Black Sun Rising

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 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 show more 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

he one is a fantasy that strikes the questions that only Fantasy can ask: What is the purpose of Power? How does Power damn the one who uses it? How can one chose NOT to do so? Gerald Tarrant is the Uber Demon who makes the reader question all the little passively accepted 'Truths' of Life. If you haven't read this book and the rest of the trilogy-- BUY IT. READ IT. That's all there is to say. C. S. Friedman writes like a Man-- this is not a soap opera filled with princesses and princes. It's hard choices with sharp edges that draw blood every time

I was blown away by the authors imaginative and complex world, the fascinating characters, and the spell-binding (literally) plot. The story introduces and expounds on serious questions about religion, society, humanity, charity, guilt, forgiveness, and duty.
However, I was not as pleased with the following two books in the series, and did not like the conclusion at all.
YMMV, but they are worth reading for the fine craftsmenship of the writing.

Part of a truly accomplished trilogy. No set of books has ever rendered an inherently evil character is such a sympathetic light. You'll spend most of the pages wondering whether feeding off the fear of dying women is really all that bad. That says something...what, I don't know.

This is high fantasy at some of it's finest, grabbing you right from the outset and not letting you go. Friedman's characters are well-developed and intriguing, and their relationships are complex enough to be believable. More than that, her insight into the human conscience and the inner dialogue that accompanies self-doubt and moral conflict is right on. Good and evil here is not a matter of black and white - instead, the lines are blurred and the reader will have a hard time knowing who to love and who to trust.

The world Friedman has built is also original. It reminded me a bit of Piers Anthony's Tarot series, only far more developed. When I read the back cover and saw that the book was about magic, with a Priest, Adept, show more Apprentice... etc, I was a bit turned off, but Friedman's take on "magic" is actually original and well thought-out.

Towards the end, the characters do become a little cardboard-cutout, which was disappointing. Right up until the last 100-200 pages, this was a "can't-put-it-down"er, filled with unexpected twists. I can only hope that the predictability of the last few chapters will be redeemed in the next installment. show less

I saw this book on the shelves years ago but I was a starving student at the time and passed up the opportunity to read it then. I won’t lie, the gorgeous cover art dragged me in, but as I read the flap errata in the Waldenbooks, I found myself very intrigued by the premise. The fae are alien, vampiric creatures that feed off of humanity… hmmm. I put the book down and walked out of the store, but that flap’s contents have haunted and influenced my own notions of the “fae” ever since. To that I thank the author, Celia. Recently, I decided to track down that book and thanks to my Google-Fu I found it! This is one of those times where I chastise myself for not buying this gem back when I first saw it on the shelves.

Black Sun show more Rising is a cross between fantasy and sci-fi (more on the fantasy side) with many dark undertones to it. The main characters are a priest, a human who has traded his soul for eternal unlife, and a sorceress.

Before humans arrived on the alien planet, the world was in perfect balance. If there was a great period of flooding, the creatures would quickly evolve to breathe in and out of water. If one species became too prolific, something would evolve to take it down a notch. Think of Darwin, but on steroids, not directed by random changes in DNA but DNA is changed to fit the new environment. An interesting concept and well portrayed in the story.

In this world, magic is accomplished by the fae who can almost be thought of as a flow of invisible spirits manipulating the world around them. Sorcerers(esses) manipulate the fae to do their bidding while the fae feed on their emotions. Some fae feed on dark emotions such as rage, pain and despair while others feed on joy, love, and faith. Over time demons were “born” out of the humans’ imaginings and took the forms of earthly monsters such as vampires, succubi, and even pagan gods.

The writing has a dark tone to it – scenes of torture and gruesome death are scattered throughout – I had eerie feelings as I read a few certain sections. Mankind fears true night for that is when the most devious fae (and in rare cases men) come out to feast on the humans inhabiting their world. Mankind has somehow learned to survive in this harsh world through the use of suppressing their own emotions, arming themselves with light, and manipulating the fae to protect them from the demons of the night.

The characters in the book are well defined. The priest is kind of a rebel in his own faith, but faith he does have. The undead has a weird sense of honor that makes sense, and the sorceress is an adventurous sort who is not afraid to risk her soul in search of knowledge. I read one review talking about how the characters were flat. I didn’t see this at all.

The story takes you through some twists and turns, but mostly I felt it was pretty straight forward, but not to the point where I ever really knew what was coming next. I really enjoyed this story, but more over I absolutely loved the original ideas behind it and for that reason I am pleased to give this sci-fi crossover fantasy novel 5 out of 5 stars. show less

Dark fantasy in this case implies a world where nightmares can literally come to life, and characters are forced to commit acts of violence not just for the sake of completing a quest but merely daily survival. The first two or three hundred pages make this a difficult book to get into; the world building comes first with a thin layer of characters and plot over top. I generally prefer world building as background rather than foundation. After that however, the story becomes very involving and improves all the way to a dramatic ending. This is the first book I've read by this author, but for me she's already vaulted ahead of Robin Hobb, Elizabeth Haydon, etc. among female fantasy writers. Looking forward to reading the next one.