''Banewreaker'' is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

novel by

Jacqueline Carey Jacqueline A. Carey (born October 9, 1964)"Jacqueline Carey – Summary Bib ...

. It is Carey's fourth novel and the first in ''The Sundering'' series. ''Banewreaker'' is set in Urulat, a world based on

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...

, and many of the plot points mirror ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

''. The novel received mixed reaction, and has not achieved the popularity of the ''

Kushiel's Legacy ''Kushiel's Legacy'' is a series of fantasy novels by Jacqueline Carey, comprising the Phèdre Trilogy and the Imriel Trilogy (called the "Treason's Heir" trilogy in the United Kingdom). Since the series features a fictional version of medieval ...

'' books.

Influences

Carey has acknowledged that the book is based around Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', as well as the classical

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

form, reversing the

good versus evil In religion, ethics, philosophy, and psychology "good and evil" is a very common dichotomy. In cultures with Manichaeism, Manichaean and Abrahamic religious influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic cosmology, dualistic antagonistic oppos ...

scheme of Tolkien by telling the story as an "epic tragedy" from the perspective of the characters who are perceived by most of Urulat as "evil". Carey stated that "it departs from convention in one significant way, which is that it's sympathetic to the losing side, and over the course of the two volumes, the story emerges as one long, colossal tragedy."On the Spot at BookSpotCentral - Jacqueline Carey interview
BookSpotCentral, July 26, 2005 The novel begins with a quote from John Milton's " Paradise Lost".

References

External links

* 2004 American novels American fantasy novels Tor Books books {{2000s-fantasy-novel-stub