The Last Guardian of Everness
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The rave reviews for John Wright's science fiction trilogy, The Golden Age, hail his debut as the most important of the new century. Now, in The Last Guardian of Everness, this exciting and innovative writer proves that his talents extend beyond SF, as he offers us a powerful novel of high fantasy set in the modern age.
Young Galen Waylock is the last watchman of the dream-gate beyond which ancient evils wait, hungry for the human world. For a thousand years, Galen's family stood guard, scorned by a world which dismissed the danger as myth. Now, the minions of Darkness stir in the deep, and the long, long watch is over. Galen's patient loyalty seems vindicated.
That loyalty is misplaced. The so-called Power of Light is hostile to modern ideas of human dignity and liberty. No matter who wins the final war between darkness and light, mankind is doomed either to a benevolent dictatorship or a malevolent one. And so Galen makes a third choice: the sleeping Champions of Light are left to sleep. Galen and his companions take the forbidden fairy-weapons themselves. Treason, murder, and disaster follow. The mortals must face the rising Darkness alone.
An ambitious and beautifully written story, The Last Guardian of Everness is an heroic adventure that establishes John Wright as a significant new fantasist. It is just the start of a story that will conclude in the companion volume, Mists of Everness.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
John C. Wright
JOHN C. WRIGHT is an attorney turned SF and fantasy writer. He has published short fiction in Asimov’s SF and elsewhere, and wrote the Chronicles of Chaos, The Golden Age, and The War of Dreaming series. His novel Orphans of Chaos was a finalist for the Nebula Award in 2005.
Read more from John C. Wright
Null-A Continuum Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Is Your Cat Crazy?: Solutions from the Casebook of a Cat Therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Last Guardian of Everness
Related ebooks
A Fever of the Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Morningstar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Heart as Red as Paint: The Winter Souls Series, #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder on Kregen [Dray Prescot #51] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Seneschal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWeremage: The Nightblade Epic, #5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Daughter of Raasay: A Tale of the '45 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Shadow of the Dragon King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Web Of Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Worm Ouroboros Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrouble in the Elf City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Render (The Children of Man, #2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Midnight Mansion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Warden of the Castle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLifemage Dawning: The Resurrection Cycle, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSong of the Hollow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Duke's Scandalous Secret Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gap in the Road Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Coming of the King: Watchers, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eleventh Hour: A Tudor mystery featuring Christopher Marlowe Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Siren for the Dead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDoom's Daze: The Heart of Stone Adventures, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMirrorland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elf and the Princess Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Diamond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Globeland: 1 The Lost Stone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Watchers Trilogy- Omnibus Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSword of Justice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Fantasy For You
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of the Vampire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Galatea: A Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neverwhere: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Forest: Book One of the Sevenwaters Trilogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mistborn: Secret History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Assassin and the Underworld: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Last Guardian of Everness
4 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's strange that after recently reading Wright's essay making light of "unicorn" fantasy stories, I would pick up one of his books and find a -you guessed it- unicorn on the cover. Be that as it may, this is Wright stepping away from complex, brain-hurting sci-fi that was The Golden Age trilogy and into the realm of complex, no-less-brain-hurting heroic fantasy. This story is such a weird mix of classic fairy tales, original world building and not-so-veiled commentary on the real world that it keeps you thinking it can't possibly work, the story won't hold together, and yet it does. It's one of those reads that's less about the plot, or even the characters (although both parts are well developed and memorable) and more about taking the journey and seeing where it will take you. My only beef is the massive cliff hanger. Try to have the sequel ready to go or you will be frustrated by the ending.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a terrific book, if you can get through the first 80 or so pages. Wright throws a lot of confusing information at you in a hurry, but the payoff is worth it, especially if you follow up with the next in the series, "Mists of Everness," a five star book. Wright blends the world's mythologies and science together in a big comprehensive whole and fills out the personalities of the heroes and villains while keeping the action going, a skill few authors have mastered.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is an amazing, epic fantasy, but with an intimate cast of characters. Following three central characters, the plot follows our heroes trying to thwart the attempt of evil beings in the dreaming to break through ancient protections in order to conquer our normal world and bring about a reign of darkness. When you put it that way, it seems cliche. However, this book (the first of a duology) is full of inventiveness and originality.John C. Wright does not coddle his readers. You have to be paying attention to follow all the plot threads in this novel. You should definitely be up on your European mythology and symbolism. If you've read and understood a good part of Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels, you'll have most of the background you need. "Everness" addresses some of the more hoary fantasy clichés - then subverts them, bringing them within some realm of plausibility. This is not a good book to start with if you are completely new to fantasy, since then you wouldn’t appreciate some of his perfectly aimed pokes at tradition.All in all the book is enjoyable, serious but not taking itself too seriously. The main characters are not normal people, but they are making their way in our world quite realistically. They don’t know the rules of the game, and are discovering them as they go. Wright keeps the sense of genuine threat and suspense going perfectly. The odds are decidedly against them, and there is great pleasure to be had in turning the page to see how they can keep going. You feel like there is a real chance that they might fail. The end of the book doesn’t pull any punches; it’s a cliff-hanger, and a seemingly very dark place for our heroes. For the first time in quite awhile, I found myself thinking while reading a fantasy book: “Wow, I’m really, really glad I’m not them.”One other note: if you’ve read and enjoyed the Golden Age science fiction trilogy by the same author, there is a good chance that this will also appeal to you. Similar balancing of light and dark, plot and philosophy and engaging, if not realistic, characters. If you haven’t read that trilogy, you really should.