setting up the beginning of an epic fantasy cycle. Hodgell is slowly building the mythology around the people, characters, and places in the world. Hints and back stories are alluded to, giving tantalising tastes of things to come. Structurally, the story takes place in important episodes over the span of a year and a bit. We get to know Jame, her companions, and the fantastic city and world as events interweave and grow in tempo to conclusion.
Allow me to go on a tangent: there is the question of the thieves guild. While this is a fantasy trope (and in Hodgell's defence, she published this in 1982), one always wonders about how cities can support this. There is the basic predator/pray populations ratio that every biologist will tell you about. Conversely, large enough populations to support such a large guild would be expected to develop mechanisms to cohabitate in close proximity. Be that as it may, this is handled well in the novel.
What I liked
Hodgell's story-telling and world-building are top-notch, her story pacing is excellent, and she balances light and dark themes perfectly. I love the tantalising glimpses into Jame's past, and the slowly-building tension around her. One can't help but feel immersed in the story, love Jame's vibrancy, and wish to learn more.
What to be aware of
The story is more or less self-contained, but it's obvious at the end that it is merely the beginning of a larger cycle. This novel was published in 1982, and I imagine some modern readers might find the style a bit dated. The latest installment (book 8) was published last year -- 35 years on. I believe the series is still not complete, though I expect GRRM fans will likely not mind this in the least.
The city of Tai-tastigon is wonderful, but the rest of the series takes place in other locations. Style also changes between novels, although I find the writing consistently excellent (specific notes on each volume are coming as I re-read them).
Summary
A highly recommended series. This is epic fantasy done right, with perfect balance of light and dark, and excellent, slowly-building pacing. I'm off to re-read the rest of the series (and read those newer volumes for the first time). If you love fantasy, I strongly suggest you add God Stalk to your TBR pile.
--
[a:Assaph Mehr|14422472|Assaph Mehr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1518065419p2/14422472.jpg], author of [b:Murder In Absentia|29500700|Murder In Absentia (Felix the Fox, #1)|Assaph Mehr|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1457914061s/29500700.jpg|46845657]: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.
What to Expect
A highly entertaining story, setting up the beginning of an epic fantasy cycle. Hodgell is slowly building the mythology around the people, characters, and places in the world. Hints and back stories are alluded to, giving tantalising tastes of things to come. Structurally, the story takes place in important episodes over the span of a year and a bit. We get to know Jame, her companions, and the fantastic city and world as events interweave and grow in tempo to conclusion.
Allow me to go on a tangent: there is the question of the thieves guild. While this is a fantasy trope (and in Hodgell's defence, she published this in 1982), one always wonders about how cities can support this. There is the basic predator/pray populations ratio that every biologist will tell you about. Conversely, large enough populations to support such a large guild would be expected to develop mechanisms to cohabitate in close proximity. Be that as it may, this is handled well in the novel.
What I liked
Hodgell's story-telling and world-building are top-notch, her story pacing is excellent, and she balances light and dark themes perfectly. I love the tantalising glimpses into Jame's past, and the slowly-building tension around her. One can't help but feel immersed in the story, love Jame's vibrancy, and wish to learn more.
What to be aware of
The story is more or less self-contained, but it's obvious at the end that it is merely the beginning of a larger cycle. This novel was published in 1982, and I imagine some modern readers might find the style a bit dated. The latest installment (book 8) was published last year -- 35 years on. I believe the series is still not complete, though I expect GRRM fans will likely not mind this in the least.
The city of Tai-tastigon is wonderful, but the rest of the series takes place in other locations. Style also changes between novels, although I find the writing consistently excellent (specific notes on each volume are coming as I re-read them).
Summary
A highly recommended series. This is epic fantasy done right, with perfect balance of light and dark, and excellent, slowly-building pacing. I'm off to re-read the rest of the series (and read those newer volumes for the first time). If you love fantasy, I strongly suggest you add God Stalk to your TBR pile.
--
[a:Assaph Mehr|14422472|Assaph Mehr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1518065419p2/14422472.jpg], author of [b:Murder In Absentia|29500700|Murder In Absentia (Felix the Fox, #1)|Assaph Mehr|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1457914061s/29500700.jpg|46845657]: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.
msaari's review against another edition
4.0
Lankhmar, Ankh-Morpork, Ambergris, New Crobuzon — näiden nimekkäiden fantasiakaupunkien joukkoon kuuluu ehdottomasti P. C. Hodgellin luoma Tai-Tastigon, joka on God Stalkin tapahtumapaikkana. Tunnelmalliseen kaupunkiin tutustutaan ensimmäistä kertaa hurjimpana mahdollisena päivänä, kuolleiden jumalien juhlana, kun riivaajien takaa-ajama Jame kompuroi turvaan kaupunginmuurien sisäpuolelle, vain joutuakseen uudenlaiseen vaaraan.
Jame löytää onnekseen itselleen sijan majatalosta ja ystäviäkin. Ensimmäisen yön hetkellinen tuttavuus johtaa oppipojan paikkaan Tai-Tastigonin maineikkaimman varkaan alaisena. Varkaan ammatti on kummallinen valinta Jamelle, joka on kencyr, osa kummallista kansaa. Kencyreille kunnia-asiat ovat siinä määrin iso juttu, että kencyrin syyttäminen valehtelemisesta on takuuvarma keino päästä hengestään. Ja sitten varkaaksi?
Jamesta tuleekin kaupungin erikoisin varas, eikä kaupunki muutenkaan ole enää entisensä, kun Jame pääsee vauhtiin. Kasvukertomuksen tapaisessa tarinassa riittää toimintaa ja pohdittavaa, kun Jame muistaa pikkuhiljaa menneitä — kas kun Jamella on muistissaan ainakin muutaman vuoden mittainen aukko.
P.C. Hodgell on kehitellyt aidosti omaperäisen fantasiamaailman. Kencyrit ovat äärimmäisen kiehtova luomus, samoin kyllä koko muukin maailma. Alkuun tarina lähinnä hämmästyttää, mutta pikkuhiljaa asiat selviävät. Tarina jatkuu ainakin kolmen kirjan verran, joten paljon jää vielä epäselväksi tässä ensimmäisessä osassa.
Parikymmentä vuotta työn alla ollut sarja on ollut paikoin varsin vaikeasti saatavilla. Kirjojen oikeudet ovat nykyään Baenilla, joka on onneksi julkaissut uusintalaitoksia. Ensimmäiset kaksi osaa (God Stalk ja Dark of the Moon) on koottu yksiin kansiin nimellä The God Stalker Chronicles (tai Dark of the Gods), Seeker’s Bane sisältää seuraavat kaksi (Seeker’s Mask ja To Ride a Rathorn). (23.7.2009)
Jame löytää onnekseen itselleen sijan majatalosta ja ystäviäkin. Ensimmäisen yön hetkellinen tuttavuus johtaa oppipojan paikkaan Tai-Tastigonin maineikkaimman varkaan alaisena. Varkaan ammatti on kummallinen valinta Jamelle, joka on kencyr, osa kummallista kansaa. Kencyreille kunnia-asiat ovat siinä määrin iso juttu, että kencyrin syyttäminen valehtelemisesta on takuuvarma keino päästä hengestään. Ja sitten varkaaksi?
Jamesta tuleekin kaupungin erikoisin varas, eikä kaupunki muutenkaan ole enää entisensä, kun Jame pääsee vauhtiin. Kasvukertomuksen tapaisessa tarinassa riittää toimintaa ja pohdittavaa, kun Jame muistaa pikkuhiljaa menneitä — kas kun Jamella on muistissaan ainakin muutaman vuoden mittainen aukko.
P.C. Hodgell on kehitellyt aidosti omaperäisen fantasiamaailman. Kencyrit ovat äärimmäisen kiehtova luomus, samoin kyllä koko muukin maailma. Alkuun tarina lähinnä hämmästyttää, mutta pikkuhiljaa asiat selviävät. Tarina jatkuu ainakin kolmen kirjan verran, joten paljon jää vielä epäselväksi tässä ensimmäisessä osassa.
Parikymmentä vuotta työn alla ollut sarja on ollut paikoin varsin vaikeasti saatavilla. Kirjojen oikeudet ovat nykyään Baenilla, joka on onneksi julkaissut uusintalaitoksia. Ensimmäiset kaksi osaa (God Stalk ja Dark of the Moon) on koottu yksiin kansiin nimellä The God Stalker Chronicles (tai Dark of the Gods), Seeker’s Bane sisältää seuraavat kaksi (Seeker’s Mask ja To Ride a Rathorn). (23.7.2009)
annasirius's review against another edition
3.0
2.7
This novel calls many elements its own that make it - considering it's date of first publication - a surprisingly fresh read and should elevate it quickly to my top ten. Unfortunately, the writer was ambitious, as the blurps suggest, but to me she was not yet successful in realising her ambitions. Too often, I simply do not know why the main character, Jame, does what she does. E.g., she plans to leave the town as soon as the mountain passes clear - and yet she enters into an apprenticeship (a long-term commitment) that goes against all her deeply rooted religious beliefs. There is not much time spent on explaining what she finds fascinating about becoming a thief. Everytime Jame tries to figure out something about her people's past or religious beliefs, I feel entirely left in the dark: the author never provides the reader with any knowledge, any hints, in advance that would make Jame's heureka-moments enlightening. There are a bunch of characters in the book for which I needed to draw up a list to even remember who is who. Some of them have been given some detail to make them mildly exciting, but I didn't really bond with any. Bane is supposed to be the big, dark antagonist, but his characterisation as 'the guy who kills little boys sadistically for amusement' in absence of any other details is just clumsy. His helping Jame once is later called 'their uneasy friendship' (or some such thing) - to me, the two never established a relationship at all, and thus Jame's actions to provoke him make little sense to me.
In short, I think there is a lot of good material here, but it is not developed properly, leaving the story half raw and losing me on the way.
This novel calls many elements its own that make it - considering it's date of first publication - a surprisingly fresh read and should elevate it quickly to my top ten. Unfortunately, the writer was ambitious, as the blurps suggest, but to me she was not yet successful in realising her ambitions. Too often, I simply do not know why the main character, Jame, does what she does. E.g., she plans to leave the town as soon as the mountain passes clear - and yet she enters into an apprenticeship (a long-term commitment) that goes against all her deeply rooted religious beliefs. There is not much time spent on explaining what she finds fascinating about becoming a thief. Everytime Jame tries to figure out something about her people's past or religious beliefs, I feel entirely left in the dark: the author never provides the reader with any knowledge, any hints, in advance that would make Jame's heureka-moments enlightening. There are a bunch of characters in the book for which I needed to draw up a list to even remember who is who. Some of them have been given some detail to make them mildly exciting, but I didn't really bond with any. Bane is supposed to be the big, dark antagonist, but his characterisation as 'the guy who kills little boys sadistically for amusement' in absence of any other details is just clumsy. His helping Jame once is later called 'their uneasy friendship' (or some such thing) - to me, the two never established a relationship at all, and thus Jame's actions to provoke him make little sense to me.
In short, I think there is a lot of good material here, but it is not developed properly, leaving the story half raw and losing me on the way.
nghia's review against another edition
2.0
I was drawn to God Stalk because I heard it was second world (i.e. not our own) fantasy with Lovecraftian overtones. The overwhelming majority of Lovecraftian fiction is set in our world and generally in modern(ish) times.
It doesn't really deliver on that promise but I think that's more the fault of the recommendation I got than the book itself.
What it does deliver is a very early 1980s fantasy that has a lot of tremendously innovative things in it but doesn't really have a through-line story; instead it is a fairly disjointed set up episodes over the course of a year in the ancient city of Tai-tastigon.
First, what does this story do well? It was published in 1982, so going in you might expect something like "Tolkien-derivative with pointed-eared elves and poorly written women and some by-the-numbers romantic subplot". Somewhat refreshingly (especially for its vintage) it is none of those things.
Jame is definitely a Mary Sue -- within a few weeks she has conveniently met dozens of major players across town -- and the whole thing with her become an apprentice thief even though she's morally opposed to theft doesn't really hang together. (Allegedly she's doing it to make money to pay for passage out of town but she quickly earns the money another way but keeps on being an apprentice thief...because.)
There's not really much of a plot. Just a bunch of disconnected episodes and few of the other characters feature often enough to really develop. Jame's motivations for doing anything are pretty opaque. In theory she has two big drives in this book: she's missing 10+ years of her memory and she's trying to reconcile her (monotheistic) religion with the obvious reality of multiple gods in the city. Yet she's pretty blase about both of these and long stretches -- many months -- go by with her just, uh, what exactly does she do other than go to work and practice being a thief?
It is pretty clear that this is a debut effort and it doesn't feel that Hodgell got much from an editor in pulling things together. It is hard to shake the feeling that this is the introduction to the "real story", whatever that may be.
What I imagine is the big hook for many is the potential Hodgell shows glimpses of. Both in the bigger lore of the entire universe (some sort of multiverse with a devourer of worlds and a multi-thousand year retreat from losing battle after losing battle) and in the city of Tai-tastigon which has a supra-abundance of gods and temples. And these are really, actually, effective gods. Not "oh we believe in them" kind of gods. Hodgell has tons of great small touches about this but my favorite passage is when she enters one particular temple and she's nearly blinded by the light radiating from the god there. Not a statue of the god but the god itself. Her friend (who is a son of said god) says
It doesn't really deliver on that promise but I think that's more the fault of the recommendation I got than the book itself.
What it does deliver is a very early 1980s fantasy that has a lot of tremendously innovative things in it but doesn't really have a through-line story; instead it is a fairly disjointed set up episodes over the course of a year in the ancient city of Tai-tastigon.
First, what does this story do well? It was published in 1982, so going in you might expect something like "Tolkien-derivative with pointed-eared elves and poorly written women and some by-the-numbers romantic subplot". Somewhat refreshingly (especially for its vintage) it is none of those things.
Jame is definitely a Mary Sue -- within a few weeks she has conveniently met dozens of major players across town -- and the whole thing with her become an apprentice thief even though she's morally opposed to theft doesn't really hang together. (Allegedly she's doing it to make money to pay for passage out of town but she quickly earns the money another way but keeps on being an apprentice thief...because.)
There's not really much of a plot. Just a bunch of disconnected episodes and few of the other characters feature often enough to really develop. Jame's motivations for doing anything are pretty opaque. In theory she has two big drives in this book: she's missing 10+ years of her memory and she's trying to reconcile her (monotheistic) religion with the obvious reality of multiple gods in the city. Yet she's pretty blase about both of these and long stretches -- many months -- go by with her just, uh, what exactly does she do other than go to work and practice being a thief?
It is pretty clear that this is a debut effort and it doesn't feel that Hodgell got much from an editor in pulling things together. It is hard to shake the feeling that this is the introduction to the "real story", whatever that may be.
What I imagine is the big hook for many is the potential Hodgell shows glimpses of. Both in the bigger lore of the entire universe (some sort of multiverse with a devourer of worlds and a multi-thousand year retreat from losing battle after losing battle) and in the city of Tai-tastigon which has a supra-abundance of gods and temples. And these are really, actually, effective gods. Not "oh we believe in them" kind of gods. Hodgell has tons of great small touches about this but my favorite passage is when she enters one particular temple and she's nearly blinded by the light radiating from the god there. Not a statue of the god but the god itself. Her friend (who is a son of said god) says
"It would be even worse," he added, "if he were facing us directly. Instead, yes, he's still glaring back over his own shoulder. That's been going on for a good six years now. No one knows why."
rixx's review against another edition
2.0
God Stalk is a lot, and I think it's too much. The world is rich and the author glosses over much of it – which is something I like when done well (the city the book takes place in has strong China Mieville vibes!), but here it feels hasty and unfortunate.
Things going on at the same time: Our protagonist has selective memory loss and should really try to figure out what has happened to her, her family, her world. She also wants to carry some sacred artifacts to her twin brother, who she's not sure how to find. This is an absolute priority that she treats with little urgency. She comes to the city, and turns into a dancer, a thief apprentice with moral qualms, a god killer, and some other things.
The pacing is odd. The whole first chapter, for example, the protagonist is just on the verge of collapse, yet running around, fighting a bit, collapsing a bit more. Then there are parts that have deadly combat, parts with philosophy about how the gods work, and parts that are just the protagonist hanging out with their awesome pet cat? Any side characters (friend and foes) felt distant and vague to me, and they die easily and gruesomely. Queerness is not entirely played as a joke, when it appears, which is as much as you can expect from early 80s fantasy, I suppose.
I'm not sure why this felt more vague and less good to me than the Bas-Lag books – possibly because it both has the amazing confusing world *and* hints at a giant backstory, that is equal parts long-term (our protagonist's people has come from a different world thousands of years ago) and short-term (final reveal about her family). I was just … not convinced, sad as I was about it. There's a lot of good stuff – it's just so very uneaven.
Things going on at the same time: Our protagonist has selective memory loss and should really try to figure out what has happened to her, her family, her world. She also wants to carry some sacred artifacts to her twin brother, who she's not sure how to find. This is an absolute priority that she treats with little urgency. She comes to the city, and turns into a dancer, a thief apprentice with moral qualms, a god killer, and some other things.
The pacing is odd. The whole first chapter, for example, the protagonist is just on the verge of collapse, yet running around, fighting a bit, collapsing a bit more. Then there are parts that have deadly combat, parts with philosophy about how the gods work, and parts that are just the protagonist hanging out with their awesome pet cat? Any side characters (friend and foes) felt distant and vague to me, and they die easily and gruesomely. Queerness is not entirely played as a joke, when it appears, which is as much as you can expect from early 80s fantasy, I suppose.
I'm not sure why this felt more vague and less good to me than the Bas-Lag books – possibly because it both has the amazing confusing world *and* hints at a giant backstory, that is equal parts long-term (our protagonist's people has come from a different world thousands of years ago) and short-term (final reveal about her family). I was just … not convinced, sad as I was about it. There's a lot of good stuff – it's just so very uneaven.
mlejoy's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not really clear what the point of this book even was - except to set up book 2. There isn't much in the way of a plot, and a lot of the characters have no point. Why does Jame become a thief if she thinks it is wrong and doesn't even really steal much? She becomes apprenticed to the greatest thief in existence, but we really don't see him much or learn anything about her training. It was mostly entertaining to read, just not sure what the plot was or the point - except to meet Marc and get the cat as a pet.
I also don't love her writing style. There were several times where she writes something and I'm unclear who she is referencing or who was speaking. There wasn't much character development either. There's no one you're going to fall in love with or even hate. I'll give book 2 a shot, since I already bought it - could be book 1 was just a really long set up for the rest of the series.
I also don't love her writing style. There were several times where she writes something and I'm unclear who she is referencing or who was speaking. There wasn't much character development either. There's no one you're going to fall in love with or even hate. I'll give book 2 a shot, since I already bought it - could be book 1 was just a really long set up for the rest of the series.
fairymodmother's review against another edition
I am not sure I can review this right now. I think a few segments of the audiobook were out of order? So I'm kind of confused about what happened. Gonna try to get a print copy and see if I can connect the dots. I don't think it's the book's fault that I'm lost. I think that's technical issues.
kmherkes's review against another edition
5.0
Reading the many other reviews for P.C. Hodgell's writing, I'm inclined to conclude that she must be something like cilantro, or truffle oil, or hot Thai peppers. Many people love it, some people hate it, and no one stands on the middle ground of "Eh, it's nice enough, I suppose."
I stand firmly in the love-it camp. I revisit this series once every year or two, as new novels come out, and I always start back at the beginning, with God Stalk.
That's also about how often I treat myself to stir-fry with hot Thai peppers. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Once a year or so, I gorge on my treat until my scalp sweats from the heat, even though it leaves my tongue burned and my throat raw. For me, Hodgell's work is that kind of experience. The writing isn't without its drawbacks, but oh, the supernova explosion of flavors, colors, textures and spice! The story and the characters and the world are worth every wince.
You'll love it or you'll hate it. I urge you to try it, if you dare to immerse yourself in a world of dazzling originality and a plot of epic complexity and universal scope. There are gods-a-plenty, more magic than the world can safely hold, immigrants and natives, a long, colorful history, a reality-destroying threat, family betrayal, scandals, rogues, thieves, a hint or two of incest...God Stalk in particular is a big glorious mishmash of ideas that you can either gobble up indiscriminately, or poke at, bemused by the tangled mess it makes on the plate.
I don't review plot specifics. That's why cover blurbs exist, and synopses, and wikis. What I will offer are four disclaimers:
1) If you're a plot purist, if you expect the gun in Act 1 to get used in Act 3, you will be aggravated. If you are more concerned with the whys and hows of the storyline than the living, breathing details of the characters and their messy lives, then you may find it frustrating. The joys in this book are in the brilliance of its scenic moments and the occasional flashes of genius in its dialogue, not its cohesive presentation.
2) P.C. Hodgell writes with a deceptively simple presentation that hides a lot of stylistic quirks. I love the way she makes the words flow, but then again, I write in the same not-as-simple-as-it-looks style. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard, "It's really rough for a hundred pages or so, and then it gets better, I guess that's where you hit your stride." then I could buy a steak dinner at Mortons. A bunch of Hodgell reviews say the same thing. It makes me sigh.
I find it useful to translate that criticism to mean that it may take a reader about a hundred pages to get accustomed to the author's style and stop noticing it. Critics of Literary Fiction consider this burden to fall on the shoulders of the reader. (F'rex, no one will ever say, "Ah, Finnegan's Wake. It was confusing for the first few chapters, but then James Joyce got his act together, so I'll only subtract one star from the rating.) For some reason, many reviewers and readers of genre fiction conclude that it's a flaw, rather than a feature.
3) If you have a low tolerance for metaphor, colorful description and body parts that move with their own purpose, then this book will make you twitch. That's a recent style-critic complaint I'm seeing far more often these days, and it's another one that makes me roll my eyes and mutter curses at my computer. People's fingers do curl. Their knees go weak. It isn't a sin to describe them as such. (Like anything good, the trick can be overdone. That's a matter of taste, not rule. ANYway.) Writing should have rhythm. If adding some superfluous" words or "cliche" phrases makes the pattern hit the right beats, then I vote yes, and with enthusiasm.
4) This book is the first in a series of seven. God Stalk came out in 1983. The sequel, Dark of the Moon, came out in 1985. The next took another 9 years to be released, and a gap of 12 passed before the fourth hit the shelves. The author's writing changes a lot between, and in a couple of cases within books. On top of that, the plots go from murky, intricate plots to the more commercially acceptable simple storylines -- although interestingly enough, they all stick to the same, 'a year to each book' coverage. I found the shift from book 3 to four a little jarring..but I got over it.
If none of those caveats put you off -- and they certainly don't deter me from my regular samplings of Hodgell's work -- if they pique your interest instead, or actively arouse your interest, then order up Baen Books' omnibus editions of the first few novels, pick up your mental chopsticks and dig in.
I stand firmly in the love-it camp. I revisit this series once every year or two, as new novels come out, and I always start back at the beginning, with God Stalk.
That's also about how often I treat myself to stir-fry with hot Thai peppers. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Once a year or so, I gorge on my treat until my scalp sweats from the heat, even though it leaves my tongue burned and my throat raw. For me, Hodgell's work is that kind of experience. The writing isn't without its drawbacks, but oh, the supernova explosion of flavors, colors, textures and spice! The story and the characters and the world are worth every wince.
You'll love it or you'll hate it. I urge you to try it, if you dare to immerse yourself in a world of dazzling originality and a plot of epic complexity and universal scope. There are gods-a-plenty, more magic than the world can safely hold, immigrants and natives, a long, colorful history, a reality-destroying threat, family betrayal, scandals, rogues, thieves, a hint or two of incest...God Stalk in particular is a big glorious mishmash of ideas that you can either gobble up indiscriminately, or poke at, bemused by the tangled mess it makes on the plate.
I don't review plot specifics. That's why cover blurbs exist, and synopses, and wikis. What I will offer are four disclaimers:
1) If you're a plot purist, if you expect the gun in Act 1 to get used in Act 3, you will be aggravated. If you are more concerned with the whys and hows of the storyline than the living, breathing details of the characters and their messy lives, then you may find it frustrating. The joys in this book are in the brilliance of its scenic moments and the occasional flashes of genius in its dialogue, not its cohesive presentation.
2) P.C. Hodgell writes with a deceptively simple presentation that hides a lot of stylistic quirks. I love the way she makes the words flow, but then again, I write in the same not-as-simple-as-it-looks style. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard, "It's really rough for a hundred pages or so, and then it gets better, I guess that's where you hit your stride." then I could buy a steak dinner at Mortons. A bunch of Hodgell reviews say the same thing. It makes me sigh.
I find it useful to translate that criticism to mean that it may take a reader about a hundred pages to get accustomed to the author's style and stop noticing it. Critics of Literary Fiction consider this burden to fall on the shoulders of the reader. (F'rex, no one will ever say, "Ah, Finnegan's Wake. It was confusing for the first few chapters, but then James Joyce got his act together, so I'll only subtract one star from the rating.) For some reason, many reviewers and readers of genre fiction conclude that it's a flaw, rather than a feature.
3) If you have a low tolerance for metaphor, colorful description and body parts that move with their own purpose, then this book will make you twitch. That's a recent style-critic complaint I'm seeing far more often these days, and it's another one that makes me roll my eyes and mutter curses at my computer. People's fingers do curl. Their knees go weak. It isn't a sin to describe them as such. (Like anything good, the trick can be overdone. That's a matter of taste, not rule. ANYway.) Writing should have rhythm. If adding some superfluous" words or "cliche" phrases makes the pattern hit the right beats, then I vote yes, and with enthusiasm.
4) This book is the first in a series of seven. God Stalk came out in 1983. The sequel, Dark of the Moon, came out in 1985. The next took another 9 years to be released, and a gap of 12 passed before the fourth hit the shelves. The author's writing changes a lot between, and in a couple of cases within books. On top of that, the plots go from murky, intricate plots to the more commercially acceptable simple storylines -- although interestingly enough, they all stick to the same, 'a year to each book' coverage. I found the shift from book 3 to four a little jarring..but I got over it.
If none of those caveats put you off -- and they certainly don't deter me from my regular samplings of Hodgell's work -- if they pique your interest instead, or actively arouse your interest, then order up Baen Books' omnibus editions of the first few novels, pick up your mental chopsticks and dig in.