Review of MEDALON by Jennifer Fallon (see her website)

BOOK ONE OF THE HYTHRUN CHRONICLES

TOR, April 2004

R'shiel, trainee in the Sisterhood of the Blade, hates her ambitious mother--but even she doesn't suspect that her mother will overthrow the legal leader and take on that role herself. when R'shiel and her brother, Tarja are forced to flee, they have to question all that they've been taught--and all that the sisterhood has stood for. Because the sisterhood exists to stomp out beliefs in the demons and gods of the world--and R'shiel just may be the long-expected child of demons--a part of the race of beings that stands between the gods and humans.

The officially atheistic nation of Medalon is surrounded by potential enemies. To the North, the Karien follow the 'overlord.' The overlord hates the atheists of Medalon, but he hates the demons of Hythria worse and has made peace with Medalon for centuries based on the promise to keep paganism under control. But peasant beliefs are hard to contain and Karien just may invade at any time--especially if they learn that the demon child is in Medalon--and has been bred by the gods specifically to kill their god. To the south, the Hythria worship the gods and demons that Medalon threw out--and that many of the poor and farmers still follow. When civil war threatens Medalon, the nation becomes a tinderbox.

Author Jennifer Fallon designs an intriguing world where gods are real and play a surprisingly personal role. The half-Harshini Brak is a surprisingly complex and interesting secondary character--one who deserves more book than he gets in MEDALON. Expect to see more of him in the sequels. I found Tarja a bit too heroic, Joyhinia too evil, and R'shiel too caught up in petty anger with her mother to make them fully sympathetic. R'shiel and Tarja were also a bit lacking in story goal and seemed to fall into obvious traps a bit more often than they should have. Still, Fallon's strong world-building and strong prose style kept me glued to the pages.

See more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by Jennifer Fallon.

Three Stars

Reviewed 6/05/04

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