The Dreamstone

It was a good book that had language that just totally drew me into its world. I had read the second part of this duology first and had found the language descriptive but without story. The story in this first one is well-explained, through rich language, that says in a few words what a tableau is on the page.

It's a tableau of the Fae and humans, of lands guarded and not, of men and women farming and fighting and working and making their lives. And it also describes a time of transition in both Fae and human, where one last elf lives in her wood that is facing the ravages of time, and a kingdom has lost its king and its direction. And good things do happen as well as tragedies.

Some of this story felt familiar, akin to other "elves & men" tales such as The Lord of the Rings. And yet, the author added more mystery, and depth to the characters, whether to the dislike or delight of the reader. I enjoyed it enough to plan on reading the second book in the series.

I was reading from the book with both parts included, but I'm not missing out on adding a completed book to my list, especially with the drought I've been in. It was 182 pages that felt like reading 300 and this one is right at 300. No wonder it felt so.

Some of the reading I felt removed from, like I was at a distance, but it ended well. I was hoping to recapture the magic from first reading Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time. It wasn't quite that, though.

Here are some passages:

"There was a grayness upon him like the grief of the fairfolk themselves, when the world no longer suited them, nor they the world."

"We are phantoms on the earth, Ciaran thought, and knew not which heritage we meant—for between those flickerings of show more otherwhere, like lightning-strokes, there was no army, only murky day, a strange placid landscape void of farms and wars and Men."

"Suddenly they were alone, in a place gone gray and full of mists—They are fled, fled, the dream sang to him; and elsewhere, wherever he looked, was an iron-poisoned hush." show less

Not as good as the Morgaine trilogy by Cherryh, but interesting, with good imagery.

Celtic-ish fantasy setting where the elves are fading and Men are rising. There are politics/wars and interventions at elvish whim, but no one I could care about. (I picked up a bunch of Cherryh a while back and am only now getting to them.)

C'était un monde agreste et paisible, peuplé d'esprit, d'elfes et de biches. Et puis les Hommes sont venus, avec leurs chiens, leurs feux, et le cliquetis de leurs armes car, très vite, les tribus se sont fait la guerre.
Les esprits ont fui...
Seule Arafel, l'elfe hardi et fier, n'a pas quitté sa forêt, encore inviolée. Une pierre d'émeraude pâle la protège et elle ne hait pas les hommes.
Alors, quand apparaît Ciaran, un jeune guerrier blessé, elle le secourt et lui offre une pierre de rêve, semblable à la sienne.
Plus tard, il rejoindra Scaga, son allié, mais Ciaran n'est plus le même. Une voix d'elfe parle en lui, Arafel le hante. Et pourtant il aime Brandwyn, la fille de son hôte...
Quel sera le destin de Ciaran, show more homme double et déchiré ? Qui l'emportera en lui des hommes ou des esprits ? show less