Can't afford not to read this. (Barbed Coil - Jones J.V.)

Member Name:

Product:	Barbed Coil - Jones J.V.
Date:	28/09/00 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well Written,Magical but realistic,I could go on

Disadvantages: Start may put people off.

This is a wonderful well-written story. I started it with high hopes having read sparkling reviews of it in magazines. Once I had begun I began to be a bit worried. The cover said it was a story about kings, kingdoms and battles to the death. It started however firmly in 20th century America. Now I wasn’t worried that the covers had been switched on two books and I was the poor sucker who got conned by this. No, not at all. I was worried because too often books which involve a person from our world travelling back in time or to another world just doesn’t work or it is a labored plot point. This time it does work and it isn’t forced. This element isn’t overplayed, as could so easily be the case with it being the characters only defining trait. Neither is it ignored as inconsequential. It plays a part in the tale but an understated part. Unusually for a book of this sort it contains relatively few characters. I would say that there are six main characters with 3 minor major characters which may seem like a lot but when compared with something like Lord Of The Rings or The Otherland series it is really nothing. Now I know both of my examples are a lot longer than this book but because there are less characters to deal with the story can be shorter and just as satisfying. One of the reasons I like this book is that it is grounded in realism but with a fantastical edge. Magic as such doesn’t exist but by the art of pattern design “spells” can be cast. This can be used for good or ill. This may not sound radically different from your usual hocus pocus but the skill takes a lot out of the person doing it and requires more effort than just a finger wave.
The actual plot is slightly different from your usual fare. It isn’t radically different but enough. Now often when a danger or evil King appears in fantasyland a gang of tough guys band together to stop him and learn about themselves on the way. This book does have battl
es but they aren’t what the author is interested in. She is more concerned with the effects and the lead up to the battle. The plot however is this. An evil warlord is rising and it won’t be long before he is crowned with the crown known as The Barbed Coil. Hence the title. Tess, our heroine, arrives from earth and ends up living with an old man and his mother. The old man used to work for a man who did the special pattern design mentioned before. Tess finds she has a gift for this and seeks to learn as much as she can about it. It transpires that she has to help defeat the evil warlord with this skill. The warlord also has a scribe who is specialized in these things and who is creating monsters to fight for the bad guy. What transpires is as much a mental match as a physical battle.
I really hope I’ve done this book justice, as it is one of my favourites. You probably have to appreciate this genre to fully enjoy the book but I reckon most people would like it as fine writing transcends classification.

Summary: