The Lightstone by David Zindell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm mainly reading this epic fantasy series because the author wrote one of my absolute favorite epic SF series of all time and there just isn't enough of his works to go around. In other words, I simply needed more.

Of course, I don't mind epic fantasies at all so this was kind of a no-brainer.

First off, it has all the earmarks of the genre, with special emphasis on nods to the fantasy fields in general. A pretty standard Quest, some new-age ideas, and serious surface-nods to Lord of the Rings, David Eddings, and even WoT. I was even chortling at the idea that Harry Potter got a tiny nod, too, but it was the hark-harkback to the Silmarillion that really charmed me.

That's not to say that it was only good for the worldbuilding. I enjoyed everyone in the holy-grail quest and couldn't help but compare it happily to The Witcher, but this, of course, had a much straighter line to follow. As anyone might expect with a Quest, there may be many, many stops along the way, but the core rarely gets totally derailed.

I enjoyed it all. Simple, dire, and I got a kick out of all the characters. Fun, but not the best epic fantasy I've ever read, either. I appreciate it for its inclusions rather than how original it is.


Was it close to his other series? No. A few cool nods to the idea that they might all be on an alien world after traveling the stars, but this does not have anything of the scope of Requiem for Homo Sapiens.




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