Lamentation (The Psalms of Isaak)

I'm always a little wary when reading books that have all sorts of over-the-top quotes from other others, amazing pre-press reviews, etc. It just raises my expectations too high, and then I feel all let down.

This book totally deserved it all. Not only did it pull me along so tightly that I stayed up all night to finish it, but I actually felt *satisfied* with the ending, which is all too rare with the first book in a series. Characters across the book are developed in depth, not just one or two with the rest cardboard prop-ups. The world is both familiar and intriguingly different. While the book covers many of the same themes as most post-apocalyptic fiction -- distrust of science, religious resurgence, secret cults and conspiracies, show more and fiefdoms with competing ideologies -- enough twists and turns and new sparks are thrown in to create a story that is wholly engaging.

Oh, and did I mention the robots? :D show less

What was it that kept me reading this book, even as it kept grating on my nerves and frustrating my brain's attempt to analyze it? A big attractor was the cast of clear-cut and appealing characters, each of whom were of a type, but only a couple were a stereotype. Another was the interesting world, which is something like medieval times, but not quite, and included some intriguing modern touches and hints that there is (or could be) a rich history. This made the fantasy a bit more like science fiction. Probably most of all is the unfolding story, with layer upon layer of intrigue.

Truth-be-told, it was this very intrigue that almost made me put the book down about a quarter of the way into it. Outside of the original catastrophe, about show more which only a little is learned, the only thing that happens for quite a while is a lot of talking and posturing and thinking and a little intrigue. Thankfully, the pace picked up and things got interesting again.

But what did grate on my nerves? Let's start with some of the writing quirks. How about the use of "magicks"? Really? We couldn't come up with a new word or a different word for something that acts like magic, but isn't? I guess if you spell magic with a 'k' it's not exactly the same. And why is it necessary to use apostrophes in names (e.g., "P'Andro Whym" to make them seem exotic? Maybe that's just a matter of personal taste. And why disturb my mind by giving someone a name that appears to my eye to be Asian and have them described as a red-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian?

Then there's the matter of repetition, of "magicks" and "Whymer Mazes" and "scouts" and "salted knives". If this is really a complex world with thousands of years of history, there should be many more varied analogies and turns of phrase. As it is, it reads like a whole city talking about nothing but Rubik's Cubes and Quantum Leaps all day for years.

And that brings me to the whole perception of a worldwide (?) society that seems completely stuck in a single age, technologically and otherwise, for thousands(?!) of years. Is that because of the workings of a religious order that's clearly Catholic-inspired, but isn't actually based on anything spiritual or truly Biblical (with a capital 'B')? How does that work? Why isn't there more than one (or maybe two, if you count the Marshers) pseudo-religion in the entire world? Even the real Catholic church couldn't pull off more than a few hundred years of domination. And if you've got mechanoservitors and iron ships that are steam powered (the latter implied by the former), where is the industrialization that created them?

What was it that kept me reading this book? I'm still not entirely sure. But I've developed enough interest in the characters and the world to want to know more about what happened in the past and what's going to happen. I may also be hoping that the author has foreseen my objections and will reveal a satisfactory explanation. I'm probably going to read at least the next book in the series to see where it goes. show less

I started this one on audio and finished it in regular book form. The four readers were good, but I think I would rather have had just one. There were more than four characters for them to cover, and they presented some of the characters differently, especially Isaak.

The chapters are set up as point-of-view chapters like George RR Martin's books, but they're much shorter. We get the viewpoints of most of the major players, whether good, bad or in between. There are some great protagonists here-Rudolfo, the gypsy king; Jin Li Tam, the spy; Petronus, the fisherman with a secret past; and Neb, the young man with a mysterious destiny.

The character that had my heart from the first was Isaak, the mecho-servitor. From that first scene when show more they find him weeping in the woods to the limp he walks with due to a damaged leg, Scholes does a wonderful job of humanizing the inhuman. I felt instant empathy and protectiveness for the character, the only principal character who doesn't get point-of-view chapters.

The world-building is as smooth as anything-no info dumps in the form of unrealistic dialogue or long paragraphs of exposition. Scholes told his story while gracefully weaving in the history, customs and religion of his unique world. One of the things I love most about the plot is the focus on restoring the library of a great city that has been destroyed.

This work is original and skillfully done, and I'm glad there's more to read. show less

From my website:

Within pages Scholes creates a full bodied universe with adversaries and heroes, though by the end you still might not know who is which. To set the scene, Scholes opens his debut novel with the event that will follow the characters around and set into motion the underlying shockwaves that carry forward the story for the next four hundred pages. Within the first 50 pages, Windwir is destroyed by some mystical force that destroys the entire city and the thousands of people within its borders. As the center of the Named Lands, Windwir acted as the seat of power for the Androfrancines, an order that collected knowledge from the “Old World” and maintained within the confines of the large library that made up most of the show more city. The Androfrancines act much like a religious order of our own world, except instead of peddling gods and religions, they seek to find and protect knowledge, leaking it out to the general public in slips and pieces as they think the general populace can handle it. In the destruction of Windwir, the world loses most of the knowledge of the old as well as the group that maintained peace within the world. As everyone attempts to figure out who could have caused such destruction, sides build towards inevitable war.

Even though the story bounced between view points with three or four characters telling the story through their eyes in each chapter, the novel flows effortlessly. Moving from one character to the next doesn’t jerk you out of the action or takes much adjustment because all of the characters are so well-developed. Even the characters that have awkward “fantasy” names that are not common in the real world have distinctive traits that soon turn them into individuals after being introduced. The story is centered around four distinctive voices with others leading detail as needed:

Rudolpfo – the gypsy king of the Nine Folds Forrest, an honorable man who prefers sticking to matters of his own territory, but seeks to honor his “kinclave” with the Androfrancine order

Jin Li Tam – a daughter of the house of Li Tam, a familial network that subtly attempts to affect change within the Named Lands, acts as a spy for her father

Neb – a teenage orphan of the Androfrancine order who was leaving Windwir with his father to enter the old world for research

Petronus – an old fisherman who is much more than he pretends to be with an emotional stake in the destruction of Windwir

Through their eyes, the story unfolds – war begins, mysteries unravel, loyalties change and somehow the mythology becomes more and more complicated as the entire world gets involved in the aftermath of the destruction of this one city.

Lamentation defeats the boundaries of genre classification. Yes, I compare it to epic fantasy, but at the same time there are mechoservitors – metal men used by the Androfrancine order for maintaining their library – and steam powered technology, magic seeping in through the cracks, and human drama reflected in the tribulations of a post-apocalyptic world as it falls apart. Though it begins in a slow steady pace that builds up a world almost as real as our own, Scholes has no hesitation in running at full speed, developing the world as the action powers the story along.

This is the first of a five novel series with the third book, Antiphon, coming out in September. There is no way any words of my own can justify how fantastic this book is. I highly recommend it and its sequel Canticle to anyone who enjoys getting lost in well constructed, beautifully written worlds full of action, mystery and intrigue. This isn’t Lost. Questions get answered as often as they get asked, though theorizing and putting pieces of the puzzle together along with the main characters is part of the fun. show less

It’s been some time since I read any epic fantasy; I stopped because it was all starting to sound the same to me. Lately, though, I’ve been on a quest for the quirky, the original, the off-beat. I’m tired of clichés and predictability, comfortable as they sometimes are to read.

Fortunately for me, Ken Scholes seems to be of the same mind. Lamentation, the first book of The Psalms of Isaak, while partaking of the spirit of traditional epic fantasy, gives the old tropes a new spin. Perhaps it is because his book partakes as much of science fiction as of fantasy (his book could as easily be a far future version of our own Earth as it could be a totally invented world); perhaps it is simply because he has a terrific imagination and a show more writing style to match. In any event, Lamentation was a pleasure to read.

The book begins with the destruction of Windwir: “The city screams and then sighs seven times, and after the seventh sigh, sunlight returns briefly to the scorched land.” A nuclear explosion? Something else? It is not possible to tell in this world where science seems to be indistinguishable from magic, and deliberately so, apparently the province of a religious order that seems much like a far future Catholic Church (as much as it seems like a far past Catholic Church, the Church of the Dark Ages when it preserved knowledge from total destruction). The destruction of the city leads to war between different kingdoms, each of which blames the other for the city’s annihilation. We know from the beginning who is truly responsible, but we do not know the motive except that the destroyer seems to be mad.

Scholes tells his story from the viewpoints of four characters, skipping from one to the other throughout the book. The device works well, for it gives us information we need to know what’s going on, while preserving secrets from characters who cannot know certain facts.

Rudolfo is the classic hero of the tale, a gypsy king who leads the Ninefold Forest Houses. But Scholes is not content to make him tall, handsome, brave and true. Instead, Rudolfo keeps Physicians of Penitent Torture on hand to “treat” miscreants with salted knives, and he watches them work while he dines sumptuously. At the same time, he treats women with dignity and grace; works to preserve the world’s knowledge when Windwir’s great library is destroyed; and is enormously skilled as a warrior and a dignitary. In addition, there are forces operating to make him what he is of which he knows nothing, making his life a tragedy and making him, to some extent, a puppet: but to what extent?

Our heroine is Jin Li Tam, a woman of great resourcefulness, but who is as close to a cliché as any character is this novel comes (and that is dangerously close, I regret to say). Despite her Asian name, she has characteristically Western features, and those of a fashion model at that, including every adolescent male’s dream of red hair and big breasts. And, of course, she is exceptionally skilled in bed, and of course she falls in love with the hero almost at first sight. At least Scholes has also chosen to make her cunning and, at least to some extent, ruthless.

Neb is a survivor of the destruction of Windwir, an acolyte of the religious order that ran the city. He is in his mid-teens, the son of a member of the order (and therefore technically fatherless; the members are supposed to be celibate, apparently, but that vow also appears to be dishonored with some regularity, so boys like Neb are not unusual). He becomes attached to Petronus, lately a fisherman from a village not far from Windwir. Petronus is drawn to Windwir when he sees to tower of smoke rising from the city’s destruction; we gradually learn why, as he assembles and manages a work crew that buries the dead of the city.

The plot involves the war between Rudolfo and his allies and Sethbert and his allies for control of what remains of Windwir and the Church. As mentioned above, we know from the outset that Sethbert has caused the destruction of Windwir. But Sethbert is able to manipulate the powers that be in such a way as to create doubt about who was truly responsible, and the result is war. Who joins with whom is surprising to many, including the allegiance of the mysterious Marsh King. The role of the financier to the Church, Vlad Li Tam (Jin Li’s father and Petronus’s boyhood friend), is also crucial to the outcome of the war.

This is not, however, so much a book about battles as about politics and political manipulation. That is why I found it so fascinating. The strategy, the history, the skills of the players, the personalities – everything is detailed carefully and colorfully, and the book is full of surprises. While some aspects of the ending of the book are never really in doubt (as with most fantasies), others came as a shock, and suggest that there is much, much more to be told in the four volumes of this saga that are yet to come.

And there is so much that I have not told you about Lamentation: I haven’t mentioned Isaak or his fellow mechoservitors; I’ve barely touched on the Androfrancine Order; and there is way more to the Marsh King than I’ve suggested here. This is a rich story indeed, beautifully told. show less

This was a great book. Very fast paced with some very interesting characters and story lines. It did suffer from a few first novel issues but they were small and didn't bother me that much.

I liked that the book ended with the completion of a story line and the hint of the future mystery. I have always felt that series books should do that. I hate feeling like I go to the end of the book with no resolution what so ever.

I also thought Scholes did a very nice job of laying out his world. Giving us hints here are there but not revealing everything. There is a big mystery in the background of this book and he hints at it all the way through. I liked his mix of fantasy and tech. Will read the next one when it come out in October.

A mix of fantasy and science fiction, Lamentation tells the story of the Named Lands, home to the survivors of a great destruction. When the great city of Windwir is suddenly destroyed, and the Named Lands' library and repository of knowledge with it, the leaders of the provinces find themselves on the brink of war. Accusations fly about who caused the destruction. While some seek retribution, others seek restoration, and still others just want to make sense of what's happened. Across the miles, they initiate their plots, each seeking to protect him or herself and her people and their lands.This is epic fantasy at its finest but no sorcery or dwarves or elves. Scholes has created his own world and people, one that we've never seen show more before, and populated it with characters like us. They draw us in and capture our hearts, making us care deeply about what happens to them.Scholes uses a variety of points of view throughout, with short, tight scenes that keep the pace compelling. I found his voice unique and his story compelling. His prose is haunting and captures you, pulling you along with it for the ride. His world building and characterization are also top notch. In fact, it was difficult to pick a favorite: Rudolfo, leader of the famed Gypsy Scouts from the Ninefold Forests; Petronus, the former pope who faked his own death and disappeared; Jae Lin Tam, faithful daughter who's sacrificed her body and spirit in the service of her father's political goals; Neb, illegitimate son of a monk, who watched Windwir explode and his father and whole world with it. Or perhaps it would be Isak, the metal man, keeper of the last remnant of knowledge, and possessor of a dark secret about the destruction of Windwir. Each have their own arc and history, compellingly brought together in conflict and friendship by the events which unfold.The book has drawn impressive praise, too. New York Times bestselling speculative fiction author Orson Scott Card wrote: "This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work. Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it's done." Card liked it so much, he participated in a reading of the book voicing characters.Analog calls Scholes "one of the best writer's you've never heard of," and Editor/Publisher Jonathan Strahan said "it has the chance of standing as an important book in the evolution of the epic fantasy form...a delight...a book that readers are very likely to take to heart. it's one of the best fantasies I've read in some time."Two of the books are out, and I've read them both, and I can't wait until Antiphon comes out this fall. I wish they'd hurry up and get the others out. My only complaint is that Scholes needs to write faster or maybe just concentrate. I told Ken I am jealous of his first readers. But he's not talking, I have to wait like everyone else lucky enough to have discovered Scholes' saga with baited breath!If you have tired of high fantasy or other forms you've seen done time and again, no matter how well, give Ken Scholes' series a try. It's fantastic and well worth the effort. I can't recommend it enough. show less