The Review at Mount Char

[bluegargantua]

Hi,

So, do you like the Amber books by Zelazny? Or the Nobilis RPG? Or both?

Then you should rush out and get a copy of The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. It's pretty much everything you want.

For the rest of you. Well, first you should read Nine Princes in Amber and maybe play a game of Nobilis. However, in any event, you should also pick up a copy of The Library at Mount Char. It's really quite good.

When Carolyn was a little girl something terrible happened to her family. Something terrible happened to all the families who lived in her subdivision. Only a few children survived. They were all taken in by a man they used to know as Adam Black but who they now call "Father". Father took them to a magical library and gave each of his twelve new children one twelfth of the library to study -- their personal catalog. Carolyn knows every language that ever existed or will exist or might exist, David knows everything about war and murder, Michel is utterly in tune with animals and so on. They are each learning one-twelfth of Father's extensive knowledge. Father isn't exactly "God", but he is the ruler of spacetime. He doesn't do magic, but it looks like it to the untrained eye.

In any event, Father has gone missing and the children are all out in the world searching for him. Carolyn has a few theories about what's happened to Father but she's worried about what the others might be thinking or planning. If Father is truly gone, which of them will inherit the Library? If Father's still around, what game is he playing at?

Carolyn pulls in a former small-time crook to help her out with a few things and things sort of snowball from there.

The pace is good, the world-building superb, the characters are well drawn. Perhaps a touch exaggerated but we are dealing with pseudo-demi-gods here. All told it was a great read that I just blazed through. A strong contender for my best-of list at year's end. Well worth a look.

later
Tom

Comments

[bluepapercup]

This sounds like my kinda book! Probably too much to hope that they have it at the airport bookstore tomorrow, eh?

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

I loved the first Amber series; the second series was rather a disappointment.

Thanks for the recommendation; I'll look for this at my local library.

[silentq.livejournal.com]

I had just bookmarked this to read later, will bump it up the list. :-)

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

Hunh - I have an ARC of this sitting in my room because the cover looked intriguing. Thanks for the reason to put it on the To Read pile.