Rating: 
Summary: outstanding fantasy
Review: When his country needed him, Alucius joined the army with the rank of overcaptain and almost single handily won the battle facing overwhelming arms. As soon as he was no long needed, he left the army and returned to Iron Stem where he and his wife Wendra herded sheep and had a baby.The Ifriti, beings from another world who drains the life force of a planet and eventually destroys it, are back. They have stirred up enough unrest so that Lanchrona is besieged on all sides. The Lord Protector asks Alucius to lead Northern and Southern Guards to put down the revolt in Hyalt. He finds the prophet who is leading the revolt is Ifriti-possessed; Alucius cuts off its life force. H next goes to Stronghold to prevent the troops of the Regent from overpowering loyal troops and taking more Lanachrona land. Alucius and his troops are to destroy the deadly spear throwers while the regular army deals with the enemy force. Alucius is victorious and is rewarded by becoming the colonel of the Northern Guard but he learns that the Ifriti are setting up portals to drain and destroy his world's lifeforce. Alucius and his wife have the talent to stop them if they can find and destroy the scepters that enables travel between the two worlds. This is the third and final book of the Corean Chronicles and it is a powerful, enthralling and exciting fantasy epic. All the questions of the previous two books (LEGACIES and DARKNESS) are finally answered and all the loose ends are tied up. The protagonist is a hero for going into battle against an enemy that is more powerful than he is. His love for his wife adds a romantic dimension that humanizes the larger than life champion. Scepters is an outstanding fantasy. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: outstanding fantasy
Review: When his country needed him, Alucius joined the army with the rank of overcaptain and almost single handily won the battle facing overwhelming arms. As soon as he was no long needed, he left the army and returned to Iron Stem where he and his wife Wendra herded sheep and had a baby. The Ifriti, beings from another world who drains the life force of a planet and eventually destroys it, are back. They have stirred up enough unrest so that Lanchrona is besieged on all sides. The Lord Protector asks Alucius to lead Northern and Southern Guards to put down the revolt in Hyalt. He finds the prophet who is leading the revolt is Ifriti-possessed; Alucius cuts off its life force. H next goes to Stronghold to prevent the troops of the Regent from overpowering loyal troops and taking more Lanachrona land. Alucius and his troops are to destroy the deadly spear throwers while the regular army deals with the enemy force. Alucius is victorious and is rewarded by becoming the colonel of the Northern Guard but he learns that the Ifriti are setting up portals to drain and destroy his world's lifeforce. Alucius and his wife have the talent to stop them if they can find and destroy the scepters that enables travel between the two worlds. This is the third and final book of the Corean Chronicles and it is a powerful, enthralling and exciting fantasy epic. All the questions of the previous two books (LEGACIES and DARKNESS) are finally answered and all the loose ends are tied up. The protagonist is a hero for going into battle against an enemy that is more powerful than he is. His love for his wife adds a romantic dimension that humanizes the larger than life champion. Scepters is an outstanding fantasy. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Great combination of magic, military, and moral ambiguity
Review: With their own world disintegrating, the ifrit are desperate to complete the conquest of the Corean planet. Once they succeed, they will create a world of beauty, art, and glorious architecture. True, it's a world that will burn out fairly soon--that beauty can only be sustained at a cost to the planet's life force. Still, for the ifrit, it is a sacrifice they are willing to make--have, in fact made with their native world.
Faced with an ifrit-inspired rebellion, the Lord Protector calls Alucius back into service. Alucius wants nothing but to be left to his herds and his pregnant wife, but the Lord Protector's request is compelling. If Alucius does nothing, the world will plunge into the chaos that the ifrit need to succeed in their invasion. But even military success only puts Alucius on a path for destruction. Putting down a rebellion means killing citizens, and eternal hatred.
Alucius relies on his 'talent sense' (or magic) to face first the rebellion, then an invasion in the south fueled by terrible ancient weapons, and finally the ultimate threat in his own homeland where the ifrit have carved out a powerful base and are rapidly gaining control over the world's life-forces. Even assisted by a crack group of Northern Guard lancers, Alucius knows that he lacks the power to succeed on his own--but the ancient ones are dying and unable to offer him the assistance he needs.
Author L. E. Modesitt, Jr. combines magic, military action, and a bit of moral ambiguity to provide a compelling adventure. SCEPTERS isn't the tale of good against evil, but rather a battle between different conceptions of good. Even if he is successful, Alucius cannot know that he has done the right thing, fought for the right cause. And the price to pay for a mistake is large, indeed.
Modesitt is a strong writer with the power to draw the reader into a believable and fascinating world. Although SCEPTERS is part of a series, it can be read as stand-alone, although readers are likely to enjoy it even more if they read the earlier novels first.
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