Customer Reviews

The Grand Design (Tyrants and Kings, Book 2)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Grand Design is the second book by the American writer John Marco. This book is the sequel to John Marco's thrilling debut The Jackal of Nar.

After the death of emperor Arkus of Nar, the empire of Nar has exploded into civil war. The fight for power is between the religious supporters of Bishop Herrith and the ruthless supporters of the former right hand of the emperor, Count Biagio.

Meanwhile the main character from The Jackal of Nar, Richius Vantran, lives together with his wife Dyana and his daughter Shani in Lucel-Lor. Despite this easy (and seemingly safe) life, Richius can only think of one thing..revenge on his arch-enemy Count Biagio. When Richius is offered the change to get his revenge by an old friend, he grabs it with both hands.

Unfortunately for Richius hasn't Biagio forgotten him. On the contrary, Biagio is even more after revenge than Richius ever can imagine. Even worse, Biagio plans to get rid of all his enemies in one blow.....

For the second time John Marco has succeeded to put down a readable, thrilling novel. The Grand Design offers even more depth than The Jackal of Nar, since John Marco succeeded to build a story around more then one main-character. Where The Jackal of Nar was mainly situated around Richius Vantran, The Grand Design has four main characters who are all equally important to the story. Besides that John Marco's great knowledge of military history shows in the realistic way he describes the battles between the armies, both on land and at sea.

The most important thing I like about John Marco's writing is the way he keeps you guessing about what will happen next..and most of the time you're wrong about it.

After writing The Grand Design John Marco now has definitely joined the ranks of famous writers like Tad Williams, Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan.

Pieter Willem Lak

Leeuwarden, 2nd June 2000

When it finally came time to review The Grand Design, I was thrilled. I am not a fantasy reader, but I do like unusual stories, and after reading John Marco's first book in the Tyrants and Kings series, Jackal of Nar, I just knew this one was going to be just as good. I was right. Honestly, most fantasies tend to leave me confused, but not this series. It's not only easy to follow and comprehend; it's hard to put down! Just as with Jackal of Nar, it is full of never-ending action, villainy, politics and fabulous technology!

The story begins with General Vorto, the Supreme Commander of the Legions of Nar bombarding the walls of Goth with the War Machines of Nar (Descriptions of these are fascinating). Duke Lokken of Goth flies the Black Flag of Nar and misses the Black Renaissance. Having shredded Harrith's Banner and sent it to Nar City, he now finds Vorto Bombarding his walls. The Empire now suffers a war of religion between religious fanatics Bishop Harrith (Light of God) and Count Biagio (The Black Renaissance). Richius Vantran, the Jackal of Nar, is now considered a traitor. He is in exile with his wife and daughter. When he becomes involved in the religious fanatic war, his old enemy the Count, who wants total control over all, makes plans to take Richius and Dyana's only child.

The Grand Design has a futuristic atmosphere, yet also carries an historical feel. The characters are great. Besides the remarkable main characters, Harrith, Biagio, and Vantran, there are the even more impressive secondary characters like Lorla, The Mind Bender, Simon, Duke Enli, Duke Eneas (The Raven Master) and many others. Each character is intriguing, well written and impressive. It's an impressive fantasy series; expect to be entertained throughout.

Book 2 is very different from Book 1: more action-focused (though the first book was no slouch on action), more complex, and more nuanced. It's not a simple followup to THE JACKAL OF NAR: it adds a lot of depth to the world of the series and focuses not just on Richius and Dyana, but on many new and memorable characters. John Marco has a knack for creating characters who straddle the line between good and evil: even the most heroic are flawed in some way, and even the most evil are portrayed with understanding and sympathy. Impressive also is the degree to which this middle book of a trilogy stands alone, deftly incorporating all the backstory from Volume 1 into the flow of the action. Once again, a strong performance from a talented new author.

While I was very satisfied with the "Jackal of Nar" (read in a German translation, so I cant judge that much on the style of the author in the original version) - as you could find out by reading my review for it, I am extremely positively surprised by this sequel.

In matter of style, there is a definitive improvement shining through the translation, and also the new characters coming are more developed and described in a better and more intersting way... It looks like the author is on the way to improve himself through his subsequent books, that's good news for the reader.

As for the story itself, it is brilliant indeed. Like the title suggests, it's about Biagio's plan to become emperor of Nar and it puts all the episodes of the book in a this specific context. We get a clearer view on what the intentions of our major characters in this sequel are. In "The Jackal of Nar", it wasnt always easy to find a context for all the episodes.

And that makes sense, because in the meantime, our hero, Richius, has grown, become wiser and more experienced; and the politics of Nar are now more understandable to him than they were while fighting his useless war for the emperor against Lucel-Lor in the first volume...

All in all, a very satisfying book, with good military action, without neglecting the sentimental aspects of our characters as well.

If you liked The Jackal of Nar (not all did, from reading the different readers' opinions), you will certainly like The Grand Design, no doubt about that.

I gave Marco the benefit of doubt in my review of his debut novel, "The Jackal of Nar". Basically, I thought he was bound to get better, once he got going. I did so thinking that the peculiarities of "Jackal" could well be due to severe editing.

In some ways, I may have been right. "The Grand Design", Marco's second, is a more coherent affair than his first effort. Editing is obviously no longer a problem. "Design" is therefore obviously more representive of what Marco can do than "Jackal".

In other ways, though, I was very wrong. The problem is, "Design" shows that Marco is, as present, not capable of doing all that much. It might be more coherent than its predecessor, but it is no better. Marco continues to struggle both with his characters and with his plot.

With regard to character: the protagonist, Richius, remains an utter dunce. Marco's attempt to re-introduce an arch villain (Biagio) as an born-again hero is interesting but unconvincincingly presented. In fact, the only appealing character Marco manages to portray is a toy-maker, whose presence in the story is, however, contrived.

With regard to plot: the "grand" design giving rise to the title is based solely upon the unconvincing assumption that it would be A Jolly Good Idea to blindly attack Biago's island retreat. If you think about it, that's not good idea at all. In fact, it's downright stupid.

Any book is, by definition, constrained by its author's intellectual capacity. A reader doesn't generally have to think about that (which is a great tribute to most authors). In the case of Marco, however, you can't get around this fact. You find yourself reading a story which is not logical, based as it is upon flawed and unconvincing premises. In short, you find yourself reading (and criticising) a writer, not living a story.

"Design" is not a good book. I recommend it only to casual readers. And I give it three stars only because I know a lot of readers are, indeed, casual, and couldn't care less about criticism such as mine (they may well be right, come to think of it!). Those readers may well enjoy this book, if only because it's a quick and easy read.

A final note: Marco has been compared to George R.R. Martin as a writer of "military" fantasy. That's ridiculous. If you like Martin (and you should) don't read Marco. Check out Steven Erickson instead. Now that's an intelligent (and seriously exciting) writer!

John Marco has truely outdone himself! THE GRAND DESIGN is an outstanding sequel to his first book THE JACKAL OF NAR. It isn't very often that the sequel is better than the original, but John has done just that. In other fantasy series where the action and storyline tend to begin dragging with additional volumes, John has put his storytelling talents into high gear for his TYRANTS AND KINGS saga.

I won't get into too much of the story line, because other reviews have covered that, however I do want emphasize the development of characters in this novel are amazing. The reader finds themselves feeling for, not only the heroes and victims in this book, but the antagonists as well. No character is one sided, being wholely evil or purely good. Even the most righteous can have moments of moral weakness.

There were two books I've read this year that I could not put down. This was one of them. The other was A CLASH OF KINGS by George R. R. Martin. John Marco has been the only other author to capture my imagination and fantasies and keep me eagerly guessing throughout the entire book as well as Martin has in the last few years. He is truely proving himself to be a fantasy giant on the ranks with Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, George R. R. Martin, and even J. R. R. Tolkein himself.

This book is a must read for fantasy fans and I am fervently awaiting the sequel, THE SAINTS OF THE SWORD.

I've been waiting for a year for the second book, since I bought the first one soon after it first came out. It was definitely worth the wait! The characters are well thought out, and the plot is second to none. The author again manages to avoid cliche while providing all the elements of a truly epic fantasy. Originality abounds, with the power struggles, the ravens...I could go on, but I don't want to give too much away for those not fortunate enough to have read it yet. If you're one of these people, go out and get this book! It is a rare gem in world of copy-cat stories. All I can say is, I want more!

I've just finished reading this book. The book is amazing.Great characters, who are very believeable and understandable.

Istill have problems with Richius, who I find a little stupid at times, and a little weak at others, but the other characters, particularly Simon and Deena were excellently drawn.

Read this book

In "Grand Design," author John Marco has much improved upon his first book, "The Jackal of Nar." As others have noted, incorporating multiple points of view has added depth and greater dimension to his ongoing story, while provided additional characters whose personalities at time outshine Richius'. Simon in particular is intriguing, providing almost a parallel to Marco's hero, and often upstaging his treatment, both in strength of character and sensitivity. Unburdened by Richius' peripatetic uncertainties and inability too see himself clearly, Simon comes across as a much stronger character when confronted by similar situations in which Richius tends to waffle. It is my hope that we will see Simon in further installments.

Abandoning his earlier concentration upon Richius, many of the earlier secondary characters, as well as some new ones, are given equal billing in this book, doing much to expand upon the complexity of the author's story, not only in terms of its characters but the storyline as well. Marco handles the shifts in perspective deftly, and, unlike his first novel, has imbued them with greater emotional intensity. As always, his characters are both sympathetic and flawed, though I believe in this book the author has taken his characterizations to a new level, with only his original hero changing relatively little from the first installment. As his presence is less obtrusive amongst the varied cast here, problematic elements about Richius that persist from the first book are less noticeable and intrusive.

I guess the biggest problem that I have with the character of Richius is that he seems not to learn from his previous errors, paying great lip-service to the destructive nature of vengeance, vacillating back and forth between participation and regret, yet persisting in its pursuance, once again placing all he loves at risk for the illusory goal of retribution. As the self-destructive and empty reward of revenge and consuming hatred is a major theme of this novel, echoed again and again, it would be more convincing if the main hero experienced an epiphany equal to those of Herrith, Simon, and Enli. Instead, he often seems simply carried along with events.

I would have given this work a greater score were it not for the implausibility of events that take place at the book's conclusion. Not wishing to give the end away, I will only say that an act of forgiveness takes place that seems weakly founded upon one character's response to another, and while some effort is expended to provide reasons for the character's change of heart, I found it unconvincing. Further, in structure the conclusion to this book is very similar to the last, an emerging device that I think it would be better for the author to jettison. Nonetheless, the author is moving from strength to strength, and this book should do much to remove the doubts of earlier detractors. Certainly one of the better series currently going, (I find myself in accord with the praise of an earlier reviewer, author Victoria Strauss--not surprising, perhaps, when you consider she's mentioned in the book's acknowledgements), and I heartily recommend it while you wait for the release of Martin and Jordan's newest books later this Fall.

After reading the first book in the series, I waited eagerly for The Grand Design to come out. I wasn't disappointed. This has already become one of my favorite series, because the stories are intelligent and the characters are fully rounded and believeable. And unlike many middle books in a trilogy, this one is complete. There is no cliff-hanger ending, and the climax is exciting and surprising. This author is in the league of Willaims and Martin. A highly recommended book.