The Second Empire - Softcover

Kearney, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0441009247 ISBN 13: 9780441009244

Publisher: Ace Books, 2002

Synopsis

Divided by religious loyalties, the Five Kingdoms of Normannia are unable to unite to battle their common enemy, the barbarian Merduk hordes, but now the people are threatened by political infighting, high-level intrigue, and a new invasion by a vicious race of shapeshifters led by the immortal were-mage Aruan. Original.

About this title

Review:

Paul Kearney's high fantasy series The Monarchies of God reaches its fourth volume with The Second Empire. These tales of war, discovery and religious turmoil in a world that is not quite our own late Middle Ages or early Renaissance, but has strong resemblance to both, have been characterised by strong characters and biting emotional dilemmas. Here a general is forced to take a throne by marriage, uncertain whether his captured wife is living or dead; a captain sails for home, aware that he is bringing back secrets which might be best left on another continent; a magician parleys with ultimate evil knowing what the cost might be and a Pope tries to persuade men of good will that, for once, all religions really are the same. This is powerful stuff, intelligently written and with a real sense of the dark corridors and windy battlements of the palaces in which so much of it is set. Kearney does not only write good battles--he remembers the causes that battles are fought for. --Roz Kaveney

Book Description:

Destruction, religion, a great hero, war, excitement and magic

About this edition

• Publisher: Ace Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0441009247
• ISBN 13: 9780441009244
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback