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Title: Wizardborn (The Runelords | Book 3) |
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Review of Wizardborn (The Runelords, Book 3)
- Book Three of The Runelords
Wizardborn continues the story of the struggle of Gaborn, now the Earth King, who has lost his powers but continues to lead his people. He must contend with the threat of the huge, inhuman Reavers, whose myriads Gaborn and his forces must now pursue across the nation. It has become Gaborn's fate to follow, even into the depths.
Raj Ahten, the great warlord endowed with the strength and qualities of thousands of men, once the primary threat to Gaborn, now struggles to retain his own empire. His war of conquest thwarted, his very life is now threatened by the Reaver thousands.
And a young girl, Averan, who has eaten a Reaver and absorbed some of its memories, becomes a keystone in the search for the dark Reaver lair.
Product Description
- This is the third book in David Farland's epic fantasy Runelords series, following The Runelords and Brotherhood of the Wolf. Having sacrificed most of his Earth-based magical powers in the previous book, King Gaborn is sworn to pursue the army of unfathomable Reavers across the land of Mystarria, hoping to slay them before they can take refuge in their underground lair. A revelation from Averan, a young girl who's gained the memories of a Reaver by eating its brain, forces a change in plan, however. If the Reavers get underground, she learns, they will be rallied by the magic of the One True Master Reaver and return to fight, more deadly than ever. Averan's own budding Earth Power leads to her being chosen as apprentice by Gaborn's Earth wizard Binnesman, and her Reaver knowledge will make her an indispensable part of Gaborn's forces. In the meantime, evil forces seek to murder Gaborn's wife and prevent her from giving birth to a son who could be more powerful than his father, while Gaborn's enemy Raj Ahten--who, like Gaborn, is also losing his endowed Earth Power--pursues the Reavers through his kingdom as well.
In the end, the book stops just as things are finally starting to move, but while offering little plot development and no real surprises, this latest chapter in the Runelords saga is still likely to please Farland's dedicated fans. --Charlene Brusso
Amazon.com
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Comments for Wizardborn (The Runelords | Book 3)
- Posted on 2008-04-21
Not Free SF Reader
Braineater plan change.
Having acted against Earth wishes in trying to get rid of his enemy, Gaborn isn't as superpowerful as before, but still will try and get rid of the Reavers.
A kid gives him surprising new information gained from eating the brain of a dead 'un. Yum.
So, a underground Reaver bash, is what comes next, to try and remove the menace before their super-wizard runs amok with an army.
Score: 3
- Posted on 2005-06-07
Again, coninues the feel
Farland continues the tone and feel of the first two books in this one. While it doesn't have the structure of a build up to a massive battle at the end that the first two books had, the pace remains swift and the characters continue to grow. I had but a few concerns, all pretty minor.
First, the author must have a thing against horses. Throughout this series more horses have been killed in more gruesome ways than I can remember. Sure, they're going to get killed in battle, but he makes a point to detail the slaughter of almost all of them.
It seems awfully easy for the characters to get endowments when they want them. The characters decide that they need an endowment of stamina and in the next chapter, they have it and they're riding off somewhere. It seems to me it should be a much bigger deal to get an endowment, especially when you are pretty much a nobody like some of the characters are.
The characters travel across massive distances in no time. Even on force horses, it seemed like it should have taken much longer for the characters to get around. They go back and forth across entire countries in less than a day. Of course, with all of this travelling, their horses are going to get tired and probably die in some horrible way.
Farland is starting to lose track of a few threads. The Days and Borenson's search for a historical hero are still pushed to the back. They seemed to be big points in the first book, but not much has happened with them. I hope he ties them together in the last book.
It's difficult to look cool when you're walking around with a book with a goofy looking giant on the cover. Whenever I set the book down, I set it face down so I wouldn't get questions.
Ultimately, I recommend it, especially if you've already read the first two books. You really don't have anything to lose at this point.
Score: 3 - Posted on 2004-04-09
Keep them coming!
Much better than the previous installment of Brotherhood of the Wolf. I really enjoyed this book and I'm anxiously awaiting reading The Lair of Bones. The world building, monsters and fighting are outstanding. Keep them coming.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2004-03-15
Great fantasy, unique, entertaining and thoughtul
When I started this series I wasn't sure if it was all it was cracked up to be. But to me it just seems to get better and better. He started with the endowment system in the first book, and while it seems like that was the focus toward the beginning, I don't think it was ever supposed to be the real issue. To merely stick to that, and the problem of Raj Ahten trying to become the Sum of all Men, would be too one dimensional. I think a lot of time was spent on that in the beginning, because it was new and innovative and the readers needed to be able to understand it and get used to it, along with all it's questions and implications. But in this and partly in the one previous, Farland does a very good job of raising the stakes with the various elements in his world. I find all the side plots very intriguing, not because they're all wonderful and amazing parts of the story in their own right, but because each of the characters off doing their thing, actually gives the impression that they are an integral part of the conflict that is going on. They each have their role to play, and their own choices to make, which may effect the course of history. Myrimma and Borenson starting their journey to Inkarra, Celinor and Erin traveling to see King Anders, and Raj Ahten fighting reavers in his homeland. The only one that really disappoints me completely is Iome. She does nothing, accomplishes nothing, and doesn't even seem to be in line to do anything of significance in the future. Just a boring damsel in distress. But with the rest, I can only wish that their parts had been drawn out a little more. They just seemed a little incomplete (yes, I know there is another book).
Gaborn is probably one of my favorite fantasy heroes. Some people have complained that he's a boring whiney wimp. Well, I'd argue that he doesn't really whine, and I personally don't find him boring. But the fact is, he kind of is a wimp. The cool thing, though, is that that is kind of the point. Farland mentions many times how people find Gaborn unimpressive. He has not glamor. He's not an amazing, fierce warrior. He's not a fearless leader. He doesn't even always do the right thing. But he tries. And that's what I find intriguing. He's always trying to do the right thing, and at every turn he has to make moral decisions that actually affect those around him and the entire plot of the book. And he actually THINKS. You don't get much meaningful thinking from Robert Jordan. I mean, when Rand 'al Thor thinks, its about how low his nearest woman's neckline is. But when Gaborn Val Orden thinks, it's about whether he should attack reavers now to satisfy a thirst for vengeance or hold off because doing something now might bring greater disaster later on. He deals with issues of faith in a higher power that he knows is real, but is often difficult to comprehend or follow. He struggles with how he must use the child Averan's ability to absorb reaver knowledge by eating their brains, even though it is putting her through extreme torment. Gaborn is actually an interesting hero, because he seems so much more human than the heroes of other stories.
Raj Ahten is also much more interesting in this book. Instead of a lethal madman, obsessed with himself, we find a guy who actually wants to save his people. He starts to realize that people expect him to be a terrible, cruel, ruthless general. He struggles at the idea of losing his humanity to become a servant of fire. A reader could almost hold out hope for the guy.
All in all, I thought this was a great book. Some parts could have used some more fleshing out, but I liked a lot of the developments. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
All in all, I think this book could have had a few of the storylines fleshed out a little more, but it's constantly entertaining, and at the same time insightful, and philosophically and ethically intriguing.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2003-11-02
Oh, what could have been....
The Runelords series started out so promising, but has quickly gone down hill. The focus of the first novel was the endowment system where a person could give his or her best endowment to someone else. It is a cool idea and should have remained the focus of the series. There are so many cool plots the author could have come up with, but instead has decided to introduce a number of distracting elements to the story that really take away from the endowment system. The distractions come from a variety of boring storylines like Gaborn role as the Earth King (he is a big wimp and quickly squanders what he has), the Reavers(these creatures do not even belong in the story, boring lets stick to the man vs. man struggles), Averan and Binnesman(unnecessary storyline just like the Reavers), this alternate world that the glories come from, the shoting stars, and a whole lot more. I really feel like David Farland had about 5 completely different ideas for novels and instead of right 5 different books he just combined all the elements into one series. The story is all over the place and really needed to be tightened up.Wizardborn really had no chance to improve upon its predecessors after the remaining storylines left over from Brotherhood of the Wolf. After 428 pages the story has barely changed at all. Gaborn's army is still in about the same location, the Earth King storyline has essentially disappeared(no big deal), Borenson is just starting his search to find Dylan Hammer, Celinor and the Horsesister girl are taking their dear old time completing their quest, Averan is still barfing up Reaver brains, and the Days(another cool idea with the endowment system that has been squander)have done nothing. On top of all that, this Wylde that was summoned in book 1 by Binnesman has done absolutely after its first few kills in book 2. Binnesman says that the wild is suppose to fight for the Earth, not the Earth King and yet this wylde does nothing??? It doesn't need to sit on the sidelines because it is not fully trained, come on it destroys Reavers and cripples Raj Ahten and the does not fight in any of the insuing battles. Who wrote this garbage???
The only 2 characters that are remotely interesting are Myriamma and Raj Ahten. Both willing take endowments and are envolved in lots of fights. Farland's biggest assets is that he is really good at action sequence and it shows in any of the battles that these 2 characters are involved in. If Farland focused on the endowments of his other characters this series could have been incredible. In typical Farland fashion he ends up ruining even these characters towards the end of Wizardborn.
The final book in the series, Lair of Bones, is almost out and I am glad that this series is wrapping up. I want to finish the series since I have come this far, but it cannot end soon enough. Wizardborn is a lackluster effort at best. There are way too many storylines going for Lair of Bones to wrap them up. I have a feeling Farland ended the series now so he could get the movie out.
Score: 2