An engaging if derivative fantasy tale.
A snappy serial in the Tolkein vein draws its heroes and villains from a somewhat tired set of fantasy tropes, but Long’s storytelling ability makes it worthwhile.
The story takes place in a Middle Earth–like realm populated by the usual suspects of the Tolkein-inspired fantasy world: humans, dwarves, elves, orcs and goblins. The species are allied as they are in The Lord of the Rings: Dwarves and humans fight against orcs and goblins, while elves stand in the shadows. The eighth installment in the Warhammer series, Orcslayer follows the continuing exploits of the dwarf Gotrek and his human companion (and warrior-scribe) Felix. Gotrek is a Slayer, a mighty dwarf warrior who, because of some past shame, is bound by oath to seek glorious death in battle. Felix, a wittier fictional creation, is Gotrek’s epic-maker, the poet charged with recording Gotrek’s adventures and, one posthumous day, setting them down in verse. The forces of Chaos (presumably capitalized for dramatic effect) are brewing in the North, and the swarthy kamikaze Gotrek sets forth to seek his demise. However, he is sidetracked when a local dwarfish royal enlists him to aid in retaking a stronghold now overrun by orcs. Gotrek, Felix and a band of fellow dwarves with comically Nordic monikers (Narin Blowhardsson, among others) rush into battle. But the sundry crew quickly realizes that their orc foes are under the control of a much more mysterious–and dangerous–enemy, a fact that does not deter them from aggressively slashing their way across the countryside. Long relishes each pint of orc blood spilled, and delights in describing every axe-blow, sword-thrust and arrow trajectory–and there are more than enough of each to go around. Despite the sometimes tiresome buildup of fantasy battles, the narrative maintains the momentum throughout.
An engaging if derivative fantasy tale.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2006
ISBN: 1-84416-391-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Solid and absorbing but not the tour de force the Powder Mage trilogy was.
Conclusion to McClellan’s Gods of Blood and Powder fantasy trilogy (Wrath of Empire, 2018, etc.), in which politicking assumes as much importance as magic and armies.
Dynize blood sorcerer Ka-Sedial intends to secure the three ancient monoliths known as godstones in order to make himself into a god, and he invades Fatrasta to capture two of them. Giant warrior Ben Styke, accompanied by Ka-Poel, the mute bone-eye sorcerer (and Ka-Sedial's grandaughter) whose magic can detect the stones, plans to attack Dynize and locate the third godstone. But a storm scatters Styke and Ka-Poel's ships and strands them with only 20 lancers. Worse, the stone is already under Ka-Sedial's control, forcing them to forgo brute force and attempt diplomacy. Ka-Poel's husband, Taniel, despite his near godlike powers, spends most of the book trying to catch up with them. Gen. Vlora Flint, grievously wounded and bereft of her gunpowder magic, burns for revenge yet must engage more Dynize armies and endure political interference. Ex-spy Michel Bravis and Ka-Poel's sister Ichtracia, a Privileged sorcerer, try to learn why so many Palo are mysteriously disappearing. McClellan tells an intriguing tale. Still, alert readers will wonder why the book's villain, having quickly solved his main problem, then does nothing for hundreds of pages and why many of the characters that add salt and spice to the proceedings spend too long offstage or just form wallpaper. True, the author doesn't do politics nearly as effectively as he does magic and battles, and he wrings out few surprising plot twists. His prior novels, with their hero Field Marshal Tamas, cast an unfortunately deep shadow: Tamas is one of the great fantasy heroes of recent years, and nobody here comes close.
Solid and absorbing but not the tour de force the Powder Mage trilogy was.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-40731-1
Page Count: 672
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
Too long, but few readers will fail to stay its magical course. Once again, the myth of Oz proves its enduring power.
Animals talk, attack dragons prowl the skies and political unrest afflicts the land of Oz in this richly detailed sequel to Maguire’s contemporary fantasy classic Wicked (1996).
Its protagonist is Liir, the probable offspring of Elphaba Thropp, the late, mostly unlamented Wicked Witch of the West (unless Liir’s birth mother was actually Elphaba’s unfortunate sibling Nessarose; it’s complicated). We meet Liir as he lies near death in one of Oz’s outlying lands and is taken to the Mauntery of Saint Glinda, where the venerable Superior Maunt entrusts his care to beautiful gypsy girl Candle. Parallel flashbacks mix with subsequent action to describe Liir’s boyhood adventures with Dorothy Gale (even if she has murdered his mother) and her nonhuman companions, various ordeals in an embattled Oz riven with rebellion (from which the Wizard has long since fled), as Liir seeks his missing childhood friend Nor as well as Elphaba’s notorious book of spells, joins the Emerald City’s Home Guard defense force and—aloft on Elphaba’s flying broomstick—challenges the forces of both disorder and incumbency, makes peace with his past and envisions a future in which even changelings may assume their full humanity. The book works too hard to dazzle us; it’s considerably more cluttered and strained than Wicked. But, like L. Frank Baum’s magical land itself, it’s filled with wonderful things: the neurotic kvetching of the Cowardly Lion (who disappears, alas, much too soon); a brilliant subplot involving the half-human, half-elephant Princess Nastoya; a Conference of Birds; and the political ascendancy of the Scarecrow, a puppet ruler serving a cabal of bankers. Best of all is Liir’s arduous pilgrimage toward becoming what he was meant to be.
Too long, but few readers will fail to stay its magical course. Once again, the myth of Oz proves its enduring power.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-054893-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2005
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