| Author: Robin Hobb | Series: The Soldier Son Trilogy |
| Rating: 7.5 | Reviewer: Jay |
| Genre: Fantasy | Publisher:Harper Collins/Voyager |
| Pages: 592 | Orig Pub Date: July 2005 |
| Binding: Paperback |
Since Megan Lindholm started scribing tales under her pen name, she hasn’t only been consistently reliable, she also has maintained a level of quality, while offering fans of epic fantasy a worthwhile read for ten of the last eleven years. Among these, and featuring a first person narrative, her Farseer Trilogy is often spoke of as one of the most popular recent epic fantasy series completed, and led to two related spin-offs, her ‘Live Ship Traders’, and ‘Tawny Man’. These series, and their success have made the name Robin Hobb, one of the most identifiable in the genre. In those mentioned eleven years, the only year that Hobb’s fans and shelves were without new work from Hobb was last year, however, any sense of concern was quickly supplanted with anticipation, with the announcement of an all new trilogy, in a setting completely independent of her prior work, entitled ‘The Soldier Son’ trilogy. The subject of this review is the first installment of this anticipated sequence, Shaman’s Crossing, recently released at the beginning of July, except in the U.S, which I believe will see it in September.
Shaman’s Crossing can be described as a mystic frontier tale, heavy on environmental and ecological preservation undertones, examining the effects of imperialism, and slightly reminiscent of a Cardian coming of age story, in the beginning stages of a class struggle.
Ms. Hobb introduces us to the Gernian Kingdom. A Kingdom whose King Troven has given the order to expand east, the expansion marked by a road marring the country side (entitled The King's Road, what else?). For the last twenty years the Gernians have succesfully subjugated and defeated the nomadic plains-people (think Native Americans), many of which are now numbered in the second generation of being assimilated into Gernian society. The Gernian’s expansion has met a temporary reprieve as the western frontier dominated by the Barrier Mountains, home and haven of the Specks.
These new territories are populated and ruled in the King's name by a new generation of nobles promoted directly by the monarchy. These new Lords were officers rewarded for their war time valor to the rank of nobility and given various fiefs in the newly conquered territories. These lords are at times affectionately called, and at other times condescendingly, as Battle Lords.
The main character of Shaman’s Crossing, and the our guide in Gernia, as Hobb once again employs a first person narrative for ‘The Soldier Son Trilogy’, is Nevare Burvelle. Nevare is the second son of a Battle Lord. I stress second son, as this is an important element in Hobb’s new world, and one of interest. The Nobles of Gernia’s sons are occupationally, and thus class stratified by order of birth. The first is the heir, he will inherit the estate and its income along with the title, and social position granted to a Lord, the second son is the soldier son, he will have the opportunity to serve Gernia as an officer in the Cavalla. Cavalla could be a play on cavalry, but interestingly enough it could also be play off of the Greek city “Kavala” which in the Byzantine period was a notable trading post for horses, and still has a reputation for its horse riding. The third son is given to the faith, apparently a monotheistic based theology, and the fourth to the arts, and so on. Daughters are married off in pre-arranged agreements by the head of the household, either the father, or their oldest brother if necessary. This class structure is strictly adhered to, and thought of as being blasphemous if circumvented, even if by death of one of the sons and a subsequent birth later. The writ, as Nevare ponders it:
Shaman’s Crossing is about Nevare, and the beginning of his journey, both into manhood, and into his seemingly ineluctable destiny. In his early years he was trained to be an officer by his father, Lord Keft Burvelle, at their holdings, Widevale. In the beginning portions of the novel, we are introduced to the Burvelle family, Nevare’s older brother Rosse, Elsi, the elder of his two sisters, Vanze, the youngest son, and finally Yaril the youngest of the Burvelle siblings, and Nevare’s kid sister. The family seems very functional, and well disposed of each to other, and the Lord Father proving to be a very capable in setting a foundation for a dynasty for his New Noble family. Nevare’s father seems to take special interest in Nevare as one would typically guess, Lord Keft himself was as noted, a former Soldier son himself. In the early portions of the novel we see the different tutors and lessons Nevare is exposed to. The most interesting being, when his father ask his avowed enemy a plainsmen, from one of the most infamous clans, the Kidona to teach Nevare “only what an enemy can teach.”
It has to be mentioned that although the plains people were conquered, they are gifted with magic abilities, an ability that is only defeated by Iron, which is another interesting element Ms. Hobb employs in her world. Nevare first saw this ability as a young boy visiting an outpost, Franner’s bend, with his father on business. A young girl, left alone for a moment by her scout father in the fort, a product of a taboo union, of Gernian, and plains-woman, was assailed by a group of sons of soldiers, provoked by lust, masked, and self-advocated by bigotry. Nevare watched the girl defend herself, and likely saved his life as well:
Nevare’s new instructor, Dewara, taught Nevare the ways of the plainsmen, how to fight, how to survive, how to ride a taldi, the traditional mount of a plainsmen, he also taught him how to speak Jindobe, the trade language. He also took him to the brink of death, but before that, gave both Nevare and the reader a glimpse of the Specks, in a mystic, psychedelic journey, to another plane – a plane that Nevare thought was an illusion, which was followed by this exchange, one that stuck out in my reading:
After this experience, which will lead to a Speck. Nevare will literally, and unceremoniously be dragged home by Dewara, nearly without his life, but he brought something back with him.
The Bulk of the novel takes place in the capitol of the Kingdom Old Thares, where Nevare and other Noble soldier sons go for their official training, at the King’s Academy. This is where we are really exposed to the political situation in the kingdom. As mentioned before, the Battle Lords, are new nobility, elevated by the King, for valor in the field, and to hold the new frontier of ever expanding Gernian Kingdom, but even more so to gain political leverage in the Council of the Lords, the governing parliament if you will, of Gernia. This leverage of course is directly a threat to the “old nobles”, the traditional dynastic ruling families of the Kingdom, for the most part an aristocratic group, who are not wholly supportive of the King’s western expansion, but would rather look east where many of the ” old noble” families lost valuable coastal holdings in a prior war with another kingdom, Landsing. The old nobles are also aware that adding to the Council of Lords in any fashion diminishes the power of their own individual influence. What makes this more interesting is that in these cases the fact that these new Battle Lords are second sons, they are actually in dispute with their own families. For instance Lord Cleft Burvelle’s older brother Sefert is a Lord himself in Thares. One could imagine some would find such a breach created by the King from traditional ways would be viewed with no small amount of disdain.
These political squabble bleed down to the children of the nobles, and manifest themselves in the Academy, which we find is segregated and whose new chief administrator, Colonel Stiet’s blood runs old blue. I really enjoyed Hobb’s description of the academy life, anyone who has ever attended a University should be able to relate and appreciate the bulk of Shaman’s Crossing. From classes, to pranks, to hazing, it is here where Nevare will forge bonds with a diverse, even if archetypical. You will be able to relate people Nevare meets with people you know, from the fair and charismatic Trist, to the porcine but resourceful and strong willed Gord, to the steadfast if not brilliant Spink, among others. Also during this time we are introduced to Epiny, Navare’s cousin, and eldest daughter of Sefert. Epiny is eccentrically progressive, and almost single handedly breaks the monotony (not to be mistaken as a negative however) of the storyline. Some will find her nonsensical, but it really fits her worldview, and if thinking about it, the depiction we get, exclusively through a very conforming and traditional perspective of Nevare, I think it’s very consistent. I particularly found Caulder, the son of Colonel Stiet, to be an enjoyable character study, one that I hope evolves as the series progresses.
The Speck’s themselves remain a enigma for most of the story and there true nature is evolving through to the reader as it does with Nevare. The Specks are far removed from thought in Old Thares, the truth of them perhaps only found in the far west frontier, and removed from daily reality. The latter portions of the novel shed more light on the Specks, and the extent of their power.
From the very beginning of the novel I felt this was Hobb’s most tightly written offering. I see possibilities with her social structure, found the plains-people to be very intriguing, and really enjoyed Hobb’s methodical description of academy’s life. Nevare has proven to be an interesting POV vantage point. I do think people that have problems with disassociating a new series by an author, from their prior work may have some difficulties with Shaman’s Crossing. Fitz, was a popular character, and rightly so, however, this story is not about Fitz – at all. I recommend trying to enjoy a new series by Hobb, without needlessly and fruitlessly comparing two unrelated series characters. I honestly don’t see the sense it. Nevare at times will frustrate readers, but better to frustrate me and stay true to his background, then do something that may be “cool” or suave, and completely out of character. Perhaps in the future he will prove more individually capable, perhaps not, but it wouldn’t have seemed homogeneous to the rest of the novel and true in regards to the character development and the time elapsed within the novel. I’m not a Fitz fan, as much as I am a Hobb fan - and no the two are not necessarily synonymous. I really enjoyed the characters, the academy, and Hobb’s world building, which is not yet complete, but as said its possibilities are more then slightly intriguing.
The element of the novel I found not to my tastes at all, were actually the majority of the sequences where we caught a glimpse of some of the fantastic elements in the novel. Allegory is abundant in this effort by Hobb, and one strong theme is the environment. The preservation message was in my mind, not handled as subtle as I would have liked. When Nevare has various instances where he is being affected by the Specks, it successfully stunted the flow of an otherwise meticulous narrative. It was like watching a great movie, but riddled with commercials, and worst yet, Earth Day commercials. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t have issues with messages in the text, however, it was to foreword for my preferences, and is my principle grievance with Shaman’s Crossing. I was a bit dissatisfied with the Specks until the latter portions of the novel, it was like being primed to see something spectacular – and you get the Briar King. Hobb, however, made up for this later in novel to some extent.
The conclusion of the novel has its positives and negatives. Hobb successfully kicks off a new trilogy with a first installment that does offer some conclusions, and provides some closure while promising more for the forthcoming installments. The end does have a faint tang of deus ex machina to it however, it is a bit tidy.
A new Hobb world, an interesting caste structure, a viable political climate, a war being fought, characters that have an authentic quality to them, as well as it seems some interesting subtle narrative that may imply depth more than a skimmer would notice and thus could prove Shaman’s Crossing to be a more informative rereads then prior Hobb efforts. This is not a book that has an abundance of action in it, so warmongers are warned, it is however well worth the time to read (even with the infomercials), and I think if readers approach it with an open mind, and without a heavy dose of Fitz man-love, you will be as equally inclined as I am, in anticipating the second installment, I believe tentatively titled Forest Mage.
The first book of the Soldier Son Trilogy, Shaman’s Crossing probably isn’t the best Robin Hobb book I have read, but it has the look of potentially being the most promising. My final grade is a 7.5 - and I'm very much looking forward to where Hobb is taking us this time around.
Jay
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