Fire and Sword: Keys of Power #2

Daw fantasy, I think, must have a whole division devoted to churning out lousy cover art and tedious jacket descriptions. "Fire and Sword" may be ugly on the outside, but it's subtlely catching on the inside. Anyone who writes a trilogy faces certain problems. The big conclusion to the series must wait until the final book, but the second volume must hold our interest so we can get there. The Keys of Power series may, at a surface level, look like a standard formula fantasy, but "Fire and Sword" proves to be full of surprises. Would you have guessed, for instance, that Jenrosa's relationship with Lynan would fall apart as she falls for Kumul instead? Or that a political power play would separate the royal couple in Kendra? Not content to stay with the same scope as "Inheritance", Simon Brown continuously raises the stakes in "Fire and Sword". The armies get larger, the magic more mind-blowing, the battles bigger and bloodier, and Brown doesn't pull any punches. But most importantly, the characters are growing apace with the events in the story. Everyone in the cast, major or minor role, develops and changes as they go along. Scouring the fantasy section of the bookstore can be a tedious chore, given how much crap the companies flood us with. But here is a story where the action is hot and the fighting is fierce, the humor is funny and the romance is romantic. It's what we've all been looking for, and now that it's here we shouldn't turn away.

If there is one fantasy writer who, in my opinion, is not getting the attention he is due, it is Simon Brown. Fire and Sword, the second novel in the Keys of Power series, not only advances the storyline begun in Inheritance in impressive style, it transforms it into an heroic tragedy of epic proportions. In Inheritance, young Prince Lynan was basically a kid who slowly found himself divested of his innocence. Looked down upon by virtually everyone in the halls of power of Grenda Lear - especially his half-brothers and half-sister - because his father was a commoner (albeit the greatest general the realm has ever seen), Lynan was forced to flee the land entirely after a malevolent coup framed him for the death of his brother on the very night of his coronation. Escaping with Kumul, the ex-captain of the palace guard, Ager Crookback, an old soldier who had served his father during the Slaver War, and Jenrosa Alucar, a student of magic who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, Lynan made his way to the Sea of Grass, where he hoped to find safety - and possibly an army - among the Chetts, a people who once fought under the banner of his father. As Fire and Sword opens, Lynan's transformation from a boy to a man reaches its completion - and more than that, for he now begins to act in the manner of a royal soldier-king. He also privately fights periodic urges of a bestial nature, a consequence of the life-saving blood of Silona, vampire of the woods, now coursing through his veins. The Chetts are nomadic tribes resistant to central rule, but they still revere the name of Lynan's father. With the help of Korigan, queen of the largest Chett tribe, and the compelling significance of the Key of Union he wears around his neck, Lynan does indeed find his army. Back in Grenda Lear, the new Queen Areava is enraged to learn that her murderous half-brother still lives, and she vows to see him dead, going so far as to hire mercenaries to undertake the deed. It is truly a time of great change in the land, for war is clearly coming to Grenda Lear. The neighboring kingdom is preparing an invasion force, and the preparations for her land's defense come amidst the time of Areava's marriage to the son of the King of Aman. Areava rules with an icy hand, never realizing that she is being manipulated every step of the way by the real killers of the king. Palace intrigue and a brewing drama surrounding Prince Olio give this story a subtly intriguing complexity few authors can handle in such a deft manner as that seen here. Everything gets very complicated very quickly. Areava prepares her army to meet the army of neighboring Haxus, while both sides have sent forces into the Sea of Grass in hopes of either capturing or killing Lynan. Neither side's war plans allow for the possibility that Lynan has put together an army of his own, yet both must eventually face the Chett army of the young prince as he comes to reclaim Grenda Lear for himself.

It has been nearly a year since the death of prince Berayma before taking the throne and becoming king. Areava has taken to the throne quite well and has become much like her mother once was except that her youngest brother the now outlaw prince Lynan has still not be captured and killed for his crimes. Lynan has done the one thing none of the other kingdoms would ever think of uniting the clans of the the Chetts in a vast army to take on his sister and clear his name. However Lynan is plauged by dreams after having the blood of the wood vampire Silona used to heal him and shows its effects with his skin almost becoming white and gaining great strenght as well. The chetts think its a sign that the white wolf has retutned and galdly march with Lynan. Back at the court of Areaya she is being courted by the young prince of the Aman Sendarous and can not help but fall for him. The nobles are at thier wits end knowing that if the queen marries outside of its noblilty they could lose any hold on her. Intruge also sets the rest of the court under Areaya as her new Constable Dejanuas is trying to get rid of the Chancelllor Orkid unlce to the Aman prince Sendarous and the head of the religoius order Primate Northman. Meanwhile the Primate Northman senior father Powl wants to become the next primate so that he will one day know the true name of there god. The kingdom is is greater peril theny anyone can see for the plans of mice and men come crahing togeather in this second book. On a personal note this second time out the book focuses on the many chacrters and the plots they lay and the plots against them in the future. A good read

Fire and Sword is the second novel in the Keys of Power series, following Inheritance. In the previous volume, Lynan was pursued by a unit of mercenaries sent by Rendle and was grievously wounded before the Chetts arrived to drive off the attackers. Jenrosa dripped a concoction of haethu and wood vampire blood into his mouth and he regained consciousness with a scream. Areava was crowned as Queen of Grenda Lear and her betrothal to Prince Sendarus of Aman was announced. Jes Prado escaped from Rendle and headed toward Kendra to tell Areava that Lynan was still alive. Olio began to drink heavily to help him sleep after healing sessions with the Key of the Heart.In this novel, Lynan has turned pale and is troubled by bright sunlight since drinking the vampire blood and he is also troubled by dreams of Silona. He has recovered from his wounds, but he has also gained an enormous strength when aroused, even killing a grass wolf with his bare hands. The Chetts see him as the White Wolf returned and worship him as an avatar of the god. After Ager demonstrates his proficiency with the sword before the chiefs, Lynan convinces most of the Chetts to let Kumul and Ager train them in new tactics.One disgruntled chief, together with his wife and son, ambush Ager and Gudon and die for their efforts. Then that clan sends a delegation to tell Ager that, since he has defeated the previous chief, he is now the new clan chief. Of course, he also has to swear allegiance to Korigan as the Queen, but Korigan swears to ask nothing of him that violates his prior commitments to Lynan; when Lynan agrees to the arrangements, Ager accepts the offer and becomes chief of the Ocean clan.King Salokan of Hakus sends Rendle with 2500 cavalrymen through little known passes into the Ocean of Grass to capture Lynan. Queen Areava send Prado with 4000 mercenaries through the Algonka Pass to kill Lynan. King Salokan takes 30,000 soldiers over his border with Hume and lays siege to Daavis. Queen Areava has already send several thousand cavalrymen to garrison Daavis and she now sends the heavy cavalry of Twenty Families with more light cavalry and thousands of heavy and light infantry to reinforce Daavis. Unknown to anyone in the east, Lynan is gathering his forces as well and they are headed east. These forces are facing a major confrontation.Olio continues to heal the ill and wounded in the new hospice, but Magicker Prelate Edaytot and Primate Northam are greatly concerned with his exhaustion and drinking. Areava finds out about his drinking and chides him for it, but is not aware of his healings. Olio promises to quit drinking but he is troubled with dreams of being unable to heal a dying Lynan.In this story, the looming war becomes a reality. Lynan and the Chetts confront the former slavers who have returned to capture or kill Lynan. Sendarus leads the reinforcements to Daavis, wearing the Key of the Sword. Olio finds the strength to heal on his own, but the Key

Before she died Queen Usharna gave each of her children a Key of Power in the hope that they will work together to keep the kingdom of Grenda Lear prospering. She could not know that upon her death, conspirators would kill her successor King Berayma and make sure Prince Lynan would be wanted for the deed. The new Queen Areava declares her half-brother, who she dislikes because he has commoner blood, a traitor. Lynan escapes before he can be killed and the two masterminds behind the conspiracy hold very important posts in the Queen's government.Lynan flees to the Chetts in the Sea of Grass and forms an alliance with Queen Korigan of the White Wolf Clan. Everyone knows for Lynan to return to Grenda Lear, he must come as a conqueror with an army at his back. He unites all the clans of the Chetts under his banner and he turns them into a fighting force second to none, but before he marches on Grenda Lear, he must defeat two mercenary armies. One wants him dead while the other wants to use him as a figurehead to conqueror his homeland.Simon Brown's latest Sword and Sorcery novel is exciting, enthralling and spell binding. Both the queen and the prince believe they have very good motives for their actions but while the Prince freely makes his own choices the Queen is manipulated into making decisions others want her to make. Judging by the loose ends, there will be at least one more book in this epic series and anyone who tastes FIRE AND SWORD will anxiously wait for it to be published.Harriet Klausner