The Runelords

Suspenseful Exciting Gruesome Sad Scary Awesome

Unlike most modern fantasy, that I feel is a bit...detached... Mr. Farland has created a setting and characters that you really, truly care about. When I dig into a large novel, I expect a Tolkein-esque jaunt through months of time in our character's lives, with long journeys and treks through dark places. This book surprised me in the fact that the entire story takes place within a few days in the lives of our heroes. And what a few days it is!I don't dare give much away, and you can read the exerpts and other reviews to get a glimpse of what the story is about. Instead, I recommend you go out and read this book. You can drink it up like cold mountain dew and be drawn into this world. You care about Gaborn and his crew, groan in pain when the supporting cast is stripped of virtues, and cry at the surprising ending. Indeed, unlike most stories nowadays, this one truly has heart. I invite you to share in the struggles of these people. I have. And it's a wonderful experience.

The world of fantasy novels are often nothing more than sad rehashes of The Hobbit, or worse, longhand versions of some late night jam session with some D & D buddies. But Runelords gifts us with something NEW! No small miracle considering that most book shelves are crammed with prancing elves and dour dwarves. Thankfully, none will be found here. Instead of staid old dragons (yawn) we have reavers. The Marines from the Alien movies would probably prefer thier old nemisis over these guys. And the main human opponent, while certainly evil, pursues his dark path in the name of saving humanity instead of the old -I serve a dark god, so go pike yourself- type we usualy get. I believe the saying "Extremeism in the service of mankind is no vice" could be his moto, and it makes for a very interesting bad guy. Perhaps best of all is the singular magic system. It allows for some very interesting statagey and fighting. Even more importantly, it sets up some social questions. How much should a person give in defence of his country? How much should a leader ask from his people?... the effects that rune magic has on this 'typical' midevil culture is profound and far reaching. If you have a soft spot for fantasy but think that you'll be force to murder someone if you have to read about one more magical elf forest city, PLEASE TRY THIS! If the average fantasy is dominos pizza, this is a good curry... different and challenging.

I've been reading fantasy for decades, so it takes something a bit more intriguing and innovative to catch my attention. The magic system, integral to the plot and motivations and theme, manages to put this book above the ordinary. The cost of using these Runes is immediate and devistatingly obvious. It highlights what is implied in other books, that there is a cost to magic, or power of any kind; whether it's the power a leader has over his men, or the power man has over nature. This adds immensely to the meaning of all the action. --And the action is great. The story is fast-paced and the author doesn't play about with the reader, providing many confrontations between the protagonist and antagonist, and lively scenes with the supporting characters. The writing is self-assured and straight-forward, the characters are a little nebulous but show great promise of growth, the world seems vast and fascinating with well-developed and intriguing cultures. I will eagerly look forward to reading more in this series.

I always have to give a lot of credit to authors who are able to see a genre of writing and make it their own by introducing a new and fresh aspect to look at. So often I am left feeling bored and tired by the same old wizard and dragon stories, that I am always welcome to books such as these that breathe a breath of fresh air into the field of fantasy. The idea of supplementary magic in this book to me is the central reason why the book is good. The author has created a new "magic" as it were, and how he tells about it, and introduces it in this book was well done. The writing is not super heavy, so this book can be enjoyed by all, but I enjoyed the ideas that went behind the making of this book, and it is those ideas that I applaud. If you are reading goodkind and jordan right now, and see all the consistencies between those 2 authors, and perhaps also to Tolkein, look to this author and this book to help you out of your doldrum.