OVERALL RATING: THREE STARS
The Kingdom of Alson is a quaint and peaceful place, it's king is greedy and selfish, but he rules his people well, leaving them to pursue their lives in relative peace. Jarom, who serves as the Farson of Diln, is quite content to be left alone and enjoys the quiet life of his small village. He has no plans of great adventure, just his imagination and his best friend, Allion; he is content and happy. But all of that changes when a dark wizard invades with conquest in his heart. Soric is cruel and vicious. His assassination of King Sorl throws the country into turmoil and Jarom is forced from his home, set on a quest by his father to find aid from the bordering nation of Kuuria. Jarom is reluctant to go, but sets off on an adventure with Allion that is full of peril and danger. What's more, Jarom discovers things about himself that he doesn't like: there are mysteries and secrets surrounding his past, birthrights and heritages that need to be addressed . . .
Yet the invasion of Soric soon proves to the least of Jarom's concerns, for the wizard isn't the only terror that's stirring. For with his arrival wakens an ancient evil, a demon queen who has slumbered for millennia. She perceives the weakness in the world of man, she deems it ripe to fall. An ancient dragon is woken, the last scion of the race who warred with the Finlorrians, the people who once forged the world with the help of the Ceilhigh and Jarom knows that only one thing can save Alson: he has to seek the Crimson Sword, an ancient talisman of infinite power. But at what cost is power obtained? What price must be paid for things that are best left alone? The demon queen was not the only menace to sleep and what Jarom unleashes is worse than anybody could have ever imaged. The illysp do not sleep, they do not feel or show mercy to others. They enslave and they burn. They raze the world around them and deal only in death. Jarom must find a way to stop them. Enemies surround him on every side, he learns of betrayal and pain. He struggles to full fill a destiny he had never asked for . . .
Book 1: The Crimson Sword
Book 2: The Obsidian Key
Book 3: The Divine Talisman
The Good
The Legend of Asahiel is a fast-paced, exciting series and Eldon Thompson has clearly let his imagination run wild writing it. It's full of magic, epic battles, betrayal and death, leaving little to be wanted by the reader. In fact, all three books in the series are among those rare 'page-turners' that will keep you up well into early of the hours of the morning and are very difficult to put down. This is largely due to Thompson's ability to develop the sense of peril in each book and he really gives you a sense of what will be lost, should his heroes fail. Furthermore, the fact that Thompson has created a relatively contained island-continent means that his map is smaller than in many other works of fantasy, which allowed him to cut down on the chapters of arduous travelling from place to place so he could maintain the pace of his story. His prose reads like cheesy, old-school fantasy as well, which I quite enjoyed more than anything, and his characters are lively and almost jump out of the pages. Many readers will also appreciate the fact that Thompson has several very strong, female characters that dominate parts of the story and are hugely influential protagonists, which is something that even a lot of modern fantasy novels lack.
The Bad
As good as it was, The Legend of Asahiel did have a few bugs that really bothered me. The main one, was actually with Jarom's character and he is a thoughtful, docile man who is quick to forgive and very hard to anger. While there is nothing wrong with these personality traits in real-life or in fiction, they become slightly absurd as the series progresses: firstly, despite the fact that Jarom's whole continent is being burnt to ashes around him, with everyone he ever knew facing imminent death, he never becomes angry and instead only understands and sympathises with his enemies. Secondly, it's very odd when such a passive, peaceful man sudden becomes this vicious, hardened warrior whenever he leaps into battle and starts hacking scores of his enemies down, left right and centre. Sadly, I think Jarom's character is quite implausible and it's hard to believe him as a real person. It wouldn't be such a problem if Jarom wasn't the series main character and Thompson should either have made him much harder or changed his story-arch, perhaps making Jarom a general or something instead of a warrior.
The second issue that I had with the series as a whole, was the stereotypical nature of Thompson's villains. Pre-ASoIaF, this wouldn't really have bothered me and I might not have noticed, but GRRM's writing has shown me the importance of developing antagonists that are true to life as well as protagonists. People are rarely evil in real life for the sake of 'being evil' and, although their actions may harm people, they're usually done for selfish reasons like gaining power, killing for revenge, hatreds or feuds or stealing to feed oneself and family. Thus, it becomes slight absurd and quite irritating when Thompson's villains 'snicker' and 'smirk' every time they kill someone or destroy a village. Although, to be fair on Thompson, this was remedied to a degree in The Divine Talisman, it detracted from the story as a whole and weakened his vision somewhat.
Final Thoughts
Overall, though, The Legend of Asahiel is a great series and I had a lot of fun reading it. It's fast-paced, full of excitement, danger and has more magic bursting out of its pages than the Lord of the Rings! Although I wouldn't call this series a definite must read, I certainly recommend that you add it to your reading list and get round to it at some point - it may not be the best series you've ever read, but I guarantee you'll enjoy it!
N.B. It's also worth noting that Thompson has also written a short story featuring Kylac, one of the series main characters, which is published in Unfettered by Shawn Speakman et al.
Showing posts with label The Divine Talisman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Divine Talisman. Show all posts
Sunday, 29 January 2017
Monday, 21 September 2015
The Divine Talisman - Eldon Thompson
RATING: FIVE STARS
When Torin, the young king of Alson, drew the Crimson Sword from the ruins of Thrak Symbos, he had know idea what he would unleash upon the world. Like his friends, like every living soul, he had no idea that the ancient talisman was a key, a key that held the insidious illysp trapped in the desolate void between universes. The monsters that seeped through the unlocked doorway were more terrible than anyone could imagine and steal the bodies of the recently deceased. The illysp enslave the very soul of their coil and use it to perform acts of unspeakable cruelty.
Torin left Alson to seek the last vestiges of the Finlorian Elves, the people who had first unleashed this horror and then locked them away. But his quest, as noble as it was, failed and Torin returned to the shores of Alson without the answers he sought. He returned to his capital city in the midst of a coup led by his chief general, a coup in which cost him more than just his crown. Alson was left as broken as the other nations of Pentatia, having no way to defeat the illysp swarms that are bearing against them.
Starving, afraid and beaten, the ever dwindling numbers of humanity forget old banners and country borders. They group together, accepting help from races they once shunned to resist the illysp. Attack after attack wears them down and their own soldiers rise against on the battlefields after being killed. Worse still, a new leader of the illysp has risen. Known as the Boundless One, this leader recognises the power in Mount Krakken, of possessing the very dragon that Allion and Kylac Kronus had so valiantly slain less than a year ago . . .
The Good
Eldon Thompson has finished The Legend of Asahiel off with a stunning book that is the best in the series yet! The story is fast paced and harrowing, filled with epic battles that only grow in scale as humanity is worn down by weakness, despair and lack of numbers. It's a true story of humankind fighting to save its its very right to exist and leaves little to be desired.
Furthermore, Thompson has finally corrected many of the little 'bugs' that annoyed me in the earlier books. Despite being fictional soul-enslaving spirits, his antagonists seem much more real then they have previously and no longer 'smirk' and 'snigger' at the evil things they do. His writing makes them seem much more like beasts in The Divine Talisman, which I think makes them all the scarier. His protagonists, too, have improved. You might remember me saying that they are too weak and docile in the earlier books and the horrors they have lived through had not really affected them in any way. His main characters are finally beginning to be changed by their suffering, growing colder and losing hope. As well as adding a realistic depth to them that the earlier instalments of the series was lacking, Thompson has clearly had a lot of fun delving into this and it adds an interesting aspect to the story.
Thompson has also introduced a number of new story arcs and PoV characters into the book, which helps to invigorate the story and allows him to come to a satisfying conclusion to both the book and the series as a whole, which he might have struggled to do plausibly otherwise.
The Bad
There isn't really much to criticise about this book and Thompson has really found his feet as a writer, producing a story of interesting characters, exciting events and a good pace, all on an epic scale of world disaster!
My Thoughts
The Divine Talisman is a fantastic end to a pretty good fantasy series. It's exciting, full of battles and has pages that burst with magic! It's a great example of what fantasy can be when it's done well and concludes The Legend of Asahiel nicely, while leaving it open for his characters to feature in sequels.
When Torin, the young king of Alson, drew the Crimson Sword from the ruins of Thrak Symbos, he had know idea what he would unleash upon the world. Like his friends, like every living soul, he had no idea that the ancient talisman was a key, a key that held the insidious illysp trapped in the desolate void between universes. The monsters that seeped through the unlocked doorway were more terrible than anyone could imagine and steal the bodies of the recently deceased. The illysp enslave the very soul of their coil and use it to perform acts of unspeakable cruelty.
Torin left Alson to seek the last vestiges of the Finlorian Elves, the people who had first unleashed this horror and then locked them away. But his quest, as noble as it was, failed and Torin returned to the shores of Alson without the answers he sought. He returned to his capital city in the midst of a coup led by his chief general, a coup in which cost him more than just his crown. Alson was left as broken as the other nations of Pentatia, having no way to defeat the illysp swarms that are bearing against them.
Starving, afraid and beaten, the ever dwindling numbers of humanity forget old banners and country borders. They group together, accepting help from races they once shunned to resist the illysp. Attack after attack wears them down and their own soldiers rise against on the battlefields after being killed. Worse still, a new leader of the illysp has risen. Known as the Boundless One, this leader recognises the power in Mount Krakken, of possessing the very dragon that Allion and Kylac Kronus had so valiantly slain less than a year ago . . .
The Good
Eldon Thompson has finished The Legend of Asahiel off with a stunning book that is the best in the series yet! The story is fast paced and harrowing, filled with epic battles that only grow in scale as humanity is worn down by weakness, despair and lack of numbers. It's a true story of humankind fighting to save its its very right to exist and leaves little to be desired.
Furthermore, Thompson has finally corrected many of the little 'bugs' that annoyed me in the earlier books. Despite being fictional soul-enslaving spirits, his antagonists seem much more real then they have previously and no longer 'smirk' and 'snigger' at the evil things they do. His writing makes them seem much more like beasts in The Divine Talisman, which I think makes them all the scarier. His protagonists, too, have improved. You might remember me saying that they are too weak and docile in the earlier books and the horrors they have lived through had not really affected them in any way. His main characters are finally beginning to be changed by their suffering, growing colder and losing hope. As well as adding a realistic depth to them that the earlier instalments of the series was lacking, Thompson has clearly had a lot of fun delving into this and it adds an interesting aspect to the story.
Thompson has also introduced a number of new story arcs and PoV characters into the book, which helps to invigorate the story and allows him to come to a satisfying conclusion to both the book and the series as a whole, which he might have struggled to do plausibly otherwise.
The Bad
There isn't really much to criticise about this book and Thompson has really found his feet as a writer, producing a story of interesting characters, exciting events and a good pace, all on an epic scale of world disaster!
My Thoughts
The Divine Talisman is a fantastic end to a pretty good fantasy series. It's exciting, full of battles and has pages that burst with magic! It's a great example of what fantasy can be when it's done well and concludes The Legend of Asahiel nicely, while leaving it open for his characters to feature in sequels.
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