2nd

I love Don Maitz’s covers for this series and the titles, taken from Keats’s poem [Ode to a Nightingale] are quite seductive but I’m finding on this re-read, about three decades on from when I first read it, that this book is grittier than I remembered.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that ofttimes hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

The chapter titles in this book are taken from [The Rubayat of Omar Khayyam]

The hero and heroine were saved at the last minute at the end of [Magic Casement] but have been cast to opposite corners of Pandemia from each other and from the rocky fortress of Krasnegar. Rap just wants to get back to Inos and save her while Inos just wants to get back to her kingdom and save her people. But no matter what they do everything seems to conspire against them.

A bit disjointed compared to the exceptional first book, but revved up toward the end. Still on board for book three!

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!) ( )

Ug. The first in the series was good. Made me want to read the next. I'm going to need more than this second book to go any further in the series. The politics of fantasy world are just as annoying, confusing, and repelling as real life politics. That, in addition to the Inos/Rap I-don't-know-why-I-keep-thinking-about-the-other-one, made me want to quit. ( )

Synopsis:
Inos might be queen of Krasnegar, but she’s been magicked to the other side of the world, and the same magic has sent stable boy Rap, the goblin Little Chicken, and boy thief Thinal to the land of Faery, where Rap discovers that Inos is a pawn in a deadly game between powers greater than any army or king.

Review:
Faery Lands Forlorn is the second book in Dave Duncan’s A Man of His Word series, and it’s clear that none of these books is meant to stand alone. It picks right up where Magic Casement left off, and ends with another cliffhanger.

Read the rest here:
http://superfastreader.com/faery-lands-forlon-by-dave-duncan.htm ( )