K.L. Morgan, internationally known author releases volume 1 of 6 of this exciting epic fantasy series ( from the Chronicles of Fiarah ) Castledance is a great epic adventure for teens and young adults or any age high fantasy readers.
Fiarah, the only Historian left on Furth, magically weaves stories for the peoples of her time. The stories she tells is of elves, delves, undants, humans, trolls and gnomes living harmoniously together, as they have for centuries, but their world is changing. Something is amiss. The evil EDUTH wants to rewrite history. They wish to force Fiarah to step into the future and tell them how to win. The trouble is, stepping into the future is forbidden.
These characters will become your friends and heroes. Join their adventure and escape into their world with gusto and surprise.
I am trying hard to get through this book, because based on the reviewers it has to get better sometime. Even having read Tolkein and other "high fantasy", this novel's wording and unique world terms are proving difficult for me to navigate and learn. I am several chapters in, and though there has been quite a bit of action, and the main character is already in trouble, I'm having a hard time caring. Maybe I'm too old of an audience for this book? On the other hand, I have a hard time believing a young person would have an easier time with the verbage than I am. Some may feel I'm not giving the younger generation enough credit, and perhaps that's true, but I've been reading this kind of novel since elementary school. It's the first book of a 4 or 5 book series, so obviously I'm in the minority of not liking it!
Update: 8-24-08. I finally gave up. If someone else has read this or others in the series, and can tell me if it gets "better" in subsequent books, I may try again.
Castledance is a very well-written book of fantasy. I love the story, the plot, and the romance in it. The colorful people and places are vividly described in its pages. Stories about elfs, delfs, trolls, and humans mixed with magic makes for a real page-turner. The forces of evil are lurking about the land and they are staying secretly quiet for purposes of their own. The rest of the races must unite to vanquish the foe or die alone. It is beautifully written with vocabulary of its own… however it is the language that slowed me down. My brain refused to go on until I had pronounced in my mind the strange words splattered all over the pages. Beautiful, but it slowed me down too much.
The first part of the book is rather hard to get through. Once the character Fiarah is introduced I was entranced with her every action. She is able to see the past through objects she touches, which makes her the perfect historian. Unfortunatly, the enemy knows her abilities and try to steal them. It is worth the trudging just to get to her moment of triumph. I recommend the book to serious fantasy readers.
This is a book that a good family friend wrote. I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the rest of the series. It was a little hard to get into at first, because of the new culture, people, and language that I had to learn, but once I got all that down, it was a wonderful story. The descriptions of the characters and the settings were awesome. I think I'm going to like this series as much as Inheritance!
A group is trying to take over the power of the world. They call themselves EDUTH. This book begins the story, following a few different lines of characters and they begin to discover and then fight the threat to their freedom.