Godless world

I just finished Brian Ruckley's 'Bloodheir', part two of his series 'The godless world'. And the funny thing with this book is that I can't remember whether or not I read the first book. I can only remember one earlier occasion, where I was reading a book and halfway through the book I noticed I read it before. This was Tessa de Loo's 'The twins' (the scene with the duchess and the dog – I suddenly remembered). I'm not sure whether it is my aging brain or that I really did not read the first book. On the other hand, I'm not particularly eager to find out, and probably waste time on a book I already read. Because, for me to reread a book, it really has to be good (like Tolkien) or I need some low intelligence book (the 'look at infinity and brain to zero'-kind of books, which are a perfect read when you're tired).

 
Well, back to 'Bloodheir'. As always with a fantasy book in the epic genre, there are two opposing sides: the good ones, the True Blood and the bad ones, the Black Road. And as always, there are good people on the bad side, and bad people on the good side. And always there are those stuck in the middle. But this time, the one stuck in the middle, Aeglyss – not completely human and being I think tortured would be the right word in book one – is on a sort of collision course. His aim is to raise a new world. Wanting this, he first throws the current one into chaos. He sides with the Black Road. They're not entirely happy with him, because they can't control him. Aeglyss does what he wants. He attracts a lot of followers, so he is a force to be reckoned with. I do not find him a very sympathetic creature. He nags about his poor life and how everybody deserts or tries to kill him. He acts like a five year old, who takes what he wants and yet is never satisfied. Pretty annoying.
On the good side we have Orisian, lord of the ruined Lannis Blood. His lands were among the first to be invaded. As the High Lord is more interested in political games, Orisian chooses his own path. This brings him into conflict with the High Lord's heir. But as Orisian is no longer around, his sister Anyara has to bear the heat for that. Orisian is on the hunt for some not-human woman. Why, only because Aeglyss wants her. This hunts leads him to a forest, where creatures live, who once, a long time ago were created a one of the goddesses. These creatures are not sympathetic to any of the sort lived races. So the woods have a kind of negative atmosphere. Mm, sounds really like Fangorn Forest to me. Of course our hero comes out alive, but not without some loss. It is not really clear to me if he gained any profit from this at all.

 
In book one the Black Road invades the lands of the True Blood. In book two the invasion continues. It is a kind of medieval world, so all the fighting is being done by sword. As a result of the invasion, several battle are fought. A lot of people die in horrendous ways, through treason, in battle or out of negligence. Friends help each other and some die in the process. The whole world is indeed in chaos. At the end of book, the Black Road has invaded the True Blood lands even further. The True Blood is in kind of chaos: the Heir has lost the battle and is running back to daddy; one of their Lords is treacherously murdered; Orisian is somewhere lost in the mountains and everybody caught in between dies. But the Black Road isn't doing any better. They have won the battle, but internal strife is tearing them apart as well. Several sections of the army (or their society – depends on which way you look at it) don't go along with other sections. And there is Aeglyss, stirring up emotions as well.

 
All in all it's a good read. The book is exciting enough to keep you reading. The politics and the warfare have a real zing to it. Some of the good guys die, they suffer and are not always easy victorious. Some of the bad guys have emotions (like Lord Kanin who wants to take revenge after Aeglyss murders his sister) and some are a little more black and white (this is the way we always done it, no change necessary). But I'm really curious on how Ruckley is going to end this all in book three. I haven't bought that one yet. So for now I can't tell you. And to be honest, it's not very high on my list at the moment. I still have a lot of other books to read. So much to read, so little time…