An impressive bit of high fantasy ††††† [I don’t have stars in this font]

Or so I’m told. When David gave me copies to review he said something to the effect that as far as he knew I didn’t like high fantasy. That may well be true—especially the heathen versions of the same. I remember moving on to other genres because of all the nasty themes present in the books I was finding in the early 1970s.

But I also vaguely remember back in the mists of time being enthralled by Le Guin‘s EarthSea Trilogy [though I could’ve sworn there were more than three of them]. Anne McCaffrey‘s  Dragonriders of Pern was wonderful back in my misspent heathen youth. But more recently, what I have seen glorifies sin and exalts evil.

The Chadash Chronicles do not. The good guys are actually good. There are far more strange species than you can imagine. It’s a special world set up to test the fight of good versus evil. It’s got demons, nephilim, orcs, goblins, dwarves of four different species, cat women, wolf women, necromancers, mages, some with a chance to repent, some without, some servants of the good, some servants of the bad, a delightful mix. The magic is believable—seen as a neutral force which can be used by good or evil.

My problem is that this is only one book!

Messed with by lemming publishers

Fool’s errand is a wonderful tale of heroes saving the nations. But then it stops in the middle of the action. It’s like going one of those glorious movies in the 50s with intermissions. Intermission comes and while everyone is getting their snacks and chatting in the lobby, the doors to the auditorium are closed with large signs saying,  Come back later for the rest of the story. Mystic’s Mayhem finishes off the story. Don’t even bother starting Fool’s Errand without a copy of Mystic’s Mayhem in hand. At the satisfying end of MM, there is a titillating hint of trouble brewing for the next book.

Both books together would barely make a 400 page book. If these two together were book one of a trilogy, this book is nearly as good as LOTR—in fact, in some ways it is better.