The Harp Of Imach Thyssel (1986) - Plot & Excerpts
Ugh. I really tried to get through this. The first book in the Lyra series is one of my favourites, & I was hoping this would improve. Made it up to a third of the way through, but couldn't take any more & gave up.We keep being flung between various different characters, with no real idea of who they are or what any of them want or why. Which, yeah, great for mystery, but really really hard to care about any characters at all. Even the two main characters are 2 dimensional. One is super dull & one has the impulse control for a small child. We don't even get a sense of where they're going (or were planning on going before getting sidetracked). Why were they travelling with the Trader caravan? Why was Emereck being taken to visit, especially considering the family weren't expecting him? Where were they going after that?I know these things seem like irreverent details, but it gives a sense of how little character motivations are fleshed out when even the main characters are so poorly drawn that we don't even know why they are where they are.And that lack of thought & motivation extends to their role in the plot as well. Somehow they can't go back to the minstrel hall because of POLITICS, even though this has apparently been going on for some time, yet they managed to get from the hall, crossing the land, including passing near the border with the enemy country, & Flindaran is from a region (IDK, are these countries? city states? what? I really have no idea) threatened by these people & somehow they completely missed this on their way there. So either the danger is exaggerated, or they managed to avoid it before so could do so again, with a suitable disguise & cover story. Like, apparently they can't pass through a particular city because it has banned minstrels, but nobody points out the obvious solution of maybe HEY JUST DON'T SAY YOU'RE MINSTRELS - not like you're planning to stay there! Bit of a hassle having to evade detection, but surely worth it when dealing with a dangerous & powerful magical object. But no there might possibly be some sort of obstacles that we should avoid so lets not bother & just chill in this castle full of spoiled brats in a land that is slightly impoverished. No way that can go wrong.I've seen reviews excusing the flaws of this book as being down to this being one of the author's earlier books, but that doesn't make any sense considering that Shadow Magic has excellent characters who have personalities & motivation, great worldbuilding, & a plot. And yes I know it got rewritten, but that's irrelevant. The rewrite just tightened up some of the dialogue & exposition, but the book itself had all those things in the original version. It's one of my all time favourites & has been for 16 years, rereading often. Daughter of Witches was merely OK & had a fairly dull plot, but the characters were interesting & I wanted to read on to see how they did. And I was intrigued by the culture & beliefs of Drinn.I know I've already read the next book (Caught in Crystal before, & while I don't remember it clearly, I've rated it 2 stars on here & have vague memories of bratty children. I'm hoping that by some miracle I simply judged it harshly & it actually turns out to be good.
I do not often give a book written by a living author only one star, because usually there is at least SOMETHING nice I can say about it, and I know how painful it is to have one's "baby" shredded on a world-wide scale.But this author is not on Goodreads, so I will be totally honest.To be fair, this was written early in the author's career, and she has become hugely popular since then. But not this book. Now I know why.Flat characters; predictable, canned fantasy plot; dull, plodding narrative, I could go on, but I will stop now.I look forward to reading the Enchanted Forest Chronicles again.
What do You think about The Harp Of Imach Thyssel (1986)?
Extremely predictable. The Lyra books are the kind of books people who don't like fantasy pick on and make fun of. There are always elves, or elvish beings with otherworldly beauty and arrogance out the wing-wah. Then there are some kind of dwarfs, or similar small sturdy creatures. And in the middle of it are humans, who are either perfectly good or so evil they'd sell their grannies to the Anthracite mines for the price of a cup of fantasy coffee-equivalent.Talented writing can get you over the cliches in certain cases. Unfortunately, that's not the case here.
—Amanda
Emereck is a minstrel and his friend Flindaran is a son of a duke. Together they stumble upon an enchanted castle with a power magical object, the Harp of Imach Thyssel. The Harp has the power to destroy cities and shape the world, and the consequences for the person who plays it is vast. Can their friendship survive?Why I started it: I'm working my way thru this series... along with the other 500 series that I'm reading.Why I finished it: I liked that Emereck was so cautious. I know that I would freak out if I suddenly had all that power at my finger tips.
—Maria
This is set in the same world as Shadow Magic, although that's not immediately obvious. Some of the same complaints I have about that one hold here, though she only reintroduces one of the three non-human races. The characters themselves were okay, but the world never felt like it had much depth, and that took away from the characters in the end. It also felt a bit too much like a trick ending---the Duke just happens to figure out how to control ancient magic on the spur of the moment when he's never been a mage in his life. I would've liked to see more about the Harp, too, since that was the point of the story. Neutral.
—Aelvana
