Richard T. Drake has done a commendable job of presenting his readers with an amazing and dangerous fantasy world, The Hollow World, launched with this first volume in the series, Heir of the Hunted. It’s truly wonderful when a great idea and excellent writing skills meet, and this is certainly the case here. The author also does a smooth job of presenting an entire story and then setting the readers up for the next book in the series.

Radyn, our hero, never knew his father, and lost his birth mother at a young age. He and his mother had been invited to live with Uric, a stern foster father who runs a small traveling circus, and Orel, Uric’s kind-hearted merchant wife. Radyn is raised to be an acrobat and juggler in the circus, traveling under the watchful eye of Uric. Radyn’s birth is a mystery, and while great and strange things have been predicted for him, there was nothing in the young man’s childhood that would prove that to be true. He was an ordinary performer, getting in to trouble as young men typically do, usually in the company of his best friend, Cune, who later became a soldier, and his pet burveeg Grol.

One day, Radyn realizes that he’s lost a half-day of time, and that sometimes, time slows to a crawl, but only for him. About then, he finds out that he is the target of a cabal called the Kah, dedicated to magic and evil-doing. Radyn needs to discover: Why him?

Separately, we meet Kyna, a young Akalyte warrior, who decides that it’s her job to save the planet from the Kah and from another strong, overpowering race called theeds. Eventually, the paths of Radyn and Kyna converge.

Heir of the Hunted is well-paced, with enough dialog, but not too much, and a cast of interesting characters, among which are Loken, a half-god whose father hates him, and Dace, publically a famous bard, but secretly a master of the Alakytes and a mentor to both Radyn and Kyna. Any lover of fantasy will find this new series entertaining.

Heir of the Hunted, Book1 of The Hollow World

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