Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Lord of Lies-David Zindell

Lord of Lies
David Zindell
Tor, Apr 2008, $27.95
ISBN: 9780765311306

The seventh son of the King of Mesh, Valashu “Val” Elahad uses the ancient sword Alakaladur. However, he and his bone tired friends come home for some needed rest and recuperation after their traumatic but successful adventures to recover the powerful LIGHTSTONE golden cup. They hope the outcome of their quest leads to peace and prosperity for the kingdoms of Ea as prophesized.

Now that he is home, Val knows the next step is to figure out how to release the power of the Lightstone. He knows that something or someone named Maitreya is the source, but who or what remains an enigma while he has doubts about his inner strength to remain virtuous; failure to do so by him or his inner circle means defeat. While he and his team begin the second part of their quest to find a prophet who can either point them to Maitreya or better yet release the power, the dark lord Morjin, angry over his recent loss to Val, plans to steal the Lightstone and kill those who recently defeated him.

The third Ea fantasy (see THE LIGHTSTONE and THE SILVER SWORD) is an entertaining Tolkien (some might say early Robert Jordan) quest thriller. The keys, as with the previous entries, are the vivid details that make the Ea continent seem genuine and the hero; especially the latter although he comes out of the fantasy quest type casting. Although the rest of the players are one dimensional including Morjin the angry who lost some depth since his previous appearances, fans will appreciate the well written LORD OF LIES.

Harriet Klausner

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