Critique: Lord of the Changing Wind (The Griffin Mage Trilogy #1) (Rachel Neumeier)

In this book, griffins from Casmantium’s deserts have invaded the Feierbiand town of Minas Ford. Kes, a girl, joins the griffins. Meanwhile Bertaud, advisor to the king, is tasked with fixing the problems the griffins have caused.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

There were so many clever, beautiful descriptions, showing the author has clear talent.

Chiad is as ‘[d]ark as the earth he worked.’ A brilliant description for dark skin without relying on the go-to food comparison.

Referring to griffins, it describes ‘sunlight striking harshly off beaks and talons.’ The sun, beaks and talons can all be described as harsh individually so the metaphor associating them together was a great decision.

Sunlight is described as ‘thick like honey’. A vivid description with instant comprehension. It shows that, for Kes and the griffins, sunlight is a substance which gives the readers an insight into griffins themselves.

Kes summons fire and likens it to a kitten ‘that might scratch but not seriously’. This is a fun, playful image yet shows a serious point that nothing in the griffin’s world is harmless.

 

There were so many clever details.

            My favourite one is a joint prize. The first: Kes draws with charcoal, something made from, and used for, fire. The second: the world ‘rearranging itself’ is the novel’s novel idea for teleportation.

            The king was hearing an appealed case. A Linularinum merchant struck Enned and Enned killed someone in retaliation. The punishment for murder is execution, i.e. taking someone’s life away from them. Linularinum, where the victim is from, likes creative interpretations of the law, so Bertaud suggests taking Enned’s life away from him by forcing his to serve in the army.

Kes and Tesme work with horses. This detail could be a reference to horses being the main food source of griffins in mythology.

It turns out that Jor is a Casmantium spy. In the beginning, he was described in the same way as a Casmantium person. Being a border town, it didn’t strike me as odd that Minas Ford would have physical characteristics of Casmantium, so it would never had occurred to me for Jor to be a Casmantium spy.

 

These are world-building information that are of note. Such as how fire and earth creatures have a strong aversion to one another.

            Griffin society is fascinating. Kairaithin as the lead griffin mage is the Lord of the Changing Wind. The king, who shares his mate with another griffin, is the Lord of Fire and Air.

            Whilst griffins in this series are linked to fire and air, in mythology it’s earth and air. Sand and gems have an earthiness to them, but the fire nature of this series’ griffins accounts for these: sand burns and gems are formed in magma. So tradition is satisfied in a creative manner. Plus, their blood turning into gems means that griffins mimic the process of the planet.

The town Minas Ford is a day’s travel from either Bered or Riamne. Looking at where these are on the map, this means that the countries of Feierbiand, Casmantium and Linularinum are tiny.

Each country has their own set of gifts. Feierbiand has animal affinities, being able to control animals. Makers, who give objects properties such as being stronger, are predominant in Casmantium. Finally, Linularinum has legists, whose contracts are impossible to break. Not everyone can be gifted, though anyone in any country can have any gift. This provides both identity and unity.

Bertaud son of Boudan, Lord of the Delta, has his nature briefly turned to fire in order to heal him. This awoke his griffin affinity. His affinity for fire animals was hidden whilst his nature was of earth.

 

 

Kes

 

Between her actions and her thoughts, I think Kes might be autistic.

            She likes people that don’t talk a lot and who don’t expect her to talk back. Talking isn’t a problem for all autistic people but enough find it difficult enough for it to be used as an indication for autism.

Everyone bar Kes understood ‘without even trying, unspoken codes and rules that only baffled her.’ Indeed, she finds this ‘exhausting and confusing’ which leads to fright. Autistic people often struggle to understand societal rules.

Kes doesn’t ask Tesme how she is because it didn’t occur to Kes to do so. Many would think Kes is uncaring. But Tesme’s wellbeing wasn’t relevant to the conversation/situation. It’s an autistic way of thinking.

True, the problem with talking is also a behaviour exhibited by those with anxiety disorders. But Kes doesn’t strike me as anxious, nor is she described as such. So the talking issues paired with the other two examples points towards autism.

 

There seem to be a few hints that suggest Kes was always griffin-y/fire affinity.

            Being with fire helps Kes feel complete. So she’s been unfulfilled in the land of earth. Due to the fire-earth antagonism, it suggests Kes being griffin-y/fire affinity has always been present.

Someone sees a griffin then draws it. Kes does a better rendition, the ‘eyes filled with fire and beauty’. When Kes has never seen a griffin up close, the general life-like drawing is astounding, let alone the specific details for the eyes. Then when a stranger walks into town, only she sees his griffin-shaped shadow. Kes being griffin-y/fire affinity seems to be the only reasonable explanation how Kes alone could do these.

 

 

Negatives

 

There were some clear mistakes.

Jasand decides to attack the griffins in the afternoon so that the sun is at the humans’ backs. But he also wants to create a killing field between their two companies, meaning one company has to face the sun. So waiting for a specific time of day doesn’t eliminate anyone getting sun in their eyes.

The villagers watch the soldiers leave and then ‘for the first time’ villagers watch them pass. Um, what?

Griffins make sure all the human soldiers are dead, because it would offend the soldier’s courage for them to live after the sand tasted their blood. Yet the griffins don’t make sure their own soldiers are killed once the sand tastes their blood. In fact, they came all the way to Kes in order to get a healer.

Bertaud thinks Kes is a woman, then corrects himself to thinking she’s a girl. After this, he describes her as having a ‘waiflike attractiveness’. He described her as attractive after he acknowledged she was a girl. Now, Bertaud’s so ethical that, not only did he find it abhorrent that he could control griffins against their will, but he was willing to die to protect the griffins. For someone so ethical, finding a child attractive is completely out of character.

The theory to understanding the teleporting is understanding how fire moves through the air. That’s a great description. Yet it goes against the earlier description of rearranging the world.

A mage traps Kairaithin, surprising the griffin. Kairaithin is surprised again when Bertaud frees him. On this second time, Kairaithin notes that he’s ‘for once, been taken by surprise’.

The griffin king follows the direction of the wind. The griffin mages can change that direction (hence Kairaithin is Lord of the Changing Wind). One griffin says he’ll follow Kes’ changed wind and yet on the next page this same griffin says that Kes opposes his plan. If his plan is to follow her, how can there be a disagreement?

Instead of ‘His Majesty’, it was written as ‘his majesty’. Another lack of capitals happened with a sentence that began ‘king of Casmantium’.

A mistake is made when Bertaud says ‘General Jasand is far more experience than I.’ Jasand is the sentence’s subject and Bertaud (represented with ‘I’) is the sentence’s object: the object version of I is ‘me’.

 

 

Questions

 

I have questions. For example, Kes’ memories of her earth-self were fading. It isn’t explained how, but maybe fire is burning the earth from her?

            None of the griffin mages can heal yet Kairaithin knows the theory. This suggests either that some born griffin mages could heal or that the griffins have turned a human into a fire mage before. The book presents Kes as being the first fire human mage, especially considering Kairaithin didn’t know if he could turn Kes to fire. Yet the book also makes out like the griffins haven’t had a healer before. So what’s going on?

Bertaud asks the griffins to stop hunting cattle as a show of good will. Kairaithin says not hunting humans is their sign of good will. Yet when Kes is made of fire, it’s noted that she no longer has hunger of thirst. Then why do griffins hunt? Is it some sort of instinct or hobby?

Kes thinks of Kairaithin’s full name and he tells her not to challenge him. But this doesn’t make sense. Griffins always use their full names (unless they’re close) so full names couldn’t be a challenge in griffin society. Also, Kes needs to know a griffin’s full name in order to heal them (something Kairaithin knows) and healing has the opposite intention to challenging.

Kes talks a lot with Bertaud. This seems completely out of character. But maybe she’s glad to see a human after spending time with the griffins? The difference in thought processes between the two species is clearly apparent and maybe Kes was glad that she could have, to her, a ‘normal’ conversation? With the way it’s written, I’m on the fence between ‘out of character’ and ‘glad to see a human’.

Quite a few of the names are many syllables long and can have long strings of vowels. The author is clearly inspired by her own last name. But as long names or vowel strings aren’t common in English, it can make following these characters/places more difficult.

 

 

Conclusion

 

This was a fascinating read. To have griffins, my favourite mythical being, as the focus of a whole book was simply delightful. The author did a great job into presenting the griffins as having a different culture. At no point was I bored because the plot or world-building kept it a satisfying read.