Sunday 10 October 2010

FANTASY REVIEW: Terra Incognita 2: The Map of All Things - Kevin J Anderson

Release Date: 10/06/10

BOOK BLURB:

After terrible atrocities by both sides, the religious war between Tierra and Uraba has spread and intensified - the series of skirmishes erupting into a full-blown crusade. Now that the Uraban leader Soldan-Shah Omra has captured the ruined city of Ishalem, his construction teams discover a priceless ancient map in an underground vault - a map that can guide brave explorers to the mysterious Key to Creation. Omra dispatches his adoptive son Saan to sail east across the uncharted Middlesea on a quest to find it. In Tierra, Captain Criston Vora has built a grand new vessel, and sets out to explore the great unknown and find the fabled land of Terravitae. But Criston cannot forget his previous voyage that ended in shipwreck and disaster ...and the loss of his beloved wife Adrea - who is now the wife of the soldan-shah in far-off Uraba, fighting to survive against palace intrigues and constant threats against her life.


REVIEW:

Known perhaps more for his Dune work, Kevin’s fantasy offering may not be something that you’re too aware of. Here in the second tale in his Terra Incognita series the tale picks up where the original left off leaving the reader without chance to gather breath.

The prose is sharp, the descriptiveness ideal and characters that really leap off the page to make them a cast that you just can’t wait to adventure with. Whilst there’s a great round up of previous events at the beginning you really have to read the original to get the most out of the careful world building as its on a similar scale to Erikson’s Malazan world. Hopefully some of the awards will recognise this as it really does deserve some recognition.

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