The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin
The Blood King is the second book in The Chronicles of the Necromancer.
Gail Z. Martin has a decent writing voice, but the book as a whole really left me wanting. Perhaps it was the combination of good characters who were too good and bad characters who were too bad that I just didn’t quite feel comfortable with.
The first book, The Summoner, took us through the overthrow of the Kingdom of Margolan by the eldest son who is evil and selfish and cruel and lecherous and impatient… see where I am going with this? No redeeming qualities whatsoever, and his magical ally makes him seem nice by comparison. So, the bad guys are really out and out bad. The hero and his friends are willing to die for their friends and sacrifice themselves for the kingdom and to risk everything to stop the super-evil-bad-guy who the major-bad-guys are planning to release into the world. Ok, so I am being a bit sarcastic, but that’s my major gripe with The Blood King. Even the rebel-bad-guy is really a good guy who just has had so many hard experiences that he is not respectful enough of authority to be considered a real good guy.
The story of The Blood King seems to take a long time getting started and then moves kind of ponderously through the series of events that leads to the final confrontation. It might have felt more exciting and interesting if I hadn’t been so overwhelmed by the over-the-top characters.
I would like to see Ms. Martin write some more and I would like to see her get an editor who can help her to tone some things down. She shows a lot of promise and has a good command of the essential fantasy elements, but George R.R. she ain’t.
The Chronicles of the Necromancer — (2007-2010) Publisher: The comfortable world of Martris Drayke, second son of King Bricen of Margolan, is shattered when his older half-brother, Jared, and Jared’s dark mage, Foor Arontala, kill the king and seize the throne. Tris is the only surviving member of the royal family aside from Jared the traitor. Tris flees with three friends: Soterius, captain of the guard; Carroway, the court’s master bard; and Harrtuck, a member of the royal guard. Tris harbors a deep secret. In a land where spirits walk openly and influence the affairs of the living, he suspects he may be the mage heir to the power of his grandmother, Bava K’aa, once the greatest sorceress of her age. Such magic would make Tris a Summoner, the rarest of magic gifts, capable of arbitrating between the living and the dead.
The Fallen Kings Cycle — (2011-2012) Set in the world of The Chronicles of the Necromancer. Publisher: Summoner-King Martris Drayke must attempt to meet this great threat, gathering an army from a country ravaged by civil war. Tris seeks new allies from among the living — and the dead — as an untested generation of rulers face their first battle. Meanwhile, the legendary Dread are stirring in their burrows after millennia of silence and no one knows what hand wakes them and whom they will serve when they rise. Now, Drayke turns to the Sworn, a nomadic clan of warriors bound to protect the Dread. But even the mighty Sworn do not know what will happen when the Dread awake. All are certain, though, that war is coming to the Winter Kingdoms. THE SWORN is the beginning of a new adventure set in the world of The Chronicles of the Necromancer.
It’s not that bad, it has some good moments… Yes it is true that some of the characters are beyond the story, and the story sometimes is a little slow, but for me in general the book entertained me
…or maybe I’m just a fan of Vahanian =)