Lessek's Key: The Eldarn Sequence Book 2

SPOILER ALERT! If you have read The 1st book in the Eldarn Sequence: The Hickory Staff, and wish to read on be warned this review contains spoilers. I’ll try to keep it as spoiler free as possible, but do not wish to ruin anyone’s future enjoyment of the books.

My first shock in Lessek’s Key actually came before I even started the story. Readers are informed in the introduction that one of the two authors; Jay Gordon, had contracted Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) and unfortunately lost his battle with the illness late in 2005 and passed away before the publication of Lessek’s Key. Gordon’s co author and son-in-law; Robert Scott, completed the trilogy with the assistance of Gordon’s notes.

I wondered if the loss of one of the authors would significantly affect the trilogy. On reflection, not greatly. It appears that Jay Gordon’s part was largely written before his untimely passing, and he left extensive notes which obviously helped Robert Scott a great deal.

Lessek’s Key opens promisingly. As revealed at the end of The Hickory Staff, Steven Taylor has made it back to our world and brought Nerak with him. The search for the key and Steven’s battle with the massively powerful, body stealing Nerak is well written and gripping. As with the first book these sequences occasionally veer into horror territory, but are still compulsively readable.

The action, or rather lack of it, back on Eldarn is not so well handled. There are 3 separate groups in this world, all fighting against Nerak and frustratingly not aware of each others existence or movements for most of the book. One group comprises the brilliant young archer Garec, who now he has decided not to use his talent with a bow has become largely deadweight, and spends most of his time in a state of deep depression about everyone he has ever killed or may kill in the future, it becomes very tiresome to read. Meanwhile Mark Jenkins has turned into a vengeful, intolerant, rage filled killing machine. Former Larion Senator Gilmour/Fantus alternately performs feats of incredible magic or makes the most elemental mistakes. They added a smuggler called Rodler for reasons I never understood, the character added almost nothing to the story before predictably dying.

Across the Ravenian Sea we have the other two groups, along the coast are former Malakasian soldier Brexan and former partisan; Sallax. At times I wasn’t even sure why the duo were included. Their actions had very little bearing on the major story, they were not connected to either of the other two groups and they spent most of their time farcically allowing their major quarry; merchant cum spy Carpello, to escape their clutches before realising that he had very little information of worth and killed him.

I found the 3rd group the most interesting. Of the three American refugees Hannah Sorenson has always been the best written and the most engaging. This continued to be the case in Lessek’s Key. Her companions; another former Larion Senator Alen/Kantu was very similar in talent and thought to Gilmour, although his lapses in talent can at least be blamed on him being a recovering alcoholic. The giant mute Churn was a solid presence and rather useful when a feat of superhuman strength was called for and I found former thief and aspiring healer Hoyt amusing and surprisingly resourceful.

I couldn’t help wanting the three groups to meet and pool their resources, but it didn’t happen, not in this book anyway. The first part of the book and the last part are tight and contain action and plot advancement, unfortunately the main middle section contains a lot of introspection and amateur psychology mixed with a plenty of that aimless wandering about the countryside that many fantasy authors seem to think readers find fascinating.

Too much of Lessek’s Key is filler. This could have been a tight, action packed duology, instead they’ve attempted to turn it into a lengthy trilogy which has resulted in one unnecessary volume. If you’re going to read this trilogy I’d love to tell you to skip Lessek’s Key and go straight to the concluding book; The Larion Senators, however if you do that you would wind up missing some key elements to the story which would make the final volume incomprehensible.

Having said all that I do intend to read The Larion Senators and hope that it can bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. The trilogy does definitely have promise, but it gets buried under the unnecessary padding sometimes.

The Hickory Staff: The Eldarn Sequence Book 1

I remember I picked The Hickory Staff up when it was first published in 2005. The cover with it's aged look and simple drawing attracted me at first. I read a few pages, was uncertain, and sought out some reviews, as they were mostly negative I decided against adding the book to my ever growing to be read pile. I recently saw it again on a 50% off table and thought I'd give it a chance. Admittedly I know that saying I only bought the book because it was cheap isn't the best recommendation.

For someone who says they don't really like portal fantasy I seem to read a lot of it. Make no mistake The Hickory Staff is most definitely portal fantasy. It takes a while to really begin the story, readers get 5 prologue chapters and are 50 pages in before they meet the main character; small town assistant bank manager Steven Taylor. The story is well set up by this time and up until this point it seems more of a horror novel than a fantasy one.

Steven is conducting an audit of the bank's open account files, this leads him to an account that hasn't been accessed since it was first opened in 1870, and a safety deposit box. Something about the account and the box intrigues Steven, and going against bank policy and his bosses advice Steven attempts to open the box, he is encouraged in this endeavour by his best friend and room mate; highschool history teacher Mark Jenkins. The key that belongs to the box doesn't open it. While searching for a key to an antique cabinet that he has bought for his sister, Steven improbably finds the key to the safety deposit box and he also meets Hannah Sorenson, with whom he falls in love.

Both Steven and Mark and disappointed when they open the box and it's contents are a rosewood box that contains a rock, and a cylinder with a large tapestry in it. Sensing that there is something odd about both objects, they spread the tapestry out on the floor. By accident the two men find out that stepping on the tapestry pulls them into another world. A pre industrial world called; Eldarn.

Unfortunately once in Eldarn they cannot simply step back into their own world. They're stuck in Eldarn. All of Eldarn, including it's two large islands and the two smaller ones has been ruled by the evil overlord Nerak for over a century. Unsurprisingly a resistance to their dark and brutal ruler has sprung up in Eldarn. Equally unsurprising is that Steven and Mark become involved with one of the partisan bands.

The characters are those that people most high fantasy stories: the brilliantly talented young archer, feisty, but attractive young lady, her protective and angry older brother, the crafty old man who has been hiding a mysterious past and has magical ability. Mark falls in love with Brynne; the feisty, but attractive young lady and Steven finds that he is the wielder of great and destructive power contained in a hickory staff. The rock that they found in the rosewood box is the key to breaking the evil presence that controls Eldarn.

There are three separate stories that play out in the book. Mark and Steven and their band of partisans, the journey of Versen; formerly one of the partisans and Brexan, a disillusioned young soldier who was working for the king, but has been turned against him and what he stands for. The third story is that of Hannah, who has also found her way to Eldarn through the tapestry while looking for her mysteriously missing boyfriend. She has hooked up with 3 other resistance fighters in a different part of Eldarn. The three groups are on a collision course as they make their way through the pitfalls of Eldarn while avoiding doom from the forces of Nerak.

Despite the cliched characters and the shallow world building the action was well written and story caught me up. I did wonder about the choice of Steven as the hero, the character was awfully bland and annoyingly self flagellatory. The authors paid lip service to the concept that violence does not solve everything by having Steven and Garec (the archer), in particular, torture themselves mentally every time they used their talents to kill. There are a lot of things wrong with The Hickory Staff, but it's interested me enough to make me want to read; Lessek's Key, the 2nd of the trilogy.

It's an easy read and entertaining as long as you can get past the faults in it. If you're looking for George Martin or Joe Abercrombie then look elsewhere. If you want Brent Weeks or David Eddings then this may be worth picking up.