A Dark Way to Glory

It's the first half of the trilogy's middle volume, and it's travelogue time. This is the section where many trilogies sag, but Brenchley paints a vivid picture of desert travel and its hardships and occasional delights. There's also another display of how very different this series is from standard fantasy derived from Northern European mythology, with the world of the djinn beautifully evoked. This volume gets the party from the Roc, where they met, to the place in the desert where they get to meet another major character, with some interesting diversions and scenery along the way. At the outset the party consists of Marron, Julianne and Elisande; Rudel and Redmond, the two Surayonese men; and Jemel, the young Sharai man introduced in volume 1 and briefly encountered in volume 2. The party have conflicting interests, not least because Marron and Elisande were involved in the death of Jemel's lover during the battle in the Roc, but they also have common interests and a common destination. That should be enough to keep the party together, but they aren't the only one with an interest in the supernatural burden Marron carries. That burden, the almost-living weapon known as the Daughter, showed the first of its secrets at the end of the previous volume; in the trek across the desert we learn more of what it can do and what it does to its host, and a little of what it actually is. Marron isn't the person anyone would have chosen to carry it, but proves equal to the task. And again there are hints of various romantic interests and entanglements, without it being at all obvious how these will eventually be resolved. This segment of the story concludes with another twist of one of the romantic plotlines initiated in the first volume, enticing the reader to read on. This volume introduces more characters and adds new plot threads without concluding earlier ones, but it does expand on hints dropped in the earlier volumes, adding more depth to the world and the main characters. With the original book being split into two for the US edition, it should be seen as a segment in a long novel rather than a novel in its own right, and in that context offers enough to make for a satisfying read while still leaving the reader wanting to move on to the next volume.

A Dark Way to Glory (The Third Book of Outremer) follows Chaz Brenchley's unlikely party of heroes, each of whom we have already met yet still seek to truly understand, from the outskirts of the fortress Roq de Rancon across the dangerous deserts of the Sharai to the brink of Rhabat. The weariness of such a harsh and dangerous journey weighs heavily on the action in this installment of the series, providing a welcome opportunity to learn more about each of the major characters and the very different motivations driving each of them. Those who thirst for battle scenes will find only a few such moments here, but each fight described in these pages radiates an intensity not seen previously in the series. A Dark Way to Glory provides readers the time to evaluate and come to terms with the shocking truths revealed in the final pages of the previous book, Tower of the King's Daughter. Each major character has now faced a crossroads and made his/her choice for the future. Julianne de Rance, daughter of the King's Shadow, has chosen to wed and then steal away (reluctantly) from her husband, risking love and life to follow the instructions of a mysterious djinni. With her is Elisande, an enigmatic young lady from Surayon, the "enfolded land" which the forces of Outremer seek to find and destroy; her friendship with Julianne is only one of several reasons she travels to Rhabat. In part, she goes to thwart her hated father Rudel, the jongleur whom we now know is a statesman of Surayon - as is Redmond, the torture victim rescued from the cells beneath Roq de Rancon. Jemel, a Sharai fighter whose blood brother fell at the hands of the knight Sieur Anton d'Escrivey, strips himself of all tribal affiliation and insists on accompanying the party for reasons of his own. At the heart of the whole story, though, stands young Marron; he is a truly sympathetic character who has, despite the best of intentions, betrayed the holy order of the Knights Ransomers, his master knight, and now his very own people. Circumstances beyond his control have made him the Ghost Walker, holder of the darkly mysterious, deadly force known as the Daughter. In this book, the complex secrets of the Daughter slowly begin to reveal themselves.The desert peoples of Outremer have prayed for the return of the Ghost Walker for centuries, dreaming of the day their most awesome weapon, the Daughter, would be taken up once again by the Ghost Walker and used to destroy their enemies. No one among these people would have ever chosen Marron to be the Daughter's human vessel; the lad has seen and done things that truly haunt him, and he refuses to kill again. Certainly, the enigmatic Shadow Dancers, untold generations of whom have prepared to serve the Ghost Walker when he returns, are certainly not well pleased by the weakness of the chosen one (whom they insist on accompanying across the desert). I have to admit that the revelations of the previous book caused me to place some distanc