John Marco presents the riveting conclusion to his sweeping fantasy saga β in which three unlikely allies stand united against a terrifying crisis that threatens to devastate a world.
Biagio, Emperor of Nar, was once a madman and a tyrant. Now he wants peace. The irony is that no one believes him. Instead, the cruelest of his minions are amassing an army to usurp his throne, bringing a new scourge to a battle-scarred world.
But the wily Biagio has one more desperate plan. Alazrian Leth, bastard son of Aramoorβs governor, is barely sixteen, but this young prince secretly possesses rare magical talents. Biagio sends Alazrian on a near-impossible mission: to convince outlawed priest Jahl Rob and his followers β the fearless Saints of the Sword β to search for the exiled ruler of Aramoor and the mysterious people called the Triin.
If these ancient enemies can unite into one great army, a boyβs strange and wonderful magic may be the spark to heal a wounded world ... or set in motion an unimaginable betrayal.
From Publishers Weekly
Finely crafted, fluid writing and fully rendered characters lift the third and concluding volume in Marco's Tyrants and Kings series, his epic militaristic fantasy about the warring continents of Nar and Lucel-Lor. In the series' debut novel, The Jackal of Nar (1999), Aramoor heir and reluctant warrior Richius Vantran (aka the Jackal) experienced magic and culture shock in Lucel-Lor. In The Grand Design (a B&N "Best of 2000" selection) the slaughter escalated as Nar's Emperor Biagio struggled for power and the exiled Vantran was drawn into the conflict. Complexities of political intrigue, rivalries and revenge erupt in the newest novel, with the focus on 16-year-old Alazrian Leth, a prince with secret magical powers. In need of allies to oppose gathering enemy armies, Biagio sends the young prince on a mission to find Vantran and ultimately raise a massive militia force. In this richly detailed world, the panoramic ocean battle scenes are particularly vivid. Avoiding cliffhanger climaxes, Marco has wisely injected a feeling of closure so that each book in the series can stand alone. Some readers, however, may be disappointed to find minimal fantasy elements. (Feb. 6)Forecast: The Jackal of Nar won a Barnes & Noble Reader's Choice award. At his best, Marco can hold his own as a writer with other major fantasists, including Stephen Donaldson and Terry Brooks; his sales should continue to climb. The superb series cover art by fantasy artist Doug Beekman is a major plus.
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From Booklist
In the third volume of Tyrants and Kings, Emperor Biagio of Nar is only slightly less ruthless than before, yet now he is intriguing and scheming for peace! Indeed, he is willing to betray his own fleet to make peace with the sorely tried seafarers of Liss, and he taps Alazrian Leth, bastard son of the governor of Aramoor, for a secret mission to Lucel-Lor. The core of the novel is Alazrian's coming-of-age on this mission as he meets most of the many characters introduced in this book's two predecessors, develops magical powers (including healing and mind reading), and participates in the climactic battle against his own grandfather, Tassis Gayle, the mad ruler of the Eastern Highlands. Tyrants and Kings is more a tribute to Marco's fertile imagination than to his narrative technique, and Tassis Gayle isn't a sufficiently formidable opponent. But readers who relished what has gone before won't be unhappy with this continuation, which may be the series' conclusion. Roland Green
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