Kenny Martens’s Reviews > The Return of Jongor > Status Update

Jongor kills Mozdoc, but the Arklans stubbornly insist on tradition: Queen Nesca must die to make way for the next ruler. Nesca escapes down a secret passage with Ann, Alan, and Jongor. It is a ruse: she puts them into a boat and leaves. The boat takes them via an underground river to a safe place. They here explosions. Looking back, they see the caves and the city engulfed in flames. The Arklan race is extinct.

Nesca leads them to the caves behind the city. There are cached blast guns, food, and water. Morton and Schiller guard the door, while Nesca takes the others to a temple built into a cavern. She says the time has come for the Arklan race to end. The day of centaurs is over, the age of man is beginning. Schiller betrays them and opens the doors for Mozdoc and his army. Morton warns them, but it’s too late.

Jongor is not willing that Nesca should die and let the usurper Mozdoc rule, so he fights back when the executioners arrive for the ritual execution. Caught by surprise, Mozdoc’s supporters are unprepared. Jongor leads Ann, Nesca, and a handful of her loyal guards out of the city.

The Arklans are centaurs. Jongor slips into their city and makes his way to Nesca’s throne room. Ann is there with the Queen. She rescued Ann from the lion and brought her to wait for Jongor. However, there is danger: Mozdoc has incited an insurrection and Nesca will be deposed in a matter of hours. Jongor urges her to escape; she will not. She will stay and die as is the custom of the Arklans.

Jongor escapes the ambush. He feigns injury and lures Umber after him. He puts Umber into a full nelson and pumps him for information: Ann escaped, and the message from Queen Nesca was a fake. Jongor lets Umber go, then tracks Ann to the tree where she hid from the lion. Ann is gone and the lion is dead—killed as if by a lightning bolt. Jongor knows only the Arklans—Queen Nesca’s people—have such weapons.

Wait, why is Umber with the ambushing party? In the last chapter Orbo sent him away to track and recapture Ann. He shouldn’t be here with the others fighting Jongor.

The authors uses Muros and Murians interchangeably. That’s odd. Jongor calls them Muros which means they must call themselves Muros. Their ancestors were Murians. But RMW calls them by both names, for no discernible reason, even sometimes on the same page.

The Murians set an ambush for Jongor. Umber falls asleep guarding Ann, so she cuts her bonds on his spearhead and escapes into the jungle. A lion chases her and she climbs a tree for safety. Orbo sends Umber and two others to track Ann, and the rest of the Murians continue lying in wait for Jongor.

This book has too many exclamation points! Sometimes two sentences in a row!

Jongor leaves camp to hunt. Orbo lures Ann into the jungle by means of a mind control crystal designed by ancient Murian scientists to control human slaves. When Jongor returns, Ann is gone. It is too dark for him to follow her trail so he stays in camp. Orbo is upset because Jongor fails to walk into his ambush. Orbo’s second, Umber, suggests they kill Ann but Orbo decides a living Ann is better bait for the trap.