|
-
Hivemind social net
-
News
- Features
- Blogs
- Events
Calendar
- Editorials
- Monthly
Zine
- Offworld
Report
- Our Daily
RSS Feed
- Google Toolbar scifi
- Movie/TV
Reviews
> Recent movies
> Movies by year
> Movies by title
- Book
Reviews
> Recent books
> Books by year
> Books by title
- Home
- Worlds
- Biography
- Bibliography
- Appearances
- Reviews
- Blog
- Community
- Press
- Links
Become
an Advertiser
- Web
Site Directory
- Search
the Net
- StephenHunt.net
- WoodenRocket.com
- Check
your E-mail
- Non Sci-Fi
News
|
Lord Of The Libraries by Mel Odom
01/06/2008 . Source: Joules Taylor 
pub: TOR/Forge. 384 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US), $35.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30724-3. Buy Lord Of The Libraries in the USA - or Buy Lord Of The Libraries in the UK  check out website:www.tor-forge.com
This book is a sequel to 'The Destruction Of The Books'. This review contains spoilers for the first, so if you haven't read that and plan to read this one, you might prefer not to read any further here.
Many, many years ago, gathered together under the leadership of Lord Kharrion, the goblinkin ravaged the world in what became known as the Cataclysm. The world was left in ruins, the peoples sundered and enslaved, their cultures shattered and slowly forgotten in the struggle to survive. Here and there, however, forward-thinking beings fought to recover what they could of their lost world. A group of them, members of the four races of elf, dwarf, human and dweller, banded together to create a haven of learning, the Vault of All Known Knowledge in the Great Library on the island of Greydawn Moors, protected by mists, the monsters in the blood-soaked sea and pirates. From here, Librarians search the world for the remaining books, rescuing them from destruction.
This second book in the small series starts where the first left off, with the ravaged Library still being searched for remaining books and the threat of a goblinkin invasion from the sea being realised as dwarves and elves gather to fight off the intruders. The Grandmagister Edgewick Lamplighter has been kidnapped and Juhg sets off to rescue him, accompanied by the wizard Craugh. Thus starts an adventure which takes them across their world and even through time, hunting for both Lamplighter and the Book of Time. Of course, a quest wouldn't be a proper quest without pursuing enemies, belligerent, occasionally shape-changing monsters and peril and betrayal on all sides. Not to mention potential temporal paradoxes and a Guardian who looks like a mantis (to Juhg anyway).
The book is probably best described as a romp. The action is sprightly, the humour more generally accessible than in the first novel and the long and tedious descriptions that made 'Destruction Of The Books' such a trial to read are shorter, less intrusive and more succinct here. The story still borrows very heavily from other works, but there's enough originality to make it a fun, if not particularly demanding read.
But I really, really wish American authors would learn that the past tense of shine is SHONE, not shined. It's rapidly becoming a pet hate. You might or might not have shined your shoes yesterday, but it's a given that the sun shone down on the shining waters somewhere in the world...
Joules Taylor
http://heartsown.biz/
|
|
