But Niðergeard has fallen to dark forces, overrun by its enemies. Gates are being opened between the worlds that should have been kept closed. The battle lines for the war at the end of time have been drawn, and opposing forces are starting to gather.
Having served for centuries as the first and last outpost at the borders to other worlds, Niðergeard must be reclaimed and the mystery of its fall discovered. Daniel and Freya, along with an ancient knight and a Scottish police officer, must return to the legendary city, rally the surviving citizens, and awaken the sleeping knights—knights who are being killed, one by one, as they sleep.
But time is running out faster than they know.
(Description taken from Amazon.com.)
A Hero's Throne is Book Two in Ross
Lawhead's “The Ancient Earth Trilogy”, and in many ways it
follows the pattern of the previous book: modern fantasy mixed with
ancient myth to create a tale that feels as ancient as the earth.
One of the primary characteristics of
this book is the dreamlike – and in some cases, nightmarish –
quality of the prose and story. A Hero's Throne often feels like it
was taken straight out of a dream – strange and macabre visions
where your friend might be your enemy, and your enemy always stays
your enemy.
In fact, that was my main problem with
this book: that there didn't seem to be any sides. “How do you
fight with the wind?” says one character. “I have seen the hand
that moves us in the darkness – a game of chess with all the pieces
of one colour. A game of chance with a die that has just one side.”
Another character insists on trusting
Ealdstan to lead them, when Ealdstan seems to be on no one's side but
his own. (“Seems” being the key word. There “seems” to be a
lot of things in this book, but as the characters find out, nothing
is as it seems.) Freya struggles with herself and also chooses to be
on her own side, rejecting both the words of her friends and the
words of the evil Gád.
Daniel trusts in his own “righteousness” and motives and ends up
delirious; from lack of sleep or from being driven mad by Niðergard
itself, it is hard to tell.
Besides
this, however, the book was surprisingly good. The plot wandered (in
that way it was similar to The Realms Thereunder) and there weren't
really any twists, but it was enough to keep me reading and
interested. The two main characters had fairly open motives,
although it seemed that the motives of the rest of the cast were
almost always called into question, or never explained at all. While
the characters were sometimes confusing, in a strange way many were
dynamic, such as Ealdstan and Vivienne.
The
best part of this book was the world, in many ways. While Elfland
apparently operates on strange rules (which are never quite
explained), the “real” world has many ties to ancient mythology,
most of the connections being the monsters and knights, both of which
are beginning to wake up. It made the book feel solidly grounded in
the best kind of fairy-tale.
Overall,
I really did enjoy this book, but the irrationally dreamlike feel,
combined with the lack of sides (that is, evil versus less evil),
were serious drawbacks. I will, however, withhold my final opinion
until I read the final book, which is scheduled to come out in 2014.
The epilogue seemed to hint at a better resolution. If the
good-and-evil situation is indeed resolved, then I think that plowing
through the series will be worthwhile.
If
you enjoy reading “paranormal”-type fantasy, however, then this
book should be right up your alley. All in all, I rate it 7 out of 10. 3.5 stars.
(Please note that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
