The world of Elyonia (at least the portion the reader sees)
is divided into two races. Dartarians
who can wield the powers of the four elements. And Alineans who, well, cannot.
Though these people have periods of co-existence, xenophobia and fear leads to
frequent warfare between them, with both sides rising to power at various times
in history. When Silas of Erithia opens, the Dartarian King Eldon has led his
people to completely dominate the Alineans, turning them into second-class
citizens who can be executed for the merest slight. Silas himself is a young
Alinean man just trying to survive along with his family when a minor theft he
committed years ago leads to him being drawn into the bigger battle that is
quickly tearing his land to pieces.
The chapters are told from multiple perspectives from both
Alinean and Dartarian characters. Even the villain, King Eldon, gets a few
chapters, and while I can’t say they make him any more sympathetic- he still
comes off as an arrogant and cruel genocidal tyrant- it is actually interesting
to see that his convictions about his people’s superiority seem to have
squeezed out any drop of kindness in him.
The titular Silas is a rather passive protagonist,
particularly when contrasted with the merchant Jervis, or Sabina, a “celebrity”
of sorts among the people of Elyonia. Things generally happen to Silas rather than him taking any
direct action to his fate beyond a self-sacrifice he makes late in the book.
However, revelations near the end of the novel indicate that there is much more
to Silas than we have realized, and he will become a more active force in the
shaping of his world in future books.
The story of Jervis the merchant is gripping, though. He
immediately comes off as a pretty decent guy (primarily because his introduction
shows him buying slaves from an underground market to rescue them from their
fate). You very much want to see him escape the thugs pursuing him through the
underground ruins of the old Elyonian capital.
Sabina the young Dartarian champion is also interesting.
Like Jervis she has a kind heart, and is horrified when she sees the atrocities
being committed against the Alineans. She does come off as a bit naive at
times, though this may be due to her sheltered upbringing among the higher
classes of Dartarians. After all, how many well-off people in our own modern
culture would be shocked and mortified at the severity with which their
seemingly benevolent culture mistreats those who are branded Other.
Like many epic fantasies, Silas of Erithia opens with a
detailed description of the world and how it differs from our own. While these
sorts of deep background exposition- what are sometimes pejoratively call “info
dumps”- may be off-putting to some readers, I rather enjoyed it. It helped me
get a deeper sense of the world that Silas and his friends inhabit.
The narration has a distinct “high fantasy” flavor to it
reminiscent of E.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros or the stylized tone used by
Fritz Leiber for his tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or even Gene Wolfe’s
Book of the New Sun. Some might find that this tone makes it tougher to engage
with the characters, particularly in action scenes. Nevertheless, once you get
used to the style it does add to the feeling that you are reading about another
world.
The one major critique I have is that book drops a number of
exotic animal names without any description or clue as to what these creatures
look like. What is a darilla? Or a krag? Or a menalpo, a tarpuk, a vlarn, a
brym and so on? t may be a minor complaint, but I cannot help feeling like I am
missing part of the world-building by not being able to picture these strange
beasts. Assuming, of course, that these aren’t just the Elyonian names for
familiar Earth beasts.
Overall, though, Silas of Erithia is an engaging fantasy
read, particularly if you’re a fan of classic adventure fantasy like the Sword
of Shannara or Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s Dragonlance Chronicles.
