Book Review: 'Fires of Azeroth' by C. J. Cherryh
'Fires of Azeroth' (236 pp.) is DAW Book No. 341, and was published in June, 1979. It features cover art by Michael Whelan.
This is the final volume in the so-called ‘Morgaine’ trilogy from C. J. Cherryh. The first volume in the trilogy is ‘Gate of Ivrel’ (1976), and the second, ‘Well of Shiuan’ (1978).
These three volumes are available in the Nelson Doubleday / Science Fiction Book Club omnibus 'The Book of Morgaine' (1979) and the DAW omnibus ‘The Morgaine Saga’ (2001).
As 'Fires' opens, our heroes Morgaine, and her long-suffering man-at-arms Vanye, have traveled through yet another star gate, this time, from the wretched world of Shiuan to the idyllic forested world of Azeroth.
Of course, the series' villain Roh, along with one hundred thousand Shiuan soldiers intent on committing violence and mayhem, also passed through the gate before Morgaine could deactivate it. Thus Morgaine and Vanye have but little time to admire the bucolic landscape of Azeroth; they must find the country's rulers, a race of elvish people known as the arrhendim, and convince them to mobilize against the menace of the horde. Only the defeat of the horde will allow Morgaine to access, and close down, the master star gate on Azeroth.
But the leaders of the arrhendim have known nothing but peace for well over a thousand years, and they are mistrustful when a female version of Elric of Melnibone appears before them, warning of the destruction of Azeroth unless fell magic, long since abandoned, is revived and used as a weapon.
Even as Morgaine and Vanye embark on their desperate quest to deter the Shiuan invaders long enough to mount a defense, the cause may be lost........for Roh knows as much, if not more, than Morgaine about the powers of the gate. And Roh has no scruples about using any and all means necessary to fulfill his sordid ambitions...........
I gave 'Fires' a three-star rating. The initial third of the novel, much like 'Well of Shuian', suffers from indolent pacing, as the author focuses rather laboriously on world-building and documenting the interactions between Morgaine, Vanye, and various new supporting characters. A plot device used throughout the trilogy, in which a dim-witted Vanye is captured by adversaires and must rely on guile and stratagems (related using long-winded dialogue passages) to gain freedom, evoked some exasperation in me. Indeed, much of the book revolves around verbal fencing matches, in which the participants vie to use the most elliptical and oblique verbiage available to them.
The final chapters of the novel, which finally advance the confrontation with the Shiuan horde and the desperate struggle to gain the master gate on Azeroth, bring some much-needed momentum back to the narrative and with it, justification for the reader's patience. I won't give out any spoilers, save to say that the ending of 'Fires' signals that Cherryh had ambitions - which were realized with her 1988 book 'Exile's Gate' - to write at least one more entry in the 'Morgaine' saga.
Summing up, those with a willingness to read a deliberately paced science fantasy, where character interactions are given primacy over plot development, may find 'Fires of Azeroth' rewarding and by extension, the 'Morgaine' trilogy.
