If I were a mage and had an orb, I would point it at Thomas
Locke and blast him right now half way across the world!
Not because I am disappointed in the writing of the second
book in the series, The Merchant of
Alyss, but simply because he hasn’t finished the last one yet and the
ending of this one is just not right! I won’t give up the ending, but let me
just say that I don’t think you will be happy either for the same reason. The
anticipation is too much to endure. The story is too great, we must have the
conclusion!
The Merchant of Alyss picks
up the story of the hero Hyam after the conclusion of the first book Emissary. In the second book in the
series the reader meets some new characters and continues to learn the stories
of many of the characters in the debut book. As usual, those characters are
well developed and contain complexities that make them lovable and intriguing.
The plot is woven delicately through their stories or maybe the intersection of
their life stories forms a perfect plot.
There is romance, adventure, magic, and intrigue to be found
by the reader in The Merchant of Alyss. If
you really engage in good fiction, then I doubt you will be able to put this
book down for long. Each chapter leaves the reader longing for the next and to
discover what is just around the next ridge or beyond the next vale in the
journey.
The thing I like most about the writing style of Thomas
Locke is that I don’t read the book, I imagine the story. I see the colors,
feel the air, cower in fear, and relish in the life that is described on the
pages. I read The Hobbit when I was
in high school a long time ago and wondered if they could ever capture that on
film. I was not disappointed when it finally was released. I feel the same way
about the series being released by Locke. I know how I imagine the characters
would look, but I hope one day that I will be able to compare my vision with
the realized image on the big screen.
There is no need to read the first book in order to
understand the journey the second takes the reader on, but if you haven’t read
it, I think you will want to after completing The Merchant of Alyss. I would be willing to bet that if you read
this one, you will be pre-ordering the third in the series as soon as you put
down The Merchant of Alyss.
Oh, and Thomas if you don’t hurry, there might be more than
one orb blast coming your way!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from
Revell in exchange for my honest review.
