I will admit right up front that I did not finish this book. My feelings on reviewing books that weren't finished have see-sawed back and forth, but after thinking about it, I decided that I would put my thoughts out there and let you be the judge.

Fortress in the Eye of Time is the story of Tristen, a man (actually he's a creation of a wizard, called a "Shaping") who is displaced from his home and must fend for himself after his guardian and mentor (the wizard) disappears. He journeys along the road he believes the wizard intended him to take, and winds up in the middle of a lot of court intrigue. Once he gets involved in this, the viewpoint switches back and forth between Tristen and Cefwyn, heir to the throne.

I made it half-way through the book before I had to put it down. Tristen is innocent, a man to be shaped by the events surrounding him, a template to be impressed upon. He also apparently is something else, as memories and skills keep returning to his head unbidden. Ultimately, though, he is a bore. I didn't find him interesting in the slightest. The wide-eyed innocent routine can be done well, but here it bored me to tears. He kept going on about the pigeons and the Owl and the wizard...on and on and on. It got really tiresome.

The first 200 pages of the book are just about Tristen, his creation, and his life with Mauryl, the wizard in question. There are hints of a dark history that Mauryl is part of, and trying to protect Tristen from until he can be groomed to handle things. But mostly it's about Tristen and his life "growing up." It became very tedious. It wouldn't have been so bad if Tristen had been interesting. Instead, though, he whines a lot, he makes mistakes and gets yelled at by Mauryl, worries about what's going to happen if Mauryl goes away, worries about why he keeps making mistakes, etc. Then, when something finally happens and Tristen is forced to go on the road, it gets a little better. There are actually other characters for Tristen to interact with. Unfortunately, this doesn't help much. He's still not interesting.

The first scene with Cefwyn has him dallying with two women before he's interrupted with the news of Tristen's arrival. This scene really jars with the rest of the Cefwyn scenes in the book that I have read, because after it's over, he shows almost no trace of being the type of person who would do this. The scene almost makes him look like a buffoon; a spoiled, royal brat who has nothing better to do then have fun with women and who would rather be doing that than preparing to run the kingdom when his father dies. This doesn't fit the character I know from the rest of the scenes that contain him.

Once Tristen meets Cefwyn, the viewpoint switches between the two characters. It takes another 50-75 pages for anything further to really happen. Instead, a lot of history is imparted, a lot of intrigue among the nobles is hinted at or discussed, and Tristen misses his pigeons some more.

As this goes on it gets more and more tedious to get through the writing. I have no trouble with authors who use language well. Cherryh is one of those authors. The text is very dense, but very well-utilized. However, I do mind having to work through the text when I don't feel like I'm being rewarded for it with an interesting story. Unfortunately, in this book, that's how I felt.

I reached page 372 before I gave up. Something was finally starting to happen, but 1) I don't think I should have to read almost half of a book before something interesting happens; and 2) I found that, even with what happens at this point, I was caring less and less. I had no vested interest in either of the two main characters, and this event where I stopped introduces a few new characters who I also didn't have any interest in. I decided I had books to read that I was more looking forward to.

I give the book one star. However, I fully realize that this is a personal taste, even more so than a review usually is. I have tried to read five of Cherryh's books, and I've made it through three of them. Of those three, I only really liked one of them. She's a three-time Hugo award winner, and she has a very big following among SF fans. I just don't think her style fits with what I enjoy reading. I've noticed, reading the SF newsgroup, that she does tend to attract strong opinions either way, with few "well, it's not bad" reactions.

My suggestion is to pick up this one up at the library and test it out (or a bookstore that lets you read a bit of a book before you buy). You may very well think this is a 5-star book. Or, you may be like me and find it completely uninteresting.


Recommended: No