The Unremembered

Given the marketing campaign pushing the book, it's evident that Tor Books had some high expectations for Peter Orullian's fantasy debut, The Unremembered. True, the blurb gave readers a feeling of déjà vu, yet my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to give the novel a shot before flying overseas.

Now that I'm done, like many SFF fans have expressed on message boards, I have very mixed feelings about The Unremembered. Some aspects of the book are extremely well-done, showing that this series has more depth than meets the eye and true potential. Unfortunately, the novel features a variety of shortcomings that more or less offset the more positive facets found within its page.

Here's the blurb:

The gods, makers of worlds, seek to create balance—between matter and energy; and between mortals who strive toward the transcendent, and the natural perils they must tame or overcome. But one of the gods fashions a world filled with hellish creatures far too powerful to allow balance; he is condemned to live for eternity with his most hateful creations in that world’s distant Bourne, restrained by a magical veil kept vital by the power of song.

Millennia pass, awareness of the hidden danger fades to legend, and both song and veil weaken. And the most remote cities are laid waste by fell, nightmarish troops escaped from the Bourne. Some people dismiss the attacks as mere rumor. Instead of standing against the real threat, they persecute those with the knowledge, magic and power to fight these abominations, denying the inevitability of war and annihilation. And the evil from the Bourne swells….

The troubles of the world seem far from the Hollows where Tahn Junell struggles to remember his lost childhood and to understand words he feels compelled to utter each time he draws his bow. Trouble arrives when two strangers—an enigmatic man wearing the sigil of the feared Order of Sheason and a beautiful woman of the legendary Far—come, to take Tahn, his sister and his two best friends on a dangerous, secret journey.

Tahn knows neither why nor where they will go. He knows only that terrible forces have been unleashed upon mankind and he has been called to stand up and face that which most daunts him—his own forgotten secrets and the darkness that would destroy him and his world.

Before I started the book, the author told me:

Be aware that I went ahead and decided not to be afraid of conventions, where I saw they served my story; but know that I sure as hell am evolving those beyond your assumptions, which is part of the point. Some of this happens in book one; a lot more happens after book one. There's a lot of invention, too, of course. But as I've become fond of saying: Trope-avoidance is the new trope. I'm not fond of books that try so hard to be different that they come off feeling labored. I've read more than my share of those lately.

The way things were going at first, it felt as though this was going to be an homage to works such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara, David Edding's Pawn of Prophecy, and Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World. As a throwback fantasy book, The Unremembered could have worked decidedly well. Such titles make up for a great chunk of the SFF market, and it's understandable that Tor would wish to get their share of the pie.

Given what Orullian had told me, even though at first it appeared to be a ripoff of Jordan's The Eye of the World, I tried to stay on my toes, prepared not to let my guard down when the author would try to screw me by playing with my own preconceptions. Trouble is, this never happened at any point in The Unremembered. And as a huge WoT fan, that really irked me. As many have pointed out, the better part of The Unremembered is, structurally, The Eye of the World with different names for characters, places, and monsters.

Oddly enough, had another publisher like Del Rey, Bantam Dell, or Orbit had the temerity of pulling something like this, I have a feeling that there would have been a lawsuit in the works. It would have been bad form to sort of milk Jordan's ideas and popularity in such a tasteless fashion. Coming from Tor Books, I'm left speechless by the fact that they let this crap fly. I mean, James Frenkel edited this book. He is a seasoned and well-respected editor, by all accounts. I'm persuaded that Frenkel has read The Eye of the World at some point in his career. And yet, at no point during the publishing process has he felt the need to tell his protégé that, as much as it is great to try to emulate talented authors such as Jordan, Tolkien, and the rest, it might be in his best interest to be the first Peter Orullian and not a poor man's version of Robert Jordan. To say that I found that offputting would be an understatement.

Having said that, if you can overlook this "flaw," there are some cool ideas and concepts in The Unremembered. Which is why this was such a big disappointment for me. Peter Orullian created a universe that lives and breathes, something that resounds with depth. I feel that he should have trusted himself more instead of writing his own version of Jordan's opening chapter to The Wheel of Time saga. For WoT fans like me, the ripoff angle becomes impossible to overlook. . .

The worldbuilding is top notch, on par with many of the greats still writing today. It is a rare thing indeed to find such depth in that regard in a fantasy debut. Orullian writes with confidence and his narrative features a thoroughly evocative voice. The scenes come alive and the imagery is vibrant. Again, when you get away from the Jordanesque elements, there is a richness of details pertaining to history, mythology, culture, etc. À la Tolkien, Orullian has a tendency to go a bit over the top with his descriptions. As such, his verbosity probably won't be for everyone. But I didn't find it a detriment, at least where the narrative was concerned. The dialogues were another matter, however. . .

As wonderful as the worldbuilding turned out to be, the characterization was the aspect which left the most to be desired. Clichéd and two-dimensional, the cast of characters was a major disppointment. This is where I expected Orullian to surprise readers, using our own preconceptions against us and delivering a knockout punch in the process. Unfortunately, his use of fantasy tropes and conventions prevents The Unremembered from ever truly lifting off. Though they are a stereotypical bunch, Tahn, Wendra, Sutter, Mira, and the others all have internal struggles they must deal with on top of everything else that's taking place. This should have given the cast more depth and add another dimension to the overall reading experience. Somehow, the execution falls short, often being a case of too little, too late. I couldn't bring myself to care for any character other than Wendra. Yet even her plotline disappoints in the end, never living up to its potential.

The dialogues are often stiff and/or make little sense. Though it may not be as bad as with Donaldson, there's no way uneducated villagers can use such vocabulary. Another problem is that the protagonists sometimes act in pretty erratic fashion. And though they are for the most part vulgar villagers from the ass-end of the world, all of a sudden they become badass and courageous fighters. Sutter starts off as a root digger who has never seen the outside world, yet a few pages later he's fighting monsters out of legend like it's the most natural thing in the world. There is no character growth or evolution. They all start off as humble folks, and then immediately become survivors and heroes. All of which stretches the limits of credibility to the extent that robs this work of any notion of realism, even if you keep in mind that it is a fantasy tale.

The pace is also an issue. Orullian propensity to be verbose makes for rich prose and powerful writing at times. Problem is, it also makes for a tendency to overuse info-dumps and long dialogues that can become downright boring, killing the flow of the story. The rhythm, which is slow-moving throughout, is occasionally brought to a crawl, making it difficult for readers to remain focused.

Peter Orullian's vivid narrative and superior worldbuilding give The Unremembered a truly epic feel. Sadly, the weak characterization, the ad nauseam use of genre tropes, and the snail's pace sort of offset the positive elements of the book. All of which making for an uneven work of fantasy. It's not great, nor is it atrocious. It somehow falls somewhere in between, which might explain the disparate reviews the novel has garnered thus far. While some readers might find it engaging and powerful, others will savage it. This complex and sprawling tale should leave no one indifferent, that's for sure.

Given the hopes many of us had for this debut, The Unremembered can be nothing but a disappointment for me. I could never look past the "homage" to the structure of The Eye of the World. There are enough glimpses of brilliance and powerful writing for me to give volume 2 a shot. As long as there are no crystal sword or a horn that brings heroes back from the dead, I want to see what Peter Orullian has in store for this series. After all, the author also told me this:

But I'm guiding you down a path, for sure. And sometimes it's pretty subtle, I just hate always being obvious. Still, while the series is going in a different direction, the opening volume is in the vein of Jordan or Brooks, to set expectations that may later be violated; so if you aren't down with those cats . . . well, you'll see.

I feel that the structure of the tale should have called for more misdirection and violated expectations in this opening installment. Waiting for the subsequent volumes to pull the rug from underneath readers might be too late for many of them. Given the mixed reviews The Unremembered has garnered so far, I have a feeling that quite a few SFF fans won't be back for more. And this time, maybe James Frenkel should read both The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, just in case.

Disappointing. . .

The final verdict: 6.5/10

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