Warautumn

A Tale of Eron #4

by Tom Deitz

In this thrilling conclusion to the epic series begun in Bloodwinter and continued in Springwar and Summerblood, Tom Deitz brings us the final chapter in the unforgettable saga of a fugitive king, a lost magic, and a revolution that will either liberate a world--or condemn it to eternal tyranny.While the Ninth Face, a dark religious sect, consolidate their grip on the capital city of Eron, far to the north King Avall’s army attempts to rescue the king himself from imprisonment at Gem-Hold-Winter, now controlled by Zeff, a Ninth Face fanatic. But Avall is no longer there. Aided by the blind harpist Kylin, he has escaped from the hold in a blaze of improbable magic that transported the king and his closest followers to a dangerous wilderness.As the royal armies prepare for siege and Eron’s capital seethes with growing rebellion, Avall and his comrades must retrieve the magical Lightning Sword--now lost by Avall’s sister, Merryn--and make their way back to the embattled citadel. Only when Avall has regained the Sword can he march on Eron’s capital for a final showdown with the righteous priests whose law is total obedience and whose god is total power.From the Paperback edition.

Genres: Fantasy

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Thomas Franklin Deitz (January 17, 1952- April 27, 2009) was an American novelist from Georgia. He had a B.A. and M.A. in medieval English from University of Georgia. He was the author of the "Soulsmith Trilogy," comprised of the books Soulsmith , Dreambuilder , and Wordwright . He also wrote a popular series consisting of Windmaster's Bane , Fireshaper's Doom , Darkthunder's Way , Sunshaker's War , Stoneskin's Revenge , Ghostcountry's Wrath , Dreamseeker's Road , Landslayer's Law , and Warstalker's Track . His stand-alone novel The Gryphon King centers around a few of the characters from the later novels in the last series mentioned.

Deitz also won the Phoenix Award in 2007. This award is given at the annual DeepSouthCon to a professional who has done a great deal for Southern Fandom.

Deitz was a well-liked college instructor as well, with stints as an adjunct English faculty member at Gainesville State College, Lanier Tech, and Tri-County Community College, and received a tenure-track appointment as assistant professor in Fall 2008 at Gainesville State College. He was recognized as GSC's adjunct faculty member of the year in 2008.

In addition to writing, Deitz's creative outlets included visual art (murals, fantasy art, and more); drama (with minor roles in a number of community and college productions); model automobile collecting; costumery; and other pursuits via the Society for Creative Anachronism. He was a founding member of the SCA's Barony of Bryn Madoc.

Deitz died on Monday, April 27 2009 of heart failure. He had a heart attack in January of this year and was a candidate to receive a Ventricular assist device (VAD) but had suffered too much damage to his heart for the device to be implanted.
(From Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Micax · Rating 2 out of 5]

The finale of the four book series (though really, Books 1-2 and Books 3-4 should IMO be considered as one book each). It's an OK conclusion to the series, in it's way. Though sadly the last two parts don't remotely live up to the promise of the series from the start. The idea of Tale of Eron is great, but the execution is badly flawed.

The core idea: the discovery of magical gems overturn order in a strictly regimented, ritualistic society - the balance of power between the two main Kingdoms and between the layers in society. All of this should provide fodder for a lot of fantastic action, but ... that is not what we get. We get two wars - one between the Kingdoms and one Civil war, but both conflicts are without any depth or real consequences.

Partly, the problem is that Deitz can't seem to imagine "grey" characters. Pretty much everything in the story is centered around support or opposition to Avall (the main character) - good or evil. Ambiguity is erased. An example of this is one of Avall's friends who desires power and the crown, for no other reason really than the desire for power. An "almost-theme" of the story is how the magical gems basically "corrupt" the user - they give power, but with power comes the desire to use it and continue using it. Here is interesting potential for conflict, but ... no. The friend is one of the "good guys", so forget everything about how power corrupts - his desire is pure and just. Every situation in the story is leached of interest because the "good guys" cannot be anything but good. Even when they are being idiots.

Which is the second issue in the series - character acting irrationally and stupidly to move the story along. A lot of the "suspense" is basically caused by people acting in ways that feel very driven by the needs of the plot rather than anything that seems true to the characters.

A lot of books 3 and 4 are also spent on side stories that add absolutely nothing to the characters or the worldbuilding. Which is particularly galling, since a crucial piece of the wolrdbuilding is basically left unresolved: namely the Gems, what they are, how they connect to the Gods and basically what the Gods are. Critical and interesting questions that the characters wonder about - and then completely ignore. Instead we spend pages on the building of a raft.

Overall, I'd recommend the first two books as interesting - if not groundbreaking - fantasy tale. The last two books I'd only recommend if you can't get enough of Eron after having read the first two.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways, this is my favorite of the Eron series. I was familiar with all the characters so didn't have to sort out similar names. The action was varied and came to a satisfactory conclusion for the series. A fine read.