Author: Danny Birt
Publisher: Ancient Tomes Press
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: May, 2008

This book begins with an introduction warning readers to read something else if it’s their first fantasy novel.  The author then proceeds to give a very formulaic depiction of what he feels the average fantasy novel contains concerning plot and claims that his book does not follow this formula.  It wasn’t a very good way to begin this book, especially if it was picked up by a fan of the fantasy genre.  It certainly seems very condescending and fairly uninformed to anyone who has read much fantasy fiction.  Long-term readers have encountered many books that do, indeed, follow that tried-and-true formula as presented.  Many other books do not and if the reader is a first time reader of fantasy, they could very well be driven to exclaim that the formula is exactly the reason why they have avoided fantasy thus far.

The author proclaims this book to be vastly different from other fantasy books, and it seems, he is eager to state that this is not a typical quest book.  The problem is that there isn’t much that is new to fantasy readers.  The formula is followed, for the most part, precisely as the author claims that it is not. The only seeming escape, really, is the fact that the protagonist awakens with no memory of his previous life, which means that the deity currently running his life can’t ruin it for him. It should be noted that everyone else in the fellowship the main character joins almost immediately has had their life wrecked by become a servant of the gods.

The book opens with the appearance of a man with long, white hair in the midst of a wilderness where he encounters a group traveling to defeat an evil mage attempting to establish a Dominion. If the mage succeeds, he will gain power, and thus be able to do even greater evil with his magic.  The man who woke out in the wilderness is dubbed Sanct and he continues with the group towards their goal.  Along the way, his traveling companions discover that he has no memories and no possessions, except a staff which appears and disappears at Sanct’s need.  After the evil mage is defeated by another person who wasn’t in the group, the travellers split up and go about their own business. Sanct returns to the cave where he woke and goes into a sort of hibernation.  When he awakens again, he encounters a familiar face in one of the members of the fellowship he’d been in previously.  He finds himself on a quest, driven to a purpose that no one seems to understand, least of all Sanct.  As he struggles to discover what he is supposed to do, he is also struggling to find his own identity as well as the identity of the deity he serves.

This book is a dense quest fantasy. The author tries very hard to be oblique and mysterious and seems to be pushing for a big, surprising reveal that will hopefully thrill and engage the audience. Unfortunately, his efforts show as the reader tries to slog through the prose.  There is a glossary and pronunciation guide provided, both of which are helpful.  Neither of them seem out of hand, given the story, and are actually a well-written and nicely provided tool for readers.  The author isn’t much given to invented vocabulary, which is a blessing, nor does he seem particularly fond of names that are impossible to pronounce.  The book is populated with vampires, mages, angels, and, naturally, a whole pantheon of gods.  The world itself seems to be carefully thought out in terms of mythology and laws of physics and metaphysics and is remarkably consistent in that manner.  None of the characters are introduced randomly and the story never seems to get overpopulated.  Some of them use terms that seem very incongruous within the context of the story. One of the characters, who is actually a formally trained Combat Mage and a prince of his realm uses the phrase “Creeping me out,” which somehow made the flow of the story simply crash to a screeching halt.  It seemed both against the character’s speech patterns and completely opposite the fuedal/medieval feel that this author was clearly attempting.

This book is the first of a pentology, and it definitely sets up an ambitious story that has several threads which need to be woven together.  The first volume actually ends at a very natural point that doesn’t feel entirely like a cliffhanger. It’s not the end and there is clearly more story to tell, but it is a proper break to the plot.

It’s clearly a first novel, and the author did seem to set himself up for at least a little disaster by trying to state that he was writing something entirely different when, in fact, he wasn’t.  However, the missteps that he made don’t make this a bad read or even an utter disaster.  It is a solid effort with some very good ideas and could turn out to be a very good story when it’s finished.

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Topics: Ancient Tomes Press, Danny Birt, Ending an Ending