John Marco

Fourth in the series, I was a little wary to read this as I didn't have time to play catch up with a long involved fantasy series. I was assured however that this book didn't require 'catching up' and could be read stand alone. And for what feels like the first time in a long time it turned out to be true. References and summaries are given for what happened in the first three books (I assume its from the first three books), but Lukien was very focused on the now.

Where it may have benefited was with the other characters and their relationship to him. Marco gives a good accounting why this or that person is important to Lukien, but I felt less invested in them regardless.

In essence Lukien is on a heroic quest to basically find a reason to live. In the preceding novels everything he loved, respected and held dear was taken away from him, leaving him left adrift with no end in sight (he's immortal). This isn't to say he went looking for suicide, but rather he was proactively searching for a means to death. Lukien had a lot of flaws (not the least of which was who he fell in love with), a lot of guilt about what happened. Unlike other heroes with tragic backstories he didn't seem to be looking for redemption. He had made a try of making things better, mucked it up further and now was resigned to finding something else.

Marco manages to pack a lot into a slim by today's standards full length novel. Under 300 pages, The Forever Knight is surprising in the detail presented. Even for a fourth novel in a series Marco goes out of his way to engage new readers in Lukien plight and the larger world. I'm still a bit iffy on how things went down to give Lukien his immortality, and what exactly Malator is, but by in large Marco set a brisk easy to read pace.

The one drawback I think I have is that while I'm interested in Lukien's further adventures especially given Malator's...gift at the end, I'm not as keen to read his previous adventures. I like the Lukien as he is now, and I don't fancy that being ruined by the fact I'm going to get to read as his angst happens instead of in a past sense.
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When I was younger I had a lot of imaginary friends. In Kindergarten I imagined that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (plus April) were my friends on the playground, calling me for help whenever they were in the area. Then it became the Ghost Busters and later when we moved to a new town I imagined that I had a girl friend named Jacie. My younger sister, for years upon years, had an imaginary friend named Maria--we still tease her about Maria because she insists she was real. I think its a normal childhood thing to have an imaginary friend, just like talking to your dolls or pretending to play War with your friends.

Of the 13 stories in this volume I think I only really enjoyed 3 of them: 'A Good Day for Dragons' by Rick Hautala, 'Stands a God Within the Shadows' by Anne Bishop and 'Walking Shadows' by Juliet E. McKenna. Hautala's, though I guessed the twist fairly quickly, was just a cute story. Dragons, Pirates and choices when growing up--what's not to love? Bishop's is, as I've come to expect from her fiction, twisty and dark with small rays of sunshine poking out. I was genuinely surprised at who the imaginary friend turned out to be and the end, while sad, is speaks highly of the main character.

McKenna's was another sad story of choices when growing up that I would have enjoyed so much more if there hadn't been a niggling editorial lapse. In first 2/3rds of the story a character's name is Rasun--he's never actually seen, only spoken of by various characters as a 'lesson learned move on' sort of thing, but still he's important at the end. So I couldn't understand why, in the last third, his name suddenly becomes 'Rusan'. Not just once, which I tend to overlook, but at least four different times! It ruined the story for me a bit because I had to consciously remember who that was supposed to be. As for the story itself--the twist at the end is intriguing and I wouldn't mind reading more in that universe.

The rest of the stories fell rather flat for me, or just bored me. There's really no other way to explain it. Marco has an introduction that made me excited--he explains that for a college paper he was going to academically discuss Imaginary Friends influence, but couldn't find enough academic material to draw from (apparently no one does studies of this nature?). Years later the idea kept niggling at him until he finally decided to call upon fantasy writers to explore the idea and the ramifications. Some of the authors I think took it a lot looser than he meant while others I think didn't grasp why imaginary friends are important.

I would say to read this if you happen upon it at the library or a friend lends it to you, I'm not entirely certain its worth its cover price.… (plus d'informations)

I'm giving this book 5 stars, and yet I'm also giving up on this book a third of the way through. I loved the writing, and the characters and the culture, but the story is all about the messes people make for themselves, and it just...makes me flinch so hard I can't keep up with it. It is not graphic or gory, just the intensely human faults that lead me to stop watching some movies because I can envision all too well what it would feel like to be in their shoes. My failure to finish this book is entirely my own failure and no fault of either the book or the author. Well worth the read if you're made of sterner stuff than I.

***

Okay, so I went back, skipped a few chapters, and kept going. And finished it. A good read, ripe with the follies of man and the pain it brings. Definitely worth the read, but could have been better served by being a bit shorter..… (plus d'informations)