Customer Reviews

In the Earth Abides the Flame (Fire of Heaven)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After reading book one, I was on the fence. I decided book one was good enough to buy book two, and I did. I'm glad I did so. Book Two, In the Earth Abides the Flame, is superior to the first book in the trilogy. The characters are well-drawn and evolve, and the world created by Kirkpatrick becomes more fully realized. The book convinced me to go with book three. If you like fantasy, I think you'll like this series. It is pretty typical quest fantasy, but the world is well-conceived and the majority of the characters are well-drawn.

It is slow-moving at times, and more character- than story-driven, but the action improved and I went ahead and bought book three, which I have enjoyed thus far after about fifty pages.
Recommended.

First of all, any book about a fantasy world that contains flamingos can't be all bad. When was the last time you ever read about flamingos in one of these "Young Man Full of Doubts and Secret Past Grows Up To Save The World" stories? OK, the flamingos don't have much to add to the story, but as this book is part travelogue, part, "Gee, I wish I could have written 'Lord of the Rings'" it does make it interesting. After all, LOTR had elephants, and this series has flamingos. That's basically all you need to know.

Don't get me wrong, I liked this story. It was better then the first one, at least once the story got moving and the author ditched the tired, predictable plot about the "Once good Government gone corrupt" and moved on with the story. The biggest problem with this series is that there are just too many characters. They just keep cropping up everywhere. You get whole bunches of them, moving together, and you have no idea who is where or who is doing what. The author does a smart thing about half way through and separates this mass of people into two manageable parts and then basically ignores the duller of the two halves for the rest of the story. It makes the book much more interesting.

I would like to have seen more about the evil powers in this one. The head bad guy, Sauron, errr, I mean the guy who's almost exactly like Sauron, is rather interesting and actually has a great story to tell. Unfortunately, we don't get to hear it. Just a lot of whining from people who have spent way too much time outdoors marching halfway around the world and yet constantly have enough food in their backpacks which must way at least 500lbs as you know they don't have lightweight sleeping bags and freeze dried food in these types of worlds.

All in all, I recommend this and I appreciate greatly whoever made the decision to just release these books one a month here in the U.S. as it was obviously published internationally prior to making a debut here in the States.

'In the Earth Abides the Flame' is the second book in the 'Fire of Heaven' trilogy by Russell Kirkpatrick.

*Spoiler alert*

This second book picks up where book I left off, with Leith and his compatriots at Instruere. Not surprisingly, things start to go poorly, very quickly. The all important meeting with the authorities doesn't go as planned; their warnings to the council regarding the impending Bhrudwo invasion of the Faltha Kingdoms appears to falls on deaf ears. As a result, our group of heros eventually get separated into two groups, one remaining in Instruere while Leith and his party head south on a quest for a ancient relic.

*End Spoiler*

On the cover of this trilogy writer Trudi Canavan states 'Not since Tolkien have I been so awed'...to me, an accurate statement. I've found this trilogy (so far) has provided a set of characters with a quest that is comparable to that of Frodo and friends. The writing is first class; the pacing is simply magnificent. I've found some books tend to rush head-long into completing side stories or spend time developing what appears to be near perfect characters. Not this story...the members of the questing party are varied in scope and abilities and each has is own unique personality quirks.

In addition, there are 6 great maps in the front of the book. One is a global map of the overall area, one is of the land surrounding Instruere (where a lot of the first half of the story takes place), one is of Instruere itself, then there are two maps of the Southwestern Kingdoms, one of which features the political divisions and the other the envirnomental partitions of the land. And finally there is a topigraphical map (with elevation scales drawn in) of Kantara and surrounding area. This last map is an extremely important aid in trying to appreciate the circumstances and the geographic difficulties that befall Leith's company in this area of Faltha.

There is also a Glossary in the back of the book explaining many of the various persons, places and things that you'll encounter in trip through the Faltha Kingdom.

Conclusion:
A great story, written with impecable pace and timing. Some reviews found the pace slow, but I'm not one of them. While our heros have some unique individual attributes, they also have some surprising flaws and limitions, providing this epic adventure with a definitive 'human' touch.
Simply one of the best large scale adventures I've read in ages.
Easily 5 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

Fast service. Great shipping. 2nd Book movess at a faster pace. Delight to read.

Kirkpatrick tells a great story and creates a vibrant world. For those that love a good description, and not just the action, the realm of Faltha comes to life. Only a few fantasy worlds can beat this, and I'm thinking Tolkien, GRR Martin, Donaldson and Jordan. Book two continues the tale.

Kirkpatrick grabbed me in the first book right away with his ability with description. Also, I've always been a sucker for the classic hero journey which is what these books are about. I lost patience with him however a quarter of the way through 'In the Earth...' Mild spoiler ahead...

Someone is captured in book one and escapes... three times (you could make a case for four). The cycle of capturing, escaping and rescue occurs so often (it continues in book two) that I had to put the books down because it became so distracting.

While Kirkpatrick can turn a phrase and has imagined a rich world, he needs to try other vehicles to move his plot forward. Perhaps I'll try him out again in the future but I ultimately was disappointed with the Fire from Heaven series.

This book is the second part of the "Fire of Heaven" triology.
It is an epic story in a very well-created and detailed world, where a company of unlikely heros (mostly farmers, traders and teenagers) sets out to prevent a conspiracy to hide the invasion of an historic enemy country (or kingdom). You have to manage to get through the first half of the first book which is really tedious, but after that the adventure is really exciting.
The history mixes action, faith, maturing, love and mistery. All great components of a good plot.
I recommend it!

The continuing saga of "The Right Hand of God" Where are the heros now? Go on an epic adventure with characters so vivid and real you wish you were riding along side them. Excellent story line!!!

In Faltha, the Company led by teens Hal and Leith completed their quest, rescuing their parents Mahnum and Indrett from the Bhrudwons who snatched them to keep their invasion plan secret (see ACROSS THE FACE OF THE WORLD). However, the group still grieve their losses and the survivors recover from their wounds; but wary they realize a new mission has surfaced as the Bhrudwons were right to want to silent Mahnum, who knows their insidious scheme. The Company needs to inform the ruling Council of Faltha that their neighbor led by the Destroyer plans to invade so the country can prepare.

The heroes travel to the capital Instruere where they soon find themselves mostly ridiculed by the Council members; as some are corrupt and already bought by the Bhrudons while others disbelieve such an assault is imminent and all fear the at hand religious threat from within. Frustrated Hal and Leith realize the only hope to unite the country resides with finding the legendary Jugom Ark that most people believe never existed. The second quest has begun.

Like its predecessor this quest tale differs from fantasy sagas as most of the plot occurs on the mundane plane rather than the otherworldly realm; this enables the audience to feel they are part of the Company with a deep taste of geography and history. However, after the harrowing escapades of their previous rescue adventure, the relationship between the siblings feels off as it seems static rather than having changed, which makes them feel less developed than in the previous book. Still this is an entertaining save the world from evil entry although it behooves new fans to read the previous entry first.

Harriet Klausner

I am enjoying this series, but it follows the tired formula of average young boy on a quest who becomes more important than he ever imagined. I liked the first two books and am reading the third now. I'm not enjoying it as much as I had, because the characters are not evolving. My problem with the main character is that he is quite immature. Leith's character is inconsistent; at one time you believe that he has matured, and then he is back to acting like a spoiled brat. In the first book, I thought Leith was about 12 or 13, and was shocked to see that he was 17! In the third book, I've found that I'm quite confused as to who the characters are supposed to be; they seem quite static and remind me of the David Drake series with Ilna Oss Kensit weaving her magical web (I can't remember the names of those books or the plot, I just remember that he reminds you every chance he gets that she is the weaver who loves Gareth but can never express it because he loves that other girl for whatever reason). The characters are just boring in the third book. The books are interesting, but the action is slow, somewhat predictable, and the characters are contradictory.