Customer Reviews

To Light a Candle: The Obsidian Trilogy, Book Two

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The middle book in many trilogies often seems to lack *something* in comparison to the first and last installments, but that is not the case with this second installment of the Obsidian Trilogy.

It took me much of the first book, "The Outstretched Shadow," to really get to know the characters, and it wasn't until the latter half of the book that I really became invested in the story. But Lackey and Mallory have managed to keep that investment from waning even a bit with this book. It starts out where the last left off, and doesn't slow down for a moment. It kept me glued to the story from cover to cover and left me wanting for more. I'm ready for the third book, now!

In "To Light a Candle," the characters I've come to know and care about in the fist book of this trilogy evolve a great deal, as does the overall plot. Kellen finally comes into his own, his sister and best-friend unite, and the Endarkened's plot to destroy human-kind continues to fester at a rapid pace, aided by Armathelia's continued blindness. Add to this some new intriguing characters and well-timed surprises along the way, and I found this book more difficult to put down the first.

Along with "The Outstretched Shadow," "To Light a Candle" makes the Obsidian trilogy a must-read series for anyone who enjoys a solid fantasy epic. I definitely recommend it.

A lot of times the middle book in a series will be considered lame, i.e. horrible. With this one, I was much surprised as the somewhat dull parts of the first book (i.e. overly long/verbose descriptions) were kept to a minimum, as the authors assumed we remembered the locales and didn't need to rehash it for us. I really appreciated that, as I hate when authors regurgitate a lot of previous materials to get the reader up to speed.

Kellen's personal development has come a long ways from where he started. In these books the authors portray the elves as having slightly different mannerisms than humans, which causes a lot of awkward social circumstances. What is neat, however, is that while Kellen causes what seems to be a lot of mishaps, when he is finally confronted with a situation in which he knows more of elvish customs than another, he has suddenly gone from knowing nothing to being uncannily like an elf himself in some aspects.

The plot of the book didn't seem like it was dragging or there were a lot of things that happened in the 2nd book that we wouldn't see resolved until the end. The crises in the 2nd book served to advance the plot without making it seem like it was just filler material for the last book. There was also a lot more combat, and the combat sequences were artfully written.

I enjoyed the character of Kellen the most, but I would have to say that compared to the first book Jermayan & Edalia (the first an elf & the second his sister) seem to have taken on a one-dimensional aspect. Previously, they each seemed to have their own strong personalities, while in this one Jermayan has more or less become a love-besotted fool and Edalia has turned into the stereotypical woman/sister. It largely seems like her independence, which was what made her so appealing and strong, has been taken away since her love of Jermayan has been realized.

Basically, this was really a good book. Even if the women characters were weak (including that half demon girl), the rest of the plot & the other characters really balanced it out. All in all, this book is a great read, I suggest if it has been a while since you read #1, you get a refresher and read it again so you can recall the City of Bells, etc. Enjoy!

I would say that if you read the first book of the Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory and thought it was an ok read, you will like this book much more. I found the first book to be a really good read and I absolutely could not put down this book. In the first book there was a bit of a learning curve in which you had to really get used to the world that the authors were portraying. You have to get to know how the characters interact, the systems of magic, what the social structures are and all of the fun little details that bring the world to life. Towards the end of the first book, the pace increases and the book really captures your attention.

This book does that from the very beginning. I immediately began reading this book after completing the first and was done with it in under five days. This is not becuase I am a speed reader, just becuase I honestly didn't want to stop reading.

In this book the development of the main characters grows and the plot really thickens, there are a lot of twists and turns that are very cool and unique. I found myself really drawn into the story, at times feeling like I was reading a well done account of events presented by master storytellers.

To Light A Candle is engaging, thought provoking and really overall a wonderful highly recommended read. The only thing that makes me sad is waiting for the next installment...

So to those who have read the first book of the Obsidian Trilogy, I am sure you will like this one, those who have not... pick up the two books read them through but get ready for a great adventure! Cheers!

I wasn't sure during the first of the series if this was going to be a trilogy for me(a bit hard to get into and slow in the beginging, but it did pick up). To light a candle, continued that fast action-packed ending and hardly let me catch my breath....couldn't put it down! I am eagerly waiting for the next instalment. Great new world and new vigor in old fantasy standards(Elves, dragons, and magic). Kellen is a hero with a story that you want to follow!!!

If I had not read the first book of the Obsidian Trilogy, it would be very difficult to avoid being critical of this second book in the trilogy. To Light A Candle is less a sequel than it is an opening and a collection of cliffhangers for the final book in the trilogy. It contains so many open-ended introductions of new characters, new threats, new powers, and new applications of ancient powers, that I can't see any way for Lackey to tie up all the loose ends within a single book, but I guess that's why she's writing the books and I'm just puttering around filling up pages with reviews.

I am somewhat surprised at the minimal conflict of opinions over this novel demonstrated by the reviews present here at Amazon. From my reading of other book reviews, I have come to believe that there is a large group of people who are immediately opposed to any use of clichéd fantasy elements, almost all of which Lackey has used in this trilogy (Please read my review of The Outstretched Shadow for a description of those elements). However, the cliché present is minimized by her over-arching world and character-building focus, particularly referring to Kellen's internal, personal doubt and the world's extremely well defined systems of magic.

Two things make To Light A Candle stand out as an engaging book. The first bit deals with Lackey providing us with a different perspective of Kellen and the changes he has gone through since being kicked out of his old home. One of the newly introduced characters was a star student and classmate of Kellen's in their former home. This high-magic practitioner, an interesting addition to the motley crew of elves, dragon, assorted wild-mages, and centaurs, was banished from Kellen's old home-land, much in the way Kellen was, and from this newcomer's eyes we gain this new perspective of Kellen and how much he differs from the frequently whining and indecisive whelp that was kicked out of his home-city for practicing a banned system of magic.

The second interesting element of this particular installment of The Obsidian Trilogy, in my opinion, is the demonstration, occurring near the end of the book, of how the two seemingly disparate types of magical systems, "High" and "Wild" magic, can be combined to deal frighteningly powerful blows to the insanely powerful "Endarkened". Also, the continued growth of Kellen's power, or at least his use and understanding of that power, is fascinating, as the power Lackey grants to her "knight-mage" is not a direction taken very often in most formulaic fantasy novels. Its entire nature is internal, more akin to having a second, more knowledgeable and far-seeing mind bolstering Kellen's own, than to any fire and acid slinging mage from other recent fantasy books. This kind of internal magic isn't seen as often in formulaic fantasy as it is in other types of adventure fiction (I can't think of anything else as similar to Kellen's magic as is Peter Parker's "spidey sense").

All in all, To Light A Candle is a fun read, with engaging battles, interesting new characters, new twists on old characters, and new threats seen in every shadow. I do recommend it, but only after you have read and enjoyed The Outstretched Shadow. As I said earlier, To Light A Candle seems to be primarily dedicated to establishing a stage for high drama and great action in the third and final book of the Obsidian Trilogy. All that remains to make this a trilogy I want to keep on my shelves to read again is a stunning final act.

The book filled my appettite to find out what had happened, i read the book in less than 48 hours, twas stunning. Between Idalia Wildmage, Kellen KnightMage, Jermayean Elven-KnightMage and Cilarnen High Mage they can combine with Shalkan and Ancaladar shall rise to prevail in anything. It certainly explains a lot of things that were left out before in the first novel but still can leave it somewhat unexplained, which was rather daunting. That was my only quarrel with the book was i read it too fast and didn't save any of it to read later so i'll have to go back again and re read it until the third book comes out.

The books starts out with Kellen, Jermayan, Vestakia, and Shalken returning from destroying the barrier that kept the elven lands in a drought. While those four are settling into their old and new lives evil is planting itself within the city of Armethalieh. Armethalieh has a problem that if not solved could lead to starvation of all of its people, but nothing is being done about the problem because the High Council is more concered about politics than about the good of the city. Cilarnen, a mage of Armethalieh, sees the food problem and with the help of friends plans on fixing the problem. Before Cilarnen and his friends can act on their plan they are caught and charged for treason, and Cilarnen ends up banished from Armethalieh. The only thing that stops Cilarnen from certain death is an elf who helps him get past the borders of the city and then leaves him in a centaur village. Cilarnen lives his life in the centaur village until one day when the village is attacked by a demon and receives a message that he must give to Kellen. Kellen is working with the elven army and its allies to rid the elven land of the creatures of the demons that threaten all of the residents in the elven land. The servant of the demon queen has risen in power and plans to help the demon queen gain control of Armethalieh. If the demon queen gains control of the city it could mean the destruction of all the creatures of light.

I liked the book. The characters in it were well-written, and every character had their own personality that in the end helped their cause to prevail against the evil demons and the demon creatures. The authors of the book did a really good job at bringing the reader into the story by writing descriptive paragraphs that allowed the reader to easily picture the situations and the surroudings of the characters. My favorite part of the book is the ending when the elven army finally learns what the true intent of the demons is. That was my favorite part because the whole book leads up to the elves finally learning what the demons are doing and because that knowledge gives the elves the chance to defeat the demons and save all the creatures of light. The book was really good because it leaves you wanting to read the next in the series so that you can finally learn if light will triumph over darkness.

Reviewed by Flamingnet Book Reviews.
www.flamingnet.com
Preteen, teen, and young adult book reviews and recommendations.

One of the best fantasy/science fiction novels I've read in a while. The characters are well developed and enjoyable to read about. And a big plus, the dragon and the unicorns. I really enjoy these, especially with their droll sense of humor. The elves are enjoyable also, particularly the proper and formal speech they use. It is interesting to watch the humans try to conquer that form of speech. I look forward to reading the next in the series.

Sensing that the enemy will respond quickly to the destruction of the weather barrier Knight-Mage Kellen finds himself frustrated by the sedate pace at which preparations are being made. But if he wants to gain the respect and trust of the elves he has to respect their traditions first (and find an acceptable way around them). As he slowly grows into his role as a Knight-Mage and military leader he is faced with the horrors of genocide, the death of dear friends and the challenge of forgiveness.
Meanwhile the mage Anigrel is working ceaselessly to lead the citizens of Armethalieh onto the path of darkness and to destroy the magical barrier that protects the city from demonkind - for only united the old allies of the Light may prevail against the darkness.

I'm not a fan of this trilogy - the authors exploit too many clich?s and stereotypes which they pep up with some humour to make them edible - but this book is a distinct improvement to its prequel THE OUTSTRETCHED SHADOW. The outline of the story is more consistent. Now that you know the reasons, the splitting of the plot between Armethalieh, elvenlands and the Dark realm is less awkward. Some characters show interesting insights - especially Kellen when he is confronted with his former self in the form of Cilarnen (a banished journeyman mage ensorcelled by Anigrel) and the elven race when they throw one of their tea parties or when they set out to kill their tainted cousins. Other characters remain utterly flat and bland (chief among them Jermayan & Demon Queen Savilla). All in all the novel could have used some cutting down - it isn't dragging, but for 856 pages the content simply isn't big or complex enough.
TO LIGHT A CANDLE is a book for those who enjoy fantasy in the most traditional sense, military campaigns and some good, light humour.

Book one presented you with a great build in many characters, and sometimes tedious, but had me hooked in the story none the less. Book two continues right where book one left off and rockets into an exciting adventure that will keep you glued to the pages. Plots thicken, new weapons are revealed on both the light and the dark side, and Kellen certainly becomes a force to be reckoned with! The first book I admit had its slow moments, however 'To Light A Candle' will keep you entralled with every page, and bring a smile to your face with one of the most entertaining fantasy tales on the book shelf today. That I promise! Many thanks to Lackey and Mallory for creating a wonderful story!