This is the first book in The Dark Sea Annals series. The story starts off with Alastair Coldhollow seeing the blood moon in the night sky and the sword in the sky pointing to the village where the Halfainin would be found. The Halfainin was foretold to come into world as a reincarnation of the First One, a great and powerful leader that forged the kingdoms that made up Myriad. Alastair, also known as the Iceman, was told he would be the Caller, the one to announce to the world the name of the true Halfainin.
Alastair was once a cold-blooded assassin in the employ of King Morlan. Morlan has a dislike for anything relating to the theories of the First One, and, in the past, ordered Alastair and his Wolfguard to kill any and every person in villages following the religion. Morlan is King of Vulmarrow. King Morlan is twin brother to King Aravel the High King Overlord of all. Morlan would have been High King had he been born half a min earlier, but Aravel was given the title by birth, something that has always fueled Morlan’s animosity towards Aravel.
These murders weighed heavily on Alastair and caused him to turn to Witchdrale, a vile alcoholic concoction that lays waste to one’s mind. After seeing the signs that told of the Halfainin’s coming, Alastair spend days testing boys and girls from the village of Thel-Mizaret only to come up empty handed. Now doubting he is the true caller, he spends a drunken night on Witchdrale and ends up outside the roadway protecting a young female and her infant from Gorracks. The woman hands the infant to Alastair and runs off into the forest where she is killed by the attackers. After defeating the attackers, Alastair tracks down Abbagael, a young maiden that used to admire him from a far. He figures he can leave the child with her and then retire somewhere far away with a cash of his favored drink.
Circumstances change, as they are apt to do, and Alastair finds himself the hero of an attack in a nearby market town, King Aravel appoints him as a general in the kingdom’s army and he heads off to war in the Gorrack’s territory. While he is at war, Abbagael and Telwyn stay at Anglinore and become fast friends with Queen Maren.
Morlan finds the lair of the Shadow and becomes allied with Sabryne, the Finger of Shadow. Using his link with Sabryne’s mind, Morlan learns the secret of the Shepherds, that if you kill a Shepard, you gain their power. With this information Morlan plans his invasion of Anglinore and revenge against High King Aravel for his time of birth.
Queen Maren is told of Morlan’s deception and is flown to see Morlan, but upon her arrival she discovers Morlan is already on his way to overthrow her husband. Morlan’s servant throws Maren in a cell and it is here that she must have her child in dingy, dark conditions.
During the battle, Morlan is captured and his Wolfguard is defeated by the combined forces of the inhabitants of Myriad – the Humans, the Wayfolk, the Windborne, the Stonehands, the Marinaen, the Elladorians and the Shepherds. After Morlan is sentenced to his one-way journey across the Dark Sea, High King Aravel repeals the charges against Alastair for his murders and crimes years past.
This was an excellent tale, one that I feel is sure to become a famous epic series and renown with authors such as Tolkien, Martin, Rowling and Jordan. The storyline flows perfectly from one scene to the next and the character development is quite realistic. My favorite chapter in the book had to be the chapter of letters exchanged by Alastair and Abbagael. It drew me in (more then I already was) and I felt as though I was actually in the war, receiving a letter from home. This chapter definitely prompted the empathy I’m sure it was meant to convey.
The ending was quite a cliff hanger and I can’t wait to purchase book 2 of the series – The Errant King. This book left quite a few unanswered questions in my mind.
Is Telwyn the Halfainin? If not, who is? Is Alastair the Caller? What happens now with the High King Overlord’s brother sentenced to an un-death? What does life hold for this world now torn apart and ravaged by war? Do the inhabitants of Myriad live happily ever after? I really doubt that could happen after they discover the identity of the skeleton pulled from the well in the last few chapters of book 1 – Sword in the Stars.
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