It took me a few years to get around to reading this one after winning a copy, as it was clear it was book 2 in a series so i thought i had to read book 1 first. After reading that one (it was also epic in size) i wasn't quite ready for book 2 so it sat on my shelf for a while as i got stuck in a Readers First new book a week needing read so didn't think i had time for this one. Turns out i could read it in just 3 days so i don't know what kept me, don't let the page count put you off, as in the first mammoth volume these books seem to have lines spaced just a little further apart than normal hardbacks of this size, so it's probably not quite as big as they have made it out to be. It felt more like a YA book in it's layout, but in content it was definitely not YA!
The story flies along nicely, continuing on from the first book with the further adventures of Erlan the Aurvandil, not a lot of note happens for the first half at least, it's all in the setting up for the showdown at the end. There's some politics among two different kings and their respective courts/sons. Two elder kings, one ready for a battle as he knows the end of his life is near so wants to go out fighting, regardless if there is just cause for the battle in the first place. The other equally as old but more wanting a peaceful life so does everything possible up to marrying his daughter to the son of the king who is intent on war, hoping their oath of peace holds over that. However the peace king's wife has other ideas and takes it into her own hands to speed up his demise, so his less peace loving son can take over, which then takes us into the gruesome finale showdown.
Along the way there are spies sent by each camp into their opponents, with varying levels of success and a disloyal lord whose sons are known as black and white (one of them being an albino) who are spoiling the peace king's plans by constantly provoking the war loving king.
So i am hoping that after taking a couple of years to finish this volume, the 3rd one is hopefully not too far away, which i am definitely going to be reading.
The story flies along nicely, continuing on from the first book with the further adventures of Erlan the Aurvandil, not a lot of note happens for the first half at least, it's all in the setting up for the showdown at the end. There's some politics among two different kings and their respective courts/sons. Two elder kings, one ready for a battle as he knows the end of his life is near so wants to go out fighting, regardless if there is just cause for the battle in the first place. The other equally as old but more wanting a peaceful life so does everything possible up to marrying his daughter to the son of the king who is intent on war, hoping their oath of peace holds over that. However the peace king's wife has other ideas and takes it into her own hands to speed up his demise, so his less peace loving son can take over, which then takes us into the gruesome finale showdown.
Along the way there are spies sent by each camp into their opponents, with varying levels of success and a disloyal lord whose sons are known as black and white (one of them being an albino) who are spoiling the peace king's plans by constantly provoking the war loving king.
So i am hoping that after taking a couple of years to finish this volume, the 3rd one is hopefully not too far away, which i am definitely going to be reading.