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Winner of Barnes and Noble's latest Maiden Voyage award for his novel Jackal of Nar, John Marco now offers up his second and more ambitious novel: The Grand Design.

John Marco is a reader's writer, who appears to follow Alan Roger's dictum closely (from "The Horror, The Horror, The Horror"): "the important thing about writing isn't writing, craft or anything of the sort; the important thing is the world. We need to be engaged and engaging." And so is the aim of The Grand Design, delving into political intrigue, exploiting the post-WWII reader's fascination with war and pain (not to suggest that these didn't interest the pre-WWII reader as well), and swinging from one emotional high to the next. There is nary a dull moment.

Before the reader even gets to know the characters, a medieval battle rages with catapults and chemical weapons against the city of Goth. Once that city is destroyed and the evil ones of Nar bring the traitor to his knees, the scene moves to a torture chamber. From there, the reader is whirled off to join Richius in the hunt for an escaped lion that has killed a man... Then off again to the laboratory where a scientist creates the ultimate weapon of war... Soon the reader learns that this story is more than just a simple case of us versus them. And such complexity Marco handles well and with relative clarity.

One of the novel's strengths and weaknesses is the multiple points of view. Even twelve chapters into the novel, completely new view points are being adopted. While this gives depth and breadth to the novel, it also makes it hard to maintain interest. A reader who has a familiarity with the first book will have a definite advantage, having more of a stake in many of the characters.

Because of the complexity and multiple points of view, it becomes difficult to nail down the plot threads into simplistic lines. The gist is that two evil lords, Count Biagio and the priest Herrith, are duking it out over the lordship of Nar. Our hero, a former king himself, Richius has exiled himself from Nar to the enemy territory of Triin to live peacefully with his Triin wife and child. Count Biagio hopes to lure Herrith into the trap of underestimating his opponent's strength. Meanwhile, Count Biagio wants revenge on Richius and sends his trusted servant Simon to kidnap Richius' child. So Simon sails to Triin and encounters Richius himself, in whom Simon tries to instill trust. Meanwhile, Lorla, a sixteen-year-old girl who looks eight, is sent on a secret mission to infiltrate Herrith's sympathies... Out of necessity, much motivation and backstory, of which there is more than can be covered in this short review, must be skipped. The density of this narrative alone should appeal to any number of traditional fantasy lovers.

Why Marco isn't a writer's writer, despite his obvious love for the language, is over-writing. His language leans too heavily on modifiers to make it new -- a sort of new that shouldn't be made new: "The first few days were wonderfully good." Small scenes that need no real drama are made dramatic (for all the reader knows, Simon is simply on his way to visit Count Biagio, The Master):

"A kitchen girl passed by him. Simon grabbed hold of her elbow, startling her. 'The count,' he said. 'Where is he?'

"'The Master?' the girl stammered. There was a basket of eggs in her hands that she barely managed to hold still. 'In the baths, I think, sir.'

"'He let her go with an apologetic smile, realizing what a sight he must be with the spray of blood staining his tunic."

Trent Walters co-edits Mythic Circle, is a 1999 graduate of Clarion West, is working on a book of interviews with science fiction writers.