The Black Mountains Book

Stuff I Read - The Black Mountains by Fred Saberhagen Review

So this is the second book in the Empire of the East series, and I will admit now that when I read this I had not read the first book in the series. The good news is that I didn't really feel lost at all having not read the first book. Yes, characters recur and all that, but the book did a good enough job catching me up that I didn't mind. These books also come before the Sword books that Saberhagen wrote, as evidenced by Draffut being there and Ardneh behind a thing and all that.

The book itself is a bit of a fantasy standard, though it's more sci-fantasy, where there is both technology and magic. It's a little strange, but it works well, with demons and machines coexisting with wizards and undead kings. Basically there are two main characters, Rolf and Chup. They start on opposite sides of the conflict, Rolf being on the side of the "good guys" in the west and Chup being a former lord of the East. Chup, defeated at the end of the first book, is given a task to complete to redeem himself, at the same time Rolf is working with the western forces to take the great fortress of the Black Mountains.

For all that Rolf is the more traditional hero, fighting to find his sister and to overthrow the East, I found his story the less interesting of the two. There are interesting moments, but Rolf is the traditional fantasy hero, letting himself drift to where circumstance would have him, acting heroically and saving the day a number of times. But it's really just that, and while it works for what it is, while it's entertaining to a point, it's just less unique.

Chup's story, though, is the more compelling, at least in part because of his very odd relationship with Charmian, his wife. Though the two are kind of estranged, Chup still cares for her, and she, though she is untrue almost as much as she possibly can be, still seems to care for him. It's a really interesting dynamic that the two have, because she is "evil" to a point, willing to use anything to get power, but at the same time there is a feeling that she isn't such a bad person, just using what she has to because otherwise she would be the constant victim.

The story does take some really nice turns, and there are a few twists that I smiled to read, but I guess to me it's just a decent fantasy story with enough going on hold my interest but not really all that much to say. It wasn't boring, but it didn't challenge me at all, and while I enjoyed it I was left wanting a bit more from the characters and the story. That said, I'm giving it a 6.5/10.