Prisoner of the Iron Tower : Book 2 of The Tears of Artamon

Rating:
Summary: fantastic epic fantasy
Review: Because of the human blood drank by the dragon-daemon Drakhaoul that possesses him, Prince Gavril Nagarian of Azhkendir defeated the invaders led by Prince Eugene of Tielen (see LORD OF SNOW AND SHADOWS). However, to keep his soul human, Gavril rids himself of Drakhaol. The consequence of purging himself of the dragon-daemon is the loss of the power that enabled his country to vanquish the Tielen forces.

Eugene, still dreaming of uniting the entire Rossiyan people under his rule, leads a counterattack, but this time without the dragon, Gavril fails to drive back the enemy. Gavril is locked away at the remote high security Iron Tower, permanent home for the criminal crazies. The obsessed Prince now possesses five of the "tears" ripped from the giant ruby eye of the sculptured dragon that guards the entrance between two worlds. Drakhaoul returns with the uniting of the tears in the eye of the dragon being the only way to send him back to his realm, but the likely person to accomplish this deed remains locked away in a tower of lunatics.

The second tale of the Tears of Artamon trilogy is a fantastic epic fantasy that contains several strong subplots. The key element is that readers will believe the cast is real to include Drakhaoul and the seesawing emotions inundating Gavril as he goes from hero and free to despondent and prisoner. Eugene is also a delightful individual as the audience observes his fixation through the eyes of his disgruntled spouse and others, but believes he is destined to unite the principalities while human cost does not matter to him. Readers will cherish this excellent tale.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: This series continues to improve as the story gains depth
Review: I enjoyed this novel more than I did the first book in this series, and read it quite quickly. The story moves along at a brisk pace with a steady character development for all the main players in the story with no noticeable slow patches in the plot pacing.

By ridding himself of the Drakhaon Gavril Nagarian appears to have gained personal freedom for himself. However, he has left his country fatally weakened to Prince Eugene's ambition. Gavril and those he loves will pay a price higher than he ever imagined for his freedom from his daemon and by the end of this novel the whole world will stand on the brink of disaster as old secrets and their promise of power become unravelled.

I'm looking forward to book 3 of this series, which I assume is the final volume. It will be interesting to see how these storylines resolve as these characters grow on you as you are alternatively appreciative and appalled by their actions.



Rating:
Summary: has some of book one's flaws, but mostly a better read
Review: The Prisoner of the Iron Tower shares some flaws with its predecessor, Lord of Snow and Shadows. The characterization remains uneven, with some characters more developed than others and some actions seeming abrupt or out of character. The plot still moves a bit jerkily from scene to scene, lacking full context or a sense of dramatic depth in many places. Despite these shared flaws, though, Prisoner is a deeper, smoother, and overall better book.
One of the reasons I think is that in this book we get a fuller sense of the Drakhaoul, its history, its vulnerability, its longing. There is an added sense of pathos as well as a deeper complexity if the creature is made more "human", as is done in this sequel.
The focus remains on Gavril, no longer possessed by the Drakhaoul but also not quite free of it. Its loss has cost him and his country and one of the questions throughout the book is was the price too high and will Gavril reconsider paying it? The ethics involved are not simple, and they are made more complex by the reader's more intimate knowledge of the creature.
Other characters and events are somewhat familiar, at times too much so. Eugene still seeks to create and hold an empire, still seeks power and revenge, still has a personal grudge against Gavril. As in the first book, he is a tantalizing character in that he should be more fully-formed and more complex than presented; the author still hasn't quite mined his potential. Other characters, Gavrils' mother Elysia, his love Kiukiu, Eugene's bride of conquest Astasia and her believed-to-be-dead brother are all painted a bit too shallowly to do much more than move the plot along. Kiukiu especially is a disappointment, too passive and naive by far. One hopes she strengthens as a character in book three. As in the first book, there are some lost dramatic opportunities due to weak characterization, abrupt shifts, or scenes that just come and go too quickly. She should trust herself to linger a bit more. Also, the physical atmosphere/tone isn't as pronounced as in book one, which is too bad since it added so much to that first book's mood and sense of originality.
If the end is a bit anti-climatic and a bit predictable, it does set up what promises to be a much more interesting third book. Based on the improvement from book one to book two, I'll certainly continue on in the series, more from interest than from, as sometimes happens, the perfunctory need to "complete" a series. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Unpredictable!
Review: This was an excellent follow-up to the Lord of Snow and Shadows. I expected this book to be fairly linear in plot, however I was pleasantly surprised at the many twists and turns the author led us through in this adventure. I found myself being constantly surprised at the increasingly complicated plot and Sarah Ash has done a wonderful job of letting us understand how each character feels. The Drakhoul is less demon and more tortured soul in this book. We learn more about its origins and history; I hope Sarah goes into this in more detail in the next volume.
The end was very dramatic and the cliffhanger ending will definitely have me coming back for the third installment.
I recommend this book to all fantasy lovers, although do keep in mind that there are many characters and different points of view and it can sometimes be difficult to keep everyone's story straight. Excellent adventure!