Hickory Staff (Gollancz Sf S.) [Hardcover]

Jay M Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2005 | Series: Gollancz Sf S.

Steven Taylor is an assistant bank manager in a quiet little Mid-West town; his roommate Mark Jenkins is a high school history teacher. Steven's bored with his job; the thought of going through all the accounts that haven't had a single transaction in the past 25 years sounds even more boring - until he discovers one old prospector left USD17,000 in October 1870; it's now worth 6.3 million dollars. There's a safe deposit box too, 17C, that's never been opened in all those years. And it would have remained closed if Steven hadn't been browsing through a Denver antique store: as well as a dresser for his sister, he found a new girlfriend, Hannah, the owner's daughter ...and, in a jar of oddments, the long-missing key to Idaho Springs Safety Deposit Box 17C. And without that key, he'd never have found the tapestry that sucked him and Mark into the land of Rona in the strange new world of Eldarn, where they are immediately captured by a group of Ronan resistance fighters. Rona has been occupied by Malakasia for nearly a thousand Twinmoons. Now an evil tyrant rules the land, but he wants more: he wants the key that will open the path for an ancient evil to manifest once and for all. And Steven and Mark need this same key if they are ever to get home to Idaho Springs ...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This hefty debut from the late Gordon (1944–2005) and his son-in-law Scott launches a sprawling fantasy trilogy with touches of effective horror. After a lengthy setup, timid bank manager Steven Taylor, athletic history teacher Mark Jenkins and law student Hannah Sorenson fall through a magical tapestry into a politically complex world under the dominion of body-hopping demonic sorcerer Nerak. Several independent subplots and an unwieldy supporting cast slowly draw together as Steven discovers his budding magical powers, Mark finds romance with a fierce resistance fighter and Hannah seeks a way home. Though somewhat unfocused in their plotting and often rehashing standard fantasy elements, Scott and Gordon keep the story moving entertainingly to the end, less a conclusion than a pause before the simultaneously released sequel. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Just read the first three pages and you'll be hooked. A series that could easily become as legendary as Stephen Donaldson's." OUTLAND

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (August 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575076070
• ISBN-13: 978-0575076075
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,745,599 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:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read Made Better By Knowing More To Follow, January 30, 2006

By 

Richard Marcus (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hickory Staff (Gollancz Sf S.) (Hardcover)

In the first book The Hickory Staff the two authors Robert Scott and Jay Gordon have got their hooks into me and unless they really screw up in the second book, I'm theirs until they've finished. It's not that they've discovered something new under the sun, it's the fact that they've been able to take a familiar theme and give it new life and depth that makes this book, and hopefully the series, such a good read.

It's the standard other world type story, where people from our world accidentally cross over, and find that they have a role to play in preventing a horrible evil from destroying all the worlds. Yep, been there, done that, bought one too many t-shirts and seen the movie in its special tenth anniversary boxed set, would be my reaction too if it wasn't for the fact that the two authors have managed make it seem like no one has ever written this type of story before.

The first thing you'll notice differing from other books of this type is that it diverges from the typical formula almost immediately. Instead of the action building on our world with the main characters sliding into the alternative one, the scene shifts continually between the earth and Eldarn.

The authors give us the details that the characters from earth are going to have to understand when they get to their eventual destination. The situation in Eldarn and the characters we will meet there are as familiar to us from the start as the people in our own world. While Steven Taylor and Mark Jenkins from Idaho Springs Colorado are still the main characters, they are only cogs in the larger story of the ongoing history of Eldarn.

A key element in the success of this book is the strength and variety of the characters. The writers have done a masterful job in creating a diverse group of peoples with a myriad of motivations for why they do what they do. Even spirits and soulless warriors are allowed to show that they have the potential for more than one dimension.

At various times in The Hickory Staff we switch from one group of characters to another. Each time are rewarded with a different perspective of the land and the trials its people have endured.

Robert Scott and recently deceased Jay Gordon have written a tantalizing opening volume to what promises to be an exciting sequence of books. Although there is an underlying threat of action through out the book, it is not dominated by action scenes. The Hickory Staff is far more than just sword and sorcery and this alone would raise it above so many books who attempt the alternate world scenario.

What really sets apart are the range and depth of the characters. We learn about all of them naturally; either through their own eyes, or through others' perceptions of them. You find yourself caring about what happens to these people much more than you would normally in most fiction. The Hickory Staff is a book well worth reading, and what's even better is that you know there's more of the same still to come.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best portal fantasy out there to date., May 10, 2009

By 

B.K.Price "Fantasy Doctor" (Liverpool,England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hickory Staff: The Eldarn Sequence Book 1 (Paperback)

This is the first novel in the The Eldarn Sequence, here is a bit of the story.

We begin in the world of Eldarn where the ruling Royal families are gathering together for peace talks, while the ruling Prince of Rona gives a speech he is struck down by a fatal dark magic, within a few days all the ruling families are dead and open war breaks out between those who are left to take power, what they fail to see is that one dark power now controls the Eldarn world.

It's the late nineteenth and in the city of Idaho Springs Colorado a strange man enters a bank, this man has left behind him many brutal deaths using magic and superhuman strength, in the bank he wishes to open a safe deposit box, in the box he will place the key to another world, a world filled with dark magic and brutal conflict.

Now we come to modern day times, where me meet Steven and Mark who are two friends, one a teacher the other a bank manager,Steven has a curious side and while looking through his banks old records he finds a secret that will bring himself and his friend to a new world, a world of evil, war and dark magic.

This book is a well written, action packed thrill ride with everything a lover of fantasy could ask for, war, magic, assassinations and the fight to make a world a better place.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read, December 11, 2008

By 

Book Junkie (Upstate NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hickory Staff: The Eldarn Sequence Book 1 (Paperback)

I liked this story, but only give it 3 stars because I found it frustrating to be constantly switching between characters. Just when you are getting involved on one group of characters' storyline, you would be switched to another. They are all good, but I wish more time was given to each.

None the less, it is an intelligent addition to a field too often regarded as "kids stuff".