The Map of All Things
Terra Incognita – Book II
By Kevin J Anderson
Since the burning of the sacred city of Ishalem those Tierrans and
Urabans have been at it hammer and tongs. One side commits
atrocities, then the other side follows in retaliation. Ishalem
has fallen into the hands of the Urabans, thanks to their leader
the Soldan-Shah Omra, and workers have found an ancient map in an
underground chamber. This is surely the map that shows the
way to the fabled lost lands and the Key of Creation; a ship must
be sent out immediately. Omra sends his adopted son, Saan,
on a voyage of discovery, while on the other side of the continent,
the Tierrans have waved off the Discovera with Criston
Vora as captain…
There is a lot in this large book, and the parallels with the religious
wars raging in our own world are obvious and make the tale seem
more immediate. Mr Anderson has created a big, sprawling epic
in the best fantasy tradition with at least a dozen different viewpoints
as all the various sets of characters scheme, plot and plan.
The problem with this is that we are never with each group for very
long; some chapters consist of little more than a couple of pages
before the reader is whisked away and shown something else.
At times this makes a story that is not so much hard to follow –
this is actually not a problem – but hard to grab hold of,
rather like one of the slippery sea serpents the three ships keep
encountering. This has the added fault of making it hard to
care for the characters and can seem more like flicking through
a magazine than reading a novel. This aside, Mr Anderson has
created an entertaining tale that keeps the pages turning late into
the night and makes the reader pause at times when events hold up
a distorting mirror into the way our own conflicts arose and continue
to rise.
|
The
Book |
Orbit (Little, Brown) |
10
June 2010 |
Trade Paperback |
1841496596 / 9781841496597 |
Fantasy |
More at Amazon US
|| UK |
Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The
Reviewer |
Rachel
Hyde |
Reviewed
2010 |
NOTE:
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