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Sword of Fire and Sea
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Sword of Fire and Sea
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Sword of Fire and Sea
Ebook336 pages7 hours

Sword of Fire and Sea

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

Captain Vidarian Rulorat's great-grandfather gave up an imperial commission to commit social catastrophe by marrying a fire priestess. For love, he unwittingly doomed his family to generations of a rare genetic disease that follows families who cross elemental boundaries. Now Vidarian, the last surviving member of the Rulorat family, struggles to uphold his family legacy, and finds himself chained to a task as a result of the bride price his great-grandfather paid: The priestess Endera has called upon Vidarian to fulfill his family's obligation by transporting a young fire priestess named Ariadel to a water temple far to the south, through dangerous pirate-controlled territory. Vidarian finds himself at the intersection not only of the world's most volatile elements, but of the ancient and alien powers that lurk between them...
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPyr
Release dateJun 28, 2011
ISBN9781616143749
Unavailable
Sword of Fire and Sea
Author

Erin Hoffman

Author and video game designer Erin Hoffman was born in San Diego and now lives with her husband, two parrots, and two dogs in northern California. She is the author of the Chaos Knight series from Pyr books, beginning with Sword of Fire and Sea, followed by Lance of Earth and Sky and Shield of Sea and Space. Her video game credits include DragonRealms, Shadowbane: The Lost Kingdom, GoPets: Vacation Island, Kung Fu Panda World, and FrontierVille. She writes for the award-winning online magazine The Escapist, and has had fiction and poetry in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and more. In 2004 her blog on game industry quality of life, “ea_spouse”, was covered by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and LA Times, and is now referenced in numerous game history and corporate history studies. Erin’s games have won multiple awards and have been played by millions of kids and adults worldwide. She is multiethnic, with family names including Lee, Asakawa (yonsei), and Drake in addition to Hoffman.

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Rating: 3.281250025 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

16 ratings4 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Erin Hoffman's debut novel is a traditional high fantasy romp formed from the ashes of a collaborative project. It's origins are a bit unusual in a field of secondary world fantasies created by individuals with Tolkien on the mind, and the effort to move beyond the collaboration shows in the development of the world's magic system, mechanics and all. As a novel, Sword of Fire and Sea leaves something to be desired, but as a fantasy adventure, it hits all the right marks.Vidarian, a reputable ship captain, gets caught up in a complex web of magic-wielding priestesses when he reluctantly agrees to ferry fire priestess Ariadel to a safe haven. There, the priestesses hope, the Vkortha, their mortal enemies, will not be able to find Ariadel, whose abilities might threaten Vkorthan power. But the journey takes Vidarian and his crew through dangerous waters, where pirates and sorceresses await. Yet more shockingly, the journey reveals a destiny that Vidarian never knew he had, one which puts the fate of the world in his hands: in the end, he will have to choose between one future and another, digging through centuries of myth and legends to find the right "choice."One the interesting things about Hoffman's novel is its bipolar adherence to the traditional forms of fantasy. While at the heart of the narrative can be found a cliche "chosen one" story in the form of Vidarian, the narrative also takes away the security of knowing what is the "right choice" for the mythical figure. Vidarian not only must choose which future is the right one for his world, but he must also do so without knowing for sure which choice is the right one, all while fending off Imperial soldiers who want to prevent him from making any choice whatsoever and others who want him to choose one path or another. The novel never betrays its answers in this regard, which might help boost it above other high fantasy novels floating out there.But beyond that, Sword of Fire and Sea is essentially an adventure fantasy akin to the adventure novels of the romantic period. There isn't anything wrong with this, but it is important to recognize. A great deal of the novel is occupied with action: ships in combat, the heroes fighting back enemies of various shapes and sizes, heavy uses of magic, searching for enormous mystical creatures and combating unknowns. Thankfully, the novel avoids the pitfalls of D&D dungeon crawlers. While the characters do have to "collect things" in order to succeed in their mission, Hoffman avoids making such collecting about fighting back nameless, faceless monsters in "secret places" (a.k.a. a dungeon or magical forest). The people involved in stopping Vidarian and Ariadel are the very people one wouldn't expect to turn their backs, which adds some depth to a novel which doesn't show itself as particularly "deep" (as most adventure novels don't, even when "depth" does exist).In many respects, Hoffman's balance between adventure, manipulated cliche, and character make for a compelling novel that is a lot of fun to read. Personally, I am not an adventure fantasy fan, and I have a very short leash for the trappings of the fantasy genre. But Sword of Fire and Sea navigated those trappings in a way that allowed me to get lost in the excitement. If not for all of the characters being adults, you might expect this story to show up on your young adult shelves, enticing teenagers (and the adults like me who sometimes pretend to be teenagers) with its magic and wonder. There's something to be said about the way we read YA fantasy, as opposed to fantasy marketed for an adult audience (in which teenagers undoubtedly implant themselves, because they like Tolkien and GRRM too). But that's something to think about later.The adventurous nature of Sword of Fire and Sea, however, is also where a some of Hoffman's flaws can be found. While enjoyable, the novel often moves too swiftly, jumping through significant moments of conflict to get the characters to the next "level." The result is a lack of tension for many important aspects of the novel. Yes, Vidarian often must fight against unusual things, sometimes at overwhelming odds, but his success in these ventures sometimes feels too easy; he rarely sheds blood, or Hoffman allows her characters to escape. One examples involves the fire priestesses, in which Vidarian and his companions learn and ugly truth and are trapped by the Vkortha. Without much in the way of physical conflict, they manage to escape, taking flight in a gryphon-pulled basket that conveniently lay in wait. There are other instances like this; each of them detracts from the worry we should have as readers that something might actually happen to Vidarian or his friends. Of course, things do happen to them, but I would have liked some of the physical conflicts to take part in those "happenings." Largely speaking, the physical conflicts in Sword of Fire and Sea serve to maintain the adventure narrative.One other aspect of the novel which is given weak treatment is the growing romance between Vidarian and Ariadel. Their relationship develops far too swiftly, the result of which is a strain on our ability to suspend disbelief. Hoffman skips a lot of time early in the novel in order to avoid pages and pages of people walking on the deck of a ship, but more scenes between Vidarian and Ariadel might have helped show how they went from mere acquaintances to close friends to lovers. Without such scenes, the romance comes out of nowhere and Vidarian's motives for much of the last half of the book lack the power needed to justify his actions.Despite this, however, the book is a load of fun, and it does leave a lot of interesting questions to be answered in future volumes. Unlike some traditional fantasy narratives, Vidarian's stint as a "chosen one" ends in the first book, hinting that what will occupy the next two in the series (yes, another trilogy) are the conflicts arising from his choices as a chosen one. I have a feeling that Hoffman is going to take us into very different territory from this point forward. I, for one, am looking forward to it.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book is readable, but littered with misused words and devoid of any connection between the characters and between the characters and this reader. The plot is a bunch of arbitrary encounters and there are multiple contradictions - 3 griffons can carry 3 people in a craft with light supplies but one griffon can't carry one person is an example. It's like a tone-deaf imitation of Robin Hobbs in a Mercedes Lackey world.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    There is a lot going on in this book and it was different than other fantasy books in a way. Because a lot happened, sure at times I felt like things happened to quickly, but then that might just be because I am used to it taken 4 books just to start a journey.

    To break things done. Vidarian is a ship captain who escorts Ariadel to her destination but things go wrong at once. So many will fight against them at the end, or by their side. The imperial forces, pirates, the Priestesses, gryphons and Goddesses. This is a world that is slowly loosing its magic and Vidarian and Ariadel stands in the middle of that. There is a prophecy and decisions to be made.

    Sure at times I did not know how I felt about the book. Things did move forward fast so the fights were not long, but why should this be bad? New is good. Though it also felt a bit hard to get to know the characters, still at the end I liked the book and it had me curious about the next one.

    The world was interesting. The elements are used in magic and 2000 years ago something big happened and that shaped the world today. Other things are that people can't seem to marry those who are of another element because then they will get a disease. Viridian is fire and water because of that and, oh I can't say.

    The end, well there actually was an ending to their journey and the goal accomplished. I was surprised since this is a series but then because of the ending in question so much more will happen. It was an ending that gave birth to more.

    And I shall not forget the romance, yes something is building between the main characters.

    Conclusion:
    The book got better and better and ended with a finale that sure shook things up. I am very intrigued to where she will take the story next. There are so many possibilities.

    Rating:
    Surprised me in the end

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The premise: ganked from the publisher's website: Three generations ago Captain Vidarian Rulorat's great-grandfather gave up an imperial commission to commit social catastrophe by marrying a fire priestess. For love, he unwittingly doomed his family to generations of a rare genetic disease that follows families who cross elemental boundaries. Now Vidarian, the last surviving member of the Rulorat family, struggles to uphold his family legacy, and finds himself chained to a task as a result of the bride price his great-grandfather paid: the Breakwater Agreement, a seventy-year-old alliance between his family and the High Temple of Kara'zul, domain of the fire priestesses. The priestess Endera has called upon Vidarian to fulfill his family's obligation by transporting a young fire priestess named Ariadel to a water temple far to the south, through dangerous pirate-controlled territory. A journey perilous in the best of conditions is made more so by their pursuers: rogue telepathic magic-users called the Vkortha who will stop at nothing to recover Ariadel, who has witnessed their forbidden rites.Together, Vidarian and Ariadel will navigate more than treacherous waters: Imperial intrigue, a world that has been slowly losing its magic for generations, secrets that the priestesshoods have kept for longer, the indifference of their elemental goddesses, gryphons—once thought mythical—now returning to the world, and their own labyrinthine family legacies. Vidarian finds himself at the intersection not only of the world's most volatile elements, but of colliding universes, and the ancient and alien powers that lurk between them.My Rating: Worth Reading, with ReservationsI should note: the main reservation for this rating is that I know the author and am therefore not the best objective judge for the content. Because what I love I wildly love, but what bugs me just irks me to pieces, because at one time, we were crit partners. :) So please take that reservation into account and as with any book, grab yourself a sample and see how you like it.There's a heckuva lot of story packed into these 277 pages, so much story, in fact, that you'll be surprised you're not reading a longer book. There's some issues, but most of those issues are symptomatic with being a debut, and such issues will iron themselves out as the author pens more and more novels. And I think the length is a great thing that recommends this book to readers who want to lose themselves in a fantasy but don't want to give themselves carpal tunnel in the process. The book's length is quite admirable, and fans of elemental magic will have fun discovering how Hoffman's world works. The gryphons are delightful as well, and Hoffman ends the book on such a note that I hope she gets to publish the second in this series (trilogy?) so that we can see what happens next. No, this book DOES NOT end on a cliffhanger, but it does end in such a way that you know there's at least one more story to be told, and I know I'm looking forward to seeing what that story is. And not just because the author is a friend of mine.Spoilers, yay or nay?: Do you know how hard it is to review a book written by not only someone you know, but someone you consider a friend and colleague? SO HARD. Calvani and Edwards would say I shouldn't do it to begin with, but forget that! Hoffman might be a friend, but our friendship developed out of our mutual love for the craft, which includes the critique of each other's work. In order to review this, I decided to break the review down into components: characters, plot, world-building, style, and nitpicks. I'll avoid spoilers, because this is a new book and I don't like spoiling new books, so read on with ease. The full review is linked below in my blog. As always, comments and discussion are welcome. :)REVIEW: Erin Hoffman's SWORD OF FIRE AND SEAHappy Reading!