To Ride Hell's Chasm / Janny Wurts

To Ride Hell's Chasm

category: fantasy, author:

Janny Wurts

original copyright 2002,
read in March 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

Strangely enough, I can't help but think of Bat out of Hell... Janny Wurts writes the way Meatloaf sings: with melodramatic passion, blood, sweat and tears... Way, way, over the top. Though Meatloaf has possibly less of the blood :-)

The hero is strong and silent. So tough, so experienced and skilful, he's almost a super-hero. The heroine is fun, tough, beautiful and regal. (Well, she is a princess.) The villains are sneaky, violent and very, very evil.

Yet they are all (except for the villains) likeable.

I like the hero. I like the heroine. I like the other characters, even as they doubt the integrity of the hero. Even as they doubt -- and are forced to act on that doubt -- the secondary characters know, deep down, that the hero is working on the side of good.

The whole country -- under threat from evil sorcerers -- is full of peace-loving yet tough citizens. A bit like The Shire, really, where inside even the slowest and fattest hobbit is a seed of bravery. It makes for a pleasant country, well worth defending.

Then there's the action... It starts slow enough. Then builds... and builds... Until there are chapters of non-stop super-human heroics. What a lot of fun!

The finale is a bit... deus ex machina.

But then, so what!

No-one has ever before lived through Hell's Chasm. The hero and heroine succeed -- of course. And then the country is saved by the mysterious shamans who have been waiting for them. Saved, very quickly. Then the shamans solve all of the remaining problems... and that's that.

Really, though, the sudden wrapping-up does not matter.

This story is about action and adventure. There are fights, and heroism, and suffering. That is the key element of the story. If the hero and heroine win through -- the country will be saved. That's what it's all about.

So, once they reach the end of Hell's Chasm -- the end. Just a little bit of wrap up -- save the country, salve all consciences, predict a happy future for all -- and end the story. No need to linger over these small details. The adventure ends at the end of Hell's Chasm.

All great fun!

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.