Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Elantris
Written by Brandon Sanderson
Published by Tor Fantasy
638 pages (paperback version)

Elantris is the first book written by Brandon Sanderson. In paperback at least, it's a weighty tome clocking in at over six hundred pages. Took me a little while to digest it.

The concept is a solid one. Elantris, the 'city of the gods', has fallen. Those who once did magic that could heal wounds and create light and energy for their people lost their abilities overnight and they were quickly slain.

This did not stop the 'gifting' of Elantris, where people outside the city would once become like those of Elantris, powerful and silvery skinned, but now, their bodies 'die' and they are cast into Elantris which is more akin to the city of Dis, a city of the damned.

The back cover brings us three main characters:

Raoden: He's the prince of the city outside Elantris proper. He works against his father's ways. In ma ways, Raoden is far too modern for the times he finds himself living in. One thing I appreciate about Raoden, is that he's an optimist. He's always searching for answers. He's always looking for the biggest reasons why. He's always trying to minimize violence and harm to others.

It's a refreshing chance of corse. In many tales, the hero is so grim, so gritty, that at times, I would love to see him killed off just so that someone more interesting can replace him. Being a bitter washed up old hero is played out.

Hrathen is a high priest of the country of Fjordell. He's been sent to Raoden's country of Arelon to convert the people. That didn't work out too well for the last country Hrathen converted. Turns out that when you turn the common folks against their rulers, a massacre when thousands, if not tens of thousands of people can happen.

I was pleasantly surprised by Hrathen several times. While he plays the 'villain' of the piece to a point, he's much more complex than merely a ranting religious figure that all the woes of humanity can be tied onto.

He's clever. He appreciates those who share this trait. He's not a devout fanatic and is even brought to the point where he has to consciously question his faith and how that faith interacts with the organized religion. In these things, Sanderson doesn't' paint any one character with too broad a brush save perhaps the actual zealots, but I found Hrathen very entertaining and interesting in his own right.

Sarene is another character born out of time. A tall woman whose height intimidates some, her willingness to wade deep into political matters that in Arelon at least, were only considered things for men to discuss.

She brings swordplay to the ladies of the court as a hobby to the women. She runs an alliance against the actual king of Arelon. She is a princess of Teod and now of Arelon and she is not to be ignored.

As a done in one novel, Sanderson brings the main body of the story to a close, but he leaves a lot of events open-ended. Looking at the book, I see there is now The Emperor's Soul, book 2 in the Elantris series.

When I get my reading queue a little more organized, it's one I'm going to have to check out. I enjoyed Mistborn. I found the ending of that series to be a neat switch on the whole 'one of prophecy bit' and I find that Elantris also does a good job of moving some of the troupes around.

Brandon's enjoyment of making magic systems with their own rules and rituals is clear in the series. His ability to work events and tie in different elements is solid. Stories from the start of the book come to have a greater impact towards the end. He's truly a believer of the whole gun from the first chapter getting used in later chapters.

If you're a fan of fantasy novels, especially high fantasy novels, Elantris is a solid read.

The Death of Promises: The Half Orcs Book III

Book Three of the Half-Orcs brings us up to The Death of Promises. Written by David Dalglish, this volume brings a lot of the Paladins work into the Half-Orcs in a much fuller manner than previously.

Before I ramble on too much though, let me just point out that the cover featuring one of the two paladins of Ashur left alive, whose divine power comes not through his sword, but through his shield, is facing off against the magic-wielding half-orc and his unnamed flaming whip. It's a fantastic piece. The necromantic presence of the undead behind the half-orc, the clash of contrast of the warm colors off the whip against the cool colors of the shield. It's a great piece.


The cast of characters and the world building continue to grow.Quarrah Tun and his insane lover Tessanna, who it turns out is essentially an avatar of the Earth Goddess of this setting, decide the best way to move onto their next steps, is to steal an ancient tome and learn it's secrets.

That tome is being held in a church of the 'good' god of the setting, Ashur. So doing what any good necromancer would, Quarrah raises the dead of that god and attacks the church leading to some epic combats between one of the last paladins of Ashur and the necromancer, as depicted on the cover. The nice thing about the Paladin here, Jerico? Despite his holy power being unique in that it powers his shield, he does have a magical mace, 'Bone Breaker', which would make a great magic item in any fantasy RPG. (Personally, I've used something similar in 1st and 2nd Edition D&D just used a Sword of Sharpness rules but instead of cutting the limb off, it breaks it.)

The second half of the book takes place in the siege of the city of Veldaren. Here the 'good' half-orc, Harrauq and his wife, along with their mercenary comrades, are still dealing with the aftermath of losing those dear to them from the last volume and finding new friends. Among these friends is another paladin of Ashur whose 'friend', Mira,  is another avatar of the Earth Goddess.

Turns out these avatars of the Earth Goddess are only supposed to show up once every blue moon and there have never been two around at the same time and it's usually not a good sign if there are two around at a time. An imbalance of sorts eh?

The brothers come back together in an epic clash as all the horrors of the world, various beast men ranging from birds and wolves to orcs and undead, assault the city. This isn't some random assault. It's not some attack against the city merely for the sake of bloodlust. Rather, the city is built upon the entrance point of the two gods to the world.

That's a clever bit of world building that leads back into how young the setting itself is.

Part of the problem the series suffers is that there are so many 'unique' and special characters. Jerico and his unique shield of faith. The Half-Orcs themselves being half-orc and half-elf pulling in massive amounts of power from somewhere. Velixar the reborn face changing creature who rises again and again. The two avatars of the Earth Goddess. I could go on but that small list in and of itself should be sufficient to note that we're not dealing with small matters here.

By the end of the novel, things are not looking up as a new, more powerful antagonist is introduced. It's a good way to end the novel and set up for the next book with the various forces in the setting that are waging war getting larger and the stakes themselves getting larger.

If you like quick moving high fantasy with high-powered heroes and villains, The Half-Orcs should scratch that itch.

The Wizard's Mask by Ed Greenwood (Book Review)

The Wizard's Mask
Written by Ed Greenwood
Pathfinder Tales
400 pages
$9.99


Ed Greenwood should need no introduction to any role players of Dungeons and Dragons nor anyone whose read fantasy fiction in the last 25 years. My own introduction to Ed comes from Dragon Magazine and his numerous articles for the Forgotten Realms, leading up to the publication of the original 1st edition boxed set of the Forgotten Realms and many books beyond.

For those who don't know Ed, he's got his own website over there: http://edverse.officeedgreenwood.com/ and he's got a Wiki entry as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Greenwood

Ed's writing isn't for everyone. While I've highly enjoyed his gaming material, his fiction often is hit or miss for me.

This book is both.

On the negative side is the believability of the story. It's not that a fantasy tale needs a high level of such a factor, but if the characters are given to X, then they should be able to accomplish it. If they are given to X and all of the sudden they are doing things that require the whole X, Y, Z, and a hand on from the higher powers, it stretches the enjoyment of the story.

The other thing is probably just me. As I get older, I'm more aware of how writers handle their female characters. In this novel, we are introduced to two characters, the "man known only as The Masked" and "an escaped halfling slave named Tantaerra."

"So...a halfling woman, probably in her thirties and with the lined face of someone who'd known hunger often enough, despite the fact that she still had plenty of chest and hip on an otherwise scrawny frame."

This doesn't count the numerous times' she's made naked or that she's actually shorter than a regular halfling. It's just a weird thing. This extra short child sized individual clearly suffering from hunger with big tits and ass.

Okay...

The other problem I had with the book is Ed needs to know when to let a villain go. The villain that the duo tangles with most isn't even the 'big bad' but Ed keeps using him and as a reader I didn't find him interesting at all and was just waiting for him to die. It's like, "Okay, we know the author likes this bad guy for some reason, but really? He sucks. Let him die this second time, this third time..."

In terms of popcorn reading though?

Top notch.

The story starts with action. The action easily goes across one hundred pages. If you dig chase scenes like those you'd find at the start of the newer James Bond movies, you'll enjoy those parts. Ed has a great way of moving the action from left to right with the action dancing across the page.

Ed also keeps the action flowing.

The author is hit or miss on the names. For example, one of the magic weapons in the novel, the Whispering Blade? It's a blade that telepathically communicates with those it's seeking to dismember and does so in an ominous voice that Ed captures perfectly. The name fits it.

And then there's the magic item that the duo are sent out to seek in the Shattered Tomb to begin with. The Gauntlet of Fear or the Fear Gauntlet. Really? Ugh.

Ed also uses some odd choices in his monsters. The creature on the cover is a particular type of monster native to the Pathfinder Tales region and Ed puts it to good use. Little nods like that are great.

If you're looking for some light reading heavy on the action than the Wizard's Mask is going to do you right. Ed's not building up a setting like some authors in the Wheel of Time or A Game of Thrones but the Pathfinder Tales are not about that.

There's enough character development that another book is possible but all of the main plots and threads of this novel are done in one and that in and of itself is a refresher.

Master of Devils by Dave Gross

Master of Devils
Pathfinder Tales
Written by Dave Gross
400 pages
Published by Paizo

Master of Devils is the second book I've read by Dave Gross that takes place in the Pathfinder setting. The Pathfinder setting is high fantasy with a wide array of character types of various nationalities and racial origins. For those not in the know, it's based on a role-playing game with modified Dungeons and Dragons rules.

The heroes of the tale, Count Varian Jeggare and Radovan, tell their tale in first person prose, along with a little help from their dog. Count Varian Jeggare is half-human and half-elf. He has some swordplay skill and a bit of magic on his side, while his bodyguard, Radovan, is half human and half fiend. In game terms, a tiefling. He's a burly sort who goes in with the fists and the swords and the punching and the stabbing.

The fun thing about this novel, is it takes place in Tian Xia. This would be a 'Far East' style setting similiar to that used by the game system Legend of the Five Rings. The Count and his bodyguard are our "eyes" to this exotic local.

Initially, I was worried that Dave Gross was going overboard with the Kung Fu super names. For example, Radovan and his boss, Jeggare, become separated.

Radovan winds up trapped in his "devil" body. Much like Mike Mignola's Hellboy, Radovan has a 'normal' fiendish look and then there's the 'super fiend' look. In this intimidating form, Radovan winds up working with Burning Cloud Devil, who is out to avenge his dead wife, Spring Snow.

While on the opposite end, Jeggare winds up fleeing the Falcon Clan bandits and working with Jade Tiger.

At first, Dave was naming numerous kung fu attacks and stances and other bits common to such lore. But when the characters names themselves are up there with the other super hero sounding names, it can get confusing. Fortunately, most of the other characters have "normal" sounding names so it doesn't become too ridiculous.

In many ways, Master of Devils would make a great limited series anime. Radovan's training under Burning Cloud Devil is much like a "villain of the week" where Radovan continues to gain in knowledge and use his abilities to prepare for a 'boss' attack.

The parts where Jeggare comes in, also include a lot of training and exploration of the exotic, but more so on the subtle side. He trains in a monastery and undergoes numerous trials and tribulation as well as getting a glimpse of court life.

Even the dog and his adventures with Judge Fang and their gathering of animals and kami to fight the upheavals of Heaven itself provide entertainment.

Master of Devils doesn't go into a ton of setting detail. Radovan spends much of his time fighting and Jeggare is confined to his training while the dog is visiting odd spots. But what we do get provides a brief glimpse into things on this far away setting.  I hope that Paizo expands it with a "Tian Xia" anthology or something along those lines.

If you're looking for some light and fun popcorn reading, Master of Devils is fast paced and action packed.