Advertisement

Sometimes when I write a review that's about a sequel to another book, I can drift around the edges of spoiler territory. Since I have a feeling that Guardians of the Lost, and its predecessor, Well of Darkness are closely intertwined, I feel that it might not be a bad idea to let you know that if you're planning to read the first book and haven't, you might want to skip this review.

Gustav, the human Dominion Lord, has finally found the human race's piece of the Sovereign Stone. As he makes the journey to return to his lands, he is attacked by a corpse, and is mortally wounded. Before he dies, he is found by a group of three people who will become the center of this book: Bashan of the pecwae race, who are a group of small, nimble creatures who would rather speak to animals than anything else, Jessan, an unproven youth of the Native American-flavored Trevenici warrior tribe, and Wolfram, a Dwarf. They take Gustav to the pecwae village, but even their best healers can not mend his wounds, and it is decided, by providence, that Jessan and Bashan will deliver the stone to the Elven Queen. Unfortunately Prince Dagnarus wishes to possess the stone himself, and thus intends to bring his considerable dark forces to bear on the three.

In heroic or quest fantasy books, particularly fantasy books based upon role-playing games, there is a certain set of expectations that must be met. There have to be dwarves, elves, gnomes, humans, and a smaller halfling-ish race, such as Hobbits or Kender. (This being partially because, I think, when you build a role-playing game, you have to have wide series of races for people to play... and there are always people, myself, for instance, who always want to be a elf. Or a cleric.) There has to be a quest against a huge, dark evil. What pleased me the most about this new offering by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman is they touch on all the aspects you have to have in this type of story, yet create something wonderful and adventurous. There is some real magic here... scenes that are as beautiful and poignant as any in the world of literature. I really enjoyed the characters, and the quest was compelling. Prince Dagnarus is deliciously diabolical, the kind of bad guy that if you were soullessly evil and powerful, you'd want to emulate. I loved how the different races were handled. The pecwae and the Trevenici have an intricate symbiotic relationship that adds aspects to both cultures. The usual suspects are treated in such a way as to be happily familiar, yet fresh. I think that, in a lot of ways, the authors' success in using these elements in such a way as to create new, original stories to enjoy proves once more that there is still many undiscovered countries in left the fantasy genre. Jessan and Bashan are also an enjoyable team. It is important in a book of this length to have characters that a reader can care about and root for. As Jessan and Bashan travel on their part of the quest, and Wolfram, joined by the mad Ranessa go on theirs, you find plenty of people to cheer on. I especially liked Raven, Jessan's uncle.

I have one other warning for you... the cliffhanger ending of Guardians of the Lost is such that I am now desperately wishing that I had the next book to read and put me out of my misery. You may want to collect them all up, then sit down and loose yourself in this nifty adventure.

Cindy Lynn Speer loves books so much that she's designed most of her life around them, both as a librarian and a writer. Her books aren't due out anywhere soon, but she's trying. You can find her site at www.apenandfire.com.