An underwhelming collaboration from some greats

Disclaimer: I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Black Trillium was first published in the early nineties, a joint effort of three respected fantasy authors now turning their collective attentions toward a trio of three royal sisters who are fated to restore balance to the world.

It’s now being republished with a neat new cover but, unfortunately, the formulaic story with three heroines who may as well be stock characters for all of the depth they do not possess is unlikely to thrill readers in 2015.

Essentially, this is an adventure story which is necessitated by the invasion of the peaceful, friendly kingdom of Ruwenda. To reclaim their throne and undo the harm wrought by the foreign nasties, the three princesses need to each locate a sacred talisman and use it for the force of good. Along the way, they will learn about themselves and confront their weaknesses. What this boils down to is that each princess is assigned a basic character archetype (which is, rather amazingly, signified by her hair color) and then she needs to learn to not be so… that.

Kadiya, the red-haired one, is the warrior woman. She disdains lady-princess stuff and so, she learned to fight! And longs to rush into battle because she is woman, hear her roar! She has a sword! Anigel, the blonde one, is sweet, innocent, pure of heart, and utterly useless in stressful situations, because she falls apart at the sight of anything that’s not shiny, or the touch of anything that’s not soft. Haramis, the black-haired one, is a thinker. She likes books and logic and bossing around her two sisters because she knows so much better than them and they’re both so darn quick to emotion. SPOILER ALERT: in learning to be “better,” the only one who really drastically improves is witless Anigel, because by necessity going on a perilous adventure through unfamiliar jungle improves one’s survival skills and general sense of courage. The epiphanies had by the other two can be summed up as “Perhaps I should think through this battle plan a bit before diving headfirst into it,” and “My sisters, though not as measured as I, still deserve my respect for being the imperfect creatures they are.”

So, you know, not much really in the way of character development. This goes doubly, or triply, so for the supporting characters, who are either noble savages, savage savages, a benevolent and ambiguously helpful Archimage (Lady Gandalf), or a mustache-twirling evil sorcerer who wants to take over the world.

There is, overall, nothing in this book that isn’t completely expected or that doesn’t check a well-worn high fantasy trope. I’m giving it two stars instead of one in the event that it may actually be intended for a younger (i.e. middle school) audience, even though I can’t find anything in the marketing to indicate that this may be the case. That would be the only slight excuse for its utter lack of sophistication, though it would probably still be outclassed by many of its contemporaries.