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    Lord of the Changing Winds
    Lord of the Changing Winds
    Lord of the Changing Winds
    Audiobook11 hours

    Lord of the Changing Winds

    Written by Rachel Neumeier

    Narrated by Emily Durante

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Griffins lounged all around them, inscrutable as cats, brazen as summer. They turned their heads to look at Kes out of fierce, inhuman eyes. Their feathers, ruffled by the wind that came down the mountain, looked like they had been poured out of light; their lion haunches like they had been fashioned out of gold. A white griffin, close at hand, looked like it had been made of alabaster and white marble and then lit from within by white fire. Its eyes were the pitiless blue-white of the desert sky.

    Little ever happens in the quiet villages of peaceful Feierabiand. The course of Kes's life seems set: she'll grow up to be an herb-woman and healer for the village of Minas Ford, never quite fitting in but always more or less accepted. And she's content with that path-or she thinks she is. Until the day the griffins come down from the mountains, bringing with them the fiery wind of their desert and a desperate need for a healer. But what the griffins need is a healer who is not quite human...or a healer who can be made into something not quite human.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 27, 2010
    ISBN9781400189717
    Lord of the Changing Winds
    Author

    Rachel Neumeier

    Rachel Neumeier, the author of The Mountain of Kept Memory, started writing in graduate school as a break from research, but years ago allowed her hobbies to take over her life. Along with writing both adult and young adult fantasy, she now gardens, cooks Indian food, breeds and shows Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and occasionally finds time to read. Her most recent young adult novel, The Floating Islands, was a Junior Library Guild selection and was selected by Kirkus Reviews as a best book of the year. Her most recent titles include House of Shadows and Black Dog.

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    Reviews for Lord of the Changing Winds

    3.5/5

    62 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The Griffin Mage Trilogy is about magic, politics, loyalty and griffins. It has excellent worldbuilding, lovely writing and characters I immediately cared about.The griffins are creatures of desert and fire. They’re capable of human communication but their perspective and values are not human. In Lord of the Changing Winds, the griffins are forced out of Casmantium and flee to Feierabiand, bringing their desert with them.Kes is a shy teenage girl from a small village, enlisted by the griffin mage Kairaithin as a healer. Bertaud, the king of Feierabiand’s former page, meets Kairaithin when he is sent to discover if they can negotiate with griffins - or if it will take a war to make them leave. Through contact with the griffins, Bertaud and Kes both find their loyalty is challenged and they develop unexpected abilities.I really enjoyed this, right up to the ending, which is muted by loss. However, this isn’t the end of Kairaithin, Kes and Bertaud’s respective stories. All of them play important roles in the subsequent books - just not centre stage the way they do here. The griffins came to Feierabiand with the early summer warmth, riding the wind out of the heights down to the tender green pastures of the foothills. The wind they brought with them was a hard, hot wind, with nothing of the gentle Feierabiand summer about it. It tasted of red dust and hot brass.Kes, gathering herbs in the high pastures above the village of Minas Ford, saw them come: great bronze wings shining in the sun, tawny pelts like molten gold, sunlight striking harshly off beaks and talons. One was a hard shining white, one red as the coals at the heart of a fire.
    • 4/5
      An excellent take on a theme used again and again, but the plot twist and turns and are refreshingly difficult to predict, but not becoming strange. It comes in on the lightweight side of fantasy and there are som wrinkles in the world-building that itches a bit.But it was an enoyable read and I look forward to the next book.
    • 4/5
      Kes, a girl who is somewhat out of place in her village, is approached by a griffin mage because she is the only one who can heal the badly wounded griffins. You know where this is going, right? Wrong. As usual, Neumeier takes a familiar beginning and runs off in different--and very interesting--directions.Heartily recommended.
    • 3/5
      I found this to be a bit disappointing considering how excited I had been when I first learned of this book. Don't get me wrong, mind; the griffins are every bit as cool as I'd hoped and the book is worth reading if only for that aspect, but this book also has things that seriously irk me and make me less than thrilled at the idea of finishing the trilogy.Firstly, I was extremely annoyed when Betraud developed an affinity for griffins. Gosh... affinity looks like such a meek and gentle word written here in this review. You might even think that an affinity would be no bad thing, like a communication aide between humans and griffins or maybe an alignment of sympathies.It's a duex ex machina mind control. Among Betraud's people, animal affinities are fairly commonplace and most people have some sort of affinity for at least one animal, and this affinity gives them complete control over that sort of animal. Betraud is the only person in both species' history who has control over griffins, and it is explicitly discussed in this book that the existence of this affinity encourages the humans to disregard the griffins sentience in favor of considering the griffins base animals. And I find that really fucking irritating. The theme of who cares if the obviously intelligent flying creature can talk? It isn't human, it isn't sentient, and it must be enslaved leaves such a horribly foul taste in my mouth that it's reason enough right there for me to drop the trilogy entirely. I dropped Novik's Temeraire series for this same reason. As much as I loved the griffins that populate this world, I'm not at all sure I can stomach two more books of human/griffin political obstinacy.Secondly, Betraud is a moron. I mostly liked the main human character, Kes, but Betraud became a more and more important character as the book whent on, and he's set to be the primary character in the second book of this trilogy. I hated him. I hated the actions he choose to make. I hated his pussyfooting around whenever he had to gear up to make his choices. I hated his wishywashy loyalties. I hated his whole culture. I do not want to read a whole book about him. And this second book isn't even supposed to involve the griffins beyond the slimmest of scenes. I don't want to read that at all.I might finish this trilogy if I hear incredibly good reviews for the rest of the books, but I'll wait until the third book has published before I even consider obtaining the second. And if the plot of the third book isn't in a direction I'd enjoy (and I'm desiring something along the lines of a griffin developing an affinity for humans and seeing how the humans like that), there is no way I'll ever continue this trilogy.
    • 4/5
      This is (mainly) the story of what happens to a young girl, Kes, when griffins unexpectedly appear near her village from their far away land, and the conflicts that result. It is set in the land of Feierabiand, where people may have an 'affinity' for animals, and the strongest of these are earth mages.It is quite an unusual premise to have griffins as main characters, rather than humans alone (or, occasionally, dragons), and they become more central to the plot because griffins also have mages; although, as creatures of fire, they are fire mages.I found this a well written book. It expressed the alien nature of griffins - you can almost see why they think a certain way, if not understand it - and highlights it with their spiky-sounding names and precise naming system. And when a character is caught on the horns of a dilemma, between what is right, and what is for the greater good, you can sympathise with them and find it as difficult to come to a decision.
    • 4/5
      I love Griffins.Sure, Dragons are awesome. Dragons are mighty. Dragons go with heroic fantasy as much as, say, treasure laden dungeons.But Griffins...Combine a lion, king of the beasts, with an eagle, king of the air. That's a potent combination. A combination that speaks to me in a way that the coldly reptilian eye of a dragon doesn't always manage. Too, Griffins are not as well developed as dragons. Everyone knows dragons breathe fire (except when they don't). Everyone knows they love riddles (except when they don't). Smaug is the classic, archetypal dragon.Griffins aren't anywhere near as common, and so their natures are more of a blank slate...and thus room for a writer (or a GM) to invent as they like. I like seeing that potential fulfilled...and this latest read of mine makes it happen.Lord of the Changing Winds is the first book in a new trilogy called "The Griffin Mage" by author Rachel Neumeier.Set mainly in the country of Feierabiand, Lord of the Changing Winds is the story of Kes. A young healer in the backwater village of Minas Ford, her life, and the life of her country, are turned upside down by the arrival of large migrating band of Griffins. Why the Griffins have left their desert, what they want with Kes, and the machinations of the Kings of Ferierabiand and neighboring Casmantium are the Matter of this first novel.This is Neumeier's first adult novel, and there are striking strengths, and, unfortunately, some glaring weaknesses that mar but do not completely spoil the reading experience.Best of all is Neumeier's imagining of what Griffins are, and what they do. Their terraforming of the land around them into a beloved (to them) desert is a wonderful conceit and concept, and a strong rationale for why Griffins are usually found in places far isolated from man. The characterizations and emotional palettes of the characters, both human and Griffin, on all sides of the conflicts are strong. I felt myself wanting to know more about the Griffins, their culture, and the cultures of the two very different nations caught in the claws of the Griffins life.The quality of the writing is very good. Neumeier describes the Griffins lovingly, with the words of someone who loves these creatures as much as I. Each of the Griffins we meet is an individual, in appearance as well as personality. Her writing description of environment goes best when she is describing the Griffins desert, and less so when the action takes us elsewhere.The magic use in the novel was not strong enough for me to judge it. I need more data before I can decide whether it makes sense or not. I can see the lines of how it works, but I'd like to know more before I decide if I like it or not.The weaknesses in the novel on the other hand have to do with the movement of people, and more especially armies. There is a phrase in military circles: "Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics."As bad as it seems that armies fly around the map of Neumeier's world (and they do, I couldn't get a decent sense of scale), the worse part is the logistical trains. Neumeier does not seem to really have considered the logistics and supply chains needed to make the movement of these armies, especially at speed, practical and possible. From a 30,000 foot level. what the two armies are trying to do makes sense. But without a decent sense of scale, it seemed as realistic as wargaming in the video game Civilization IV. Happily, this is not as crucial to the enjoyment of the book as one might fear, but this lack of thought was disappointing.So, would you, gentle reader, like this book? If your preference is for fantasy fiction with strong characterization and the use of a neglected mythological creature, the Lord of the Changing Winds might be your cup of tea.If you prefer the military aspects of your fantasy reading to be more rigorous. you are going to be frustrated with swaths of this novel. Personally, I think the strengths and inventiveness and quality of the writing outweigh the negatives, and I have already make plans to buy and read the second novel in the series.
    • 4/5
      Kes is up in the woods collecting herbs for her stock when she spies the Griffins flying in the distance, and is distracted by their beauty. After Kes returns home to her sister Tesme and their helper Jos, she goes into the small village with her sister to celebrate the birth of magnificent horse of Tesme's. While there a man comes looking for Kes, asking for her help. Kes realizes something different about this man, that he must have a connection to the griffins by what she sees and feels. Kes willingly goes with this man and learns she can heal griffins, without her herbs. The countries have divided themselves by the people and their abilities. The setup of these abilities, or different magic’s, is started in this book as you learn a little about all of them and more of a few special ones. The abilities are categorized as; Makers, Legists, and Animal Affinity. Then there are Mages present as well; earth, cool, and fire. And they all have a strange affect on each other. But Kes is about to learn a wondrous secret of herself... There are no mysterious turns to the story, this story is a solid fantasy style read. I enjoyed reading the beauty drawn through words of the griffins and learning of them as the story went on. In the first 100 pages I only felt for Bertaud and of his friendship with the King. I wanted to connect with Kes and the griffins, yet they seemed... standoffish. But, somewhere between 125 and 200 pages something happened, and I feel for Kes and the griffins and started to understand more of their personalities. I think part of the connection I didn't feel was because I didn't trust the Griffin Mage. I didn't like him in the first half of the story, but I came to understand him in the second half, and even start to like him in the end. I think the author wants you to not trust Kairaithin along with finding it harder to connect with him and the griffins. I started to realize it may be part of their nature since they are creatures of fire. But in the end I accepted them for who they are and liked them.The only thing about the read I had a hard time with were the names of the griffins. It was hard for me to keep them separate at first as the names were rather long and similar to each other, example: Eskainiane Escaile Sehaikiu. What did help was the author did usually give a description of the griffin by color with the names to help differentiate them, and after giving them nicknames I started to do well with them.After reading this book, I am curious to see where the rest of the trilogy goes. In the end of the story I felt I started to understand what makes all the characters work and would like to read the next book to see where they all go and what falls upon them.
    • 5/5
      If I could I would give this 10 stars. An excellent fantasy with a hint of romance. The main characters are written in such a way that the writing style mimics each character. I think it was very well done (not that I explained it well...but read it you'll see what I mean!) I can't wait for the next in the series to come out.