Customer Reviews

Mistress of the Catacombs (Lord of the Isles, Book 4)

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

 

 

I've read the entire Lord of the Isles series, and although each book is interesting, as a whole, the series is just repetitive. Although the characters get into many interesting adventures, and this book especially had some unusual twists, in general the plot stays the same for book after book after book . . . I agree with many of the other reviewers; the series would be a lot more likely to go somewhere if he just kept the characters together for a while. It would also help to explore the relationships between them a little more. It's slightly difficult to really see how Cashel feels about his sister Ilna, for example, when they only spend a day in every year together, and the rest of the time they're in different parallel universes. Also, some of the characters are just too perfect - Garric, Liane and Sharina don't seem to have any flaws between them. Even Cashel, although he is slightly slow-witted, seems too good to be true. Ilna is the character who most catches my attention, because, even though her powers are inhuman, she seems the most like a real person of any of them . . . anyway, I know that was a lot of criticism, but despite that, these books are worth reading; they're just not the best things you'll ever come across. They're a great diversion, though, and hopefully the plot will pick up pace in future volumes. Anyway, I'll keep reading, just to see what happens to Ilna; her chapters are always gripping, even if the rest of the story lags, and her romance with Chalcus is the best-developed inter-character relationship in the series.

David Drake is on my list of authors "to buy on publication, hard or soft cover," so in general I think highly of him. Some of his books I have not cared for, but his military SF is classic. In recent years Drake has started two series that I find very impressive: Lord of the Isles and Lt Leary (also the Belisarius series with Eric Flint). The two Lt Leary books are "space fantasy" (one of the things that bothers me about Drake is that his science is pretty dreadful for SF); the Lord of the Isles series is heroic fantasy. With this installment, however, I found myself asking whether Drake really knows where he's going. These are fairly massive books, yet in terms of plot it's starting to feel like he's falling into "Robert Jordan syndrome." We're not yet to the point where I'd say this is another series that wouldn't die, yet the feel of this book was very similar to the previous books: the four main characters split off at the beginning when dragged into attacking a particular problem, address some aspect of it, and join together at the end. At this point in the series you might expect some problems to be ones that combinations of the main characters would attack. I still like these books a great deal (if you haven't read any of them yet, start with Lord of the Isles!), but I'm getting concerned about the direction of the series. Drake is usually meticulous in his plots, so it's quite possible this will all come together in the next book or so. Still recommended, but with a caution for future books in the series.

This is a very entertaining fantasy series, though you need to start with the first volume, Lord of the Isles, because it's pretty much all one story. It will catch your interest immediately, and you'll care about the main characters right from the start. (These books are not what I'd normally expect from David Drake, who usually writes military SF with an emphasis on blood and guts.)

The first volume is the best, but this one is just as good as the others. In fact, it's almost identical to the others. Sadly, each new volume is nearly indistinguishable from the rest. First, the characters are widely separated in time and/or space, they have their individual adventures as they struggle to return, and then they're reunited for the ending.

I keep hoping that the next volume will keep them together for the immense - and interesting - work of building and maintaining the kingdom, but it never happens. Frankly, the same story told in every volume is getting a bit old.

Another reviewer mentioned the "Robert Jordan syndrome." Like Jordan, has Drake realized that he can keep fans perpetually buying new books in a popular series by just never going anywhere with the story? Is this just a way to extend the series as long as possible, or doesn't he know where he wants to go next?

I'm still giving this 4 stars, because I love the characters and I guess because I really loved the first couple of volumes. But I'm very disappointed with this book; it's certainly not bad but it's nearly identical to the previous two. I can't say you'd miss anything if you just skipped it and waited until (if) Drake decides to go on with the story in some future volume.

I must say that when I started to read some of the other reviews of this book, I was confused. People say that the books are falling into the Jordon trap, or they say he is getting too repetitive. I find this odd because I don't get that feeling at all. Firstly, the first 2 books tie up almost all loose ends and explain everything you need to know to enjoy further stories. If you read book 4 before you read book 3, you should not have any problem following along. This is most definitely not the way Jordon works...if you skip a book in the series, you are just lost. Also the one thing I really like about Drake, is his ability to have a small amount of characters and make you care about all of them. Books 3 and 4 are capsulated so they are almost independent stories. All loose ends are tied up in 3. All loose ends are tied up in 4. It's very satisfying to have endings. That again is unlike Jordon, who bases his fan base and sales on the fact that he ends his books in huge plot altering cliff hangers. I'm not saying that's bad, but it makes me want to pick up a new drake book knowing it's going to end with everything wrapped up, then a Jordon book that I know some stuff will be solved, and then open up twice as many threads. As for the repetitive aspect, it's really not. It's formulaic which is different. Basically Garric has to do some stuff for the kingdom, and Iina and Cashel go on their related adventures...it's just a fun yarn. Highly recommended.

When i read the previous volume in the "Isles" series (Serant of the Dragon, q.v.), i greatly enjoyed it, but something about it bothered me.

Now, having read this volume, and considering the matter, i have finally put my finger on it, i think -- these books read like using a "walkthru" cheatsheet to go through one of the old InfoCom computer text games -- "Zork", possibly, or the brilliant InfoCom version of "Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Which is to say that each character goes through a series of adventures which contain numerous decision-points and always choose the right way to go when they have a choice; secondary characters, though interesting and sympathetic (or not), are introduced, hang around until they fulfill their sole programmed function, and then exit, usually fatally.

What suspense there is comes primarily from narrative technique; rotating among four story threads that SEEM divergent but will come together by the end, cutting away from a given thread -- just as it looks as if Things Might Be Bad For Our Hero(ine) -- to resolve the cliffhanger left in another thread in the last chapter.

That said, it's really the characters i read these for -- Garric (and his ancestor, King Carus, who shares his head) and Cashel, Ilna and Sharina and so on, all of whom are interesting in their own right, and eminently suited for the sorts of challenges that Drake's plots throw at them.

Mechanical as the storyline might be, i enjoyed the ride, and i intend to be there for the next volume, also.

I mean, a roller coaster is locked to a track, mechanical and predictable and repetitious -- but we still ride the same coasters over and over and get the same thrills. Same for Drake and this series.

This 4th book in the series is one that I think could have been left out of the story arc for it really doesn't expand the character development and goals of Garric to unite the kingdoms or go anywhere in the big picture until the last few sentences where he decides to place his father as regional ruler of the his home island Haft.

Like Janny Wurts' recent Peril's Gate, so too does this book spends its entire length (467 pages) tracking the heroes'(mostly supernatural) coming and going from point A to point B resulting in nothing much being developed in the story line apart from bloody battles to conquer a warring population and make them subsurvient to King Garric's rule. There is very little insight provided into the main characters' real motivations and personal growth as they confront the conflicts thrust upon them. They are becoming boring and that is not a place where the reader wants to be at this stage of the saga. King Carus' takeover of body and mind was the most interesting development in Garric's story line.

I would like to see deepening of characters like the lovelorn and terribly conflicted Ilna who, despite her superhuman abilities, has a richness of character than I find attractive and very compelling. She is my favorite for her very human eccentriticies and crankiness. Cashel, Liane and Sharina are almost too good to be true and renders them somewhat monochromatic to this reader.

I like Drake's writing style immensely and have enjoyed the three books preceeding this one.I do hope he juices up character development to make this a more challenging and satisfying feast in the next installment of this series.

David Drake spins a good story and MISTRESS OF THE CATACOMBS is an enjoyable and action-filled read. Garric is trying to rebuild an empire shattered a thousand years earlier, but things keep getting in the way--like rebel leaders who think that no central government would be just fine and some alien spider creatures who want to be loosed on a world just full of delicious humans.

As is common in large fantasy novels, Drake uses the episodic technique of having multiple characters working on different but related adventures. Garic, torn out of his body and cast a thousand years ahead of his own present labors under the knowledge that in history, his reign was a failure (although he never seemed bothered by this bit of information).

I know it is hard to have a lot of character development in a series like this, but I would have liked to see a little more. Although he didn't change much, I found Cashel an especially enjoyable and human participant.

This isn't the book that will change your life but it is an enjoyable read.

BooksForABuck.

This story was a disjointed mess, the characters were all sent off in different dimensions (I think) and I actually couldn't even determine if they were in separate dimensions, or in their current dimension just offset in either the future or the past. None of this was really explained, and hey guess what; it doesn't matter anyways because everyone somehow returns at the end (how is not very clear) and everything is resolved. The antagonists weren't even clear. The Archai, Spiders, Mistress, Metron, Lizardmen, the Pack . . . I couldn't even really determine who were the evil ones and what their motivations were.

I've read a lot of Drakes stuff and usually like it, but this entire series so far has been among the worst of his material.

I read this book with rather a great deal of frustration. It's the fourth volume in David Drake's Lord Of The Isles fantasy series, and it pretty much reads like a rehash of the second or third. I'm not quite sure what was meant to happen here or why it took so many pages to maintain a soothing and bland state of stasis.

Drake has come up with an interesting setting. Most fantasies involve quasi-medieval pseudo-European worlds, but this one is more heavily weighted toward the Mediterranean/Fertile Crescent Bronze Age end of the spectrum. You don't see mighty kings spending tons of gold to field armies of thousands of armored knights. Here, the rulers are lucky to scrape up a few spare silver coins to put one or two triremes out to sea, crewed by a few guys with daggers. Plus we're not dealing with a single large landmass, but rather a bunch of scattered islands, making it rather easier for dissidents and wannabes to defy their new overlord, daring him to come after them.

Also, the magic seen here is typically not epic, flashy, and dramatic. There aren't too many wizards rolling fireballs across the battlefields or calling down dragons. And using spells can be time-consuming and arduous.

But if you've been reading the series so far, you know this. Unfortunately, in this present volume you won't really learn much of anything new. Plot contrivances will scatter our principals. Garric will continue to struggle to master the unruly leaders of the various islands and will have to face various plots and traitors and malcontents. Sharina will be beautiful and meet interesting people. Ilna will remain cold and practical and disdainful. Cashel will, naturally, topple into an alternate reality and will beat the tar out of all obstacles and through sheer phlegmatic force of will emerge on the other side. And everyone will link up together fortuitously in the nick of time a few pages before the end of the book.

In some ways, this just seems like Gus Van Sant's ill-advised shot-by-shot remake of the movie "Psycho". Yeah, it was an interesting intellectual exercise, I suppose, but it was literally done before and done better, and nothing new was brought to the table. It's the same thing with this book--we've already seen all of this in the previous volumes, and nothing really changes for the characters. For this many pages, I would've liked to have seen some significant developments and a sense that we're building up to something major, rather than getting sucked into an open-ended Jordanesque epic saga that could go on for twenty more installments. This is a case where less definitely would've been more.

Former peasant, Prince Garric has done the impossible. Garric has forged a government with him in charge of the Kingdom of the Isles. This is the first central government in a millennium plus years.

However, not everyone is content with Garric ruling the Isles. Rebels and their outside allies unite to try to overthrow the new regime. Led by wizards who see mortals as cannon fodder and the Children of the Mistress, who cast spells, Garric's foes have overwhelming superiority in numbers, weapons, and magic. Thus, when the final battle happens, Garric's chances of surviving is ground zero let alone winning, but then again he shares cerebral space with his ancestor, the brilliant strategist King Carus.

The fourth book in the Lord of the Isles series, MISTRESS OF THE CATACOMBS, is a strong epic fantasy that will elate readers of previous tales and send newcomers seeking those novels. The tale has all the elements expected in a high fantasy adventure, but centers on the coming of age of a youngster thrust into a position of grave responsibility. David Drake flies like an eagle, proving he is one of the stronger speculative fiction authors.

Harriet Klausner