Master of the Cauldron

Lord of the Isles #6

by David Drake

Garric or-Reise was born the son of an innkeeper in Barca's Hamlet on the Isle of Haft, but through valor and determination became first a prince and then the Regent and successor to the feeble Valence III, King of the Isles. But the Kingdom is weak, its rule barely extending past the island of Ornifal.
The Isles need a strong king to bring unity, because danger is coming. Magic is stronger now than at any time since the fall of the Old Kingdom in a cataclysm of uncontrolled magic. Evil is growing in the spaces beyond the world, waiting to complete the destruction begun a millennium before. Only if the Isles are united into a strong New Kingdom can humanity survive.
Garric has sworn to become a true Lord of the Isles. Standing with him are his sister, Sharina; his friend and Sharina's lover, the shepherd Cashel; and Cashel's sister, the weaver-witch Ilsa. They have been to Hell and back together in their quest.
The four friends and the armies of the Kingdom have undertaken a Royal Progress to renew the bonds of fealty among the Isles. Now they come to Sandrakkan, which fought a long and bloody war with Haft less than a generation ago.
On Sandrakkan, Wilduf's Countess, Balila, schemes with her court wizard to destroy the boy king from the hated isle of Haft. Strange evils lurk on demon-haunted Volita, and she will wake them all if necessary to make her husband the new King of the Isles.
Rich with action, guile, and heroism in the face of dangers both physical and moral, Master of the Cauldron stands alone or as part of a ground-breaking fantasy epic.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Epic, Ebooks, Audiobook

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the major authors of the military science fiction genre.

Reviews

[Randy Mcbride · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drake continues with the same recipe as the previous 5 books. I enjoy his style. Story can get repetitive, but I even feel that way about Robert Jordan.

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Drake is a friend of mine. He's a good friend and a very good writer. I had read Master of the Cauldron at least once before. It was a engaging and an entertaining read. An old writer once told me that the secret of pulp fiction was "get a hero, get him in trouble, get him out." David Drake works a variation on that theme. He has four primary characters, the brother-sister pairs Garric and Sharina, and Cashel and Ilna. We start out in every book with the four friends (in the case of Sharina and Cashel, more than friends) together, moving into what seems a predictable future. In that case, they are arriving at the port of Erdin, main city of the island of Sandrakkan, to negotiate Earl Wilduf's relationship with the Kingdom of the Isles.

Various forces, natural and supernatural, separate our heroes. Each of the four gets into his or her own brand of trouble, and then gets out via a process that reassembles the team in the ruins of Erdin. Enemies vanquished, evil driven back, the Kingdom once more secure. Until the next adventure.

This is a series of nine substantial books, and well worth the time it takes to read the whole thing.

[Marianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is 6th out of 9 in a series. The writer does a good job introducing everyone and bringing you up to speed, but this book is a bridge between the story, and I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you're enjoying all the others.

Magic and portals between other worlds/time, used to separate the main characters into 5 parallel and unrelated stories through much of the book, which all come together in an unlikely and unsatisfying 'hey now the problem is solved' fashion in the last few pages.

I enjoyed the prose, and the characters, but found the book kind of unsatisfying otherwise. This book is very similar in format to book 7.

[tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lord of the isles

A very enjoyable series by a very good author. I’m looking forward to reading the next step of the journey. Crown of the isles

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s nice to learn about Ilna and Cashel’s mother. A good ending to the series

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

8 Wash, rinse and repeat. Will the troubles never end for these fruitless four. But I will probably keep reading the series.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prince Garric, his friends and the Royal Army, have landed on Sandrakkan, where they hope the Earl will recognise Garric as the King. But whereas the Earl seems willing to hear him out, there are factions within his court who don't, especially his wife, Balila, who allies herself with a powerful wizard in an attempt to make her own husband king. Back in Ornifal, a rebellion is brewing and reluctantly Garric lets Sharina and Tenoctris return to sort it out. Cashel is approachd by a mysterious woman who wants him to save the city of Ronn and help the mother he has never seen, while Ilna and her adopted family are swept to a strnage land when she undoes a spell holding a stranger captive in rock. All four adventures weave around the same evil - wizards using the increasing forces to produce non-human creatures to fight their enemies - and when Balila's wizard gets the magic very wrong, there is a chance that Garric and his army will lose the war for good.

Another great adventure that follows much the same lines as the previous books - all the friends start off together, get separated by chance or choice, but come together in the end to win the day. Even so, I still enjoy these books - the characters have become familiar friends and the writing is excellent.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

i actually liked this book a little more than the others... i think he does a better job of explaining a little bit about 2 of the more mysterious characters, but it all culminates in a happy ending.. i wish he would do more with the character cashel, but he does well splitting the book up between all the characters

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

These characters continue to grow on me. I loved getting more of Ilna and Cashel's history. Their stories fascinate me the most of all the characters in this series. I have the Crown of the Isle trilogy waiting to finish up this story, so I'm hoping for good things. Very epic adventures so far.

[Howard]

Mac-ebooks

[Heather Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how you can pick up any book from the series in any order and know exactly what happened previous within the first chapter.

[Jim Pike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing to work it's way into my favorites category. Gripping storytelling, and interesting characters keep me wanting more. Learning more and more about the characters as well.