| Carol Berg has been one of my favorite authors for years now, ever since I picked up Son of Avonar, having been intrigued by both the title and the cover. She’s an author who can handle first person point of view with skill (no, it’s not easier, trust me), weaves some truly fascinating plots with excellent twists, and creates interesting worlds peopled by races that feel unique in a genre full of elves, dwarves, and the like. Though she has her occasional disappointments, the quality of her writing is still above and beyond a lot of what can be found on the shelves next to her. —B.J. |
- 2000 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award. Best First Fantasy, Finalist
- 2000 Barnes & Noble Maiden Voyage Award. Best First Fantasy, Finalist
- 2002 Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, Best Epic Fantasy, Finalist
- 2004 Colorado Book Award for genre fiction, Winner
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- 2005 Geffen Award, Best Translated Fantasy, Winner
- 2006 Prism Award, Best Romantic Fantasy, Winner
- 2006 Colorado Book Award, Finalist
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The Bridge of D'Arnath — Publisher: In the Four Realms, sorcery is persecuted with a thoroughness that recalls the Third Reich, and Leiran noblewoman Seri has gone into exile to avoid not only that but also the faction fights of the royal family. Unfortunately, Leiran soldiers drive a mute, fugitive warrior to seek shelter with her. She helps him recover his identity, though as the story progresses, it appears that he may be a mage as well as a warrior, and may prove crucial for dealing with a menace that the Four Realms have brought on themselves by their war against magic. |
 The Bridge of D'Arnath
Son of Avonar is the first book in The Bridge of D'Arnath quartet. It introduces Seriana, and her twin journeys: Through the world she inhabits, yes, but also through memories of her past. Accompanying her are an enigmatic prince and his servant, Baglos (who is one of Berg’s charming and intriguing Dulce race). As the story behind Seri’s past unfolds, the plot begins to open up, showing hints of its mystery to the reader. Though Seriana isn’t my favorite of Berg’s characters by far, like the others she writes, she’s easy to sympathize with, smart and gutsy but far from being one of the be-all do-all heroines becoming popular in modern fantasy. The book is intricately detailed, too. There’s a twist of events at the end that you likely won’t see coming until it hits you right between the eyes.
Guardians of the Keep picks up not long after Son of Avonar ends. Seri travels to Comigor, her birthplace, to help care for the keep and for her nephew, Gerick. Then Gerick is kidnapped and the book ends up in another world—literally. Here the reader learns more about the mysterious prince, who becomes Seri’s ally in her quest to rescue her nephew, and the world from which he comes. The plot is ever twisting about itself, drawing on events from the previous book to make you go “Oh!” whenever you realize what’s going on. Berg also moves to telling the story from more than one point of view, which is well-handled; you’ll never be left wondering who the heck is telling the story now. It works well for the plot and for the characters: Who is Gerick, anyway, that people from another world would want to kidnap him? I will say that he’s one of Berg’s most interesting characters and probably my favorite.
The Soul Weaver is where things get a bit sticky. Though intriguing in its own right, the pieces don’t quite fit in properly with the rest of the story. You follow Gerick—and a few others—while he tries to piece together a mystery: He’s being accused of things that he can’t remember ever doing. This brings to light a strange world called the Bounded and the truly bizarre people living there, but where on earth does this fit in with what’s gone before? I don’t know. Though some parts of the mystery come together, the ending is still a bit disappointing, including a shockingly obvious betrayal so at odds with the ability Berg has shown to write betrayals that are simply shocking. While The Soul Weaver is still a well-written piece in many ways, it would have been an unfortunate end to the series. Thank goodness she wrote Daughter of Ancients.
Now, as for Daughter of Ancients…What does one say about a book this good? Weaving together threads from the previous books (mostly the first two) Berg creates a story with a wonderful plot and delightful characters. Gerick is back, along with some familiar faces, all of them showing the scars and shadows of the events that have come before. New characters, too, suffer similar issues, including D’Sanya, a young woman who is apparently D’Arnath’s daughter and therefore about a thousand years old, and Jen’Larie, who has an important connection with someone from a previous book. The characters are really the best part of the book. Watching them interact, seeing their very human personalities and struggles, is quite enjoyable. That the plot is well done is simply really good icing on a delicious cake. —B.J.
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The Lighthouse Duet — Publisher: A stolen book of maps plunges a renegade sorcerer into a world of secret societies, doomsayers, fanatics, princes, and madmen. Yet only in the twilight of myth does he discover the truth of the coming dark age and the glorious, terrible price of the land’s redemption…and his own. |
   
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 Flesh and Spirit
With the second book of The Lighthouse Duet, Breath and Bone, now out, I decided to refresh my memory, as it's been a full year since I last read this one. I can remember being distinctly disappointed with it. Yet after some of what I've read this year (some of it being absolutely awful) I'd have to say my mind has changed somewhat.
This year my poor eyes have suffered so much awkward prose and poorly placed punctuation that Carol Berg's elegant, beautifully crafted work was a real breath of fresh air. Poetic without being overwrought, her prose is just amazing. Even when her characters sound archaic it fits together seamlessly, without being tiresome or trite, because Berg's world and words are built so consistently. She never just sticks in Ye Olde English to show off her mad literary skillz (if you'll pardon that), but actually makes it a logical part of the world. It all makes sense.
As to what disappointed me...Well, the main character, Valen, is supposed to have an addiction problem. What let me down here was that he a) only needs his drug of choice about once a month and b) is able to win free of it (so far at least) with surprising ease. Because of this he doesn't go nearly to the lengths that true addicts do to get his fix. I've known enough of them to know that. On this second reading I put more pieces of the puzzle together and I think I understand better now why Valen's addiction is the way it is. It makes a lot of sense. Even so, that doesn't fully soothe my disappointment. Carol Berg has a talent for writing the gritty darkness of the human soul—and its redemption—and I would have loved to see her go for it, as I know she's perfectly capable of it.
I was also a little disappointed with Valen. He's just not quite as good as some of her characters have been and I suppose this is just me being a bit spoiled, since I've come to expect a lot of Berg. It seems like she couldn't quite settle in to who Valen is and so sometimes his character feels inconsistent. I have hope for him though, especially after this second reading.
Of course, aside from her usual intriguing plots, Berg's ability to write a shocking betrayal is back with a vengeance. You've got quite a mind on you if you're able to see that one coming.
One thing that always amazes me about Berg's work is that even when I'm disappointed with it, it's still far better than most of what I read. Even being somewhat archaic and often very somber and serious (I usually prefer at least a little humor), I'm always amazed by her. In the end, Flesh and Spirit is no exception. Four stars. —B.J.
 Breath and Bone
Anyone who's read my review of Flesh and Spirit knows that I was a little bit disappointed in some aspects of the book (I maintain that this is due to the fact that Carol Berg has left me a spoiled, fussy fantasy reader). So how did Ms. Berg do this time around?
Okay, fair enough, Breath and Bone starts a little slow. This isn't a huge surprise, since the story is more like one book broken into two, than two separate books. Yet despite being a bit slow, it's not as though you're learning nothing. In fact you learn a great deal. Some of these things came as no surprise to me (likely because I had only just finished reading the first one) whereas others made my jaw hit the floor. And I simply love what Berg has done with Navronne. Things and people are just not what they first seem. It's difficult to get into without spoiling the plot, and I'm just not that kind of girl, but really, it's more than worth reading to find out for yourself.
The slow pace isn't lasting and Carol Berg creates some moments of such heart stopping tension that occasionally I'd realize that I was barely breathing throughout them. I also found that Valen settled a lot more into character than he did in the first one. Perhaps this is due in part to the addition of Saverian, a salty, sharp-tongued physician who plays a lovely counterpoint to Valen. Gosh, but she's just a fun character. And the romances in Berg's books are always wonderfully unobtrusive things, lending to the characters' growth without consuming the story in the slightest.
Of it all, I was very happy to see that Valen's addiction and the consequences of it weren't just thrown aside in this, the second boo
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