An interesting concept, but so much of the story was a fait accompli, I found it difficult to get too involved. ( )

(Re-posted from http://theturnedbrain.blogspot.com)

So whenever I think about how "good" a book is there always appears in my mind a spectrum. On one end we have PLOT and on the other end there is CHARACTER. I feel like the books that could most objectively be called "the best" fall right smack in the middle of these two things, a perfect mix of plot and characters. But to be honest the books I love best tend to be way unbalanced, in favour of the character side of things. Objectively I can admit that these books might not be the most expertly crafted, but I care not at all. It's characters or GTFO for me folks, all the way.

Storm Constantine's Wreaththu trilogy (read by me in a convenient omnibus version) was the perfect example of this. Most of the reviews I see of these three books (that aren't dealing with the role playing game that has apparently been developed around them) complain that the plot is a bit lacking. And they're right. I can see that they're right. Do I care? Not really. Because dude, I dug these books.

The premise that at some point in the future humanity has began to evolve intoa higher form called wraeththu. Wraththu are beautiful and awesome and just, like, so totally superior to mankind in every single way. Or so they like to think of themselves. Really the wraeththu are just as flawed as man is, just in slightly different ways. The blurb of the omnibus edition made out like these books would deal with mankind's struggle not to be replaced. Which was crazy misleading, because there is no struggle. Mankind has lost. It is the final twilight of man. Really the books deal with the the establishment of wraththu society, and how the new race struggles to find it's own identity without falling into the same behaviors that ruined mankind.

The three books span a decent amount of time, and when we start out the wraeththu are little more than separate waring tribes, and by the end we see that civilizations start to form. This isn't the point to the books and mostly happens in the background, but it's pretty cool to see the subtle evolution.

I will say that the fact they were written in the 80s shows like crazy. The apololyptic wasteland of the first book just screams early nineties, mad max/tank girl, and the extended ruminations of gender read as dated to me. But still interesting. The wraeththu are both male and female, and they either start of as male humans and are "turned" to wreaththu, or, later in the series, pure wraththu babies start being born. The contrast in how turned and born wraththu dealt with gender was fascinating.

You'll note I still really haven't talked about plot. It's not fair to say that there is no plot, because there is! Book 1 deals with turned wraeththu Pelaz, who is being groomed by a higher being to be the supreme emporer of the world. The only problem is Pelaz' unforturnate choice of lover, Cal. Of the three books this was my least favourite, as Pelaz is a fairy cold and removed protagonist. It's not terrible though, but the final two volumes are worlds better.

Book two, and my favorite, revolves around born wraeththu Swift. It's basically a coming of age tale, and I'm a sucker for the coming of age tale. And it's a really good one. Swift's father is just a little bit evil (but still painfully sympathetic to the reader), and his hostling (mother, basically) is just a little bit batshit insane, and poor Swift is one of the first pure wraeththu babies to be born, so it's not like he has anyone to tell him what to expect as he grows up.

The last book focus' on Cal, who continues to be the spanner in the works of many a well laid plan, as he fights against his inevitable destiny. Cal is. Well. Cal is Cal. Beautiful and sharp and funny and more than a little bit broken. This is the only book he narrates, but he appears across all three and it was a delight to watch how our understanding of him grows as we see him from first Pelaz's point of view, and then Swift's, and then finally his own.

Really, if you're going to read these books, you're going to do it for the characters. They're beautifully written, sympathetic and consistent. The plot? I mean, yeah, it's there. But the endings get wrapped up way too easily (more often than not by using the power of magical wreaththu sex. No really), but the flaws in plotting do not at all detract from these books. Assuming you love characters as much as I do, that is. ( )

What can I say about this book? Ah! It took me long, very long to get through it, because the first book had not ended too well -or should I said, had a confusing ending (was it happy or sad...?), and I'm a sucker for happy endings.


I think I'll start by pointing out I truly did like this book. Had a hard time deciding between four and five stars- I wanted four and a half, really.

The story on itself was great, fantastic in writing, the setting- not really something completely new and out of the ordinary, but interesting to read; the characters were all very interesting and deeply thought, though I could only get myself to truly care for two, and they were not even the main characters.
I was very interested at the subject of hermaphrodites, though I must say, I got a little tired of being told each har they met was super pretty and perfect- yes, we get it, all har are beautiful and perfect!

I didn't really fancy the whole pregnancy thing, perhaps because I still saw them as very male-like, and as such, it all reeked of "mpreg".

Two things threw me off the book, but I guess in the overall, they weren't so annoying that it made me dislike it entirely. (I mean, I did read it through and liked it plenty, after all)
The first was that the Wraeththu were a "very sexual race" which means, put plainly, "I love YOU, but I'll have sex with just about everyone I come across."
Sorry, but I like my romance romantic and faithful.

The second was the reiteration of the ambiguous endings.
Were they happy? Were they sad? I can't decide!! It's driving me insane! The second book was the one that ended the best, and the third book, gosh, guess it should have been a happy ending, yet it was sad in a way. Ah, bittersweet, like life itself, I guess? I find myself torn to think on whether I enjoyed the ending... In a way, I think I didn't, I feel it should've developed a bit differently- I feel Calanthe should have said, "to hell! Pell, I love you, but it can't be." and started a whole new life.

Ah well, I enjoyed the book, overall; though I had some visualization problems. ( )

Great premise. Great start. Does a good job of creating mood and ambiance. Starts out as sci-fi, ends up as a most disjointed fantasy / fairy tale - a rambling shambling mess.

"Suspension of disbelief or "willing suspension of disbelief" is a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literature. It was put forth in English by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgement concerning the implausibility of the narrative." (per Wikipedia) The author needs to work on this concept...

Covers a 30 year time from what seems our current time onward. From the end of the world as we know it... Various countries, tribes, cities, cultures, lifestyles, traditions.etc that would normally take ages to evolve... here evolve magically (?) and pretty unbelievably in a very few decades from just one mutant. I'm guessing he was an excellent time manager.

Lots & lots & lots of sex. Not terribly sexy because it is alien sex. Sacred sex, Magic sex, Reproductive sex, etc. It comes across mostly as homosexual rather than hermaphroditic sex. And it's not terribly sexy sex, more like everyday and then you brush your teeth sex. But whatever the problem, it did seem that sex was the answer. Oh, if only that were true in any universe...

It was pretty darn close to being a DNF for me. But finish it I did. The author has something good going on to make me to hang in there, impatient, but to the bitter end. Just wish he would take some writing classes and try a do-over on this one. ( )

The world is set in a future earth and a new breed of hermaphrodites has developed, however anyone hoping for a book which is going to have battles or challenges for supremacy between this new species and Homo sapiens is going to be rather disappointed. In fact the book takes place just as the changes are really beginning to pick up pace but the issues with humans are never really explored and there is certainly no struggle. Rather what is left of humanity is explained and then largely ignored throughout the series.

In the not too distant future a new race has evolved who are hermaphrodites. They are ‘incepted’ by the way of sharing blood with a ‘Har’ that has already become Wraeththu. This is a dangerous process and is only successful with male humans. Once the inception takes place the ‘har’ then changes so that they become essentially genderless. Although male in appearance, feminine characteristics are also present. Naturally these ‘Har’ are incredibly beautiful and have mystical powers and are interested in magic. The use of blood to incept another person has vampiric overtones and which may imply the work is vampire fiction. This is absolutely not the case.

Into this new world comes Pellaz, who fatefully meets one of the most infamous of the new breed of species, Calanthe. What follows is essentially a love story between the two, set in the struggle for the new species to find their place in the world and to develop as a race.

The story itself is one which is at turns tragic and enchanting, woven with loss and with themes of redemption and guilt. The new race is not necessarily as perfect inside as their newfound outward beauty would suggest and many are vain, petty and coarse. Promiscuity is commonplace as Constantine explores themes of polyamory and for this reason as well as the homosexual overtones which some readers may draw (since all the Wraeththu look essentially male) some have critiqued the book. Personally I find this approach rather refreshing and it challenged my ideas about monogamy and attraction when I first read it.

I remain dazzled by this book and must confess I am slightly in love with some of the characters; it remains one of my all time favourites (which is why I have chosen to focus on this one to begin with). The writing itself is often almost clumsy; years after my first read I can see very much that this is a first novel and that the author is not yet at the peak of her prowess as a writer. For some reason though, for me, this works. There is a certain naivety to her expression, a certain passion and charm which I find lacking in her later novels exploring this world, which although are admittedly much more sophisticated in language and concepts do not hold the same power as this trilogy.

I think this trilogy is one of the most original, interesting, engaging and transportive set of books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I really do recommend them to anyone who is looking for a read which is less run of the mill than many other books of this genre.

Seemore at: http://wolfandrain.blogspot.com/ ( )