β Scribed by Allan Cole
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Magic and battle flourish as Safar Timura, great wizard and hero, is pursued by his former friend, now nemesis, Iraj Protarus, who has come back from the dead as a wolven shape-changer. Safar must lead his people to safety from their native Kyrania; secretly, he is also following a vision from the master-wizard Lord Asper and hoping to stop the blight affecting his world. In his quest, he is aided by Leiria, a female soldier; Palimak, a half-demon, half-human child whom Safar is raising as a son; and Khysmet, the perfect steed whom Safar was destined to find along the way. These and a variety of striking secondary characters journey through the ensorcelled land of Caluz on their way to a new home in fabled Syrapis across the sea. Not only Iraj, but others, such as the circus-troupe Safar joined as a youth, return; but even so this second volume in the series remains very accessible to new readers. The book strikes a good balance between action and character development and provides a rich mixture of demons, sorcery, swordplay and political intrigue. Cole also manages more moments of real horror than most fantasy writers while still hitting the high notes of wonder, romance and fellowship. (Mar.) FYI: A sample chapter will be bound into 127,000 issues of Realm of Fantasy magazine.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Cole says his current major project, begun in Wizard of the Winds and of which this is the second volume, is based on The Rubaiyat , and certainly a Middle Eastern flavor is present in abundance. As to plot, Wolves picks up the conflict between the wizard Safar Timura and the supposedly dead King of Kings, Iraj Protarus, where its predecessor left it. Iraj was once Safar's friend but was afterward destroyed by Safar when power turned Iraj to evil. Now Safar has to lead his people on a grim quest for ancient magic, which contains their only hope of safety, across the hostile land of Caluz, which Cole depicts most vividly, thanks to abundant, well-chosen detail. Cole proves once again his mastery of setting as well as pacing, and the characterizations are more than acceptable, with the apparent return of Iraj from the dead, more bloodthirsty than ever, providing a cliffhanger ending and promising well for the remainder of the saga. Roland Green
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