C. S. Friedman

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

If you like epic space opera with imaginatively detailed world-building and a focus on characters rather than gadgets, try In Conquest Born, C.S. Friedman�??s extremely impressive first novel. This complex, sprawling story begins with the births of two enemies-to-be from two different worlds that have been fighting each other for generations:

Zatar, a Braxin, is bred for beauty and aggression because those are the qualities his brutal, elitist, and show more misogynist culture admires. Ruthless, clever, and perfectly poised, he is preparing himself and his world for his ascendancy to a throne that does not yet exist in his oligarchic government. Part of making himself most qualified for this potential position involves manipulating, discrediting, or simply getting rid of any man who might stand in his way. (Women are no threat in Braxaƒ?? or are they?)

Anzha is an outsider in her Azean society because of her red hair ƒ?? itƒ??s an indication of foreign blood somewhere in her lineage. Nonetheless, her psychic powers, which are revered in Azea, are strong and that, along with her unrelenting drive to prepare herself for revenge against the Braxin man who killed her parents, causes her to rise up in the Azean military ranks. When Zatar and Anzha finally meet, they each know they have met their match, and they immediately set out to destroy each other.

C.S. Friedman began building her worlds while she was in high school and continued developing them for years before submitting In Conquest Born to DAW. It shows. The world-building is excellent ƒ?? both the Braxin and Azean societies (and others) are deeply explored from multiple perspectives. Among other things, each has its own art forms, attitudes toward women, sexual preferences, inherited strengths and weaknesses, and ideas about genetic manipulation and psychic abilities.

Friedman explains on her website that In Conquest Born originally began as ƒ??a collection of interconnected storiesƒ? which she developed into a novel which was partly re-written when her editor encouraged her to make the tale less ƒ??fragmented.ƒ? Still, the story feels somewhat disjointed because it covers a huge span of time (itƒ??s a long time before Zatar and Anzha actually meet) and each chapter is a vignette told from one of several perspectives. This technique is advantageous in that it allows us to thoroughly explore Friedmanƒ??s worlds, but has the disadvantage of causing us to spend a lot of time with minor, and often expendable, characters. (But then, Zatar and Anzha are repulsive enough that itƒ??s nice to have a break from them.)

Friedmanƒ??s plot is exciting ƒ?? thereƒ??s political intrigue, treason, space battles, torture, planet explosions, and horrible deaths. The compelling plot is made even more readable by Friedmanƒ??s pleasantly sophisticated writing style which contains just a touch of black humor. She gives us lots to think about, too ƒ?? nature vs. nurture, free will, parallel evolution, genetic modification. If I had liked her characters better and had been effortlessly carried along by a more cohesive plot, Iƒ??d have surely given In Conquest Born my highest recommendation. I have no doubt that C.S. Friedman has the skill to write a perfect novel and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I listened to Audible Frontierƒ??s version of In Conquest Born which was read by Joe Barrett. He gives a very nice reading which is not overly dramatic. His female voices sound much like his male voices, so a couple of times I assumed a newly-introduced female character was male until I was corrected by the text. Once I knew not to expect Mr. Barrett to use a feminine-sounding voice, I had no problem with his reading.

In Conquest Born, first published in 1986, was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award. A sequel, The Wilding, takes place generations later. show less

There are a couple of things I really loved about this book. First is the fact that Friedman never withholds information about her world just for the sake of creating suspense or avoiding exposition or whatever other excuse too many fantasy writers use to keep their readers in a state of complete befuddlement. Friedman tells us right off the bat that Magister power is derived by draining the lifeforce from other human beings. Any other author would have dragged that out for chapters and show more chapters, dropping tantalizing hints and ominous foreshadowing. But Friedman is more interested in examining the way that the source of their power affects Magisters, and how they differ from witches, who must drain their own life force to use magic. It's a fascinating system, and one that sets up complex moral and ethical issues, which are explored sympathetically and in depth.

The second thing I loved is that there is no "hero" in this story. No starry-eyed youth coming of age; no hard-bitten veteran called back to fight a final battle; no hidden prince discovering his destiny. There is a protagonist, sure. There are victims and opportunists, bad people who do good things and good people who do bad things. Perhaps unfortunately, there is an easily identifiable bad guy, complete with a requisite army of minions set to Take Over the World. But who will stand against him, who will sit this one out, and who will throw their hat into the ring of eeeevil? For that matter, given that a fairly important character dies in this book, who will still be left to even fight the final battle? I don't know, and I love it.
This is fantasy at its best. Friedman asks you to think, to withhold judgment, to put yourself in her characters' shoes and ask yourself honestly what you would do. There's a point to be made here, and she does it elegantly, subtly, and with a razor-sharp edge. I can't wait for the rest of this series. show less

Near the galactic center humans must adapt to life on an alien planet, but it turns out that the planet and its life adapts quickly to humans as well. Black Sun Rising is the first book in C.S. Friedman’s Coldfire trilogy follows a band of humans journey to the lands of the native rahk to hunt down demons that have stolen memories from one of their number and pose a different threat to another of their number.

Twelve hundred years before the time of the novel, a colony vessel arrived on the show more earthlike Erna only for humanity to find the fauna not only alien but fantastical. The mix of science fiction and fantasy instantly makes an interesting environment to set a story, but Friedman adds to it by having humans upset the balance of Erna that must account for and adapt to the presence of humanity especially when human minds and emotion resulting in physical change of the world. Throughout the book this background is slowly revealed to set up new twists of the story that the five significant characters of the novel must deal with, along with their attitudes with one another. The main two characters of the book, Priest Damien Vryce and Gerald Tarrant are uneasy allies as they venture to the protected area in which Erna’s native inhabitants live for their own particular reasons to face the same antagonist; what makes things more interesting is that Damien is a part of the order that Gerald founded as the Prophet of the Church before turning heretic and becoming near immortal by joining with the dark side of Erna’s magical forces. The unique world and the uneasy alliance between the two main characters makes this a fascinating read.

Black Sun Rising is a well-written very interesting science fiction-fantasy opening installment of a trilogy. C.S. Friedman not only creating an amazing world that the reader explores, but fascinating characters as well. show less

In the world of Feast of Souls it is thought that women cannot become sorcerers. Women can become witches, draining their own life energy to fuel magic, but not sorcerers. Witches are generally fate to die young, burning through their life energy at a faster rate than normal as they delve and conjure. Most witches use their powers sparingly, selling seconds and minutes of their life at great cost.

By contrast a sorcerer does not burn his own life’s energy; instead he has access to another show more source, one that has seemingly infinite potential. Their magic is colder, without fear of burning ones own life away. Sorcerers use their abilities for frivolous pursuits, such as conjuring trinkets or warming tea… no sane witch would give up minutes of her life for something as trivial.

Men and women both have the potential to become witches; only men can become sorcerers. Many women have tried to learn the secrets of sorcery, some have been apprenticed to sorcerers in an attempt to make the transition, but all have failed… until, of course, this book. Predominately, Feast of Souls is about a woman named Kamala who discovers how to become a sorcerer.

The story itself is pretty dark, and not gentle reading. Kamala’s early life is fraught with abuse. Her own mother, who loved her children enough to beg for her son’s life in the prologue, sold Kamala’s virginity off to the highest bidder. Though not discussed in detail, it is clear that, until she began apprenticed to a Magister, Kamala spent her young adult life as a sex worker.

Once she attains her first transition and begins stealing life energy from someone else –a stranger, and unknown person, somewhere in the world– Kamala struggles to figure out her place. She is a Magister, but she cannot reveal her true nature to others of her kind just yet. She has to gain experience, get a foothold in the world, before announcing her existence to the other Magisters.

Since Magisters can effectively live forever and they have infinite power, they have almost no rules. The only exception to this is the Law; Magisters may not kill each other. Naturally, one of the first things Kamala does upon leaving her master is accidentally kill another Magister. The only thing that saves her from immediate judgement is that the other Magisters have no idea who or what she is.

Much of the story touches on the moral ambiguity of surviving by slowly, but actively, killing another human. This is a bit disturbing, especially as Kamala not only meets her consort, the person whose life she is draining, they form a friendship and even become lovers. It’s definitely an iffy situation that made me feel a little yucky while at the same time drawing me in to read more. The death of Kamala’s consort was inevitable, and it was handled in a way that let me be a little ok with it, despite still wigging out about how the main character could be such a cold killer.

Of course there is a lot more going on in the background of this story. Monsters that should be held back in the frozen north by a mystical wall, constructed years and years ago by the sacrifice of a thousand witches, have been sighted. The monsters are called beasts called Souleaters and, like Magisters, they steal away the life essence of their victims. There isn’t much information on the exact nature of these creatures but it is clear that there is a connection between them and Magisters.

In the end, the story was so morally ambiguous I’m not sure what to think of it. I remember liking it a lot more when I first read it years ago. But now… well, after reading more about and trying to become more aware of feminist issues, part of me feels like Kamala is an unfortunate poster child for the “Rape Creates Strong Female Characters” trope. On the other hand it seems from the acknowledgements that Friedman did her research and drew extensively on the personal experiences of a sex worker for Kamala’s background and personality. I liked the book, but it definitely left me a bit uncomfortable. And, for this story, maybe that’s a good thing. Either way, I’m looking forward to more information, more answers, and more squickiness from the second book. show less