Heavens Needle A Novel Of Ithelas

Heaven's Needle is the second book in Liane Merciel's "Ithelas" series, following her very good debut, [b:The River Kings' Road|7143298|The River Kings' Road (Ithelas, #1)|Liane Merciel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276397372s/7143298.jpg|7407609]. This book continues the adventures of the Burnt Knight and his star struck lover, Bitharn, as they approach a blighted land. A very confusing novel, full of annoying fantasy tropes, it was a huge disappointment, especially after the fine beginning of the series.

The book basically follows 2 groups of adventurers. Kelland, Bitharn, and a much distrusted Thorn, or evil mage, approach Carden Vale with eyes wide open, knowing a vast evil has been unleashed on the world, although not sure to what extent. On the other hand, 3 young apprentice clerics, as well as their bitter expert swordswoman, approach, unaware of the evil that lurks. Their paths eventually cross as they attempt to snuff out the evil lurking there.

I can't even describe how disappointed I was in this novel. Although I wasn't too sure why, I really enjoyed the first novel. The characters were interesting, but flawed. The story was an intriguing mix of politics and bravery, with a sprinkling of mystery and evil.

But this book concentrated on the sorcery and I found it very annoying. The confusion rife in the book is indicated by the title, Heaven's Needle, which isn't even where the quest was going, but rather where one of the characters was rescued from early in the book and from then on, Heaven's Needle had nothing to do with the story.

It had to unholy triumvirate of dreams, mysterious magic, and meddling "gods". The dream sequences even went so far as to have a character killed earlier in the book mysteriously show up in another character's dream to tell him how to defeat one of the opponents with some weird rite. How convenient. Ugh.

Oh, and the magic! In general, I feel magic tends to be a deus ex machina for most books, where it can solve things until it, magically, can't. And this book had the worst case of it since the first book in the Dresden Files series, [b:Storm Front|47212|Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327195767s/47212.jpg|1137060]. Basically, the devout could pray for some kind of spell, but they would always seemed to tire just when it was convenient. And one character got a magic sword that she didn't know how or when it would cast magic but wouldn't you know, the sword just happened to cast the right magic at the right time to sort of cure some ills but not entirely. Double ugh.

And there was some babble about an evil god possessing people and good gods granting spells (more like wishes). I never could keep all the factions straight, despite (or maybe because of) the author's constant chatter with background details. And for some reason the evil mage that was helping out needed the magic sword and that was enough to have him back off.

And the apprentice party? Well, they had some adventures but in the end contributed nothing to the plot line. If they hadn't been written in at all, the book would just have been half as long, but the main story arc wouldn't have been affected at all.

Like I said, sorely disappointed in the whole thing. I did actually finish it, but the last half was more of a sprint, as I tried to get through it. Be warned also - there were lots and lots of gruesome scenes, from maimed children to strange "undead" people and animals, twisted into grotesque shapes.

I'm not sure if I'll read any more in the series. It seemed like the author ran out of ideas and kind of went scattershot for the rest of the book. I don't get the 5 star ratings here, which to me would indicate one of the best books ever written. It is hardly that. To say the least.