The Sum of All Men

, #1

Mass Market Paperback, 624 pages

English language

Published April 15, 1999 by Tor Fantasy.

ISBN:
978-0-8125-4162-5
Copied ISBN!
ASIN:
0812541626
Goodreads:
144127

View on OpenLibrary

(14 reviews)

Young Prince Gaborn Val Orden of Mystarria is traveling in disguise on a journey to ask for the hand of the lovely Princess Iome of Sylvarresta when he and his warrior bodyguard spot a pair of assassins who have set their sights on the princess's father. The pair races to warn the king of the impending danger and realizes that more than the royal family is at risk--the very fate of the Earth is in jeopardy.

1 edition

A series of missed chances, maybe too much ambition with too little planning ahead

It starts out well enough, with a measured pace, a unique concept (which is rare enough in the genre), and a meticulously crafted storyline. Unfortunately, that's as good as it gets.

Very soon it turns out that the characters are bland, to say the least. The only trait the good people have is that they constantly try to find ways to do even more good (or question their deeds as being not good enough), while Farland helplessly tries to counter this by giving the bad people a conscience.

After a third of the book, the story starts to meander in all directions. The plot, which seemed tightly controlled in the beginning, loses cohesion, and most of the middle part is characters traveling from place to place in search of other characters. In addition, every character gets an own paragraph every now and then, which quickly becomes a mess of randomness. …

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Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Fantasy