Current mood:	confused
Entry tags:	fantasy, nessa, patricia a. mckillip, the quest of the riddlemaster

The Riddle-Master of Hed
The Riddle-Master of Hed (The Quest of the Riddle-Master Book 1), by Patricia A. McKillip

Have you ever started on book two or three (or later) of a series that doesn't sand alone well or at all? If it's a good series, you enjoy the book, but you spend a lot of the time confused, because there are references to things that happened earlier in the series and you have no idea what those things are.

That's how I felt when reading The Riddle-Master of Hed, despite the fact that it was the first book in the series. McKillip gives absolutely no explanation of anything, expecting the reader to infer what and who things and people are from the context of the book. Things like descriptions are almost completely left out, even when they're central to the plot.

For example, Morgan, the Riddle-Master and Prince of Hed, has three stars on his forehead and these stars make him destined to do all sorts of things and they make him the answer to several riddles. However, the first that the reader knows of these stars is when they're brought up in a conversation 30 or 40 pages into the book. They weren't described at all, even though there was a perfect opportunity in the first few pages where Morgan pushes his hair back from his forehead. It wasn't until the second mention of the stars that I learned they were on his forehead (the first time just said face), and I still have no idea what they look like. If the cover art is to be believed, they're bright green and look like face-paint or a tattoo (which is what I thought when I saw the cover art), but somehow, I don't think that's the case.

It is definitely a very different style of writing, and it made it difficult for me to read the book. I enjoyed the book, but I had to read extremely carefully for fear that I would miss some little clue or explanation that was thrown in. It required a lot more concentration than I'm used to fantasy novels requiring.

Due to the lack of description, the characterization is somewhat weak. I don't feel as though I know any of the characters because I'm not privy to their thoughts, only to their words and actions and sometimes those are confusing because I'm trying to figure out who is doing or saying what and why. It isn't that any of the characters seem only two dimensional, it's that they aren't fully filled out in any dimension, which makes it difficult to get to know them and to come to care about them. I don’t even have any idea what any of the characters look like, which makes it hard to visualize them.

Fortunately, the somewhat confusing narration style and rather weak characterization are backed by a strong plot. It, like most of the other elements of this story, is confusing, but in this case, that's a strength, not a weakness. Morgan doesn't know exactly what's going on, and neither do we as readers, instead we learn as he does, and what is unfolding is rather detailed and doesn't seem to have any major holes. The only problem with the plot is that it continues on into the next two books in this trilogy, so it isn't complete. This is a series where you need to read all the books to be satisfied. The parts that were completed, however, were completed well.

One thing that I found strange about The Riddle-Master of Hed was the riddles themselves. I tend to think of riddles as something that is trickily worded and often contains the clues needed to answer it within the question. Some of the riddles in this book, mostly the ones dealing with Morgan himself, were like that, but some of them were more along the lines of "what happened to someone when they did something?" and then the riddle is to figure out the lesson from it. Both types meet the dictionary definition of "a question or statement requiring thought to answer or understand; a conundrum" (The American Heritage College Dictionary, Third Edition), but the example used in the book just seemed odd to me.

I find it difficult to say that I liked The Riddle-Master of Hed because I was so confused most of the time, but I definitely wouldn't say that I disliked it. I suppose I would say that it intrigued me, and that I am intrigued enough that I will read the next book in the series. Maybe it will start to answer some of my questions. I would warn people, however, not to pick this book up if you're looking for a light read as that isn't what it is, despite the fact that it's only slightly over 200 pages.