A Man With An Agenda

'Whispering Woods' starts off and moves a great deal more slowly than 'Arena', because, I think, Emery was leaning too hard on the fact he was writing a trilogy and could take the time for the character development that Forstchen ignored in favor of blood and explosions. What we get is almost a reverse of 'Arena', a look at the repercussions of a Wizard's actions through "common" eyes that had been so dehumanized as "the mob" previously.

In 'Arena' Garth and the other wizards simply pulled a bauble out of their satchels and summoned creatures to fight and die on their behalf without a thought. Emery wonders where did those creatures live before finding themselves suddenly in the Arena? Did they have any say at all in being summoned?

That is what makes this book interesting as a tie-in novel to the series. Emery introduces shades of grey into the workings of magic. Spells must be learned, mana must be gathered and summonings be "tagged" to gain the knowledge and power they need to fight the corrupt wizards, but they come at a heavy price. Garth justified his killing of thousands as the only way to stop the corrupt Arena system, but he didn't really give a damn about anything other than his revenge. Gull (and Greensleeves and Lily (his love-interest)) know they're in the right, but to what lengths are they justified in going?

I'm touching on the other two books of the trilogy, and I don't want to oversell them--these are tie-in novels for a trading card game after all--but I was impressed at the way Emery addressed these issues at all and didn't make the woodcutter a great general at the drop of the hat the way more prestigious genre novels sometimes do, or give Greensleeves and Lily full use of their powers when the discover them late in life and unschooled. The "movement" Gull and his sister found isn't a total success either. The end of 'Whispering Woods' has the group victorious, but not totally, and at a terrible cost of life.

At this stage the characters are still unsure and unformed, but they do get better and makes, with Hanovi Braddock's 'Ashes of the Sun', one of the most satisfying prerevisionist Magic storylines.

Garth/Greensleeves

Next: 'Shattered Chains'

Previous: 'Arena'