The Wyrmling Horde: The Seventh Book of The Runelords [Mass Market Paperback]

The eighth book of well-done Runelords series, Wyrmling Horde just came out, and I was excited. Despite the fact that Tor set a word-count restriction on the author, resulting in a much smaller book starting with the previous Worldbinder (which resulted in a truncated feel to that ending), the series has been a good, solid read. So i delved in.

A few chapters in, I was horrified. The recap from book seven was contrived and forced. Very disappointing was the questionable cast of characters asked to carry the story. Fallion, by far the strongest character of an already weak cast is left sidelined, which may have been forgivable if his comrades took up the challenge and blossomed. Not only did they fail to do so, they backlogged an already floundering plot with chance run-in's, a cheesy romance, and another encore of the all-too-convenient magic system that hasn't evolved or deepened since Book One.

The plot, the plot! Wyrmling Horde is a lisping fraction of a novel, only 1/6th of actual story content compared to the earlier books. Which is simple to understand; starting with Worldbinder, the remainder of the plot is spread over the last books, scraped thin and unsatisfying. If you read the back of book blurb, you have read the entire story; Fallion is captured by Lord Despair and his friends try to rescue him. (Insert a few unbelievable and distracted attempts for rescue). By the merciful end of the book, our characters are in the same exact situation as at the very beginning. Unless someone accidentally runs smack into a facilitator in the beginning of the next book, who happens to be holding some ready-to-use endowments (recycling the all-too-familiar magic system... which is entirely plausible), everyone is going to die and there will be no characters left to carry the story. The hard, bitter truth is that absolutely Nothing happened in this book.

Most disturbing was the level of disinterest within the writing itself. Horde choked full of word repeation, halting dialogue, unnecessary and ill-timed descriptions, and half-hearted try-fail cycles. I found myself increasingly confused, flipping to the cover page every paragraph or so, disbelieving whose name was on the cover. It was like the author had asked some of his more dubious college writing students to collaborate their amateur hands at the manuscript, then sent it unread and unedited to the publisher. I was a bitter reader, bitter at having paid $14 for the book that didn't deliver. Before the halfway point was even reached, I was gnashing my teeth, demanding a refund, but still torturing myself with the read, like staying on a bad amusement park ride to just to see how jolty the end would be.

It was jolty, obliterating any last shreds of respect like a resounding fart after being booed for a bad speech.

Conclusion: There's a reason Tor put a word-count limit on the rest of the Runelords series. Bookshelf space is an earned commodity these days; if your editor is cutting your word limit, it means you're not selling well enough to warrant bookstore space.

All in all, Wyrmling Horde reads like a thin half-cooked soup with a random carrot floating by if you were vigilant enough to spoon it. What a disappointment. You have been warned: Read at your own risk.

After bringing together two of the millions of millions of world into which the one true world splintered, Fallion is captured by the man who would have been his father--but whose brain is controlled by Lord Despair--the immortal responsible for the true world's disintegration. Despair wants the power to bring the worlds together--but only under his control. Unfortunately for Fallion, Despair seems fully capable of doing just that, especially as his Earth King abilities provide him ample warning of any threat.

Fallion is not without friends and this new world has an abundance of the blood-metal used to become a Runelord, to borrow attributes from one person or being and give them to another. Fallion's friends are able to gain control of thousands of runesticks and a small group are named, given hundreds of attributes (intelligence, speed, stamina, brawn, sight, beauty) for their assault on Despair. Meanwhile, Despair has come up with a new torture. Rather than use the runes to transfer ability, he uses them to transfer pain--vectoring dozens of tortures to Fallion. Even if the rescue is successful, what will the heroes find?

Author David Farland continues his intriguing RUNELORDS series with a story that's clearly transitional. Fallion, the main protagonist for the last several books, becomes a bit player as a pair of women and the alter-ego of a man who was the great evil on Fallion's original version of Earth combine forces in their attempt to save him. In earlier books, Farland dealt with the moral issues in taking attributes--essentially snuffing out a part of the life of the dedicates from whom these attributes are taken. Here, Farland touches lightly on this, having his characters justify their decision as necessity.

I really enjoyed the concept of Despair as an Earth King--something his alternate self showed from the other side. I also appreciated Farland's decision to show that extreme violence does not always offer the best path, and that the ends cannot always justify any means. And Farland's capable writing kept me involved in the story.

While still enjoyable enough, I find myself disappointed as this series continues. A large part is that Farland simply isn't convincing me to care about his characters. I think he has trouble believing in them, especially the women characters, so they are rather thin and cardboard.

His magic system needs to be expanded upon as well. In the first Runelord books it was original, but it hasn't grown or changed at all. He has even abandoned the moral debate of whether it is right for powerful people to use those more vulnerable for their own ends. It has devolved to a purely "the ends justify the means" mentality. And I have to question whether with the changes in the world WHY the magic has really not changed beyond having added the ability to cause pain.

At the same time, although this could have used a slightly firmer hand in editing because of repeated words and a few line-level glitches, it is an enjoyable read. Farland is a good enough writer that he probably couldn't write a BAD book if he tried.

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