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by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill Beyond World's End, a continuation from Mercedes Lackey's previous work, Bedlam's Bard, disappointed me tremendously. Although this author was highly recommended by one of my friends, I walked away from this book feeling like it was missing a few chapters to better explain events from the book. It's hard to figure out whether this was because of poor writing or poor editing by the publisher. The story takes place when Eric Banyon, our heroic bard, decides to return to our normal world to come back to New York and finish his education at Julliard. Leaving his friends behind, Eric searches to reclaim part of his life that he felt was incomplete. Along the way, he discovers that the new home that he has chosen is protected by an interesting group of magicians that call themselves the Guardians, and meets a stone gargoyle by the name of Greystone who offers some wonderful insight and funny comedy relief. Yet, I was left with some confusion throughout the book with some glaring errors in detail with the storyline. For example, in the novel, we meet one of Eric's new friends named Jeremy who is playing an oboe. Yet, a couple of chapters later at a concert recital, he has switched to playing a bassoon. It's possible that he might be able to play more than one instrument, but the author never goes back to explain why. Another example is his return to Julliard. Here is a gentleman who, due to staying in Underhill (where time moves more slowly in the elven community), should be in his early 40's according to the book, yet everyone still remembers him and his reputation. It struck me as strange that someone from Julliard would comment on this apparent discrepancy, yet the author does not approach that topic either. If you ignore the loose ties in the story, then you'll be pleased with Lackey's attention to developing background detail from the previous novel and some of the subplots from the current selection. However, this fell short of the expectation that I had for this author, and sincerely hope that her future works are written with fewer loose ends. --Gary Reynolds, Wizard's Keep staff |
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