REVIEW: Fortress in the Eye of Time by C. J. Cherryh

Fortress in the Eye of Time by C. J. Cherryh

Publisher: Eos
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 784 pages.
ISBN 10: 0061056898
ISBN 13: 9780061056895
Copy: Purchased on-line
Reviewer: Victoria

On the back of the book. . .

Deep in an abandoned, shattered castle, an old man of the Old Magic muttered almost forgotten words.  His purpose- to create out of the insubstance of the air, from a shimmering of light and a fluttering of shadows, that most wondrous of spells, a Shaping.  A Shaping in the form of a young man who will be sent east on the road the old man was too old to travel.  To right the wrongs of a long-forgotten wizard war, and call new wars into being.

Here is the long-awaited major new novel from one of the brightest stars in the fantasy and science-fiction firmament.  C. J. Cherryh's haunting story of the wizard Mauryl, kingmaker for a thousands years of Men, and Tristen, fated to sow distrust between a prince and his father.

A tale as deep as legend and as intimate as love, it tells of a battle beyond Time, in which all Destiny turns on the wheel of an old man's ambition, a young man's innocence, and the unkept promise of a king to come.

This novel marks my first foray into the work of C. J. Cherryh.  Her work had been recommended to me again and again, year after year, but I had never touched it.  I do no know why I never went off to the bookstore with Cherryh in my mind, but I never did.  Until last February.  Last February, I picked up the first two books of the Fortress series.  They sat on my shelf for a long time.  Until two weeks ago when I decided it was time, and I began to read.

I was immediately charmed with the main character, Tristen.  When Mauryl Shapes him, he flinches, and Tristen is not called as he should be.  Instead of a man full of memory and thought, Mauryl Shapes Tristen, a fully formed young man who does not know how to speak, walk, know that a candle's flame is hot, what rain is, snow, autumn. . .  He is a new born babe in a man's body.  But things come to him.  When a Word is spoken, it will Unfold within him, and all that the word entails will wash over him.  Sometimes, when he learns of more than one Word at a time, it overwhelms him, and he must sleep for a few days.

Tristen's child-like wonder is refreshing in a main character.  Even as he grows, ventures into the world of Men, and becomes embroiled in politics, he still maintains a sense of the ideal, and he loathes to break it.  His naivety, or his willful naivety, is wonderful to read about.  A character like this allows you to marvel at the mundane.

Cefwyn, the king, is the complete opposite of Tristen.  He is a man who must put politics first, being what he is, so the mundane, with him, is exactly that.  Cefwyn has no time to wonder or ponder.  Where Tristen's chapters and point of view is full of adventure (whether it be discovering snow or battling evil) Cefwyn's parts of the novel are all politics.  This man defines the word.  I did find that his point of view contained a lot of political exposition that I could have done without.  A catalogue of banners filing in behind the king bores this poor reader to tears, but there are plenty of good folk out there who enjoy that sort of thing.

Cherryh's writing style is highly complex.  Her sentences utilize compounds, punctuation, conjunctions and every other grammatical form there is.  This is a book for a veteran reader.  A beginner would find this novel overwhelmingly dense and its wandering phrases hard to follow.  But once you get past that, and once your eyes and mind get used to the minuscule font and seemingly endless sentences, the prose flows.  It is beautifully constructed. 

What I found so wonderful about the style of this novel is in how Tristen's points of view began with more simple language, but as he learned and grew the narrative grew with him.  Cefwyn's narrative is always complex, and stays a bit more so than Tristen's ever gets, but it sets off a nice structural contrast between the two characters.

Fortress in the Eye of Time was a fresh, beautifully structured novel.  Tristen is an immersive character, and I must say, a very interesting idea.  Cefwyn's points of view have a little too much political exposition or, dare I say it, infodumps, than I usually go for, but Tristen keeps my attention.  I will be finishing this series.

Characterization: 8.5
Plot: 9
Style: 9

Overall Rating: 8.5