![]() ![]() ![]() They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods-but not the fire-breathing type. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. ![]() The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons-beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance-set on destroying humankind. No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.Ī tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Īfter 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice-for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. The pages turn almost by themselves, because you absolutely, categorically have to find out what happens next.Īre we not men? We are-well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).Ī zombie apocalypse is one thing. Elliel, an outcast Brava, labors in the mines where the wreths' dragon probably slumbers. Blood-magic halfbreed warriors called Brava are sworn to protect the Commonwealth and Konag (high king) Conndur, whose son and heir, Mandan, has no interest in statecraft and prefers to paint portraits. ![]() Thus we learn of Empra Iluris of Ishara and her dangerously belligerent rival, Priestlord Klovus. Instead, he builds momentum with a measured but relentless pace, introducing multiple characters and points of view in different locations and steadily increasing complications with glimpses of plots within plots, motives behind motives, and secrets inside secrets. What to do? Well, nobody's ever accused Anderson of writing bleak, hard-edged realism, and the oft-repeated mantra "the beginning is the end is the beginning" is as profound as he gets. Voo offers Adan an alliance against the frostwreths. Somehow, they still have magic worse, they're going to fight Queen Onn and her frostwreths first. Now, astonishingly, Queen Voo and her sandwreths show up to inform Adan Starfall, king of Suderra, that they are resuming their quest. Many years later, two continents, the Commonwealth of the Three Kingdoms and Ishara, fought bloody wars desultory raids across the sea continue. This caused great destruction, depleted the land of magic, and ultimately failed, after which they disappeared, leaving the world to humans. Long ago, the nonhuman wreths created humans (with whom they can interbreed) as servants, then occupied themselves with killing their hereditary foe, a huge, evil dragon. Anderson begins a new high fantasy series, Wake the Dragon, after recent diversions into science fiction ( The Dark Between the Stars, 2014, etc.). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |