Hey Jared,

I could have sworn I’d read this before and I remember the beginning vividly……but not the middle…..or much of the end. In fact, the end I mostly remember from reading the next book in the series.

Title: Lord of the Fire Lands
Series: The King’s Blades #2 / Tales of the King’s Blades #2
Author: Dave Duncan
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: AU, Medieval, No Higher Magic (sort of)
Synopsis: Young Wasp never intended to be a rebel. Yet, at the sacred ceremony of binding, he follows the lead of his friend Raider, and together they spurn the wishes of King Ambrose himself. Now Raider and Wasp are outlaws hunted by the very Blades whose ranks they were a breath away from entering, and joined together by a destiny that binds them more securely than any knot tradition and sorcery might tie. Amid the turmoil their “treachery” has inspired, Wasp and Raider must undertake a desperate journey into the heart of the dreaded Fire Lands. And the outcome of their terrifying confrontation with dark truth and darker magic in this realm of monsters, ghosts, and half-men will ultimately determine the fate of two kingdoms.
Recommendation: This book is intended for Adults. I highly recommend it.

The book falls basically into two parts, the past and the present-to-future. The past felt a bit tedious and it wasn’t clear how it was significant to the story. Eventually it gets around to the good stuff but you have to get there. Then the present-to-future plot carries it on fairly well but was infinitely more interesting. Sorry, not sorry, for the vagueness in all that.

The characters are really the highlight of the book, and the additional glance at another culture and society set in the world. Seriously I enjoyed every character, even when they annoyed me.

In summary it was good but lacked the, for want of a better word, magic that made the first one so special. I’m not disappointed but I’m not nearly as satisfied as I wanted to be.

Robert

LINKS

• Dave Duncan’s Official Website