The Wizard Hunters: The Fall of Ile-Rien

Martha Wells has made a career by working at the boundary between magic and science, and in "The Wizard Hunters," she returns her readers to Ile-Rien, a place she's brought us to twice before. The setting in this volume seems to approximate the Europe of the 1920s. There's electricity, telephones, and automobiles, as well as wizards, wards, and spells. And the land is faced with an alien invasion in the form of "the Gardier," conquerers from elsewhere who arrive in spellbusting dirigibles that can wreck things made of metal. Like guns and electronic equipment. But where is elsewhere? The author's heroine, Tremaine Valiarde (daughter of Nicholas Valiarde from "Death of the Necromancer"), is enlisted--well she enlists herself really in order to avoid her suicidal impulses. As Florian the young witch tells her: "It's like you're two people. One of them is a flighty artist, and I like her. The other one is bloody-minded and ruthless and finds scary things funny and I'm not sure I like her very much." Whatever she is, she, along with her magical sphere that seems to have a mind of its own and can provide a counter-attack against the Gardier, turns into one of the most fascinatingly capable (if neurotic) protagonists you're likely to meet on the pages of any book. And in addition you'll meet not only her and the young witch, but also a host of people, from several societies on two different worlds. And there are plenty of scaring things to be encountered also. The author's burnished prose moves along in a stately fashion, overcoming along the way a few apparent deficiencies in the plot. Ms. Wells occasionally manages to write herself into a corner, forcing her to create side quests to resolve plot issues that she needn't have created in the first place. On the whole, though, the author delivers on her promises. Notes and asides: "The Wizard Hunters" is, yes, the first of three; but it concludes satisfactorily. It's BOOK 1 of the Fall of Ile-Rein alright; not a thinly disguised PART 1 that will leave you dangling. So fear not; read it now. No reason why you need to wait for the conclusion.

Martha Wells weaves a nicely complicated tapestry of mythology in The Wizard Hunters, the first installment of The Fall of Ile-Rien series. The book's very first sentence indicates exactly how unusual a fantasy epoch Wells writes: "It was nine o'clock at night and Tremaine was trying to find a way to kill herself that would bring in a verdict of natural causes in Court when someone banged on the door."After hooking the reader's interest, Wells becomes an unrelenting story teller, blending the mythology of a modernistic culture with the mythology of a aborigine culture. In Tremaine Valiarde's possession is a mysterious sphere of unknown power. The sphere is a childhood toy given Tremaine by an uncle who turned out to be a wizard of enormous power.A bizarre army of beings is besieging Tremaine's homeland. These beings-Gardier-control powerful airships that seemingly come from nowhere to attack Tremaine's homeland of Ile-Rien.The sphere transports Tremaine and some friends to an island in another world. Coincidentally, the island is a base for the airships of the Gardier. Before Tremaine makes her accidental journey, two brothers from a nearby aborigine tribe journey to the island to see if an enemy sorcerer is still controlling the island. These two young men discover a hive of strange activity and what they initially believe are strange flying whales.Wells writes an extremely good story that ranks with the likes of Modesitt, Hobb, Haydon, and Douglass. She weaves a colorful cast of characters, story, action, setting, and other elements into a powerful fantasy tale. Tremaine Valiarde is an unusual heroine and it will be interesting to see how she develops as a character throughout the rest of The Fall of Ile-Rien.

The first sentence of this book should grab just about anyone. Right off hand, you know this is a suicidal heroine, but you don't know why. You also get the idea that one of the characters might be an unidentified wizard, but you don't know that for sure. And it is very much to the author's credit that both questions are resolved by the end of the book in such a way that's true to the characters involved, rather than carrying them over to the next book.Obviously, THE FALL OF ILE-RIEN trilogy will be concerned with revolution and social change in this land of magic and of wizards. The beginning book deals with the attack and conquest of this land by the Gardier, a mysterious enemy helped by their evil wizards. Tremaine Vallarde who lacks magical skills but possesses a sphere which has within it power to defeat the Gardier finds herself along with a female student wizard, a former guardian with wizardly powers, and a young security agent who's apparantly enamored of her transported to a strange world. The Gardier are using a base on this world as a gateway to Ile-Rien. The wizard hunters referred to in the book's titled belong to a race which knows only of the evil wizards who misuse their magic. This alternate world's distrust of those who work magic along with the initial inability of the two races to speak a common language causes an uneasy alliance, and so the story and adventures go from there. One of the good points of this story is the lack of romantic entanglements in spite of the fact that two of the five younger characters are comely women. The strong characterization of these characters makes it obvious that there'll be no fast blooming infatuations or love here, although I expect that will change in the middle book of the trilogy.And so vivid characterization, deft plotting, underlying logic and unanswered questions make this a most enjoyable read with a quite satisfying ending, and yet a yearning to read more about Ile-rien. Highly recommended fantasy adventure.

I've been hooked on Martha Wells since I stumbled across The Element of Fire. She's managed to make it to a very elite list of mine - the buy on sight list. Wells has an ability to draw excellent characters without sacrificing any attention to plot or setting. In fact, throughout her books (The two stand-alones and the Il-Rien books), she's managed to explore new and interesting worlds and people them with characters you want to spend time with.This new book, the beginning to a trilogy set in Il-Rien (at least initially) doesn't disapoint. Tremaine is one of her most engaging heroines, especially as that's probably the last way she would think of herself. As is usual for Wells, secondary characters aren't stinted; there aren't any two-dimensional people wandering around in the background while your attention is supposed to be focused on the leads. I keep reccomending Martha Wells to friends, and at this rate, I will be able to keep on doing so.

The off world Gardier use powerful magic to invade the land of Ile-Rien. The off-world military are winning on all fronts defeating the natives at sea, on the land, and in the air. Unless something is done quickly, the people of Ile-Rien will become enslaved. A magical artifact attached to Tremaine Valiarde transports her and two sorceress to the Isle of Storms. They meet the Syrneiese warrior Ilias and Giliead who have come to the island to see if an evil wizard has taken up residence there. The two groups team up when the Gardier, who have an outpost in a huge cave on the island, captures them. Working together, they escape and go to the homeland of Ilias and Giliead and then back to Ile-Rien to get an army together that will destroy the Gardier outpost and subsequently the means of traveling between the two worlds.Book one of the Fall of Ile-Rien is a fantastic opening installment in what looks to be a great fantasy epic. The heroine, a potential suicide victim, finds she has something to live for, as she becomes a freedom fighter intent on saving two worlds from Gardier domination. Martha Wells is an excellent world builder, a writer who makes the audience believes that the Gardier and the two worlds they want to conquer actually exist.Harriet Klausner