Rules of Ascension: Book 1 of Winds of the Forelands

Amazon.com Review:
Magic and mayhem, politics and personal sacrifice weave a sophisticated tapestry in this first in an epic fantasy series from award-winner David B. Coe. Once, the magic-wielding Qirsi fought the Eandi clans for control of the Forelands. Defeated by a traitor, the Qirsi have been uneasily absorbed into Eandi society, serving as councilors to the powerful, but they are still mistrusted. Now a Qirsi faction hopes to subvert the rules of ascension to the Eandi throne. Tavis, a young noble in line for the kingship, becomes a target of the conspiracy and finds that he must turn to an unlikely source for help--a powerful and enigmatic Qirsi who may be more than he seems. The opening chapters take the time to develop the politics, history, and customs of the Forelands. The patient reader will be rewarded with adventure, betrayal, love, and hope set against a well-realized blend of epic events and the beginning of Tavis's personal hero-quest. --Roz Genessee

Lots of prediction and no emotion.:
It would be an exaggeration to call this book awful or bad; however it would also be an exaggeration to call this book great. There was nothing particularly terrible about this book; it was like a cup of tea without sugar, still warm and tasty, but vastly lacking in the enjoyment aspect. The characters you read about stay on the page, they do not jump out at you and make you care or truly enjoy their adventures. It is unfortunate but your heart will not thump faster with anticipation and excitement as you turn those pages. The story has been tried and true: a naughty, arrogant character goes through a life changing experience and becomes good; there are those who doubt him and those who believe his new self. There is a war brewing, and everyone cannot see who the bad guy is, even though he practically has a long curved mustache that he tweaks and makes "bwahahaha" evil laughter sounds (so to speak). You just want to say come on guys he is right there look, look there goes the bad guy. But alas, all the characters stay miraculously blind to the evil ahead even though it is quite predictable. No humor, no spice, pg-13 type scenes (that is not particularly a problem), character's actions are driven by the need of the author to keep things moving and not the actual plot. Because at times after reading a certain passage, one may ask why would the characters do that? Or if there was a purpose to the actions it was overshadowed by the lack of spice /emotion through out the entire story, this book is not well known or popular and maybe those are the reasons why, who knows, all in all the suggestion is go to the library if you are still interested.

Wasn't bad, but wasn't great either:
This is my first review of a book, but wanted to add some stuff that I thought about it. I won't rehash the plot line, just want to point out some things that I didn't like much. First off what I liked: I liked the world and the whole "duke" system for ascension to the throne. I like the character of Tavis, not making him such a nice person was very good. I liked most of the characters in the book and I liked the style of writing, didn't really get bored with the book at all. Now what I didn't like: The Qirsi, they were a different race, but didn't even have their own language (maybe it will be in explained in the next book), actually they seem little different, with the exception of magic, to be like humans. The duchess leading the charge in the battle, just didn't make much sense nor did the fact that they could talk to the dead on certain nights. If that was the case, why not just go there and ask her who killed her, like Tavis did. Overall, it wasn't a bad book and it was a nice read, but not one that I would re-read again.

rises to the occasion (no spoilers):
"Rules of Ascension" initiates the "Winds of the Forelands" saga with numerous characters amidst assassinations and surprising plot twists. The fine writing sufficiently illustrates the intrigue found in the well-developed Eibithar landscape with a compact and intense style. Political maneuvering occurs through the first half, building momentum for a more action packed remaining half. The novel mainly focuses on Lord Tavis Curgh and his liege Xaver, Grinsa, and Cadel. Lord Tavis and Xaver anxiously seek a Fating, or the gleaning of a young person's future. Grinsa, the most engaging character and a Qirsi sorcerer, becomes intertwined with the two young lads after a magical vision reveals a shocking sight. Combined with Cadel, a singer among other professions, the storyline entertains with ample emotional and battle descriptions. The novel favors individual introspection and emotion as opposed to the hardships of supplying and traveling across the lands. The magical concept provides a fair balance between power and sacrifice. When a Qirsi embraces the sorcerer power, a little bit of their life is surrendered by gleaning the future, controlling wind or mists, controlling fire, shaping matter, and/or the language of beasts. Qirsi's with the weaver magic are the most feared because it is the most powerful discipline. Given the cultural tensions between the Qirsi and Eandi from a savage war nine hundred years earlier, I cannot comfortably grasp the concept of Qirsi as advisors with the feared magic while effectively lasting as counselors by their short-lived nature. A comprehensive appendix would be useful for the vast assortment of characters. I recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre. Thank you.

Entertaining, but not great.:
This is a very entertaining book, yet several things mildly annoy me. It's a story of political intrigue where the young prince is wrongfully framed for a murder in a plot to upset the method for determining the kingdom's ruler. This is done by the kindom's enemies to set the stage for an invasion. This scenes in this book are very entertaining, and the author is an excellent story teller, yet there are several factors that I find hard to sneak past my mind. If a person tortured your child, would you stop an entire battle and suddenly decide to be friends with your enemy because his castle was being attacked by a third party? Not only would a real person probably enjoy the apparent overthrow of the man who tortured their child, I doubt they could just suddenly stop a full battle with thousands of combatants. Not to mention explain to the people killing each other, that they are now supposed to be best of friends....and have them actually do it. Does the young prince have to offer lengthy explanations to every character he meets how he didn't do it? Does he then have to prove it to every character? He meets a lot of people. He does a lot of explaining. Every time he meets someone new, I think "Here we go again!".

Different! I like different.:
You think you are off into an ordinary fantasy and blam, David B. Coe hits you upside the head with something new. This series is as much a story of human prejudices as it is a good guy / bad guy story. You may not like the antagonists, but you can understand their motivations. Not only is this a good story with solid character development, but it is also though provoking.