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The Exiles of Boq'urain: | ||||||||||||||||||
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he Exiles of Boq'urain: Storms of Destiny is the first book in a trilogy about young adventurers who must defeat the demon Boq'urak. Author A.C. Crispin is well known for her Star Wars and Star Trek novels, and her skills with action and pacing shine in Storms of Destiny. As the novel opens, warrior Jezzil attempts to conquer a fortress. Jezzil is part of the Pen Jav Dal, soldiers who double as celibate sorcerer-priests of a warrior god. Barely escaping from monsters in a moat, Jezzil deserts the Pen Jav Dal in shame.
Enter the second main character in the novel, Thia, a 19-year-old novice priestess. She watches as a Master turns into a monster, the incarnation of Boq'urak, who tortures, rapes and murders Thia's friend. As Jezzil and Thia run, a third main character appears: Khith, a sorcerer, healer and scholar. Genderless and referred to as an "it," Khith is cute and furry, and "it" has insectoid ears. Under attack, Khith kills a jagowa and is cast out forever from its people, who are strict animal-loving vegetarians.
At this point, Prince Eregard takes center stage. His beef is that his older brother, Crown Prince Saleson, is a nasty, greedy man who is planning to marry the beautiful Lady Ulandra. Eregard has been in love with Ulandra for a long time. Eregard's father, the King of Pela, asks him to go on a mission, and Eregard winds up being kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave.
Enter another point of view, that of Talis Aloro, who was raped by her uncle and is plotting against Eregard's kingdom. The tale twists back to Ulandra, now married to Salesin, who beats her because she cannot bear his child. And just when things couldn't get any worse for these characters, Boq'urak starts attacking everyone.
In the end, the young adventurers join forces to fight Boq'urak. The big questions at the end of the novel are: Will the adventurers destroy Boq'urak? And will Eregard and Ulandra marry and rule the kingdom?
Packed with action and magic
The Exiles of Boq'urain: Storms of Destiny is clearly written by a professional who knows how to keep the action moving. The pace never lets up. The structure of the book is tight and stitched together by pirate battles, sword fights and narrow escapes.
While the reader might feel somewhat lost in the snarl of points of view, it seems clear that the author is setting up various twists in this first book so she can ramp up the plot in the second. Still, there are so many points of view in this single book that the reader is left feeling as if all of the characters are on the same plain: nobody stands out as someone the reader cares about or truly likes.
In addition, the many characters feel very similar. Each is young and virginal and wants to do Right and defeat Evil. Each is a stock character (handsome prince, beautiful princess, virgin priestess and so forth) of fairly flat dimensions. The only character who seems at all different is the genderless Khith, who comes across almost like a clone of Yoda from Star Wars. Nonetheless, Crispin weaves her tale well and manages to pull off the feat of combining the stories of many people.
The main goal of the first novel of a trilogy is to set everything in place, so readers will be anxious to read the second novel. Crispin achieves this goal. Who is the hideous demon, and why does the demon attack people? Can the adventurers stop Boq'urak? Will the handsome, honorable young prince marry the beautiful princess? No great mysteries are dangling as the first book closes, and the reader senses that there's really nothing new about this story. But the book is fun to read.
Readers seeking a light fantasy adventure with all the standard elements—a prince, a princess, a priestess, a sorcerer, a healer—will enjoy this book. —Lois
Also in this issue: The Prodigal Troll, by Charles Coleman Finlay
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