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Acacia #3
The Sacred Band
“David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next."
—George R. R. Martin
David Anthony Durham’s acclaimed fantasy saga, the Acacia Trilogy, continues . . .
As The Sacred Band begins, Queen Corinn bestrides the world as a result of her mastery of spells from the Book of Elenet. Her younger brother, Dariel, has been sent on a perilous mission to the Other Lands. And her sister, Mena, travels to the far north to face an invasion of the feared race of the Auldek. As their separate trajectories converge, a series of world-shaping, earth-shattering battles will force the surviving children of the Akaran dynasty to confront their fates head on—and right some ancient wrongs once and for all.
—George R. R. Martin
David Anthony Durham’s acclaimed fantasy saga, the Acacia Trilogy, continues . . .
As The Sacred Band begins, Queen Corinn bestrides the world as a result of her mastery of spells from the Book of Elenet. Her younger brother, Dariel, has been sent on a perilous mission to the Other Lands. And her sister, Mena, travels to the far north to face an invasion of the feared race of the Auldek. As their separate trajectories converge, a series of world-shaping, earth-shattering battles will force the surviving children of the Akaran dynasty to confront their fates head on—and right some ancient wrongs once and for all.
734 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 4, 2011
64 people are currently reading
1629 people want to read
About the author
David Anthony Durham
32 books598 followersDavid Anthony Durham was born in New York City to parents of Caribbean descent. He grew up mostly in Maryland, but has spent the last fifteen years on the move, jumping from East to West Coast to the Rocky Mountains, and back and forth to Scotland and France several times. He currently lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Or... actually, no he doesn't. He's back in New England at the moment.
He is the author of a trilogy of fantasy novels set in Acacia: The Sacred Band, The Other Lands, and The War With The Mein, as well as the historical novels The Risen, Pride of Carthage, Walk Through Darkness, and Gabriel’s Story. He’s won the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer, a Legacy Award, was a Finalist for the Prix Imaginales and has twice had his books named NY Times Notable Book of the year. His novels have been published in the UK and in French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. Three of his novels have been optioned for development as feature films.
David received an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Maryland. He has taught at the University of Maryland, the University of Massachusetts, The Colorado College, for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, Cal State University, and at Hampshire College. He's currently on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA Program. He reviews for The Washington Post and The Raleigh News & Observer, and has served as a judge for the Pen/Faulkner Awards.
He also writes in George RR Martin's weird and wonderful Wild Cards universe. He feels like the process makes him exercise a whole new set of creative muscles, and he loves the feeling.
He is the author of a trilogy of fantasy novels set in Acacia: The Sacred Band, The Other Lands, and The War With The Mein, as well as the historical novels The Risen, Pride of Carthage, Walk Through Darkness, and Gabriel’s Story. He’s won the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer, a Legacy Award, was a Finalist for the Prix Imaginales and has twice had his books named NY Times Notable Book of the year. His novels have been published in the UK and in French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. Three of his novels have been optioned for development as feature films.
David received an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Maryland. He has taught at the University of Maryland, the University of Massachusetts, The Colorado College, for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, Cal State University, and at Hampshire College. He's currently on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA Program. He reviews for The Washington Post and The Raleigh News & Observer, and has served as a judge for the Pen/Faulkner Awards.
He also writes in George RR Martin's weird and wonderful Wild Cards universe. He feels like the process makes him exercise a whole new set of creative muscles, and he loves the feeling.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
December 28, 2016
It's always a risk to take up a multi-volume work in fantasy. Many have learned hard lessons here. There are authors who, despite their fine intentions, may take twenty years to finish a single saga. That's cliffhanger after cliffhanger with no resolution in sight. There are authors who, despite their dedication, miss their promised publication dates by miles and really don't want to hear from their readers; authors who have actually developed certain animosities in that regard. (And if you think this doesn't play out in the story, think again.) There are authors who, despite their protestations to the contrary, lose interest in their masterwork. You can find them, in seriously squirrely ways, detouring to different genres and constructs - and you know they're done; they're not coming back. So to my mind a point or two should be awarded to every fantasy writer who delivers a final chapter, merely for having the good grace to bring his tale to a close.
That said, another less talked about risk in reading fantasy hinges on the structural. As a reader you'll have at least two books under your belt, but probably more like five, sometimes ten. You've made a generous investment and he's held you to this point. Does he have the skill to wind things up? Some do. Some don't. Truth is, you won't know until you get there.
About a third of the way into Sacred Band, as one of Durham's protagonists was crossing an arctic tundra, the wind left my sails. I'm two volumes in, though, so I did what many do at this stage: I picked up an oar and started to row. By the time I reached the final page I was glad to have hit port, and pretty sure whatever applause was available belonged less to the author than to me.
We fantasy readers are a hearty breed. There's no disputing that.
That said, another less talked about risk in reading fantasy hinges on the structural. As a reader you'll have at least two books under your belt, but probably more like five, sometimes ten. You've made a generous investment and he's held you to this point. Does he have the skill to wind things up? Some do. Some don't. Truth is, you won't know until you get there.
About a third of the way into Sacred Band, as one of Durham's protagonists was crossing an arctic tundra, the wind left my sails. I'm two volumes in, though, so I did what many do at this stage: I picked up an oar and started to row. By the time I reached the final page I was glad to have hit port, and pretty sure whatever applause was available belonged less to the author than to me.
We fantasy readers are a hearty breed. There's no disputing that.
December 30, 2024
End of the trilogy. The overall story of the three volumes is entirely original, with some pretty good ideas (the use of souls, the mist)
The end rushed, unfortunately.
I also had a bit of trouble finding the characters endearing.
The end rushed, unfortunately.
I also had a bit of trouble finding the characters endearing.
February 10, 2012
The Sacred Band by David Anthony Durham brings the saga of the Akaran family, begun in Acacia, to a close. The novel picks up where The Other Landsleft off. Corinn controls Acacia with an iron grip her growing mastery over the magic learned from the Book of Elenet allow ever greater control over the populace. Dariel, still far across the sea in the Other Lands learning about the society formed by the former quota slaves. Mena has been tasked with defending Acacia’s northern border from invadeing Auldek. Last, the recently resurrected Aliver slowly begins to recover who he was. On a minor note one of the brilliant things this series does, and one of the things I’d love to see other shorter fantasy series do, is provide several pages (about two to three) of summary for the previous novels. In a genre wherein volumes are separated by months if not years this type of summary is extraordinarily helpful in helping ease a reader back into the story.
The Other Lands really opened up the story of the Acacia trilogy by introducing the continent of Ushen Brae and revealing the society formed by the quota slaves sent across the sea. The Scared Band expands upon those revelations slowly doling out the history and ramifications of the presence of the quota slaves and their former masters. Indeed over the course of the novel, and the course of the series at large, the themes of history and truth play an ever increasing role in how events unfold. There are multiple layers of each throughout each the novel’s cultural strata. The Akarans have always controlled the flow of their own history and the careful manipulation of which sends ripples of ever increasing size across the whole world. The Akaran’s manipulation of their own history intersects with revelations about the Lothun Aklun and the history of The Other Lands’ Free People. Meanwhile the Auldek, who have consumed the souls of the quota slaves to gain near immortality, struggle to maintain the simple memory of their own pasts.
Both Acacia and The Other Lands in a sense revealed small aspects of the full story unveiled here but as the true history of the world is unveiled over the course of The Sacred Band you begin to see how carefully Durham has crafted this world to reflect the decisions of its inhabitants over the course of generations. The Sacred Band is the strongest novel in a trilogy of consistently strong novels. The characters, both great and small, have a depth seen in very few other series. More often than not at first glance the characters may appear to adhere to a stereotype but over the course of the novels each of the characters, and particularly the members of Akaran royal line, follow a distinct and organic growth. Of the Akaran’s it is Corinn, whose evolution from a prisoner to near dictator over the course of the first two novels made for some compelling reading, that really shines in The Scared Band. Not to sound too corny but there is something of the “redemptive power of love” in her arc over the course of the novel. Where that love comes from is expected in most cases but something of a surprise in others. Similarly, Dariel’s arc from an impetuous pirate to something resembling a Christ-like figure, comes to a nice close here as well. I could probably spend a lot more time telling you how much I enjoyed the arcs of each of the series’ main characters but I will leave it at saying that each and everyone is fantastically and believably taken on a journey of discovery and growth over the course of these novels.
The Sacred Band is a splendid end to an oft-overlooked series that deserves to be read by more people. Durham is an accomplished world-builder who crafts characters with both hindsight and foresight. Durham started his career writing historical fiction, a fact which gives his writing and his approach to fantasy a very different feel compared to other genre authors. The Acacia trilogy is one of the most original and well constructed fantasies I’ve ever read and I look forward to seeing where Durham goes next.
The Other Lands really opened up the story of the Acacia trilogy by introducing the continent of Ushen Brae and revealing the society formed by the quota slaves sent across the sea. The Scared Band expands upon those revelations slowly doling out the history and ramifications of the presence of the quota slaves and their former masters. Indeed over the course of the novel, and the course of the series at large, the themes of history and truth play an ever increasing role in how events unfold. There are multiple layers of each throughout each the novel’s cultural strata. The Akarans have always controlled the flow of their own history and the careful manipulation of which sends ripples of ever increasing size across the whole world. The Akaran’s manipulation of their own history intersects with revelations about the Lothun Aklun and the history of The Other Lands’ Free People. Meanwhile the Auldek, who have consumed the souls of the quota slaves to gain near immortality, struggle to maintain the simple memory of their own pasts.
Both Acacia and The Other Lands in a sense revealed small aspects of the full story unveiled here but as the true history of the world is unveiled over the course of The Sacred Band you begin to see how carefully Durham has crafted this world to reflect the decisions of its inhabitants over the course of generations. The Sacred Band is the strongest novel in a trilogy of consistently strong novels. The characters, both great and small, have a depth seen in very few other series. More often than not at first glance the characters may appear to adhere to a stereotype but over the course of the novels each of the characters, and particularly the members of Akaran royal line, follow a distinct and organic growth. Of the Akaran’s it is Corinn, whose evolution from a prisoner to near dictator over the course of the first two novels made for some compelling reading, that really shines in The Scared Band. Not to sound too corny but there is something of the “redemptive power of love” in her arc over the course of the novel. Where that love comes from is expected in most cases but something of a surprise in others. Similarly, Dariel’s arc from an impetuous pirate to something resembling a Christ-like figure, comes to a nice close here as well. I could probably spend a lot more time telling you how much I enjoyed the arcs of each of the series’ main characters but I will leave it at saying that each and everyone is fantastically and believably taken on a journey of discovery and growth over the course of these novels.
The Sacred Band is a splendid end to an oft-overlooked series that deserves to be read by more people. Durham is an accomplished world-builder who crafts characters with both hindsight and foresight. Durham started his career writing historical fiction, a fact which gives his writing and his approach to fantasy a very different feel compared to other genre authors. The Acacia trilogy is one of the most original and well constructed fantasies I’ve ever read and I look forward to seeing where Durham goes next.
November 27, 2016
Oh dear…what happened? The first book in Durham’s Acacia trilogy was a solid read. It posed interesting questions on a backdrop of political fantasy. It wasn’t a story with easy answers, and, while it wasn’t perfect, it tried to shine a fairly progressive light on what has largely been a conservative genre.
The Other Lands, the second book in the trilogy, broadened the scope but did so by grinding the overall story to a halt. In my review of that book, I criticised it for its meandering, non-climax of an ending. It had its moments though, especially when Durham was left to conjure up the Lothan Aklun and Auldek culture, which was easily the highlight of the novel.
It was a book that set up the pieces for an epic finale so, quite rightly I’d argue, I was expecting The Sacred Band to deliver. My mistake…
It’s clear at this point that Durham has too many characters to handle and it quickly becomes a problem. We have long, rather pointless, stretches of the book where we’re following characters that have very little to do in the story (Delivegu, Kelis, Melio) and Durham’s staunch refusal to not kill off any of his characters means that the pacing of the story quickly grinds to a halt.
We see many of the plot threads from the first two books finally come to fruition here. Shen finally makes it back to Acacia with the Santoth, Corrin continues her slow slide into paranoid madness as she tightens her grip on power, and Mena is left to effectively act as a tar pit for the advancing Auldek forces. There’s lots of potential here, and I was genuinely looking forward to seeing how Durham would have it all resolve.
Yet, at about the half way point, there’s a major scene which effectively splits the book in two, and, if I’m completely honest, it feels like the latter half was written by another writer. The prose takes a nosedive for starters, the dialogue starts to elicit some cringes, and, worst of all, characters undergo dramatic and lasting transformations in the space of a few hundred words, completing their character arcs in less than a chapter.
All of those interesting themes that the original two books handled; imperialism, monarchy, capitalism…they’re brushed away so that the story can end. The second half of this novel really feels rushed and I can’t stress that enough. Plot convenience after plot convenience is suddenly thrown at the reader so that the book can wrap itself up. Even the tone changes in the second half, with the League, the closest the novel gets to a clear group of villains, becoming nothing more than pantomime baddies.
It’s not so much that the The Sacred Band is a bad book, it’s more that it undoes what made the first two books so interesting. And its simplistic, shallow ending(s) almost feel like a betrayal of those who’ve stuck around long enough to see the end of the trilogy.
The Other Lands, the second book in the trilogy, broadened the scope but did so by grinding the overall story to a halt. In my review of that book, I criticised it for its meandering, non-climax of an ending. It had its moments though, especially when Durham was left to conjure up the Lothan Aklun and Auldek culture, which was easily the highlight of the novel.
It was a book that set up the pieces for an epic finale so, quite rightly I’d argue, I was expecting The Sacred Band to deliver. My mistake…
It’s clear at this point that Durham has too many characters to handle and it quickly becomes a problem. We have long, rather pointless, stretches of the book where we’re following characters that have very little to do in the story (Delivegu, Kelis, Melio) and Durham’s staunch refusal to not kill off any of his characters means that the pacing of the story quickly grinds to a halt.
We see many of the plot threads from the first two books finally come to fruition here. Shen finally makes it back to Acacia with the Santoth, Corrin continues her slow slide into paranoid madness as she tightens her grip on power, and Mena is left to effectively act as a tar pit for the advancing Auldek forces. There’s lots of potential here, and I was genuinely looking forward to seeing how Durham would have it all resolve.
Yet, at about the half way point, there’s a major scene which effectively splits the book in two, and, if I’m completely honest, it feels like the latter half was written by another writer. The prose takes a nosedive for starters, the dialogue starts to elicit some cringes, and, worst of all, characters undergo dramatic and lasting transformations in the space of a few hundred words, completing their character arcs in less than a chapter.
All of those interesting themes that the original two books handled; imperialism, monarchy, capitalism…they’re brushed away so that the story can end. The second half of this novel really feels rushed and I can’t stress that enough. Plot convenience after plot convenience is suddenly thrown at the reader so that the book can wrap itself up. Even the tone changes in the second half, with the League, the closest the novel gets to a clear group of villains, becoming nothing more than pantomime baddies.
It’s not so much that the The Sacred Band is a bad book, it’s more that it undoes what made the first two books so interesting. And its simplistic, shallow ending(s) almost feel like a betrayal of those who’ve stuck around long enough to see the end of the trilogy.
October 17, 2011
The most pleasant surprise about The Other Lands, the previous book in the ACACIA trilogy by David Anthony Durham, was that it broadened the scope of the series tremendously. Ushen Brae, the setting for a large part of the action in that book, proved to be a complex and interesting place, with its non-human Auldek tribes, several strata of human Quota slaves (from a warrior caste to an organized “Free People” resistance movement), the mostly extinct Lothan Aklun race, and a rich and fascinating history. The Sacred Band doesn’t expand the series’ fantasy world to the same extent as The Other Lands did, although it does reveal some inland areas of Ushen Brae that were previously unseen. Rather than expanding the world, The Sacred Band instead builds on what came before, reveals a few new and interesting details, and brings the various plot lines to a satisfying conclusion that, at the same time, leaves the door open for possible future stories set in this world.
As The Other Lands ended, the Known World seemed poised on the brink of climactic change. Queen Corinn’s magic had grown stronger and stronger, culminating in the shocking resurrection of her brother Aliver. The newly freed Santoth were on their way north, claiming that Corinn’s magic posed a threat to the world. The League of Vessels still had its claws in various plots, despite the failure of its Ushen Brae gambit. Mena had been given a task that seemed impossible and borderline suicidal: halt or at least slow the advance of the Auldek, who were marching across the frozen north with a huge army to invade the Acacian empire. And Dariel was still in Ushen Brae with the Free People, who thought he might be their savior, the Rhuin Fá.
Does The Sacred Band bring all of these threads to a satisfactory conclusion? Yes, with the caveat that your level of satisfaction with this series closer will depend on how sensitive you are to the issues that plagued the previous books. My chief complaint is still that David Anthony Durham occasionally relies on highly improbable coincidences and surprise revelations to advance his plot. I’m staying intentionally vague to avoid spoilers here, but in The Sacred Band there’s one major instance where an (up to that point) unknown ability miraculously and completely turns the tide. It’s really a shame that an otherwise well-written and original fantasy series has to resort to this, because it tarnishes its many positive aspects.
Aside from this, The Sacred Band is easily the strongest novel in the trilogy. By now, both the characters and the fantasy world have acquired a surprising amount of depth. On the Acacian side, there’s a melancholy atmosphere throughout the early parts of the book, as characters lead their lives with the knowledge that their world is about to change drastically. If they felt that they were more or less in control in the last book, they now become more and more aware of how untenable the situation really is. Meanwhile, the Auldek army is advancing, and their chapters reveal a few more surprising sides to the Auldek culture. And as the various plots advance, we also learn more details about the League of Vessels, who continue to play a complex game, and about the Free People and their history. All through the novel, Durham advances the plot while still occasionally revealing new layers of his fantasy world.
In the end, The Sacred Band is a rewarding book because it shows some of its major characters finding their destinies in ways that have considerably more resonance than anything that came before in the series. I think it’s safe to say that, if you’ve been following these characters’ story arcs with interest, you’ll be surprised, occasionally shocked, and ultimately satisfied with the way their stories come to an end. This trilogy started out with characters that were little more than templates, but puts them through so many changes and evolutions that, by the end, they’ve become unrecognizable and infinitely more interesting.
Looking back, I feel that the ACACIA trilogy has steadily been getting better as it progressed. Acacia: The War with the Mein had an uninspired start, but improved significantly after the end of its first section. The Other Lands added a whole new dimension to the fantasy world and continued to grow and evolve the characters in surprising ways. And as I hoped and expected, The Sacred Band continues this trajectory and delivers a worthy finale that more than makes up for some of the bumps along the way. If you enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy, this is practically a must-read.
(this review was originally published on www.tor.com on 10/6/2011 and on www.fantasyliterature.com on 10/17/2011)
As The Other Lands ended, the Known World seemed poised on the brink of climactic change. Queen Corinn’s magic had grown stronger and stronger, culminating in the shocking resurrection of her brother Aliver. The newly freed Santoth were on their way north, claiming that Corinn’s magic posed a threat to the world. The League of Vessels still had its claws in various plots, despite the failure of its Ushen Brae gambit. Mena had been given a task that seemed impossible and borderline suicidal: halt or at least slow the advance of the Auldek, who were marching across the frozen north with a huge army to invade the Acacian empire. And Dariel was still in Ushen Brae with the Free People, who thought he might be their savior, the Rhuin Fá.
Does The Sacred Band bring all of these threads to a satisfactory conclusion? Yes, with the caveat that your level of satisfaction with this series closer will depend on how sensitive you are to the issues that plagued the previous books. My chief complaint is still that David Anthony Durham occasionally relies on highly improbable coincidences and surprise revelations to advance his plot. I’m staying intentionally vague to avoid spoilers here, but in The Sacred Band there’s one major instance where an (up to that point) unknown ability miraculously and completely turns the tide. It’s really a shame that an otherwise well-written and original fantasy series has to resort to this, because it tarnishes its many positive aspects.
Aside from this, The Sacred Band is easily the strongest novel in the trilogy. By now, both the characters and the fantasy world have acquired a surprising amount of depth. On the Acacian side, there’s a melancholy atmosphere throughout the early parts of the book, as characters lead their lives with the knowledge that their world is about to change drastically. If they felt that they were more or less in control in the last book, they now become more and more aware of how untenable the situation really is. Meanwhile, the Auldek army is advancing, and their chapters reveal a few more surprising sides to the Auldek culture. And as the various plots advance, we also learn more details about the League of Vessels, who continue to play a complex game, and about the Free People and their history. All through the novel, Durham advances the plot while still occasionally revealing new layers of his fantasy world.
In the end, The Sacred Band is a rewarding book because it shows some of its major characters finding their destinies in ways that have considerably more resonance than anything that came before in the series. I think it’s safe to say that, if you’ve been following these characters’ story arcs with interest, you’ll be surprised, occasionally shocked, and ultimately satisfied with the way their stories come to an end. This trilogy started out with characters that were little more than templates, but puts them through so many changes and evolutions that, by the end, they’ve become unrecognizable and infinitely more interesting.
Looking back, I feel that the ACACIA trilogy has steadily been getting better as it progressed. Acacia: The War with the Mein had an uninspired start, but improved significantly after the end of its first section. The Other Lands added a whole new dimension to the fantasy world and continued to grow and evolve the characters in surprising ways. And as I hoped and expected, The Sacred Band continues this trajectory and delivers a worthy finale that more than makes up for some of the bumps along the way. If you enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy, this is practically a must-read.
(this review was originally published on www.tor.com on 10/6/2011 and on www.fantasyliterature.com on 10/17/2011)
January 19, 2024
The concluding volume to the trilogy is perhaps a bit too ambitious, tackling three separate world-ending threats in one volume. Its almost-600 pages manages to feel both rushed and about 100 pages too long...but for long stretches I had trouble putting it down.
The author tends to ramble (through his characters) about the brevity and thus the sweetness of life and the inescapability of death. He also has a point to make about the stupidity of war and the necessity of finding less destructive, less wasteful alternatives.
Plot points:
The author tends to ramble (through his characters) about the brevity and thus the sweetness of life and the inescapability of death. He also has a point to make about the stupidity of war and the necessity of finding less destructive, less wasteful alternatives.
"So, Barad, visionary that you are--how do I defeat this enemy?"
"I'm not a warrior. You know better than I what your family has done in the past. You crush them. Don't you? You kill enough of them so that they have no heart to fight on. You destroy their wealth, their happiness, their capacity to threaten you. You control where they live, how they live, and you take their resources so that they have to come to you for the very things necessary for their survival. You make a myth that explains the rightness of your victory and the wrongness that made the defeated into the defeated. All these things your Acacia has done, and yet none of it made you safe. The Meins came out of defeat a stronger enemy than before you conquered them. The Santoth roar back upon us all now, when we were not even thinking of them. The Auldek come against us because of what? Are they an old or new enemy? They have been devouring our children for generations. Now they want more."
"I know the way things have been," Aliver said. "I ask you to speak of a way things could be."
"Tell me this: Is the world too small for the people that live in it?"
"No," Aliver said.
"Is there too little water and air, wood and food and animals, stones to build with and ore to make tools with? Is there not enough?
"Of course there is enough."
"Will any of us live forever?"
"No."
"Need any of us fear death?"
"No," he said, "none of us need fear death."
"If all that is as you say, war makes no sense."
"I never said it did."
"Then don't make war."
"I must."
"No, make something different from war. Don't allow your enemies to be enemies. Make them something else, because otherwise they have a power over you that they should not have. If you think in the same ways as the past, you will only get new versions of the past. Think differently. That's what I'm saying."
Plot points:
November 5, 2012
AMAZING. If you're twiddling your literary thumbs waiting for the next book in the Game of Thrones series I cannot recommend the Acacia Trilogy enough. The Sacred Band is the third and final book of the story of the Akaran family and everything comes delightfully to a close. And inevitably, with me wanting more.
[If you're already interested and you have your Google fingers out right meow, make sure to avoid reading about The Sacred Band and check out the synopsis for the first novel in the series (Acacia: The War with The Mein) to avoid any potential spoilers.]
In my opinion A Song of Ice and Fire feels very English, whereas the Acacia Trilogy feels inexplicably Roman and more international. They both also have inconspicuously deep roots in this new modern fantasy realism that George R.R. Martin has really set alight. And much like a Game of Thrones, that kind of magic is a refreshing breath of fresh air.
Both sagas have intrigue, scandal, naughtiness, and shenanigans. They both also follow a family. While there are infinitely more in A Song of Ice and Fire, in Acacia it is really just one family that takes centre stage - The Akarans. The children and the women and men they grow up to become makes for a fascinating I-can't-put-this-down read. They are lovely, human characters, susceptible to the same follies and heartbreak that will always plague our silly hopeful race. Although you can see similarities between the Stark children and the Akaran children, they are not one and the same. And reading about one family will not dilute your pleasure for the other.
Oh, and did I mention there are pirates in Acacia?
[If you're already interested and you have your Google fingers out right meow, make sure to avoid reading about The Sacred Band and check out the synopsis for the first novel in the series (Acacia: The War with The Mein) to avoid any potential spoilers.]
In my opinion A Song of Ice and Fire feels very English, whereas the Acacia Trilogy feels inexplicably Roman and more international. They both also have inconspicuously deep roots in this new modern fantasy realism that George R.R. Martin has really set alight. And much like a Game of Thrones, that kind of magic is a refreshing breath of fresh air.
Both sagas have intrigue, scandal, naughtiness, and shenanigans. They both also follow a family. While there are infinitely more in A Song of Ice and Fire, in Acacia it is really just one family that takes centre stage - The Akarans. The children and the women and men they grow up to become makes for a fascinating I-can't-put-this-down read. They are lovely, human characters, susceptible to the same follies and heartbreak that will always plague our silly hopeful race. Although you can see similarities between the Stark children and the Akaran children, they are not one and the same. And reading about one family will not dilute your pleasure for the other.
Oh, and did I mention there are pirates in Acacia?
January 2, 2012
This was pretty good, but I didn't like it nearly as much as the first two in the series. It wrapped up the story pretty well, but didn't really pull me in all the way at any point. I think part of the reason was that . But it was still good, albeit a little slow overall. I'd definitely still recommend the series as a whole, and Durham as an author for sure.. This just wasn't my favorite installment. No biggie, still gets 3 stars(closer to 3.5, but not close enough that I'd round up to 4).
March 21, 2016
Video review of the whole series to come.
I don't know what to say. I love this series so much, I don't think I can put it into words at the moment. Thank you, David Anthony Durham! Thank you for Aliver, Corinn, Mena and Dariel.
I cannot wait to revisit the Known World and .
I don't know what to say. I love this series so much, I don't think I can put it into words at the moment. Thank you, David Anthony Durham! Thank you for Aliver, Corinn, Mena and Dariel.
I cannot wait to revisit the Known World and .
January 11, 2012
One of those rare books that I'm tempted to put down 50 pages from the end, simply because I don't want the story to end. That way, I can continue to imagine how it all turns out....and then revise and "rewrite" it again.
October 23, 2011
I just completed the Acacia series and I enjoyed the ride very much. As a trilogy I have to say the series is very satisfying and rewards the reader who pays attention to the details. But this isn't a review of the series but a review of the third book, so with that in mind, tally-ho!
To start, I believe this is the weakest of the trilogy, but before you stop reading know this: The Sacred Band is still good and we cannot judge it too harshly due to the brilliance that came before it. As a whole the series is great and a must read, but this book does have problems the others didn't.
To recap the series:
The first book was incredibly expansive and whole. The entire book revolved around the children of a kingdom that has been spread across the world encountering cultures mostly forgotten and abused by the kingdom they come from. The book seems to say, "we have learned something about ourselves by travel and education" and "ignorance is NOT bliss!" Book two developed the characters further from the first, largely because we spent so much time with the children as children book 2 is about who they have become as adults. That brings us to book 3, and it's a wonderful circle the series draws. It also introduces a new culture that is equal parts amazing and frightening. Well done.
The Sacred Band then feels more like the final chapter to the first two books, rather than a grandiose book of its own. New details are learned of the new villains more than any of the heroes. In fact I'd wager this book was less about the main characters and more about the evil they must fight. Because of this the characters react to things rather than grow and change. Almost as if book 1 and 2 were the Dungeon and Dragon books you read to develop your character, while book 3 was the actual dungeon and dragon game you play with your buddies. That metaphor sums it up best I think. The Sacred Band is a play thing that is a treat to enjoy but isn't a fantasy novel to be read on its own. Fan fiction is too harsh a term, but it feels that way when reading it.
There are a few twists and turns that are great thatI won't spoil here and the conclusion, while very sappy and almost too perfect a statement, is satisfying enough. We get a few good battles that keep things interesting, but the ending does end more perfectly than I'd like. Instead of ending in a bang it builds to a few satisfying events more about the choices the characters make rather than the things they do. For such a great series I was hoping for more of a battle than moral choices.
I also found a few of the characters desire to stray from their husbands, and lovers was an interesting twist. There isn't much of a fulfilling end to these flings, but it was a surprise and a bit of a delight to read. I only wish there was more of a meaning to it, but it worked well enough.
My only major complaint was the story arc of Corinn. Things wrap up much too quickly, her wickedness seems to be forgotten by herself in a second. The explanation wasn't the most satisfying, possibly because it seemed to be a flip of a switch rather than a slow boil to completed pasta if you catch my meaning. I can understand it, but her arc from the previous books onward seems forced. She was enslaved much of her life, so now she takes life back and seeks to protect the ones she loves. One moment she's capable of killing thousands, the next strokes her sons head and wished she hadn't done the horrible thing. It's odd, and i got the impression Durham wasn't willing to make her completely evil, but wasn't willing to make her all good either. Instead of having her lean one way or the other she simply seems confused by it all. It wasn't the clearest character development that I would have liked.
Overall this book does its job. I keep saying it does "well enough" so think of this as a job well done, but not a job done that exceeded all expectations. If you've read the first two books which are amazing you won't hesitate to finish the series. If your'e on the fence about reading the series know it's all worth it, but know that the end, while good enough, doesn't meet the expectations of the first two books.
To start, I believe this is the weakest of the trilogy, but before you stop reading know this: The Sacred Band is still good and we cannot judge it too harshly due to the brilliance that came before it. As a whole the series is great and a must read, but this book does have problems the others didn't.
To recap the series:
The first book was incredibly expansive and whole. The entire book revolved around the children of a kingdom that has been spread across the world encountering cultures mostly forgotten and abused by the kingdom they come from. The book seems to say, "we have learned something about ourselves by travel and education" and "ignorance is NOT bliss!" Book two developed the characters further from the first, largely because we spent so much time with the children as children book 2 is about who they have become as adults. That brings us to book 3, and it's a wonderful circle the series draws. It also introduces a new culture that is equal parts amazing and frightening. Well done.
The Sacred Band then feels more like the final chapter to the first two books, rather than a grandiose book of its own. New details are learned of the new villains more than any of the heroes. In fact I'd wager this book was less about the main characters and more about the evil they must fight. Because of this the characters react to things rather than grow and change. Almost as if book 1 and 2 were the Dungeon and Dragon books you read to develop your character, while book 3 was the actual dungeon and dragon game you play with your buddies. That metaphor sums it up best I think. The Sacred Band is a play thing that is a treat to enjoy but isn't a fantasy novel to be read on its own. Fan fiction is too harsh a term, but it feels that way when reading it.
There are a few twists and turns that are great thatI won't spoil here and the conclusion, while very sappy and almost too perfect a statement, is satisfying enough. We get a few good battles that keep things interesting, but the ending does end more perfectly than I'd like. Instead of ending in a bang it builds to a few satisfying events more about the choices the characters make rather than the things they do. For such a great series I was hoping for more of a battle than moral choices.
I also found a few of the characters desire to stray from their husbands, and lovers was an interesting twist. There isn't much of a fulfilling end to these flings, but it was a surprise and a bit of a delight to read. I only wish there was more of a meaning to it, but it worked well enough.
My only major complaint was the story arc of Corinn. Things wrap up much too quickly, her wickedness seems to be forgotten by herself in a second. The explanation wasn't the most satisfying, possibly because it seemed to be a flip of a switch rather than a slow boil to completed pasta if you catch my meaning. I can understand it, but her arc from the previous books onward seems forced. She was enslaved much of her life, so now she takes life back and seeks to protect the ones she loves. One moment she's capable of killing thousands, the next strokes her sons head and wished she hadn't done the horrible thing. It's odd, and i got the impression Durham wasn't willing to make her completely evil, but wasn't willing to make her all good either. Instead of having her lean one way or the other she simply seems confused by it all. It wasn't the clearest character development that I would have liked.
Overall this book does its job. I keep saying it does "well enough" so think of this as a job well done, but not a job done that exceeded all expectations. If you've read the first two books which are amazing you won't hesitate to finish the series. If your'e on the fence about reading the series know it's all worth it, but know that the end, while good enough, doesn't meet the expectations of the first two books.
July 18, 2021
https://undertheradarsffbooks.com/202...
We have reached the finale volume in the underrated Acacia Trilogy by David Anthony Durham. What started out as a derivative story to A Game of Thrones, this series has taken on a life of its own and still holds through today as one of the most original stories and I have ever read. For reasons unknown to me, these books have gone under the radar pretty much since the date of publication and this to me is a real shame. The Acacia Trilogy is a special series to me and I know there is a bigger audience for these books in SFF genre today. This will be a spoiler free review but I will be touching on events in the previous two books.
Dariel now resides in the Other Lands in the company of the Free People. After the devious plan of the League to form an alliance with the Auldek following the betrayal of the Acacian family and the mass genocide of the Lothan Aklum. With the help of the Free People, Dariel was able to destroy the Soul Catcher and to put an end to the barbarous practice of putting souls in the bodies of the Auldek to extend life. Dariel must now travel into the mountains to discover the mysteries of the Auldek and discover his destiny. Meanwhile the Auldek have discovered they can march to war against the empire and be able to have children again since the curse of the Soul Catcher makes them infertile. They are marching their armies through the north on a collision course with Queen Corinn. Corinn has decided to bring back the affects of the mist but this time through a vintage wine with the help of the League and it turns out to be much more addictive than the previous drug. When the whole world seems to be collapsing around her, she does the most drastic thing se can think of a revive her brother Aliver from death using the Song of Elenet.
Mena has made it her duty to hunt and destroy the corruptions that have manifested following the Santoth using their powers to destroy the Mein. Mena comes to discover the dragon serpent she names Elya and brings her back to the palace. It turns out the Elya is about to lay eggs and Corinn has other plans for the baby’s in mind with the Auldek on the march. Finally we have the League itself, shocked at the events that transpired in the Other Lands. The gamble has not paid off and the League must take a back seat to let the events transpire as they must, knowing that they will turn out on top regardless of who wins the battle.
All I can say about the concluding volume is that it does not disappoint. We get answers that have been on our minds since book one such as: What are the origins of the League, who are the Lothan Aklum, and what caused the Santoth to be exiled from the world. All the while, the plot and twists just keeps building the whole way through to the final pages. I will say the the overall conclusion to the story did feel a bit underwhelming, but this is a rare case for me when the journey these characters have gone through is much more important than the destination (to quote from the Stormlight Archive). The writing is top notch and the prose are some of the best I have read in the fantasy genre. The practices and rituals of the League are both fascinating and horrifying to read and it was a real treat to discover.
In conclusion, I have no quarrels about recommending this series to any SFF fan especially those looking for something in the same vain as A Game of Thrones. I realize that this comparison is used a lot these days, this one is especially true. Whether you read for characters, plot, even magic to a lesser extent this series has everything paced into it, but don’t expect action on every single page. Slow burn is how the story unfolds and it will stay with you for a long time.
Cheers!
We have reached the finale volume in the underrated Acacia Trilogy by David Anthony Durham. What started out as a derivative story to A Game of Thrones, this series has taken on a life of its own and still holds through today as one of the most original stories and I have ever read. For reasons unknown to me, these books have gone under the radar pretty much since the date of publication and this to me is a real shame. The Acacia Trilogy is a special series to me and I know there is a bigger audience for these books in SFF genre today. This will be a spoiler free review but I will be touching on events in the previous two books.
Dariel now resides in the Other Lands in the company of the Free People. After the devious plan of the League to form an alliance with the Auldek following the betrayal of the Acacian family and the mass genocide of the Lothan Aklum. With the help of the Free People, Dariel was able to destroy the Soul Catcher and to put an end to the barbarous practice of putting souls in the bodies of the Auldek to extend life. Dariel must now travel into the mountains to discover the mysteries of the Auldek and discover his destiny. Meanwhile the Auldek have discovered they can march to war against the empire and be able to have children again since the curse of the Soul Catcher makes them infertile. They are marching their armies through the north on a collision course with Queen Corinn. Corinn has decided to bring back the affects of the mist but this time through a vintage wine with the help of the League and it turns out to be much more addictive than the previous drug. When the whole world seems to be collapsing around her, she does the most drastic thing se can think of a revive her brother Aliver from death using the Song of Elenet.
Mena has made it her duty to hunt and destroy the corruptions that have manifested following the Santoth using their powers to destroy the Mein. Mena comes to discover the dragon serpent she names Elya and brings her back to the palace. It turns out the Elya is about to lay eggs and Corinn has other plans for the baby’s in mind with the Auldek on the march. Finally we have the League itself, shocked at the events that transpired in the Other Lands. The gamble has not paid off and the League must take a back seat to let the events transpire as they must, knowing that they will turn out on top regardless of who wins the battle.
All I can say about the concluding volume is that it does not disappoint. We get answers that have been on our minds since book one such as: What are the origins of the League, who are the Lothan Aklum, and what caused the Santoth to be exiled from the world. All the while, the plot and twists just keeps building the whole way through to the final pages. I will say the the overall conclusion to the story did feel a bit underwhelming, but this is a rare case for me when the journey these characters have gone through is much more important than the destination (to quote from the Stormlight Archive). The writing is top notch and the prose are some of the best I have read in the fantasy genre. The practices and rituals of the League are both fascinating and horrifying to read and it was a real treat to discover.
In conclusion, I have no quarrels about recommending this series to any SFF fan especially those looking for something in the same vain as A Game of Thrones. I realize that this comparison is used a lot these days, this one is especially true. Whether you read for characters, plot, even magic to a lesser extent this series has everything paced into it, but don’t expect action on every single page. Slow burn is how the story unfolds and it will stay with you for a long time.
Cheers!
September 5, 2013
"I liked it."
Sort of.
God I have so many mixed feelings about this book, I don't even know where to start.
WHAT I LOVED:
- The Santoth betrayal and the reveal that they were the most truly evil force in the world. Alliver wasn't a genius for seeking them out, Shen wasn't a wunderkind for releasing them, the Santoth were a big con the entire time and it was amazing. Aliver and Corinn's corination was the highlight of the entire series.
- Dariel's plotline. Pretty much everything about Dariel's plotline. The exploration of Ushen Brae, the time he spent with the Lokun Athlun dude, the puppies, the amazing jungle and mountain and river and ancient city feeling of those chapters. I also expected Mor and Skylene to go all crazy for him and they didn't and that shouldn't be something in favour but it was.
- Corinn's sacrifice and how she met death so nobly and powerfully and she didn't get relegated to being treated like a villain in the end after all.
- Aliver and Corinn actually were poisoned and died -- I thought for sure it would renege on that but it didn't, it embraced it and it was lovely.
- Rialus Neptos, the character who managed to crawl into my affections despite everything.
- The history of the Lothan Aklun, what a fascinating race they were and their secrets and their magics and what they did and why, amazing.
WHAT I HATED
- Bringing back Aliver just destroyed so much of the stakes of the story. It was an easy way to paint him as good and perfect while Corinn was being misguided and evil. I think that Corinn was right and Aliver was wrong about everything, but the book letting Aliver be right completely invalidated everything that Corinn did, all the hard decisions she had to make, all the ways she had to compromise herself to rule.
- The way this book dares to treat Mena for wanting to wait to have children, the way it frames her as a fucking incubator for Melio's sperm, omg I can't even talk about it.
- That fact that it even sort of went there at ALL with Dariel and Mor, adjsklad such a stupid male fantasy.
- Like, half the plots didn't get an ending and the ones that did mostly got bad ones. The only semi-satisfying ending was Corinn dying in the mouth of the great worm, but even that -- what great worm? What was it? Where did it come from? Why was it there? What the fuck? The ending for the Auldek plot was baffling -- CAN THEY CONCEIVE OR NOT? Dariel didn't even get back to the Known World, or Melio, and we never find out what happened with he and Wren and uh that snake lady who I forget the name of. We never got to see the Rialos reunite with his wife after RIDICULOUS build up. Mena as Queen? WHY? Aaden would have been an AMAZING King, or they could have made some precendent of the brother and sister king and queen with Aaden and Shen because that would be nice and like, it just came out of NOWHERE and the entire ending thinks it can fool me by being poignant and beautifully written, well, you can't get me, ending.
- Interminable fucking fight scenes.
So, yes.
This is just me making a list of stuff but the shortest version I can give is: The Sacred Band is a bizarre book with a thousand things happening all at once where half of them are great and half of them are fucking terrible and I'm glad I read it when I was flat on my back and couldn't escape from it or I'd never have finished it probably.
THE END.
Sort of.
God I have so many mixed feelings about this book, I don't even know where to start.
WHAT I LOVED:
- The Santoth betrayal and the reveal that they were the most truly evil force in the world. Alliver wasn't a genius for seeking them out, Shen wasn't a wunderkind for releasing them, the Santoth were a big con the entire time and it was amazing. Aliver and Corinn's corination was the highlight of the entire series.
- Dariel's plotline. Pretty much everything about Dariel's plotline. The exploration of Ushen Brae, the time he spent with the Lokun Athlun dude, the puppies, the amazing jungle and mountain and river and ancient city feeling of those chapters. I also expected Mor and Skylene to go all crazy for him and they didn't and that shouldn't be something in favour but it was.
- Corinn's sacrifice and how she met death so nobly and powerfully and she didn't get relegated to being treated like a villain in the end after all.
- Aliver and Corinn actually were poisoned and died -- I thought for sure it would renege on that but it didn't, it embraced it and it was lovely.
- Rialus Neptos, the character who managed to crawl into my affections despite everything.
- The history of the Lothan Aklun, what a fascinating race they were and their secrets and their magics and what they did and why, amazing.
WHAT I HATED
- Bringing back Aliver just destroyed so much of the stakes of the story. It was an easy way to paint him as good and perfect while Corinn was being misguided and evil. I think that Corinn was right and Aliver was wrong about everything, but the book letting Aliver be right completely invalidated everything that Corinn did, all the hard decisions she had to make, all the ways she had to compromise herself to rule.
- The way this book dares to treat Mena for wanting to wait to have children, the way it frames her as a fucking incubator for Melio's sperm, omg I can't even talk about it.
- That fact that it even sort of went there at ALL with Dariel and Mor, adjsklad such a stupid male fantasy.
- Like, half the plots didn't get an ending and the ones that did mostly got bad ones. The only semi-satisfying ending was Corinn dying in the mouth of the great worm, but even that -- what great worm? What was it? Where did it come from? Why was it there? What the fuck? The ending for the Auldek plot was baffling -- CAN THEY CONCEIVE OR NOT? Dariel didn't even get back to the Known World, or Melio, and we never find out what happened with he and Wren and uh that snake lady who I forget the name of. We never got to see the Rialos reunite with his wife after RIDICULOUS build up. Mena as Queen? WHY? Aaden would have been an AMAZING King, or they could have made some precendent of the brother and sister king and queen with Aaden and Shen because that would be nice and like, it just came out of NOWHERE and the entire ending thinks it can fool me by being poignant and beautifully written, well, you can't get me, ending.
- Interminable fucking fight scenes.
So, yes.
This is just me making a list of stuff but the shortest version I can give is: The Sacred Band is a bizarre book with a thousand things happening all at once where half of them are great and half of them are fucking terrible and I'm glad I read it when I was flat on my back and couldn't escape from it or I'd never have finished it probably.
THE END.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2011
might contain spoilers. take care!
[9/10] a fitting conclusion to what turned out to be a monumental construction, like one of those huge wall paintings from le Louvre or like a symphony played by a full orchestra. The journey took me to wonderful places - lost cities in the jungle, desolate arctic plains, mountainous waves on the high seas, sophisticated palaces full of history and so on, deserts populated by fantastic creatures and much more. Everywhere, small bands of heroes, led by the scions of the royal line of Acacia try to fight back against the tide of darkness that threatens to engulf the known world.
For all the huge cast of characters, I never felt that the author has lost track of the plot or that he padded the story with unnecesary details.
I thought for a while that this epic will be another Armaggedon tale when human nature is defined by its martial instincts. There's a lot of bloodshed and treason and evil to justify this, especially in the second volume and in the first part of The Sacred Band. But the author has chosen to steer clear of this desolate path and to give his heroes a chance to built a better future. Some of the themes of family, self-sacrifice and love were present right from the start of the series, before the attack of the Mein. But the potential heroes were frequently overwhelmed by the forces of Darkness or they made the wrong choice on the road to Power. Some readers might find the switch in tone towards the end unrealistic, and indeed the author gets a little heavy handed in the presentation and preachy, but I prefer my stories to end on a hopeful note and not on "we are doomed,and it's all pointless"
Anyway, I think David Anthony Durham is one of the most promising authors now active in the fantasy genre, and I'm really excited about what he will try next.
[9/10] a fitting conclusion to what turned out to be a monumental construction, like one of those huge wall paintings from le Louvre or like a symphony played by a full orchestra. The journey took me to wonderful places - lost cities in the jungle, desolate arctic plains, mountainous waves on the high seas, sophisticated palaces full of history and so on, deserts populated by fantastic creatures and much more. Everywhere, small bands of heroes, led by the scions of the royal line of Acacia try to fight back against the tide of darkness that threatens to engulf the known world.
For all the huge cast of characters, I never felt that the author has lost track of the plot or that he padded the story with unnecesary details.
I thought for a while that this epic will be another Armaggedon tale when human nature is defined by its martial instincts. There's a lot of bloodshed and treason and evil to justify this, especially in the second volume and in the first part of The Sacred Band. But the author has chosen to steer clear of this desolate path and to give his heroes a chance to built a better future. Some of the themes of family, self-sacrifice and love were present right from the start of the series, before the attack of the Mein. But the potential heroes were frequently overwhelmed by the forces of Darkness or they made the wrong choice on the road to Power. Some readers might find the switch in tone towards the end unrealistic, and indeed the author gets a little heavy handed in the presentation and preachy, but I prefer my stories to end on a hopeful note and not on "we are doomed,and it's all pointless"
Anyway, I think David Anthony Durham is one of the most promising authors now active in the fantasy genre, and I'm really excited about what he will try next.
February 17, 2020
O terceiro e último livro da Saga Acácia foi aquele que mais gostei e também aquele que menos me custou a ler (foi preciso força de vontade para passar pelo primeiro e segundo volume). A história fica mais interessante, os personagens também e começo então a achar que o livro têm tudo para ser um bom livro. Até que chego à última página e o autor deixou em aberto alguns aspectos fundamentais... nomeadamente o retorno dos Auldek às "outras terras" e como é que isso foi aceite pelas ex crianças divinas, agora um povo livre a tentar gerir a sua recém criada nação. Também teria sido interessante saber o que aconteceu com a liga depois de Dariel Akaran ter destruído os navios assim como os restantes artefactos pertencentes aos Lothan Aklun. Também não se compreende como é que uma das personagens mais importantes neste último volume, não têm um capítulo em que conte a sua chegada a Acácia, fisicamente alterado e acompanhado de vários membros do povo livre. Acompanhar a chegada de alguns destes personagens à ilha de Acácia, a terra que não vêem desde crianças e talvez o reencontro de alguns com os seus povos também seria uma mais valia que só podia enriquecer esta história. O epilogo na voz de Sire Dagon não é de todo suficiente. Termino assim esta saga com o mesmo sentimento que tive em relação aos outros volumes. Uma história com potencial mas que necessita de mais desenvolvimento, mais detalhe, mais esclarecimentos.
April 5, 2015
So, I'm finished with Acacia. For once this is a fantasy series about changing the world instead of (just) about saving the world. Fantasy is so often about protecting some glorious past from a new threat - not that that's a bad plot, but this is different and more clearly so as the series goes on. Here the world is messed up and has been for a long time, and the point is to make it better. I don't think I've seen that done before in this genre, certainly not this well. The closest have been books where everything's just awful and always has been and probably always will, but this series offers a considerable amount of hope. The plot has quite a few strands by now, but the main ones are still with the royal family: Corinn as tyrannical sorceress-empress, Mena preparing a suicide mission against the coming Auldek invasion from across the polar ice cap, and Dariel in the abandoned Auldek lands trying to become a messiah figure among the Acacian ex-slaves there. Things move slowly still - Mena's war doesn't even start until late - but that's still because there's an abundance of character development. Some terribly bittersweet moments, especially toward the end! Because of the deliberate sociopolitical relevance, I will mention it didn't seem to me the books recognized all the ways they gendered the female main characters, and the word "nation" turned up rather often and rather vaguely.
June 1, 2013
Somehow disappointing.
The first part of the trilogy was a very good story by itself, but the two sequels made it too convoluted. The third part starts slow with all the main characters just goin from one place to another and talking about what are they going to do in the future. Then it starts to speed up, somewhere around 1/3, making the central part of the book quite interesting, and then Ss meet C and *bang!* in a few chapters all mysteries and logic gaps are explained away with even bigger logic gaps, all good-guys-turned-bad are miraculously transformed to saintly good again, the main heros get supersuperpowers on the top of their previous superpowers, everyone forgives everyone and evil is no more. Good night, children. Where "The War with the Mein" was made of iron and gritted teeth, "The Sacred Band" is made of fluffy pillows.
What I liked is a very graphic description of Auldek traditions. It's a very interesting race: human, but with a glimpse of prehistoric giant ape here and there; civilised and savage in the same time. I would like to know more of them.
The first part of the trilogy was a very good story by itself, but the two sequels made it too convoluted. The third part starts slow with all the main characters just goin from one place to another and talking about what are they going to do in the future. Then it starts to speed up, somewhere around 1/3, making the central part of the book quite interesting, and then Ss meet C and *bang!* in a few chapters all mysteries and logic gaps are explained away with even bigger logic gaps, all good-guys-turned-bad are miraculously transformed to saintly good again, the main heros get supersuperpowers on the top of their previous superpowers, everyone forgives everyone and evil is no more. Good night, children. Where "The War with the Mein" was made of iron and gritted teeth, "The Sacred Band" is made of fluffy pillows.
What I liked is a very graphic description of Auldek traditions. It's a very interesting race: human, but with a glimpse of prehistoric giant ape here and there; civilised and savage in the same time. I would like to know more of them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2012
This trilogy was wonderful. I read the first one because I was thinking of giving all three to my sister but thought it was pretty dubious to send her three books, none of which I'd read. I found it through a review in the Washington Post of this third one which made it sound really good. Also, I was dying of boredom in my effort to make it through Mann's Magic Mountain and I welcomed a change of pace. Well, I read the first and --forget Magic Mountain (which I'm still struggling through)--I dropped everything and read through all three. Great characters, clear "lessons" which don't keep whacking one over the head, interesting questions raised about our society, creative settings and characters which echo good fantasy of the past while morphing into new, surprising creations of the author's imagination. And, unlike George R.R. Martin (sp?), Durham has the grace to bring the story to a close instead of wavering off into la-la-land. What more can you ask?
January 1, 2016
More of a 3.5 range. I was impressed with how Durham wrapped up the narrative threads and character arcs in a pretty satisfying manner, which is no mean feat in a sprawling fantasy of this nature. Many of his characters are struggling to find a "third way" between war and peace, and each of their stories were unique, but at the end the stories felt a little too tidied up. Maybe he wanted to assure the reader that the series was really concluded, but I think after 1500 pages he could trust his audience to deal with a little more ambiguity or struggle.
October 22, 2011
Something about this trilogy, started out promising, but I eventually grew bored with it. Durham is a great writer though. Maybe when i re-read it in ten years I will find more to like about it. But for epic fantasy I recommend Tad Williams, George Martin, Kate Elliott, or even Robert Jordan.
October 30, 2014
Wonderful finale to a trilogy that left my mind blown time after time. Now I'm in withdrawal. I need to get out more, cause I'm missing my fictional characters like I just lost some real buddies! LOL
November 11, 2024
7 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...
Mena is forsaken, but not dead yet. Sent north with an army meant to delay the Auldek, she will die on the icefields north of the Mein. She knows this; has accepted it. For herself, but not for her men. For them she fights still. But with the invaders from Other Lands looming, she knows it will be a long, bloody slog.
Empress Corinn has cleared the path for her illegitimate son to inherit the throne, and she will hear nothing of it. After all, who would possibly dare to voice any? During her reign she has usurped the throne from her husband—restoring the Empire to Akaran hands. She has rediscovered ancient magics, and now wields them like no other. Corinn has since raised the dead, burnt her foes to ash, and turned her dissenters to stone. But the longer the magicks remain, the more the resonate with something else. There is something greater in the world, its song the magic of creation—and hearing them together is slowly driving her mad.
Dariel has stepped off the edge of the world and appeared in paradise. If it weren’t for all the monsters, he’d think he was dead. Other than monsters, the Other Lands are full of former quota slaves, who quite understandably hate him. But also somehow love him. With the Auldek gone, you’d think their lives would have simplified, but the former slaves have never been so divided. And the way Dariel fits into that might just exacerbate matters.
Aliver is alive, something which still feels weird. He can still feel himself drifting on the wind, undone in the infinite void. To be back in the world—in his old body—feels like sacrilege, but his sister called for him and Aliver came. Together he, his siblings, Rialus Neptos, Kelis of Umae, Sire Dagon, and more must come together if the Empire is to survive. Unless… they’d rather just see it fall.
—
Who knows why anybody loves anybody? I love you for the things I love about you. I love you for the things I hate about you. I think you love me as well; me the one who would’ve killed you. Don’t ask me to make sense of it, and I won’t ask you. My heart is yours for as long as you want it. Do you want it?
—
In Other Lands, both Mena and Dariel are sent away to their deaths. Corinn seems to have forgotten this—possibly a side-effect of the Song driving her mad, possibly the author forgetting this little detail between the second and third books. A mistake or not, both Akaran siblings routinely express their desire to return home. Only they can’t—not yet. Aliver, on the other hand, is already home, but it doesn’t feel like it. He still feels dead, like dust in the wind, and routinely loses days at a time to the aether. As such, the book has a more unfocused feel to it than the darkness that Book #2 set up for us. It’s almost as if the author saw where we were headed late and nudged the story in a more positive direction.
I say “more positive” but it’s not much more. There’s still the descent into madness to consider. Magic used to control and corrupt. Dissent from within, invasion from without. A bloody war looming, and a civil war brewing an ocean away. There’s a lot going on—and very little of it looks all that positive. Still, it’s not as dark as it could’ve been, and… I honestly don’t know how to feel about it.
It’s still the same world and overarching plot, however. The same (relatively) little dialogue, and heavy use of thought and description. While Other Lands pulled this off quite well, the War with the Mein struggled with its pacing—something that the Sacred Band returns to. You’d think that having a war on would make your pacing difficult to slow. But the Sacred Band starts (if anything) too soon. The war isn’t on yet, and it takes its sweet time getting started. Meanwhile… the plot slows a bit. And while I never really thought of giving up, it certainly lags from time to time.
There’s a change in direction midway through that turns the tide of the tale, but I can’t really talk about it without spoiling everything, so… Sufficient to say that I’m not sure I loved the direction we decided to take, nor the way it changed the end product, but I really don’t have anything to compare it to, eh? It is what it is—and I have relatively few complaints about it.
TL;DR
The conclusion to the Acacia trilogy is a solid one, but struggles from the things that arguably made it great. The pacing is still slow and measured, even with the war on, and the war takes forever to begin. The dialogue is intermittent, the description and thought is dramatic. The world is vividly realized, vibrant and detailed. Overall, it’s a good story, but really could’ve been better.
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Mena is forsaken, but not dead yet. Sent north with an army meant to delay the Auldek, she will die on the icefields north of the Mein. She knows this; has accepted it. For herself, but not for her men. For them she fights still. But with the invaders from Other Lands looming, she knows it will be a long, bloody slog.
Empress Corinn has cleared the path for her illegitimate son to inherit the throne, and she will hear nothing of it. After all, who would possibly dare to voice any? During her reign she has usurped the throne from her husband—restoring the Empire to Akaran hands. She has rediscovered ancient magics, and now wields them like no other. Corinn has since raised the dead, burnt her foes to ash, and turned her dissenters to stone. But the longer the magicks remain, the more the resonate with something else. There is something greater in the world, its song the magic of creation—and hearing them together is slowly driving her mad.
Dariel has stepped off the edge of the world and appeared in paradise. If it weren’t for all the monsters, he’d think he was dead. Other than monsters, the Other Lands are full of former quota slaves, who quite understandably hate him. But also somehow love him. With the Auldek gone, you’d think their lives would have simplified, but the former slaves have never been so divided. And the way Dariel fits into that might just exacerbate matters.
Aliver is alive, something which still feels weird. He can still feel himself drifting on the wind, undone in the infinite void. To be back in the world—in his old body—feels like sacrilege, but his sister called for him and Aliver came. Together he, his siblings, Rialus Neptos, Kelis of Umae, Sire Dagon, and more must come together if the Empire is to survive. Unless… they’d rather just see it fall.
—
Who knows why anybody loves anybody? I love you for the things I love about you. I love you for the things I hate about you. I think you love me as well; me the one who would’ve killed you. Don’t ask me to make sense of it, and I won’t ask you. My heart is yours for as long as you want it. Do you want it?
—
In Other Lands, both Mena and Dariel are sent away to their deaths. Corinn seems to have forgotten this—possibly a side-effect of the Song driving her mad, possibly the author forgetting this little detail between the second and third books. A mistake or not, both Akaran siblings routinely express their desire to return home. Only they can’t—not yet. Aliver, on the other hand, is already home, but it doesn’t feel like it. He still feels dead, like dust in the wind, and routinely loses days at a time to the aether. As such, the book has a more unfocused feel to it than the darkness that Book #2 set up for us. It’s almost as if the author saw where we were headed late and nudged the story in a more positive direction.
I say “more positive” but it’s not much more. There’s still the descent into madness to consider. Magic used to control and corrupt. Dissent from within, invasion from without. A bloody war looming, and a civil war brewing an ocean away. There’s a lot going on—and very little of it looks all that positive. Still, it’s not as dark as it could’ve been, and… I honestly don’t know how to feel about it.
It’s still the same world and overarching plot, however. The same (relatively) little dialogue, and heavy use of thought and description. While Other Lands pulled this off quite well, the War with the Mein struggled with its pacing—something that the Sacred Band returns to. You’d think that having a war on would make your pacing difficult to slow. But the Sacred Band starts (if anything) too soon. The war isn’t on yet, and it takes its sweet time getting started. Meanwhile… the plot slows a bit. And while I never really thought of giving up, it certainly lags from time to time.
There’s a change in direction midway through that turns the tide of the tale, but I can’t really talk about it without spoiling everything, so… Sufficient to say that I’m not sure I loved the direction we decided to take, nor the way it changed the end product, but I really don’t have anything to compare it to, eh? It is what it is—and I have relatively few complaints about it.
TL;DR
The conclusion to the Acacia trilogy is a solid one, but struggles from the things that arguably made it great. The pacing is still slow and measured, even with the war on, and the war takes forever to begin. The dialogue is intermittent, the description and thought is dramatic. The world is vividly realized, vibrant and detailed. Overall, it’s a good story, but really could’ve been better.
December 29, 2017
This is a book where major credit has to be given to the author for having a massive cast and multiple plot lines - and managing to keep the book readable.
We follow three main plots:
- Corinn and Aliver in Acacia, dealing with Aliver's coronation/introduction to the world.
- Mena on the battlefield, holding off the Meins in a battle that she is sure to lose.
- Dariel on the Other Lands, seeking to free the People. With the Auldeks gone, the People are dealing with self-governance. The League also attempts to maintain their dominance with the change of occupiers.
- We end with
The good things about this trilogy:
- multi-ethnic characters. There are clear mentions of the dark-skinned Talay, the light-skinned Mein, and the main characters are the Acacians. Cultural differences between them are touched upon as well. I'm not sure if the Auldek and the Lothan Aklun would count as multi-ethnic - they are humanoid, though they appear to be a difference race altogether.
- fantasy creatures. The Auldek have a multitude of them, though most weren't relevant to the plot.
- multiple POVs (if you like that sort of thing).
- I liked that the idea of a band (a circle) recurred multiple times: it came up as Aliver's coronation item, as symbol of the free People gaining freedom, and as the idea of closing the circle of forgiveness.
The bad things:
- Pacing - it felt slow.
- the cast of thousands meant that I cared little about some of the characters.
- Aliver and Mena are way too perfect. In a way, it felt that all four Akaran children were "perfect" - Corinn gets over being power hungry and . Even the ending with .
In a way, this felt a little like a book that was humanistic (or positive about the innate goodness of humanity) - the good guys were good! And even the bad guys (Auldek) were humanised enough that .
I'm still leaving it as a 2 star because even though the book felt fun, and even though there were nice parts, I can't honestly say I liked it. It was a good read, but some parts felt draggy.
We follow three main plots:
- Corinn and Aliver in Acacia, dealing with Aliver's coronation/introduction to the world.
- Mena on the battlefield, holding off the Meins in a battle that she is sure to lose.
- Dariel on the Other Lands, seeking to free the People. With the Auldeks gone, the People are dealing with self-governance. The League also attempts to maintain their dominance with the change of occupiers.
- We end with
The good things about this trilogy:
- multi-ethnic characters. There are clear mentions of the dark-skinned Talay, the light-skinned Mein, and the main characters are the Acacians. Cultural differences between them are touched upon as well. I'm not sure if the Auldek and the Lothan Aklun would count as multi-ethnic - they are humanoid, though they appear to be a difference race altogether.
- fantasy creatures. The Auldek have a multitude of them, though most weren't relevant to the plot.
- multiple POVs (if you like that sort of thing).
- I liked that the idea of a band (a circle) recurred multiple times: it came up as Aliver's coronation item, as symbol of the free People gaining freedom, and as the idea of closing the circle of forgiveness.
The bad things:
- Pacing - it felt slow.
- the cast of thousands meant that I cared little about some of the characters.
- Aliver and Mena are way too perfect. In a way, it felt that all four Akaran children were "perfect" - Corinn gets over being power hungry and . Even the ending with .
In a way, this felt a little like a book that was humanistic (or positive about the innate goodness of humanity) - the good guys were good! And even the bad guys (Auldek) were humanised enough that .
I'm still leaving it as a 2 star because even though the book felt fun, and even though there were nice parts, I can't honestly say I liked it. It was a good read, but some parts felt draggy.
November 26, 2025
I think that my biggest issue with the Acacia trilogy is that I went into it with a mindset of someone who is spoiled by my previous experiences with the fantasy genre in various media. And that is that I always expect big and explosive conflicts in these stories. A massive battle at the end, full of magic, fantastical creatures and action to wrap things up. Acacia did not deliver on that aspect at all.
And normally I wouldn't mind it, if the books never teased us - the readers - with such things. But they did, very frequently.
The first book is pretty much just "meet the cast" and world building with a promise of a huge conflict in the second book between the peoples of the "Known World" and the civilisation in "The Other Lands". And then you read the second book and pretty much nothing happens. It turns out that the second book is just a stage setter for that massive conflict between the two civilisations.
The second book ends and you say to yourself "Wait, surely there can't be a whole book after this? Two or three more chapters of the massive battle and that's how the story ends, right? Right?". And then you learn that, somehow, the third book is the longest one in the trilogy. How?
So you sit down and read the third one, waiting for the big battle to happen. And then you are teased by not just one world ending conflict, not two, but potentially even three world ending events all happening at the same time. So you read and read and read and wait for them to finally start. And once they FINALLY do, they are a bore and end as soon as they began. Barely an inconvenience in the end.
Now, everything I said above sounds like I hate this trilogy, right? So why did I give it 4 stars? Because everything else in this trilogy is brilliant. If you can ignore the fact that there is no bombastic Hollywood-style ending battle then you will truly enjoy the Acacia trilogy.
The writing style flows like a river.
The world building is beautiful, I can imagine this entire world from how wonderfully it was described to me. I want to go and see all of those places.
The characters and their development are so interesting. As I was reading the last two chapters I got emotional because I knew that soon I will reach the end and never see these people again. Never know what might happen in their lives after the last page. I really got invested.
The inner monologues and conversations between characters are brilliantly crafted, real and have a lot of depth.
Would I like Acacia 4? Absolutely. Will it ever happen? Maybe. David said a decade ago that he wishes to return to Acacia with another book, but he needs to find the right way to do it. And I hope he finds what he is looking for.
And normally I wouldn't mind it, if the books never teased us - the readers - with such things. But they did, very frequently.
The first book is pretty much just "meet the cast" and world building with a promise of a huge conflict in the second book between the peoples of the "Known World" and the civilisation in "The Other Lands". And then you read the second book and pretty much nothing happens. It turns out that the second book is just a stage setter for that massive conflict between the two civilisations.
The second book ends and you say to yourself "Wait, surely there can't be a whole book after this? Two or three more chapters of the massive battle and that's how the story ends, right? Right?". And then you learn that, somehow, the third book is the longest one in the trilogy. How?
So you sit down and read the third one, waiting for the big battle to happen. And then you are teased by not just one world ending conflict, not two, but potentially even three world ending events all happening at the same time. So you read and read and read and wait for them to finally start. And once they FINALLY do, they are a bore and end as soon as they began. Barely an inconvenience in the end.
Now, everything I said above sounds like I hate this trilogy, right? So why did I give it 4 stars? Because everything else in this trilogy is brilliant. If you can ignore the fact that there is no bombastic Hollywood-style ending battle then you will truly enjoy the Acacia trilogy.
The writing style flows like a river.
The world building is beautiful, I can imagine this entire world from how wonderfully it was described to me. I want to go and see all of those places.
The characters and their development are so interesting. As I was reading the last two chapters I got emotional because I knew that soon I will reach the end and never see these people again. Never know what might happen in their lives after the last page. I really got invested.
The inner monologues and conversations between characters are brilliantly crafted, real and have a lot of depth.
Would I like Acacia 4? Absolutely. Will it ever happen? Maybe. David said a decade ago that he wishes to return to Acacia with another book, but he needs to find the right way to do it. And I hope he finds what he is looking for.
March 22, 2018
Meh, more of the same. There were hints of a satisfying ending in there, but very little felt earned. Mena was the only character who actually seemed to go through an arc; everyone else just kind of behaved the way the plot needed them to. I especially didn't buy Corinn's sudden change of heart, especially since she spent most of the book bordering on moustache-twirling villain territory. Before, her behavior was sympathetic and her fears understandable given what she had seen of the world. Then she was just kind of became evil for the sake of evil, then suddenly she was good and heroic again, the end. Huh?
Aliver was there. That's pretty much the amount of impact he had on anything, despite everyone making such a big deal over him.
I have no idea what Dariel's deal was. Who even was Dariel? He was the Designated Character to run around in a foreign land while his siblings dealt with more domestic affairs, and that is what he did, whether or not it made any sense or said jack-all about his character.
I read three books about these characters and I find myself still not knowing or caring much about them. Even though each told their own story from their own POV, with lots of introspection and secret thoughts, they still mostly came across as empty shells (the exception again being Mena, but even that's a relatively late development, as it was only in this book that I started feeling like she had any substance to her character at all).
The ending was rushed and very little was resolved (perhaps leaving it open for future books?), which was pretty unsatisfying. Three stars kind of seems too kind, but I tend to reserve two stars for books that were more irritating than anything else. This series was just kind of dull and half-assed. If you're an epic fantasy fan, there's way better out there.
Still, this book does get points for avoiding the standard, cliche, massive battle/war to end the trilogy. There were lots of other problems with the ending, but I did like the attempt at a more peaceful resolution to the story.
Aliver was there. That's pretty much the amount of impact he had on anything, despite everyone making such a big deal over him.
I have no idea what Dariel's deal was. Who even was Dariel? He was the Designated Character to run around in a foreign land while his siblings dealt with more domestic affairs, and that is what he did, whether or not it made any sense or said jack-all about his character.
I read three books about these characters and I find myself still not knowing or caring much about them. Even though each told their own story from their own POV, with lots of introspection and secret thoughts, they still mostly came across as empty shells (the exception again being Mena, but even that's a relatively late development, as it was only in this book that I started feeling like she had any substance to her character at all).
The ending was rushed and very little was resolved (perhaps leaving it open for future books?), which was pretty unsatisfying. Three stars kind of seems too kind, but I tend to reserve two stars for books that were more irritating than anything else. This series was just kind of dull and half-assed. If you're an epic fantasy fan, there's way better out there.
Still, this book does get points for avoiding the standard, cliche, massive battle/war to end the trilogy. There were lots of other problems with the ending, but I did like the attempt at a more peaceful resolution to the story.
December 13, 2025
I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. This is kind of the case in every fantasy epic ever, but things seemed too aligned against the Good Guys (TM). Then one unexpected plot point and it was a whole new ball game. Very many satisfying character arcs, and also a kind of believable path forward from the existing tyrannies into a better future.
October 29, 2017
The Acacia series follows the children of a long line of royalty as they try to survive both as a family but also as a civilization. Set almost 10 years apart, the first and second books start with very different realities for each character. In the first they are children, unable to stop their father's assassination. Then later in the trilogy each one is faced with destinies much larger than they ever could have imagined. I'm not going to give up much more about the plot of these stories since I very much want people to read the story for themselves. David Anthony Durham is a great story teller using the right amount of words to describe everything vividly but keeping the plot moving. Characters that are memorable even as minor characters with their major conflicts being inside of them instead of using violence. Themes of redemption and forgiveness are at the heart of the series. There are a few things I didn't like as much about the series. It was unrealistic that some people were able to use and accept their enemy's help so easily with sometimes disastrous results. Wish we learned more about how the "soul catchers" work or the other technologies from the Other Lands.
December 7, 2024
I skim read 75% of it because the previous book, The Other Lands, had been tiresome to read. The last 25% I read properly and I enjoyed.
Corrin and Aliver righted some wrongs before they died. Corrin destroyed the Book of Elenet and the Sanoth by sacrificing herself. Aliver and some of his people released the souls trapped within the Auldek; thereby, leaving Auldek only with their one life.
Auldek agreed to peaceful terms once their mortality became apparent - they could no longer control the slaves and divine children through fear.
Dariel and his crew destroyed the soul catchers and related devices.
Shen and Aaden would not rule as they were illegitimate children. Mena was named queen, but within 20 years, she would be one queen of many royals that have their own nations; there would no longer be an empire but a coalition of equal nations.
It's a good ending to the trilogy; however, I can't rate any book that I've skim read 75% that highly. Unfortunately, the second book was tiresome and made me lose motivation to read The Sacred Band fully.
Corrin and Aliver righted some wrongs before they died. Corrin destroyed the Book of Elenet and the Sanoth by sacrificing herself. Aliver and some of his people released the souls trapped within the Auldek; thereby, leaving Auldek only with their one life.
Auldek agreed to peaceful terms once their mortality became apparent - they could no longer control the slaves and divine children through fear.
Dariel and his crew destroyed the soul catchers and related devices.
Shen and Aaden would not rule as they were illegitimate children. Mena was named queen, but within 20 years, she would be one queen of many royals that have their own nations; there would no longer be an empire but a coalition of equal nations.
It's a good ending to the trilogy; however, I can't rate any book that I've skim read 75% that highly. Unfortunately, the second book was tiresome and made me lose motivation to read The Sacred Band fully.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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