Fortress of Owls

Fortress of Owls (1999) is the third fantasy novel of the Fortress series, following Fortress of Eagles. In the previous volume, Tristen took Crissand's oath as Earl of Meiden and banished Cuthan of Bryn from Amefel. Emuin finally arrived at the Zeide a week later. In Guelesfort, Brugan -- heir of Ryssand -- dared to accuse Ninevrise of infidelity and Cevulirn challenged him. After Brugan was slain in a fair fight, the Murandys guards came forward to arrest Cevulirn, but King Cefwyn offered to take the life of anyone who intervened. Still, Cefwyn had to send Cevulirn back to Ivanor for his own safety. In this novel, Tristen visits Master Emuin in his tower quarters and finds the stairs crowded with an overflow of basket and bundles. Inside, the shutters are open to let in the light, but the wind, snow and cold also come through the windows. Tristen closes the shutters and sends Tassand to light the fire, set the candles and rearrange the furnishings. Afterward, Tristen joins Uwen for a ride with Earl Crissand. He finds the horse yard filled with carts loading supplies to take to the river camp. Then Crissand arrives with a much larger guard force. After some confusion, Tristen and his bodyguards mount up and ride off through the town. The commoners joyfully shout "Lord Sihhe" as usual; despite the offense to the Guelenfolk (or maybe because of it), his Amefin just can't be convinced to mute their cheers. The party takes the South Road to Padys Springs, which Tristen realizes had once been called Bathurys. As they talk about common things, Crissand learns that such things are not ordinary to Tristen. Since his personal memories only extended back to the past spring, many things have not yet been experienced. Sheep, for example, is a new and interesting subject to Tristen. At Padys Springs, they turn off onto the road to Levey. As they pass the old shrine, a fierce gust of wind blows across the column. Then an old woman appears by the stones. Crissand doesn't know her, but Tristen and Uwen recognize her as Auld Syes. The Shadow addresses them as the Lord of Amafel and the aetheling and states that their road lies south, then she tells Tristen to find and feed her sparrows. Finally, she dares Tristen to invite her into his home and he welcomes her. As they ride south, the party struggles through a sudden storm of snow and ice until they meet Cevulirn and his Ivanim guards. After turning back toward Henas'amef, the weather turns warm. Later, Tristan calls a council of Amefin nobles and has Cevulirn tell them of events in the Guelemara court. They discuss the situation in Elwynor, but decide not to ride north quite yet. Instead, Tristen sends Cevulirn back south to invite the Southron lords to the Midwinter festival in Henas'amef. In this story, Tristen discovers that the sparrows are armed Elwynim refugees, whom he sends to Althalen. Much has happened, so he sends Sergeant Gedd to Idrys with messages. On his return to

This book has everything a devoted reader of fantasy could desire. The characterisation of the main protagonists and world-building are masterful, the plot is intricate and spellbinding, and Cherryh's writing is bedazzling. For some readers this novel might contain too little physical action (there are hardly, if any, sword-fights, battles etc.), but the intrigues and thrilling, involving story-line should more than compensate for that. (For those who like flashing swords etc., I strongly recommend novels by David Gemmell and Michael Moorcock, two excellent writers of heroic fantasy). All in all, this book should keep a host of fantasy-readers busy for a few pleasant days, and beyond.

With this book, C. H. Cherryh continues the story she began with A Fortress in the Eye of Time, and Fortress of Eagles. In this book, Tristen, Lord of Amefel, searches to understand all of the many, inexplicable things that occurred at Amefel before and during his arrival to take up the reins. Cefwyn rules from Guelemara, and struggles to out maneuver his nobles. As the book, goes on, the story gets darker, and takes on a more urgent tone. There are conspiracies and enemies everywhere, but who is friend and who is enemy? It's not always easy to know.Unlike the previous book in this series, this book contains a prologue to remind the reader of the story so far, and lexicon describing all of the people and places in the story. The story is much more exciting than the previous book, and has me impatient to be on to the next one! This is a great book.

So much fantasy is big on action, like a megabudget summer movie, and on allegory (Dark vs. Light, Good vs. Evil) but lacking in characters who engage the heart and don't simply perform a role. I fell in love with the first book in the series, Fortress in the Eye of Time, quite unexpectedly, because I'd always thought C.J. Cherryh's fantasy novels somewhat lacking in life compared to her science fiction. In this series, however, is every strength of her sf--sympathetic and individualized characters, a world imagined down to its least detail but tossed away as mere background, and themes of people finding a place to call home in an alien world, the interplay between nature and nurture, between what we are and what we aspire to be, and whether history, in the form of an individual, does, or can, repeat itself. The second book, Fortress of Eagles, seemed a bit skeletal compared to the first and a few inconsistencies crept in, as if the author had not had time to flesh it out fully and as if the editing had been hasty as well. Fortress of Owls is back to the high standards of the first book, where there is as much pleasure in a re-reading as in the first reading, and, in fact, you catch important details that you missed the first time. I can only wonder at the Kirkus reviewer's finding the detail tedious--I treasure it, along with the characters, and, although I eagerly await the fourth and final book, I shall be sorry to say good-bye to it all.

C J Cherryh has been a prolific and popular author and ranks at the top of my favorite authors' list. In this series which began with "Fortress in the Eye of Time" she started slowly but has reached her peak with this novel. The original novel was good but moved too slowly. In this volume imagery and characterization puts the reader at the scene of the action. The characters are well sculpted and are very human, even Tristen, who is a wizard's "shaping". His journey to discover himself pulled me in all the way. It was impossible for me to put the book down and I look forward eagerly to "Fortress of Dragons".