Barrenlands

ISBN: 0-671-87872-7 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com

A pleasantly understated fantasy with sympathetic and believable characters, magic, political intrigue and realistic horses.

Reviewed by David on February 02, 1999

Genre: Fantasy (Intrigue, Swordfighting, Magic, Mystery)

Synopsis: Ehren, the senior member of the King's Guard was away from the capital when his liege and about half of the Guard were murdered in a surprise attack. After spending a year chasing the assassins, Ehren is still convinced that the mastermind of the murder is still at large.

However, the new regime is not happy with Ehren, and he is sent to the provinces on a dangerous and fruitless mission. On the way, the bitter Guard finds disturbing signs of disorganization and conspiracies, and begins to realize that not only new mission, but the safety of his country and his own survival depends on finding the reasons for the king's death.

Full Review: Blunt and honest Ehren was not the court favorite, but his friendship with the king, and the respect of his fellow Guards made his position both satisfying and secure. All of this changed when the old king died, and his teenage son, easily influenced by his advisors, took over the throne. Disliked by the First Wizard, and with most of his friends dead defending the king, Ehren has little support in continuing the search for the assassins.

Sent to the border to trace a long-lost relative of the royal line, Ehren stumbles on widespread crime and weakened defenses, at the moment when cross-border smuggling and aggressive neighbors pose new threats. On the way, Ehren runs into the gifted young man Laine and his young sister Shette. While the two siblings and Ehren become friends in the face of deadly spells on the border, Ehren finds intriguing mysteries surrounding the two youngsters.

Ultimately, Laine may prove to hold the key, not only to Ehren's mission, but to the generations-old conspiracies of magic and crime.

Barrenlands has a fairly common plot with uncommonly polished characteristics. For instance, there is the marked lack of melodrama. While there is several cases of sexual attraction, they are fairly subtle and play only minor roles: an adolescent crush, a nascent affair, a happily married couple, and some typical mixed-company banter.

The horses, as befits the author of Dun Lady's Jess and its sequels, are well portrayed: they are certainly not cars with four legs. Similarly, the sword fighting is a serious endeavor: even an expert like Ehren never goes through dozens of enemies (as in some less accomplished sword-and-sorcery books), and a talented novice, even after many lessons, is still not a credible opponent in a fight. And an infected wound is deadlier than a trained assassin.

There is a hidden heir, but refreshingly, he doesn't step up to save the day. Most of all, despite three protagonists and a shifting viewpoint, the narrative is continuous and well-paced, while engendering sympathy and respect for the three main characters.

There are a couple of distractions in this pleasant novel. One is the main villain: he is both a bit obvious and rather flatly evil.

The other is that the attitude and gender treatment seems rather obviously modern, inappropriate for the technologically early medieval world. This, however, makes this book more accessible.

In total, this is a smooth, well though-out fantasy that provides both immediate excitement and subtle satisfaction in a fairly standard fantasy setting.

Overall: 6; Plot: 6; Characters: 6.5; Style: 6; World-building: 6; Originality: 5.5;

ISBN: 0-671-87872-7 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com