Paul Kearney - This Forsaken Earth (Book Review)

"This Forsaken Earth" (Amazon: UK, US)

by PAUL KEARNEY
Format: Paperback, 368/336 pages
Publisher: Bantam Press/Spectra (July/November 2006)

-
-

KEARNEY needs no introduction on RoSF, as we have already given him a lot of attention; I reviewed a couple of his books: (1) “The Mark of Ran”, the first book of The Sea Beggars trilogy (2) and “The Ten Thousand”, a heroic tale of a highly organised mercenary army and its epic journey through a hostile empire. “This Forsaken Earth” picks up where “The Mark of Ran” left off - with Rol Corthishane running from himself and his past to live as a ruthless but loyal pirate captain. While this book cleverly eschews some of the pitfalls of the middle-book syndrome it is in other ways still deeply trapped by those same dangers: the most obvious one is how the story, which was sublimely set up in “The Mark of Ran”, develops but little.

But if the plot progression disappoints to an extent, the reading experience itself is still as emotionally mesmerising as was with the previous book, if not more so. The novel doesn't resolve any of the questions raised in the first novel, it even raises some new ones, but while both the story and the main protagonist stagnate, author nevertheless manages to put a few hints here and there that he has something great in store for the reader in the final book of the trilogy, which is yet to be released (hopefully by the end of this year).

Cortishane and his motley crew of followers are flawed and morally ambiguous, but feel real and are likeable. Sadly, Cortishane's most trusted sidekicks lack a bit of character development, but I guess it's hard to fully flesh out a plethora of characters, if you write in such a condensed way as KEARNEY does (this is even more prominent in “The Ten Thousand”, his latest book). I still believe that the author has excellent skills for characterisation, but he intentionally (or unintentionally) chooses not to put it to the forefront of his novels. The bits of story that are character - not plot - driven are brilliant; I especially enjoyed how he handled the interaction between Rol and Rowen, Rol's lost love, when they happen to meet again. If anything, she is a true femme fatale, a woman I could find my self falling for. She is cold, haunting, distant, but scarred and also caring in her own way.

The world wherein the story transpires is lush and mysterious, but again, it remains largely unexploited (and unexplored). One third of the story takes place in the hidden pirate city that we were introduced to in the first book, another part of the story takes place in the war-riven state of Bionar, which was presented all to sketchy for my tastes, and the final part of the story unfolds in a bleak, wintry setting of a certain mountain ridge that Rol and the people that follow his lead have to pass to escape prosecution. To be honest, I enjoyed the first book's setting more, even if it was more static (and small-scale) compared to how this book's story resonates with the surroundings; I'm referring to the large household that was run by a charismatic and vile master, ruled by protocol and riven with hidden chambers (this was freshened up sporadically with Corthishan's forays into the city beyond). But I think I'm straying from the point here.

If I summarize my impressions of “This Forsaken Earth”: I must say, that despite all the niggles I had, the book remained a compulsive read throughout, KEARNEY's storytelling abilities are as sharp as ever and his style leaves the impression of being intentionally brash, simple, primordial and uncompromising at times. I wouldn't say that this book impressed me as much as I wanted it too do, but it certainly has some brilliant moments and is, generally speaking, a work of quality that I can nothing but recommend.

-
-
-
-
~ Thrinidir ~

Paul Kearney - The Mark of Ran (Book Review)

Paul Kearney might just be one of the undiscovered, rather than hidden, gems of fantasy fiction. His début “The Way to Babylon” (1992), two subsequent stand alone novels and a more traditional epic fantasy series “Monarchies of God” counting five books, all failed to bring a financial breakthrough even though these books were often praised by critics at least as competent efforts if not beyond that. His latest started (but never finished) trilogy “The Sea Beggars” – the first book of which I am about to review, was sadly dropped by Bantam, Kearney’s publisher at the time, just after the second book. The official explanation was not surprisingly of a financial nature. Hopefully his streak of bad luck will have ended this year with a new upcoming title “The Ten Thousand” (September 2008) backed by a new publisher - Solaris, which also plans to reissue the five Monarchies of God books as an omnibus duo.

Intrigued by Adam’s (The Wertzone) perseverant endorsement of Kearny as a severely underrated author, as well as by the blurb on the cover of “The Mark of Ran”, written by Steven Erikson, proclaiming Kearney as one of the best fantasy authors out there, I’ve decided to read the damned thing myself. And guess what, despite the fact that the book has its flaws, I was still pleasantly surprised and have to agree about the underrated part at least.

The World is slowly dying, forsaken by its Creator. Mankind schemes and plots and makes war across the world, forgetting that they are not its sole inheritors. Another race once dwelled here… We witness the story of Rol Corthisan, an orphan and a farm-boy, whose undisclosed heritage makes him unaware of his hidden potentials – now where have we heard that before? After his safe haven is destroyed he has to seek his only chance at help and knowledge. Afraid and alone he sails through a storm to a neighboring island state, where the mysterious figure of Michal Psellos takes him in. While under his patronage, Rol learns many skills (most of them are about being deadly) as well as finds himself in love with Rowen, his beautiful tutor and the only person besides Rol, who shares his ambiguous status in Michal’s household and is unfamiliar with her parentage. Without giving out too much let me conclude this brief synopsis by revealing that everything is not what it seems to be in the tower of Michal Psellos and after things get complicated and then resolved after a fashion, Rol sets out onto the sea, where a new life awaits him, a life full of danger and opportunities…but even as he tries to run from his personal past, a different kind of past rushes headlong into his direction instead.

“The Mark of Ran” reads like a simple and straight-forward story, which it is after a fashion, but Kearney also manages to transcend such trite generalization with his competent writing skills, fluid narrative, killer pacing, detailed world building (the annexed map and the mythos are intriguing at the least), carefully deployed mystery element of the general plot and the likeability of the characters, as well as plausibility of their actions. I’m not sure why, maybe the cover blurb is to fault for the comparison, but Kearney’s prose seems in a way akin to that of Erikson – the flow of narrative for example. If I tried hard enough I might also find some similarities between Rol and Crokus (a character in Erikson’s “Malazan Book of The Fallen” series).

Where the story starts to drop in intensity is well into the second half of the novel, which follows Rol as he traverses the seas as a sailor/officer. The seafaring part cannot possibly match up to the earlier chapters. Rol’s growth as a character seems to stall significantly in exchange for (in my opinion) filler action scenes and seemingly random courses in seamanship. The terminology itself didn’t bother me that much, but if you are not interested in principles of sailing and (old) sea vessels this sections of the book might bore you some.

Otherwise, I have to congratulate Kearney for not being afraid to kill people in his book, although the main cast seems a bit untouchable at moments. The body count is quite high in the end. One other thing I liked is how Kearney handles the love story - well not the love part of the story per se, it is only that he treads around this theme really elegantly, showing us love's bitter-sweet side without overdoing it.

With barely under 400 pages this novel rarely falters. “The Mark of Ran” is a well executed epic fantasy, which doesn't deserve to be buried under a heap of unremarkable fiction littering the market. (I will save the peculiar story of how I got this book for later.) All in all, this novel is more than a decent read and although a bit short of brilliant, it still made me eager to read its sequel - "The Forsaken Earth".

3,5/5

- Thrinidir -