By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

In death they found hope.

Abarrach, world of stone, with a molten core as its sun. Giant columns called colossus carry warmth and light up into the rest of the world, but something has gone wrong. Entire kingdoms are freezing. As the colossus fail, Edmund leads his people in a search for hope.

The story pulls Haplo in much more quickly this time, slowing down just long enough to entangle Alfred as well. At first the story focuses on their inherent conflict, but that becomes overshadowed by their common role as outsider in this grim world.

The main conflict becomes one of perspective, as both Alfred and Haplo struggle with how the people of Abarrach choose to survive, and their glib regard for life. Haplo in particular is taken aback by his own reaction, and for the first time in the series he becomes a character conflicted. Much of the story is spent waiting, while rival characters plot their moves in a series of alternating scenes that leave little mystery or suspense. Near the end the story explores some interesting, if familiar questions, before bringing this chapter to a tragic end, planting seeds for what will become part of the overarching conflict of the series.

+Strong Characters
+Strong Ideas
+Strong Setting
*Grim
-Slow
-Predictable Plot

3/5

Next Time…
Serpent Mage-DGC 04
2016/08/04