The Lair of Bones (Runelords, Book 4) (Hardcover)

by David Farland (Author) "Milord, there you are," someone called..." (more)
Key Phrases: dead reavers, reaver horde, knight gig, Raj Ahten, Earth King, King Anders (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
According to Farland's Web site, the Runelords series, of which this is the fourth book after 2001's Wizardborn, was inspired by a hallucination. It also reads like one at times, full of rich and brilliant descriptions, but not always making much sense. Magical endowments-attributes such as sight, brawn or endurance transferred between people, leaving one crippled and the other superhuman-permit Averan, a nine-year-old wizard-in-training, to keep pace with the Earth King, Prince Gaborn and his cohorts as they search underground for the Queen of the Reavers. As those above ground prepare for war, Gaborn learns that his elemental powers are nothing compared to those of the Glories, forces of light who exhort their followers to love all men equally and beware the corrupting powers of the One True Master of Evil. The author rushes the action in the final chapters, the last one so condensed it reads almost like the summary of another complete book. Hopefully, the strength of the setting will help Farland to find a better pace for future volumes; this one, despite its promise, is strictly for the fans.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The apparent conclusion of the Runelords brings the saga's conflicts to a resounding climax in a three-cornered confrontation. For Raj Athen has given up his humanity for immortality and has marshaled hordes of magicians and sorcerers; Prince Gaborn has been victorious as the Earth King and is holding his ground; and the insectoid Reavers have found their ruler, lurking deep underground in the Lair of Bones and wielding its subjects against everyone else. The suspense is real, the action is nonstop, and the characterizations continue to convince. The amount of explicit violence and gore delivered by natural and supernatural means remains as high as ever in the Runelords--high enough, perhaps, to have cost Farland some of the saga's initial readers. Readers not put off thus far, however, surely will hang on to the end of a series that has put Farland on high-fantasy readers' maps. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (November 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765301768
• ISBN-13: 978-0765301765
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #496,813 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 4 in The Runelords Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A far cry from the previous books, October 27, 2003

By	Craig Daniels (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book provides an ending (seemingly) to the Runelord saga in a very concise and short book. It would appear to me as though the author had created a fantastic land with multiple storylines of varying complexities and just simply grew bored of it and wanted to give it an end. The story lines of all the main characters are ended with minimum of fanfare. The good guys win; the bad guy(s) are defeated in a minimum of pages(the reaver queen and raj ahten) and that is about it. I think I would classify this book as a let down. I think the author had a lot of good ideas (the runelords, endowments, the history of the land) and just really let that whole thing go to a waste. I am not saying there should have been more books in the series (overall I think the series took 10 real days for completion) but I think that a lot of storylines should have been fleshed out a bit and completed.

The book ends somewhat suddenly and doesn't realy set the reader up in regards to later books in the series. There are some storylines that could be continued, but since they weren't well constructed in this book, I am not so sure I would go and read them. (spoiler) the last 10 pages of the book take place over a few months time (a longer stretch of time than teh entire three books took up)...

I think this book could have been great, the only reason I gave it the three stars instead of 2 or 1 was because the previous three books were good, and I wanted to see how the series ended. David Farland: you can do better!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Break from Endless Epics, December 25, 2003

By	R. C. Smith "jam_ing" (Bancroft, WI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Yes, the other reviews were right in that it has a very abrupt ending, and the final chapter has a pace that leaves the reader wanting an endowment of metabolism, but there IS an end. How many fantasy series coming out of the '90s can say that? The pace leaves the characters a little less developed than I would have preferred, but not so much so that you can't cheer for them. I was pleased with this book for its intense action and closure (I'm not saying more isn't forthcoming, but this story line is done).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing end to a pretty good series, February 15, 2005

By	Darren C. Barnes - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I echo the comments of most of the other reviewers. Farland obviously lost all interest in this particular book. Way too abrupt of an ending, and so many details left unattended. A real disappointment to what I considered a pretty good series overall. Oh, and the editing was horrible. Numerous mistakes that jump out at you.