I Read Books: Master Of The Cauldron

Master Of The Cauldron

Garric, Prince Of Haft is the effective ruler of the Kingdom Of The Isles. He is making a Royal Progress – army and fleet visiting each island to deliver the news of their taxes and other requirements. At the powerful island of Sandrakken, which nearly defeated King Valence twenty years ago, he makes camp on an island across from the capital to negotiate.

That island is reputed to be haunted, and has power, dangerous in this time when the cosmic forces amplify magic to a thousand year high. A strange creature appears in the sky, frightening everyone, delaying matters. Garric’s companions are separated, as always. His friend Cashel is asked to help his mother, who he never knew, and finds himself in a strange, otherworldly place. The city there is threatened by creatures who have been made by the King; kept at bay until now when the Queen has vanished.

In an attempt to learn what is going on on the island Cashel’s sister Ilna unravels a spell, and she and her paramour Chalcus find themselves in yet another world. There a king has gone missing, and people are being turned to stone. Back in the regular world a brother to King Valence has emerged back on the island of Ornifal, spurring rebellion. Sharina, Garric’s sister accompanies the force sent to stop them. Supposedly the brother was born to the previous king and a sea people woman, but the sea people died off after being defeated – another kind of made people.

If we find much the same formula as before, right down to bringing back two low ranking soldiers to organise troops in the finale, then it’s also a siginificant variation. The sets of made men are loosely related to each other, in one case due to being linked via an otherworldly portal, the others perhaps thematically, or perhaps being the inspiration for one another, displaced in time. Cashel’s good-hearted incuriosity is frustrating – or rather would be if it weren’t for the fact that we readers aren’t as oblivious as him, so we do get the answers that are staring him in the face. And so does he in the end, too late, and simply accepting.

Read This: Pacy, stylish heroic fantasy
Don’t Read This: Although it stands alone it’s significantly improved by knowing the earlier books, especially the first one