CSFF Blog Tour Day Two: The Realms Thereunder

The movement between worlds in The Realms Thereunder is both complicated and simple. At first, I thought it inconsistent and arbitrary, but I think I've figured out the rules. It appears we're dealing with two distinct cases.

First, the underground world of tunnels and caverns that house Niðergeard and groups of sleeping knights is not technically another world but simply a place beneath the surface of modern Great Britain. Entry and exit can be achieved through magical and non-magical means. Freya and Daniel enter through an enchanted archway and leave by crawling out. The underground world also appears to be connected to the sewer system as Freya, Daniel, Ecgbryt, and Swiðgar slosh through a brick-lined sewer during their pusuit of Gád. Daylight filtered through a chandilier illuminates the chamber in which they encounter the Sídhe Nemain. So, it appears someone could accidentally fall into the realm thereunder. Enchantments protect the chambers in which the knights sleep. Freya and Daniel entered through one of these. Swiðgar explains how the enchantment works:

"The moment at which you found us was no time at all; it was what is called a 'time between times.' It was the evening--the 'even-time'--when light and dark are equal. It is a sacred time. It has a strong pull to a certain type of person. The place you found us could be called a 'place between places,' and you yourself are a person between destinies. You have started along a path that you cannot go back on." He smiled at her. "But there will be more paths to choose from and soon. Perhaps one of those will lead you to the place you seek, perhaps somewhere better" (p. 67).

This sounds similar to the way that children are brought into Narnia. They go to Narnia for a purpose, whether or not they are seeking Narnia, but are free to do the wrong thing and suffer the consequences once they get there. Similarly, Freya and Daniel are not seeking it but are allowed into the Realm Thereunder, but still have free will to act as they decide. The "certain type of person" and "person between destinies" part sounds rather vague. Alex provides a further explanation when he enters the knights chamber inside Morven, using a technique he learned from his father.

Alex put his hands up against [a chiseled stone wall] and cleared his mind, thinking only of being between. He had no intents or aims in life; he was open to all options. He was standing at the crossing of all paths. He visualized this last thought as standing in a country road with signs pointing in all directions (p. 272).

This is different from Lewis. The enchantment can be unlocked at a certain time of day by a person in a specific state of mind. Betweenness is the key. Alex demonstrates that one can put themselves in the proper state of mind. Two children who have just turned thirteen are by default in that state of mind.

The second case is travel to and from Elfland. Daniel enters Elfland through the lych-gate at the church and when he leaves, comes out through the lych-gate. Like the enchantments discussed above, the time of day, particularly "even-time" plays a role. The crossing is also limited to certain places. The elf who assists Daniel in crossing back has a list of places in Elfland and when they will be active. To these conditions, another is added. If someone carries one or more objects from the destination world, they are more likely to make the crossing. When Daniel first jumped to Elfland, he was unwittingly carrying a leaf from a tree that grows there. When he left Elfland, he carried several items from modern England supplied by the merchant elf assiting him. (Daniel bought the assistance at a high price. Many of the elves inhabitting Lawhead's Elfland are unscrupulous.)

It's important for a fantasy world to have consistent rules with regards to anything magical. You might be able to play fast and loose in a short story but not in a novel. If the magic seems arbitrary, the reader will probably become frustrated and loose interest. Our world works according to consistent rules. An invented world should follow suit.

Although Lawhead achieves consistency in his magic, the text suffers from a couple glaring inconsistencies that jarred me out of the story. What's strange is that the errors occurred not hundreds of pages apart but within less than a page of text.

The first inconsistency happens when Ecgbryt threatens to slice up some annoying gnomes.

"I think I understand," said Ecgbryt calmly, drawing his axe. "Hold by, gnome. I am a master axeman and this will be done quickly . . ." (p. 248). ... Ecgbryt was laughing as he sheathed his sword (p. 249; emphasis mine).

I've read the intervening text a couple times and there is no mention of Ecgbryt changing his axe for a sword or drawing one. He is known for wielding an axe.

The second inconsistency occurs when Daniel, Freya, Ecgbryt, and Swiðgar decide to split into pairs to follow different paths in the sewer.

They decided that Ecgbryt would go with Freya, and Swiðgar with Daniel.... Daniel and Ecgbryt walked down the tunnel, along with the flow of the sewer water (p. 341; emphasis mine).

It's sad that these kinds of errors mar an otherwise good story.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Realms of Thunder from the publisher.

Book Giveaway: Fellow CSFF blogger Sarah Sawyer is hosting a contest during the tour so stop by her blog to register.

To read more about Ross Lawhead and his work, check out his blog at www.rosslawhead.com/blog.

To read what other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below.

Gillian Adams Red Bissell Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell CSFF Blog Tour Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Rebekah Loper Marzabeth

Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirriam Neal Eve Nielsen Nissa John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Joan Nienhuis Crista Richey Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Steve Trower Fred Warren Dona Watson Shane Werlinger Nicole White Rachel Wyant

CSFF Blog Tour Day One: The Realms Thereunder

To be honest, I have not yet finished this month's selection, Ross Lawhead's The Realms Thereunder, a situation I hope to rectify this evening. The destination is in sight but there are a few more turns in the tunnel.

Set in England and Scotland for the most part, the story centers on Daniel Tully and Freya Reynolds and goes back and forth between their present lives and what happened to them eight years before when they were schoolmates, both thirteen years old. On a school trip to a church in Abbingdon in the Britsh Midlands, the pair go missing and are found two months later in Scotland. They stumble on a passage in the old church to a world underground. There, they encounter warriors from Alfred the Great's time and a fortress city called Niðergeard on a vast underground plain that is under seige. Evil forces and creatures dwell deep underground. Centuries before, they were driven from the lands above ground. The defenders of Niðergeard are part of the defences that keep the evil at bay.

The other half of Daniel's and Freya's story finds them in Oxford. Daniel is living on the streets while Freya is a student. Their earlier experiences have effected them in dramatically different ways. Daniel still carries on the fight against the evil they encountered underground. He's convinced something momentous and possibly horrific is about to happen, that the evil is welling up and invading the present. Freya is mentally unstable and suffers from a compulsive disorder. She wants to forget about what happened beneath the church but the experience has reshaped her view of history, which is now rather unorthodox. Daniel and Freya are being pursued because of what they know from their past experience and, like any good thriller, it's not clear who is friend and foe.

Another thread of the narrative follows Alex Simpson, an officer in the Northern Constabulary. He's tracking crime in Scotland, looking for crime patterns--missing or mangled livestock, suicides, robberies--that might point to suspicious activity and finds it in Caithness, a sparsely populated area in northeastern Scotland. I would like to see more of Alex, but Lawhead only gives us a few chapters, perhaps laying the groundwork for the next book in the series.

Movement between worlds in Lawhead's story takes place at certain doorways, usually arches, and at between times, such as the time between day and night. These passages are also only open to certain people. The passage in the Abbingdon church opens beneath an arch and then closes, returning to a stone wall. Daniel passes from present-day Oxford to Elfland when he passes under the arch of a lychgate. The Realms Thereunder is a unique mix of fantasy and suspense elements, but it reminds me of many other books. First, with the name Lawhead on the cover, I can't help thinking about ley-travel from Stephen Lawhead's Bright Empires series when Ross Lawhead's characters jump between worlds. Like C. S. Lewis's The Silver Chair and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, much of the action takes place underground. The elves Daniel encounters are a far cry from the generally noble elves in Tolkien. Lawhead's elves are dangerous, a mix of good and cunning nastiness, reminiscent of Lord Dunsany's elves or those brothers from Neil Gaiman's Stardust who must kill off their siblings to claim the crown.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Realms Thereunder from the publisher.

Book Giveaway: Fellow CSFF blogger Sarah Sawyer is hosting a contest during the tour so stop by her blog to register.

To read more about Ross Lawhead and his work, check out his blog at www.rosslawhead.com/blog.

To read what other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below.

Gillian Adams Red Bissell Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell CSFF Blog Tour Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Rebekah Loper Marzabeth

Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirriam Neal Eve Nielsen Nissa John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Joan Nienhuis Crista Richey Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Steve Trower Fred Warren Dona Watson Shane Werlinger Nicole White Rachel Wyant