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A review by annasirius
Dominion by C.S. Friedman
3.0
I have spent a long time on finding a book with a main character as rich and dark as Gerald Tarrant. I sat crying towards the end of volume three of the Coldfire Trilogy and mentally shook C.S. Friedman's hand at the same time for going through with her characterisation of him to the bitter end where all other authors before have eventually strayed from their paths and shown that their dark 'hero' was not so deeply corrupted after all.
When I discovered yesterday that despite all her claims that the Coldfire Trilogy was finished and she did not like writing sequels (see the FAQ on her website) Ms Friedman had written – well – a prequel to the trilogy, my first reaction was quite like Baroness Jessie’s: “Gimmegimmegimme”!
And then the doubts came (could a new story live up to the high expectations aroused by the first books?), and they were strengthened by the unenthusiastic reviews. Unfortunately, reading ‘Dominion’ confirmed them.
The Coldfire Trilogy thrived on the mystery surrounding Gerald Tarrant. It circled around him, slowly closing in on him, uncovering bits and pieces of his personality and of his past but never quite revealing enough to give the reader the impression of truly knowing him. You gained a feeling, an instinctive understanding for him and for the world surrounding him, quite as if you yourself tapped into the fae. The world building remained rather vague in places – Friedman described some things in great detail (the religion, the fae) yet others remained in the fog, and this added to the feeling of mystery and directed the readers’ attention to the important pieces of the story: the characterisation(s) and the intriguing idea of a symbiosis of the human mind with the natural forces surrounding it.
The second aspect is well represented in Dominion: the story allows a glimpse into how the Neocount explores the symbiosis farther than anyone else ever dared to by binding the Forbidden Forest to himself. However, I find this description rather crude. Bending the natural forces of the forest to his own will, gaining a deep understanding of the workings of nature and balancing them so that he creates a perfect ecosystem suiting his purposes was – alongside the creation of true horses – the grand accomplishment that demonstrated the greatness of Tarrant’s mind, the brilliance of his cold rationale. I cannot see this in this novella. There are many power struggles in this tale, struggles for dominion, yes, but I cannot find any displays of extraordinary intelligence.
As Nai said, the pace is off. There is no introduction into the world, we are dropped into the thoughts of Gerald Tarrant head on, and those thoughts are much less refined than one would expect. Has he truly spent 400 years idle, merely sating his thirst? This does not sound like the proud Neocount of Merentha that accomplished so much before he even reached his 30th birthday. In the first scene he expresses his weariness of the forest, that he needs to fight the urge to go there. In the second scene he mounts an un-horse to ride there. Why the change of mind? –No explanation. This I found to be a running theme: in the Coldfire Trilogy there was always a strong rationale behind Tarrant’s deeds. In Dominion, I cannot identify it.
All in all, the new novella does not carry the spirit of previous volumes. The idea was good: the creation of the symbiosis of sorcerer and forest, the slow molding of Tarrant into the being he is when Damian encounters him, is a fascinating topic (and I agree with Nai also that I was expecting to be told how Tarrant learned to feed on fear). However, the author spent too few pages and too little heart blood on what could have been a brilliant treat for her fans.
When I discovered yesterday that despite all her claims that the Coldfire Trilogy was finished and she did not like writing sequels (see the FAQ on her website) Ms Friedman had written – well – a prequel to the trilogy, my first reaction was quite like Baroness Jessie’s: “Gimmegimmegimme”!
And then the doubts came (could a new story live up to the high expectations aroused by the first books?), and they were strengthened by the unenthusiastic reviews. Unfortunately, reading ‘Dominion’ confirmed them.
The Coldfire Trilogy thrived on the mystery surrounding Gerald Tarrant. It circled around him, slowly closing in on him, uncovering bits and pieces of his personality and of his past but never quite revealing enough to give the reader the impression of truly knowing him. You gained a feeling, an instinctive understanding for him and for the world surrounding him, quite as if you yourself tapped into the fae. The world building remained rather vague in places – Friedman described some things in great detail (the religion, the fae) yet others remained in the fog, and this added to the feeling of mystery and directed the readers’ attention to the important pieces of the story: the characterisation(s) and the intriguing idea of a symbiosis of the human mind with the natural forces surrounding it.
The second aspect is well represented in Dominion: the story allows a glimpse into how the Neocount explores the symbiosis farther than anyone else ever dared to by binding the Forbidden Forest to himself. However, I find this description rather crude. Bending the natural forces of the forest to his own will, gaining a deep understanding of the workings of nature and balancing them so that he creates a perfect ecosystem suiting his purposes was – alongside the creation of true horses – the grand accomplishment that demonstrated the greatness of Tarrant’s mind, the brilliance of his cold rationale. I cannot see this in this novella. There are many power struggles in this tale, struggles for dominion, yes, but I cannot find any displays of extraordinary intelligence.
As Nai said, the pace is off. There is no introduction into the world, we are dropped into the thoughts of Gerald Tarrant head on, and those thoughts are much less refined than one would expect. Has he truly spent 400 years idle, merely sating his thirst? This does not sound like the proud Neocount of Merentha that accomplished so much before he even reached his 30th birthday. In the first scene he expresses his weariness of the forest, that he needs to fight the urge to go there. In the second scene he mounts an un-horse to ride there. Why the change of mind? –No explanation. This I found to be a running theme: in the Coldfire Trilogy there was always a strong rationale behind Tarrant’s deeds. In Dominion, I cannot identify it.
All in all, the new novella does not carry the spirit of previous volumes. The idea was good: the creation of the symbiosis of sorcerer and forest, the slow molding of Tarrant into the being he is when Damian encounters him, is a fascinating topic (and I agree with Nai also that I was expecting to be told how Tarrant learned to feed on fear). However, the author spent too few pages and too little heart blood on what could have been a brilliant treat for her fans.