Knave of Dreams

Rating:
Summary: Dream Warriors and the fate of Worlds
Review: Osythes, Chief Shaman of Ulad, representative of Powers Unseen, was troubled. He had been asked to search the planes for the one twin soul to Crown Prince Kaskar- then cause both souls to unite in one body and destroy themselves on an alternate world. He knew that this was an evil act. He knew that both he and those of the old nobility that came to him with this plan would have to answer for it at the end of their days when they faced the Final Gate. Yet Prince Kaskar was a weak and corrupt man who was under the control of dark forces. Kaskar's grandfather had forged Ulad into a bastion of Justice, Peace, and Order in a world of chaos and violence. His father had maintained the realm against this Darkness. Kaskar, however, was of the third generation and lacking in courage, strength, and will. He was a weak soul that had easily become a puppet of hidden Evil- it was the soul of a weakling. Hence, Osythes sought to banish this weak, corrupt soul to an alternate world before the old king died and this abomination could take the thrown. He resigned himself to doing a smaller evil to prevent a far larger Age of Evil.

However, when the Chief Shaman found the twin soul that he had been looking for (by searching the worlds in dream trance) it was not at all what he expected. This soul connected to Kaskar belonged to Ramsay Kimble- of the blood of the Iroquois nation. This was not the soul of a coward, but of a hero. Not only that, but Ramsay's blood was familiar with the Big Dream and the Spirit Quest. Such a soul did not have to die locked with that of a weakling- it could cross over to reanimated Kaskar's empty body. Perhaps the judgment at the Final Gate wouldn't be too harsh after all, for the soul, and heart, of a hero far outweighs that of a coward....

Rating:
Summary: Wild card body swap
Review: There are a couple of plot devices in books I tend to avoid: the amnesiac device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to remember who he or she is; and the mind-swap device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to get back into his or her original body.

Unfortunately for Ramsey Kimble his original body is back on Earth, dead and buried. In the alternate universe that had been troubling his dreams, the body he now inhabits is supposed to be dead, too, but there was a hitch in the plot to murder Kaskar, crown prince of Ulad. Thus Ramsey wakes up on a bier surrounded by flowers, candles, and guards who have been spelled into statues.

There is magic afoot in Ramsey's new world, and plots to murder or manipulate the new Kaskar-returned-from-the-dead. He must quickly sort out his friends from his enemies. His ability to dream true in this new universe makes him the wild card in any scheme to seize the throne of Ulad.

Ramsey-now-Kaskar has become the Knave of Dreams.

Norton tells a rousing, tightly paced adventure. My only problem with "Knave of Dreams" is the reason for the original body-exchange. Instead of swapping Kaskar into Ramsey's body and causing him to die in a car crash, why didn't the plotters just hold a pillow over his face or drown him in a butt of Malmsey?

Rating:
Summary: Wild card body swap
Review: There are a couple of plot devices in books I tend to avoid: the amnesiac device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to remember who he or she is; and the mind-swap device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to get back into his or her original body.

Unfortunately for Ramsey Kimble his original body is back on Earth, dead and buried. In the alternate universe that had been troubling his dreams, the body he now inhabits is supposed to be dead, too, but there was a hitch in the plot to murder Kaskar, crown prince of Ulad. Thus Ramsey wakes up on a bier surrounded by flowers, candles, and guards who have been spelled into statues.

There is magic afoot in Ramsey's new world, and plots to murder or manipulate the new Kaskar-returned-from-the-dead. He must quickly sort out his friends from his enemies. His ability to dream true in this new universe makes him the wild card in any scheme to seize the throne of Ulad.

Ramsey-now-Kaskar has become the Knave of Dreams.

Norton tells a rousing, tightly paced adventure. My only problem with "Knave of Dreams" is the reason for the original body-exchange. Instead of swapping Kaskar into Ramsey's body and causing him to die in a car crash, why didn't the plotters just hold a pillow over his face or drown him in a butt of Malmsey?