Fire in the North (Annals of Lyndormyn 2) [Hardcover]

David Bilsborough (Author)

Book Description

Series: Annals of Lyndormyn 2 | Publication Date: March 7, 2008

This second volume picks up the ongoing story in a tunnel leading out of enchanted mountain realm of Eotunlandt. Fighting their way through subterranean dangers, Nibulus and his diminished retinue of 'questers' finally reach the open again, only to discover that their rivals the Thieves have mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile, Gapp and a sinisterly altered Methuselech continue towards Wrythe, the last settlement. They find the population strangely degenerated, under the influence of a local leader, in fact the evil being Scathur who has been hiding there for five hundred years, awaiting his moment of vengeance.Scathur recognises that inside Methuselech is the outcast soul of a rival necromancer, Mauglad, so imprisons them both till they manage to flee for their lives. The rest of the original questers also turn up for a scary sojourn in Wrythe, before heading on to Melhus island with Scathur's deathly henchmen in pursuit. During strange dreams, the wanderer Bolldhe learns he must use a strange sword he has found to kill the evil demigod Drauglir, once and for all. They all venture into Melhus (the Underworld), contesting with the hosts of the dead sent against them. There ensues a colossal battle, with thrills and spills and monumental destruction, before the questers achieve an unexpected victory and most of them will return to Nordwas sadder but wiser.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The generic plot of this slow-starting sequel to 2007's The Wanderer's Tale does little to engage readers. After the confusion of a climactic battle, Bolldhe, the warrior destined to battle the resurrected evil lord Drauglir, grimly resumes his journey north to battle Drauglir at Vaagenfjord Maw. Despite being the ostensible hero, Bolldhe is quickly eclipsed by his fellow fighter Nibulus, whose evolution into a true leader gives him top billing among their companions. The pace accelerates promisingly when the warlord of Wrythe's army and Nibulus's allies converge upon the darkly menacing Maw, but the ponderous and unwieldy prose frequently detracts from the action. British colloquialisms like knackered and modern objects such as gas masks and strangely shaped polyhedral dice (used for role-playing games, no less!) are jarring in the epic fantasy setting, and egalitarian fans may seethe over women being repeatedly called breeders. This disappointing second installment contains the same shortcomings as the first. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for "The Wanderer's Tale":
"The saga's world is conceived on the grand scale, loaded with detail, originality, and wit. A very promising debut." --"Booklist"
"Bilsborough has imbued the quest novel with a gritty realism, an unlikely set of heroes, a range of magics and cultures, and shown how almost anything that can go wrong will, and under the worst of circumstances." --L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
"Plunges readers into a rich, vividly realized world, exploring it alongside fascinating characters. Secrets abound, conflicts rage, gore is spilled--and I can't wait for the sequel!" --Ed Greenwood

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 500 pages
• Publisher: Tor (March 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230014518
• ISBN-13: 978-0230014510
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,889,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars HOW was this book published??, August 22, 2008

By 

JCarpenter (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fire in the North (Annals of Lindormyn) (Hardcover)

I have never before been so disappointed with a book before. Unfortunately, there was that small part of me that wanted to find out the ending but man, oh man, it wasn't easy getting through this book. The Wanderer's Tale was an okay book, barely enough to keep me interested. It was pretty much a group of "adventurers" who have to travel North to a dark place to kill a dark lord blah blah blah. It was basically them encountering a different creature or creatures to fight every chapter. Same old story, but I'm always a sucker for them. I WANTED this book to be good. It wasn't. The action is confusing and clunky, the pacing never seems to find it's own rhythm, and NONE of the characters are likable. The "hero" Bolldhe does nothing but complain all the time about EVERYTHING. In fact, these adventurers never get along and are always whining. Very very frustrating book to read. When Bolldhe has to walk through his "interior" castle full of his memories and his history, is the most confusing snoozefest here. (By the way Mr. Bilsborough, please leave that sort of stuff for Stephen King.)
The book is overall a very unpleasant read. There is no excitement and it is impossible to care about ANY of the characters. I do not recommend this book because I'd rather save people what I went through trying to get to the ending (Which happens to be probably THE most unsatisfying and depressing ending I've ever read.) Please don't waste your money.
Also, to Mr. Bilsborough: PLEASE put the thesaurus down. It is not impressive to overload your books with "big words." For example: "With petals of silvered cream immaculacy and fragrance of intoxicating honeyed sweetness, it was a lily of such ephemeral delicacy and evanescent purity that the world, even this hidden glade of sylvan sanctity, seemed too abominably crass a place to merit it." Unnecessary and confusing.
Final note: I do take heart that if it wasn't for books like this one, I wouldn't be able to appreciate the good ones.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Epic Failure: Even Worse Than "Wanderer's Tale", June 16, 2010

By 

Kevin M. Derby (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Fire in the North (Annals of Lindormyn) (Hardcover)

I read the first volume by David Bilsborough and gave it two stars. I thought, while the author had serious flaws, he also showed some promise and would grow into his role as a writer. I thought he was biting off more than he could chew and that "The Wanderer's Tale" was a less than stellar debut due to that. Not even Tolstoy tried epics his first time out. I thought the book was bad due to the author's ambition being greater than his abilities but that there was enough promise here to continue to read Bilsborough.

My hopes were wrong and I cheerfully admit it.

Bilsborough is truly a dreadful writer. He actually regressed in "A Fire in the North," his second book. His characterization and character development, weak in the first book, were even worse in the second. His lead is perhaps the weakest leading hero I have ever come across in any work of fiction. Bilsborough seems to think that being a fantasy writer means he needs to bombard his readers with useless and obscure modifiers. The lessons of writers as diverse as Chesterton, Hemingway and Michael Moorcock were lost on him. The plot is even staler than before. I was surprised by Bilsborough's complete disregard for female characters in the first book and that is even more pronounced in this work. He even calls them "breeders" again and again.

I have no problem with fantasy works as allegories--indeed Tolkien, Pullman and Lewis have done exactly that. It is clear that Bilsborough has, to steal a subtitle from Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner's play "Angels in America," created a "gay fantasia on fantasy themes." I have no idea what Bilsborough's sexuality is and frankly do not care. The work, with its hostility to women, use of the term "breeder" in a derogatory fashion, emphasis on male beauty and relationships between men, indeed even the patronizing role the heroes have over the young boy serving as their squire, speaks for itself. If Tolkien ended his series with "Return of the King" then surely Bilsborough has given us "Return of the Queens." Had the author shown an ounce of talent, I have no doubt this work would be recognized as an important breakthrough and trumpeted by the publisher for breaking new ground in fantasy literature.

But Bilsborough does not show an ounce of talent here and the limited promise he displayed in "The Wanderer's Tale" has vanished. Despite the hints of ability he showed in the first work, "A Fire in the North" shows the truth of what so many critics and reviewers have said--David Bilsborough is one of the worst writers dabbling in fantasy and, I suspect, one of the worst writers of the English language that we have seen in years.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars entertaining military fantasy, June 28, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Fire in the North (Annals of Lindormyn) (Hardcover)

In the tunnels under the mountains of Eotunlandt, Nibulus leads the Questor survivors of the battles as they struggle to reach the surface where they expect their enemies the Thieves will attack them en masse. Instead when they finally reach the outside, no one eerily awaits to ambush them.

Bolldhe heads towards the next fight with the resurrected evil lord Drauglir and his horde. He expects the engagement to occur somewhere near Vaagenfjord Maw, but has little hope to win except for the strange sword he now possesses.

Gapp and Methuselech reach Wrythe where the malevolent necromancer Scathur has quietly ruled for centuries while regaining strength lost five hundred years ago on Lyndormyn, when Peladanes defeated the evil rawgr Drauglir and his supernatural minions; he quickly knows who Methuselech's soul is and imprisons both of them, but they escape with his horde in pursuit. Soon everyone heads for Melhus Island and its underworld where the armies of the dead await to add to their ranks.

This is a direct sequel to The Wanderer's Tale that takes time to get started as the various key players and their allies are established for new readers. Once the action accelerates there is no slowing down as this military fantasy goes into hyperspeed with confrontations seemingly everywhere. With all the various armies at war and new leaders and heroes emerging, A FIRE IN THE NORTH still pares down to the destined Wanderer. He remains the only one who can save an apathetic prosperous world from the malevolent Drauglir and the wicked necromancer Scathur as The Annals of Lindormyn move forward.

Harriet Klausner