lawrence89
Dawn of Night is the second installment in the Erevis Cale trilogy written by what might be one of the most talented authors of Wizards of the Coast, Paul S. Kemp. In this novel the storyline is picked up more or less where it left off – with the huge cliffhanger – in the previous volume Twilight Falling (reviewed and rated 8/10 by yours truly in August). Needless to say I was more than just remotely curious to find out how the things would turn out, whether any characters had met their sudden demise in process and formost to find out what kind of solution Kemp had ‘cooked up’ to rescue assassin Erevis Cale and his companions out their precarious situation. For those who are unknown to Kemp’s work, up untill date the man has written the afor mentioned Erevis Cale trilogy, is working on a second trilogy (with the first, Shadowbred and the second, Shadowstorm already published) among other notable novels, tie-ins and anthologies – he is in short an accomplished writer.
In Dawn of Night the story expands on the new (unexpected) developments in the plot at the end of the first novel, focuses on the twists and turns while providing a more detailed insight ‘behind the scenes’, illustrating where struggle is really about. The full complications of the situation surface (although they have yet to be grasped by Cale and his friends) and we, as readers, learn more of the mysterious powerful mage aptly named as the Sojourner and his slaadi (slaves). In order to “grow ” his artifact, the Weave Tap (manifesting itself as a magical tree of sorts), he must at least seed two of the seeds of that Weave Tap in nutritious earth – ie. full of magical powers for the Weave to tap into. Believe it or not, the Underdark city of Skullport provides the perfect soil as the city is built in a cavern stabilised by the magic of the Skulls. It also provides the perfect backdrop for most of the action to take place. Added to that, the couple of twists and turns I mentioned that Kemp always has up on his sleeve plus even a tiny bit of romance – and you get a fairly entertaining novel.
Fairly I say, because I found some things the characterization lacking in comparison to the first novel of the trilogy. Most of time the first volume of a three-book series seems to function as an introduction to the world, the characters and the conflict while the second and the third usually take the plot a bit further and ultimately resolve it. This course of events does influence the protagonist in some way (and sometimes the antagonist as well) and he or she will undergo some sort of character development. While strictly speaking there is development of the character of Erevis Cale (his new found abilities for example were incorporated in the story quite nicely) his friends, Jak, Magadon and Riven seem to be stuck in the same stereotypes, as were the antagonists. The Sojourner seemed, at first glance, pretty much the evil wizard type (wouldn’t say ordinary) who is planning to conquer a lot of the universe wielding an artifact or other source of power. The only thing that did interest me was the how of that plan, in which way he was aspiring to fulfill his goals.
The characters seemed, in any case, not that much affected by the plot, which is a bit of a shame really because they could have been much more interesting. Now I know that arguing this might seem a bit unfair, the intention was to write a good sword and sorcery tale (and I think he has succeeded in that), but I still feel that the characterisation of any other character than the one named Erevis Cale could have been better. Or at the very least some of the things the characters had experienced or witnessed should have made a more significant impact on their personalities. The fact that I stress this point here so much might actually also partly be contributed to reading works a la The Warrior Prophet before picking this up, that contain clear examples of what I consider top notch characterization. Then again, different stories should get a different treatment and with that mind I try to review each respective work their own way.
With this out of the way, there certainly were elements that should be positively noted. For example, Paul S. Kemp quite master in writing battle scenes, especially from the assassin perspective. He has a way of building suspense and delivering, describing a battle in detail without getting to technical on the details and just overall keeping it interesting.
The pace was enjoyable as well, not too slow but without rushing the story either. The thing, I think, I like most though about these books is their ability to surprise me even now. So far the endings of the first and second installments have both been great, leaving you stunned and ‘aching’ for more. Paul S. Kemp deserves full credits in that aspect.
So rounding up, I could not completely shake the feeling that Dawn of Night felt a bit like an interlude (although the ending was superb) and we are waiting for the final and decisive battle of Cale versus the Sojourner, which is essentially book 3 so I am expecting fireworks there. The characterization overall was not bad, but lacking in some aspects, the prose was good (the action scenes were especially good) and the plot takes some interesting twists that will you leave stunned and will probably surprise as much as it did me. Bring on the big guns for the ending of the Erevis Cale trilogy in Midnight’s Mask!
6.5-7 /10
Well I am back (as you’d probably figured) I had a great time kiting on the beach and I managed to read about 600 pages of fantasy works (mostly The Warrior Prophet). Now all that remains for me is to get my head down and write reviews of both TWP and Kemp’s Dawn of Night, with the first being mindblowing and the second very good as well. Just different types of books, so they will get a different kind of treatment.
Generally october is a month with bad weather and a lot of rainy days, which makes up for good reading weather. So this is what I will be reading in my spare time the upcoming 30 days or so.
