From Publishers Weekly
The generic plot of this slow-starting sequel to 2007's
The Wanderer's Tale does little to engage readers. After the confusion of a climactic battle, Bolldhe, the warrior destined to battle the resurrected evil lord Drauglir, grimly resumes his journey north to battle Drauglir at Vaagenfjord Maw. Despite being the ostensible hero, Bolldhe is quickly eclipsed by his fellow fighter Nibulus, whose evolution into a true leader gives him top billing among their companions. The pace accelerates promisingly when the warlord of Wrythe's army and Nibulus's allies converge upon the darkly menacing Maw, but the ponderous and unwieldy prose frequently detracts from the action. British colloquialisms like knackered and modern objects such as gas masks and strangely shaped polyhedral dice (used for role-playing games, no less!) are jarring in the epic fantasy setting, and egalitarian fans may seethe over women being repeatedly called breeders. This disappointing second installment contains the same shortcomings as the first.
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--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
Product Description
This second volume picks up the ongoing story in a tunnel leading out of enchanted mountain realm of Eotunlandt. Fighting their way through subterranean dangers, Nibulus and his diminished retinue of 'questers' finally reach the open again, only to discover that their rivals the Thieves have mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile, Gapp and a sinisterly altered Methuselech continue towards Wrythe, the last settlement. They find the population strangely degenerated, under the influence of a local leader, in fact the evil being Scathur who has been hiding there for five hundred years, awaiting his moment of vengeance.Scathur recognises that inside Methuselech is the outcast soul of a rival necromancer, Mauglad, so imprisons them both till they manage to flee for their lives. The rest of the original questers also turn up for a scary sojourn in Wrythe, before heading on to Melhus island with Scathur's deathly henchmen in pursuit. During strange dreams, the wanderer Bolldhe learns he must use a strange sword he has found to kill the evil demigod Drauglir, once and for all. They all venture into Melhus (the Underworld), contesting with the hosts of the dead sent against them. There ensues a colossal battle, with thrills and spills and monumental destruction, before the questers achieve an unexpected victory and most of them will return to Nordwas sadder but wiser.
