Series Review: The Legend of Asahiel - Eldon Thompson

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.

The Obsidian Key - Eldon Thompson

RATING: THREE STARS

When Soric, an insidious and conquering sorcerer, declared war on Alson less than a year earlier, Jarom was forced into a birthright he had never asked for. Torn from his quiet life as the Farson of Diln, he soon found himself floundering as the new king following his father's brutal assassination. Jarom's quest to defeat Soric and an awakened demon queen from a bygone age drove him to seek out the fabled Crimson Sword, the magic of which promised to be Alson's salvation. But the talisman was more than just hidden away and served as a key, locking a more dangerous enemy than anyone could imagine in the astral plane they come from.

The Illysp rose on mass when Jarom took the Crimson Sword and began, in secret, a new invasion of Pentania. It is not long before the new king learns of the Illysp and he embarks upon a dangerous quest to the distant shores of Yawacor. Legends say that the remnants of Finlorians, elves who are ancient and wise in the use of magic, fled to the most inexcessible regions of the far continent after their civilisation on Pentania collapsed. The Finlorians, who had once pervailed over the Illysp and locked them away. Jarom must find them if he is to save his country and friends. He must speak with their elders and learn their dearest secrets,

The Good
The Obsidian Key is fast-paced and exciting, being full of the same gripping danger and strife that made The Crimson Sword so exhilarating. Many of the enemies Jarom made in the first book resurface and Eldon Thompson has managed to end many of the story arcs that were left open in favour of new ones that should develop interestingly.

The Bad
Once again, Jarom's character was one of the worst things about the book and he was understanding and docile to the point that it wasn't plausible or reflective of real life. No matter what happened to him, he never became angry or hurt over events or betrayals and worked things through logically so he could emphasise with that person. Even the nicest and wisest people in real life aren't that understanding and forgiving, which added an unbelievability to an already bland character, Furthermore, it rendered Jarom's acts of violence slighty absurd when he suddenly dove into battle and began hacking down enemies left, right and centre.

As in the series first book, The Obsidian Key is full of extremely stereotypical villains and cheesy mannerisms. They 'snicker' and 'smirk' over the 'evil' things they do at every chance, which, again, is slightly unrealistic. Criminals in real life commit crimes and hurt people because it works to benefit them in whatever way, rarely because they enjoy being 'evil.' A man doesn't 'smirk' and 'snicker' when he robs or store or shoots someone dead, and I find it a bit unplausible when Thompson's antagonists do this.

My Thoughts
Overall though, The Obsidian Key was a good read and was a nice instalment to The Legend of Asahiel. I enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to finishing the trilogy in The Divine Talisman sometime soon.