The Rune Lords

From Publishers WeeklyThe breathless third installment of Farland's second Runelords quartet opens with the cliffhanger from 2007's Sons of the Oak: flameweaver wizard Fallion Orden, son of the Earth King, is trapped by fiendish Lord Despair in a savage new world Fallion himself had made by melding two realities. Fallion has rejected endowments, transfers of power or skill that leave the donor drained of the attribute they bestow on the recipient, but his lover, Rhianna, her foster sister, warrior maiden Talon, and Talon's noble idol, the Emir Tuul Ra, accept numerous endowments, vowing to pay any price to rescue Fallion from Rugassa, where torture is an art. Oscillating between lurid depictions of blood-soaked vistas and heroic tales of noble adolescent saviors, Farland attempts to leaven the violence with enchanting parallel-world landscapes and charming minor characters, but the atmosphere overall is unrelentingly gloomy. Nonetheless, this series promises to continue as long as stalwart-stomached readers can keep turning its grisly pages. (Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.From School Library JournalFallion Orden, the son of the hero Gabon, discovered a way to unite two alternate realities into one world. Now he is imprisoned in the world of his creating, tortured by a creature calling itself Lord Despair, who is raising an army of wyrmlings for a war of conquest. Fallion's allies face the daunting task of freeing him before he is broken and forced into the service of the forces of evil. Farland's latest installment in his popular Runelords series continues where Worldbinder left off, following the fate of Fallion and his allies as they seek an end to the evils that terrorize their world. Strong storytelling and vital characters as well as an ingenious system of magic make this a good addition to most fantasy collections.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.