Hodgell, P.C.: To Ride a Rathorn (re-read)

Waiting for P.C. Hodgell's next book in the Chronicles of the Kencyrath has been a constant feature of my adult life. Hodgell has had singularly bad luck with publishers: they die out from under her regularly. Add to that the demands of an academic career, and you've got the recipe for a very slow rate of book production. I'm hoping now that she's retired and can spend more time writing, there may actually be some chance of seeing the proper ending of the adventures of Jamethiel before I die.

For me, it's always been worth the wait. I love Hodgell's writing voice: wry, mordant, dark, a bit twisted, and yet guardedly optimistic about humanity. Jame spends a good deal of her time thinking that she's damned, and the mistakes she makes and the devastation she causes tempt us to believe her. Yet at heart she's a fiercely loyal friend, partial to small children (and their ghosts) and cuddly animals (and non-cuddly ones too: in this book she befriends a poisonous snake and a carnivorous armor-plated unicorn), and with an extremely strict sense of honor.

If you haven't read any of these books, this is a terrible place to start: published last summer, it's volume 4 of the series (the first book is Godstalk - also available in a single volume with book 2, as Dark of the Gods). If you have read the earlier books but had given up, rejoice: Jame is starting a term in the Kencyrath's military academy, and you can bet that this august institution will never be quite the same ...

( Read on - spoilers! )