Wizardborn, by David Farland

I finished Renelords book 3, Wizardborn and I thought it was better than the second book in the series. Obviousle some people don't agree with me. I don't know why I bother reading the Amazon reviews; they're always either mindlessly devoted to a book or saying things I don't agree with.

One reviewer complained that "Gaborn's army is still in about the same location, [...] 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." All of these are rather stupid complaints, seeing as how the book takes over a period of two days. Sheesh. The characters aren't The Flash and they don't have planes, so you can't expect them to cover vast distances in that short a period of time. That reviewer also thinks that all the parts of the plot not having to do with endowments are boring and should be cut out, which is odd, because I thought that endowments were the most boring, stupid idea in the series.

Another reviewer complained because a lot of horses died in the book. WTF? Another reviewer complained that he didn't like it as much as George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Well, so what?

I thought it was good, and since this is my review blog, that's all that matters. I liked learning more about the Reavers in this book. They aren't anything like us. In fact their way of life would be monstrous for a human, but they aren't really evil; they're just being controlled by an evil force. In a way, I pity them, and making someone pity what is essentially a monster is a good thing.

Since I'm feeling fairly generous today, I'll give Wizardborn five yo-yos.

Brotherhood of the Wolf, by David Farland

I just finished Brotherhood of the Wolf. As you may recall, when I reviewed The Runelords last week, I said that I thought there were some problems with the first book, but that the series showed promise. After reading this book, I decided I was right; this one is better than the first one.

The first book in the series was a bit slow in the beginning. This one started with lots of action. You've got horrible Reavers sprouting up like weeds, going around, and killing everybody. They're pretty cool and nasty monsters. There's also a thing called a Darkling Glory which seemed kind of cool too.

The characters are gaining more depth, and poor Raj Ahtlan (the villain) seeems to be turning into a total nutjob. There are new enemies popping up in the form of the wind mages. There are new heroes. Really, I just liked this book a lot.

The only thing that annoys me is the constant misuse of the word sirrah, which as anyone who has read Shakespeare (or looked a Websters Online dictionary) knows means "used as a form of address implying inferiority in the person addressed." Farland seems to use it as a comlpiment or something. Sheesh! It's not much, but it really bugs me.

Even with that, I do like this book. I give Brotherhood of the Wolf four and a half yo-yos.

The Runelords, by David Farland

I picked up The Runelords because it was a special $3.99 edition. It was certainly well worth the $4. While it isn't a great book, I do think it's a pretty good book.

The basic premise is that a person can give some of their own strengths to another through the use of runes. For instance, if you give someone your wit, you become a drooling moron and their memory becomes enhanced. If you give metabolism, you go into a coma and they become the Flash.

This is a part that was kind of confusing. The names of the attributes don't make all that much sense. I mean wit and memory aren't the same thing, and neither are metabolism and speed. Farland should have just called them memory and speed and things would have been a heck of a lot less confusing. Also, these endowments can only be given willingly (at least that's the impression I get from the scenes where it happens), but the villain is reputed to steal them from people he conquers. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

There's a second kind of magic in the book too. A sort of generic elemental magic. Much like in The Dragon Quartet book I read a few weeks ago, earth, water, and presumable air (we don't see any air magic) are good and fire is evil. the hero becomes the Earth King, which gives him some magical powers. This one makes more sense than the rune business.

While I thought the story dragged a bit in places, it wasn't bad. I think it shows a lot of promise for the series as a whole. I'm certainly going to look for Brotherhood of the Wolf, the second book in the series. Anyway, I give The Runelords four yo-yos, because I think the series has promise.