Friday, September 7, 2012

Series Review: The Binding of the Blade


The Binding of the Blade Series by L. B. Graham

Publisher: P&R Publishing®

Summery:

[From the back cover of Beyond the Summerland]

Forged to kill and wielded to survive, the blade has bound them all…

It was foretold after Malek’s first fall that twice more he would bring war, and that the last time, the very waters of the sea would obey him and fight for him. If this be so, then I cannot imagine how Sulare will escape his wrath…

Introduction:

Since classes have started back, reading has been pushed to the back burner, so to speak. I’m currently reading three books, and I plan on reviewing at least one of them, but I have no idea when I’ll finish. So, I decided, since I don’t want to have a huge gap between updates on this blog (or longer than what I usually have), I will review some of the books on my shelf that I read quite a while back, maybe even years back! There are many great books on my shelf, and a lot of my favorites are not very well known. Which is a shame, because they were awesome, amazing, and epic! I figured this time, I would review one of my absolute favorite series back in my early teens. The first one was published back in 2004, and last one in 2008. It seems like such a long time ago, doesn’t it? I found the first book, Beyond the Summerland, in the local Christian bookstore maybe a year after it came out. Back then, I was obsessed with The Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Dragons in our Midst, and pretty much anything else that had to do with fantasy and dragons. Reading the description, this seemed like something very much like The Lord of the Rings, and back then, I compared everything to Tolkien’s trilogy. No, nothing ever matched up to it, which is why I stopped comparing and started judging books for themselves. When I started the book, I was completely absorbed into the world L. B. Graham created. It wasn’t like LOTR really, there were no elves, dwarves, or hobbits to be found, but the grandeur of the story reminded me of Tolkien. This isn’t a light read, since the books are 400-500 pages long, and packed with detail, story, and characters. The other books were harder for me to find. I searched in vain for them at every bookstore I came to, but never found them. I then had to order them from the Christian Book Distributers website. That experience is why I hate ordering anything online. My copy of Bringer of Storms, the sequel, has a tear in the binding, and the bottom of the cover looked like it had been smashed. I was very upset when the book arrived in that condition, but I immediately went to reading it. The rest of the books, Shadow in the Deep, Father of Dragons, and All My Holy Mountain were also ordered from CBD, but fortunately arrived in better condition.

Characters:

There were so many characters in these books, both good and evil. However, I will only discuss a few of the main ones, since trying to write about all of them would take almost forever. And I think I’ll just discuss those in the first book, since most of them are still major throughout the series. Firstly, there’s Joraiem, who is a young man of the Novaana, which are like the ruling class of people in this world. He is also skilled in using his bow, which he calls Suruna. (Archers FTW!) Joraiem is the main character, and the story follows him as he leaves his home to head for the Summerland, where young Novaana go to train and prepare for the time they will have to lead and make decisions for their people. He meets a man named Aljeron, who is also a Novaana. He has a mysterious past, which is evidenced by the three large scars on the side of his face. Aljeron also has a tiger friend, named Koshti, who is always at his side and helps him in battle. And seriously, who’d want to mess with a guy with a tiger? I loved Koshti though. He was actually one of my favorite characters, even if he wasn’t human. While in the Summerland, Joraiem also meets Wylla, who is the princess of Enthanin, the country in the east, and Rulalin, who becomes another good friend of Joraiem’s. There is a problem however, because both young men fall in love with Wylla! Talk about tension, and this leads to something unexpected later. There is also a blind prophet named Valzaan. He is a lot like a wizard actually, except he speaks Allfather’s will. Allfather is the god of this world.

My Thoughts:

I was literally obsessed with this series growing up, and I know a few people who would testify to that. It had the scope of LOTR that I was looking for, and a clear Christian message that added the extra depth to it. A person can learn a lot about sacrifice and faith by reading these books, and a lesson like that is something that will stick with you for all time. One doesn’t have to be Christian to enjoy this however, there’s still a marvelous world to explore with amazing people and creatures. Yes, this world is populated by more than just humans. There are dragons, giant talking bears (who are original to anything I’ve ever read before or since), and evil creatures like giants and Malekim, which could give an Uruk-hai a run for its money. Also, there is a giant snake, which you can see on the cover of the third book. That scene is exciting and tense, especially since it involves my favorite character out of the whole series. There is also the most unexpected and shocking of all plot twists at the end of Beyond the Summerland that probably has ever been in fiction. Seriously, L. B. Graham, I never thought something like that would happen! There are a lot of tense and sad moments, so if you’re one who easily cries, I would suggest keeping a box of tissues with you. You won’t know what will happen, or who will live or die during this war. I love that sense of uncertainty in stories.

Not all my thoughts on this are positive, however. Reading the book can get tedious, just because it is so detailed. If you can read stuff like The Lord of the Rings, you probably won’t have a problem with this then. I had read LOTR before this, so it kind of prepared me, and it’s actually an easier read since it’s written for young adults. Another thing about it that I didn’t care for was how the characters talked. The book has this fantastical setting, exotic names, many fantasy elements, but then you get characters speaking like they’re from modern day America. It doesn’t have an old world feel to it when they speak. They don’t say things like, “dude” or “cool” or “Hey, s’up?” but it’s still too informal. I was eventually able to look over that though, even though it still felt odd to me. There are parts when it seems to get bogged down, especially when Valzaan lead this religious ritual that involves a lot of talking and a lot of repeating what was said. Doing it one time was ok, it showed a part of their culture, but when it happened a second and possibly a third time in the series, it grew very boring and I found myself skimming over it. Aside from those three points, not much else to complain about, unless you want to say something about hard to pronounce names, but there is a glossary in the back of the book, so you can breathe a sigh of relief there.

There is this one other thing I didn’t like about the series: All My Holy Mountain. I can’t say what I didn’t like about it because it involves spoilers, major spoilers, but the last book was definitely the worst book in my opinion. Disappointing for me since I thought each book was better and better. My favorite being Shadow in the Deep! There was so much about that book that I thought was awesome, but again, I can’t say because of spoilers. ;)

Warnings:

No language, no witchcraft, no adult themes. It’s completely decent in those respects. These books do have descriptive violence though. It’s a war going on, so there’s lots of blood and people getting hurt. It’s not terrible, but appropriate for teen to adult readers.

My Age Rating: 13 and up (Teenagers would probably enjoy this more than adults, but I’d still recommend it to them no matter their age.)
 
Sorry there are no pictures in this post. I couldn't upload anything. If you want to see what the covers look like, check out the site below. It's the main site for the series.

~Cya!

 

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