The Storm Lord (Wars of Vis)

Glad I found this series.

Entertaining vintage Tanith Lee. Glad I read it.

More classic Tanith Lee

A number of people in this book earn the designation "Storm Lord,"raising the knotty issue of exactly who Lee is referring to in the title.Ashne'e, the lowland priestess (or Amber Witch) must submit to the passions of the aging Storm Lord. This union is blessed with issue: Raldnor, the central character in the book. He's a fairly conventional man of action not unlike Conan The Barbarian. It's unusual for Lee to base a book around such a run-of-the-mill character, but the story itself is fine, with plenty of Lee's imaginative touches and her usual polished writing.The passage that stayed with me occurs while Raldnor is still a wandering adventurer (or freebooter). He has an encounter with a prostitute, who excitedly exclaims: "You're indefatigable, a Storm Lord--" A hooker who flatters her client by calling him a Storm Lord? Raldnor proves her right by actually becoming the Storm Lord in due course.

The only reason I was able to finish this book was because it had great descriptions of the world the characters resided in. This was what enthralled me with the book. But otherwise the story was flat.MK you are absolutely right! This story was flat and unengaging. I cared nothing for the principals and it didn't help that Lee kept shifting her viewpoint characters. As an unpublished writer even I know that it is bad form to constantly shift viewpoints. Yannul was a good minor character, but when Lee shifted to Orvan and Xaros she went too far in my opinion. Then there was the problem with Raldnor. When he wasn't sexually assaulting women he was alone brooding by himself or seducing women until the very end of the novel where he practically disappears for the last 20% of the book only then to be described via third person! What is going on? Thus the tenuous bond I'd gained with the protagonist from the beginning of the novel is fractured.MK you are right about the dearth of personality exhibited by the characters. The rape scenes seemed to have no real purpose in the novel and did not drive the plot. Frankly, I was quite surprised to be reading this from a female writer. Even John Norman in his Gor series was not as explicit concerning language and description of sexual violence. Yes, the women are all damsels in distress and seem to be helpless and subservient to men. That in itself is no real big deal, and is a staple of the genre (See/Read GRR Martin's Award Winning A Song Of Ice & Fire). Nevertheless, unlike Martin and others, Lee does not succesfully convey the emotions of the characters. As a result, we as readers don't care about them.MK you are right again about the lack of entertainment this book provides. In fact, I had been prepared to give it a three star review until the last 25 pages of the novel. The third person descriptions of battles, character motivations and all around actions dropped the quality of the novel another notch for me.I give the book two stars (Instead Of One) because of the world Tanith Lee created. Things were so interesting! Lowlanders vs Highlanders of Koramvis- Highlanders vs Thanddorians, etc. The Zakorian Pirates were also of great interest to me as was their city Hanassor, a highly original abode I've only seen in one or two other fantasy settings. It's a pity she did not build more on these ideas.I will say this, however: I like Sword & Sorcery novels and the Sword & Planet genres too. The idea of a muscle-bound hero carrying off the damsel in distress interests me much. I just don't like to see the hero commit violence against the lady. Call me macho, but I feel the man/men should protect the women, not oppress them. Unfortunately this book is not interesting even for what it is. This is a shame, because there is so much more that Tanith Lee could have done with the book and I feel it languished as a result of either her inexperience at the time or her inattention to details. Maybe the later books in the series improve. I'll get back to you when and if I read them.A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr

This is one of Lee's earlier works, less experimental than many of her later books but a great read. This is good old-fashioned storytelling at its finest, in which the goal of the writer is to keep readers glued to the page, and Storm Lord does. The hero Raldnor is born the rightful heir to the Storm Lord's throne. (In this novel the youngest, not the oldest, son is legal heir because of a belief that a son still in the womb at the time of the Storm Lord's death will be born with the reincarnated soul of the old Storm Lord.) But because his mother is a woman of a despised and subjugated race, she is put out of the way by the old Storm Lord's wife who wants her own infant son to ascend the throne. Raldnor is believed dead and grows up knowing only that he is a half-breed, with the dark skin and eyes of his father and his mother's tell-tale blonde hair. He dyes his hair black and takes service as one of the Storm Lord's soldiers. When he rises to become his half-brother's trusted right-hand man (and his only real friend), his identity is discovered and the rest of the book unfolds in a complex pattern of fate, treachery, passion, and revenge. Tanith Lee's sense of irony elevates Storm Lord well above the usual run of sword-and-sorcery; most of them don't contain anything like the emotional intensity found here. I wish this book hadn't gone out of print! But trust me, it's worth tracking down.