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Reviewed by Rachel
A Hyde, MyShelf.com Before she became famous as Robin Hobb with her Farseer Trilogy, Megan Lindholm wrote the Ki and Vandien Quartet back in the early '80s. Now it has been reissued and this is the first volume. It is admirably short for a fantasy novel and tells the story of Ki, born into a Gypsy clan but married to a man from a farming background with whom she has two children. But a harpy kills both her husband and children, so she swears vengeance and destroys its nest. Trouble is, now she has to go back to her husband's family to give them the bad news and they worship the harpies as gods, and then there is that dangerous delivery job over the mountain pass in mid winter to complete… All this and more happens in just over 300 pages, which surprised me, as, although I always enjoy Robin Hobb's later books, I do tend to find them a bit long-winded. There aren't many characters in this novel but they do come to life well enough and the scene is set in a few bold strokes for the gypsies and in more detail for the farming folk. I look forward to reading the other three novels and finding out about the next leg of Ki's quest, her growing affection for the mysterious Vandien and hopefully more about the harpies. The book is imaginative, although not vastly original - but who cares if it is a good story? If wordy doorstops put you off fantasy this might be one to try to see what the genre is all about. |
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