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Title: Sword of Caledor
Title: Sword of Caledor
Series:
Tyrion & Teclis #2
Author:
William King
Rating:
3 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Fantasy
Pages:
268
Format:
Digital Edition
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Synopsis: |
It has been 100 years since the previous book. Tyrion and Teclis are both becoming more adept at their roles and how they fit into Elven Society.
The book starts out with them and a
bunch of humans on a quest to find the Sword of Caledor. Going
through jungles, swamps and eventually ending up at a dead city, they
find the Sword.
Once back home, Tyrion is called upon
to take part in a tournament to decide the champion of the new
Everqueen, as the previous one suddenly died, all because of
Malekith's long term plans. Teclis must decode a bunch of scrolls he
took from the dead city that seem to describe the end of the world.
Meanwhile, Malekith has bound the demon
from the previous book and is invading the Light Elves/Asur's
homeland. He uses the demon's ability to use portals to spread his
army across the land and plans on destroying city after city in one
fell swoop. He also sends an elite contingent to the Tournament to
capture the new Everqueen. With her bound to Malekith, the Asur will
have to follow him.E
Tyrion foils said capture, but the book
ends with him and the Everqueen on the run and the land about to be
overrun by dark elves.
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My Thoughts: |
My initial thought when we meet the twins and their human entourage in a jungle searching for the sword, was that these elves were not Tolkien's elves but that they seemed familiar. Further on, I realized that they reminded me of the Melnibonéans from Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga. Decadent, superior and on the decline without even realizing it.
My
second thought, when Malekith invaded with a whole boatload of boats
[sorry for that, but couldn't really think of another turn of
phrase], was “Where are the watchers, the scouts, Joelendil Farmer?” Why didn't SOMEBODY see a whole bloody army invading? I
don't get the impression that the Asur homeland was a vast,
unpopulated realm. Maybe it is, but if so, me having no knowledge of
the land denied me knowing that. It just came across as authorial
“Because I said so!”
My
third, and final negative thought, was, “this is depressing as all
get out”. The Asur were ennui laden jerks, the Druuchi [the elves
in thrall to Malekith, the other son of Aenarion] were all spies,
tattletales and backstabbers and the humans were greedy pigs hardly
even worth looking at.
Action-wise,
this had some good stuff! The battles to find the sword of Caledor,
in the jungle, in the dead city, were pretty good. Had a good mix of
dinoaurs, ghosts and undead [sadly, no undead dinosaurs]. The
slaughter at the Tournament was a bit “meh”, as none of the
super-duper warriors, besides Tyrion, seemed to fight back and even
Tyrion had to pull a rescue and run mission.
★★★☆☆
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