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Title:
Destroyer of Worlds
Series: Saga of the
Forgotten Warrior #3
Author: Larry Correia
Rating:
4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages:
392
Words: 143K
Publish: 2020
Correia’s
love of the Second Amendment (the RIGHT to bear arms) shines through
here. I loved it!
I
like the story and the direction Correia is taking things but unless
things change dramatically, this is going to be a series of his that
I don’t plan on re-reading. It is solid, but it isn’t getting its
hooks into me like some of his other books have.
And
that is about the only complaint I have, that it isn’t as good as
some of his other stuff. What a great problem, right!? I love those
kind of problems, hahaahaha.
I
would say if Urban Fantasy isn’t your thing but you’d like to try
Correia anyway, this fantasy series would be a great place to check
him out. As a total bonus, this six book series is also finished! The
whole shebang is ready to be read. So if you read like me and rotate
your books or if you are a serial binger, you’re covered either
way.
This
“review” is short even by my standards, but I don’t have much
to say. It’s a good, enjoyable read and I was quite satisfied with
the time I spent on reading it.
★★★★☆
From
Upstreamreviews.substack.com
Each
book starts with a flashback to a significant event decades in the
past. In this instance, we get a look at the feud between Devedas and
Ashok, two men of similar skillset yet very different temperament.
Ashok has power that he doesn’t want yet cannot shed, while Devedas
is outwardly worthy of that power and cannot have it. His only avenue
is to challenge Ashok to a duel and win his sword. Ashok naturally
wins the fight, as he is the bearer of an ancestor blade. Devedas
still harbors the same feelings in the present.
At
the end of HOUSE OF ASSASSINS, our heroes shared in a victory over
the eponymous wizard cult and rescued their prophetess, Thera Vane.
While the main conflict is not over, they do get to rest and recover
a little bit, and those with distant obligations will part ways with
the main group to tend to what’s theirs.
In
the Capital of Lok, the Grand Inquisitor Omand
Vokkan is
still scheming to have all of the casteless annihilated. He
manipulates the government to keep things moving. While he is
technically in an alliance with Devedas,
neither man truly trusts the other. Devedas sees to the casteless
eradication, and during one encounter he notices that the casteless
and other rebels are fighting back with Fortress weapons (crude black
powder rifles.) The Isle of Fortress is the only place where these
weapons are made, and its geographical location across the water
makes it impossible for Lok to wipe them out. Owning their technology
in Lok is illegal, but hey, there’s a lot of that going on lately.
Ashok
and Thera, the
champion and the prophetess, take up a romantic relationship together
as they lead the surviving casteless army to a distant stronghold,
called the Cove. When they finally reach the place, secured by their
friend Keeta,
they learn that other rebels are waylaid by a plague and are not
expected to live for long.
Among
the rebels there is an Inquisitor spy named Javed who
regularly checks in with Omand, using demon parts to magically
communicate with his master. It is revealed that the plague is
artificial, created by a magical pattern that Omand employed in order
to mess with the rebels’ religious superstitions. The plan is to
undo the plague at a key time, thus controlling the religious
narrative and subverting Thera’s prophecies.
However,
while Javed is away, Thera has a breakthrough with the Voice in her
head and is able to see the necessary pattern to cure the plague. She
implements the cure and people start getting better before Javed does
anything, which further complicates Omand’s schemes. Worse, it
proves that the Forgotten Gods have become more brazen in their
involvement in the war.
As
Devedas continues onward, his quest eventually leads him to a final
standoff with Ashok, bringing their lifelong feud to a head. Both men
deal out incredible damage to each other, fueled and healed by their
connection to the Heart of the Mountain (see book 1), but when Ashok
moves in for the kill, the Forgotten Gods once again intervene and
spare Devedas’ life. As a result, Ashok is hurled into a nearby
river and his body is washed away, while the rebels escape.
Elsewhere
throughout the story, other characters cross paths: Jagdish,
determined to return to his wife and unborn child, takes his haul
from the House of Assassins and returns to House Vadal, where he is
treated as a deserter and awaits sentencing. However, he anticipated
this outcome and told his story along the way, drumming up popular
support for himself, which puts Harta
Vadal (the
House leader) in a precarious position.
Rada and Karno,
still on the run from Inquisitors and their assassins, end up in
Vadal territory and are also taken in by Harta. In a piece of deft
political maneuvering, Rada counsels Harta to take control of
Jagdish’s story and tell everyone that he was a secret undercover
operative with Ashok’s army, and that he did exactly what he was
supposed to do, returning to Vadal with incredible wealth. This
allows Harta to benefit from Jagdish’s popularity, and Jagdish is
promoted to the head of a garrison.
When
Jagdish finally returns home, he learns that his wife tragically died
during childbirth while he was away, but that his child survived, and
he now has a daughter instead of a son, as he had supposed. Later,
when Rada and Karno seek to escape further danger, Jagdish takes them
into his garrison, grateful for how they helped him.
The
story concludes when Ashok wakes up on the shores of the Isle of
Fortress, having floated across the waters to that distant land. A
local suggests that his injuries and subsequent journey should have
killed him, to which Ashok says that he’s starting to think he’s
not allowed to die.
