Ken Scholes

A mix of fantasy and science fiction, Lamentation tells the story of the Named Lands, home to the survivors of a great destruction. When the great city of Windwir is suddenly destroyed, and the Named Lands' library and repository of knowledge with it, the leaders of the provinces find themselves on the brink of war. Accusations fly about who caused the destruction. While some seek retribution, others seek restoration, and still others just want to make sense of what's happened. Across the show more miles, they initiate their plots, each seeking to protect him or herself and her people and their lands.This is epic fantasy at its finest but no sorcery or dwarves or elves. Scholes has created his own world and people, one that we've never seen before, and populated it with characters like us. They draw us in and capture our hearts, making us care deeply about what happens to them.Scholes uses a variety of points of view throughout, with short, tight scenes that keep the pace compelling. I found his voice unique and his story compelling. His prose is haunting and captures you, pulling you along with it for the ride. His world building and characterization are also top notch. In fact, it was difficult to pick a favorite: Rudolfo, leader of the famed Gypsy Scouts from the Ninefold Forests; Petronus, the former pope who faked his own death and disappeared; Jae Lin Tam, faithful daughter who's sacrificed her body and spirit in the service of her father's political goals; Neb, illegitimate son of a monk, who watched Windwir explode and his father and whole world with it. Or perhaps it would be Isak, the metal man, keeper of the last remnant of knowledge, and possessor of a dark secret about the destruction of Windwir. Each have their own arc and history, compellingly brought together in conflict and friendship by the events which unfold.The book has drawn impressive praise, too. New York Times bestselling speculative fiction author Orson Scott Card wrote: "This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work. Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it's done." Card liked it so much, he participated in a reading of the book voicing characters.Analog calls Scholes "one of the best writer's you've never heard of," and Editor/Publisher Jonathan Strahan said "it has the chance of standing as an important book in the evolution of the epic fantasy form...a delight...a book that readers are very likely to take to heart. it's one of the best fantasies I've read in some time."Two of the books are out, and I've read them both, and I can't wait until Antiphon comes out this fall. I wish they'd hurry up and get the others out. My only complaint is that Scholes needs to write faster or maybe just concentrate. I told Ken I am jealous of his first readers. But he's not talking, I have to wait like everyone else lucky enough to have discovered Scholes' saga with baited breath!If you have tired of high fantasy or other forms you've seen done time and again, no matter how well, give Ken Scholes' series a try. It's fantastic and well worth the effort. I can't recommend it enough. show less

I had really high hopes for this series when it started. The first two books are excellent! However, it started to veer off course in book 3 and just get worse in Requiem, book 4. It certainly appeared at the end of book 3 that we would see the end of the series in Requiem. The protagonists are all scattered as the 'revolution' brought about by the Crimson Empress seems to overwhelm all opposition. For the most part, those fighting against the followers of the very bloody religion are show more reduced to minor acts of rebellion, not serious opposition. Unfortunately, the author dragged that all out for the whole of book 4 - and its not over. While it seemed like Neb and his allies would have to succeed at their mission, its still going on. There seems to be too much reliance on predestination and the ability of some to predict it, plus in this book we discover that this is just a part of a long cycle of destruction and rebuilding. I guess we'll find out in the next book if the cycles of destruction end, but I really would have preferred to find out in this book. It really felt like the author was compelled to stretch this out to more books, rather than bringing it to a conclusion. show less

What was it that kept me reading this book, even as it kept grating on my nerves and frustrating my brain's attempt to analyze it? A big attractor was the cast of clear-cut and appealing characters, each of whom were of a type, but only a couple were a stereotype. Another was the interesting world, which is something like medieval times, but not quite, and included some intriguing modern touches and hints that there is (or could be) a rich history. This made the fantasy a bit more like show more science fiction. Probably most of all is the unfolding story, with layer upon layer of intrigue.

Truth-be-told, it was this very intrigue that almost made me put the book down about a quarter of the way into it. Outside of the original catastrophe, about which only a little is learned, the only thing that happens for quite a while is a lot of talking and posturing and thinking and a little intrigue. Thankfully, the pace picked up and things got interesting again.

But what did grate on my nerves? Let's start with some of the writing quirks. How about the use of "magicks"? Really? We couldn't come up with a new word or a different word for something that acts like magic, but isn't? I guess if you spell magic with a 'k' it's not exactly the same. And why is it necessary to use apostrophes in names (e.g., "P'Andro Whym" to make them seem exotic? Maybe that's just a matter of personal taste. And why disturb my mind by giving someone a name that appears to my eye to be Asian and have them described as a red-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian?

Then there's the matter of repetition, of "magicks" and "Whymer Mazes" and "scouts" and "salted knives". If this is really a complex world with thousands of years of history, there should be many more varied analogies and turns of phrase. As it is, it reads like a whole city talking about nothing but Rubik's Cubes and Quantum Leaps all day for years.

And that brings me to the whole perception of a worldwide (?) society that seems completely stuck in a single age, technologically and otherwise, for thousands(?!) of years. Is that because of the workings of a religious order that's clearly Catholic-inspired, but isn't actually based on anything spiritual or truly Biblical (with a capital 'B')? How does that work? Why isn't there more than one (or maybe two, if you count the Marshers) pseudo-religion in the entire world? Even the real Catholic church couldn't pull off more than a few hundred years of domination. And if you've got mechanoservitors and iron ships that are steam powered (the latter implied by the former), where is the industrialization that created them?

What was it that kept me reading this book? I'm still not entirely sure. But I've developed enough interest in the characters and the world to want to know more about what happened in the past and what's going to happen. I may also be hoping that the author has foreseen my objections and will reveal a satisfactory explanation. I'm probably going to read at least the next book in the series to see where it goes. show less

I started this one on audio and finished it in regular book form. The four readers were good, but I think I would rather have had just one. There were more than four characters for them to cover, and they presented some of the characters differently, especially Isaak.

The chapters are set up as point-of-view chapters like George RR Martin's books, but they're much shorter. We get the viewpoints of most of the major players, whether good, bad or in between. There are some great protagonists show more here-Rudolfo, the gypsy king; Jin Li Tam, the spy; Petronus, the fisherman with a secret past; and Neb, the young man with a mysterious destiny.

The character that had my heart from the first was Isaak, the mecho-servitor. From that first scene when they find him weeping in the woods to the limp he walks with due to a damaged leg, Scholes does a wonderful job of humanizing the inhuman. I felt instant empathy and protectiveness for the character, the only principal character who doesn't get point-of-view chapters.

The world-building is as smooth as anything-no info dumps in the form of unrealistic dialogue or long paragraphs of exposition. Scholes told his story while gracefully weaving in the history, customs and religion of his unique world. One of the things I love most about the plot is the focus on restoring the library of a great city that has been destroyed.

This work is original and skillfully done, and I'm glad there's more to read. show less