Lord of the Changing Winds | Rachel Neumeier

Lord of the changing winds
by Rachel Neumeier
Pub: Orbit
Cover Design: Lauren Panepinto
367 pages


Ok i'm a ittle spoilt for choice these days (yeah, i'm gloating, but y'know, my TBR pile has got a little crazy and I love it), so the idea of another fairly trad fantasy didn'texcite me much. I'm thinking, empires at war, young girl and griffins it's going to be the same old butwith a slightly different physical form.

I get no points for that one. It's actually a cracker. Kes is already a little different and apart from the rest of the town and becomes more so, but there is no tragic back story to motivate her, she just is as she is, which is refreshing. The Griffins are deliciously different from the usual outsiders/potential allies or enemies, with a very different take on things and it's a really refreshing, original book. Like the griffins Neumeier bypasses the usual over wrought emotional stuff and focusses on a slightly cooler more practical look at things. My only niggle is that I gave up trying to pronounce the grffins names in my head about halfway through. Neumeier manages a few surprises and delivers a good fantasy, using familiar tropes but remianing a little bit alien. I look forward to seeing how this series develops.