Jennifer Roberson

1953-

Reviewed by
Ruth, Kelly, Robert T.

Jennifer Roberson also writes historical fiction. Besides her epics, she has also written several stand-alone novels and contributed to anthologies. You can see all of her work and read excerpts of her novels at Jennifer Roberson's website.
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Chronicles of the Cheysuli — (1984-1992) There were originally eight volumes (1. The Shapechangers 2. The Song of Homana 3. Legacy of the Sword 4. Track of the White Wolf 5. A Pride of Princes 6. Daughter of the Lion 7. Flight of the Raven 8. A Tapestry of Lions), but we will present the four omnibus editions which were published in 2001. Ms. Roberson plans to write three more Cheysuli novels after she finishes her Karavans trilogy.
Publisher: The story of an ill-fated union between a Homanan princess and a Cheysuli warrior, that brought on a war of annihilation against the Cheysuli race... and the daughter of that union, who must accept her place in an ancient prophecy she cannot deny.

Jennifer Roberson Chronicles of the Cheysuli Shapechanger's Song, Legacy of the Wolf, Children of the Lion, The Lion Throne

Sword-Dancer Saga (Tiger and Del) — (1986-2002) Originally six volumes, we present the three omnibus editions published in 2006. Publisher: He was Tiger, born of the desert winds, raised as a slave and winning his freedom by weaving a special kind of magic with a warrior's skill. She was Del, born of ice and storm, trained by the greatest of Northern sword masters. Together, they discover a kinship and friendship that grows to love while facing dangers of both sword and sorcery.

Jennifer Roberson Sword-Dancer (Tiger and Del) Sword Dancer Sword Singer, Sword Maker Sword Breaker, Sword Born Sword Sworn

Karavans — (2006-2009) Publisher: A NEW JOURNEY DAWNS. Audrun and her husband Davyd, along with the others of the land of Sancorra, have been left homeless because of the brutal Hecari. Consulting diviners, they learn that their newest child must be born in the peaceful province of Atalanda. They must now travel close to the sinister woodlands of Alisanos, where darkness awaits. Joining a karavan for safety, the family moves ever closer to the dangerous, mystical forest. And, as they are all about to discover, Alisanos is moving ever closer to them.

Forthcoming:
The Wild Road
book 4

fantasy book review Jennifer Roberson Karavans Karavans

Karavans is the story of a country that has been overrun by a foreign nation of savages, and as the people start to flee the country, Alisanos, the demonwood on the border of the country starts to come alive and take back parts of the land. The story follows several different characters as they deal with the disruptions to their lives caused by the invading Hecari and the awakening of Alisanos.

Jennifer Roberson is a talented writer who creates intriguing characters. Karavans is a beautifully written novel that evokes a visceral reaction from the reader at several different points. Roberson has created an interesting world populated by demons and demi-gods. The relationship between the magical Shoia and their demon keepers is especially fascinating.

However... have you ever watched a movie that starts with a long tracking shot? The camera sweeps over the battlefield and shows the different sides of the conflict, and by the end of the shot you have seen the savage invaders, and the mysterious stranger, and the mystical priestess, and the humble farmer family, and the noble soldier, but nothing has happened yet? That's what reading Karavans is like. There are so many different characters and so many individual storylines to introduce that no significant action occurs for the first 350 pages.

I normally prefer character-driven books, but that assumes that the characters are actually driving the plot somewhere and, unfortunately, this karavan is standing still. In the last 75 pages, Roberson finally manages to get the action going. Between leaving several important questions unanswered and ending the book with almost every major character in turmoil, it is obvious that this book was not designed to be a stand-alone novel, but merely to serve as the prologue to the Karavans series.

But, even with this pace problem, the book is well written. So, because of the high quality of the writing, and the assumption that the preamble is over and the plot has started to advance, I am intrigued enough to read the next book in the Karavans series. —Ruth Comments

fantasy book review Jennifer Roberson Karavans 2. Deepwood Deepwood

Looking back, Karavans was a typical set-up novel. It focused mainly on worldbuilding, laying down the groundwork for the story, and introducing a diverse cast of characters — Audrun, Davyn, and their children Gillan, Ellica, Torvic, and Megritte; the Shoia guide Rhuan and his partner Darmuth; Rhuan’s cousin and courier Brodhi; fellow courier Bethid; and hand-reader Ilona, among various other supporting players.

So, plot-wise, there may not have been a lot going on, but personally I had no problems with this aspect of the book since Ms. Roberson does such an excellent job with the rest of the novel. For instance, all of the many characters were intimately established and I loved the unique, richly crafted world that was being brought to life, which included a land (Sancorra) war-torn by the conquering Hecari with their fearsome ‘decimations’ (1 in 10 persons are killed to set an example); the magical Shoia who can be killed and resurrected from death up to six times; and the mythical Alisanos, a sentient forest that lives and breathes magic, transforms all that may venture into its grasp, and can change location at will. Events drastically pick up toward the end of Karavans, and readers are left with a cliffhanger finish that finds a number of characters consumed by Alisanos.

And this is where Deepwood immediately picks up. Viewpoints are once again many — switching from Rhuan, Audrun, Gillan, Ellica and Torvic (who are all trapped within Alisanos) to those left outside its borders including Brodhi, Ilona, Davyn and Bethid. Within Alisanos, readers will get to follow Rhuan and Audrun as they not only try to survive, but also recover Audrun’s lost children. Along the way, we’ll get to learn more about Alisanos — its magic, how it changes a person, its inhabitants (including the one thousand gods), and its strange customs. Of those who survived Alisanos’ relocation, we’ll see Ilona deal with her loss of power; Bethid aid the survivors with their recent tragedy while further developing the rebellion against the Hecari; Brodhi continuing his rite of passage among the humans; and Davyn coping with the fact that all of his family is now ensnared by Alisanos. We’ll also get to learn more about Rhuan and Brodhi who are much more than just Shoia, as well as various other little subplots and surprises that Ms. Roberson has cleverly devised. And while many issues are resolved and questions answered by the end of Deepwood, just as many new ones are brought up, promising another sequel in Wild Road.

All in all, Deepwood is another terrifically written and exciting fantasy adventure by a veteran author who knows how to capture and maintain the readers’ attention. Really, the only issues I had with the novel was that it was shorter than Karavans (about 100 pages), we didn’t get to learn much more about such interesting side characters as Darmuth and Ferize, and certain storylines like the Sancorran’s uprising against the Hecari and Audurn’s child born four months ahead of term weren’t developed as much as I wanted, though I think we’ll get to see both of these plots expanded on in the next volume.

So, aside from these minor complaints, I don’t really have anything negative to say about Deepwood. It’s a fun, action-packed fantasy that builds on the imaginative mythos of its predecessor and will appeal to readers of all ages. In short, I definitely enjoyed both Karavans and Deepwood immensely, look forward to many more adventures set in this universe, and hope also to experience the numerous other novels that Jennifer Roberson has to offer. —Robert T. Comments


	Robin Hood — (1992-1999) Historical fantasy. Publisher: As Sir Robert of Locksley shuns his life of wealth and aristocracy to fight alongside Sherwood Forest's outlaws, Lady Marian of Ravenskeep, pursued by the Sheriff of Nottingham, joins her lover, embracing his life of adventure and danger.
Lady of the Forest: Mixed Emotions How to explain my feelings about Lady of the Forest? A romantic historical novel about Maid Marian and Robin Hood, it was an enjoyable escape and post-work-stress-reliever for a couple of weeks. I did enjoy it. Unfortunately, when I shut the back cover, I realized I had just read a six-hundred page book containing almost no surprises. Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of the stellar Mists of Avalon, gushes about this book in the cover blurb, and so I was hoping for a novel that would make me rethink the Robin Hood legends, just as Mists made me look at the Arthurian corpus differently. Part of what made Mists fascinating was that it took an old tale and re-examined it, humanizing the "bad guys" and telling another side of the story. Mists questioned all of our assumptions about Arthur and Morgan. But, Lady of the Forest questions nothing, challenges nothing. The characters are just what we expect them to be... It doesn't rethink the legend any more than does Disney's kids' movie on the same theme. It may be a nice romance, but it's not in the same league as the best historical fiction. If you want a romance, you might like this, but for a haunting tale of mysterious forests and renegade Crusaders, go read The Black Chalice by Marie Jakober. —Kelly Comments

Stand-alone novels:
The Golden Key — (1996) With Kate Elliott & Melanie Rawn. A self-contained trilogy written as three parts (by three authors) and published in one volume. It was a World Fantasy Award finalist for Best Novel in 1996. Publisher: The Golden Key is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration on a level never before attempted in fantasy literature, a work which magnificently melds the talents of three of the finest and most original writers in the field today. Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott have combines their special strengths to create a complex, fully realized civilization in which one very unique family guards a secret which could turn their entire world upside down. In the duchy of Tira Virte fine art is prized above all things, both for its beauty and as a binding legal record of everything from marriages and births to treaties and inheritances. And although the Grand Duke is aware that there is more to the paintings of certain master limners than meets the eye, not even he knows just how extraordinary the art ofthe Grijalva family truly is. For certain males of their bloodline are born with a frightening, magical talent — the ability to manipulate time and reality within their paintings, a Gift whichenables them to alter events and influence people in the real world. Always, their power has been used solely to aid Tira Virte and its ruler. Always, until the time of Sario Grijalva. Sario, driven by his own passion and ambition, has learned to use his Gift in a whole new way. Obsessed with both his magic and his beautiful, adored cousin Saavedra, Sario will do anything to win her love. Unable to bear it when Saavedra gives her heart to another, he takes a first, fateful step beyond the boundaries previously placed on the Grijalva spell-casting, capturing his cousin with forbidden arts. And it is this rash, dangerous act which sets in motion the generations-spanning pattern of treachery and betrayal which may cause both the Grijalvas and Tira Virte to pay a terrible price...

book review The Golden Key Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliott The Golden Key

Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott collaborate here to create a novel that is very hard to put down — despite its formidable length and flattish characters. What drew me in was the carefully designed world, the totally believable magic, the overall mood, and the centuries-spanning plot. This novel is set in Tirra Virte, an Italy-ish province where all official ceremonies and transactions are recorded not with words but with paintings. I thought for a moment — "Hey! that can't be reliable! The artist can paint something that didn't really happen!" But then it made me realize just how unreliable words, too, can be. A scribe can write lies as easily as an artist can paint them.

This art-centered world, of course, requires artists. This novel follows the rising and falling fortunes of one family of artists, the Grijalvas, who are almost indisputably the best artists in Tirra Virte. However, they are also decimated by a past plague, feared for their reputed sorcery, and shunned for carrying the blood of foreign rapists in their veins. A young Grijalva boy wants nothing so much as to be acknowledged "Gifted," an heir to the Grijalvas' genetic talents, but the art and magic come with a terrible price.

The book is divided into three sections, taking place in three different time periods. The sections are different enough in tone and style that I suspect each author wrote a section mostly by herself, with little collaboration except in world-building. However, I'm not familiar enough with the authors to guess who wrote what.

The first section is my personal favorite because of its brooding and menacing mood. Two Grijalva children, the male Sario and the female Saavedra, witness a terrible punishment meted out by the family elders, and come to realize what Grijalva power really means. The two grow to adulthood — Sario becoming an acclaimed artist and lusting for more and more power, and Saavedra's skills ignored because she is a woman. When Saavedra finds love outside the family, passion and jealousy erupt, and a terrible magic is performed upon her...

The second section is more of a romance, featuring a beautiful, naive, and Generically Nice princess who marries into Tirra Verteian nobility, only to be cruelly rejected in favor of her husband's Grijalva mistress. Princess Mechella does her best to make a happy life for herself despite all of this. I do like the fact that she eventually grew a spine, but I don't like the fact that the "happy ending" to this second story took place with absolutely no action by Mechella. She never even knew half of what was going on. Sigh...

The third section is a story of liberty. The lower classes of Tirra Virte are in revolt. At the same time a young Grijalva woman, groomed to be a compliant daughter and an acquiescent royal mistress, sets out to make her life and art her own. And it is she who notices something strange about the portrait of Saavedra which hangs in the palace. I liked this section, though it seems a little rushed, what with trying to cram the third story and the loose ends from the other two into what is probably the shortest of the three.

I truly enjoyed this book, though it left a few loose ends hanging. I want to know more about the Tza'ab, the Nerro Lingua, and how Saavedra managed to be born Gifted. I REALLY want to know more about what happened when Eleyna's brother scratched the painting containing Eleyna's blood! It's not often I reach the end of a 900 page book crying out for more. —Kelly Comments

Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths — (2001) Publisher: This new collection features 15 stories of magic, adventure and romance surrounding the legend of King Arthur-by an equally legendary host of bestselling authors, including: Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson, Katharine Kerr, Rosemary Edghill, Tricia Sullivan, Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Watkins, Michelle West, David Farland, Kristen Britain, Judith Tarr, Mike Resnick and Adrienne Gormley, Jennifer Roberson, Laura Resnick, Lorelei Shannon, Eric van Lustbader, Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

Jennifer Roberson fantasy review Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths: A good anthology of Arthurian short stories

Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths is an anthology for everyone who loves re-takes on the Arthurian legends, and especially those readers who loved The Mists of Avalon and are seeking more of the same sort of retellings, laced with gender politics, religious issues, and romance.

As in all anthologies, some of the stories are to my taste, some aren't, and there is probably something for everyone. In my opinion, the stunner of the bunch is Rosemary Edghill's "Prince of Exiles." Set among bloodthirsty warlords rather than knights-n-ladies, it is narrated by Ator (Arthur)'s bitter illegitimate son, as he unfolds his intricate plan for revenge against his father. It's a darkly engrossing story until you get to the last line — at which point it becomes a shocking, chilling, incredible, six-star story.

I also enjoyed Tricia Sullivan's "The Secret Leaves," the romantic tale of young Vivien, who loves and seduces the ethereal Merlin, but eventually loses him to his shamanistic dreams.

And Judith Tarr's "Finding the Grail" is best described as "sweet" — a story about a young girl named Melisende who quests for the Grail with the help of the pretty-boy knight Beaumains. Beaumains hides a secret — and it's not the secret you were expecting.

These stories and many others await you. If you liked The Mists of Avalon or any of the wave of women-centric Arthurian novels it inspired, give Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths a chance. —Kelly Comments

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