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Sembia, Gateway to the Realms #5
Heirs of Prophecy
The unacknowledged, half-elf daughter of Thamalon Uskevren, Larajin finds herself caught in the middle of a bitter conflict between elves and humans as she struggles to bring peace to the warring races, confronts a twin brother she has never known, and must save a half-brother whose own fate hangs in the balance. Original.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2002
9 people are currently reading
520 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Smedman
79 books114 followersLisa was very much the tomboy growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia--playing in the woods behind her house, building tree forts, damming the creek, playing army with GI Joe dolls, swinging on ropes, playing flashlight tag, building models and go-carts (which she later rode down the street). She also liked reading science fiction novels from the 1940s, the Doc Savage series, and the Harriet the Spy books.
In 1984, she began her professional writing career, first as a journalist then as a fiction writer. She counts science fiction authors Connie Willis, Robert J. Sawyer, and H.G. Wells, and classic books such as Treasure Island, as influences.
Several of Lisa's short science fiction and fantasy stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies, and in 1993 she was named a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest for science fiction and fantasy writers. She has also had three of her one-act plays produced by a Vancouver theater group.
Lisa is the author of Extinction, one of several novels set in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game’s Forgotten Realms universe. Released in 2004, Extinction made the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction.
After authoring several science fiction and fantasy novels, Lisa recently turned her hand to children's books. From Boneshakers to Choppers (2007) explores the social history of motorcycles. Her interest in motorcycles goes way back--as a teenager, Lisa enjoyed trips up the British Columbia coast, riding pillion on friends' motorcycles. She later purchased her own bike, a 50cc machine, to get around town.
Lisa is one of the founders of Adventures Unlimited, a magazine providing scenarios and tips for role-playing games. She has written short fiction for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game's Ravenloft and Dark Sun lines. She has also designed a number of adventures and gaming products for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Cyberpunk, Immortal, Shatterzone, Millennium's End, and Deadlands. Her original games include Valhalla's Gate, a tabletop skirmish miniatures game drawn from Norse mythology and runic lore. An avid gamer, Lisa belongs to the Trumpeter Wargaming Club.
After working for more than 20 years as a journalist, Lisa now divides her time between writing fiction and contributing to the Vancouver Courier (she edits and writes the History's Lens column). Besides a diploma in journalism, she also has a degree in anthropology. She is fascinated by history and archaeology, particularly the Bronze Age. Her future plans include writing more historical fiction, alternative historical fantasy, and game tie-in novels. Lisa is also interested in building models and dioramas, and tabletop miniatures gaming.
She lives in Richmond, British Columbia, with her wife, their son, four cats, and two pugs.
In 1984, she began her professional writing career, first as a journalist then as a fiction writer. She counts science fiction authors Connie Willis, Robert J. Sawyer, and H.G. Wells, and classic books such as Treasure Island, as influences.
Several of Lisa's short science fiction and fantasy stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies, and in 1993 she was named a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest for science fiction and fantasy writers. She has also had three of her one-act plays produced by a Vancouver theater group.
Lisa is the author of Extinction, one of several novels set in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game’s Forgotten Realms universe. Released in 2004, Extinction made the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction.
After authoring several science fiction and fantasy novels, Lisa recently turned her hand to children's books. From Boneshakers to Choppers (2007) explores the social history of motorcycles. Her interest in motorcycles goes way back--as a teenager, Lisa enjoyed trips up the British Columbia coast, riding pillion on friends' motorcycles. She later purchased her own bike, a 50cc machine, to get around town.
Lisa is one of the founders of Adventures Unlimited, a magazine providing scenarios and tips for role-playing games. She has written short fiction for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game's Ravenloft and Dark Sun lines. She has also designed a number of adventures and gaming products for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Cyberpunk, Immortal, Shatterzone, Millennium's End, and Deadlands. Her original games include Valhalla's Gate, a tabletop skirmish miniatures game drawn from Norse mythology and runic lore. An avid gamer, Lisa belongs to the Trumpeter Wargaming Club.
After working for more than 20 years as a journalist, Lisa now divides her time between writing fiction and contributing to the Vancouver Courier (she edits and writes the History's Lens column). Besides a diploma in journalism, she also has a degree in anthropology. She is fascinated by history and archaeology, particularly the Bronze Age. Her future plans include writing more historical fiction, alternative historical fantasy, and game tie-in novels. Lisa is also interested in building models and dioramas, and tabletop miniatures gaming.
She lives in Richmond, British Columbia, with her wife, their son, four cats, and two pugs.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 15, 2022
Elves of all types good and evil. Racial conflicts between humans and elves. Cooperative magic. Lots of winged cats.
December 7, 2010
I found Smedman's technical ability awesome in this novel with her use of foils.
April 16, 2019
At some point this book must have been interesting to me because the middle of it read so quickly that I forgot entire sections of it. Larajin’s story is so uninteresting that I lost track of the players (the antagonists) of the storyline, particularly the drow intervention, which never transpires due to all the “love” being spread around. I was literally counting the pages to the end of this one. Boooooring. Hopefully the last 3 books in this series go back to the more interesting characters in the Uskeveren household. For example, any of them besides the poor Larajin or however her dumb name is spelled. I for one was rooting for the drow and the destruction of Cormanthyr, which eventually happens anyway. Why not in this novel to add some true spice to it. Kill all the forest elves in the war and now were really talking about civil war in Serbia and the surrounding areas of FG. Create some true instability that fuels the next set of novels rather than boring peace. What did the drow do after this, crawl back to their holes? I doubt it, but they disappear at the end to make this book a ho-him nothing happened thriller.
January 10, 2022
Of all the Sembia books this one captured my interest the least. I wasn't very captivated during the book, even with the action and talk of war. Larajin is an okay character but doesn't interest me that much. Her story in "The Halls of Stormweather" felt like the weakest story as well. The climax of the book and the way to overcome insurmountable odds just seemed weak to me. I do like other books by Lisa Smedman like "Extinction" (War of the Spider Queen) and the Lady Penitent trilogy.
March 22, 2020
An exciting read, and the broadest of the series so far; most of the series takes place in Cormanthor rather than Sembia. I love Larajin, my only complaints is everything is too easy for her and the book is too short.
November 14, 2023
This was, well, actually pretty boring, unfortunately.
I like Larajin as a character but this story was just so boring it feels like nothing happens until the absolute end, which, might I add, was a total copout so not even worth the energy I spent slogging through to reach it.
I like Larajin as a character but this story was just so boring it feels like nothing happens until the absolute end, which, might I add, was a total copout so not even worth the energy I spent slogging through to reach it.
August 5, 2018
"...he would reap the bitter rewards of cowardice."
"Some things in life turn out better if allowed to fullness on their own time, like rising bread."
"Some things in life turn out better if allowed to fullness on their own time, like rising bread."
February 25, 2024
Decent, but doesn't quite seem to mesh with the so far above average series.
May 16, 2010
Heirs of Prophecy by Lisa Smedman is the fifth book in the Sembia: Gateway to the Realms series. The story’s focus is on Larajin, a maid of House Uskevren. The events that happen in this story follow the events in Skin Deep by Lisa Smedman, a short story in The Halls of Stormweather anthology.
I’ll just simply reword what the description says on the back of the book. In the forests of Cormanthor, the elves start attacking the trade routes, giving Sembia an excuse for war. Larajin, finds out she is Thamalon Uskevren’s half-elf daughter, which is not good because the Sembians are attacking elf owned shops. She travels to Cormanthor to learn more about her mother and hopefully prevent war.
Negatives:
1) Continuity. In the earlier books, the events of each preceding book were briefly mentioned. They were well done in their little recaps. However, since this follows what happened in Black Wolf by Dave Gross (the fourth book in this series), and because Talbot Uskevren and Larajin were close before this, these two stories should have been on the same page. The main problem was with Talbot and Master Ferrick, a fencing teacher. Basically, Talbot was kicked out of Master Ferrick’s class. Yet, in this story Talbot will war with the class, and this story comes AFTER Black Wolf. That was my main problem. Oh and where is Feena?
2) Predictable. Granted, maybe it wasn’t supposed to be, but I just felt like everything was too easy to see coming. There really wasn’t any surprises.
3) Larajin and Leifander. Larajin at times seemed to whiny and annoying. Also, she seemed too powerful for a maid. Leifander seemed as whiny and annoying. But the thing that really got to me was his overall attitude towards humans. It just grated on my nerves.
Positives:
1) The Flow. I seem to always have something to say about the pacing and flow of the story. I enjoyed how fast of a read it was. Only, I had to slow myself down because I couldn’t find book 6 in the series and had to order it. But other than that… The chapter read pretty fast and it did seem really well paced.
2) The Resolution. The ending was predictable but it still, I felt, was exciting. I didn’t really expect that what happened was going to happen.
3) Larajin. When she wasn’t whining or annoying she was a pretty interesting character. Most of the time she seemed to not be all that powerful when faced with certain obstacles. That made it good. It does get old that when the going gets tough, the heroes pull it out. But Larajin always seemed to be saved from either running away, being saved by someone, or sheer luck.
Overall: 2.5/5
*The story could have benefited greatly if it followed Black Wolf better*
I’ll just simply reword what the description says on the back of the book. In the forests of Cormanthor, the elves start attacking the trade routes, giving Sembia an excuse for war. Larajin, finds out she is Thamalon Uskevren’s half-elf daughter, which is not good because the Sembians are attacking elf owned shops. She travels to Cormanthor to learn more about her mother and hopefully prevent war.
Negatives:
1) Continuity. In the earlier books, the events of each preceding book were briefly mentioned. They were well done in their little recaps. However, since this follows what happened in Black Wolf by Dave Gross (the fourth book in this series), and because Talbot Uskevren and Larajin were close before this, these two stories should have been on the same page. The main problem was with Talbot and Master Ferrick, a fencing teacher. Basically, Talbot was kicked out of Master Ferrick’s class. Yet, in this story Talbot will war with the class, and this story comes AFTER Black Wolf. That was my main problem. Oh and where is Feena?
2) Predictable. Granted, maybe it wasn’t supposed to be, but I just felt like everything was too easy to see coming. There really wasn’t any surprises.
3) Larajin and Leifander. Larajin at times seemed to whiny and annoying. Also, she seemed too powerful for a maid. Leifander seemed as whiny and annoying. But the thing that really got to me was his overall attitude towards humans. It just grated on my nerves.
Positives:
1) The Flow. I seem to always have something to say about the pacing and flow of the story. I enjoyed how fast of a read it was. Only, I had to slow myself down because I couldn’t find book 6 in the series and had to order it. But other than that… The chapter read pretty fast and it did seem really well paced.
2) The Resolution. The ending was predictable but it still, I felt, was exciting. I didn’t really expect that what happened was going to happen.
3) Larajin. When she wasn’t whining or annoying she was a pretty interesting character. Most of the time she seemed to not be all that powerful when faced with certain obstacles. That made it good. It does get old that when the going gets tough, the heroes pull it out. But Larajin always seemed to be saved from either running away, being saved by someone, or sheer luck.
Overall: 2.5/5
*The story could have benefited greatly if it followed Black Wolf better*
December 31, 2022
A new favourite of mine from Smedman. I think she may nudge Elaine Cunningham for top spot of FR authors for me. While Cunningham's Elfsong and Silver Shadows remain remarkable stand outs, I find Smedman to be more consistent.
This is the most aesthetic FR story she's written. I gave it 4 stars because I thought the story was a bit too short and rushed towards the end and wrapped things up too neatly. It's a shame there aren't anymore stories about Larajin and Leifander, I would've liked to read more about their exploits.
I have to say this is a very "girly" book with it's themes of beauty and love, descriptions of idyllic natural beauty (which I enjoyed alot), and of course, a heroine MC. I'd shudder to think what your stereotypical pasty, overweight, mouth breathing, hermetic, unhygenic D&D fanboy would think of this story. But then, who cares?
---
Upon re-read, I'd nudge it down to 3.25 stars. Although I applaud the ingenuity and novelty of using love as a "weapon" to win the day, it felt like a very RPG gamey solution, especially in its approach. The thing is at one point, Larajin suffered when her patron god abandoned her after she diminished her convictions behind her belief in Sune. But somehow, Sune granted her clerical power even though she had no feelings for Drakkar, and thus, lied about her "love"? Why is there a discrepancy, other than a need to quickly wrap up the story? Also, the appearance of drow feels somewhat tacked on and was not given enough weight, especially in other Sembia novels where Drakkar appears.
Finally, this book felt like two books squished into one. One book should've been about Larajin and Leifander coming together, learning about family and their legacy and them learning about the threat of war in the Dales; the other about how they band together with the forest elves to overcome the factional tensions between the various Dale and Sembian states and the forest elves. The second book would've been an appropriate addition in "The Priests" series, where a character from "Black Wolf" featuring Talbot Uskevren, had her own spin-off novel. The whole cleric/priest focus throughout Heirs of Prophecy would've made a great story amongst that series.
This is the most aesthetic FR story she's written. I gave it 4 stars because I thought the story was a bit too short and rushed towards the end and wrapped things up too neatly. It's a shame there aren't anymore stories about Larajin and Leifander, I would've liked to read more about their exploits.
I have to say this is a very "girly" book with it's themes of beauty and love, descriptions of idyllic natural beauty (which I enjoyed alot), and of course, a heroine MC. I'd shudder to think what your stereotypical pasty, overweight, mouth breathing, hermetic, unhygenic D&D fanboy would think of this story. But then, who cares?
---
Upon re-read, I'd nudge it down to 3.25 stars. Although I applaud the ingenuity and novelty of using love as a "weapon" to win the day, it felt like a very RPG gamey solution, especially in its approach. The thing is at one point, Larajin suffered when her patron god abandoned her after she diminished her convictions behind her belief in Sune. But somehow, Sune granted her clerical power even though she had no feelings for Drakkar, and thus, lied about her "love"? Why is there a discrepancy, other than a need to quickly wrap up the story? Also, the appearance of drow feels somewhat tacked on and was not given enough weight, especially in other Sembia novels where Drakkar appears.
Finally, this book felt like two books squished into one. One book should've been about Larajin and Leifander coming together, learning about family and their legacy and them learning about the threat of war in the Dales; the other about how they band together with the forest elves to overcome the factional tensions between the various Dale and Sembian states and the forest elves. The second book would've been an appropriate addition in "The Priests" series, where a character from "Black Wolf" featuring Talbot Uskevren, had her own spin-off novel. The whole cleric/priest focus throughout Heirs of Prophecy would've made a great story amongst that series.
January 4, 2016
I'm getting closer to finishing this series! This was a pretty good addition...
Of all of the other books that I've read in the Sembia Series, this one felt the most like it was part of something larger, opposed to a stand alone story. And I liked that about it.
As often happens with these FR novels, there is some quick tying up of loose ends and sometimes they feel a little rushed to meet that 314 page limit. But over all, this was a fun story.
It picks up pretty much where the last novel ended, just changes the focus on to the character Larajin, the one of the Uskraven's family house servants (who is also the progeny of the master of the house). She needs to escape the of Selgaunt to elude a powerful mage, who she learns is part of a large conspiracy to start a war with the elves of Cormanthyr. Over the course of the story, we learn that Larajin has a twin brother, that she blessed by both human and elvan gods, and that there is a much more nefarious source to the conspiracy that first expected.
This was a pretty fun one.
Of all of the other books that I've read in the Sembia Series, this one felt the most like it was part of something larger, opposed to a stand alone story. And I liked that about it.
As often happens with these FR novels, there is some quick tying up of loose ends and sometimes they feel a little rushed to meet that 314 page limit. But over all, this was a fun story.
It picks up pretty much where the last novel ended, just changes the focus on to the character Larajin, the one of the Uskraven's family house servants (who is also the progeny of the master of the house). She needs to escape the of Selgaunt to elude a powerful mage, who she learns is part of a large conspiracy to start a war with the elves of Cormanthyr. Over the course of the story, we learn that Larajin has a twin brother, that she blessed by both human and elvan gods, and that there is a much more nefarious source to the conspiracy that first expected.
This was a pretty fun one.
sold
February 23, 2012Sold to Lewis White on eBay on 7-Jun-11:
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March 5, 2013
Extremely Enjoyable....hoping for more books featuring these characters (the good guys).
December 12, 2013
I like how timed flowed in the book. I was disappointed that everything seemed to go so easily for the main characters and the end wrapped up very quickly but overall, I enjoyed it
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews