In the end

So, after much delay, I finally got my hands on Edward Lazellari's Blood of Ten Kings, the third and final book in his Guardians of Aandor series.

It took me a few chapters to get back into the setting, as we catch up with folks on our Earth who are actually from another part of the universe, A part closer to the center of reality where magic is much more prominent. Also, as is discussed, the closer to the center, the slower time flows. (The actual analogy is that reality is like an onion, the closer to the center, the more magic there is and the more things become less material and more energetic.) Having forgotten who they all were due to a botched spell upon arrival, the heroes have lived 14 years on Earth with no memory of who they actually are, while roughly a week has passed in Aandor. The Prince of the Realm, who came to Earth as a babe, is now 14 and being trained by the Guardians to speak the language, how to rule, etc. Which isn't really easy for a 14 year old who wants to enjoy his childhood. Perhaps worse is Guard Captain Cal, who married Cat on Earth, having forgotten his betrothed, Chrys, back on Aandor. As we open, the same arguments from book two are replayed, as everyone tries to figure out when they should head back to Aandor and wipe the rival kingdom whose invasion of Aandor is what sent everyone to Earth in the first place out.

About a third of the way through the book, and after a few more Aandorians arrive, the point becomes moot as a dying Necromancer kills the Tree Mage Rosencrantz, sending most of the cast back to Aandor, whether they like it or not. (A few do get left behind, and we find out their fates later.)

As such, we get to see the Earthlings adjust to life in High Medieval fantasy settings even as the returned Aandorians bring Earth technology back with them unexpectedly, even if the magic of Aandor doesn't allow it to function very long. (Honestly, I found myself laughing as half the characters were using iPhones on Aandor to show pictures proving lineage. Good luck finding a charging port in High Medieval.)

Any rate, once we're back on Aandor, we end up following around a few different groupings of the Guardians as they get thrown into starting a rebellion. (I'm skipping a heck of a lot of narrative here, but it's kind of like watching modern folks find their way through a High Fantasy escape room.)

In the end, the day is won, and just about everyone has dealt with the revelations thrown at them during the transitions. We also get a few lessons in how magic and science can work together with some very fun results.

While this is a mostly satisfying end to the series, I also started feeling like maybe it should have been stretched out over two books, since parts of the rebellion and many of the revelations of personal info felt rushed, like everything that needed to happen was going to happen, but there wasn't enough room to particularly space it out. Also, when the bride meets the betrothed, the friendship between them is awesome, even if most of what they talk about fails the Bechdel test.

As a side note, this copy came from the library my dad ended up frequenting after he finished reading through the local library where I grew up. Part of me wondered if this would have been one he and I would have discussed, or if he would have dismissed it as too modern.

He's not lost anymore....

Well, I finished what as near as I can tell was Edward Lazellari's last Aandor book. Which is sad, since The Lost Prince was published in 2013, and ends without really resolving the ongoing crisis.

Which is fine, since it wraps up most of the Earth based business introduced in the first book.

But first, Lelani's spell to wake up the other guardian's hit during the prologue. Which introduces us to the Reverend, the Rock Star, the billionaire industrialist, and the English professor. (We find out the cook also recovered his memories, but we don't meet him until towards the very end.)

The Prince the book is named for is holed up in a trailer court in North Carolina Daniel, last seen fleeing Baltimore after killing his abusive step father, is more or less trapped with Colby, our literally heartless private detective, in Colby's sister's double wide, along with her 16 year old daughter.

Cal and Seth, on the other hand, on hot on his trail, although they get some help when Colby contacts them, after realizing the the antagonist wizard Dorn can't deliver on his promises.

In the meantime, the Billionaire Dwarv Malcolm (who's gay in the reality, since Dwarv women in Aandor are essentially men with female bits) is gathering those still in the New York city area at the Waldorf-Astoria. This includes Tim the minstrel (who fronts a popular rock band) and Balzac, the jester. Allyn, who's now a Christian minister with a wife and child, is also based in North Carolina, who also freaks out his congregation by using Clerical magic. As should not be a surprise to anyone, it's the reluctant Allyn who winds up saving Daniel during a rather large standoff between the Prince's guardians and his would be assassins, the later who have put out a rather large reward for his capture.

Eventually, we all end up back in New York, where Seth ends up making amends to people he'd hurt and eventually regains his ability to do wizard magic. Cat, Cal's wife, gets kidnapped, and despite being a lovesick ninny along the lines of Laurana in Dragonlance, does eventually get to go full Buffy.

We get a rather explosive final third was wizards duel from between the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building as flesh golems rise from the sewers and we find out who among the heroes betrayed the party.

The ending is satisfying, even if it does end on Earth, with Aandor left unseen. Even if the characters follow D&D archetypes, seeing that reinterpreted is terms of Earth translations is quite a bit of fun. Really, it's kind of like a reverse of Brook's Magic Kingdom of Landover.

I only wish he'd continued on.

No, it's not a Robin Williams treacle fest

In what will probably rank as one of the shortest reading times this year, I finished Edward Lazellari's Awakenings over lunch today.

I think this one came via library mailing, and I'm happy I ended up checking it out. Because, even if it does get caught in trope, it's well written and engaging trope.

We don't actually meet our protagonists right off the bat. No, first we meet Colby Dretch, a PI getting ready to be indicted and pretty much lose everything he has. A client sets up an appointment to get Dretch to track down a child 13 years missing. said child doesn't have a name or a location anyone knows. To insure his loyalty, the client removes Dretch's heart and puts it in a bag.

Cut to: Cal MacDonnal, a cop working the south Bronx in NYX. His memories start 13 years prior to the start of the boo. We also meet Seth Raincrest, a photographer of a sort who also has no memories older than 13 years. Coincidence? I think not.

Into this, Seth meets a striking woman named Lelani. Lelani manages to get Seth out of his apartment for tea and conversation, only to get him back to find his apartment had exploded while they were out. since he's now homeless and penniless, he ends up following her around as she goes to find Cal, who's being attacked by strange men in the south Bronx. (Indeed, his partner gets beheaded by the men.)

In interludes, we also meet Daniel, a young adopted man who's step father bats him while his adoptive mother escapes with pills.

As things progress, we find out that the three are all part of a "Game of Thrones" of a sort; Daniel is the child with the blood of the 12 Empires who could inherit the throne of Aandor. Seth and Cal were part of a party who crossed between worlds to protect him. Somehow, Seth screwed up the spell to help them adapt to the new world, thus giving everyone amnesia. Mind you, the flow of time between Aandor and Earth are much different (Something like 3 days to a week have passed that compare with the 13 Earth years), which makes things a bit more complex, particularly since in 13 years, Cal married, had a kid, and possibly has another on the way, while a few days ago on Aandor, he's bethrothed to a politically important woman.

This one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and according to the library, the next (and only other listed book) in the series came out in 2013. However, I plan on getting it ASAP, since I'm curious as to what happens next.