Forging the Darksword vol 1 by Weis and Hickman - reflections
by Evil Overlord in
book reflections
in the late morning on
August 11th, 2005:
3 years, 3 months ago
The book bears a superficial resemblance of Piers Anthony’s Xanth series; it is a land of magic in which everyone is born with some sort of magical gift (Talent) whether large or small. Then one is born without the gift and and is sentenced to death (exile to Mundania). The first portion of the book even contains the phrase “source of magic” - title of one of the early Xanth novels.
Following in such vein, the world is decreed to follow the axiom: Life is Magic. In fact, there is little reference to magic as it is mostly referred to as Life. These people came from our own world, escaping persecution to found their own magic-based society. However, they fell prey to persecution themselves by outlawing any practice of technology.
Otherwise, it is a tale of role reversal. The one person who will greatly affect the times (the one whom was prophesied) is someone without magic; this goes against the norm of having a person of extraordinary magic ability being the hero.
Odd notes: Elspeth is a Queen of the Faeries (not Valdemar). Saryon says “I don’t even believe in faeries” (Peter Pan). Sex is outlawed (some bizarre magical version of a controlled society).
End summation: Bland. Ending was obvious (read the title) and the final “battle” anti-climatic.
One Response to 'Forging the Darksword vol 1 by Weis and Hickman - reflections'
I read this probably 20 years ago, and I remember the atmosphere working rather well. It started with the notion that “Technology” means the physical joining of two objects, hence the ban on sex.
Sorcerers are technologists in Thimhallan, and magicians in our world since they know both.
The trilogy worked well enough for me, though I found Simkin and his damned orange silk irritating. Weird how much I remember of this all these years later.
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