Six years after she left the story of Tristen Sihhe and Cefwyn Marhanen apparently finished and tied up, three-time Hugo Award winner C.J. Cherryh returns with a fifth volume, “Fortress of Ice.” Since the publication of “Fortress of Dragons,” the fantasy genre has gained unprecedented popularity, in part because of the Harry Potter series but also because of the “Lord of the Rings” movies, the “Narnia” movie and other titles aimed at the Harry Potter crowd, such as the Eragon books.
For those looking for a more complicated fantasy series, Cherryh’s Fortress books are a great place to start. While it helps to have read Cherryh’s previous four, she includes a summary of events at the beginning of “Fortress of Ice” so that a newcomer isn’t lost.
After finishing “Fortress of Dragons,” I thought Tristen’s tale had ended. In going back to her high fantasy series, Cherryh takes a new tack. While Tristen and Cefwyn are important, Cherryh sets “Fortress of Ice” 16 years after the events of “Fortress of Dragons” and centers it on Cefwyn’s two sons, Aewyn, his legitimate heir, and Elfwyn Aswydd, his bastard son and the elder of the two.
Cefwyn, on Tristen’s advice, spared Elfwyn at his birth, despite the fact that Elfwyn’s mother, Tarien, is a sorceress and longtime enemy of Cefwyn. Tarien is imprisoned, and Elfwyn has been raised by a hedge-witch named Gran, visiting his mother only once a year.
Having set up a classic conflict, Cherryh plumbs into far more interesting territory. Instead of setting up Aewyn and Elfwyn as rivals and enemies, the two are friends. As the novel opens, Elfwyn, nicknamed Otter, has been invited by Aewyn to his father’s court. While things start well, Elfwyn soon finds himself embroiled in a religious conflict with the priests of the Quinalt, the official religion of the realm and one with no tolerance for sorcerers or the power of the Sihhe; the Quinalt is partly responsible for driving Tristen into exile so that it won’t appear he has undue sway over Cefwyn.
Soon, Elfwyn’s conflicts with the Quinalt priests lead him to flee and return home to Gran. Once there, however, he finds himself unsettled and decides to visit the mysterious Tristen, whom he has never met, in search of answers about his past and where his future might take him.
As in most of her novels, Cherryh masterfully creates complicated political schemes for her characters to navigate. Cefwyn is pulled by several opposing forces, including the Quinalt, his wife, Ninevrise, and her Bryalt heritage, a religion that the Quinalt believes unholy, and his friendship with Tristen. Elfwyn finds himself fighting to trust Cefwyn and trying not to do anything to bring harm to Aewyn or Gran, all while fighting against his mother, whom he fears and distrusts.
Cherryh’s magic contains many elements of classical fantasy, but diverges in important ways. When Elfwyn meets with Tristen and asks him to teach him wizardry, the lessons are almost Zen, pointing to lessons he can learn from the owl and mouse, one a predator and one that is clever and watchful. He also tells Elfwyn that he has two paths in front of him.
“Elfwyn Aswydd is your responsibility to shape. Bring all the things Otter knows, and be Elfwyn, as you have to be. There is your best path, if you can get on it and direct it as best you can. The direction it may take yet is not in your power, but what sort of man walks that path, when you are a man, that you can decide.”
At times, especially when Tristen and Elfwyn are navigating through magic, Cherryh’s prose takes on a dreamlike quality. At others, especially when it concerns politics, it is hard and direct. It is almost as though Cherryh wants us to think of magic as the way people wish they could make the world, and politics is the world as it must be dealt with.
Cherryh weaves a wonderful spell, again showing her ability to create an addicting story. She leaves the door open for another return to the Fortress universe.
If only “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson would tackle this series and bring it to life on the silver screen.
Candace Horgan is a Denver-based freelance writer.
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Fortress of Ice
By C.J. Cherryh
Harper Collins, 416 pages, $24.95
