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Title:
Queen of Demons
Series: Lord of the Isles
#2
Author: David Drake
Rating: 3 of 5
Stars
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages:
603
Words: 210K
Publish: 1998
600
pages of nonstop magical action, with the main characters (all six of
them) going on separate adventures in groups of one to three and
combining and recombining at various points as new adventures and
adversaries present themselves. By the end of the book I wondered how
any of these people weren’t totally insane from everything they had
gone through. I was almost physically exhausted from the pace myself,
and I was just reading along.
Drake has a great story here, well, the bones of a great story. Unfortunately, the pacing doesn’t allow for much actual story telling, just magical mayhem and carnage as our heroes almost literally carve their way from situation into another. The other issue is the characterization issue. Down below in the “Synopsis” section I’ve included a bullet list of the characters and how they are described. Now, the problem is that how they are described in those bullet points are how they are described in the books, as their defining characteristics. They are not real people, they are those characteristics tacked onto a name and we are reminded ad nauseum about those characteristics by the characters themselves every chance possible. Cashel and Ilna are the most egregious offenders, but Garric isn’t that far behind. And just in case you forgot, one of the main characters will gladly think those descriptions at you about one of the other main characters every second or third chapter. Garric is always thinking about how a handshake back in his village was always enough and not like these fancy city folk needing signed papers. Cashel is always thinking how strong he is but how not stupid he also is, so nobody better try to stop him. Ilna just loathes herself and everybody, every chance she gets, even said people are trying to help. Because that just sends her on a deeper spiral of self-loathing. Sharina is always concerned that she’s not living up to “whatever” because her mentor Nonnus sacrificed himself for her in the first book. Tenoctris the wizard is always claiming she’s not a great and powerful wizard, no, not at all, WHILE she’s opening up gates to demon dimensions and shifting groups of people from pocket dimensions to our world and back, etc, etc. Finally, there is Liane. Liane started out as a character in Lord of the Isles, but here in this book, she’s firmly in the background and has zero presence. She’s essentially Garric’s scribe and counselor, so she stays in the background, whispers in his ear and has as much page time as Cashel’s staff. In fact, that staff has more presence than her!
So those are the major weaknesses of this series. If you can live with that, you’ll have no problems. I am struggling with those issues already though, which is why I’m only reading three of these at a time. I’m going to need a break between the three trilogies.
The other thing I wanted to discuss in this review is its apparent ties to the King in Yellow mythos. When I read these in the 90’s and Aughts, I had never even heard of the King in Yellow. But since then I have immersed myself into that literary cosmic horror universe, to the point where I had to stop because it was affecting me emotionally. (reading Cthulhu cosmic horror at the same time didn’t help any either by the way!) But the first thing I noticed when I read Lord of the Isles was that one of the towns was called Carcosa. Carcosa is also the MAIN city in the KiY mythos. The only other reference I could find to Carcosa was a reference that GRR Martin (the pompous arrogant blowhard jackass) made in his Game of Thrones series. So I am pretty sure that Drake is referencing either the original reference by Ambrose Bierce or just to the KiY mythos in general. I’m leaning towards the second option because in this book the Beast (a demonic entity that wants to enter our world and devour everything) was a myth that turned out to be real. But it had been chained in another dimension by the Yellow King untold ages ago. I don’t think Drake is trying to establish his own KiY mythos here, but he’s definitely using it as an easter egg for such readers as myself. I do find it rather enjoyable. We will see if he continues to hide such things in the future books or not.
Finally (my goodness, this review is turning into a beast itself!), I want to talk about and showcase the cover. The featured image is the cutdown version of the paperback. It shows a bunch of people fighting each other down some spiral staircase with people being pushed off the edge. However, I have the original hardback cover, which extended the picture onto the spine and that extra inch or so of picture really changes things. Instead of being all cramped and mushed together, the scene is a lot more open with the true scope of the fighting going on. I like it and that should wrap things up here :-D
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia
This book in the series covers approximately 35 days, starting on the second day of the second month (Heron) and ending on the seventh day of the third month (Partridge). For the most part it follows the adventures of two men (Garric and Cashel) and four women (Liane, Ilna, Tenoctris, and Sharina) as they are split up into parallel worlds and slowly reunite, culminating in the defeat of two of their enemies: the Queen and the Beast.
In the introduction, the current King of the Isles, Valence III, and his wizard, Silyon, make a deal with the Beast to regain control of his kingdom from his wife, the Queen. Meanwhile, the main characters are in Erdin where they discover the dead remains of a Scaled Man on their ship, which Tenoctris sees as a bad omen. With the exception of Ilna, they book passage on the ship Lady of Mercy, bound for the Isle of Valles, where Garric intends to declare himself King of the Isles. Before they leave, Ilna gives Liane a sash that she has woven which will notify her if Liane is ever in trouble. Before the ship reaches Valles, a lens appears in the sky and swallows the ship, causing it to wreck.
Garric, Liane, and Tenoctris awake, following the shipwreck, in the land of the Ersa. They eventually make it back to their own world. There they are picked up by a hunting party, led by the noble, Lord Royhas. Rather than dispose of Garric, as he was ordered to, Royhas takes Garric back into the city and holds a council with several other powerful nobles. They express their loyalty to the King but ask Garric's help in overthrowing the Queen. Tenoctris uses a mirror to spy on the Queen and discovers that she is a demon. Garric plans an attack on the mansion. When they've passed all the Queen's safeguards, Garric uses iron to destroy the Queen's gate to another world, but she has already escaped. Following this, Garric appoints himself Prince Regent under King Valence III and demands the allegiance of the Lords who backed him in the revolt. Meanwhile, Admiral Nitker, of the Royal Navy, has declared himself the new Lord of the Isles. Garric promises to destroy Admiral Nitkers and the rebellious navy if they don't return to the King's service. Garric goes before King Valence III and receives his blessing as Prince Regent. Tenoctris discovers that the Queen's mansion was a nexus of portals to many different worlds, one of which led to the Beast.
Cashel uses his quarterstaff to escape the lens that swallowed the ship and saves Sharina as well. They are rescued by Folquin, King of the nearest Isle, and his two wizards, Helphemos and Cerix. Folquin then seeks to marry Sharina. When Helphemos' talking ape, Zahag, throws a fit during a chess game with Liane, Cashel attempts to settle him down. Helphemos, casts a spell to immobilize the ape but the wizardess Silya secretly interferes and sends them to another world. Folquin immediately has Helphemos arrested. Cashel awakes after the transportation on a parallel island of Pandah. He and Zahag meet the lady Sosia who asks Cashel to save her daughter, Aria, who is imprisoned by a wizard Ilmed and the Scaled Men who serve him. Cashel and Zahag succeed in rescuing the princess Aria, but she is less than thrilled. They flee through several magical portals, eventually ending up back on the Isle of Pandah. After they defeat the wizardess Silya, Princess Aria (who has decided to marry Folquin) arranges a boat to help Cashel find Sharina. They arrive in Valles where they run into Ilna, Cerix, and Helphemos and then make their way to the palace where they find Garric, Liane, and Tenoctris.
Sharina and Cerix break Helphemos out of prison and then they go in search of Ilna for help in recovering Cashel. But a wizard with the appearance and voice of Nonnus, Sharina's one-time protector, shows up and tricks her into leaving with him on another ship. Cerix and Helphemos to continue on their way to find Ilna. Sharina eventually discovers the treachery and jumps ship. She is rescued by a large man, named Hanno, who takes her to his home on the Isle of Bight. A phantasm and a group of Hairy Men sent by the Queen attack Hanno and Sharina, but they defeat them. They later discover that the Hairy Men have destroyed Hanno's boat. While searching for a way off the island, the false Nonnus and his crew discover Sharina. The spirit of the true Nonnus comes to her, possesses her body temporarily, and destroys her pursuers. She and Hanno make their way to the volcano at the center of the island and climb to the top. From there they can see that the Hairy Men, led by phantasms, are building boats so they can attack Ornifal. One of the phantasms captures Sharina and conveys her to the Queen. The Queen shows Sharina images of her friends (and an image of the Hairy Men on their way to Valles) and implies that she controls their fates through a chess board. The Queen tells Sharina that she intends to use her to find the Throne of Malkar. Sharina watches as the fleet of Hairy Men reaches the Royal Navy and destroys it, but Admiral Nitkers escapes. When the Queen threatens to send a giant ammonite against Cashel, Sharina agrees to help her.
Ilna begins setting up shop in Erdin, but this time with the intent to good rather than evil. Using her craft she begins improving the conditions of the city. But Cerix and Helphemos eventually find her and seek her help in recovering her brother Cashel. Cerix realizes that many of Ilna's patterns contain writings in the Old Script—even though she can't read or write. She agrees to go with them. Before they can leave Erdin, though, they are captured by a band of Scaled Men. They load Ilna onto a ship and travel through a portal. Cerix and Helphemos find her sash, which she dropped during her tussle with the Scaled Men. It reveals a spell that takes them into a desert world. When Ilna's captors are attacked by Flyers, Ilna leaps through a portal opened by Cerix and Helphemos. Just as they seem to be succumbing to the desert, The People of Beauty arrive and rescue them. Ilna convinces the People of Beauty transport them to the city of Divers on Third Atara. They seek out the Baron Robilard. In his palace, Helphemos gets into trouble and Baron Robilard has him arrested. Ilna goes to Robilard to seek Helphemos’ release. Robilard makes demands, which Ilna fulfills, though to unfavorable results. A humbled Robilard frees Helphemos and offers to personally escort them to Valles. When they get there, Ilna is relieved when she finally finds Cashel. They make their way to the castle where they find Garric, Liane, and Tenoctris.
When all except Sharina have been reunited, they set out to find the lair of the Beast. Admiral Nitkers arrives in Valles to warn them of the oncoming invasion of Hairy Men. Garric immediately orders preparations for battle. The Queen forces Sharina to participate in a spell which is meant to reveal the Throne of Malkar. Instead they learn that it is Garric, not Sharina, that the Queen needs. In the castle, the wizard Silyon and Admiral Nitker kidnap Liane and turn her over to the Beast, fifty meters down a well. At this point Ilna tears her sash and it reveals how to rescue Liane, by giving the key words (in the Old Script) needed to enter its lair. Garric enters the well and Ilna, Cerix, and Helphemos follow him down. The Beast attacks them, revealing that the Yellow King had imprisoned it there long ago and that it had lured them there to release it from its prison. It devours Helphemos and a grieving Cerix finishes the incantation so that the Beast can't escape. Instead it dissolves into fiery lava, unable to die because of its immortality, endlessly burning. Meanwhile, Tenoctris opens up the Queen's escape portal and Cashel and Zahag travel through it to where she is holding Sharina captive. He uses his staff to destroy the Queen and rescue Sharina. They meet back up with Tenoctris. A little later, Ilna, Cerix, Garric, and Liane arrive, escaping from the Beast's lair. Tenoctris and Cashel confiscate the Queen's chessboard. Tenoctris notes that the Queen herself was a pawn on the board, just like those she tried to manipulate. She and Cashel also notice the appearance of a new piece on the board—representing an island-sized black ammonite that an unknown wizard has just called up from the depths of the ocean.
Garric or-Reise—a direct descendant of the last King of the Isles, King Carus, and a descendant of King Lorcan who hid the evil Throne of Malkar. His ancestor, King Carus, has taken up residence in his head and aids him in matters of sword and state.
Sharina os-Reise—Garric's half-sister. Many malevolent powers, including the Queen, seek to use her to find the Throne of Malkar.
Cashel or-Kenset—a large, simple shepherd who left his home on the Isle of Haft to seek his fortune due to his unrequited love for Sharina. He is half human, half sprite. His power is manifest through his use of a quarterstaff.
Ilna os-Kenset—Cashel's sister who is attempting to mend the wrongs she perpetrated in the previous book due to her unrequited love for Garric. She is half human, half sprite. Her power is manifest through her use of thread and fabric.
Liane bos-Benliman—a noble born woman who has some magical abilities and is romantically involved with Garric.
Tenoctris—a wizardess from the past who mysteriously transported herself in the future to avoid the downfall of the Isles. Her powers are limited, but her temperament is determined.
