Customer Reviews

The Warlords of Nin (The Dragon King Trilogy, Book 2)

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"The Warlords of Nin" is the second offering of Stephen Lawhead's "Dragon King" Trilogy, following "In the Hall of the Dragon King", an independent story where readers were introduced to the temple servant turned hero Quentin. In volume two of the series, Quentin has matured into a young adult and made his home and studies in Dekra, far away from his beloved Bria. Along with his companion and friend Toli, Quentin heads back to the royal castle at Askelon at the urgent summons of King Eskevar, who detects an impending danger that threatens the empire. All the signs, including the bizarre and ever-brightening Wolf Star, point to a perilous time.

The danger proves to be a serious one indeed: Nin the Destroyer, with his four warlords, and thousands of soldiers. Quentin and Toli escape from the clutches of one of the warlords along with the defector Myrmior, who turns out to be a most helpful ally. Myrmior's cunning and clever strategy does a great deal to slow the ad!vance of the army of Nin, which threatens to overwhelm Askelon. But in the end, victory depends on the fulfilment of an archaic prophecy about a Priest King, who will bring deliverance armed with a mysterious sword known as the "Zhaligheer" or "Shining One". It seems the Quentin is the fabled Priest King, and in obedience to the prophecy, he undertakes a mission to the lost mines of Ariga, along with the armorer Inchkeith, to search for the rare and fabled lanthanil needed to make the sword. Will he accomplish his mission on time? Is he the one of whom the prophecy speaks who will deliver Askelon from its fearsome foes?

"The Warlords of Nin" is a separate story from "In the Hall of the Dragon King", with Quentin, his companions, and his country being the continuous element. The story is filled with breath-taking scenery and medieval conflict. Courageous knights in shining armour, flashing swords, deadly battles, ancient chivalry - it's all here. The conflict between the! powers of good and evil is in the end a picture of the great spiritual battle of the ages between the powers of light and darkness, God and Satan. Readers familiar with the battle images used by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6, will find the connections obvious. The fight for truth, justice, righteousness and good is in many ways portrays the great struggle against evil in world history. The use and tacit endorsement of astrology, oracles, dreams and prophecy in this struggle is somewhat surprising, but could be explained as being reflecting a pre-Christian era, not unlike the time of the Old Testament before the coming of the Messiah. And so it is appropriate that deliverance comes though the fulfilment of prophecies about a Messianic Priest King. Readers familiar with the Bible will find the notion of a Messianic prophecy about a Priest King most recognizable, because this was precisely the case with Jesus Christ. To say that Quentin is Christ-like is to say too much, yet t!o deny the allusions to Christ's victory for His people is to deny the obvious.

Yet in contrast to the Messianic overtones of Quentin's role in an epic struggle, Lawhead also humanizes Quentin to the point where he is like us, the soldiers in the battle rather than their Deliverer. In the process, Lawhead makes profound observations about personal faith. In the battle, Quentin must learn to trust in the Most High, and be confident that the Most High has plans for him, even when the way is unclear. In total trust, Quentin "should go along with this strange business regardless of my own feelings about it." Says Durwin: "We must not fear for the Most High; he can take care of himself. We must only look to ourselves that we remain faithful to his call." He concludes with an exhortation to faith that applies also to believers in the spiritual war of today: "But if you go beyond your fears and doubts, and follow anyway --ah! strange and wonderful things can happen. Yes, orph!ans can become kings, swords can sprout flames and great enemies can be laid low at a stroke." (p.282-3)

It is this depth of spiritual vision that makes Lawhead's prose all the more compelling and enjoyable. Although essentially a story, it's a story with the power to impart enduring spiritual truths. No, maybe not to the extent of Lawhead's phenomenal achievement in the "Pendragon Cycle". But that doesn't make this book any less enjoyable, or any less of an achievement.

This book is my favorite in the Dragon King Trilogy. This book has lots of action in it. The story continues after Quentin and his friends defeat the evil Nimrood the necromancer. I suggest that you read the first book, In the Hall of the Dragon King, first.

This story is about how Quentin, now a young man, is called unexpectedly to return to Askelon. He had been staying at Dekra, the place of power and mystery. As Quentin and his best friend Toli rides back, they encounter many interesting things. A whole village is scared for some reason and the Wolf Star was growing bigger and bigger every day. But Quentin and Toli trusts in the Most High and returns to Askelon where they meet their good friend Durwin, the hermit and also meet King Eskevar. Quentin quickly knows that something was wrong with the King, the King had grown pale and his face was gaunt. In other words, the King was deathly ill. He knew that someting was amiss in Mesandor.

Meanwhile, Theido and Ronsard, the two brave knights, (Ronsard is my favorite character!) had been sent out from King Eskevar to sort of scout the land. They realize that something was wrong, just like the King had said. Whole villages had been burnt, there was nothing but a enormous black spot on the ground. As they travel on, they see a nearly dead person in one of the burnt villages. They learn little from him, but he tells them that the enemy's name was Nin the Destroyer before he dies. Theido and Ronsard then returns to Askelon.

Quentin and Toli had been also searching for any signs of the enemy. They meet Esme, a rather fierce girl who was secretly a princess. On their way back to Askelon, they see the village called Illem burning. They quickly ride to Illem and meet the villagers running in terror. They are quickly surrounded by many soldiers of one of the warlords of Nin. Toli and Esme escapes but Quentin is captured.

Will Quentin escape? What will happen when the Ningaal reach Askelon?

This book is definently something you have to read! I love the Dragon King Trilogy and I have read them over and over again. Happy Reading!

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and I was looking forward to the second book. However, for some inexplicable reason, book one and book three in the trilogy are available as an e-book for my kindle, but book two is not. After paying as much as we did for my first kindle, and now for my kindle fire, I have no desire to have part of a collection in hard copy and part as an e-book, nor do I wish to pay for shipping fees to have it delivered.

This is the second in the Dragon King series - an early Lawhead trilogy. As per my thoughts in the first book, this is an early work of his, and this shows! The characterisation is not great. The book is reminiscent of Narnia stories in the high degree of metaphor used to impart spiritual truth.

Comparing this with the whole of the Narnia series, this book comes up wanting I think. This is because the prophecy surrounding the hero, Quentin, is that he will be the priest king who wields the sword that will defeat the hordes of Nin. But in Christian theology the prophet, priest and king is Christ. Quentin is an exceptional protagonist, but I cannot see him as in th eplace of Christ in this story. Of course, in Narnia, it is Aslan who has that place, and who is so clearly set apart from the protagonists of the stories.

Maybe I do the book an injustice by comparing it with Narnia. Maybe the metaphor is not intended to be so comparable - but in that case I felt it was too obvious.

All that criticism in mind, it was not a terrible book. Some people will enjoy it. Some people could really love it. I am just not one of them.

I'm a great Lawhead fan. While I enjoyed this book and the entire series, I have preferred his other series far more. Great book/series, though! I will be donating it to my community's high school library. And I have already recommended the series to some teens & preteens I know who are always searching for a great read.

Bought as gift for young adult. Good story line for age group. Arrived in excellent condition. Very pleased.

I am not going to give you a brief synopsis of this book, as you can get that from reading Amazons preview, or any of the other reviews on this book, I will say that I enjoy this book, but did not love it, the story was good enough to keep my interest, but not to the point of loosing sleep.
I found the majority of the charactures lines to be unbelievable, or contrite, but was able to overlook them and enjoy the story. Nins Characture was under developed, I did not like or dislike him. I also would have liked the author to go into more detail when solving the main conflicts, i.e. he killed the main antagonist by throwing the sword in the air and pinning him to the ground, what?!, no fight, no words exchanged, he just rides in and throws the sword and boom, story over.
My biggest problem was that the book tried to shove religion down my throat, the one main God, yadda, yadda, yadda, I get it, I get it. When I read Fantasy, I want to be entertained, not preached to.
But I did like the story, and have orderd the third book, I do hope it is better than this last one.

The Dragon King Trilogy is a great series and I really enjoy reading it. However, The Warlord of Nin is not nearly as interesting to me as the other two books. Still, it is worth reading even if just to get some history and set up for the next book. It reads really smoothly, it just doesn't have the same magic that Lawhead's other books do. Despite that, I will be reading this book several times as I go over The Dragon King Trilogy time and time again.

This book, with Lawheads unmistakable trademark storeytelling genius, is an magnificent read, and each page must be savoured. BUY THIS BOOK and you will not be dissapointed I GUARENTEE! Another exciting edition to place Lawhead on the ALL TIME greatest authors list... ever!

these books remind me of the "The lion the witch and the wardrobe" if you liked that you will love these books!!!!:)