The Other Lands

July 13, 2009
The power and originality of Durham's impressive fantasy debut, 2007's Acacia: The War with the Mein
, isn't quite matched by this sequel, though it still features intelligent, well-crafted prose and complex characters. After a political assassination led to the overthrow of the Acacian Empire, the murdered king's children were split up and found very different destinies. The focus here is on the oldest, Corinn, now queen. She is a morally ambiguous figure, fiercely guarding her secrets of magic, willing to drug her subjects to stifle dissent and sacrifice her own siblings for power. Her depiction is the book's strength, as many of the other plot elements—betrayals, close brushes with death, terrifying monsters—are standard fare. Fans will still look for book three, but with diminished enthusiasm.

September 15, 2009
Old wars are re-fought, new alliances and conflicts arise in the middle volume of a fantasy trilogy set in the embattled land that calls itself the Known World.

Acacia (2007) chronicled the clouded history of an empire that delivers some of its children to slavery in"the Other Lands" in exchange for money and a drug that keeps Acacia's subjects quiescent. King Leodan's losing battle against multiple enemies forced him to send his four children toward safety in four different destinations. As this volume opens, the king's eldest daughter Corinn rules as his successor, having dispatched the northern chieftain who invaded Leodan's palace and (temporarily) won her love. Younger brother Aliver died in battle, but surviving siblings Dariel and Mena have become feared warriors, fighting the transfigured Santoth (exiled prophets who have shape-shifted alarmingly), the itinerant Lothan Aklun (slaves empowered by their takeover of the drug trade) and the opportunistic seagoing brigands of the League of Vessels. This dauntingly complicated and frequently puzzling narrative also includes the stories of such intriguing secondary characters as revolutionary leader Barad the Lesser; Corinn's Mr. Fixit assassin Delivegu; and an exiled, intuitively all-knowing beauty named Mor, of royal or perhaps even higher lineage. Moving into fantasy after three well received historical novels, Durham (Pride of Carthage, 2005, etc.) handles his many-leveled plot with impressive thoughtfulness; racial stereotyping, exploitation of defenseless populations and tribal enmity are among the subjects whose continued relevance—for the novel's characters and its readers—becomes increasingly evident. When Corinn, a superbly complex character quite wonderfully drawn, announces that"no more children of the Known Word will be sent to the Other Lands," it's an emancipation proclamation that may have come too late to avert what the closing pages suggest could become a global war.

Desperately needs an annotated list of characters and a detailed glossary distinguishing various tribes and factions. But little else is missing from this ambitious work, which boggles the mind and transcends genre.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2009
Raised by the man who ousted her father from the throne, Corinn has fought her way to the rulership of the Known World and now seeks to expand her territory. Her brother Dariel travels on an exploratory mission to the Other Lands, discovering a heretofore unknown threat to his home, while warrior sister Mena fights monsters for a queen she does not truly believe in. Durham continues the epic fantasy begun in "Acacia: The War with the Mein". VERDICT This should appeal especially to fans of large-scale, multigenerational epic fantasy in the style of George R.R. Martin and David Drake.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
The middle book of Acacia plays out several years after the Mein were conquered despite loss of the Known Worlds ruler and his son and successor Aliver (see The War with the Mein, 2007) and protective exile of the remaining four royal children. Mena and Dariel have lived among the common people and want to end drug and slave trafficking. Their sister Corinn, who becomes queen, sees things very differently. She appoints trained warrior Mena to lead an army to slay voracious, nausea-evoking foulthings created by spells of corruption cast on natural creatures, and Dariel as an ambassador to the unknown Other Lands, charged with restoring the trade needed to restore the kingdoms stability. Betrayed and imprisoned, he faces possible death. Meanwhile, former slave Barad foments revolution, Corinns devious covert agent has his own agenda, and the discovery of Alivers nine-year-old out-of-wedlock daughter further roils the political waters. As before, intrigue and treachery run rampant, and Durham maintains the momentum as well as the twists and turns of the plot in an eminently satisfying manner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)