March Fantasy Read - SPOILERS - The Riddle-Master of Hed

I'm really looking forward to this. I have it ordered from the library and I'm first in line so I should have it this week.

OK, I finished reading Polaris so I've room for another read.... so I placed a request for it at my local library. I am #2 in a list of 2 for any of the 3 copies they have in this county. Should be getting it soon, I hope.

I am not often willing to do this requesting of library books but it certainly is a good option over spending the money I'm saving for my vacation....

I've got it in my hot little hand. Will hopefully start it tomorrow.

I've started it, but there've been too many distractions so I've only read bits at a time. Not good for getting the characters and places straight in my head. Hoping to be able to settle into a good chunk of reading time later tonight.

Just reserved at library.

Here's my review:

It would have gotten an 8, however, while I liked the main character's reluctance at first, eventually the angsting got annoying. My hope is that there is less of that in the rest of the trilogy. I like this engaging story and am very curious about what happens next so I requested the other two books from the library already.

as I said elsewhere:

Morgon's continuous, okay this is too hard I just want to go home, and then turning around and heading home, was super annoying to me. What a jerk. Especially as he had all sorts of people helping him. He cared nothing for them, and it was all about him. Ugh.

Especially as at least one was hurt badly helping him and he didn't seem to give a crap that that had happened.

I didn't see it as it being too hard for him but rather he didn't want a fated life but one he had chosen himself. The times he turned around was when he realized that people other than himself would be hurt.

I thought it was an interesting theme as much of the fantasy I read is of the fated-type. You know - the "pig-boy who is really the king/magician/awesomesauce saves the world" trope I love so much!

I saw it as him not wanting to accept his fate, too. Still, it was a little irritating. Even though he was the main character in the book, he wasn't my favorite. I loved Deth. Still, I have the other books waiting for me because I have to find out what happens.

I wish there had been more written about how things were going back in his home land while he was out and about.

I've read and enjoyed Riddle master of Hed now. I agree that Morgon's constant desire to turn and head home was a bit annoying, but I felt that this reflected his sense of responsibility to his people and Hed. He worries that he didn't get a chance to mend his swineherd's leaky roof, for example, not something that would bother a man who doesn't care about others. Morphy's interpretation of the issue in msg 8 matches my thoughts.

Something I really like about this book is the sense that this land has an ancient history, which still resonates in the present that we are reading about. All the myths and stories have accumulated over the centuries like layers of stone, and Morgon's story seems to relate to something that was deeply buried and long-hidden but has just now risen to the surface.

I've just started Heir of sea and fire, and so far it is awesome! Much more compelling than Riddle Master, with strong, determined women in charge :-) I'm only on chapter 5, but so far I highly recommend the book to anyone who is considering continuing with the trilogy.

I've got the next two books waiting for pick up at the library and I'm looking forward to reading them.

Is morgon any less annoying in book 2?

>12 majkia:: He has yet to make an appearance. I'll keep you posted!

I love the idea of rulers that are psychically bound to their land, of a country and its ruler shaping the character of each other. I also like the idea of a hero that's torn between his responsibilites to his people, and his destiny. But the writing left me feeling detached from the events and the characters. The characters were interesting, but I never got around to caring for any of them. Too many questions were left unanswered: why do some people live for centuries? Who are the shape-changers and why are they trying to kill Morgon? What was the war that happened centuries earlier about? Who are the Masters of Wind, Air, Earth and Fire, and why are they masters? How is the High One connected with what has been happening to Morgan? Any kind of answers we got were sooo vague.

I think if more of the questions had been answered I would be more willing to keep reading the series. But I feel too much in the dark and frustrated by not knowing what's going on; I'm not sure I'll go on to read Heir of Sea and Fire.

Sakerfalcon, in the next book, do we find out more of what's going on?

I've just finished Heir of sea and fire which I enjoyed more than Riddle master of Hed. Raederle, Lyra and Tristan join together and go in search of Morgon. Along the way, they get a few answers but a lot more questions. This is one of those trilogies that is really one book split into 3; I'm hoping there will be a payoff at the end. Morgon appears near the end of the book, but not for long enough to get annoying ;-) I do like the series so far, but find I really have to concentrate on it; nothing is said straight out, all we get are hints and glimpses of things. McKillip's writing always has this element, but it is most extreme in Riddle-master, I'm finding.

On to book 3; while I'm quite enjoying the journey, I will be mad if there are no answers at the end!

I finished Heir of Sea and Fire and while not as annoying as in Riddle-master, the people telling the women "No" all the time echoed Morgan's constant inner conflicts. I've started the third book and now Morgan is trying to get Raederle to stay behind. Argh!

The story is interesting enough that I keep going but I agree, nothing is said straight out and they are not easy reads because of it. I enjoyed The Beasts of Eld so much more than this.

To respond to sandragon, I felt a bit bewildered the first time I read the Riddle-Master trilogy years (decades!) ago. But I loved it so much that I hunted it down and bought it for my own possession, and it's one of my favourite re-reads.

The questions are the story, and the mysteries are resolved at the end. I didn't get it the first time, though, but I was rather younger. Plus, the first time you (I, anyway) read something, you're always in a rush to get to the end, and are too impatient to stop and think and savour properly, however much you try. I certainly understand this story better every time I re-read it.

McKillip's works are always a little ethereal, her other works even more so, I find. I hope you stick with it, and at least like Riddle-Master, because I do love it. But then, I never analyse things in depth; it's just the narrative, for me. :)

Sakerfalcon and Humouress - Thanks for the encouragement. I don't love it, but I'm going to keep on with the series. Although a part of me is tempted to ditch the series and have the rest of you tell me how it ends :oD

McKillip is one of those authors I want to enjoy, but am having problems with, but I keep trying (Dickens is another). I love her story ideas and the Kinuko Craft covers.

Sakerfalcon and Morphy - Please come back with more updates after the third book.

I also wanted to point out that this series was written in the 1970s; I find that fantasy books from that era are quite short, at around 200 odd pages. When I go back and read my childhood favourites, I find that they usually suffer from the curtailed length, and (sadly) they don't always live up to my memories.

I was impressed, however, that this series was as good as I was expecting it to be when I re-read it, and I also found it easier to understand, having read it a few times before.

I managed to finish reading this last night, and I have to say that it did end up being satisfying. I found the third book the easiest to read; whether that was because it was more straightforward, or because I was more attuned to McKillip's style by then I don't know. There is some dithering from Raederle in the first few chapters which will annoy many of you, but once she gets over that she is pretty well awesome for the rest of the book. I'd have liked to see more of Lyra and Tristan, but we do get some good scenes with Har the wolf king and the Morgol, both of whom I thought were great characters. I'm glad I've finally read this trilogy, but overall I would have to conclude that I like, rather than love, it. Many of her later novels are among my favourite reads - Alphabet of Thorn, Ombria in Shadow, Od magic and The bell at Sealey Head, - but, while I admire it, Riddle master will not be joining them.

humouress - I found the short length to be both a good and bad thing. Good in that we are not treated to pages of tedious travel details and costume descriptions, but bad in that if I skimmed over a sentence or two, the characters would have moved from one realm to another without me noticing! Interesting that you find Riddle master less ethereal than McKillip's other works; I find it more so than any except the Cygnet books!

Sakerfalcon - I've read a few of McKillip's works, but by no means all; of the ones you've mentioned, I've only got Ombria in Shadow, which is on my TBR pile. The Riddle-Master trilogy was my first-read of them, and that was back in the eighties. I did find it mystifying, and the first couple of times I read it, in fact, the ending didn't work for me.

But on my recent re-read, I've known when to suspend disbelief, I understand it better, and the ending is satisfying. The magic is still there (oh, yes), but the bewilderment of not knowing quite what was happening is resolved. I think a re-read of some of her other books is in order, for me.

Glad you at least liked it, in the end (no pressure, of course ;-) )

PS - for anyone reading for the TIOLI this month, this would fit in the Map challenge.

I reread The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy last month for the first time in many, many years, not realizing there was a group read this month - oh well.

I think the thing to keep in mind about these books is how unusual they were for the time - at that point there weren't a whole lot of strong women characters being written in fantasy. At any rate, I wanted to post something from my own 75 thread from a brief discussion of the books:

In the introduction to Riddle-Master: the Complete Trilogy Patricia A. McKillip wrote:

I can’t say, though I’ve been asked, that the Riddle-Master trilogy was the work I’ve cherished most, or that it is closest to my heart. It certainly was then; but this is not then, this is now. It is, and will always be, closest to my childhood’s heart, the heart of whoever that you woman was who wrote those novels. She taught me magic, and the love of storytelling, which are two things that so not die unless you let them.

There was a time when I adored the Riddle-Master trilogy and it was wonderful to read it again. I feel a little like McKillip, though – it didn’t touch me in the same way it did when I was a teenager. I do remember how it felt and how caught up emotionally I was, particularly in the third book Harpist in the Wind.

Bit of a suck Fairy for me. I remember being delighted with them, although little else. This time after they're finally all out as ebooks, I found them both rambling and too short. The nature of the 'riddles' being straightforward posed questions was annoying, merely because I expected something more gollumn-like. I do love hte concept of the 'land-rule', but had already expected the answer to Deth by somewhere in the 2nd book. They weren't gripping reading, but I've glad I have read them, and will probably enjoy more of Mckilip's work as I can get hold of it.