Just like the first book, the maps are incredible. Unfortunately, the rest of book isn't--just like the first book.Much of this story is like the garbled mess of a first draft or something crunched out during NaNoWriMo. The book can never decide whether it should be omniscient or limited omniscient in its viewpoint, bouncing between the two for no reason whatsoever. More annoyingly, the characters act in a very decidedly melodramatic fashion, and often bouncing from one emotion to the next. The main character, Leith, comes off as a whinny idiot--much like Harry Potter in the last few books in that series.Compounding the mess is too many plot contrived events. Too many "random" events that seem to only serve the purpose of filling space because nothing is happening. Too many times something bad happens because things are going too good--the classic pull-the-rug-from-underneath-them trick. Too many magical "fixes" to get them out of a bad situation.That was, by far, the most abrupt ending of any book I have read. A WTF moment that's more baffling and confusing than the bad plot and writing. There's no logic to it--at all.And the worst offense: the unnatural mashing of "Lord of the Rings" epic fantasy with Christian undertones of "Chronicles of Narnia". Where subtlety was needed, there was a brute forced hammer instead. A complete utter failure of epic proportions.The fact that this book actually gets two stars is simply because I've read worst crap than this.And that it had the amusing quality of a SyFy channel movie.
This is the 2nd book in this series, and picks up immediately after the 1st left off. The group is divided and the main character sets off to recover an artifact with which to .... well we actually don't know what purpose it will serve yet, be it talisman of power, or just a rallying point.All in all the story is good, and there is a revelation, of sorts, at the end as to what the quest is. Oddly though, after 600+ paperback pages, I really can't see what took so many to accomplish, except as in the first descriptions of scenery.Some may dislike that, I find it helpful for visualization, but it probably is too much for many, and the story part of the story could be expanded, or we could have had shorter books.I'd still recommend it tho, its an easy read, and better than many in the genre.
Do You like book In The Earth Abides The Flame (2006)?
The second book of this series continues in about the same vein of the first, but at least they are out of medieval Canada now. This being a trilogy, our protagonists' long struggles and hardships are meet with even more struggles and hardships as they come to terms with what is happening to the world and what they are called to do.Perhaps the strongest parts of this part of the story, at least for me, is the growing realization of who the Most High is and what he requires of the travelers and how he relates to Leith in particular. It an illustration of the real struggle with God and what God wants of us -- and the choices we make in light of those struggles. Although the Most High speaks to all our travelers, Kirkpatrick wisely keeps conversation with the Most High to a minimum, most in interior dialogue with Leith.The developments of the story remain mostly interesting, even if having very familiar fantasy trappings and tropes. They may not be painted well enough to appear fresh, but Kirkpatrick keeps the pace of the story moving along to satisfy. Overall, this book builds on the first and so I give it a total of 689 milli-tolkeins.
—Douglas
This is book two of the Fire of Heaven series by Russell Kirkpatrick and continues the wonderful tale. This time around the battle is no longer against the elements but now it mostly against evil rot by other characters. For this reason it is also darker than book one. The pacing is quicker and more interesting characters are brought into the mix. My one complaint is a minor one. There is no natural end like in the first book, here the ending is a cliff-hanger. Make sure you have book 3 on hand.Highly recommended!
—Mick
