Nobody's Son

by Sean Stewart

Book Overview

Suddenly Shielder's Mark is living a fairy tale come true.A commoner's son, he has broken the spell of Red Keep. And now he can collect the reward the king promised -- whatever he names. Smitten, he... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441001289
• ISBN13: 9780441001286
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

This unusual story succeeds on several levels. Plotting is good, with fast action and unexpected plot twists. Characterization is excellent, with 3 dimensional people. The psychological aspects of tensions between fathers and son are woven beautifully into the plot with several variations on the same theme. A very offbeat love story is also part of the plot. The book retains interest even on re-reading.

A story which starts where most end

This is a fantasy story which starts where most end: when the hero vanquishes the evil in the land and goes to claim his prize.The Ghostwood has been the evil in the heart of the kingdom for a thousand years, and for most of that time, the best, bravest and most noble heros have gone to try and vanqish it, for the prize is no other than any wish they may make of the king. For all that time none of these great heros succeded or came back - till Shielder's Mark did. And there's the problem, because Mark is no noble hero in the traditional sense, instead he is a pratical pesant with big dreams. Mark claims his princess and finds out how much the fairy tales *didn't* say.This is a well written novel. Aimed for "young adults" it can be read by anyone who enjoys an original, well written fantasy story. All the characters have a depth and honesty to them that is refreshing, and the writing style is descriptive without going overboard. Having read this book, I now plan to look up more works by this author, who appears to be a hidden gem of the fantasy/young adult market.

Award-winning fantasy about sons and their unlovable fathers

"Nobody's Son" succeeds as both a fantasy and as a psychological study of an over-achieving hero who is four years old when his father deserts their family. Normally the phrase `psychological study' would be the kiss of death for a fantasy, but Sean Stewart's characters are the opposite of pretentious, navel-gazers. They're introspective, but they're also over-achievers and likeable to boot. His hero, Shielder's Mark is a shrewd young commoner who succeeds in shattering an age-old spell and winning the hand of a princess. He then blunders through the courtly landscape and into marriage, wears an awful hat through much of the book because the woman he loves made it for him (out of a corset and badly dyed leather), and forges his own demesne out of land that no one else would have because it was haunted. Sean Stewart tells his tale of "Nobody's Son" almost backwards---or at least his real story begins where most fairy tales end---in the `happily ever after.' Time itself shuttles backward, forward, round and round like an industrious orb-weaver. Shielder's Mark crosses a bridge that collapsed fifty generations past. He accidentally conjures up a dead hero and steals his sword. He loans his own sword to a man whose bones crumble to dust the next morning. In his `happily ever after,' Mark learns that he now must vanquish the ghosts he let back into the world when he destroyed the spell of the Red Keep. He also needs to learn that his "strange, proud, fierce, fox-faced" princess-bride, "chose him as much as he chose her." Read this Aurora Award winner for its engaging characters, for its wonderful, offbeat love story, and for the dire spell of the Red Keep, where Shielder's Mark must confront his own past and intervene in a patricide that took place before he was born.

Why is this book out of stock everywhere?

I have been using the top 100 fantasy web pageto get ideas of what to read, and for the most part, the favorites of the masses have been helpful recommendations. This book was ranked rather high, so I kept an eye out for it... for two years. Nowhere to be found. Even here. Yet you can read here that its won some prestigeous awards. After finally finding a copy in a dusty library, I rushed home to read it aware that it had been built up in my mind for all this time- and it in no way disappointed! A decent culture, and fun delemas and situations, but what made this stand alone story really shine was the characters. Nothing steriotypical about them. They are real people in a very imaginative, yet realistic world. It may be tough at first to get used to his style, and the speaking habits of his characters, but twenty pages in it doesnt phase you, and by the end of the book you want more.

After the happily ever after

A very sophisticated novel which uses the language of fairy tales to explore marriage, growing up without a father, coming to grips with adult responsibilities, and dealing with the past. This book brings an unusual level of realism to the fantasy genre. While the action sequences are as thrilling and scary as any in the genre, they take a back seat to the primary story, which is about Mark's growth from a young man controlled by his past and desperate for love and a place in the world to a mature husband and father-to-be who has made peace with his demons. Moving, believable, and often funny, with excellent characterization and dialogue. One of Stewart's best... and that's saying a lot.