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davramlocke 's review for:
To Ride Hell's Chasm
by Janny Wurts
Hell’s Chasm terrifies me, and it does so because Janny Wurts’ talent for writing about a harrowing flight through some of nature’s most unforgiving terrain is second to no one. I didn’t even really understand the title of the book until the lead characters come to the titular Chasm itself, and then I could think of no better title. Unfortunately, it takes so long to get to this nerve-bending chase that the entire book loses some luster in the approach.
Setting
To Ride Hell’s Chasm takes place foremost in the country of Sessalie, a monarchy divided from all other nations by a ring of glacier-ridden mountains. Its only inlets are easily defended, and as such Sessalie remains virtually unconquerable; Tolkien fans will remember the unassailable Elven city of Gondolin from the Silmarrilion. Wurts’ world is one of recognizable medieval standards. The kingdom is divided, as many kingdoms are, by class, and much of the story revolves around royal marriage.
But within Wurts’ world there is also a nefarious system of demonic magic, which is inconveniently explained in the appendices, but which plays the central role in the conflict of the book. There are demons in the nether realm who negotiate with human sorcerers so that said humans can feed them living souls. The demons are constantly wanting more souls, and so the sorcerers are forever attempting to destroy kingdoms and extend their power. Like much of the lore in the novel, this is not very well explained, and I am of two minds about that. Part of me loves that every small scrap of information much be examined with a microscope for its import in the greater world, akin to a Dark Souls game. Part of me sometimes just wants things explained a little better. I think the former is better writing when done well. I’m not sure Wurts does it particularly well and the novel seems to suffer for that lack.
Plot
To Ride’s story begins with a missing princess, which feels cliche, but it is soon discovered that she is missing of her own free will, and it is this twist that opens up a much more interesting story than the ‘Bowser kidnaps the princess’ stuff we have seen for decades in pop-culture. Princess Anja running away from the only home she has ever known turns the tale into a much more complicated scenario, and leaves the gates open for a story that keeps blossoming.
Most of the action, up until about the last quarter of the novel, take place within Sessalie. The last quarter is the aforementioned Hell’s Chasm portion. The trouble here is that the first three quarters are too long by leagues. There is so much exposition just to set up this flight through Hell’s Chasm that I think many readers would find themselves putting the book down in sheer frustration. There are interesting things happening in the first three quarters, no doubt, but it all takes too long. In a book that is 681 pages long (in mass market paperback), those first 400 pages need to pull a reader along much more than they do here. Oddly enough, on a re-read I think that first portion would be more interesting in a retrospective sense.
Character
I am finding that female fantasy authors excel in character development far more than their male brethren. I suppose this should come as no surprise. Wurts has some fantastic characters here; men and women I am sorry to see leave my imagination space. The protagonist is a veteran warrior named Mykkael, who serves as a guardsman to one of Sessalie’s lower wards. Mykkael is a foreigner who distinguishes himself in a gladiatorial contest that earns him a place within Sessalie’s ‘police’. Mykkael is an intimidating figure, and while it is often frowned upon to write about invincible characters, watching Mykkael in action is one of the best things about this novel; he reminds me most of David Gemmell’s Druss. He has such strength of will, and even with an old leg injury that basically renders him a cripple, and even when he has been battered beyond all recognizable humanity, he still manages to do things no one else could even dream of. Beyond that, learning about his past is fascinating, and the cast of characters surrounding adds to that air of mystique.
Other notable characters include the previously mentioned Princess Anja, who proves herself an equal in strength to Mykkael in matters of willpower, Commander Taskin, who acts as the noble counterpart in honor and dedication to Mykkael, Jussoud, a foreign masseuse and healer whose large presence never fails to please in any scene, and a horse named Stormfront who never freaking gives up. The book flags a little in its villains, who are basically mustache-twirling demons who lack any real dimension to them and feel like something out of a horror novel.
Final Thoughts
This is a difficult book to rate, and I am afraid that my words do not quite do it justice. It is too long, and I feel some heavy editing could have improved everything. Wurts’ prose is often too heavy, bordering on purple, and I feel like a lighter hand might have improved things as well.
But I liked this book, and I absolutely loved the titular ride through Hell’s Chasm. The last fourth of this is some of the best fantasy I have read, but getting there is a challenge, and while you could certainly say that sometimes the best rewards come to those who wait, I am not sure that works in fiction. Wurts makes it work here because there is enough to keep the dedicated reader plugging away, even if they don’t fully understand why. In the end, the Ride is worth every page.
Setting
To Ride Hell’s Chasm takes place foremost in the country of Sessalie, a monarchy divided from all other nations by a ring of glacier-ridden mountains. Its only inlets are easily defended, and as such Sessalie remains virtually unconquerable; Tolkien fans will remember the unassailable Elven city of Gondolin from the Silmarrilion. Wurts’ world is one of recognizable medieval standards. The kingdom is divided, as many kingdoms are, by class, and much of the story revolves around royal marriage.
But within Wurts’ world there is also a nefarious system of demonic magic, which is inconveniently explained in the appendices, but which plays the central role in the conflict of the book. There are demons in the nether realm who negotiate with human sorcerers so that said humans can feed them living souls. The demons are constantly wanting more souls, and so the sorcerers are forever attempting to destroy kingdoms and extend their power. Like much of the lore in the novel, this is not very well explained, and I am of two minds about that. Part of me loves that every small scrap of information much be examined with a microscope for its import in the greater world, akin to a Dark Souls game. Part of me sometimes just wants things explained a little better. I think the former is better writing when done well. I’m not sure Wurts does it particularly well and the novel seems to suffer for that lack.
Plot
To Ride’s story begins with a missing princess, which feels cliche, but it is soon discovered that she is missing of her own free will, and it is this twist that opens up a much more interesting story than the ‘Bowser kidnaps the princess’ stuff we have seen for decades in pop-culture. Princess Anja running away from the only home she has ever known turns the tale into a much more complicated scenario, and leaves the gates open for a story that keeps blossoming.
Most of the action, up until about the last quarter of the novel, take place within Sessalie. The last quarter is the aforementioned Hell’s Chasm portion. The trouble here is that the first three quarters are too long by leagues. There is so much exposition just to set up this flight through Hell’s Chasm that I think many readers would find themselves putting the book down in sheer frustration. There are interesting things happening in the first three quarters, no doubt, but it all takes too long. In a book that is 681 pages long (in mass market paperback), those first 400 pages need to pull a reader along much more than they do here. Oddly enough, on a re-read I think that first portion would be more interesting in a retrospective sense.
Character
I am finding that female fantasy authors excel in character development far more than their male brethren. I suppose this should come as no surprise. Wurts has some fantastic characters here; men and women I am sorry to see leave my imagination space. The protagonist is a veteran warrior named Mykkael, who serves as a guardsman to one of Sessalie’s lower wards. Mykkael is a foreigner who distinguishes himself in a gladiatorial contest that earns him a place within Sessalie’s ‘police’. Mykkael is an intimidating figure, and while it is often frowned upon to write about invincible characters, watching Mykkael in action is one of the best things about this novel; he reminds me most of David Gemmell’s Druss. He has such strength of will, and even with an old leg injury that basically renders him a cripple, and even when he has been battered beyond all recognizable humanity, he still manages to do things no one else could even dream of. Beyond that, learning about his past is fascinating, and the cast of characters surrounding adds to that air of mystique.
Other notable characters include the previously mentioned Princess Anja, who proves herself an equal in strength to Mykkael in matters of willpower, Commander Taskin, who acts as the noble counterpart in honor and dedication to Mykkael, Jussoud, a foreign masseuse and healer whose large presence never fails to please in any scene, and a horse named Stormfront who never freaking gives up. The book flags a little in its villains, who are basically mustache-twirling demons who lack any real dimension to them and feel like something out of a horror novel.
Final Thoughts
This is a difficult book to rate, and I am afraid that my words do not quite do it justice. It is too long, and I feel some heavy editing could have improved everything. Wurts’ prose is often too heavy, bordering on purple, and I feel like a lighter hand might have improved things as well.
But I liked this book, and I absolutely loved the titular ride through Hell’s Chasm. The last fourth of this is some of the best fantasy I have read, but getting there is a challenge, and while you could certainly say that sometimes the best rewards come to those who wait, I am not sure that works in fiction. Wurts makes it work here because there is enough to keep the dedicated reader plugging away, even if they don’t fully understand why. In the end, the Ride is worth every page.