Long ago, the wizards had vanished from the world, and all knowledge was left hidden in riddles. Morgon, prince of the simple farmers of Hed, proved himself a master of such riddles when he staked his life to win a crown from the dead Lord of Aum. But now ancient, evil forces were threatening him. Shape changers began replacing friends until no man could be trusted. So Morgon was forced to flee to hostile kingdoms, seeking the High One who ruled from...
Reading "The Riddle-Master of Hed" is like trying to solve the riddle of someone else's partially-glimpsed dream. You enter a rich world of metaphor, sometimes baffling but always beautiful. A standard hero's quest is overgrown with fabulous beasts, children of stone, and death-dealing harps. When Land-Ruler Morgon of Hed wins a bride and a crown in a riddling contest with a ghost, he wipes the cow manure off of his boots...
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As other reviewers have said, "The Riddle Master of Hed" is an extremely complex book with many plots. The book is a short novel but due to the amount of plots, characters, and scenes this book seems like it is much longer as it feels like a massive epic. The novel goes by very quickly and it will seem that you're done with the book in absolutely no time. The novel is the first book of an epic fantasy series, titled "The Riddle...
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I disdain much of the world of adult fantasy, which is populated by sword-and-sorcery Tolkien ripoffs. Patricia McKillip is one of the few authors who are truly worthy of being called a writer of epics and classics.Her world is a relatively simple yet complex one, in which the Prince of the poor farming country of Hed, Morgan, is found to have solved the mysterious Riddle of Peven, an old King who had to give up his crown...
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Be warned. If you are a reader that prefers fast-food fantasy -- where everything is action-packed, color is delivered simply by creating a more outlandish 'species' than other writers have, and the characters' thoughts, motives and feelings are spelled out and defined for you -- then you will not like these books. McKillip does not insult her readers in that way. (Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of action, color,...
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I first read 'The Riddle-Master of Hed' some years ago, and loved it then. But as our library didn't have the sequels, and I hadn't then heard of inter-library loan, I gave up on finding the rest of the trilogy. A few days ago, however, I stumbled across the whole thing in my aunt's house, and she lent them to me. I read all three books less than a day; I simply couldn't get out of them. I'm convinced Patricia McKillip...
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