The Isle of Battle by Sean Russell

September 04, 2004 | 4 Comments

I really enjoyed the first book of this entertaining series, The Swans’ War, by Sean Russell. The One Kingdom was a welcome, if some one familiar, addition to what has been a pretty hard to read genre lately.

It was a quick read, introduced some interesting characters, a solid plot and plenty of momentum to keep me interested. Something that has been hard for me to find lately. It’s wasn’t the best first book in a series I’ve ever read, but it’s up there for what I’ve been reading in the last few years.

While the second, The Isle of Battle, isn’t quite as good, it’s decent and carries the story along pretty nicely and I’ve come to really enjoy Mr. Russell’s writing style quite a bit.

The story is solid, entertaining and fast paced and the characters are engaging but not too developed. It’s an easy read that leaves quite a bit open to interpretation. It seems, though, that this is a bit by design, it’s almost purposefully vague at times. There are many points when the characters are a bit unclear as to where they are and what is going on, and while this is at times frustrating to the reader, it lends a certain sense of mystery to the book.

All in all it’s a nice epic fantasy with an engaging story, some interesting characters and enough action and drama to keep it moving forward. Pretty good for a middle book of a trilogy.

Recommended if you like: J. Gregory Keyes, Robert Jordan, Raymond Fiest, Guy Kay

My Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5.

Filed under: Review