Mel Odom, Lord of the Libraries

Lord of the Libraries

Mel Odom

Tor, Jul 2005, $25.95

ISBN: 0765307243

A month has passed since the Vault of All Known Knowledge was devastated leaving librarians to flee for safety and the chief librarian, Grandmagister Edgewick "Wick" Lamplighter, was abducted by the evil goblin Aldhran Khemphus. Wick and the wizard Craugh had been seeking the dangerous The Book of Time, a volume broken into four segments to keep anyone from using it to change the past or future.

Feeling guilty for have been the idiotic instrument that razed the library, Halfling First Level Librarian Jugh and Craugh accompanied by elves, dwarves and humans search for Wick. They battle much evil along the way while Craugh explains that Wick's capture is part of a plan to regain the Book of Time. As Jugh wonders if he has been manipulated by Wick and Craugh, he begins to consider an alternate plan to search for the Book of Time instead of Wick.

Though readers would be better off starting with the previous two novels (see THE ROVER and THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BOOKS), the magical third tale can stand alone as major references are explained; though that can prove irritating to those who read the first two books. Still this is a terrific conclusion to a fine fantasy especially once the storyline goes into hyperspeed (about a third of the way into the plot). Fans of action-packed pandemonium fantasy will appreciate this enchanting charmer.

Harriet Klausner