I really don't know what to say about this book. At first I was captivated - by the story, characters, world, ideas, magic and the writing. But somewhere in the middle of the book I became bored by all of this, so I really started to drag with the reading.At first I thought that the idea of a human programmer coming from our world to a magical medieval alien world and viceversa, interesting, but as I said... the story starts to drag and becomes more confusing by every page. We have so many things going on at once - a mysterious murder of a wizard, characters feeling strange apathy, a killer stalking our main heroine Joanna, abominations popping up all over the world, many political factions fighting among themselves, an evil wizard trying to create some kind of super computer to store his memory and makes himself immortal... are you still following this?I never understood why this wizard wanted to kill Joanna at the beginning of the book. And why pick her to take in the other world? It's not like she is the only programmer on Earth. She also adapts rather quickly in this strange world and keeps talking about computers and programs to this people. Really? You come to a medieval world filled with monsters and magic and you talk about computers?This whole talk about programming becomes quickly annoying. Ok, we get it Hambly, you know how to work with computers.Also, her writing often slows the progress of the story than to advance it. For example, person A asks Person B something. Person B doesn't answer immediately, but instead, Hambly starts to describe how that person feels, or the hallway they are currently in, or the people surrounding them, so that by the time the person B answers, I have already forgotten the question.She also often uses the same description over and over. I can't tell how many times she described Carris as beautiful or how many times the light shined over Antyg's spectacles.Despite all this, the book does have some surprises. For example, I was pretty sure that Joanna will fall in love in Carris, but I was wrong. There is also a lot of guessing of who's really the villain.I will probably read the sequels somewhere down the road, although I'm not that invested after reading this rather confusing and overly descriptive story.
Barbara Hambly has published works in almost every genre of fiction---and the Windrose Chronicles is one of her best series. In fact, I have been waiting for this series since I first started listening to audiobooks years ago.Originally written in 1986, the series fetures Antryg Windrose, a renegade wizard who has been held prisoner by the Council of Mages and the Church in Ferryth. Antryg is locked in the Silent Tower where he cannot use any of his magic powers---and he is insane. One of his powers was his ability to open the Void and travel to other worlds. The Archmage, Salteris, and his sassenna, Stonne Caris (also his nephew) travel to the Silent Tower to question Antryg about recent disturbances in the Void. But Antryg manages to escape, Salteris disappears, and Caris follows Antryg through the Void to recapture him.Joanna Sheraton is a computer programmer in Los Angeles who lives a fairly solitary life. She was attacked in her office while working late one night by someone wearing robes and using a candle for light. After encountering Antryg at a party hosted by her sometime boyfriend Gary, she is kidnapped by Antryg and taken to Ferryth, still pursued by Caris. Antryg, Joanna, and Caris travel through Ferryth, searching for evidence of Suraklin, an executed evil wizard, and Antryg's former master. Along the way they are pursued by officials of the Church, the Mages, and the Prince Regent who all want Antryg dead or recaptured. Strange disturbances continue to occur, including periods of where all magic seems to disappear. Antryg is convinced that the dead Suraklin is somehow behind these events, the disturbances in the Void, and the rise of Abominations across the countryside.Be aware that this is a twenty-something year old book which features a computer programmer. While the references to DOS programming, dot matrix printers, etc., were cutting edge then, they will seem very simplistic now. In spite of that, the story is excellent and overcomes the "old-school" computer information. Hambly's characters and plots are first-rate and really deserve a listen, or a read if you're not into audiobooks.
What do You think about The Silent Tower (1986)?
This odd mixture of two seemingly contradictory worlds, the magic of wizards and dimensions and the technology of the computer, makes a good suspense story but I found the conclusion rather unsatisfying. Granted, there are two more novels in the series, and they may improve on the state in which things are left here.Barbara Hambly ultimately presents us with a difficult conundrum here: if a person of evil intent could use magic to completely take over the body of another person well known to you, could you tell the difference? Would you even suspect? At least in this book, the question is not entirely answered. Perhaps in the next it will be.For a far more entertaining mixture of these two worlds, I would recommend Rick Cook's Wizardry series, beginning with The Wizardry Compiled (Baen, 1990.)
—Altivo Overo
The first time I read this I gave it four stars? Really? Was I drunk? I mean, it's an okay story, but even I'll admit that this "silicon mage" business is a bit, uh, campy. And once you get to know me, it says something that I'll willingly say that. Many authors have tried to pull of the mixture of computer geekery and magic, sadly, most of them fall short, and some of them land in truly epic fail territory.Barbara Hambly is no garden variety author, so she at least puts a credible face onto things, even if her strength is noticeably on the fantasy end of the story. I didn't see any glaring head-to-desk errors, at any rate, although one must forgive the fact that this story takes place in the time of floppy discs. And her collision between the two worlds, ours and the one of magic, is on par with Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover (also, admittedly, campy). Maybe it's just that I've since been spoiled on such stellar fodder as Charles Stross and his Atrocity Archives, the blend of modern day and paranormal so complete you wonder if it isn't truth in fact, or Lev Grossman's The Magicians, which takes Harry Potter, turns it grown up and takes it for a dark, dark spin. Maybe it's just that I find computers to be the antithesis of magic (unlike many people, who seem to look at them as some form of mysterious and mythical creation), so the mixture feels at it's core, inherently wrong. Computers are logical to the point of absurdity, while magic is illogical to the same point, and in the end, when you mix them, the common denominator seems to be the absurd.
—Jade Lauron
While I have no idea how this book would stand up if I read it today, this was my absolute favorite book (along with its sequel "The Silicon Mage") when I read it as a 16-year-old back in the 80's. It influenced me tremendously as a writer.The characters are just fabulous, especially Antryg Windrose, who still stands out in my mind as one of the most fully realized and three-dimensional romantic heroes ever written. (This book wasn't marketed as a romance, but it has a strong romantic subplot, and in my mind the two-book series, taken together, qualify as a fantasy romance. And there's a secondary romance too!) Joanna is a wonderfully strong heroine.And Caris--what a great side character! This is an older book, but I consider it a classic.
—Amy Raby
