Description
The landscape and the world depicted is fabulous, feels real. A magic-haunted seacoast, downs modelled on the North Yorkshire Downs, a vast trackless forest like the Siberian taiga, Ice Age-era grasslands, and a swiss-style mountain kingdom. Of the various races, goblins are treating surprisingly sympathetically, whereas the grisly Rievers and Tarintarmen are hated by all life.
As the pages turn, the book turns darker, and the scale of the forces stacked against the heroes grows. There is magic, yes; but the evil is primarily a political one, being that the leaders of men are traitorously allying themselves with an ancient and cruel enemy, the prize being greater power and wealth – at the cost of complete mental and moral submission. It seems very unlike most other fantasy (honorable exceptions: the works of Hugh Cook, Ursula Le Guin, Glen Cook, Gene Wolfe, etc etc).
