{"id":262,"date":"2006-06-01T21:32:26","date_gmt":"2006-06-02T04:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=262"},"modified":"2021-05-30T21:33:42","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T01:33:42","slug":"the-charmed-sphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/262","title":{"rendered":"The Charmed Sphere"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Charmed Sphere<\/em> (2004) Catherine Asaro<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

In the kingdom of Aronsdale, the king must be wed to the strongest female mage of his generation. Chime is an untrained mage, unable to control her powers and unwilling to use them, but stronger than any other known mage. Muller is heir to the throne only because a series of accidents have removed all those between him and the crown. Together they must deal with the lives fate has dealt them, and learn to accept their destinies.<\/p>\n

This book invoked a strong feeling in me, however, that feeling was the desire to finish the book as fast as possible so I could read something else. It’s not that this was a bad book, because it wasn’t. Nor was it a poorly written book. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about the characters. Chime and Muller both came across as brats at the start of the story, and although they grew up during the course of the story, the interest I felt in them was what you feel when conversation paratrooping. You’re curious as to what happened, but not involved with any of the participants.<\/p>\n

Which is too bad, because I thought the story was interesting. I just couldn’t bring myself to care enough about what happened to any one involved, especially when I was pretty certain that they were all going to survive to live happily ever after.<\/p>\n

I also took issue with some of the events in the book. “Dani” has been blind, deaf, and mute since he was six, yet when he miraculous recovers after fourteen years, he speaks not in childish sentences, but like a grown-up. (Never mind the fact that I’m not sure he would have retained even the verbal capacity he had as a child after that many years.) Then, there’s the fact that they’re willing to accept a probable lunatic as king, and an untrained and uneducated peasant as queen to rule, yet Muller is worried about being rejected because of his screwed up mage abilities? I find that… improbable.<\/p>\n

I also found it hard to believe that a matriarchy and a patriarchy could exist independently within the same kingdom, without the values of either rubbing off on each other, OR without the conflict between the two becoming the main theme of the story. Yet these cultural differences are brought up only in passing, and then pretty much shrugged off. I’d rather these ideas hadn’t been brought up at all, than to treat them only as a quick solution to a small problem.<\/p>\n

Nice cover though.<\/p>\n

As I said, the writing wasn’t bad, and the story was okay, I just couldn’t bring myself to care at all about the characters, nor to feel any concern over their problems and predicaments. So this book was a disappointment, but that disappointment was not really a surprise.
\nRating:4\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Charmed Sphere (2004) Catherine Asaro In the kingdom of Aronsdale, the king must be wed to the strongest female mage of his generation. Chime is an untrained mage, unable to control her powers and unwilling to use them, but stronger than any other known mage. Muller is heir to the throne only because a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-paper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-4e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":221,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/221","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":0},"title":"Abandoned Books","author":"Michelle","date":"April 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across a comment in passing that gave me pause to consider what I've been writing here. Specifically, I don't review a lot of books I don't like. There's a very good reason for this--I usally don't read books I don't like. When I pick up a book I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dislike\/Abandon"","block_context":{"text":"Dislike\/Abandon","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/disliked-or-abandoned"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/7","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":1},"title":"Paper Mage","author":"Michelle","date":"January 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Paper Mage by Leah R. Cutter Xiao Yen, hero of Paper Mage is a dutiful daughter, dutiful niece, and practicing paper mage. The book is set in the Tang Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (China about the time of the European Middle Ages), and the magic is quite unlike any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/01\/Paper-Mage.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17645,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/17645","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":2},"title":"Minor Mage","author":"Michelle","date":"August 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Minor Mage (2019) T. Kingfisher Oliver is a minor mage. He might become more powerful, because he's only twelve, but right now he only has three spells. Unfortunately, the town has decided that he must go to the mountains to fetch the rain, before the drought ruins everyone. Of course,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Minor Mage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Minor-Mage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Minor-Mage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Minor-Mage.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Minor-Mage.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1385,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1385","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":3},"title":"Host","author":"Michelle","date":"October 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Host (2007) Faith Hunter This seems to be the conclusion of Faith Hunters Rogue Mage series. I say seems to be, because although the story arc was completed, there were threads left hanging. Now that could be good story telling, or she could be hoping to add to the series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"host","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/host.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21849,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21849","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":4},"title":"Fated, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"April 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Fated, Audio Edition (2012\/2013) Benedict Jacka narrated by Gildart Jackson (Alex Verus) Alex Verus runs a magic shop in London--however he doesn't sell tricks, but ingredients and tools for mages. Although he is a mage, he doesn't have the powers one initially thinks of, because Alex is a diviner. If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fated","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/fated.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":392,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/392","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":5},"title":"Beneath the Vaulted Hills","author":"Michelle","date":"June 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Beneath the Vaulted Hills (1997) Sean Russell I've always been fond of Sean Russell's books. They're dense and complex, and I often understand them better on the second reading. But they're also beautifully crafted works full of marvelous characters. Unfortunately, Sean Russell has not published many books. Nine fantasy novels\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/Beneath-the-Vaulted-Hills.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}