Review: Astounding alternate world
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 31, 2012
This is a dark vision of a dark world filled with vivid descriptions that make the fantasy world Heath's characters inhabit, almost real, so believable that it is easy to imagine the plot with all its appurtenances unfolding clearly in one's mind. Highly imaginative literature in which meaning is at times profound, with statements like, "The road we seek lies hidden," et cetera. The narrative is lyrical in places, until after bathing in its rich dimensions, one reads for instance, "The trickling sound of the river reminded me vaguely of fresh blood caught by a wineglass." Then one remembers--bloodshed is at the heart of this story. Baron Von Draukenhaus, a dracal of terrible power, has returned to Moongoth after a century-long exile. He's on a mission and we soon find out that the ways of the dracal are characterised by the lack of emotion, still, the issue of whether it's possible for Draukenhaus to recapture even an essence of his lost humanity is posed. As Draukenhaus leads the band of expendable heroes against the enemy, the anti-hero's character is shaped, and all the more easily because he is the narrator of events.This is a thoughtful, dazzling fantasy full of creative invention, which mirrors many of the challenges in the real world--fighting for worthwhile causes, saving the world, loyalty, duty, law, good and evil, and of course politics within which so much is always hidden--and which stands out so clearly in the epilogue through the conversation between the counselors and Lord Oland. Now that the precious relic is in the hands of Lord Oland, how will the Arrow of Divinity be used? And will the dark powers of Draukenhaus be employed again in the next installment? The author leaves some interesting unanswered questions hanging in the reader's mind which calls for a look at the next in this trilogy.