Karavans: Karavans, Book 1

Wow! I just finished reading Karavans. I have long been a reader (started when Shapechangers first came out) and I have always loved her work. But this one blew me away right from the beginning. Everything seemed so real. I knew these people, I felt what they felt. I suffered when they did. I was right there with them. I could close my eyes and see the events unfolding. It was an incredible experience. I was so involved in the story that when I turned the last page I was surprised. I was hungry for me. Kudos to Jennifer for writing such a compelling wonderful story. I normally wait to buy paperbacks (hardbacks being so $$$) but I knew I had to have this story. Best decision I've made in awhile. Run, don't walk, to your book store and find this book. It's worth every penny.

This is probably one of my favorite books. Jennifer Roberson is a very talented writer and this story was just intoxicating for me. I couldn't put it down.

KARAVANS is a serious, adult, swords and horses and gods-and-demons (vs. elves and goblins) fantasy. The setting for the story is a strange, Middle Ages-ish, Eastern European-ish world where the supernatural plays an important role. However, the story is really about the choices that men and women make when stakes are high, outcomes are unknowable, and all of the alternatives are bad. Contrary to what some other reviewers have said about the book, it is not bereft of action, but the action does get buried in some tedious filler.KARAVANS begins in a "province" called Sancorra, in a world that might or might not be a past or future earth with what looks like a 17th century level of technology. Sancorra has just been overrun by cruel and efficient (and perhaps Romanesque) Heccari warriors. The Heccari rule with an iron fist, ruthlessly extracting high taxes, literally decimating (that is, killing one-tenth) of villages they deem too crowded, and generally making life miserable for their subjects. The Heccari conquest has created a small stream of refugees fleeing oppression, and some of those refugees travel in Western-style wagon trains (called "karavans").Pregnant Audrun, her husband Davyn, and their four children are seeking a new life outside Sancorra, and they are reluctantly accepted into a karavan that employs palm-reader Ilona and guide/muscle Rhuan. Audrun's urgent desire to get to her new home in Atlanta ("Atalanda") is a central subplot. Unfortunately, it is not very interesting. Audrun is an 18th century version of supermom and her good-hearted but pig-headed husband Davyn is no less cliched. The two muse in annoyingly familiar ways about how they met and married, how their daughter is blossoming into womanhood, what it's like to be pregnant, etc. At the end of the book, however, Audrun is thrust into a situation that will probably result either in her demise or in her becoming a stronger character.In contrast, sadder-but-wiser girl (woman) Ilona and brave-and-tormented Rhuan are by far the most interesting characters in the book. Roberson handles the unresolved sexual tension between the two of them well. (I didn't especially enjoy the parts of the narrative where Roberson plays up Rhuan's hunkiness, but then I am a straight guy.)The series is built around several mysteries that are only partly resolved in this book. These include the true nature of Alisanos, the true nature of Rhuan and Brodhi, and the true relationship between Alisanos and Rhuan and Brodhi. Some things are revealed. We learn that Alisanos is less Mirkwood (the dangerous, enchanted forest of Tolkein) than Chaga (the alien jungle that invades Africa in Ian McDonald's saga) with (that word again) mysterious origins and the ability to transform all humans who touch it into something other than human. We learn that at least some of the denizens of Alisanos are shapeshifting demons, and that Rhuan and Brodhi are in some way dependent on those demons. We also learn something about the existence of powerful gods in this world, but I cannot say what (partly because it would involve a spoiler and partly because so little is revealed).Nevertheless, viewers of the television series "Lost" will feel unpleasantly at home with KARAVANS, because Roberson reveals the answers to readers' questions only in dribs and drabs. Writers often keep one big secret from readers, but I think Roberson keeps far too many. Fewer secrets would have meant a shorter and tighter narrative and also have resulted in fewer complaints about the pace of the novel.For other reasons, readers of Michelle West's Sun Sword series will find a great deal here that is familiar. First, there are resemblances between the two authors' worlds. While clearly rooted in classical fantasy and Classical mythology, their worlds are nonetheless original. The worlds are inhabited not by elves and goblins, but by demons and gods -- supernatural beings that are very alien and typically quite hostile to humans. They also feature cruel human societies -- the South in West's books, the Heccari in this one -- showing that evil beings have no monopoly on inhuman behavior.Second, both West and Roberson are, at least to some degree, feminist (or womanist) authors. In their worlds, women's status is inferior to that of men, but women's interpretations of the world are as important to the plot as are men's, and while men's actions are more visible than men's, women's actions can be just as important as those of men. Third -- and I probably shouldn't be saying this in such a long review -- both women are fine writers, but both tend to be wordy and repetitive. (West is worse in this regard than is Roberson, for what that's worth.)I purchased this book based on my enjoyment of Roberson's short story "Ending and Beginning" in the DAW 30th Anniversary volume (which I recommend). That story, which I found to be inventive and emotionally rich, introduces the KARAVANS world and establishes the relationship between Rhuan and Ilona. For something like two years, I impatiently awaited the release of the mass market paperback (yes, I'm cheap). If Roberson had been as focused here as she was in the short story, I would have been much more enthusiastic about the book. Nevertheless, I don't think this is a bad book, and I do intend to read the next installment in the series.

I bought Karavans 1 and 2 as a birthday gift for my Mom. This first book was pretty good, albeit a bit of a slow starter. I liked the characters, and the storyline was unique enough to not fall under the heading “Same story, different names.” The lead characters, Rhuan, the hesitant god, and Ilona, the fortuneteller, are immediately likeable. Their undertaking is to help a ragtag group of refugees in a caravan travel to safer territory after their land is conquered by a brutal warlord. They gather in a wary settlement to wait for Jorda, a caravan master to lead them. A late addition to the caravan is the beleaguered refugee family of Davyn, his pregnant wife, Audrun, and their four children. The settlers often gather in a make-shift tavern, where Mikal, the kindhearted bartender holds court. The rest of the cast is rounded out by a bitter and derisive god-to-be, Brodhi, who disguises himself as a part of a group of couriers to the “humans” he’s forced to live with. Brodhi and Rhuan have secretly come from a magical land called Alisanos, which is (rightfully) feared and avoided by the human settlers. Alisanos, with all of its denizens of evil, is alive and moves without warning to swallow anyone unfortunate enough to be in its path. Few survive or return from this Darkwood, but the ones who do return horribly mutated or mad. And Alisanos is coming.I though some of the characters in this first book required a little more development, although they do develop quite well in the second book. If I have any grumble, it is that, toward the end of the book, the storylines began jump around a little too fast. Within one chapter the story jumped from Ilona, to the settlers, to Brodhi, to Audrun- all in the space of seven pages. I imagine some authors use this as an effort to build excitement, but it seemed, to me, to disjoint the story a little much.All in all, it’s well worth the time.

Appreciation, and lots of it, for the new world and outstanding characters Ms. Roberson has generously provided in this impressive new offering. I love meeting new people and discovering a fresh setting, and this one has plenty to offer.As with any new fantasy layout, introducing and describing the characters can be a tricky and difficult task, but absolutely necessary to provide the multi-faceted points of view which Ms. Roberson has expertly laid before us. I was captured by the diversity of the players in this story, and enjoyed the way each person (or non-person, as the case might be) emanated their personality so well that I felt a familiarity with each of them soon after their introduction.A very good read for me, and not unexpected, considering the author's talented and far-reaching imagination.The one regret I have, after all that, is the long wait I must endure before the story continues in the second volume. But, alas, I must suffer a bit longer...

I found this text to be intriguing and exciting...it is not often you find a new world, a new setting, of people, customs, conflicts, and possible resolutions...i really enjoyed this one, it promised so much...i hastened to order book 2...well....