Tathea

Rating:
Summary: multiplying melodramatic metaphors
Review: I enjoyed Craig's cover art, so I tried Ta-thea. I found the writing stilted and heavily melodramatic. (I also feel this novel does not fall within the fantasy genre.) A boating expedition represents the inward journey toward religious truth for Ta-thea's soul; she learns a new, unquestionable, higher truth every 18 pages; she discerns each new person's inmost nature by staring intently into their pupils. Gak! For a much better examination of good warring with evil within an individual, I recommend Friedman's Black Sun Rising.

Rating:
Summary: I've been tricked!
Review: I thought I was reading a fantasy novel... No, it's an adventure quest novel... Egad! It's really a religious proselytizing text.
It's also boring.
It starts out ok, basic plotline of betrayal & murder of the royal family, of which Ta-thea (empress) is the only survivor. She escapes to the homeland of her mother where she begins a quest to find herself, truth, reason for living, etc. She takes THE BOOK, aka Word of God and flees to another country where she is welcomed with open arms by their royal family who immediately are converted to her new religion. There's some noise about her returning to reclaim the throne, but she's more focused on spreading The Word. And boy, do we read a lot of it! Finally, she regains her throne, but is quickly banished by a henchman of The Adversary, so she begins wandering, converting nearly all she comes accross. More of THE BOOK's wisdom for us. Of course, any differing beliefs are turned into an expression of The Word Of God. Blah Blah Blah.
I gave up. If I wanted to read a religious text, I would have. If I had intended to read Christian fantasy, I'd have checked out the Left Behind series, I hear that's popular and well written.
The epic struggle between good and evil has been and will be written about in much more interesting ways.

Rating:
Summary: An insightful and moving book
Review: I was intrigued when I saw that Anne Perry had written a book billed as a fantasy. I'm not sure I would classify it as a fantasy, but it rather defies any other definition. It's a wonderful story of a spiritual journey, based very closely on the doctrinal beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's a deep book- be warned. You have to be in a certain frame of mind to really enjoy it. It makes you think- there's no avoiding that. It'll make think hard. Writing this book must have been exhausting. Nearly every line in that book had to be thought out for its allegorical, spiritual, and philosophical symbolism. I think that Tathea ranks up there with the best of C.S. Lewis's allegories.

Rating:
Summary: Good Grief
Review: I wish I could give this book zero stars. And I'd like to give the publisher zero stars as well for marketing this as fantasy. One star implies that it had some sort of redeeming quality. Perhaps the cover art. That wasn't too bad.

Anne Perry delivers a Mormon version of Pilgrim's Progress, except Tathea, the pilgrim, doesn't really make any progress. None of the characters do. They have about as much depth as Virtue and Vice in a morality play. The writing is about as subtle as being sat on by a big Christian elephant. Perry's treatment of religious questions has none of the depth or subtlety of, say, C.S. Lewis or T.S. Eliot. For that matter, C.S. Friedman delivered better meditations on good and evil in the Coldfire Trilogy.

(I also want to add a note about my viewpoint. Many -- though certainly not all -- fantasy fans seem to be disproportionately hostile toward religion compared with most of the population. I do not feel I share the automatic hostility toward organized religion that seems to predominate among many who share my tastes. Although I am not Christian, I have read plenty of Christian and non-Christian theology (from Kierkegaard to Fackenheim) and while I don't agree with it, I enjoy learning about it.

So I feel safe in asserting that it is not out of religious hostility that I say this is a truly lousy book. The ideas in and of themselves are not necessarily bad, but the execution is just blunt, dull, and annoying.)

Save your money and your time. If you're interested in religious questions in fiction (and fantasy is an excellent medium for exploring them) there are shelves and shelves of books better than this one.

It seems to be difficult for those with fundamentalist worldviews to write good fiction. I believe this is because fundamentalism tends to posit a world in which good and evil are black and white. This may work as a worldview, but good *fiction* deals with shades of grey.

To sum it up: bad allegorical fantasy and theological musings from an author who apparently can't do fantasy, allegory or theology.

Rating:
Summary: A cure for insomnia
Review: I'll be brief. I love Anne Perry's work. Although I'm a huge fan of William Monk and Hester and I love the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt myteries, this book was sleep inducing. There are 522 pages of religious ramblings that could have been condensed into 200. I'm sorry to say, reading this was a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: More than an escape, "Tathea" is fiction with meaning.
Review: I'm a non-fiction fan. In my opinion, all the knowledge and wisdom that can be found in a good how-to book or from reading a real-life situation was the best reading possible. I looked at fiction as an escape that I couldn't really afford. There was just too much else that was actually worth reading.

But something about Anne Perry's "Tathea" intrigued me. Even though it was billed as a "fantasy," it also was described as an exploration of good and evil and the search for truth. So I bought the book, read it, and enjoyed it.

The philosophical side of the book is where "Tathea" excels. Tathea's conversations and revelations among friends, enemies, fellow seekers, unbelievers, demons and angels are the core of the book. These gems are surrounded by an intriguing story and an unusual premise that kept me reading.

The beginning third of "Tathea" is her spiritual journey, filled with symbolism and allusions that lay the foundation for the rest of the book. The second two-thirds of the book follow Tathea on her physical journey of learning, sharing and blessing. One thing I found wanting was the characterizations. I knew the title character well, but the characters of the supporting cast weren't explored as deeply as I found myself wanting them to be.

"Tathea" is more than an escape. It is fiction with meaning. It is not for the reader who wants an easy, shallow story. But if you enjoy being challenged cerebrally and spiritually, I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Keep an Open Mind!
Review: I've read Tathea four times now. While it isn't my favorite book (that title goes to the Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand), it is on my list of the best books I've ever read.

I will concede to the other reviewers that the book is definitely written from a Christian's point of view. But even if you aren't Christian I think you have much to gain from the book. There are so many lessons learned that tap into the surface of human love, pain, and perserverance--these lessons transcend religious boundaries. Besides, I've read books written from an athiest's point of view, and I've gotten just as much out of them as any Christian literature. While Christianity plays a major part in the book, I don't think that is the novel's only feature.

One of the things I like about Perry's writing is that she uses a plethora of figurative language. Some of her descriptions read almost like poetry, and she uses plenty of imagery to get her point across. I could definitely feel what the characters felt and I saw what they saw. That is what I felt added the most to the story.

The story takes a little while to really get into, but once you get sunk into the story there is no going back--you have to finish it. I especially recommend reading the conversation between God and Satan (called Asmodeus in the book)at the end- it will be well worth your time. It helped me explore my own beliefs about mankind, pain, and free will.

The plot takes Tathea all over the place on an allegorical journey of the spirit. She meets various people and goes through a variety of trials. I still couldn't tell you half of the minor characters' names, but the spiritual change in Tathea is what is memorable. I carry the book in my heart with me each day and with each problem I conquer.

Some say this book doesn't belong in the fiction category. Where, then, does it belong? It is not an average work of fiction, and it is not science fiction. It's not a romance or a mystery. Fantasy is the rightful place for Tathea.

The truth is, I am only seventeen, so I probably don't have the literary repertoire of some of the other reviewers on this site. But I can tell you that I consider myself fairly well-read for my age, and I can honestly say that Perry is one of the best writers I have ever encountered. I've started reading one of her mysteries, and she is absolutely enthralling--once you get into the guts of the book, you can't stop until you finish it. I feel the same about Tathea. It's a long book, and you'll be exhausted once you finish it. But the overwhelming feelings you'll experience while reading make it worth anyone's time.

Rating:
Summary: Another for my Short List
Review: Ta-thea, Empress of Shinabar, is awakened one night to find herself in the middle of a palace coup and everyone around her dead. With the help of a faithful servant, she manages to escape to the Lost Lands, where she seeks out a sage, demanding that he tell her the purpose of her life, the universe, and everything. He sends her off on a quest with a mysterious boatsman who appears from nowhere. The object of this quest is to learn the mind of God.

According to the book jacket reviews, _Tathea_ is "riveting from the first page," "crafted with depth of thought," and "filled with symbolism." I can't help but wonder if the reviewers who wrote those blurbs actually read the book, or only some promotional material from the publisher. I found this book immensely dull, trite and self-conscious, a work that constantly drew attention to its own supposed profundity while actually sermonizing on pretty simplistic and not-very-original themes. After a hundred pages of monotonous situations, depthless characters and heavy-handed allegory, I couldn't take any more. This isn't a fantasy novel; it's a Fundamentalist tract. Reading it made me feel like I was being hit over the head with a dull axe.

I've never read anything else by the author and I don't intend to. Ace did a disservice to all readers of fantasy by publishing this.

Rating:
Summary: Another for my Short List
Review: Ta-thea, Empress of Shinabar, is awakened one night to find herself in the middle of a palace coup and everyone around her dead. With the help of a faithful servant, she manages to escape to the Lost Lands, where she seeks out a sage, demanding that he tell her the purpose of her life, the universe, and everything. He sends her off on a quest with a mysterious boatsman who appears from nowhere. The object of this quest is to learn the mind of God.

According to the book jacket reviews, _Tathea_ is "riveting from the first page," "crafted with depth of thought," and "filled with symbolism." I can't help but wonder if the reviewers who wrote those blurbs actually read the book, or only some promotional material from the publisher. I found this book immensely dull, trite and self-conscious, a work that constantly drew attention to its own supposed profundity while actually sermonizing on pretty simplistic and not-very-original themes. After a hundred pages of monotonous situations, depthless characters and heavy-handed allegory, I couldn't take any more. This isn't a fantasy novel; it's a Fundamentalist tract. Reading it made me feel like I was being hit over the head with a dull axe.

I've never read anything else by the author and I don't intend to. Ace did a disservice to all readers of fantasy by publishing this.

Rating:
Summary: Reading it changed my life...
Review: Tathea is essentially a lengthy (over 500 page) Christian parable. Regardless of the merits of its message, this book should not be represented as a fantasy novel.

The characters are undeveloped and uninteresting. The main character, Tathea, journeys from place to place with only the thinnest of plot devices to connect the various episodes. Supposedly, each of her adventures deepens her understanding of "The Book," but in fact no such growth is evident in the character.

I am surprised that the author, who has published dozens of books in the mystery genre, could produce somethng as poorly written as Tathea.