The Heir of Night

A very stately and thematic fantasy, of the Tolkien school, full of forces, mysteries and struggles, without necessarily getting a lot done. I found it sort of tedious; your mileage may vary.

There seems to be a really interesting story in the back-end of this book, and occasionally glimpses of it were caught through the mist. I was intrigued by the deep inculcation of the warrior culture, interested in the "outsider" characters and their stories, and definitely excited by the origin tales of the world and the Derai (not space elves, totally not space elves, honestly officer). But most of the book was not concerned with exploring those things, preferring to wander about in dreams and the aether dealing in symbolism and prophecy and show more tableauxed duels of power and will. Occasionally shiny, mostly dull.

Part of my problem with this is that it just didn't move. The first part is concerned with the activities of one night, the second part with the activities of a second night some weeks after the first, and the third part finally gets out in the world and does some stuff, but eh.

Now, don't get me wrong, that's not necessarily an inherently bad structure. I was very impressed with [b:The Forging Of The Shadows|1741471|The Forging Of The Shadows (Lightbringer Trilogy)|Oliver Johnson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1187645239s/1741471.jpg|1739096], which takes place from dusk until dawn of one cataclysmic night (but includes oodles of backstory for all the main characters in flashbacks, etc), and one of my favourite books is [b:A Song for Arbonne|104085|A Song for Arbonne|Guy Gavriel Kay|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309212350s/104085.jpg|2498881], which is almost theatrical in the way it moves between acts that are comprised of one-night activities... it's just there are lots of characters moving in intriguingly different directions at those single events.

The Heir of Night combines simplicity of structure with simplicity of plot (there's one storyline, with occasionally tiny shoots of branch-off) and a narrow cast, and it's just too little to engage me fully. show less

I had initially picked up the second book in the series and it has taken me some time to find the first book.
I was surprised by this book as it is a rich fantasy novel with a detailed world and on the whole well realised characters. I was swept easily into this tale and it held my interest.
Where I struggled with the novel was that too much detail and too much background information that really bogged the story down. The information that you are given is useful but was it really necessary? I mean there is so much of it.
The characters are not bad but because they spend so much time explaining everything they never really develop. This meant that at the end of the book you had the two main protagonists Malian and Kalan riding off into show more the distance but no sense as to who their enemies really are. The only enemy you have is the Swam of the Dark and you have no idea as to their motives or leadership group. I did struggle with the names, while original were confusing and at times it was hard to discern the gender of a character initially.
I enjoyed the book and I will pick up the second to see how it develops. I am hoping that the backstory will dissolve and the action begin. show less

Undoubtedly well-written and overall conceptually brilliant, it just did not engage me as I'd hoped. I'm not certain as to why. Maybe it was just individual preference but I was switching off when I should have been hooked. A real shame because I so wanted to enjoy this book. I have purchased book two and three and would normally be delving straight in to the sequel, but somehow I'm craving a change of pace/genre? I think I will read them at some point....

Malian chaffes against some of the restrictions on her life, she really wants to stretch her wings. Her family occupy a pivotal part in keeping the tide of shadow away from the rest of the world. Her home is attacked and she flees into the Old Keep. When there she has to face up to the fact that she has power, power that demands a price.

I really enjoyed this read, I like Malian as a character and the others around here were well drawn and believable. I'm looking forward to more in this series and by this author.

The Heir Of Night is a tale of Malian, heir to the house of night, finding lost powers and protecting the people of Haarth against the Darkswarm.

The Bad Stuff: It is a little slow to get moving.

The Good Stuff: I found this book to be a well written with a richly crafted world, well defined characters and some very dark creatures.

There seems to be a lot of mixed reviews about this book. I sit in the camp of those that enjoyed it. In my opinion it was an interesting read with a good storyline. I'm giving it 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

I am SO looking forward to the next book in this series. I love Helen Lowe's writing style and storytelling nouse. I can see why she's won all the awards!

There are powerful moments, emotions and desires in this tale, and in the background some very high stakes! If you love epic fantasy told through a warm, sensual, engaging voice, this is a book for you!

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was one of those books that I did not want to put down and real life interfered with life on the Derai Wall - I was that absorbed in the story. Helen Lowe has created great characters that I want to get to know better. I recommend this book to all Fantasy lovers. I can't wait to read the rest of this series.