Black Sun Rising

Coldfire Trilogy, Book 1

By: C. S. Friedman

Narrated by: R.C. Bray

Length: 23 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

The Coldfire trilogy tells a story of discovery and battle against evil on a planet where a force of nature exists that is capable of reshaping the world in response to psychic stimulus. This terrifying force, much like magic, has the power to prey upon the human mind, drawing forth a person's worst nightmare images or most treasured dreams, and indiscriminately giving them life.

This is the story of two men: one, a warrior priest ready to sacrifice anything and everything for the cause of humanity's progress; the other, a sorcerer who has survived for countless centuries by a total submission to evil. They are absolute enemies who must unite to conquer an evil greater than anything their world has ever known.

©1991 C.S. Friedman (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Great book with awesome characters.

This book flew by. Moving on and starting the next book right away. If you like sci-fi and fantasy this book is a perfect blend. Good and evil gets blurred by the main characters and draws you in.

Colonial fantasy done right

I have an MA in English, focusing on decolonization, from one of the better programs that focuses on such topics. I was recommended this book due to my interest in fantasy as a space for imagining solutions to impossible problems surrounding colonialism.

It starts out as rocky as fantasy usually does. I won't lie, I don't LOVE fantasy. I haven't even been a fan since a Robert Jordan phase in my mid-teens. But, past the gamey dialogue between Damien and Cianni, I was hooked -- excited, even. Gerald Tarrant was just so goddamn fascinating: A colonial lord, trading his heritage and family future in order to codify a religion that would solidify his colonial construct. Damien's struggle to grapple with this is especially intriguing, as I personally resonate with his plight -- I was raised Christian and have since been hit over the head with discovering that my church's founder was a monster.

I don't mean to say you need to relate, just that Damien's experiences are grounded in realism -- which is impressively rare in fantasy, which deals more often in shallow aesthetic than true thematic depth.

I finished the whole Trilogy and my review is that this is a fabulously dark, but enlightening conversation on what colonization looks like from the perspective of two men who have very different roles in the system. And that's a hard enough book to find that I recommend it whenever I find it.

An okay book

It was an okay book, just didn't grab me. The world and magic was more interesting than the characters or story.

A Dark Epic Fantasy

This book is dark, and it is serious. Book has very interesting settings as well as characters. I always wanted to read a book with a vampire type creature in epic fantasy, and this book does a justice to that specific type of fiction. Vampire discussed in this book, is intelligent, powerful and mysterious. This Vampire has done what an intelligent being with such power would do. As evil as this vampire is described to be, it is still not the main bad guy of the book.

This book is also about conflict, intrigue and pragmatism. A priest that is in conflict within his own church with a lot of intrigue; a conflicted but necessary relationship between a priest and a vampire both of whom cant stand each other, but had to work together to achieve a goal.

This book has a lot of substance, and it brought to light with a very good narrator. Narration is correctly done that it is not overly dramatic, nor it is too passive for the story.

I already am on the second book, and I would recommend this book for folks who are interested in reading a fantasy book with interesting settings and with dark background throughout the book.

Interesting Concept but Tedious

When I first started listening to this book I was very hopeful. It has an interesting conceit - a world which contains a force that responds to human thoughts and shapes the physical environment accordingly. I found the protagonist, a warrior-priest with a mission, a refreshing change from the usual.

Alas, I got bogged down in the book and found getting to the end difficult. The development of the plot and the characters did not fulfill the original promise. Instead, the story became tedious and repetitive. Motivations were not clear. By the end I didn't care anymore.

Too bad, because it had a great concept.

That being said, others seem to like the book so read the reviews carefully. Perhaps it will be your cuppa tea. Sadly, it was not mine.

A little less drama, please.

I felt like this could have been a much better book if it hadn't taken itself so seriously and gotten bogged down in how the protagonist and antagonist felt about each other (and everything else) all the time. I mean, seriously, I don't care how they feel. Let's just get through this plot. I'm not against a little introspection, but this was ridiculous.
I guess I shouldn't be too hard on it. The idea was good; very interesting. It just moved so slowly. I never get bored mid-book... except for this one.
Sadly, I won't be finishing this series.

Coldfire Prelude

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

If you are not familiar with this author and/or story, the Prelude in Book two is a must read/hear before reading the first book as it explains so much of the ground work/foundation of the story line. I was lost for a lot of this first book and found it more interesting after listening to the start of the second book. That said, after the Prolog in book 2 is a complete rundown of book one, so avoid that. The author is very wordy and takes a lot of time to develop a story...this was the first time I thought about the abridged version.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Trying to figure out what was going on.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Somewhat. Some of the character accents seemed silly, like the Dracula voice.

Do you think Black Sun Rising needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

The story was complete, but the world created has a lot of room for exploration in narrative form.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the book, but it has some real slow areas. I am finishing book two now and will get the third one as well.

Fantastic book

I loved reading this book when I was younger, and I really liked the audio version. the narrator's cadence and voice work were excellent.

Second times tthe Charm

I first came across this book when i was in middle school. I have to admit that many of the concepts and layers of this story flew right over my head at that point in my life. When I was browsing the audio books last year i came across the series and decided i would give them a listen seeing as i literally only remembered one scene in the whole book.
BOY AM I GLAD I DID!
Not only does R.C. Bray do a fantastic job of giving individual life to each character, but the story is rich and i was invested in the characters within the first few chapters! 22yrs makes a huge difference in my understanding of the book and its subplots. The writing is fantastic and i have to say that Gerald Terrant is my favorite character ever, but only if R.C Bray has anything to do with it!

The Sun Also Rises

First read this favorite a long time ago, been meaning to reread it, but figured I'd go with the audiobook and wow, was I rewarded!
Spectacular narration and characterization!