A Contest of Succession (The Usurpers Saga 2) - John R. Phythyon Jr.

With A Contest of Succession, Phythyon returns us to the land where his earlier epic fantasy, The Sword and the Sorceror, takes place. A couple of the characters from that book are also in this one: Liliana Gray, the bumbling magician's assistant who turned into a powerful sorceror after her patron, Gothemus Draco, was murdered; and Draco's murderer, the former Lord Vicia of Elderburg. Vicia was stripped of power after Liliana thwarted her attempt to take over Elderburg. Now Vicia has joined forces with a horde of goblins to take over the neighboring city-state of Twin Falls. The elderly duke there has died without an heir, so there's to be a contest to see who is best suited to take over the rule of Twin Falls. Vicia intends to win, and she intends to cheat. Because there really is an heir to the dukedom: a soldier by the name of Garrick Tremaine. Vicia wants him dead, which suits the goblins just fine -- they need his life essence to free their horrible god, Gruul, from his enchanted prison. It's all going swimmingly until Liliana rescues Garrick from the goblins, and then decides to help him win the contest.

The story is interesting, and I very much like Liliana and Garrick. But I had two problems with the book. First, the author over-explains things. Readers don't need a recap of all of the pertinent events in the story every time the point-of-view character changes; it bogs down the action. And second, the book ends without any of the big plot points resolved. It's not exactly a cliffhanger, but the author has left a whole lot of important stuff up in the air -- to be resolved, I assume, in the next book.

If you don't mind that sort of thing, then I would recommend A Contest of Succession. It's not necessary to have read The Sword and the Sorceror first -- Phythyon does a fine job of filling in enough back story so that readers new to the series won't be lost.

The Sword and the Sorceror -- John R. Phythyon Jr.

The Sword and the Sorceror is somewhat of a rare thing in epic fantasy these days: a hero's journey in which the hero isn't a young adolescent.

The book opens with Gothemus Draco's death scene. He's poisoned by Lord Vicia, a power-hungry member of the Council of Elders of Eldenberg, and his end comes at a dinner with the whole council, the other members of which are clearly okay with this. And why not? Gothemus is the most powerful wizard in the Known World, after all. And with him out of the way, they can seize the Eye of the Dragon, with which Gothemus has kept evil subdued, and rule the Known World their own way.

But as is usually the case, it's not just the council that wants the Eye of the Dragon. It was a gnome named Elmanax, who claims Gothemus stole the gem from him, who convinced Vicia to poison Gothemus. He wants the gem back so he can go home. And then there's Gothemus's brother, Zod the Fearless, who had always expected to rule the Known World with Gothemus just as soon as Gothemus finished fiddling with the legendary sword named Wyrmblade and turned it over to him.

But Gothemus has a son. And although Calibot rejected his father's legacy years before, Gothemus isn't done with him yet. Calibot has built a nice life for himself in the neighboring city-state of Dalasport; he's chief bard to Duke Boordin and has found happiness with a courtier/soldier named Devon. Then Gothemus's intern, the hapless Liliana Gray, shows up, with posthumous orders from Gothemus to turn over Wyrmblade to Calibot -- and the reader just knows nothing in Calibot's life will ever be the same.

I thought The Sword and the Sorceror was a light, fun read. My only complaint is the author's tendency toward over-description. For example, I did not need to be reminded every time Gothemus's name was mentioned that he was the most powerful wizard in the Known World.  But Phythyon resolves the various plot threads in an original and satisfying way. And hey -- dragons. What's not to like?