I ordered it from the Scince Fiction Book Club, and never regreted it.It only took me three days to finish it. I ordered the second omnibus from them as soon as I put it down. Gods, demons, assassins, dimension hopping, time-travelling, zombies and a kick butt heroine. They're on my special shelf of books to be re-read. My only regret is that Ms. Hodgell takes so long between the books. Can't wait for the fifth book to see how Jame will shake up the minitary academy, and her brother's life. ( )

These are the first two of P.C. Hodgell's Kencyrath series, which now number four novels and one short-story collection, with a fifth novel completed and awaiting publication, and more planned.

These are one of my favorite fantasy series of all time; while far from perfect (what is) they remain utterly delightful on re-reading after re-reading, and I can't get enough of them.

The series follows Jame, a young Kencyr woman of approximately eighteen or so, who at the beginning of the story is running from the keep where she spent her early childhood, where everyone's dead, pursued by haunts (zombies), amnesiac, wounded, exhausted and at the end of her endurance. She makes it to the huge and strange city of Tai-tastigon, packed, maze-like, god-ridden, a cornucopia of wonders and terrors.

This is the setting for the entire first novel, "God Stalk", in which Jame strives to find herself, discover the secrets of the mysterious gods of the city, apprentice as a professional thief to a strange Master, and never have a dull moment. Tai-tastigon is consciously inspired by the Lankhmar of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser stories.

The second novel, "Dark of the Moon", follows Jame as she leaves the city in search of her mysterious people and the brother, dimly remembered, who is now apparently the Highlord of their people. Meanwhile, that same brother struggles to marshal the forces to meet a threat to their people and world, and dark evils from the past conspire in both of their fates as they are drawn inexorably closer.

Hodgell's heroine, Jame, is one draw; she's mysterious yet open, kind yet capable of callous cruelty, mostly good but with much darkness within her. She's action-oriented, capable of deep thought yet biased towards doing rather than hesitating, and almost completely physically fearless. That lack of caution results in much of the frequent humor in the series, as Jame over-extends herself into tight situations and slapstick accidents. That accident-prone, destruction-prone nature follows her everywhere: "That's not a woman, it's a natural disaster!" says one character, and her ability to leave things accidentally in ruins is unparalleled. You wouldn't want so share a continent with her, but at a safe remove it's a whole lot of fun.

There is, indeed, a lot of humor in these stories, both of the slapstick variety and sharp wit, which they need to counteract the often quite dark and bloody subject matter.

The other draw is Hodgell's world-building. Not all of it is original, but it's put together in a very original way, and always seems fresh. Ideas just pour off the page, and her settings aren't just fake history, they're steeped in magic and an authentically supernatural worldview. You could set dozens of novels in just one setting of Hodgell's, particularly Tai-tastigon, which many readers wish there'd be more of than just one book.

You won't like these books if you don't like an open-ended story, since any conclusion is still a long way off. Some also find Jame's personality unappealing, so mileage may vary there.

Strongly recommended.

Dedicated fans may enjoy the Kencyr Wiki at http://kencyr.wikia.com/ which is working toward the goal of a comprehensive encyclopedia of Hodgell's world. ( )

Can be found:
http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2009/01/10... ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/RKLY9XA5... ( )