The Initiate - Louise Cooper

1985; 278 pages. Book #1 of the Time Master trilogy. New Author? : Yes. Genre : Epic Fantasy. Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

.

Life is good. The Forces Of Chaos have been vanquished by the Forces Of Order, and the world is at peace.

.

Well almost. Brigands and robbers make traveling in the wilds a risky undertaking, and they seem to be getting bolder and stronger. And you'd think the good wizards could do something about the Warp storms (torndao-sized hurricanes) that are getting more frequent.

.

Then there's our protagonist, Tarod. Condemned in his homeland for killing his cousin, he escapes when a Warp sweeps him up and away. Near death, he is taken in at The Castle, where Order Magic is taught. Tarod shows a marked ability in that area, but mentally he's very unstable - he sees things and people that no one else does, and strange beings infest his dreams.

.

What's To Like...

Louise Cooper raises some interesting questions about the Duality motif. Can you really have Light without Darkness? Do the Forces on both sides view themselves as being Right? Does the absence of Chaos weaken or strengthen Order?

.

There's a handy reference map at the front of the book, although The Initiate only has about three settings. The characters are well-developed and Tarod has every guy's love dilemma. Who is best for him - the high-born, ambitious, sexy Sashka Veyyil, or the honest, low-born and frankly plain-looking Cyllan Anassan? Maybe both?

.

The book has some slow stretches over the first 200 pages, but the last third is action-packed and moves the plot along nicely.

.

Kewl New Words...

Skirling : producing a high, shrill, wailing sound. Stertorous : making a snoring sound. Coruscating : sparkling.

.

Excerpts...

Silence enveloped them. Even the roar of the tide had been swallowed into nothing, and as the eastern sky turned pewter-dark the distant horizon was blurring into night. Kael forcibly reminded herself that they were still in the world as she knew it; the Castle's pecularities had simply altered time and space by a fraction. A useful precaution, under some circumstances... (pg. 32-33)

.

"Order has become so ingrained in this sad little world that its servants no longer have a reason to exist. Oh, your Circle continues, and you pass on to your new Adepts the sum total of your centuries of knowledge. But with no adversary to stand against you, all your knowledge is worthless. With nothing to combat, no wrongs to right, you have no value. What are you, Keridil Toln? What is the justification for your existence in a world where Aeoris reigns unchallenged? To do his will, uphold his laws? His will is done and his laws upheld without the need of your intervention - you have no good reason to exist!" (pg. 182)

.

A loaf of bread, an epic fate, and thou...

The overall theme - a reluctant hero who is uncomfortable with his preordained Fate - is similar to that of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. But The Initiate antedates The Wheel of Time by 5 years, so if anyone cribbed the concept, it certainly wasn't Ms. Cooper. The last 100 pages of The Initiate were great, and the Time Master trilogy has the potential to develop some intriguing Epic Fantasy themes. Alas, it seems just as likely to degenerate into some trite love story.

.

For some reason, Louise Cooper books are hard-to-find. If I come across the next two in this trilogy (The Outcast and The Master), I'll probably pick them up. But Romance threatens to outstrip Epic Fantasy, and one wonders how much action will be found in a book called "The Outcast". Which means this isn't a series that I'll go out of my way to finish. 6½ Stars.