Greg Hamerton | fantasy author

A writer’s review of The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (by Stephen R. Donaldson).

I was intrigued by the cover design. The book is quite dark, and brilliant. So much pain, the grief, the pages and pages overrun with the burning tears of despair. There is no reprieve … the more the beauty of Life is perceived, the more there is to lose and the greater the pain. In his leperous numb responses Covenant rebuffs some of the sharper grief, but this merely deflects the full impact of despair onto the reader. [...]

A writer’s review of Thud! A Discworld Novel (by Terry Pratchett).

It’s funny how in the book cover you can see suggestions of the development of Terry Pratchett as a writer, from cheerful gaudy frivolity to serious humour full of clever symbolism. This is a class act. The earlier Discworld novels featured a chaos of little characters all romping around, and often that’s just what you got – comic fantasy. Sometimes the plots were hard to follow, or inconsequential, but the gags and wit and wry commentary on the human condition was enough to maintain interest. There’s nothing comic or throw-away about Thud! [...]

A writer’s review of Mordant’s Need (by Stephen R. Donaldson).

The first seven pages of Mordant’s Need demonstrate Stephen Donaldson’s mastery of storytelling. It’s a wonderful opening. I am screaming ‘tell me more! tell me! tell me! let me in! I want to know what happens!’ [...]

A writer’s review of Keeping It Real (by Justina Robson).

It starts on the front cover. Lila has a blend of sass, hardcore metal and intriguing curves. Damn, she’s the coolest cyborg ever. But why did I buy it in the first place? When it comes to actually BUYING a book, I want at least 500 pages for my money. I want to get lost in an intriguing fantasy world for DAYS. So at 279pages I already have major resistance with Keeping It Real. I turn it over. And the basic premise of the story gets me. [...]

A writer’s review of The One Kingdom (by Sean Russell).

There was a strong quote on the back ‘As lightning, men flicker into being, cut a single stroke into the earth, and are gone. A brief instant to find one’s place in a story that may last a thousand years.’ And then of course there is the endorsement by Stephen Donaldson ‘A master of intelligent fantasy – subtle, well-crafted and gripping’. As a fantasy reader, how do you refuse a book like that? A strong dramatic descriptive opening page, and I’m sold on it. And it’s 700+ pages! Delight! [...]

A writer’s review of The Lord of the Rings film.

I have just returned from Middle Earth, and my body is heavy with the memory of battle, my mind alight with the visions and details of The Two Towers. Based on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers forms the middle of the trilogy, and is a good place to evaluate the effect of being thoroughly caught up in a story. Although the production of a film is a collaborative process, Peter Jackson was surely the focus of all this creativity, the wizard in the centre of a web of creative power. He has crafted an incredible artwork, one which shall endure, one that has enriched the world. I am grateful to all those who made it come to pass. [...]

A writer’s review of The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson.

It is the ambitious finalé, a trilogy of chronicles which will be ten books, in the end. Donaldson’s characters are often personifications of psychological qualities (like despair, spite, innocence, service) which makes the conflicts and their resolutions powerful and unsettling. None more so than the Thomas Covenant series, where the archetypes battle it out on the rarified stage of the Land. I couldn’t imagine how Mr Donaldson could devise a way to make a Third Chronicles believable, since the main character (it’ll always be Thomas Covenant) is dead.

I’m reading The Light Fantasic, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. I’ve got to the point (fairly early on) where I don’t care what he does with the story, the plot can go nowhere and I’ll still be contented, because he has made me laugh. He’s poked a finger at things everyone has been foolish about (like the tooth fairy) and by making me see how ridiculous they are, I have been won over (what’s she live in, then, a castle made of teeth?) [...]

When I read a fantasy novel, I want to have my reality replaced, redrawn. Reinvented. I want that sense of discovery. I want to become someone new. I set out to find the best among the fantasy greats like Terry Pratchett, Robin Hobb and Tolkien.

A review of Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint. This story had a deep impact on me. It opens with an innocent sketch in a town square; it soon becomes a deeply engaging study of the act of creation and the mind of an artist. In many ways, this is the classic tale of the sorcerer’s apprentice. We get a foreshadowing of what she could become, if she follows in her master’s footsteps: consumed the essence of her own art. It is a deeply philosophical work, yet most of that is hidden in the art, so it makes an exciting art-thriller set in a student world.

Khepera Rising by Nerine Dorman was published by Lyrical Press in December 2009. The sequel, Khepera Redeemed was released in June 2010. Published as urban fantasy, it would more aptly be classified as horror. It is an incendiary work of black magic that will leave kindergoths wide-eyed.

A fantasy novel review: The Painted Man by Peter V Brett. Brett’s writing is simple, unpretentious, and action-packed. The Painted Man is a blend of a coming-of-age tale, monster-violence and a speculation on human nature. When Brett switches from Arlen’s viewpoint and demonstrates that there is more to the story than the standard fantasy fare (a country bumpkin goes on a quest to learn magic and save the world) I know I’ll stay till the end. Although the fast-paced action is often bloody and the body-count is high, it is not slasher-fiction and so does not appal with gore. The writing doesn’t challenge the reader much—it doesn’t need to—it simply sweeps you along with the story.