This third book from the original Darwath Trilogy is so intense! I think the biggest intensity is of course, the main plot line. It's unpredictable, changing, and complex. Barbara Hambly does not telegraph her punches with pointless foreshadowing and constant reminders. Yes, she's kept certain ideas or concepts or people alive in our memories but she has the delicate touch of a butterfly compared to most authors who hit you with such things with the force of a 20# sledge. The thing is, for me at least, what really reels me in with The Armies of Daylight is that it's not only the plot and action which are intensified. For a last (at the time) novel in a series, this book is breathtaking. Yes, the storyline becomes more desperate, but what's even more fascinating to me: it gets more intelligent. We've been seeing the scholarship of the main character Gil-Shalos thread its way through the entire series, however in this novel, she really shines. Serious deep philosophies are sparked in this final novel. How much is natural need versus evil? How far is too far to determine religious belief versus political power? When is it time to draw a line and end the life of people who commit attrocities, or to lock the doors against those who cause you harm? What is love? How is love in relationship to our other aspects like greed, power, security, intellectual pursuits? How did men actually evolve? How can cosmology of a solar system rapidly affect and change our lives?All of these concepts, and even more get started in this third novel. What's best though, is that Barbara Hambly only starts them. The ideas are there. The ice-breakers are provided to you... but if you just want a good story, they don't batter-ram your door at 3am if you don't want to let them in. However, if you need something really intense you want to talk over for three hours while you cook, eat and clean a great meal with someone you love and who shares your love of deep concepts.... this is the book to get things rolling!
Rudy, now a sorcerer in training, and Gil, who searches for the truth using very modern methods of scholarship, try to beat back the rising tides of the Dark. I'm still annoyed by Rudy and his giiiiiirlfriend Queen Minalde, and I've read the romance between Gil and Ingold before, in Hambly's Windrose Chronicles (different names, same damn characters). I could barely get through the first two novels in this trilogy, but the third book is far better. I adored reading the medieval response to Gil's scientific method, and her feminist ways of thought (that what people wore ages ago could be a clue to their culture, for instance) clashed repeatedly with the fantasy world's resistance. As readable as it was, however, I am very disappointed by the end of the trilogy. After all sorts of battles and hardship and political and physical fighting, Ingold simply performs a spell and sends the Dark away. Why he didn't do that in the first place, I'll never know. Perhaps he was too busy turning white with strain and smiling grimly at Gil.
What do You think about The Armies Of Daylight (1983)?
t I first read this series in (cough) 1986 at the age of 14 or so and it gripped me and scared me witless in equal measures. Rereading it as an adult, it doesn't scare me quite as much, but it's still a wonderful series with well drawn characters including one of the best gandalf-type wizards in contemporary fantasy, all the better because he is NOT infallible.I think one of the best dynamics in this particular world is the uneasy relationship between the church and the wizard communi...more I first read this series in (cough) 1986 at the age of 14 or so and it gripped me and scared me witless in equal measures. Rereading it as an adult, it doesn't scare me quite as much, but it's still a wonderful series with well drawn characters including one of the best gandalf-type wizards in contemporary fantasy, all the better because he is NOT infallible.I think one of the best dynamics in this particular world is the uneasy relationship between the church and the wizard community and the way that the state falls between the two. None of your Harry Potter-type back-room government shenanigans here as the wizards are considered to be the agents of the devil by the church, yet they are not condemned by the state.The Dark of the title are a protoplasmic being that have "risen" from their lairs. The whole of this series asks the question why? Why did the Dark rise and what can be done. The way that Hambly deals with this is fascinating as it's not just a "humans good, unpleasant people-killing protoplasmic beast bad" situation.Despite the "real-world" sections of this book being very obviously set in the 1980s, the series does not suffer from feeling too dated by this. I highly recommend the series.
—Kate
This was an "I can't go to to sleep until I finish" book. I was completely gripped from start to finish. But I was disappointed with a few of the plot choices. Romance-wise, she chose not to use the only really sexy character she created. The love interest she chose for Gil was...puzzling. It made no sense to me at all.And I was disappointed that, as a historian, the author never addressed the more complex issues surrounding the choice to exterminate a native civilization (even one that is trying to exterminate you).
—Ambre
First paragraphsWHEN THE WIZARD INGOLD crossed the Void between worlds to save the infant Prince Tir from the destruction of Gae, Gil Patterson and Rudy Solis tried to help him. But one of the monstrous, evil Dark crossed behind him, and they were all forced to flee back to the world of magic from which the wizard came. It was a world where magic worked and where the loathsome Dark were destroying humanity, after having lain almost forgotten in underground lairs for three thousand years.Hambly, Barbara (2012-09-11). The Darwath Trilogy: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight (Kindle Locations 8882-8885). Open Road. Kindle Edition.
—Douglas Cook
