Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2016One of my favorite, all-too-brief parts of Lord of the Rings was the brief view of things we get from an orcish perspective when Sam is temporarily bearing the ring on Frodo's behalf; not with guilty pleasure because the orcs were bad, but because it gave us a glimpse of the world of Middle Earth and War of the Ring from such a different point of view. A Sea of Skulls, the second installment in the Arts of Dark and Light trilogy set in the world of Selenoth--a fantasy realm where elves and dwarves, orcs and goblins, have been partially displaced by a Catholicized Roman Empire exerting powerful influence through the iron discipline of its legions--gives us that and much more.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like for Roman infantry, with their centurions and balllistae, to stand their ground against goblin hordes, war pigs, and orcish shamans (or have now begun to wonder), the world of Selenoth is for you, and the Arts of Dark and Light series tells a complex and engaging story of war and intrigue set in that world as the various races of Selenoth are manipulated and set against each other by powerful actors in the shadows.
A Sea of Skulls picks up the story where the first volume A Throne of Bones left off, continuing any appropriate plot lines of characters introduced in that volume and in shorter works like The Wardog's Coin or the Hugo-nominated Opera Vita Aeterna, while introducing some new and interesting ones (both new-new and other people you'd heard of and wanted to know more about). Like any second novel in a series, it's not the ideal place to start (that would be A Throne of Bones, one of the novellas, or Summa Elvetica, a unique novel which introduces many of the major characters while also settling the question of whether elves have souls) but it would certainly stimulate one's interest in the world and characters.
This second installment does not weaken from the first, and introduces new perspective characters and the continuing evolution of the crisis wreaking itself across Selenoth, from beleaguered northmen beset by wolfish hordes to the machinations of misplaced legions and the strong-willed men who lead them on both sides of an incipient civil war. This author is not afraid to kill off main characters but hasn't made it a nihilistic obligation as in a Game of Thrones, and there is a gratifying ring of reality to the strengths and flaws of each major player, faced with difficult choices in the pursuit of their own ambitions. This is grown-up fantasy which makes for a decent study of human (or orcish, for that matter) nature, not to mention Roman military chain of command, and entertains questions like how the seemingly inevitable decline of an advanced but decadent elven civilization could possibly be reversed, and how dwarves unexpectedly stuck in their own tunnels might feel about it. The violence depicted is quite explicit, both in the grim reality of war and especially in the opening scene of a brutal orc raid on a human village, but not exulted in, and one manages to understand the comradery-in-arms of warriors on every side of the struggle, human or otherwise.
For newcomers to the series, it would be an impressive jumping in point (though other books would be a better introduction, see above), and for those already fans of the Selenoth world, the only complaint is likely to be that there is not even more content, for which we can only hope the wait will be as short as possible. 5 stars for continuing the fascinating saga of Selenoth while improving on the writing quality and interesting ideas of its predecessor.
