Krishna
This is a fantasy book with magic galore and almost every fantasy race in it : humans, goblins, elves, dark elves, orcs, demons – you name it and they are there! By turns juvenile and by turns interesting, it takes you on a kind of a roller coaster ride.
The artifact that held the Nameless One in the Desolate Lands is weakening and he is stirring. The impact is felt in the city of Avendoom. Night time is not safe for anyone to stir out. The narrator, Harold, the Shadow Prowler, is watching. Brother For, the priest, trained Harold.
He sees a darkness rise up and take away a lone traveler in the streets. Harold is virtually close to the rising dark entity but it never noticed him. He is shaken at how close he was to be the victim of the dark force.
He lives by thievery and when he goes to rob a nobleman’s house, he is surprised to watch (from the safety of shadows) a rich lady escorted by an armed posse of guards.
In the mansion, he sees a winged creature kill the Duke and astounded, realizes that it turned and saw him before it flew off – with a crossbow arrow that Harold shot on his body but apparently totally unhurt. Harold himself flees so as not to be found by others in the mansion with the Duke’s dead body by his side.
The Chief of Thieves in the meanwhile resents that Harold refuses to join the Guild (and pay his fees/ commission) and sends a goon to ‘request’ him. Harold meets him in a bar.
But the chief comes to visit him and takes him because someone really high up has ordered to see him. Harold, curious, goes with the man in his expensive carriage. He is blindfolded and taken to a destination and when the blindfold is removed, finds himself in the company of the most powerful in the land : the Master Magician and King’s advisor, Artsivus; the royal lady he witnessed in front of Duke’s house – only she is from Mirangrad, with whom Avendoom just concluded a war and was not in friendly terms; the Rat or Count Alistan Markauz, captain of the king’s personal guards.
He also meets a Goblin who seems to be of high birth.
The king shows him the statue he stole from the Duke. Cornered, Harold tells of what he saw on the day the Duke was murdered.
He then forces Harold into a deal he cannot refuse by offering a binding ‘Commission’. Harold is to go into the enemy territory with a small group and retrieve th Horn that is the only thing that can slow down or stop the Nameless One’s impending attack on the kingdom. Other warriors and even magicians have gone and have never returned. Harold now knows that he has to attempt what was not possible for people with far greater power than he.
Harold goes to the library to find a map of Hrat which is the place where the horn can be found and is surprised to hear that another person had come in search of it just a day before.
Harold escapes an assassination attempt right in the library and realizes that the drunk old seemingly doddering librarian is an excellent shot with the crossbow!
When he leaves the library and enters what he thinks is a secret safehouse, he is attacked by the strong but not so bright Doralissians who think that he has stolen one of their horses. Harold immediately recognizes that he has been saved by someone but manages to escape their pursuit just a second before he was to fall down due to exhaustion. But when he decides it is safe, he is held firm by a demon called Vukhdjaaz. (Yeah, I know; parts of this story are absolutely silly. I felt it too, when I read some portions of the book.) The demon is also looking for a horse.
The big puzzle of Harold as to why everyone is looking for a horse is solved when the archmage summons Harold to ask why he decided to be stupid enough to steal the horse! When he realizes that Harold does not know what the archmage is talking about, he realizes that Harold has been framed by someone. He reveals that the horse is the horse statue of immense power which had vanished. Darylissians owned it and now are upset that it was stolen. This has the power to control the demons – which explains why Vukhdjaaz was looking to possess it.
He goes to see his childhood teacher (and current priest) For (yes, that is his name – For) for guidance.
He learns of how the horn was created – magical power imbued in it by a mad wizard who wanted to learn the power of Ogres but paid for it with his life when the magic went awry. In the process, he also killed four other wizards who were his unwitting accomplices. One person who gets away with the horn until it was safely hidden was Valder.
Harold senses all this while he goes into the Forbidden city in search of the horn. He meets the evil winged creature he met at the Duke’s house talking to two highly efficient thieves who are after the same thing as him.
Meanwhile, he gets Vander in his mind who helps him evade a blind ogre, and a crying childlike monster. (Yes, this reads like a Young Adult book and is probably one. In places, it is childish. But the narration is tight, and if you go along for the ride, it is enjoyable on the whole. That is, except in places where they go – ‘What? Really? This childish a plot?’ )
But generally the story keeps moving and keeps you interested enough to continue reading. The author throws in side characters like Goblins, elves and orcs since this is a fantasy but at least for the first half of the book, they do not do anything at all.
There are two super villains. The Nameless One (who is so far only ‘stirring’) and an unknown Master, who sends minions to cause mischief. We do not know what his master plan (pun intended) is.
There is a grand scene where Harold manages to have the Master’s goon servants and Doralissians fight each other, and have the archmagician appear at the right time to not only reclaim the Horse and arrest both, but also trap Vukhdjaaz for study.
He still is not out of trouble. Even though now he has a map of Hrat retrieved from the Forbidden City, he has not set out for the expedition to retrieve the horn. He is asked to go there at once.
You can tolerate the nonsense mixed with the story for a while but characters like Kli-Kli who is the jester in the king’s court get to be annoying. He is the Jar Jar Binx of this story, if you will. You wish you never have to read about him. He is not necessary for the story (even if he solves a riddle that may be necessary). I mean it could have been a non annoying character that the author could have decided to create. It is a fantasy after all.
The story goes on, sometimes interesting and sometimes stupid but keeping you interested enough not to stop reading in disgust.
I hate those books and movies which end abruptly (The Frankenstein series starting with The Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz being an example of the first and Kill Bill that of the second) so that you are forced to read the second book if you want to follow the story. There is nothing wrong with a series but in my opinion, a story should be self sufficient – every one of the Harry Potter’s books can be read alone from the point of view of the story. Same can be said of a Jeffrey Deaver’s books – for example the Lincoln Rhymes stories – The Stone Money being an excellent example.
This book, alas, is not one of them because this ends abruptly. That takes away the enjoyment in reading. What if you bought this book to read in a flight and realized at the end that you don’t have any resolution at all?
In my opinion, that is a bad decision by the author.
All in all a 3/10
== Krishna