Wraeththu: The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit, The Bewitchments of Love and Hate, The Fulfilments of Fate and Desire

SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS, NOT SURE HOW SIGNIFICANT THEY ARE IN A GLOBAL SCHEME OF THE EPIC BUT BEWARE ANYWAY.Till the third book that is. I mean, I enjoyed reading this book if only to enjoy the writing of the master, because Ms.Constantine's writing skill is truly amazing, but underlying philosophy in this book just does not speak to me much. And I really wanted to love Cal and Pel's love story, but since we are not in Cal's head for the first two books I really did not get a sense that Cal felt just as strongly about Pel as Pel felt about him.While I understand that Wraethfu stands for allegory for the spiritual and other betterment of the humanity, I just felt so bad for poor dying humanity for the most part of the books and just resented those perfect beings who come to take humanity's place, if that makes sense. I guess because myself I do not feel a perfect being and feel a part of imperfect humanity? I do not know, I cannot explain it any better. And I especially resented the forceful transformation of the human kids and my goodness how I pitied Pel. Of course we know that it is his destiny, etc, etc and he turned out to really want it, but I still feel bad for the human boy he was.And my goodness I really really started to hate Gelaming in book two. Do like us or die or be tortured philosophy never appealed to me in real life or fiction. I thought Tiegran committed monstrous deeds, but what Thiede and Pelaz inflicted upon him, and his death was to me the saddest part of this book, period. It seems to me that these perfect beings know very little about the good parts of this wretched humanity, about friendship,loyalty, self sacrifice, which I think they would do good to adopt, but hey what do I know.I enjoyed book three the most, where I finally started to accept Cal as tortured soul instead of just amoral and sometimes murderous being whom I had little if any sympathy for.I was told that in books four - six some Wraethfu decide that they made mistakes in the past by forcefully pulling other tribes to their way of life. We shall see, I am certainly continuing to read it, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe gelaming will learn more respect for beings who want to live differently from them.Please do not get me wrong, I of course only described my emotional reactions, the book as work of art deserves ten stars in my opinion, but maybe my emotional reactions will be of help to readers for whom it may trigger similar negative responses.

I first read Storm Constantine with the novel The Crown of Silence, and after that first, unpleasant, experience, I'd decided to avoid all of Mrs. Constantine's writing like the plague. I'm not some one who likes reading about gay sex, homo erotic imagery, or anything of that nature. I have no problem with a persons right to chose an alternative life style, but, being a heterosexual myself-and very happy with that decision- I don't want to explore another persons sexuality. So, when I first read about the Wraeththu series, learned it was about hermaphrodites who re[lace human beings, my first thought was that of one of the other reviewers; this sounded like some retarded gay fantasy where women are replaced by over sexed, romantic novel style gay men.What eventually changed this opinion was when I found out she'd co-written a book with Michael Moorcock, as well as the summer I decided to completely examine everything created by Clive Barker. Once I'd gotten through both Barker and Moorcock's work, I suddenly found myself wondering if my opinion concerning Storm Constantine was short sighted, or for that matter, misinterpreted. That's when I found a website with the first three Wraeththu novels online, and god had I ever been so wrong about a series...Wraeththu is an impressive first work for any author. There is a certain amount of emotional immaturity on the authors part, but this by no means takes away from the story. However I would warn any reader that this book will make you a bit confused when it comes to painting a mental picture of the character; these moments being in the more intamite moments between characters. It becomes difficult to decide, in ones mind, whether or not to imagine these hermaphrodites as being more like women or men. At the same time, this is a successful sign, because, since nearly everyone is a true he/she (with both working sex organs), one is forced to wonder over said characters mental decisions as to if they may choose to be more masculine or feminine.As for the story, it is by no means a gay fantasy. Rather then the fact that the first three books are from the male perspective, you can't actually like the same sex if everyone is both. Still there are some moments when some scenes do feel a bit uncomfortable, especially when talking about the species reproductive process, but this doesn't take away from the story itself. In many ways this is a series that puts a new spin on the average apocalyptic science fiction sub genre, and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves engaging characters in both sci-fi, and epic fantasy novels.

In an alternate reality, something has happened to humanity. Nuclear war,pollution, degradation...and amid the waste a new mysterious terrific mutation:the Wraeththu. Pell has heard terrible things about them, but he doubts they'll come to his farm to take him away.Then, the unknown arrives, a traveler:"I am Cal", he says.So begins one of the most original, intriguing and fascinating fantasy series of all-times. Humanity evolves in the Wraeththu race, hermaphroditic beings of intriguing beauty, some cruel and savage, some enlightened and righteous. Storm Constantine unravel magnificently the history and the personalities of the main charachters (Pell the innocent whose inception has been pre-ordained by higher powers, Cal the har whit a past,fascinating trickster whit which everyone falls in love, Cobweb the strange intriguing sorcerous beauty married to the tyrant Terzian,Swift their ambiguous son) while describing the evolution of Wraeththu society from caos to civilization. Uncannily magic, the story revolves essentially around the love of Calanthe and Pell, separated dramatically to fulfill the plans of the shamanic Thiede.Cal shall return to Pell, after an initiatic voyage that will bring him in contact whit many Wraeththu tribes whose bizarre and diverse costumes and cities Storm describes whit the skill of a Jack Vance.Fantastic that his story is, there is in some moments an uncannily resemblance to recenthistory. The Hegemony of Immanion debating whether the righteous Gelaming should attack the cruel Varrs will ring some bell...In conclusion, this is one of the best literary achievement of the fantastic genre. It is at the same level of Asimov's Foundation (and the skirmish between Pellaz and Ashmael and the political debates have some Asimovian flavor), Tolkien's Lord of The Ring (the evil Ponclast's city Fulminir recalls vaguely Mordor, The Gelaming recall the High Elves) and Clive Barker's Imajica (where there is an androgyne tribe, the Eurhetemec, and their mystif Pie oh-Pah seems a Nahir-Nuri Wraeththu)Read it, it's worth it!

This is one of the most interesting books i have read in a long while, and if you are looking for something unique and original in the sometimes tedious fantasy and sci-fi genres than this is a book to try out. Warning, you have to be quite open minded to enjoy these books, as it does explore same genre relationships (though not really because wraeththu are both equally male and female) as well as other potentially upsetting topics. But in my opinion it is worth the gamble, because it has great plot, characters and world building wich is only emphasized by Storm's wonderful writing.

I was delighted to find that I could still get hold of a copy; as its a book I wanted to re-read.

Ein unglaubliches Buch - spannend, phantasievoll, einfühlsam und intensiv.Ich habe es vor einem Jahr gelesen und denke heute noch ab und zu daran.Sowohl die Charakteren, als auch die Welt in der sie leben, sind unglaublich eindrucksvoll und nachvollziehbar dargestellt.Dieses Buch ist eigen in seiner Art und dementsprechend nachhaltig.

Absolument magnifique! Une oeuvre étrange, troublante, envoûtante dès les premières pages et très très très sensuelle... Dans un futur proche sur la Terre, l'humanité se déchire et risque de disparaître. Une nouvelle race hermaphrodite apparaît: les Wraeththu. Ils sont créés à partir de la transformation d'humain mâles, et les transformations se multiplient, de gré ou de force... C'est dans ce contexte troublé que Pellaz, un charmant jeune homme, va rencontrer Cal, un jeune Wraeththu troublant au charme dévastateur... Magique!!