THE END OF EARTH & SKY, by Tom Simon
THE END OF EARTH AND SKY, by Tom Simon (writer of the excellent LORD TALON’S REVENGE), is the first volume in his THE EYE OF THE MAKER series. The book centers around the adventures of one Calin Lowford, a twenty-year-old man who has failed at every trade he has tried, and (to put it bluntly) has generally been life’s whipping boy. To keep him out of trouble, his father apprentices him to the local eccentric wizard Rijeth. But when a mysterious message from the Gods arrives, no one is willing to answer it – save for Calin and his cantankerous master.
Trouble ensues.
I enjoyed the sheer amount of depth and complexity in END’S worldbuilding, which is just as well, since this is the first of planned eight volumes. Both the world and the book’s magic system are very well planned out. This is a world with a good deal of depth and complexity, much like Middle-earth.
Calin is also an interesting protagonist, partly in the vein of “boy becomes wizard” and partly a bumbler who is at least partly responsible for his own misfortunes. What’s especially intriguing is that END is a frame story – every chapter is prefaced with an excerpt from a book condemning Calin’s later monstrous crimes. Given that is remarkably at odds with the hapless, self-pitying figure of Calin in most of the book, I look forward to seeing how this develops in future volumes. I also enjoyed the other characters, from cranky Rijeth to the dark queen Teshren to the somewhat deluded atheist Raeder Lowford. As with LORD TALON’S REVENGE, this is a book that does not shy away from the peculiar foibles of humanity, but nonetheless likes this.
I enjoyed the book and recommend it, with the one caveat that it is obviously the first volume of eight, and therefore it is premature to form a complete opinion on the story.
-JM
This is a really late comment, but I have been really busy as of the last few weeks, sorry:
Yes! I’m glad it was good, I have been waiting for this series for some time! I have not bought it yet, I’m waiting for Simon to release the paperback version he said he would, just like I’m waiting to purchase Vox Day’s magnum opus in hardback ($35 ahh!!!). The waiting, the waiting! How much of human life is lost in waiting!
I think we should just be glad this even got a release, given how plagued with health issues it’s author is. God help that man, I find myself saying a prayer every time I think of him, knowing what he has, is, and will go through.
“a mysterious message from the Gods…”
And who better to send such a message! It’s ever the Gods in fantasy, and I do enjoy it so!
Tell me, is this fantasy universe a polytheistic one? Or more like Tolkien’s world, with One almight God, and many lesser heavenly beings, somewhere between angels and gods (lower case ‘g’ gods)? I know he was experimenting with some interesting theological themes in this series, so I’m curious.
“I enjoyed the sheer amount of depth and complexity in END’S worldbuilding..”
This is good news indeed, I had hoped the world would be deep enough to sustain the series, let alone create a world I’d want to venture to again and again!
” first of planned eight volumes.”
😀
“This is a world with a good deal of depth and complexity, much like Middle-earth.”
A mighty compliment indeed! And like Middle-Earth in more ways than one…I believe the author created this series using the Tolkien method (note: I mean Tolkien’s own method, the one he recommends in the essay “on fairy stories”, not the Tolkien rip most other fantasy authors employ…not that I blame them…or would discourage them from doing so! We have things like D&D, Warhammer, and The Elder Scrolls thanks to that!).
“What’s especially intriguing is that END is a frame story – every chapter is prefaced with an excerpt from a book condemning Calin’s later monstrous crimes.”
Very interesting! I was not expecting anything like that!
“I enjoyed the book and recommend it, with the one caveat that it is obviously the first volume of eight, and therefore it is premature to form a complete opinion on the story.”
Oh! Again with that! You did that in your Throne of Bones review! Well I’ll ask the same question then: if the rest of the series is as good as this first novel, how would you rate it then? Good, very good, one of the better series you’ve read, etc?
Thanks for the review!
“I think we should just be glad this even got a release, given how plagued with health issues it’s author is. God help that man, I find myself saying a prayer every time I think of him, knowing what he has, is, and will go through.”
Yes.
“Or more like Tolkien’s world, with One almight God, and many lesser heavenly beings, somewhere between angels and gods (lower case ‘g’ gods)? I know he was experimenting with some interesting theological themes in this series, so I’m curious.”
From what we see of the world, I’d say it’s more like Tolkien’s world, with various angelic beings slugging it out for dominance.
“Good, very good, one of the better series you’ve read, etc?”
One of the better ones I’ve read, I think.
“I’d say it’s more like Tolkien’s world”
😀 That’s a big plus in my book!
“with various angelic beings slugging it out for dominance.”
I do really like that mixture Tolkien came up with, an angel as an old god or old god in the mode of an angel. Well actually Tolkien did not come up with that totally on his own, it was a part of medieval cosmology, something he would have been keenly aware of, he more or less just brought it back, as did C.S. Lewis in his Space trilogy.
Apparently it (angelic beings having a part to play in the creation of the natural world) helped answer some of the questions raised by the problem of evil, at least that is what Peter Kreeft said was one of it’s benefits in “The Philosophy of Tolkien”.
Has there been any other fantasy fic you read where they used this kind of cosmology?
“One of the better ones I’ve read, I think.”
Wow! I’m really going to need to get my hands on this book, not to mention Throne of Bones!!
Speaking of the better books in fantasy….I’m quite surprised you have not mentioned “A Memory of Light” at all. You know, the FINAL Wheel of Time book…ever. Not to mention the biggest fantasy book of 2013. Seeing as how you enjoy the series I’d have thought you would have done a post on it.
I had the book pre-ordered since last year, though I’m not yet finished reading some of the prior.
I’d like to know your thoughts on the book after you finish it. Was it good? Did you feel it did the series justice, the way it ended. And how do you feel about WOT finally coming to a close? (Unlike me) you’ve been reading the series since the 90’s, feeling a bit nostalgic? Sad? Just happy the thing finally ended? lol 😉
“Has there been any other fantasy fic you read where they used this kind of cosmology?”
Not that I can think of offhand. The Space Trilogy, certainly.
“I’d like to know your thoughts on the book after you finish it. Was it good? Did you feel it did the series justice, the way it ended. And how do you feel about WOT finally coming to a close?”
I finished reading it on Sunday to reward myself for finishing SOUL OF SKULLS. It was a massive book, and I need some time for it to digest before I have thoughts about it. 🙂
I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it.
I do hope it was the epic finale we have been waiting for (well you and the rest of the WOT fans out there, I’m a newcomer to the series, still excited about it though).
Another reason I’m looking forward to what you have to say is that you have read the entire series, perhaps even twice. Your very familiar with it (much more than I) so it will be interesting to see if you think Sanderson tied up everything well, or what he left out.
From reading some of the reviews for the book, I see alot of fans really took to it well, though many mention that not every plot thread was tied up. That, and that it was a deathfest. Just like with Harry Potter, I guess they keep all the heroes safe until the climax, heh. Actually, that is something to ask you…as a reader, and as a writer, what do you think about that? Do you like that plot device?
It was pretty epic. Not every plot thread was tied up, but all the major & important ones were.
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