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Title: Sword of Caledor
Series: Tyrion & Teclis #2
Author: William King
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 268
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

It has been 100 years since the previous book. Tyrion and Teclis are both becoming more adept at their roles and how they fit into Elven Society.

The book starts out with them and a bunch of humans on a quest to find the Sword of Caledor. Going through jungles, swamps and eventually ending up at a dead city, they find the Sword.

Once back home, Tyrion is called upon to take part in a tournament to decide the champion of the new Everqueen, as the previous one suddenly died, all because of Malekith's long term plans. Teclis must decode a bunch of scrolls he took from the dead city that seem to describe the end of the world.

Meanwhile, Malekith has bound the demon from the previous book and is invading the Light Elves/Asur's homeland. He uses the demon's ability to use portals to spread his army across the land and plans on destroying city after city in one fell swoop. He also sends an elite contingent to the Tournament to capture the new Everqueen. With her bound to Malekith, the Asur will have to follow him.E

Tyrion foils said capture, but the book ends with him and the Everqueen on the run and the land about to be overrun by dark elves.

My Thoughts:

My initial thought when we meet the twins and their human entourage in a jungle searching for the sword, was that these elves were not Tolkien's elves but that they seemed familiar. Further on, I realized that they reminded me of the Melnibonéans from Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga. Decadent, superior and on the decline without even realizing it.

My second thought, when Malekith invaded with a whole boatload of boats [sorry for that, but couldn't really think of another turn of phrase], was “Where are the watchers, the scouts, Joelendil Farmer?” Why didn't SOMEBODY see a whole bloody army invading? I don't get the impression that the Asur homeland was a vast, unpopulated realm. Maybe it is, but if so, me having no knowledge of the land denied me knowing that. It just came across as authorial “Because I said so!”

My third, and final negative thought, was, “this is depressing as all get out”. The Asur were ennui laden jerks, the Druuchi [the elves in thrall to Malekith, the other son of Aenarion] were all spies, tattletales and backstabbers and the humans were greedy pigs hardly even worth looking at.

Action-wise, this had some good stuff! The battles to find the sword of Caledor, in the jungle, in the dead city, were pretty good. Had a good mix of dinoaurs, ghosts and undead [sadly, no undead dinosaurs]. The slaughter at the Tournemant was a bit “meh”, as none of the super-duper warriors, besides Tyrion, seemed to fight back and even Tyrion had to pull a rescue and run mission.

★★★☆☆ ( )