Susan Watkins -- The Coldfire Trilogy

(Outside Reading #2)

When I was in middleschool I stumbled across a science fiction / fantasy trilogy called The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. I know they say "never judge a book by its cover," but that was exactly how I came to pick this book up-- the cover art was so beautiful and intriguing that I just had to read the description on the back. After reading that, I flipped open the book and sampled a few paragraphs. It seemed interesting enough and like it had a language style I could follow, so I bought the first book and took it home.

Within no time, I was hooked. The story takes place on a world called Erna, a planet discovered by human space adventurers looking to colonize. According to all their tests, it seems like the perfect planet-- but once they land, they find that mysterious force called "fae" is active there and has the power to respond to the thoughts of humans and make their dreams reality. This book begins several centuries after the First Landing and follows the story of Damien, Ciani, and Senzei on a journey to heal Ciani of a strange illness. Along the way the meet the mysterious, evil Gerald Tarrant and find themselves temporarily bound in alliance with him against a greater enemy. Damien and Gerald, perfect foils to eachother, begin to realize that their definitions of good and evil are not as solid as they had thought and that they may be more similar than either ever imagined.

This trilogy was my favorite series of books for several years, and I could read them over and over again without tiring of them. Each book is about 600 pages and yet it would keep my attention flawlessly, and one point in the third book would never fail to make me cry even though I always knew it was coming. It was impossible for me to understand, and even more impossible for my mother who never re-reads a book. I just felt this deep desire to experience the story-- now I realize it was the myth which drew me, and the amazing depth of truth Friedman reveals through her characters and storyline. To this day Gerald Tarrant is probably one of my favorite characters in literature, and the interaction between him and Damien one of the funniest and most thought-provoking that I've read about. Anyone looking for a good myth, well-developed and well-written, should check out this trilogy... and then let me know what they thought!