Violette Malan The Sleeping God

The Sleeping God

Violette Malan

Daw, Aug 2007, $15.00

ISBN 9780756404468

The two Mercenary Brotherhood members, psychic Dhulyn Wolfshead and former noble Parno Lionsmane, are assigned a relatively simple task. They need to escort orphaned Mar-eMar to her royal relatives at Tenebro House in Gotterang, Imrion.

The pair expects a quick trip with no issues. Instead the supernatural magical Marked have reasons known only to them to prevent them from succeeding. Meanwhile the zealous New Believers think that the Marked are conjuring a way to awaken the Sleeping God and consequently destroy the world. They too want Parno and Dhulyn stopped. None of these two groups of adversaries or the Mercenary Brotherhood is aware that the diabolical Green Shadow is playing everyone for a fool; regardless Parno and Dhulyn know their mission could prove lethal, but they will continue to press forward in order to keep Mar safe until they can drop her off with her kin.

This exciting sword and sorcery fantasy is fun to follow because of the camaraderie of the Mercenary Brotherhood tandem, who each knows to trust one another and no one else. Although somewhat typical of the sub-genre, the lead heroes and the diabolical Machiavellian Green Shadow bring freshness to a simple escort task that turns into a series of potentially deadly escapades as Violette Malan disproves that your enemy's enemy is your friend; Dhulyn and Parno know first hand that their enemy's enemy is also their enemy.

Harriet Klausner