FLIGHTLESS FALCON

New fantasy from the author of The Children of Wrath (1998), etc. Down-and-out ex-miner Tamison is forced to steal in order to feed his family. He gets caught and, instead of losing a hand, he's sentenced to two years on the chain gang. After his release he finds that his family vanished right after he was arrested. Lathary city guard Dallan, whose sister has also been kidnapped, befriends Tamison. According to Dallan, the kidnapper was probably Lord Mennkorus, leader of the brotherhood that runs a neighboring city, Callos; those abducted would end up as slaves. Hoping to change his luck, Tamison renames himself Sueldan. He and Dallan join with fortune-teller Rifkah, also persecuted by the Lathary brotherhood, and mysterious drug-addicted warrior Con, whose life Sueldan saved. They attempt to penetrate the Callos brotherhood's HQ, but Sueldan is captured and tortured. Finally, he escapes with a hostage, Lord Hiroise, who insists there's no slavery in Callos. Con agrees and adds that Dallan's sister died years ago. Rifkah's truthsense confirms all this. Sueldan begins to suspect that he's merely a dupe in a vast strategy concocted by Lathary in its incessant war with Callos.

A yarn that takes forever to get going. Some ingenious plot convolutions eventually materialize, but mediocre is as good as it gets.