NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS
Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258
Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com
April 5, 2012
From Blatant to Subtle:
The Battle Against the Darkness Continues in Dylan Higgins Fantasy
A review of
Dylan Higgins Stirring: Book Two of The Emblem and The Lantern (Hill Harow Books, 2012)
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz
Like any well written fantasy The Emblem and The Lantern can be enjoyed just like a good adventure tale -- it has interesting characters and lands and monsters and phenomena woven into an exciting well-paced story. But, the deeper story here is the battle against darkness, which begins in Book One, Awakening, with a battle against obvious darkness in the Land of Gloam and continues in Book Two, Stirring, with a battle against darkness in a more subtle form in the Land of Maridia. The glimpse of Maridia we are given in Book One is enough to indicate that there is something wrong there but we do not find out what that is until the current book, which will be published at the end of April.
Perhaps the best way to summarize the situation is by noting the various forms of bad spirituality. One form, the kind encountered in Gloam is blatant, obviously bad spirituality: the worship of false gods and demons. Another kind, the one represented by Maridia, is the denial that there is a spiritual reality, the claim that the only reality is nature, a view which philosophers call reductive naturalism, which is what is taught in Maridia's university by the Rector Osiric. This is what Ethan Eisely faces when he become a student there. I do not know what Higgins has in store in the next two books, but my guess is that one of them would be the other main form of bad spirituality, the most subtle of all, and that is nominally claiming belief in the truth but not actually following it, which is what appears to be what is happening in Glaem from the hints provided in the first two books.
Rector Osiric is a good example of a really bad guy. The denouement of his life bears a striking resemblance to that of the head of NICE in C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength, where evil in its utmost horror is brought to light,. where you see what really and ultimately lies behind false philosophy. An example of a good teacher and delightful character at the university is found in Professor J Jury, who had a hidden cache of fantasy books she enjoys reading secretly! I could go on and on listing and discussing the characters in this book but space does not permit so I will simply say that if you like well developed characters in a story, you are in for a treat when you read this one.
Since the publication of Book One, Higgins has established a publication company called Hill Harow Books, which he is using to publish the rest of his books and of books by several other Atlanta area authors now working on their first books. Information is available is on these sites www.emblemandlantern.com and www.hillharow.com. Through Book Two of his own fantasy Higgins is showing that he is fulfilling the promise I noted in my review of his first book of becoming a major fantasy author, and he now through Hill Harow and its writers appears to be developing into an important publisher and leader of writers in the Atlanta area.
AFrom Blatant to Subtle:
The Battle Against the Darkness Continues in Dylan Higgins Fantasy
A review of
Dylan Higgins Stirring: Book Two of The Emblem and The Lantern (Hill Harow Books, 2012)
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz
Like any well written fantasy The Emblem and The Lantern can be enjoyed just like a good adventure tale -- it has interesting characters and lands and monsters and phenomena woven into an exciting well-paced story. But, the deeper story here is the battle against darkness, which begins in Book One, Awakening, with a battle against obvious darkness in the Land of Gloam and continues in Book Two, Stirring, with a battle against darkness in a more subtle form in the Land of Maridia. The glimpse of Maridia we are given in Book One is enough to indicate that there is something wrong there but we do not find out what that is until the current book, which will be published at the end of April.
Perhaps the best way to summarize the situation is by noting the various forms of bad spirituality. One form, the kind encountered in Gloam is blatant, obviously bad spirituality: the worship of false gods and demons. Another kind, the one represented by Maridia, is the denial that there is a spiritual reality, the claim that the only reality is nature, a view which philosophers call reductive naturalism, which is what is taught in Maridia's university by the Rector Osiric. This is what Ethan Eisely faces when he become a student there. I do not know what Higgins has in store in the next two books, but my guess is that one of them would be the other main form of bad spirituality, the most subtle of all, and that is nominally claiming belief in the truth but not actually following it, which is what appears to be what is happening in Glaem from the hints provided in the first two books.
Rector Osiric is a good example of a really bad guy. The denouement of his life bears a striking resemblance to that of the head of NICE in C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength, where evil in its utmost horror is brought to light,. where you see what really and ultimately lies behind false philosophy. An example of a good teacher and delightful character at the university is found in Professor J Jury, who had a hidden cache of fantasy books she enjoys reading secretly! I could go on and on listing and discussing the characters in this book but space does not permit so I will simply say that if you like well developed characters in a story, you are in for a treat when you read this one.
Since the publication of Book One, Higgins has established a publication company called Hill Harow Books, which he is using to publish the rest of his books and of books by several other Atlanta area authors now working on their first books. Information is available is on these sites www.emblemandlantern.com and www.hillharow.com. Through Book Two of his own fantasy Higgins is showing that he is fulfilling the promise I noted in my review of his first book of becoming a major fantasy author, and he now through Hill Harow and its writers appears to be developing into an important publisher and leader of writers in the Atlanta area.
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