Winterbirth

Undoubtedly the best fantasy epic I have ever read; Winterbirth is a tale of power, religion, politics and war, set against the backdrop of a misty Scottish highland. More breathtaking than Robert Jordan’s books, and with descriptive language second to no other novel I have encountered, this is an adventure of epic proportions that leaves no possibility unexplored. The effects of the Black Road’s return spread like ripples in a pond, until the plot becomes amazingly complex. Ruckley has left not a single corner of his world in the dark – he illuminates every aspect of the story to create a tale so deep and involving that it makes the reader gape in wonder.

The story of Winterbirth is especially relevant to today’s society, as it show more provides an insight into religiously motivated war. Most of the main antagonists of the novel are of the Black Road clans, who believe that the stories of their lives are written before their births, and that they must convert every human to their way of thinking to bring about the Kall: the rebirth of the world. This is comparable to extremist Muslims who believe that it is their duty to convert or kill the rest of the world. The most interesting part of this link, however, is Ruckley’s remarkable habit of telling the story from all points of view, so that readers often forget whose side they are on, and realise that the antagonists are real people, and not necessarily just heartless, evil monsters, as most books portray them to be.

All the breathtaking brilliance of Ruckley’s world, however, is sometimes jeopardised by the sheer size of the novel, and the nature of the genre. This is very heavy reading, filled with rich, unhurried descriptions that can easily deter uncommitted readers. The rewards are great for those who put in the work – but there is hard work involved in reading a book like this one. The huge number of places and characters to remember make for especially slow going, but once the reader becomes an expert on the world of the book, reading becomes much easier.

A fantastic achievement, especially for a first novel, Winterbirth is an epic waiting to be experienced, and an absolute must-read for fantasy-lovers old enough to cope with occasional scenes of strong violence and gore. show less

Three starts for a two star story for the simple fact that it is an easy read. I know a lot of people had trouble with the names of the characters and the locations. I luckily had no issue keeping them straight. No, I had to stop reading because it was just plain boring. Two hundred pages in and I came to the irrefutable conclusion that I did not care about the characters or the story as it was unfolding slowly in front of me.

Major complaint: the whole reason I picked this book up off a random shelf was the whole idea of the godless world, and in two hundred pages that never even so much as gets mentioned outside of the prologue, and even then it's a line item blurb. Maybe they didn't something incredible with it toward the end of the show more book. I wasn't sticking around to find out. show less

a couple of times during this series I actually gasped outloud and that is always a good sign for a book. the characters were enjoyable and I liked how toward the end of the series I started to actually root for one of the "bad guys" (though not the main baddie of course).

What do you get when you mix a breathtaking world, a wild elven race, powerful half-elves, and a diverse human race that are reminiscent of the Scots in Braveheart? Well, you get a fantastic story that could only be Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley. Ruckley has managed to create a diverse world that manages to be full of brilliant imagination and stark realism.

Winterbirth is the first book in The Godless Land Trilogy where the gods have left the world and the various races are now left to fend for themselves. The land of Winterbirth is a cold land laced with Kyrinin(Ruckley’s elven race) inhabited forests and snow covered mountains. The story revolves around the Horin-Gyre Blood(tribe) who make war upon the Lannis-Haig Blood in an effort show more to take back the lands they lost to the Lannis-Haig over a century ago. While the story may sound pretty standard, don’t be fooled. Ruckley manages to provide multiple layers of intrigue that slowly start to surface throughout the novel. I kept finding myself looking forward to seeing how and when certain confrontations would take place. Would the High Thanes decide to take action? What happens with Aeglyss? What will the Inkallim do? All of these questions and more are now firmly etched into my brain and I find myself anxiously and very impatiently waiting for the second novel in the series Bloodheir.

Check out the full review http://www.thefantasyreview.com/2007/08/16/winterbirth-review/ show less

Quite enjoyed it in a passed the time sort of way. I did get more and more engrossed as the story progressed. But George R.R. Martin does it much better.

I'm not sure how I really feel about this book. While I was reading it, I really enjoyed it. After I put it down, I felt no urge to go back to it. Overall it's well written, with strong characters. I think the pacing was slow, and that affected my desire for continued reading; the plot could be entirely summarized in a couple of paragraphs. Still, as a set-up for the remainder of the series I feel it did a fine job, and I am looking forward to the next volume.

DNF: Did Not FinishI got maybe sixty pages in and realized I was... well... bored. I must be really fussy about my high fantasy. My internal editor was going mad with all the writing advice *I* have, as a writer, been bombarded with (particularly using more active language) and that was distracting. Otherwise, it just didn't hook me. And when you're looking at hundreds of pages, you want to be hooked.That being said, I *might* try again at another time but for now, it's just not that alluring.