Feast of Souls

Feast of Souls
Celia Friedman
Orbit Books

582 pages
2007

Sometimes known as C.S. Friedman, Celia is the author of the acclaimed dark science-fantasy Coldfire series, of which Black Sun Rising is probably her most well known work. It's a series I'd always heard good things about, and the US edition sported fantastic artwork from the effulgent Michael Whelan, so I was eager to get my hands on the UK edition... And then, it was pointed out, by one of the lovely people at Orbit Books, that Celia had a new book out, the augurous Feast of Souls...

Yum...

Magic plays a very large part in Feast of Souls, perhaps even defining it. The story is a set in a world that is realistic (and thus rather dark), vividly realised, where everything good, and bad, and in-between, has a price. Magic is an awesome thing, but above all, a deadly, dangerous thing. There are two types of magic user: witches -- mostly women -- draw upon the athra, their own soul-fire, to use their power, thus shortening their own lives. But Magisters -- until now, all men -- have a seemingly endless supply of power, are capable of great feats at little risk to themselves, and are immortal.

All men, until Kamala. Believing the exercise to be largely pointless, probably fatal to his student, but still worth giving a go -- after all, if you're immortal, you have to have some way to spend your time -- a Magister trains her. She must work as a witch, drawing all the fire out of her soul at an unnatural pace, and then, when the last spark goes out, latch onto a new source of power ... and once she's done that, she will be told a truth Magisters have kept silent from all non-Magisters: the new power doesn't draw upon her own life-force -- she doesn't really have any -- it draws upon someone else's, slowly draining them dry. Magisters have no way of knowing what "consort" they have picked, and feeling the slightest moment of regret will free the soul and leave her a drained husk: a corpse.

Why no women Magisters, then? It's believed that women, having been designed to bring life into the world, are too gentle to survive Magister training. This is said in a sneering tone. The world of Feast of Souls is technologically advanced about as far as the 15/16th Century, and many of the ideas of women as chattel and inferiors -- mentally, magically, and emotionally -- pervade society. In fact, in certain parts of the book, I'm tempted to say that Friedman perhaps over-dwelt on that aspect, as men in the book, with some notable exceptions, are taken, nigh axiomatically, as savage, controlling, sly boors, power thirsty and oppressive. I say tempted, because except for the occasional time when it came over too strong, I enjoyed the originality -- or rather, the originality in depicting the real truth -- of Celia's medieval-ish society.

The athra Kamala is stealing belongs, alas, to someone rather high-profile: the son of the High King. His "wasting sickness" has been noticed, and from all across the lands, Magisters are meeting in an effort to stop anyone prying too deeply into the illness, and finding their secrets. Meanwhile, the very world itself is in danger ... Magisters aren't the only creatures that feed on men's souls...

After a somewhat slow start, Friedman's wonderful prose and well-crafted characterisations won me over completely. Fast paced and eminently readable -- yet hellishly dark -- Feast of Souls is one of the better reads of this year. An apparently standard medieval setting soon reveals it's darker side; brutal often, captivating always, those 582 pages were an easy read and I can't wait for the sequel.

For more information:

Amazon UK
Amazon US

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