Storm and Steel: The Book of the Black Earth, Part Two
Jon Sprunk
Pyr, Jun 2 2015, $18.00
ISBN: 9781633880108
In Erugash Horace the ship’s carpenter and mage smashed the Temple
of the Sun and liberated Queen Byleth (see Blood and Iron) from their power; but also alienated nobles
wanting to eliminate his influence with the monarch anyway possible. However, Horace failed to eliminate the Sun
Cult priests; who fled across the border into Akeshia. There they obtain allies in an invasion of
Erugash.
Ignoring the threats that remain to her rule from outside the
kingdom and from within her palace, Queen Byleth orders her royal mage to
viciously destroy a slave rebellion led by Horace’s best friend Jirom and the
latter’s lover. Horace pleads with his
liege to seek a peaceful solution at a time when he struggles with his sorcery
and with a rash of magical mysterious murders from an unknown source.
The second Book of the Black Earth is an electrifying fantasy due
to the ineptness of the lead character who recognizes his failures from a lack
of magical control, lack of finesse within the royal court and lack of
understanding of his love for Alyra. Horace wants to sail away from his
responsibilities to this foreign culture and its enigmatic queen that he cannot
comprehend; eliminate his unwanted magic that he cannot comprehend; and run
away from love that he cannot comprehend.
In the immortal words of the late comedian Joe E. Lewis: “Show me a
friend in need and I'll show you a pest.”
Harriet Klausner
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