Secret Murder: Who Shall Judge? - Ellen Kuhfeld

   2011; 157 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Alternate History; Murder-Mystery; Historical Fiction.  Overall Rating : 4½*/10.

 

    Once upon a time, every grade school student learned that Columbus discovered America.  Oh, there were a few folks who said Leif Erikson did it a half a millennium earlier, named the new world “Vinland”, and left a few artifacts here to confuse the archaeologists before packing up and going back home.  But it was agreed that Leif’s trip, even if it happened, didn’t count because the Vikings never established any permanent settlements.

 

    But what if they had?  If so, it’s reasonable to assume that once the rest of Europe found out, other European countries would jump at the chance to explore this brave new world, particularly France and England.

 

    True, sailing technology in 1000 AD wasn’t as advanced as it would be in 1492, so the pace of colonization would be slower.  And since the Black Plague hadn't happened yet, the natives in America would be spared being ravaged by the pandemics that germ-carrying European explorers would later inflict upon them.

 

    It is logical to assume that the Vikings would settle in the north, mostly in Canada.  How the French and English and “Skraelings” (the Viking term for indigenous Americans) divvied up what is presently the United States is anybody’s guess, but some sort of equilibrium would be established.  And trade between the various factions would commence.

 

    That's the basis for this tale.

 

What’s To Like...

    Secret Murder: Who Shall Judge? is an ambitious blend of historical fiction and murder-mystery, set in an alternate world where Northmen (read “Vikings”), French, English, and Skraelings coexist and trade with one another.  The exact place and time are unclear, but probably somewhere along the present-day US-Canada border (most likely Minnesota since that’s the author’s home state), and in the 1200s, give or take a century or so.

 

    Our protagonist is Ragnar Forkbeard, a merchant down from the (Canadian) Northlands to participate in, and hopefully gain a big profit from, a weeklong trading fair.  There’s bad blood between him and another Northman there, the banished Thorolf Pike, but both keep a somewhat civil tongue since they’re in English territory, where English law prevails.  Things are tense but peaceful, until Thorolf is found dead with an arrow in his chest.

 

    The book opens with a prologue that details the Alt-History scenario described above, and since I'm a history-buff, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The settings are limited to the trade fair and a nearby abbey, plus the surrounding forest area.  There’s almost zero cussing, no sex, a minimum of onstage violence, and lots of mead to wet everyone’s whistle.  I'd definitely call this a cozy mystery.

 

    The historical element seemed well-researched.  Ellen Kuhfeld uses a lot of Viking terminology which gives a nice “feel” to the storyline.  Some of the terms are defined, some not. so it would’ve been nice if either a glossary or footnotes had been utilized to explain things like Ringerike, liripipe, nithing, etc.  Nonetheless, at 157 pages, Secret Murder: Who Will Judge? is a quick and easy read.

 

    The title reference, introduced at 33%, is a Northland law covering a justifiable homicide situation, and which I’m presuming is historically factual.  There are a couple of poem/chants woven into the story; I thought the one at 86% was particularly stirring.  Thoughts by any of the characters are given in italics; I’ve always liked that way of handling them.  I enjoyed the mention of a gleeman; I don’t think I’ve come across one in a story since when I read Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Misliked (v.; archaic) : considered to be unpleasant; disliked.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.1*/5, based on 22 ratings.

    Goodreads: 3.27*/5, based on 11 ratings and 1 review.

 

Excerpts...

    “We must plan the rest of our investigations.  Matilda might solve this for us – but when have we ever been fortunate enough to have the answer drop into our laps like that, hm?”

    “Last fall.  Remember we stopped at the Dancing Bear to ask if travelers had seen the robber we were after?  And there he was, drunk as a monk in the corner.”  Dirk had a weakness for interrupting.

    "Hm.  Thank you, Dirk.  That’s once, men, once in the last year.  The rest, we had to work for.”  (loc. 370)

 

    “Thorolf was outlawed – who cares who kills him?  It’ll be a bother, but we’re only here for a week.”

    “The baron cares.  Why do you think that Southerner was talking about Thorolf taking companions onto his pyre?”  Ragnar saw Olaf still didn’t understand.

    “You’ve mostly traded to the east, where customs are more reasonable.  The laws are different here.  Except for self-defense, you’ve got to be some kind of lawman or soldier before you’re allowed to kill people.  Do it yourself, and they’ll hang you.  It’s called justice.”  (loc. 538)

 

Kindle Details…

    Right now Secret Murder: Who Shall Judge? is priced at $3.99 at Amazon.  Ellen Kuhfeld has written a number of other books, mostly hard-boiled detective tales and cozy mysteries, all under several different pen names.  She is also a coauthor of Minnesota Vice, a collection of short stories, along with Mary Kuhfeld. 

 

 

“Finns are strange.  Half of them are enchanters, and the other half think they’re enchanters.”  (loc. 1093)

    Sadly, Secret Murder: Who Shall Judge? has a lot of weaknesses.  We’ll skip the nitpicky stuff and just list the major issues.

 

Murder-Mystery Aspect.  This was poorly done and slow-moving.  The key clue is an arbitrary one and not convincing.  The perpetrator could have simply denied everything and no one would be able to prove otherwise.

 

Alt-History Aspect.  Largely undeveloped.  The entire “new world” consists of a trade fair and an abbey.  We don't even get to visit Ragnar’s home turf, the Northlands.  Fans of Alt-History are going to be disappointed with the scant attention paid to world-building.

 

The Historical Fiction Aspect.  The Norsemen and English factions are both done well, but the French and Native Americans are barely mentioned.  The story could have just as easily been set along the east coast of medieval England without any “alt” plotline needed.

 

The Ending.  Weak at best, disturbing at worst.  Ragnar figures out who the actual murderer is, obtains a confession, but doesn’t turn his findings over to the English authorities.  Instead, he allows an innocent rival to be framed for the murder, where the punishment will be death-by-hanging.

 

    What kind of moral to a story is that?!  I suppose you could call it “Viking Justice”, but the crime was committed on English soil, and the people reading this aren’t Medieval Norsemen.  Should we really have our protagonists framing others for capital offenses just because they’re bullies?

 

    4½ Stars.  Despite its flaws, I still enjoyed reading Secret Murder: Who Shall Judge?, but that’s probably because I love all the three genres covered in this book.  Perhaps it would have been better to pick just one of those genres (hint, hint!!  Alt-History!!) and narrow the story’s focus.  I for one would love to read a book, or even a series, chronicling the adventures of English, French, Native American, and Viking heroes and spanning the entirety of pre-Columbian North America.

The Roswell Conspiracy - Boyd Morrison

   2012; 336 pages.  Book 3 (out of 4) in the “Tyler Locke” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Action-Adventure; Thriller.  Overall Rating : 4½*/10.

    Let's call it a business write-off.  Some old lady has contacted Tyler Locke’s company, Gregorian Engineering, and wants to hire him to investigate something that happened more than fifty years ago – the alleged UFO sighting at Roswell, New Mexico.  Yeah, like nobody’s ever looked into that before.  To boot, she lives in New Zealand, which is about as far away from Roswell as one can get.

    The lady claims she was living in Roswell as a young girl when the alien flying saucer crash-landed, had an encounter with its pilot, who gave her a couple artifacts (it?) which she's sure will help in the investigation.

  

    Tyler doesn’t expect to take the job, yet here he is, with his business partner Grant Westfield, jetting to New Zealand for a preliminary meeting with her.  That’s where the business write-off comes in; this is a great excuse to go skiing in New Zealand while they’re in the neighborhood.

    So it comes as a surprise when two professional killers arrive at the old lady’s house just before Tyler and Grant do, and try to kill her and steal the artifacts.

    Somebody is obviously taking her wacky alien-conspiracy story way too seriously.

What’s To Like...

    The action in The Roswell Conspiracy is fast and furious, starts immediately, and never lets up.  The reader gets to tag along with Tyler and his team to some neat places – New Zealand, Australia (including Alice Springs!), Easter Island, Peru, Tijuana, and even Oshkosh, by gosh.

    The plotline is an ambitious attempt to combine four of the most intriguing historical mysteries around:

    What really happened at Roswell in 1947?

    What flattened 80 million trees in a Siberian forest in Tunguska in 1907?

    Who built those massive stone heads on Easter Island (‘Rapa Nui”), and why?

    Who drew those gigantic Nazca Lines in Peru, why, and how?

    There is a “is it terrestrial or extraterrestrial?” issue surrounding all of these, similar to the “is it natural or supernatural?” motif that Preston & Child sometimes use in their Agent Pendergast series, and I always like that.  I think the book’s explanation for how Roswell, Tunguska, Rapa Nui, and Nazca could possibly all be intertwined works pretty well.

    The robotic trucks were new for me, but they make sense for traversing the harsh and remote Australian desert.  Being a chemist, I am familiar with the use of ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate – Fuel Oil) as a deadly explosive; it was what was used in the Oklahoma City bombing years ago.  It was fun to do the BridgeClimb with our heroes on the Sydney Harbour Bridge; that’s the second time in two months it's popped up in books I was reading.  I also liked the literary nods to several other relevant books: R.U.R., Chariots of the Gods, and most of all, A Canticle for Liebowitz; the latter is reviewed here.

    The ending is sufficiently exciting, and “over-the-top” (literally!).  The Roswell Conspiracy is a standalone story, and all the plot threads get tied up nicely.  It is part of a series, which I presume is complete, since the most recent installment was published way back in 2013.  I haven’t read any other the other books in the series, but I didn’t feel like that was a handicap.  There’s only a little bit of cussing in the book, and I thought the editor did a good job.

Kewlest New Word ...

Pisco (n.) : a white brandy made in Peru from muscat grapes.

Excerpts...

    “You sure you can’t think of something better than this?”

    Tyler forced a smile.  “Would you rather wait in here until the truck comes to a full and complete stop?”

    “Not really.  But it feels like we’re going about sixty.  Gonna be a bumpy landing if we jump.”

    “Then we’ll have to stop the truck.”

    Grant raised a finger.  “One teensy problem with that plan-“

    “It’s more of a goal than a plan.”

    “The guys operating this thing have guns and we have persuasive verbal skills.”  (loc. 1912)

    “Wait a minute.  Are you sweet on him?”

    Morgan felt herself blush.  “Don’t be ridiculous.  Army grunts aren’t my type.”

    “He didn’t seem dimwitted to me, especially for a former pro wrestler.”

    The toilet flushed and Grant came out of the bathroom.  Morgan looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

    “Oh, he’s not stupid,” she said.  “Just annoying.”

    Grant nodded happily and took his seat.  (loc. 3146)

Kindle Details…

    The Roswell Conspiracy is presently priced at $4.99 at Amazon.  The other three books in the series go for either $7.99 (Books One and Two), or $4.99 (Book Four).  Boyd Morrison has several other e-books at $7.99, plus a whole bunch of novels co-written with Clive Cussler from the Oregon Files series, which range in price from $9.99 to $14.99.

“If you have a better idea, tell me three minutes ago.”  (loc. 5702 )

    Overall I was disappointed in The Roswell Conspiracy.  The character development is flat, the good guys and bad guys are stereotypical, and our two protagonists are just too good in every facet of being secret agents to be believable.  The storyline is straightforward and the puzzles are easily solved.  Even I could half-figure out the cryptic message given to Fay, and what that disclosed about its source.

    The info dumps felt awkward, and only have value if you know nothing about Roswell, Tunguska, Rapa Nui, and Nazca.  Worst of all were the WTF’s:

    Jumping out of a speeding truck at 60 mph while also carrying two unconscious persons apparently does not result in a serious injury to any of them.  How miraculous!  When our two heroes get stranded on a road and need to get to the airport immediately or else Evil will triumph, what should appear out of nowhere but a couple of kids on two motor scooters!  Holy godsend, Batman!  Finally, the main baddie, after getting away to fight another day, discovers he’s forgotten to equip himself with a basic piece of life-saving equipment, much to his demise.  Sloppy, dude, but very convenient for the forces of Good.

    However…

    I’ve read one Clive Cussler book in my life, was very disappointed in it for the same reasons mentioned above, and have never been tempted to read another one.  But there are millions of readers who thoroughly love his Dirk Pitt novels, and eat up his too-amazing-to-believe exploits.  So I’m in the minority on this author.

    In an odd bit of serendipity, Boyd Morrison has teamed up with Clive Cussler to co-write a bunch of books in the “Oregon Files” series.  Their writing styles match up closely, and I have the feeling that this is a happy partnership.  If you look at the book covers for these over on Amazon, you can see that Clive deservedly gets top billing (font size matters!), but I suspect Boyd does the bulk of the actual writing.

    4½ Stars.  Simply put, your opinion of The Roswell Conspiracy is going to match your opinion of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt and Oregon Files books.  Adjust my 4½ Stars rating accordingly.

The Long Mars - Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett

   2014; 445 pages.  Book #3 (out of 5) in The Long Earth series.  New Author? : No, and No.  Genre : Hard Science Fiction; Multiverses.  Overall Rating : 4½*/10.

    You and I would call them “Multiverses”, but in the near future (2040 AD or so), when humans first learn how to transverse them (which they call “stepping”), the preferred term is “the Long Earth”.  Each parallel world is different, often only marginally so, but you are always in the same geographic spot.  If you "step" from Oshkosh, by gosh, you still end up in the same geographical spot on the neighboring "Earth".

    Oshkosh may or may not be there, of course, depending on how the timeline played out in that particular dimension.  So here’s a handy tip:  Don’t ever go stepping from the basement of a house.  In the next Earth, you may find yourself ten feet underground, buried alive.

    Just how many multiverses are there?  No one knows, but earlier “stepping voyages” have made it across millions of Earths.  Perhaps the answer is “infinite”.  Or maybe we should say “double infinity”, since you “step the other direction” and return through the worlds you came from.

    Now there is a new revelation.  If you journey to Mars (in a few select multiverses) and “step” away from there, you come across what appears to be a whole new set of multiverses, based on the timelines of Mars, not Earth.  And it’s pretty obvious what we should call that phenomenon.

    The Long Mars.

What’s To Like...

    There are three main storylines in The Long Mars, each one getting about equal time.  1.) Captain Maggie Kauffman heads a two-ship expedition across the Long Earth determined to set a new record for the number of multiverses in one direction.  There are whispers that some of her passengers have ulterior motives for making the journey, but no one has any details.  2.) Sally Linsay and two others start the inaugural voyage across the Long Mars, and it's anybody's guess what to expect on that trip.  3.) Joshua befriends a precocious-but-troubled youth named Paul Spencer Wagner to try to figure out why he’s so extraordinarily bright.

    I thought the writing was well done, which you’d expect from Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.  The story takes place mainly in the US, which is impressive given that both authors are British.  The story is written in English, not American, so your flashlight is called a torch, your grey and ageing plough might be made of aluminium, and you have tyres on your car.

      I liked the nods given to other writrs of science fiction and fantasy, including Tolkien, Niven, Clarke, Asimov, and Herbert.  There was an obscure (for me) nod given to one Chesley Bonestell, which I had to look up in Wikipedia to understand.  The Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, also gets a nod, and I smiled when some Dune-esque sandworms appeared.

     The emphasis here is on “Hard Science Fiction”, and I think the aim of the authors was to give some idea of what it might be like if we ever did discover how to explore multiverses.  The inclusion of the “beanstalk” apparatus was a nice touch in this regard.  There is a minor story thread concerning rejuvenation, which I’m hoping will be followed up on later in this series.  And the brief mention of canisters of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gave me a chuckle; I’ve worked with them both in my career.; they make thiosulfates.

    There are lots of space beasties to meet and avoid being eaten by.  The trolls, elves, kobolds, and “First Person Singular” are all from the previous two books; now we get to deal with talking cats, beagles, sentient crustaceans, and “the Next”.  And thanks to multiverses, we learn that the Plural of Mars is “Marses”.

Kewlest New Word. . .

Extirpation (n.) : the act of totally destroying or killing off of something.

Excerpts...

    “I do see that going through a soft place would be like wearing seven-league boots, Wotan – may I call you Wotan?”

    “No, you may not.”

    “But it would help if I understood how you can make these seven-league-boot jumps.”

    “Actually a better metaphor for a soft place is a wormhole.  A fixed passageway between two points.  As in the movie Contact.  You remember that?”

    “Is that the porno where-“

    “No.  Stargate, then.  What about that?  Oh, for some modern cultural references.”  (pg. 211)

    They weren’t like ordinary kids in the way that the nearest of them immediately rounded on Joshua when he stepped in with Paul, all armed with bronze knives, and a couple further out with raised crossbows.

    “It’s OK,” Paul said, hands held high.  He squirted out some of the high-speed babble.

    Joshua was still subject to suspicious stares, but the knives were lowered. (…)

    “What did you say to them?”

    “That you’re a dim-bulb.  No offence, Joshua, but that was obvious to them already.  Just from the way you looked around, with your jaw slack.  Like you showed up dragging your knuckles, you know?”

    “A dim-bulb?”  (pg. 261)

“You look as blank as a chimp faced with a banana fitted with a zip.”  (pg. 212 )

    Sadly, the disappointments I encountered in the previous book in this series, The Long War, reviewed here, continue in The Long Mars.  There is no advancement of the overall plot of this series, whatever that might be.   Even worse, the story is almost devoid of any action, a sci-fi requisite.  Here’s a list of every bit of excitement (without spoilers) over the course of the book:

a.) one gunshot is fired, but it's of no consequence,

b.) the survivors of a wrecked spaceship are found, with minimal intrigue ensuing.

c.) a being dies, onscreen no less, but it has no consequence on subsequent events,

d.) there’s a jailbreak, but it happens off-screen and we aren’t given the details.

    That’s it.  The rest of the book is predominantly character interaction and world(s)-building.

    The ending is mediocre at best.  The three storylines are hastily tied together, but nothing gets resolved.  Things close with Maggie listening to a scholarly debate about the plusses and minuses of extirpation.  Yawn.  Overall, it felt like the only purpose for The Long Mars is to set up events in the sequel.  At least I hope it does that.

    One last disappointment: The Chinese depicted in the book are markedly stereotyped. They're uncooperative with Maggie and her crew, only give vital food shipments for a starving Earth if attached political strings are complied with, and should first and foremost be remembered for their  repression of Tibet.  It would've been nice if some of them were a bit "gray" in character.

    4½ Stars.  I’m beginning to think this is one literary collaboration that just didn’t work out well.  The Pratchett wit is completely missing here, along with any semblance of a story.  Maybe each author was afraid to mess up whatever plotline the other was planning.  Two books remain in this 5-book series, and there's no doubt that I’ll read them.  But I no longer expect much out of this series.

Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind

   1994; 821 pages.  Book 1 (out of 17) in the Sword of Truth series.   New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Epic Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 4½*/10.

    Richard Cypher is happy with his life.  He’s a woods guide by trade, which means he spends most of his time traipsing around in the forests of Westland, escorting people and getting paid to do so.  His main job is to keep unwary folks from accidentally stumbling into the sealed border with Midland, the dangerous neighboring country, full of magic.  There is no magic allowed in Westland.

    But Richard is equally happy when he’s walking alone in the woods.  There are wild animals out there of course, and Richard has learned the art of moving silently and stealthily.  Meeting other people in the forest is a rare event, other than an occasional encounter with the Westland border guards, such as his friend Chase Brandstone.

    One day Richard spots a lone woman walking through the woods.   This is somewhat unusual since, unless you’re a guide or a guard, it’s just safer to have one or more companions when out there.  There's less chance of getting lost, running into the border, or meeting up with some wild animal.

    Or being an unescorted woman who is being stalked by four huge, mean-looking men, which is what Richard notices next.  He knows he needs to do something, but there’s no sense being a suicidal hero.  One civilian forest guide versus four armed thugs is not a good venture.  Discretion is the better part of valor, and all that.

    But Richard knows these woods like the back f his hand, and if he hurries through the brush, there’s a good chance he can get to her before the ruffians do.  It'll be close, but it’s worth a try.

    Of course, what he and the woman can do after that is another matter.  The stalkers are closing in on her from both sides of the pathway.  But let’s not spoil things by thinking about that right now.

What’s To Like...

    Wizard’s First Rule is the first book in Terry Goodkind’s incredibly popular and long-running epic fantasy series “The Sword of Truth”.  We join our protagonist, Richard Cypher, as he tries to come to grips with his destiny as a reluctant “chosen one”, who, with his ally, protector, friend, and possible love interest, Kahlan Amnell, are called to try and save the world.  In addition to that hopeless, unasked-for burden, Richard tries to find answers for more personal questions, namely:

    Who murdered his father?

    Why is some evil being named Darken Rahl trying to kill him, and how can he be stopped?

    Where is the missing wizard?

    Where is the last box of Orden hidden?

    How can those booby-trapped boxes be opened in the proper order?

  

    Fans of other Epic Fantasy series will note many cross-references here.  From LOTR, there’s a Gollum-wannabee (“Samuel”), a Gandalf-lookalike (after he magically grows a beard), and a forest very similar to Mirkwood, here called Agaden Reach.  The evil appellation “Sith” is borrowed from Star Wars.  And from WoT, the role of warder is taken (but here called a “mate), as well as the slave collar that Rand al’Thor was forced to wear.  You can either view these as “tips of the hat” by Terry Goodkind, or plagiarism.

    There are critters aplenty for Richard and company to deal with, most of them trying to eat or kill them.  They range from vines that bite, to flying dragons, and lots of beasties in between.  There are about 3 dozen people to keep track of, which felt “about right” for an 800+-page epic fantasy tale,

    I liked the magic system: very dualistic (here labeled “additive” and “subtractive”), and conjuring up any spell comes at some cost to its caster.  The spells themselves seemed innovative;, such as the “drawing spell” and the “keeper spell”.  For me, the most fascinating character was the Ultimate Evil himself, Darken Rahl.  Rotten to the core, yet very intelligent, conniving and powerful, yet persuasive with words.  And I always like when local cusswords are dreamed up by the author.  Here, the most commonly used expressions were “Bags!” and “True as toasted toads”.

    The book’s title is explained at 68%, and invoked several times thereafter.  I gather from the Wikipedia article that there will be a Wizard’s "second rule", third, fourth, etc. in subsequent books.  Wizard's First Rule is a standalone novel, as well as the first book in a series.

Kewlest New Word...

Baldric (n.) : a belt for a sword, worn over one shoulder and down to the opposite hip.
Others:  Boldas (n., pl., and possibly made-up).

Excerpts...

    “Rachel,” he said, squatting down close to her, “listen carefully, this is very important, this is no game.  We must get out of the castle, or we will both get our heads chopped off, just like Sara told you.  But we must be smart about it, or we will get caught.  If we run away too quickly, without doing the right things first, we will be found out.  And if we are too slow, well, we just better not be too slow.”

    She started to get tears in her eyes.  “Giller, I’m afraid to get my head chopped off, people say it hurts terrible bad.”  (loc. 7919)

    Kahlan turned to the two of them.  “Zeddicus Zorander, cloud reader, trusted advisor to the Mother Confessor.”  Zedd bowed dramatically.  “And Richard Cypher, the Seeker, protector to the Mother Confessor.”  Richard imitated Zedd’s bow.

    The Queen looked at him, lifting an eyebrow with a sour look.  “Pretty pathetic protection for a Mother Confessor.”

    Richard made no change in his expression.  Kahlan remained unruffled.  “It is the sword that cuts; the man is unimportant.  His brain may be small, but his arms are not.  He tends to use the sword too often, though.”  (loc. 10360)

Kindle Details...

    Right now, Wizard’s First Rule sells for $8.79 at Amazon.  The other books in the series range from $4.10 to $9.99.  Terry Goodkind has also penned a pair of spin-off series set in the Sword of Truth world (The Nicci Chronicles and Children of D’Hara).  Those books are in the $3.63-$9.99 price range.  Finally, the author also offers a half dozen other e-books, completely unrelated to this epic fantasy universe.

“I have seen spirits before. (…)  They do not carry swords.”  (loc. 5382)

    Sadly, I had a host of issues with Wizard’s First Rule.  As briefly as possible:

    The writing is mediocre.  The telling/showing proportion is terrible (although it gets better once our heroes met the Mud People), the descriptions (clothes, landscape, etc.) were often tediously detailed, and the story's pacing was slow.  All the characters were either black or white; I like my characters gray.  To be fair though, some black-hats were on Richard’s side, and some white-hats served Darken Rahl.

    Most of the story “twists” were telegraphed and predictable.  Think I’m kidding?  Here’s a challenge: Richard is told along the way that one of his friends is a traitor.  See if you can figure out who it is before Richard does.  I found it to be blatantly obvious.

    The storytelling itself was so-so, with some gaping plot holes.  At one point, Zedd and Chase get separated from Richard and Kahlan for an extended time and distance.  But when they’re needed again, they both just pop up out of nowhere.  At the right time, in the right place.  In enemy territory.  Without explanation.  And wonder of wonders, Chase just happens to be carrying a small child, who plays a pivotal role in the story.  OTOH there's Samuel, who serves no purpose at all except to make you think of Gollum.  I presume he'll make a dramatic reentry at some later pint in the series, just like Gollum did in LOTR.

    Lastly there’s the question of who the target audience is.  The flying dragon ride will appeal to even juvenile readers, but the prolonged “soft BDSM” torture scene seems like it should be restricted to adults.  The dearth of cusswords (at least until near the very end) targets YA readers, yet then the “erect sex”, child molestations and graphic castration would then be utterly inappropriate.

    4½ Stars.  I'm mulling over whether to continue reading this series.  One certainly hopes the writing and storytelling improve with each book.