To Ride a Rathorn

It's taken Pat 25 freakin' years to get this far, (God Stalk was published in '82) at this rate I'll be playing tiddlywinks in the old folks home before she's finished! I love this world, it's as deep and compelling and the characters are as real and complex as anything in modern fatasy, and far better than most. You don't HAVE to read the first 3 books before reading this one but you'll get a bit confused if you don't. In this one our heroine has enrolled in the randon academy (think a combo of West Point and SEAL training) after being named heir to her brother's position as Highlord of the Kencyrath. She must deal with both academy officers as well as other Highborn that are determined to see her fail. There also seems to ba mysterious madman concealed in the college with a reputation of eating unwary cadets and a ghost-like "White Lady" whose appearance fortells the death of those who see her. In addition the Earth Wife and the Burnt Man (local nature spirits) seem to be either out to get her (Burnt Man) or "help" (Earth Wife). To top it off the rathorn colt whose mother Jame killed in Dark of the Moon has finally caught up with her and is determined to kill her. (Rathorn=carnivous unicorn that grow their own ivory armor reputation of extreme ferocity and insanity) Jame's strugle to pass the first 2 cullings, and control the darker aspects of her emerging Shanir powers make for a ripping good story whose sequel will be eagerly anticipated. BUY THIS BOOK!!, BUY THE OTHER 3 TOO!! Maybe the sales will convince Pat Hodgell to write faster. This is not a series I want to see end anytime soon.

A new novel by P.C. Hodgell is a major event. Her previous novel, Seeker's Mask, appeared over a decade ago. "To Ride a Rathorn" picks up directly from the end of that novel with very little backtracking, and I had to reread "Seeker's Mask" to pick up the thread. When the first Jame novel, "Godstalk" (which is where new readers should begin) appeared in 1982--a time when most fantasy was heavily indebted to Tokien or Howard--Hodgell's unique hero, inhabiting a world that was a fully complex and realized as Tolkien's Middle Earth, yet completely different, was startlingly original. Fantasy has progressed and diversified considerably since that time, but Hodgell's novels hold their own and retain their unique flavor. Any lover of fantasy owes it to him or herself to read this series. If Seeker's Mask might have been subtitled "Jame Goes to Finishing School," this one is "Jame Goes to Military School." And as usual, chaos, both magical and otherwise, ensues. The larger plot involving the Kencyrath and their enemy, Perimal Darkling, continues to move very slowly, and we don't hear much of them in this novel, but that does not mean that it is short on plot. Instead, it focuses more the coming of age of Jame and her increasing acceptance of her nature and her abilities, as well as her gradual discovery of what it means to be a leader. The book's production values are somewhat disappointing next to my beautiful Hypatia Press editions of "Seeker's Mask" and "Blood and Ivory," which are illustrated with beautiful Tokienesque pen and ink and watercolor maps by the author of the story locations. "To Ride a Rathorn" also has has maps of its many locations (Jame moves around quite a bit in this one), but they are scanned bitmaps that hardly do justice to the versions in the Hypatia Press editions. Still, it is far more than one gets with most fantasy novels. I look forward to Hodgell's next novel. I just hope that we don't have to wait another decade.

It has been over 20 years since I first read God Stalk and I still think it is one of the best and most original works of fantasy that I have read. I think I have three copies of God Stalk. I keep hoping that if I keep buying them, PC will keep writing them. This is another great book. The charactors are great and the world is quirky and engaging. One bit of advice: the plot line is convoluted. Read the books twice (at least!) You'll keep on picking up nuances in how the story fits together. If fantasy is your thing, but you think many fantasy writers shouldn't have, this is your book.

At last, the next installment in this series! Four novels and one slim collection of short stories in twenty years - this author is not just for Christmas, she's for a lifetime. P C Hodgell should be far better known than she is. She should be a NYT bestseller. She is brilliant. Her novels are dark, funny, intricate in characterisation and worldbuilding and deeply original. Tropes that have become standard in the twenty years since she started writing - lost heirs, soul-bonds to people and animals (and Hodgell makes it clear what a deep and terrible thing this is), the boarding school from hell (a military college, this time, and trying to shoot the Principal leads to a truly horrible death)- are made logical, convincing and terrifying. Hodgell does not shrink from the consequences of her premises, and I am pleased to be completely unable to predict what will happen next. The only point that irritated me was the reappearance of the child-abuse-as-important-traumatic-event motif, which is tediously common in US fiction at the moment, but that was a minor flaw in an otherwise deeply enjoyable book. In her world, trees migrate and leaves fly south for the winter, and unicorns eat people and grow ivory armour that eventually grows over and suffocates them to death, and butterflies drink blood and feed on carrion (which, depending on where it dies, doesn't always stay dead). The publisher could have spent some time and money proofreading. I hope that the next volume will come out soon.

17 years ago I discovered a dusty copy of PC Hodgell's God Stalk and was forever lost in Jame's world. To Ride a Rathorn gives us a few more clues to the tangled lives of the Knorth twins, Jame & Tori, as well as sinking us deeper into the rotten polital game that infects the Kencyrath. Lovers of this series will find this a must read - those new to this world should start at the beinning with the publisher's reprint of the 1st two novels under the title Dark of the Gods.