Seekers of the Chalice by Brian Cullen
Seekers of the Chalice is the story of a small group of heroes who set out to recover the Chalice of Fire, a symbol of peace for Ulster, after it is stolen from the Red Branch by a traitor.
The premise behind the book, which is an attempt to do a high fantasy retelling of the traditional Celtic myth Táin Bó Cúailnge, is great. However, the execution falters. The characters are flat, the dialogue stilted, and the plot is an endless series of near identical battles against every imaginable dark creature. Pixies and goblins and werewolves, oh my!
Cullen commits the cardinal sin for a writer by telling — not showing — the story. His attempt to lay out the entire back story in the first few pages leaves Seekers of the Chalice feeling like lecture notes for a class on Irish Mythology. It then morphs into a bad novelization of someone’s D&D campaign.
Even though Seekers of the Chalice was an easy read, it wasn’t an entertaining one, and it left me with no desire to continue reading. I’d be interested in seeing if Cullen improves over time. He can come up with some interesting concepts, but his implementation is lacking. Maybe with more experience, his execution can live up to his ideas.
Seekers — (2008-2009) Publisher: In the time when gods and men walked the earth along with demons, the Chalice of Fire, the symbol of peace for Ulster, is stolen from the Red Branch by Bricriu Poisontongue. A small band of Seekers sets out to recover and return the Chalice to the Red Branch to restore peace to the Ulster kingdom. The Seekers are a group of two elves, Bern and Lorges; Cumac, the son of Cucullen, the greatest Red Branch warrior; Fedelm of the Sidhe; Tarin, the Swordwanderer; and the wizard-druid, Seanchan. Together they must make their way through the world brought as Maliman, the evil wizard, uses his powers to stop them as he seeks the Chalice himself to bend its magic to his will. The Seekers battle their way through the creatures of darkness that threaten to conquer the world. But they are determined to bring light back from darkness and restore the land that has fallen into ruin and decay with the theft of the Chalice. An epic tale that brings to mind the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, David Gemmell, and R.A. Salvatore, Seekers of the Chalice is the first book of a trilogy that explores the ongoing battle between good and evil in a land that is teetering on darkness.
this is the best book ive ever read he did a great job on telling the store from the start to end he is a great author he left the end of the book in the best place making it where I wanted more I couldn’t whit for the next one