Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Wheel of the Infinite (edition 2001)by Martha Wells (Author)
Work InformationWheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells
Best Fantasy Novels (570) Books Read in 2019 (784) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Couldn't get past Chapter 5... ( ) I liked the premise of this novel, and the unique setting and characters initially seemed promising. The two main characters were a refreshingly original take on the classic sword and sorcery duo. However, the pacing seemed rushed and the conclusion was abrupt. This could simply be one of the challenges inherent in writing a stand-alone fantasy novel, in which an entire world has to be introduced and its problems solved in the course of 400 pages. Still, I intend to read the series written by this author. Exiled priestess Maskelle returns home for a centennial ritual designed to renew and preserve the world. Unfortunately, something is going wrong with the ritual, and Maskelle has to salvage the situation despite a hostile royal court, foreign conspirators, and guidance from an unreliable, inhuman source. Wheel of the Infinite was excellent: finely observed, carefully characterized, free of clichés, and progressively minded. But most importantly, the book off-handedly introduces a cursed puppet. When the puppet later becomes demonically possessed, he is regarded with the same degree of weary nonchalance by the other characters. You know times are bad when the demonically possessed puppet is the least of your worries. My only experience with Martha Wells is the Murderbot science fiction series, which I love. I’m glad to see her fantasy writing is good as well. I think her humor shines more with Murderbot, but Maskelle’s sardonic outlook in this one gave me a few chuckles too. I have to say, I object to the cover design here with, I guess, Rian on it and no Maskelle. I liked both characters a lot, and I was glad to get Rian’s POV along with Maskelle’s, but Maskelle is the headliner here, people. It seems weird that a book written in the year 2000 has such an old school feel to it, but it reminded me of fantasy novels I read as a teen and young adult, maybe because of the elaborate, lengthy descriptions or that fact that it’s a standalone novel. Wells is great at characterization and building camaraderie among her characters. The characters were what I liked most about the book. The world was interesting and original, although I’m not sure I fully grasped the magical/religious system. I would have been fine without some of the lengthier descriptions of the city and temples, but they did provide a good mental picture for contrast with events that happened later in the book. I enjoyed it, and I’ll definitely seek out more by this author. Intermittently interfering gods and a 100year ritual really complicate life, as disgraced Voice of the Adversary makes her way back to the center of worship only to find the problems aren't just hers but threaten the entire reality. But she picks up a sarcastic hunk who has her back, so that's cool. A rare middleaged protagonist with attitude and angst who just keeps dealing with what's in front of her. Also a wicked puppet. no reviews | add a review
Over the course of three extraordinary novels, Martha Wells has established herself as a master builder of alternate worlds peopled with souls as rich and complex as any that have ever known life within book pages. Few writers can match her ability to imbue fantastic realms with such startling immediacy and reality-a feat she accomplishes more impressively than ever before in this powerful tale of the beginnings and endings and beginnings again in an unending cycle of malignity and good. Every year in the great Temple City of Duvalpore, the image of the Wheel of the Infinite must be painstakingly remade to ensure another year of peace and harmony for the Celestial Empire. Every hundred years the sacred rite takes on added significance. For it is then that the very fabric of the world must be rewoven. Linked by the mystic energies of the Infinite, the Wheel and world are one. Should the holy image be marred, the world will suffer a similar injury. But a black storm is spreading across the Wheel. Every night the Voices of the Ancestors-the Wheel's constructors and caretakers-brush the darkness away and repair the damage with brightly colored sands and potent magic. Each morning the storm reappears, bigger and darker than before, unraveling the beautiful and orderly patterns. With chaos in the wind, a woman with a shadowy past has returned to Duvalpore. A murderer and traitor-an exile disgraced, hated, and feared, and haunted by her own guilty conscience-Maskelle has been summoned back to help put the world right. Once she was the most revered of the Voices, until cursed by her own actions. Now, in the company of Rian-a skilled and dangerously alluring swordsman-she must confront dread enemies old and new and a cold, stalking malevolence unlike any she has ever encountered. For if Maskelle cannot unearth the cause of the Wheel's accelerating disintegration-if she cannot free herself from ghosts of the past and focus on the catastrophe to come-the world will plunge headlong into the terrifying abyss toward which it is recklessly hurting. And all that is, ever was, and will be will end. An intricate, tautly plotted adventure, Nebula Award finalist Martha Wells's fourth novel is her most captivating and exquisitely textured work to date. Follow the many turnings of the Wheel into a realm of danger, fear, darkness, and hope. And prepare to believe freely and fully in the inconceivable and the fantastic. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
|