The Book of the Burning
11 Mar 2024 94 readers Score 9.4 (4 votes) PDF Mobi ePub Txt
The Book of Battles finds us in the land of Zahem, a theocracy split between the control of a high priest and an eternal Prophet, this time embodied in a rebellious sixteen year old named Dahlan, supported by Eric Skabelund, who, we learn was the one time love of Austin Buwa’s life. Meanwhile in Kingsboro, King Cedd resolves himself to the elopement of his sister Imogen with Idris of Reghed and Isobel, returned from her own private quest, commissions Taryn to head to Sunderland, the court of Queen Morgellyn, and suss out her intentions. Ohean, Anson, Pol and Austin arrive on the Holy Isle to gain instruction and initiation, sensing that they have a part to play in upcoming events, though they do not understand it, and Myrne and Wolf, now leading a successful campaign against King William and the Baldwin family, control North and South Hale, and are in the midst of deciding if they would seize Inglad.
Meanwhile we meet a girl Theone, who had been raised as a pleasure and breeding slave by the awful Hands, a shuck troop of mostly unknown and completely not understood origins under the control of the high priest of Zahem. Theone flees a murderous Hand called Ruval, but remembers her days of bondage, meeting the red headed sorcerer, Ethan, who told her of her destiny of a mythical Jewel hidden in the temple of the Zahem which he seeks. Also Theone remembers meeting Gimble, the Hand who taught her love, put a child in her belly, and died for having a heart. Theone meets the Wood Women, Yarrow and Birch who refresh her and send her on her way and Ruval arrives at the same place, only to be enchanted and lose his memory, taking up the name of his childhood before he became a hand, Kenneth.
On the road, Theone meets Dissenbark who believes she is the very point of the mission Nimerly of the Rootless Isle sent her on, and they both soon run into Austin, Ohean and Anson who have been reunited with Conn Aragareth. Pol remains on the Rootless Isle to become a Red Priest. On the way to Nava, our friends reach Turnthistle Farm where they are entertained by the stable hand Arvad. But the keeper of the farm, Nelson, and his right hand Mehta have gone to Nava for a time and it is here that we learn that Nelson is, in fact, Gimble, the one time love of Theone.
Meanwhile in Inglad, Edith Baldwin realizes that whatever happens between her husband and Wolf and Myrne, as long as William favors Rufus of Daumany, she and her family will never have power again. As our story closes, she and her brother had arranged to have William taken off into the north and killed, planting his death of Wolf and Myrne, and regaining power in Inglad for themselves.
And now, my friends, the plot has been rehashed, the glossaries and appendixes consulted and the map well posted. And we are are ready to return to the land of Ossar and begin the long ending of our story!