Lord of the Changing Winds (Rachel Neumeier)

Lord of the Changing Winds
(The Griffin Mage trilogy, Book 1)
Rachel Neumeier
Orbit
Fiction, Fantasy
*** (Okay)

DESCRIPTION: In the kingdom of Feierabiand, earth magic pulses through the populace. Many have the gift of making or an affinity with animals, and some few even have a strong enough bond and a deep enough devotion to become full-fledged earth mages. But timid Kes is simply an ordinary girl from a small mountain village; aside from her mundane talent for healing, she has shown no mage signs by her fifteenth year. Then the griffins come over the mountains, and everything changes.
Griffins are creatures of fire and air. Their shadows are as flames, and where they lay deserts sprout. To see them over the skies of green Feierabiand, whose earth magic should be repellant to their fire natures, is indeed a troubling sign... but not to Kes. She is enraptured by their majesty, even as they make themselves at home on the mountains above. Soon, she finds herself among them, summoned by a mage who is not what he seems to be, and wakening to a fiery gift within her own heart that could consume her very earthborn humanity. She also learns that the griffins did not come to this land by choice; they were driven here, by enemies who may soon bring the whole of Feierabiand to its knees. The realms of fire and earth are natural enemies - can even the threat of a greater darkness bring them together?

REVIEW: I bought this book because it's about griffins. I like griffins. I even liked Neumeier's griffins: proud and majestic to a fault, their blood falling as rubies and opals to the desert sands, they are not simply odd-looking humans, but follow an alien, even animalistic thought process. I wanted to like this book more than I did, but it kept tripping itself up. A mind-numbing abundance of four- and five-syllable names, most very similar in look and feel, left me guessing half the time who was talking to whom about what. Kes's shyness flickers and gutters like a windblown candle, tending to cause plot-prolonging flare-ups of temper and why-me whining amid long stretches of overall spinelessness unbecoming a heroine. Other characters also suffer from similar mood afflictions; at some point, I was ready to reach into the book and smack each and every one of them across the face... often more than one point, to be perfectly honest. Neumeier also drops in large chunks of world-building exposition that feel forced, as characters inexplicably contemplate the paths of roads and rivers they often aren't even following through towns and countrysides that have no bearing on themselves or the plot. There were, of course, some high points, aside from the aforementioned griffins. The world's magic system is nicely realized, and I liked some of the descriptions. Overall, I had to push myself to keep going just a little too often to merit a four-star Good rating... or even a three-and-a-half. I don't expect I'll follow this trilogy through the second book unless I find it for an exceptionally good price.