The Sight

The Sight by David Clement-Davies
Read: 10/17/07-4/5/08
LibraryThing tags: Animal Story, Animal's POV, Wolves, Fantasy, Transylvania, Historical Fiction, Mythology

Despite the insane length of time it took me to read this book, it really was rather decent. At first I read a used copy at work on my lunch breaks. Then, after a while, I checked it out from the library. Then I had to return it to the library. Then I checked it out again and finished it. It reminded me overwhelmingly of Fire Bringer, by the same author; Fire Bringer just had deer instead of wolves. Fortunately, I liked Fire Bringer. I'm sure there are some differences... but I read Fire Bringer six years ago, so I'm not entirely certain what they are. Or at least, they didn't seem that different towards the beginning, and much of the middle. The ending is another matter.

The Sight wove an impressive array of mythology into the story -- some of it I recognized, some of it I didn't (although I still recognized it as probably mythology from an external source, researched by the author). The author's blurb says he "...traveled to Romania in the winter of 1990. The darkness of the country's recent history, its many tales and superstitions from Dracula to local folklore, gave this book its direction." That fits with the feel of the book. In some ways, I'd like to read it again sometime to see if I can catch more of it a second time around. On the other hand, I didn't really like the place the book ended up. For one thing, it seemed anti-Christian. I'm not entirely sure on that point, it could bear a second reading... but, I think the way he ended up having the characters view their own mythology (complete with a Christ-like figure) was rather negative. Meh, that's one thing. Secondly, the book continually built up anticipation, especially through prophecy, to this great knowledge that the characters were eventually going to obtain. The great knowledge turned out to be exceedingly anti-climactic. I won't tell you what it was unless you ask, so as not to spoil it for anyone who cares, but I thought it seemed very silly. Someone with a different worldview might have liked it.

So, overall... meh. Fire Bringer was better, unless it had some silliness I just didn't manage to catch six years ago.