Blind Prophecy

By now it should come as no surprise that I’m a sucker for Mercedes Lackey books (except, oddly, the Serrated Edge books – I think I’m judging those books by their covers). Usually I can resist the lure of the hardback new releases, but not always.

The Phoenix Unchained: Book One of The Enduring Flame by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory is a follow-up to the Obsidian Trilogy (The Outstretched Shadow, To Light a Candle, When Darkness Falls) where the duo built a new world of magic and unicorns and dragons and elves. Yes, it’s high fantasy, and it’s high fantasy done well. Each of the sentient species have distinct cultural personalities and the demons are especially effective as terrifying forces of evil. This sequel trilogy continues to expand both the mythology and the size of that world.

Bottom line: save your money for the paperback version, this first book isn’t much more than an introduction of characters and themes. The real story will start in book 2.

Thar be spoilers below the cut…

TPU starts up 1,008 years after the events in the Obsidian Trilogy, when the creatures of the endarkened were defeated and destroyed for good. Once again, the elves and many (but not all) other creatures of the light have withdrawn from man, moving far to the east and letting humans take over the cities and forests that once claimed. Although humans are no longer ignorant and sheltered behind the walls of their city, and wild mages still roam the land, high magic has completely disappeared. Tiercel and Harrier, BFFs forever and secret lovers, have grown up in the city and seem relatively content to enter adulthood and their destined roles as harbormaster and magistrate, until a gift to Harrier (a book on ancient creatures, including some of the long-destroyed endarkened creatures) and a shipping accident (the captain claims to have been attacked by a kracken) lead scholarly Tiercel to attempt a magic spell, the kind once called high magic that he found in the most ancient books of the city library. Meanwhile, deep in the desert, a wildmage named Bisochim has become convinced that after the Great Flowering, when the endarkened were defeated once and for all, the world was thrown out of balance… that there is now too much “light” in the world and that it threatens to destroy everything unless he can set the balance right without tipping things the other way.

I thought it would be difficult for me to care about another series in this world – the tales of Kellen, Jermayan, Idalia and company were rather, well, complete. I wasn’t sure Lackey and Mallory would have much to offer. I was afraid any sequel would be like the Owlknight books in the Valdemar series–decent stories, but lacking in those huge end-of-the-world stakes. By jumping the story ahead 1000 years, they are able to reset the stage for a new epic showdown of good and evil.

This first book, The Phoenix Unchained, feels much like a prologue. 400 pages to set the stage and introduce our players. In fact, there’s not much plot to get worked up about. Two young boys leave home, discover new things about themselves, find out they have important roles to play in the world. Yeah, there’s the tragic story of their centaur guide who gets tragically killed before I began to care about her (hint – if you want me to get upset about a character’s tragic demise, give me a reason to like her… any reason, like a backstory, a personality, or a quirky personality characteristic); their encounters with mysterious magical things like the giant bear, mysterious traveller, and goblins; and the inner journey of the boys, but despite Tiercel’s visions and his fear that if he doesn’t train the magic he will die, there’s no urgency to this book. At least in the first book of the Obsidian Trilogy you get things like Kellen’s wild escape from the city and a somewhat climactic battle at the end of the first book. In TPU, you get a deus ex machina ending to the journey (in the form of a dragon and a magic portal), another deus ex machina solution to the problem of learning the high magic without instructors (in the form of a dragon), and a deus ex machina solution to the problem of what Harrier’s role is going to be (in the form of a unicorn and the words “knight-mage” on the last page of the book).

But I complain because I care. I can see the potential for another great fantasy blooming up in this series, and I’m patient enough to read a substandard book to prepare me for what I believe is yet to come (months and months from now). That said, it’s my reccomendation that you don’t spend your money on the hardcover. Wait until the second book in the series is out (even possibly the third) and read this stage-setting book in paperback.

Filed under: books by Jere Keys