The Jackal of Nar and The Grand Design(books 1 and 2 of Tyrants and Kings trilogy),
by John Marco: **1/2

These books are alternately very interesting and almost totally meaningless, which averages out to an okay read. I'll probably finish the series at some point, but there was a solid enough stopping point at the end of book 2 that I didn't feel the need to continue right away. I like the ideals that Marco clearly holds - every character is vulnerable, magic needs to have severe limitations, people are flawed, no one side is completely right or wrong - but he tries too hard, and the motivations of the various characters take a backseat to what Marco wants to happen. It's almost like Marco can't quite live up to his ideals.

He wants a very real and rich world, with interesting characters put into difficult situations, but he tries so hard to concoct these perilous situations that sometimes the characters don't seem to act the way that they should. In many cases, their behavior seemed so stupid that I lost interest in what happened to them. This, of course, renders these situations of ultimate peril as totally un-frightening, because I don't buy the manners in which they ended up as such. Despite these problems, there are some rich characters and good stories. Overall, the tone is good, Marco's descriptions of war are exciting, and the setup is more adult than most other fantasy while still retaining the charm of the genre. It may seem pretty worthless once I've read the George R.R. Martin books (I'm waiting for the entire series to be completed - I won't get suckered like I did with Robert Jordan's books ever again!), which I imagine are a model for Marco from what I understand of the Martin books. But in the meantime, these aren't bad, though they're a little too long for me to recommend to somebody else with all the better things out there.
(fall 2002)

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