Critique en anglais ; cliquez ici pour la version française.
Going against storms from the Lower Slopes toward the Upper Reaches, a group of twenty-three adventurers is trying to reach the other side of the world to discover the origin of the wind. They were born, and raised to fight this battle, but will they succeed against the nine forms of the gale? Especially when even their order wants them to fail and has no plan in sending after them another horde… The 34th Horde has no choice: they must succeed. At what price…
Here is our review of the Horde of Counterwind!
The Horde of Counterwind is a unique story in many ways. The first thing you will notice as you start the book is that, just like the characters, you are going upward a stream, and thus, you start at page 700 and go down till page 1. Then, you will notice a first sentence made only of punctuation, and that each paragraph starts with a symbol.
It is because Alain Damasio wrote the story from many points-of-views: each member of the Horde has their symbol – and not just at the beginning of each paragraph. No name to tell you who’s telling the story, no. You jump from character to character in a matter of lines. That makes the pace fast, and intriguing, because you only have the thoughts of the character, none of their knowledge, and thus, despite seeing things from some who have more answers than others, you’re kept guessing till the very end. Which is, you know, something really enjoyable in a book !
Not to worry though! With the book comes a bookmark listing each symbol and the character owning it, as well as their title/function in the Horde (though I am not sure we should thank Folio or Damasio).
As you might have guessed already, I loved the book. But since I am writing a review, I have to be honest: it is one of the most difficult books I have read. I read often, and usually quite fast: about a hundred pages in an hour in my mother tongue. The Horde of Counterwind took me about twelve hours for seven hundred pages, so almost the double time. The vocabulary is unique and entirely made-up by Damasio, and unless the concept is altogether new to one character, and that character is asking for an explanation, you won’t get one, and you will have to understand by yourself what is each thing. And because the book starts in the middle of an action, in a world you don’t know, in a situation you have never heard of, with many, maaaaany characters (twenty-three!), and the story-telling point of view changing every few lines, it is at first hard to get into and to grasp what is happening.
Hopefully, however, you will be able to get past that. Because if you do, I promise you are in for a treat.
The story is a masterpiece. At the end, you realize the universe might not be as unique, or mind-blowing, as those of Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter maybe. But it is well-built, and a few very important elements (guess what: yes, the wind) make it come to life, and take over all the rest. And thanks to that universe, you follow an adventure you will not find anywhere else. What is this world that starts in the west, and whose other end has never been found? Why is the wind ever-blowing, and so destructive? Why are those twenty-three protagonists going against it, risking their lives for it, with the knowledge that everybody else has failed for eight centuries, and that the wind will be their death?
Second, since we are on the topic, the characters are what makes this story unique and unforgettable.
Not all the characters are lovable. But most are, and those who are not make as much sense as those who are. You have read me rant about the too many characters of the Knights of Emerald – so why am I not put off by those of the Horde of Counterwind? Well, I was, at first. As I said, it was hard to read. But each of them has a role to play in the story. Of course, not all are very developed. But thanks to the first-person narrative, we get to feel for them what the person feeling the story is feeling for them. You get to know them by how the other perceives them, by how they act around them, by their character development.
It is too many characters indeed. And too many introduced at once. Almost till the end of the story I was checking the bookmark. But you spend more time with the important ones, the ones making the story happen, the ones making decisions, and in the end, you feel for all of them. Which is the most important !
One thing, though, I did not like, was the lack of fluidity in the characters. You will only find five female characters, all of them pretty, and most of them sticking to roles traditionally associated with women (healer, cook…). And of course, no LGBTQ+ characters.
Last, but not least, the finale was absolutely amazing. Tension rises all through the book, as dangers come more and more unexpectedly. And till the end, you’re kept guessing about who will survive, who will die, how, when… Whether they will reach the end of the world or not, whether they will find the origin of the wind… No spoilers: but the last pages were mind-blowing!
I would definitely advise reading the Horde of Counterwind – in a quiet environment, when you can focus. You will not forget it anytime soon!
And for those who might be put off by the too many characters and cannot remember them all, a comic was drawn based on the book!
To read if you liked:
- Dune – Frank Herbert
- Hyperion – Dan Simmons
- Les Furtifs – Alain Damasio
- The Belgariad – David Eddings
La Souris de Bibliothèque 